IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Is there a type of email that has a time expiry to it – so that it refuses to allow itself to be seen again after a particular elapsed time after viewing it ?

But no matter how many time we do go back, that same message is all we get.

The problem is the email, or the images in it, are hosted on your friend’s server. This means the email isn’t actually on your machine, but sits on your friend’s Internet provider’s server.

It is possible your friend’s ISP has deleted the message however it might also be the email program you are using is blocking access for security reasons.

Try opening your email account through webmail and see if it works.

Incidentally, this problem can also appear with Firefox not displaying certain web pages or images. Internet Explorer doesn’t seem to have this problem. Again, this is probably a security issue.

All told, it might be better to get your friend to re-send the message and to make sure any images are embedded in the document.

I can receive email through Outlook express but can’t send so I have to go through my server account which receives and sends. What is the problem please and how can get back sending through Outlook ?

Philip

Hi Philip,

This sounds like a firewall problem. The firewall has decided it doesn’t trust Outlook Express to send data so it blocks access to the net.

To resolve this, you’ll have to reset the firewall, tell it to trust your email provider or manually allow Outlook Express to send outbound data.

With the built in Windows firewall, you can allow this by clicking Start, Settings and opening the Control Panel. In there, you can go to Window Firewall.

In the Windows Firewall settings, click on the Exceptions tab, scroll down to Outlook Express and ensure it is ticked. In the advanced scope section ports 21 and 25 should be allowed from all Internet addresses.

If you are using a different firewall, you’ll have to check Outlook Express is listed as a trusted application. You should also add your Internet provider’s mail server as a trusted address.

Usually we find it’s easier to just reset the firewall and then put up with two days of being nagged when your computer tries to get anything off the network or Internet.

Troubleshooting these programs can be difficult as every one is different, if you do find yourself stuck then you should call for a tech to help out.

I can only get to the internet via dial-up as I live outside a country town too far from the exchange for ADSL.

My problem is quite often my connection is clogged up with (I assume) downloading updates for the various “nasty checkers” I have loaded, ie. the status window is showing constant traffic in both directions (mainly down). Is there any way that I can check what this traffic is and where its coming from, and how to stop it until I don’t have more pressing matters.

There are a number of programs that can do this for you. A favourite free one is Netlimiter. However the results won’t tell you much unless you are an experienced computer user.

Unfortunately a lot of websites and Internet applications are demanding on your Internet connect and require a broadband connection to get all their info down.

Another problem is many applications are constantly ringing home to check for updates. It’s best to turn off automatically loading programs like Quick Time, Real Player and Java that can slow your computer down. We describe how to use the Microsoft System Configuration Manager to turn these off in a previous post.

You can also disable the Windows automatic update by going into the Control Panel, by clicking the Start Button, Settings and Control Panel. Then choosing Automatic Updates and changing the setting to “Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them”.

Finally, you might have a virus or trojan infection on your computer. We’d recommend following our removing a Trojan instructions to make sure your computer is clean.

If all of this is too much, you may want to call in a computer tech to have a look at how your computer’s performance can be improved.

I can’t open Ebay or Hotmail websites. Other sites open fine. What can be causing this

There’s a couple of problems that can be causing this. We’ll start with the obvious.

Clear the cache
Web browsers store a copy of websites they visit to speed up subsequent visits. The idea is that many features of a website don’t change between visits so saving the site will save downloading information already on the computer.

Sometimes, one of those downloaded files gets damaged and messes up that website. To fix this, we clear the cache.

In Internet Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options and in the General tab, click the Delete Files button under “Temporary Internet Files”. When the confirmation box appears, click tick the “delete Offline files” button and click okay.

Check for spyware
These problems can be spyware related, follow our above advice to Sharon in clearing a spyware infection.

Test your security software
This sort of problem can be caused by an enthusiastic firewall, antivirus program or spyware program. Try disabling your security programs for a minute and try connecting without them running. If you can access the pages, then you’ll need to contact the program vendor to add the websites to the program’s trusted list.

Download the latest Java engine
Sometimes these problems are caused by a damaged Java installation. This can be fixed by downloading and installing the latest Java installation. When you download it, choose not to bother with unnecessary extras like the Google toolbar.

Update the Windows Scripting Host
The Windows Scripting Host is another program that can mess up. To fix this, download and install the latest Windows Scripting Host. You’ll need to restart the computer after running the installation program.

We also had a problem some time back where the Internet Explorer phishing filter affected MSN in a similar way. It may be worthwhile checking this problem.

If the problem continues, you may have to contact a computer tech to check your system.

I keep in touch with a friend in the U.K through Windows Live Messenger. For some reason, when connected, he can see me but I cannot see him although we can both hear each other.

It does not appear to be a fault with the Webcam as I also have Skype and have no problem with Video or Audio with that.

The fact it is working in Skype, says the problem is with Windows Live Messenger. It may well be your firewall or router is stopping some Windows Live Messenger traffic as Messenger uses different ports to Skype.

Microsoft have a knowledge base article about this on their website. It appears you need to setup a rule allowing incoming UDP traffic on all ports between 5004 through 65535.

You may have to consult your router or firewall instructions for setting up port forwarding or call a computer tech to do this for you.

I am currently with Telstra broadband but about to move house and cannot get broadband due to no available ports at local exchange, I am not sure wether to go back to dial-up or go to wireless. I am not a big user up to about 150 mgbs usually. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou
Lyn

First Lyn, you don’t have to accept Telstra is the only DSL provider at your local exchange. The website Broadband Choice, lists the operators who have installed equipment at your local exchange. Just enter your phone number and the list of available companies will come up.

If Telstra are the only operator at your local exchange, then we’d suggest investigating wireless. Keep in mind that if you are outside a metropolitan area, you might find your options are limited. Many wireless connections are little better than dial up.

Should you choose to go with dial up, we would suggest contacting companies like Optus, Internode, iiNet and TPG. These companies are rolling out their own ADSL equipment and if they are aware of areas where Telstra is not meeting the demand then they will add your exchange to their list.

I’m receiving advertising messages from people through Skype. How do I stop this?

One of the irritants with Internet messaging is the amount of spam you receive. Regardless of whether you use email, instant messaging or anything else, as soon as your address is public, idiots will spam you.

Skype is a great service but its chat function not immune to this problem and can be a security risk.

We recommend restricting Skype chat to your contacts, that way only the people you know can talk to you. To do this, open Skype, click Tools, then Options, select the Privacy tab and tick the boxes that allow only people from your contacts to call or chat to you.

We discuss a specific problem with Skype on our Cranky Tech blog and this problem is discussed in depth on our PC Rescue website.

 Hi I have always used sygate personal firewall rather than windows on all my computers with no probs, however I installed it on my dell inspiron laptop when mcafee expired and it doesnt want to allow my wireless network connection or my modem and therefore I cant access the net.

 

They both work perfectly once I remove it from the computer. This is with windows firewall turned off.

 

Any suggestions as it means I can only use the windows firewall which I am a bit dubious about.

Sygate Personal Firewall is a favourite program of ours and it was a sad day when it disappeared into the maw of Symantec. It was probably the most configurable and powerful of the consumer firewall products. However the nature of firewall is that if they go wrong, then the Internet and network stop.

The first thing you need to do is to uninstall McAfee. If you have already done this, we’d recommend you download and run the McAfee Removal Tool just to be on the safe side.

Once you’ve done this, restart the computer. If the problem hasn’t cleared uninstall, reboot and reinstall Sygate.

The clue to diagnosing Sygate problems is the icon in the task bar. If the icon is showing the “blocked” symbol then it is blocking all network traffic. Right-click on the icon and select “Normal”.

If the problem still continues, then right-click  the Sygate icon again and choose “options”. Check that the Sygate Personal Firewall service is ticked to automatically load, in the Security section click the button that reads “reset all fingerprints for all applications”. This will drive you mad with prompts but it may be blocked programs that are stopping you from getting on to the net.

The final option to tick allow all the Network Neighborhood settings on all the adapters. You’ll find this in the Network Neighborhood tab. We don’t recommend this as a long term solution if you are connecting directly to the Internet.

An excellent resource for Sygate Personal Firewall is at the Sygate Basics site. This covers all the settings in the Pro version.

Firewalls can be funny beasts and you sometimes find they just won’t play properly regardless of what you do. If you find problems continue then you might want to consider another firewall. PC Tools has a free firewall which may work better.

I’m using Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1. The system is often very slow changing from one page to another, especially on Ebay.

I can select a favourite search in MyEbay and the new page sits there blank white with an hourglass and no activity on the data in & out meter. Hit refresh and it comes up immediately for a second and then goes blank again. This has lost us a few good buys on Ebay cause it wouldn’t go to the next page quickly.

Progressively getting worse, used to be perfect. Now on 1500k/sec connection.

Ta Geoff

Hi Geoff, we assume you are using Internet Explorer. It’s possible the phishing filter is interfering with the site. We’ve discussed this previously where it’s caused problems and we’d suggest turning it off.

You may want to check you aren’t infected with spyware. One favourite trick of spyware writers is to redirect web browsers so it looks like they are coming from somewhere else and this is exactly the sort of problem they can create. Try the XCleaner online scan tool.

Other things that could be causing it are toolbars with various phishing and malware filters. The Google and Yahoo! toolbars are quite capable of this. You can either uninstall them or disable them.

I have Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Am trying to type in Mandarin Chinese Characters.
Used \”Text Services and Input Languages Services\” pop-up under \”settings\” of \”language bar\” to install.
Chinese PRC Handwriting Recognition and Keyboard (Microsoft IME 3.0) are installed and typing in Chinese is possible, however, when it is sent as an e-mail, no character encoding recognises the characters typed.
In the past this was not a problem when I had IME under Windows ME operating system.

It sounds like formatting problem in your email program. If you are sending in plain text or Rich Text, it’s unlikely the characters will translate properly.

The solution is to send the email in HTML format. If you are using Microsoft Outlook it’s important also to turn off using Word as an email editor. We’ve found Word has a habit of slowing Outlook and mangling emails in this sort of situation.