Dear George: "I purchased a Dell Dimension L800r from Dell Computer earlier this year. It has MS Office Small Business Edition 2000 factory installed. Everything ran just fine for several months. Then, suddenly, the Office Tool Bar disappeared from the desktop. This was after an elderly house guest used the computer for several days to check her e-mail. I suspect she clicked something she shouldn't have. I called Dell Tech Help. I was told to go to Start, click "Run," and then type in "msconfig." I did that. Everything was properly checked. The technician said the only other thing I could do was call Dell Software Support. That carries a fee of $20. Do you have any idea how I can get the Office Tool Bar to appear on my desktop again? It was so handy to be able to click on Word, Excel, Publisher, etc." – Reluctant Hostess

Dear Reluctant: Open Windows Explorer. Scroll down to Program Files, and then select Microsoft Office. Next select the "1033" folder. Locate the "Msoffice.exe" file. Open it. A small window will appear. It asks if you want to configure the Office Shortcut Bar to start automatically whenever Windows is started. I'm somewhat reluctant to give you this advice. It seems to me, that whenever I deal with "Office" problems that Office Shortcut Bar is lurking in the background. I might be wrong. I keep my most frequently used shortcuts in my Taskbar. You can drag and drop those shortcuts you listed to the Taskbar. Put it on Autohide (Start, Settings, Taskbar and Start Menu…). It will only appear when your cursor enters the bottom of your screen.

Dear George: "I'm still experiencing problems with Microsoft Word 2000. It is taking longer, and longer to load. It also takes what seems to be too long to close. You suggested I do a 'Files or Folders' search for 'Normal.dot' in Windows Explorer. In Windows Explorer I selected 'Tools,' then 'Find.' Next I selected 'Files or Folders.' I entered 'Normal.dot' making sure the 'Include subfolders' boxed was checked. I found one file named 'Normal.dot.' I selected it then right-clicked the mouse. I clicked on 'Properties.' The next screen says that Normal.dot is 13.9 MB. Is abnormal?" – Normal

Dear Normal: That seems a bit over-sized for the Normal template. It usually contains around 59KB (Kilobytes) instead of 13.9MB (Megabytes). You may have an 'Option" turned on that is adding to the Normal template file size. In the meantime, run your search again. When you locate 'Normal.dot' right click on it. This time, either rename the file or simply delete it. The next time you run Word it should load much faster. It will also consume far fewer of your system resources.

Dear George: "I have a desktop computer assigned to me at my real estate office. I have another desktop computer at home. I use Windows 98 on both computers. I also use Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition on both. However, there are times when I am at home that I need a file on my local drive at the office. Or, when I'm at the office I need to read how I responded to a client from home when I forgot to CC: myself.

Is there an inexpensive solution that is easy to use?" – Hopeful

Dear Hopeful: Take a look at www.GoToMyPC.com . You can download it and get a free trial or, skip the trial and purchase. You would need only one computer set up with the software. I suggest you make that your home computer. When you need to access your home computer from the office, just get on the Web. Enter www.gotomypc.com and login. I have found the service to be reliable and every bit as responsive as Laplink Professional or PCAnywhere. The major "plus" to this application is that you literally control the remote desktop. I have not yet found a function or an application I cannot launch or access from a remote location. The quoted cost per month for one computer as of 06/17/01 is $19.95 per month ($9.95 per month if you're willing to pay for 12 months in advance).

Dear George: "I am a practicing real estate broker. About a year ago I was sitting in my doctor's waiting room. I read an article about digital cameras. The article also showed stuff about displaying digital pictures. There was one item that captured my attention. It also seemed reasonably priced. I recall it was around $229. It was a digital picture frame that can display numerous pictures. It calls this Web site, and then downloads the next set of pictures. You can also set it to simply continue showing the same set of pictures. I was emptying an old purse when I ran across the note I jotted to myself about this item. Is there any chance you know what I'm describing? It's almost not fair of me to ask you, but I'm asking anyway." – Asking

Dear Asking: No problem. I entered "digital picture frames" into the Yahoo.com search site. It returned three sites. From your description, I think the one you are seeking is www.ceiva.com . In addition to the purchase price of the "picture frame" a subscription to the Ceiva Network to download photos and access Ceiva channels is required. An annual fee of $49.95 for network access is quoted on Ceiva's Website. That is in addition to the cost of $199.00 quoted on Ceiva's Website for the picture frame. I have not used this product, although it sounds and looks like it might be a really cool tool. Have any of our readers had experience (good or not so good) with this product? The Ceiva Website states its frame is also sold in retail outlets such as Circuit City, GoodGuys.com, Gateway Country, MicroCenter, RCS, Amazon.com, Buy.com and others.

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George Stephens welcomes your tech questions by e-mail. Because of the volume of mail received, questions cannot be answered individually.

Published: June 29, 2001

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

George C. Stephens, CRB is the Broker of deRaat Stephens, Inc. dba ERA Stephens Properties and the Director of Compliance for eRealty, Inc. Stephens served as 1998 Chairman of the 13,000+ member Houston Association of REALTORS® and is the Vice Chairman of HAR’s wholly owned subsidiary, e-Har, Inc. He is the 2001 Secretary/Treasurer of the 50,000+ member Texas Association of REALTORS® and TAR’s 2002 Chairman-Elect. Stephens holds a Texas Real Estate Broker license as well as a Texas Mortgage Broker License.