Is there a program available to restrict the e-mail messages coming to me that would filter out all except those from whom I want messages? I use Outlook Express, and I can make a listing of those I do not want, but I am looking for the opposite approach – to list only those I do want. All others would be returned to sender automatically.
A. You found half the answer on your own, so all I need to fill in is that a part of the Outlook Express software allied with the denial module you have installed lets users stipulate the names of those from whom they want e-mail.
With your approved list of entries and your current denial settings, your machine will be a far better tool.
So set aside e-mail addresses from whom you want to hear. Now open Outlook Express and click on Tools, then select Message Rules. This brings up a wizard to censor stuff. Click on the first box, “When the From line contains people.” Now click on the underlined words “contains people” in the box below. This summons a box where you type in the e-mail addresses you want. Or you can click a button to add people in your Address Book to the list.
Close the input box, and then select “Move it to the specified folder” in the next box of the Message Rules display. Look in the box at the bottom for the words “Specified Folder” and click that. This summons a box that lets you make a new folder for the desired folks.
That’s all you need to do.
Now you can get your friends’ notes without interruption while keeping the Inbox and the folder for the diverted messages.
Q. I have recently acquired my aunt’s old 8mm projector and home movies. I remember watching these movies as a child and would like to preserve and transfer them to digital. I don’t want to send the films out to be copied.
I’ve heard too many horror stories about the original films not being returned and the final product being poor quality.
A. I’ve had pretty good luck sending aging movie reels to commercial outfits for digitization, so that would have been my suggestion had you not ruled it out.
So I’ve got an alternative.
A lot of folks with this problem have gotten adequate results by simply projecting old movies on a bright screen in a dark room while copying them with a digital camcorder on a tripod directly behind the projector.
When done correctly, a digital camera or camcorder can be set to exactly frame the screen and make passable copies. Doing this can require a bit of experimenting with the white background settings and other adjustments on one’s camcorder.
