Password protecting folders

Question:
I have tried to no avail but can you tell me if it is possible to password protect individual directories in Windows XP?

Answer:
Yes, it is as long as there are no other users logon with your username and password. To protect a folder open Windows Explorer and right-click on the folder that you wish to make private, then click on Properties. If you see a Security tab then you must set permission for each user, typically deny all access. If you do not see the Security tab then click on Sharing and select "Make this folder private so that only I have access to it".

If you do not see this option then you must convert the file system of the drive to NTFS. The conversion must be done from a DOS box and you must have some free space on that hard disk. You will be warned if there is insufficient free space to proceed. Data will not be lost in the process. To open a DOS box click on Start, Run and type CMD, then from the command prompt type: CONVERT x: /FS:NTFS where x is the USB drive letter. Note that if you are dual booting this computer and the other operating system is Windows 98 or ME, do not convert as that drive or partition will not be readable by the older operating systems.

Alter Outlook Express text

Question:
Often, the font in Outlook messages that I receive is too small for comfortable reading. How can I enlarge the text for my aging eyes?

Answer:
This will depend on what version of Outlook you are using. Make sure that you are not in the preview pane by double-clicking on that e-mail then click on View and select Text Size and pick one of the Large options. In Outlook 2007 this task is very easy. Hold the Ctrl key and use the scroll wheel on the mouse to make the font larger or smaller.

Having an accurate clock

Question:
I wonder if you can tell me if Win XP still gets its "time" from some authentic website, and if not, how I can be sure my computer clock is set accurately. For years I relied on a great programme called Accuset, but about a year ago Telstra decided to discontinue availability of its atomic clock (because it wanted to give its clients the best service possible?)

Answer:
Although the clock in the computer should be reasonably accurate comparable to a cheap watch, there is no standard for the accuracy of the PC clocks. Fortunately to have it permanently accurate is very easy to achieve. Right-click the time display on the bottom right-hand side of the taskbar, select Adjust Date/Time, then click on the Internet Time tab, and for the time server select time.windows. corn. From then your computer should always have the correct time as it will synchronise weekly. You can manually synchronise only by using Update Now.

Excel columns problem

Question:
I have encountered a problem with Excel. When either a new or existing worksheet is opened the columns are now in a number format i.e. 1,2,3 , I don't know how this happened, how can I get back to the traditional format of columns in alpha order?

Answer:
This is one of the options that Microsoft allows you to set but I have not seen any of my clients or friends actually use it. To revert back to the traditional style, from Excel click on Tools, Options and click on the General tab and there remove the tick from the "R1C1 Reference style" and your problem will be fixed.

I suggest that you look at some other the other settings that you may like to change. For example setting the Recently Used File List to 9 is something that I prefer. If your computer exhibits some instability you may consider setting Autorecover to 5 minutes.

What is the maximum capacity for

Question:
I receive quite a lot of jokes etc via email, usually with large attachments. If I don't delete them, will my Outlook Express inbox finally reach maximum capacity? Or if I create a new folder not in the inbox, but within Outlook Express in Local Folders, and move the emails into that, will my inbox then be emptied?

Answer:
The maximum file size of the .dbx files used by Outlook Express is 2 GB. However, I recommend that even before the inbox starts approaching half of this size, you should create a new folder for the jokes. Then move all jokes into that folder. The reason for this is that if the inbox is very large, the performance may deteriorate significantly. The actual deterioration will depend on the speed of your CPU and the memory (RAM) available.

The moving is best done by creating a rule if the mail comes from the same individuals. To set up a rule in Outlook Express, click on Tools, Message Rules, Mail and New. Then select the Condition for incoming mail and in the action is to Move to a specified folder. You can then apply this rule to the existing mail.

When you move mail from mailboxes the actual data still remains in the original mailbox. The dbx file is a database and the pointers to where the messages start are removed, but not the data itself. You have to compact the folders to actually remove all the deleted junk. This is done from Outlook Express. Click on File, Folder then Compact All Folders and now this process will free the space. This process may take a few minutes to complete and must not be interrupted.
 

[ About Melbourne PC User Group ]