How Do I Keep Others From Using My PC?
Secure your system, uninstall programs properly, put a slide show on a CD-Recordable disc.Lincoln Spector
How do I make my computer secure? Password-protecting Windows doesn't do much--all someone has to do to get on my PC is press Esc.
Muhammad Hadiaziam Mamat Dungun Terengganu, Malaysia
Windows' log-on password doesn't actually secure your system, although in Windows 2000 it can secure files and folders. In other versions of Windows, it merely prevents people from logging on with your name. This is useful in business environments because it prevents a coworker from masquerading as you over a network, for example. But otherwise it's really not much different from having no system security at all.
To keep people off your system entirely, you need a boot-up password. Most PCs let you create one through their setup menu. Setup varies from one computer to another, so I can't give you exact instructions. Typically, pressing Delete soon after you turn on the computer--before it starts loading Windows--brings up the setup menu. If Delete doesn't work, try Insert or Esc. Then search the various submenus of the setup menu until you find the password options.
Boot-up passwords aren't perfect, however. Someone could still get on your computer while you're logged on but away from your desk. To protect against this, password-protect either your screen saver or your system's standby mode. If you use a screen saver, right-click the desktop, select Properties, and click the Screen Saver tab. Check Password protected and click OK. For standby or hibernate mode, right-click the desktop, select Properties, click the Screen Saver tab, and choose the Settings button in the Energy Star box. In the Power Options Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab and then check Prompt for password when computer goes off standby or hibernate.
Now whenever your PC awakens from the screen saver or from standby or hibernate mode, you'll have to re-enter your Windows password.
You can also encrypt files or folders. I've discussed this before, most recently last October in "Password-Protect Folders" and last February in "Free Folder Encryption."
PC Guardian's Encryption Plus Folders is a very good file-and-folder encryption program, the freeware version of which you can download at PCWorld.com's Downloads library or directly from the vendor. The $50 retail version has a few tricks that you won't find in the free one, such as 192-bit Blowfish encryption (the free version offers only 64-bit) and the ability to encrypt the subfolders of an encrypted folder.
Finally, let's look at that Windows 2000 exception. To encrypt a file or folder on a drive in the NT File System format, right-click it and select Properties. Click the Advanced button on the General tab (yes, it should be on the Security tab). Then check Encrypt contents to secure data, click OK twice, and answer any resulting questions. Items that you encrypt will be accessible only when you type in your password at the Windows log-on screen.
The Best Way to Uninstall
Is it preferable to uninstall a program by using Windows' Add/Remove Programs utility in Control Panel or by using the uninstall program that came with the application itself?
Spencer Epply, Elkins, West Virginia
It doesn't make any difference. Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet simply launches the uninstall routine that came with the program. If the program has an uninstall option in the Start menu, it will run the same process as Add/Remove Programs.
One problem with Add/Remove Programs is that it often lists programs you've already uninstalled. To clean it, use Tweak UI, Microsoft's free Windows enhancement. Once you've installed Tweak UI, load it from Control Panel and click the Add/Remove tab to clean up your list of installed programs.
Easy CD-R Slide Shows
Is there a way to put together my digital photos as a slide show that I can distribute on CD-R discs to friends and relatives?
Charles G. Landis Jr., Yoe, Pennsylvania
You need a program that you can freely distribute without violating any licensing agreements, and that your friends and relatives can easily run. I suggest Lars P. Jeppesen's LPJ-Slideshow, which has the added benefit of being free for noncommercial use. Download LPJ-Slideshow at our Downloads library or from Jeppesen's site.
LPJ-Slideshow is simple to use: Just put the program files and photos in the same folder. Launch the program, and you get a slide show (see Figure 1). One of the program files, SlideShow.ini, allows you to configure your presentation. You can, for instance, change the slide display order--it's all documented in the file. When people view the slide show, an on-screen menu tells them how to control it.
Start by setting up a folder on your hard drive. Put the Slideshow program files and your pictures into this folder, and launch SlideShow.exe to preview your show. You can copy the folder and its contents to a CD-R disc when you're satisfied.
To make LPJ-Slideshow launch automatically when users put the CD into their drive, you need to create a very small file. Open a new file in Notepad or any other text editor and enter these two lines:
[autorun]
open=slideshow
Save the file with the name autorun.inf and put it in the same folder that the pictures and program occupy. Once this file, along with all the others, is moved to the CD, it will autolaunch your slide show every time the CD is placed in a drive. The folder with the autorun.inf file and all the other slide-show files must be located in the CD's root directory, not in a subfolder of another folder on the root directory.
More Tools Not in Win Me
In "Windows 98 Utilities Missing in Windows Me?" [April 2001 Answer Line], you didn't discuss Microsoft Fax. Unlike previous versions, Windows Me does not include a fax program. What happened?
Harvey Nice, Lake Forest, Illinois
I keep discovering additional Windows 9x utilities that Microsoft left out of Windows Me. While excising Fax from Me, Microsoft also removed the Backup and QuickView utilities from the new OS.
Microsoft's simple, no-nonsense Fax program was an integral part of Windows 95. The company hid it on the Windows 98 CD-ROM (see "Where's Microsoft Fax?" in the January 2000 Answer Line), made it visible again in Windows 2000, and removed it entirely from Windows Me. In fact, the old Microsoft Fax won't work in Windows Me--"by design," according to Microsoft.
An alternative is RKS Software's $20 Mighty Fax shareware program (available at PCWorld.com's Downloads library and from the vendor), which receives and sends faxes from any Windows program you can print from.
The retail and upgrade versions of Windows Me have Microsoft Backup on the CD-ROM. Open the CD-ROM's Add-ons\Msbackup folder and double-click the file Msbexp.exe to install it. Note, however, that the backup program that came with your tape, CD-R, or Zip drive is almost certainly better than Microsoft Backup.
Windows 9x's QuickView won't work at all with Windows Me. An alternative file viewer is Ontrack's $20 PowerDesk Pro. PowerDesk Pro's file viewers are more extensive and more versatile than those in QuickView, but you can only view files from within PowerDesk. You can't right-click to view an e-mail attachment or, say, a file on your desktop. If you want to evaluate Powerdesk Pro, download the free, basic version, Powerdesk 4.
Print Each Folder's Size
How can I print a listing of my hard drive's folders that shows the size of each one--including each folder's files and subfolders?
John Murphy, Tewksbury, Massachusetts
Windows doesn't provide this capability, so try Berger Laurent's free Folder Size Shell Extension instead. Folder Size Shell Extension adds a Size tab to your folder- and drive-property dialog boxes. Right-click the drive, select Properties, and click the Size tab to see the information you need. Choose the Options button and select Save in a File (see Figure 2) to save the data in a text file. Open the file in any program that can print it.
Send your questions to answer@pcworld.com. Answer Line pays $50 for published items. You can find Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector's humorous writing at www.thelinkinspector.com.
Word Templates on the Start Menu
Do you use different Microsoft Word templates for different types of documents--say, one for letters and another for reports? If you do, and if you use Windows Me or 2000, you can launch your templates from your Start menu. In Windows Explorer, go to the folder holding your templates (probably C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates). Then drag the Templates folder itself to your Start button. You'll get a new Templates submenu off the Start menu. Select any option in this submenu, and Word will launch a blank document with the template's formatting.