Gobbledygook
By Cate Eales
Appeared January 24, 2008 on castanet.net
Sometimes things just don't seem to make sense no matter
how hard you try. Here are some examples of computer Gobbledygook, and
ways to make sense of them.
He3-! 0y 3etters 3662 352e n40bers
Some laptop users will already know what that says. For the rest of you,
it says, "Help! My letters look like numbers."
If you're used to a full keyboard, with the special number keys off to the
right, you may not realize that most laptop keyboards have that keypad
too. The only difference is it's embedded in the regular keys. If you look
closely at the J, K, L, U, I, O, and P keys on a laptop, you'll see that
they also function as numeric keys.
Pressing a combination of keys turns on this "function."
Pressing the same combination of keys again restores them to their
original use. The problem is that sometimes laptop users hit that
combination accidentally. Suddenly you have numbers instead of letters,
you have no idea why, and you just want it to stop!
Well. On some computers, all you need to do is press the NUM or NumLock
key to activate/deactivate this behaviour. On mine, I have to press Fn +
F11. One of my clients has a laptop where it's a three-key combination and
it takes two hands!
To fix this problem, you need to know the right key combination. Consult
the manual that came with your computer. What? You don't have that handy?
Well, you need to call tech support if you still have any warranty left.
If you can't do that, try searching for the manual for your laptop online.
"But Cate," I hear you say, "My letters look like numbers!!! How can I
Google?"
No problem. Until you get back to normal, you can hold down the Fn (stands
for "Function") key when you need to type the letter instead of the
number. It's tedious, but, like riding on one of those silly-looking small
spare tires, it will do till you fix the problem.
Cage Match: MS Office 2007 vs Everyone Else
If you are starting to receive files with the mysterious .docx
extension, the person sending them probably has MS Office 2007. If you
have an earlier version of MS Office, you won't be able to do anything
with these files until you install the
MS Office Compatibility Pack, available here. Once you have that
installed, you can work with the new file formats.
Read more
here.
Unfortunately, there is no compatibility pack for OpenOffice users.
(Expect OpenOffice 3, due out in September to include the ability to deal
with MS Office 2007 files.) There are no good workarounds that I know of,
including
these suggestions from the OpenOffice people.
If you have Office 2007, you can learn how to make your documents
compatible with older version, thus making life easier for everyone,
here. It couldn't hurt, and OpenOffice users will be able to read your
documents.
Winmail.dat files are unreadable
You bet they are. The only email program that can deal with
winmail.dat files is the program that sends the doggone things -- MS
Outlook. (NOT Outlook Express, that's a different program.)
Outlook uses the winmail.dat file to preserve fonts, colours, and other
customizations. But the rest of us just receive an attachment called
winmail.dat. If you get an email with such an attachment, you can
generally ignore it (the attachment, that is. The email might be an
invitation to a movie or something, and you wouldn't want to ignore THAT!)
If you really, really want to read that attachment, try one of the
programs
here.
If you must use Outlook, at least configure it not to send those
attachments to the rest of us. Send your messages in Plain Text and we'll
all be able to read them, even other Outlook users.
Thank you everyone who wrote with questions, comments, and suggestions. I
appreciate the time it takes you to read the column and write the email.
Please keep the email coming, to
cate@rlis.com. You can also
browse the column archives at any time by pointing your browser here.
Don't forget our special offer of a 10% discount
through January 31, 2008. Just mention this column when you
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Links
MS Office Compatibility Pack
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
How to use earlier versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word to open and
save files from 2007 Office programs
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924074
OpenOffice can't read MS Office 2007 docs
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/FAQ/General#How_do_I_open_Microsoft_Office_2007_files.3F
Compatibility
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100444751033.aspx
What is the Winmail.dat file attached to my incoming emails?
http://www.pchell.com/support/winmaildat.shtml
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives
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---
Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible
and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric,
and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions,
helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware
eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image
management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management.
Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your
comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit
the Real Life Internet Solutions website at
www.rlis.com.
©
Cate Eales 2008 – All Rights Reserved
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