Q. I am a very computer-savvy person, but I’m having a problem that has me stymied. I use Eudora 5.1 for my e-mail. All of a sudden, my address book won’t open. It thinks it’s open, but all I get is a tiny blue window. I cannot drag any of the borders for this tiny box. I can move the tiny box, but that’s all.
I have checked the eudora.ini file to see if there is a line defining the address book window size or position, but I have not found that. I would think that might help, but I’m at a loss to find it or know what it should read.
I’ve been using Eudora for roughly 10 years and this is the first time this has happened. Got any ideas? Am I forgetting something obvious?
Robin Horne, Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.
A. I don’t know how obvious this fix was, R.H., but I can tell you I found it by combing through the stacks of help files on the Web site that Qualcomm Inc. set up for its popular e-mail alternative to Microsoft Outlook. You are indeed computer-savvy and were very close to an answer by focusing on that eudora.ini file.
It would seem that a bug in the Eudora code makes the address book window clam up if the setting for one of the “splitter” lines that separate various bits of data gets dragged out of bounds.
The fix is to open that file you already suspected and look for a line that says NicknamesWindowSplitterPosition and delete it, then save the changes. Now go to the directory with that INI file and look for one called nndbase.toc, and delete that file.
When you restart the software, Eudora will restore the address book display to its default settings and it will open fine.
It looks like this is a very rare issue, but to be doubly safe I’d say take it easy while moving those splitter lines in the future, eh?
Q. Hopefully you can help solve my problem. I am using Windows 98, and I recently upgraded my Norton AntiVirus by downloading the Norton Internet Security system. Since then I am unable to access my games, FreeCell, Hearts and Solitaire. I can play them until the Internet Security boots up and then I get an error message: This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
Under details it says FreeCell caused a general protection fault in module freecell.exe. Any help you can give will be appreciated.
Ken Tanner @charter.net
A. I spent some time searching Symantec’s Web site database of bug fixes and found that this problem happens occasionally after customers use the Clean Sweep function built in to Norton Internet Security. The suggested fix is pretty complex because it involves finding and renaming and deleting key files, then editing the Windows system registry. You can find directions to do this at this address: http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/cle answeep.nsf/docid/1999012611114428. Or you can go to Symantec.com and type the search term csinject .exe to find the fix.
Sadly, it is so complicated you might consider just disabling Norton when you play games and rerun it afterward.
And now today’s sermon:
Doesn’t it gall you, Mr. T., that if you went to Symantec’s Web site where the Norton line of PC and Mac utilities are supported, you would be told you’d need to pay to get a live human being to try to fix this problem–even though it seems to be caused by Symantec’s own software?
It bothers me because this situation means that the company actually has a motive to let bugs continue to hatch because they make money fixing them case by case.
Is this like finding the pest-control guy behind your house dumping a can of termites?
———-
Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoates@tribune.com or via snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.
