HAL-PC Magazine

I look upon the Magazine as my biggest benefit in being a member. It has always had a good mix of articles and news. So, I was sorry that the Board decided to turn it into a quarterly, or less, endeavor.

I would like to see it revert back to a monthly feature. Seems to me we used to have monthly meetings, and they were done away with, probably because of the cost of finding a meeting space. And, I'll admit that the attendance was sometimes low, especially when the parking downtown cost $5.

But, I think the Magazine is very worth while, and would like to urge that it be monthly again. Where else is the money from dues going?

Subject: Corrupt Graphic File?

I was working on some graphic files (.jpg) renaming them with a longer description to identify the people in them and made the mistake of naming the file with two many characters. Now I not only cannot see the photos but I also cannot rename or delete them from the file. I was using HP software that came with my printer and scanner when I saved the photos with "save copy as."

I did not take the original pictures but the files started with IMG extension and were taken with a Cannon Powershot camera. I renamed them all using Click and Share software to put a date on them and a little information - saving them on my hard drive. I had no problems viewing them until I used more than about 60 characters in the name. I cannot rename them or delete them in Explorer. There is the usual icon on them just like all my other pictures and it says when I move the cursor over the file that it is .jpg format. When I right click on it, the usual options don't come up.

What is the maximum number of characters one can use in a file name in Windows XP? It looks like 60 characters are about the max that worked okay. The file I have been working with has 89 characters and spaces. It also has the .jpg extension and is listed as .jpg in Explorer.

Those files just won't let me do any thing with them including send, delete, or rename. I went online with HP Support Chat and I got very poor help from them. I am still looking for a way to fix the problem, and I am thinking that 64 characters might be the max for a graphic file name. Just so you know, I have the original file so nothing is really lost but not I am not happy that I cannot even delete the files.

Thank you for your help. Peggy

Editor : It's very good practice to save the original files when editing or renaming them to avoid loss in cases like this. The maximum number of characters should be 256 under XP for NTFS (it was only 8 characters+3 for the extension in the old FAT), so I can't imagine that you've exceeded that number. And if you did, it should only have been truncated at that point. However, the number of characters does includes the entire path, or names of the folders containing the files. If you had lost the extension, you wouldn't be able to see the photos or the extension (the file association for a viewer would not exist).

Do any readers have suggestions to resolve this problem? Please send them to emailbag@hal-pc.org , so that they can be forwarded to Peggy and printed in a future column.

Subject: No Hyperlinks

Receiving e-mail in the Win98SE version of Outlook Express, my sister-in-law does not receive the hyperlinks. I know it must be set to "Rec in Text Only" but cannot find the place to change or uncheck that box. In XP versions of Outlook Express it is in the Tools.

Editor : At www.duxcw.com/faq/win/hyperlinks.htm there's a short explanation about hyperlinks not working in OE. She probably has version 5.5 of the free Outlook Express, which existed for several versions of Windows, including 98SE. Some of the settings are related to the browser, so Internet Explorer may need updating and definitely needs to be the default browser. See also support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q177054 , a Microsoft Knowledge Base article on the subject. The settings are mainly controlled in the Tools, Internet Options menu. She's probably better off (safer) with plain text, but it's inconvenient to copy and paste the links in the browser. Even though that version of OE is no longer available, there are updates and patches for it that should be applied.

Subject: Wrong Default E-Mail Program

I use Outlook Express as my e-mail program and like it. Last year I installed MS Office 2000 and since that time whenever I try to send an e-mail -- either by clicking on a link from the Internet or sending a photo using Windows XP -- Outlook comes up as the default to send it when I really want to send it using Outlook Express. I have looked and looked but cannot seem to find the place to make Outlook Express the default instead of Outlook. I even went into Outlook and deleted all mail account information. I did this because every once in a while my incoming messages would end up in the Outlook In Mail Box when I had not even opened the program.

Editor : The easiest way to set the default program for email is to use the Internet applet in Control Panel or choose View, Internet Options in Microsoft Internet Explorer. On the Programs tab, select the program you want to use from the E-mail list. Click on the down arrow to choose from the installed programs on your system. See if that will work for you. If you don't see a change, even after restarting Internet Explorer or restarting Windows, then the following steps are necessary to make this change manually.