Q. Despite my Internet service provider catching the bulk of junk mail, spam and porn and preventing it from being downloaded to my inbox, I have had a deluge of this type of mail getting through the filter. Usually between five to 10 messages a day get through.
I changed my filter to high, but it caused problems with the genealogy lists to which I subscribe.
I have drafted all the message rules I can find to try to intercept them at the server, but too many of them are still getting through. My ISP tells me they can do nothing, since they are not from their (ISP) address. Is there any remedy that you can suggest?
A. You should consider a permission-based e-mail scheme like the $39.95 Choice Mail software, Mr. B. The software sends a message to the sender of each piece of unrecognized e-mail asking for a “registration” response before it will be delivered to you.
Most spam senders use fake return addresses and won’t know you replied. Outfits that do get your permission message can answer a question or two, and the software will use rules to decide whether to pass it along.
Since the vast majority of desired e-mail comes from people who are on your list of addresses, this scheme doesn’t insult many people. And once these folks get through the first time, you can decide whether to accept them in the future or put them in your delete queue.
This seems ideal for folks in your position, even though it also sounds like a whole lot of bother at first. You can find details and a free demonstration download of the Choice Mail software at www.digiportal.com/index.html.
Q. I have a Dell 8200 Pentium 4 purchased in 2002 with Windows XP that has USB ports 1.1 installed. The latest peripherals I bought, such as printer, card reader, etc., are all USB 2.0 generation. Even though they accept the USB 1.1 configuration, they run slowly, and the computer constantly shows a screen message that suggests improving the connections.
How can I upgrade the system? Is it possible to do it myself, installing whatever is needed, or should a technician be the one doing the job?
Lorenzo [email protected]
A. You can, indeed, personally install a new USB 2.0 card in one of the empty PCI slots in that Dell, Mr. C., but first let’s discuss saving time with a screwdriver by simply telling the computer to stop those warnings.
This annoying message vexes a great many people with fairly new computers and can be switched off using the Device Manager tool.
To find this, right-click on the My Computer icon and select Hardware and Device manager. Now, scroll down to the bottom of list of all the computer’s peripherals to the USB controller. Open this heading and find your USB 1.1 setting, give it a right-click and select Properties.
In the box that comes up, you will find a set of tabs. Pick the one called Advanced and you will find the click box for giving or withholding those USB 1.1 speed warnings.
I suggest a coverup, because most peripherals work just fine at the slower 12 megabits USB 1.1 speeds, even though adding USB 2.0 increases that data movement to whopping levels above 400 mbps.
If you use something speed intensive like a scanner or a USB-driven external hard drive, the difference is meaningful. But if it’s a printer or a card reader or a camera, the slower speeds are pretty acceptable.
If you’d rather not just gloss things over, you can find PCI USB 2.0 cards everywhere from $10 up to $100. Try using the Froogle shopping feature in Google (http://froogle.google.com), and you’ll see a huge number of cards.
The great thing about this is that the PCI cards simply get pressed into one of the empty card slots that are available when one removes the case of desktops like your Dell.
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Installing one isn’t much more bother than changing the batteries in one’s home fire alarms. This means that even I can do this particular upgrade.
Q. I am a heavy user of software, including a lot of shareware that I download from sites like Tucows.com or Download.com, and I’ve got a lot of these programs installed on my PC.
My problem is that when I use the Programs list in the Start menu, they appear as a number of adjacent blocks, with maybe 20 programs in the first box and the next 20 in the next box and so on.
This is quite irritating, and I want to go back to the way it was with other computers that I have owned, where the program list is in a single column that you scroll through to find what you need.
Bill Aiken @gmail.com
A. Welcome to a club that includes lots of folks who like to set their computer displays in low resolution in order to make the type in lots of things, including those All Programs lists, larger and easier to read. At lower resolutions this same box-after-box display occurs and quickly covers the screen.
The trick is to use a cleverly concealed option in the Windows XP Start menu. It’s called Scroll Programs and is found by right-clicking on Start and then picking Properties.
In the menu this pops up, select the Advanced button. This is where you do things like add or remove icons to the desktop for My Computer, Network Places and such. It also has a single check box, left inactive by default, for Scroll Programs. Place a check in the box, and click Apply in the options at the bottom of the menu.
Next time you click on the All Programs icon under Start, you will get a single, narrow column listing the names of programs, with a tiny scroll arrow at the bottom. Click on that arrow to scroll down to what you need.
I can’t resist adding that when you do this, it is possible to sort your program list alphabetically. Just right-click inside the new single column, and you will find a Sort by Name command.
This same feature can be found in the list of Favorites in the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser, which is a godsend because more folks overload their Favorites lists than their All Programs menu.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or via snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.