Q I use Microsoft Office at work, and when I start to compose a document, the text alignment defaults to the center position. I can use the alignment icon to align the text to the left, but I have to do that every time I start a document. How can I permanently restore the alignment to the left?
A If I ran Microsoft Corp., I would force the programmers who create and maintain Microsoft Word to put a red button labeled "Repair Tip" at the top of the screen.
When users click on that fat red icon, they would get something like this:
"Microsoft Word often gets messed up because users do something wrong while creating a document and then mistakenly save those bad changes in the master template for Word, which is a Word document called normal.dot. The fix always is the same: Find and rename the normal.dot template."
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When you do that, Word will start up the next time and create a new normal.dot template file with the default settings.
The best way to find normal.dot is to click on Start and then select Search. Search All Files and Folders for normal.dot.
Eventually, normal.dot will appear in the search results pane to the right of the display. When that happens, move the cursor to the normal.dot entry and right-click. In the pop-up box that appears, select the Rename option. Change the name to xnormal.dot. (In case there is something else in your normal.dot file that you must have, you can recover it by renaming xnormal.dot to normal.dot.)
Now reopen Word, and a new normal.dot file will be created and your problem will be gone.
Q I have been looking for some time for a simple, flexible database program and can't find one other than Microsoft Access. I find Access not intuitive and difficult to learn. I have been hoping that someone has written a database program that is as simple to master as Excel or Word.
A Happily, many computers come with the home office-oriented Microsoft Works program installed. Works includes a nifty database creator, along with a rudimentary word processor, a passable spreadsheet and a calendar-making module. The Works database lets one quickly create a data-entry display by laying out entry boxes for various fields.
If you lack Microsoft Works, there are many shareware database programs such as the $19 AZZ Cardfile (www.azzcardfile.com) that handles most of the basics, short of performing arithmetic. For $59.99, one can acquire DatabaseOasis (www.databaseoasis.com) from MK Software Solutions, which works like Microsoft Works but makes it easier to design customized graphics.
Both non-Microsoft products offer free trial downloads.
Q I keep getting a Runtime Message alert asking me if I want to debug. What does this mean, and should I be debugging?
A Your Web browser has been set by default to notify the user if it encounters instructions, known as scripts, on a Web page that are wrong. Because this has nothing to do with your computer, there is no reason to worry It is simple to just shut down the warnings. Open the Internet Explorer browser and select Tools and then Internet Options. Click on Advanced.
You need to find the three boxes that are concerned with script debugging and make sure all three are unchecked.