I made the Windows Fax and Picture viewer my default for opening my e-mail attachments. It doesn’t do the job and I want to change the viewer to another. I cannot get into the “Open With” pop-up to uncheck the box that makes this permanently my default viewer. Any ideas how I can get this pesky problem solved?

-John Wooters verizon.net



Usually one can access this “Open With” command to change the program used to run a given file simply by giving the icon for the targeted file a right-click with the mouse. Sometimes, as you’ve learned, Mr. W., there are changes made to the Windows settings that thwart this access to the “Open With” command.

When that happens it’s usually possible to get it back by moving the cursor arrow over the icon and giving a left-click to paint it. Then hold down the Shift key and give it a right-click. Almost always this will regain access to this command. As you say, this can be extremely important when a user wants to change the default for what viewer displays pictures, what word processing software opens RTF files and which browser opens HTM icons.

In rare cases, it is necessary to take a slightly more complex approach to regain the “Open With” tool. Open the My Computer icon and then select the Tools item in the menu bar. Scroll down to Folder Options and open it. In the box this summons, click on the File Types tab, where you will find a list of every file type installed on the computer. As you select the icon for any given file type, a line appears showing what program is set to open that file type. Next to this display is a Change button. Click there.

Now go down to the listing for whatever attachments whose association you want to change and select it and you will get the same box that comes up when the “Open With” command is working correctly.

Q. I just received my new Dell laptop that comes with a 40-gigabyte hard drive. However, I have only installed Microsoft Money and a few other programs, but half of the hard-drive space is already used by preinstalled programs.

How do I find out what programs are absolutely necessary versus those I can delete?

-Ephraim Turner msn.com

A. I’ll explain how to go about deleting undesired programs, but first let me urge you to chill out, Mr. T.

With 20 gb of storage remaining, your laptop probably will easily handle all of the business and home productivity files you’ll ever need with huge amounts of space left over. Unless you were to use the new machine to make lengthy movies or fill it with high-resolution image scans or such, 20 gb holds a mighty impressive amount of data.

For example: If you had a word processing file holding the King James Bible, it likely would consume somewhat less than 500 kilobytes – or half a megabyte. There are 999.5 more megabytes in just 1 of your remaining gigabytes of drive space. So in terms of text, each gigabyte holds the equivalent of 2,000 Bible-sized books.

Consider photographs. A typical high-resolution photograph file in the JPG format from a digital camera takes up between 150 and 200 kb. Your 20 gigs could soak up a whopping 80,000 or more of these files.

The average file for a single tune of recorded music takes up about 3 mb of drive space. Your drive has room for a bit more than 6,500 of these tunes. Figure 1,000 CDs worth of music storage capacity.

As to software, you’ll find that entire programs like Microsoft’s huge Office suite take up about 1 fat book’s worth of drive space. Microsoft Office Small Business Edition, for example, takes up a mere 560 mb. Most software takes far less drive space. The Microsoft Money program that you loaded needs a mere 2.5 mb on the drive.

All that said, the way to remove preloaded programs is to click on Start and then go to the Control Panel choice under that menu. Open the Control Panel called Add or Remove Software.

In this list of every program now loaded on your computer you can use a “Sort By” command in the upper right to list all your installed software by size.

Q. All the safety experts tell us not to open e-mail if we do not know the person who is sending it. In my Windows XP I have to highlight any mail that I want to delete.

When I highlight it, it opens it up. Is there a way to delete without doing this?

-Claudette Burkhart Frontiernet.net

A. You make an excellent point, Ms. B., but I’m sorry to report that while there is, indeed, a way to disable that so-called Preview Pane in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, precious few folks will want to do this. This tool that instantly displays the body of each e-mail message greatly simplifies the process of checking one’s messages. Switch it off and you’ll absolutely hate e-mail.

Instead of seeing at a glance whether the note is garbage or golden you’ll need to first read the subject line and then decide whether to open it. Each message you do open will come up in its own little box, and you’ll need to close them quickly or your screen space will be covered by individual messages.

So Open Outlook or Outlook Express and look for the View choice at the top of the display. In Outlook Express there is a choice for Layout in the View menu that pops down. Call it up and you’ll see a set of options, including a check box for the Preview Pane. Shut it down and your e-mail display will consist of line after line of subject headings that must be opened separately or deleted. In Outlook the option is called Reading Pane and it calls up choices to display it below, to one side or switch the pane off.

Most businesses have decided that the lost time when previews are disabled is more costly than the somewhat minimal risk from opening a note with one of the macro worms or blended viruses that can be activated upon opening a message. Most of the weaknesses that let hackers create these booby-trapped messages have been fixed by Microsoft and the makers of anti-virus programs.

(Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoatestribune.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 www.chicagotribune.com/askjim.)

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AP-NY-05-04-05 0637EDT