You Have (Voice) Mail: Windows Can E-Mail Recorded Messages

Question: I use e-mail to keep in touch with friends and family abroad and here at home. As popular as e-mail is, I think it’s a bit impersonal. Will we ever have voice or v-mail?

--Robert P., Santa Monica

Answer: Yes, and you have it now. Windows 95 and 98 have sound-recording capabilities built in. You’ll need a microphone plugged into your sound card to record your voice message. The recipient of your “voicemail” needs a sound card and speakers to hear your recorded message. You can record messages of up to 60 seconds in length, and attach them to e-mail messages. It’s easy.

First, click on Start and then on Programs. Open Accessories and then select Entertainment. Click on Sound Recorder. In the lower right corner of the Sound Recorder window, click on the red Record button. You can now record 60 words of wisdom in your own voice. Click the Record button again to end the recording. If your message is less than 60 seconds, click on the square black Stop button to the left of the Record button.

Q: What is a Fat 32 File System in Windows? Should I use it?

--Adam L., Tarzana

A: To understand the benefits of Windows Fat 32 File System, you’ll first need to know that Windows uses “clusters” on your hard drive to store information. The larger the hard drive, the larger the minimum-size cluster becomes. Large hard drives use clusters that are as much as eight times the size of clusters on smaller drives. This amounts to a large waste of hard-disk space.

While Windows 95 did have a Fat 32 File System, it didn’t work very well. Windows 98 fixed those problems and by using the Fat 32 file system on a large hard drive you can reclaim as much as 25% to 30% more disk space. If you upgraded from Windows 95 to Windows 98, click on Start and then on Programs. Click on Accessories and then select System Tools. Click on Drive Converter (Fat 32) to bring up the drive converter wizard. If you are using disk compression, Fat 32 will not work.

If your computer came with Windows 98 installed, Fat 32 already may be enabled. To check, right-click on My Computer and then click Properties. Click the Performance tab. You will see the file system listed as 16-bit or 32-bit.

Q: My computer is more than 3 years old and I’m sure that I have accumulated more files than I really need on my hard drive. Is there a way to get a printout of all files that now reside on that drive?

--Mark G., Pomona

A: Yes, you can print all or any part of a list of files and folders on your hard drive. First, click on Start and then on Run. Type COMMAND and click OK. Type DIR C: /S >C:DIRLIST and press Enter. (The > character can be made by hitting shift and period.) When you see the DOS prompt again, type EXIT and press Enter to return to Windows. The DIR command you just typed in created a directory listing of your hard drive. The /S switch tells DOS to include all subdirectories (folders) while the >C:DIRLIST redirects the list to a file named DIRLIST that will be saved on your hard drive.

Now, open your word processor and open the file. For example, if you use Microsoft Word, click on File and then on Open. Type in C:DIRLIST and click OK. You now have the list on your screen. The list sorts folders and files within those folders in alpha order.

Q: My work requires that I travel back and forth between several states. Is there a way I can get my e-mail without having to have a local dial-up number to my Internet service provider from wherever I am?

--Audry J., Los Angeles

A: The easiest way to always have access to your e-mail from anywhere is to use an e-mail account on a Web site. Microsoft’s Hotmail and Yahoo mail are good examples. You can get to your e-mail messages from any computer that has access to the Net. Take a look at https://www.emailaddresses.com for a fairly complete listing.

Q: In using my word processor I frequently need to highlight various things so I can cut, paste or copy. Is there an easy way to highlight words, sentences, paragraphs and pages?

--D.C., Riverside

A: To highlight a single word, place your cursor over the word and double click. To highlight a single line, place your cursor to the left of the line. Your cursor will change to an arrow. Click once to highlight the line. Double click to highlight the paragraph.

To highlight an entire area of text, click once at the beginning of the text. Hold down a Shift key, scroll down to the end of the text you wish to highlight, and click again. To highlight an entire document, place the cursor anywhere in the document and press the Ctrl + A keys.

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Jeff Levy hosts the “On Computers” radio talk show from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday on KFI-AM (640). He can be reached at jefflevykfi@hotmail.com.