Recovering space to store more of those precious memories
by George Skarbek - 14th June 2005

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Computer Guide

Q: I have a new digital camera, which takes good, big, high-quality images, however the fairly new bubble-jet printer will no longer print them. Most of the time it won't even start. Sometimes it prints some of the image before dropping out. Help says maybe try to increase virtual memory but the C:\ drive is too full. Is there another way to give printing more memory space or is there another solution?

A: There is no other way to give printing more space apart from deleting unwanted and junk files. The first, easy step is to empty the Recycle Bin. Windows ME and later has a setting under More Options, System Restore that allows you to remove old restore points that were saved when new hardware or software was installed.

Delete the files in the internet cache. Set the disk space to a smaller limit - about 10 MB is adequate for most users. Open IE and from Tools, Internet Options, Temporary Internet Files and Settings.

You should be able to delete most or probably all files in the Temp folder. This is in Windows\Temp, or for XP users it is C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Local Settings\Temp. Mailboxes should be compacted regularly. I have seen well over 100 MB wasted on old mail folders. Outlook does this automatically but in Outlook Express this is done from File, Folder, Compact All Folders. In newer versions of Eudora there is an icon but in older versions click on the numbers in the bottom left-hand corner of each mailbox.

You can also uninstall programs that you never use from Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove programs. After a big clean-up, you should then defragment the hard disk. This is done from Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and Defragment.

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Q: How can I set up a music file to play through an entire PowerPoint presentation? I can get it into one slide, but it stops when the slide changes.

A: When you insert a sound you must modify the properties of that sound file as the default setting is to play while that specific slide is visible. Right-click on the speaker icon of the sound file and select Custom Animation, then right-click on that sound file in the animation window that will appear on the right-hand side. Then on the Effect tab, click on the Stop playing button and select after 999 slides or some other large number.

To look at the book, Computer Guide, based on these columns click here