Q–I have a couple of lists of names and e-mail addresses in text files. Is there any software out there that will compare list A with list B and highlight the duplicates? Is there software that will alphabetize a combined list? We’re trying to find a way to eliminate duplications and have a consolidated list.
Eric P. Canada, Wheaton
A–Mr. Computer Answer Person has your answer. It’s a bit complicated, but I suspect hearing it will offer a potent new tool to a great many PC owners.
A little-known secret among the world’s data droids is how just about any spreadsheet program you care to name offers instant, albeit down-and-dirty, fixes for joining data files together. The trick lies in importing whatever file you may have into the spreadsheet, which will, if done right, stick each element into a different cell: first name in row 1, last name in row 2, e-mail in row 3, and so forth.
Microsoft Excel does this particularly well. Use the File/Open command to import your “A” list into one spreadsheet. The Open command lets you choose a file type (text in your case) and then walks you through opening it so that each field goes in a different cell.
Once you get list “A” in the machine, copy that data into memory using “Control A” for Select All and “Control C” for copy all. Then open your “B” list the same way in a fresh spreadsheet.
Next move to the end of the “B” list and put your cursor in the first empty cell of the first empty row and hit “Control V” to paste the first list below the second.
All you need to do now is to go to the top of your combined spreadsheet and use the sort command to join both together in ascending or descending alphabetical order.
The duplicates will, of course, now be next to each other, allowing for a fast deletion of one of them.
Q–I have some great CD-Rs (compact disc recordable) that my old regular stereo system CD player won’t play. They play fine in my computer CD drive, but I have tiny awful computer speakers. Could you please tell me how to hook up my computer to my stereo system so that I can hear these music CD-Rs in their full glory?
My AUX input on the receiver needs RCA jack inputs, but that’s not the kind of output on the back of my computer. Can I buy the correct cables at Radio Shack and can I somehow easily switch between diverting sound to the stereo and leaving it with the computer?
Lisa Kemper, Buffalo Grove
A–These CD-R drives that allow one to store music in computer-readable form using software like SuperPlanet’s CD Streamer are starting to win widespread acceptance. People who shunned playing music CDs on their PCs are being forced to rethink, despite such drawbacks as crummy computer speakers and being able to load only a single disc into a computer while almost all home players offer multiple CD caddies.
The Y-shaped connector you need is called a phono to RCA jack and is, indeed, sold at many electronics stores. The phono end goes into the Line Out on your sound card and you connect the red and white RCAs to your good music player.
Once you get your PC wired to the hi-fi, all you need to do is click on the speaker icon at the right-hand bottom of your screen and set the “Mute on” switch to cut off the computer sound and listen through the superior machine.
Q–My scanner, a Microtek Scanmaker E-6, has been nothing but problems and disappointments because the software seems so complicated. My son Pat, who is quite conversant with computers, has moderate success with it but even he admits that it is hard to use. The scanner seems to hold such promise. Do you have any suggestions to help out a 74-year-old who would love to be scanning items, photos, etc. for his family tree and specialty calendars and newsletters? The software I have is PhotoImpact, OCR Omni Page, Acrobat Reader.
Dan Paulson @aol.com
A–The bad news is how common your complaint has become in a world where low-cost scanners rank as the most briskly selling computer peripheral. In a marketplace with razor-thin profit margins, many sellers skimp on including the kind of software that normal people can actually use to tap the glorious powers of scanning all the paper of one’s life into a nice and tidy computer database.
Good news comes from corporate giant Xerox Corp., which for a pricey but possible $99 offers Pagis 2.0, a graphical interface for scanners. The software makes a snap out of sucking photos, faxes and printed stuff into one’s PC. It then keeps track of it all by creating thumbnail icons that are stored in a system of folders identical to the Explorer software already built in to Windows 95/98. Built-in TextBridge character recognition is the best of the breed and the bundle also includes MGI PhotoSuite, a slick photo manipulation and filing system that is particularly easy to use.
Q–I have a G3 Macintosh with WordPerfect 3.5, and the scrolling is awful. It goes so fast that I cannot get it to stop where I want. The only answer, so far, is to use the arrow keys to move one line at a time. Corel does not seem to have any fix for this on their Web site, so I thought you might know of a patch by someone else.
Carter Howard @interaccess.com
A–When passenger jets replaced prop jobs, the only answer to landing the high speed-birds was to make runways longer; as you note, your G3 Mac, which is faster than all but the hottest Wintel Pentiums, is a 747 trying to land on a dirt road called WP 3.5. I couldn’t find a single patch for you, but the experts I consulted pointed out that there really isn’t much sense owning such a beautiful machine as you do unless you spend a bit more and get it some software that fits.
Microsoft Office 98 for Mac is such a huge glob of computer code that it runs quite nicely on G3s and it brings you a wealth of word processing features and other software, such as Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Explorer, that will make that G3 really shine.
If you’re determined to stick with WP 3.5, why don’t you use the built-in Mac Teach Text/Simple Text software to create your text and then drop it into WP when it comes time to use the bells and whistles such as headers and footers, frames, etc., for printing?
Q–I recently read in your column about saving Favorites onto a floppy disk. It was just in time for me; I was getting a new hard drive and wanted to keep all my precious Favorites. Used your advice: My Computer, C: drive, Windows, Favorites, right click, send to A drive.
Now that I have my computer up and going, I’m lost. How do I load these precious Favorites back onto my hard drive, C, from my floppy disk, A? I feel like a dunce!
You’ve been so helpful and being an aging senior citizen novice, I need help!
Phyllis Mazur @chicagonet.net
A–The dunce isn’t the user, it’s the genius who built a machine that comes with a raft of unwritten rules such as the one you need to restore those Favorite Internet sites that you built up over many months of Web use and stored on a floppy.
Click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and then choose the A: drive and click on that icon to open a window for it.
Now go to the Start button at the bottom of the screen and right click there to call up the Explorer rather than the regular Start Menu.
Find the folder icon for Windows in Explorer and then open it. Now go back to the icon for the A: drive and drag the Favorites folder into the Windows Directory. You will get a message saying Favorites already exists, and you’ll need to approve an overwriting to finish the deed.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoates@tribune.com or snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611. If you think you’ve got a better answer to any of these questions, add your point of view at bancodeprofissionais.com/go/askjim.
