Rose Vines finds bugs and provides fixes and workarounds for your favourite applications.

Embed with Microsoft
Microsoft's Internet Explorer has spawned the latest in its list of security flaws. This one's called the 'embed issue' because hackers have found a way to use the embed HTML tag to upload code that can be run on a user's machine.

You're only at risk from an embed attack if you're using Internet Explorer 4 or 4.01 on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4, IE 4 on Unix, or IE 3 or 4 on a Mac. With other versions of IE and on other platforms (Windows 3.1x, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 98) you're safe.

We've included updates for IE 4 and IE 4.01 on Win 95 and NT 4 on this month's PC User Offline CD-ROM.

If you're not sure which version of Internet Explorer you're running, you can find out by opening the Help Menu in IE and choosing the About Internet Explorer option. You'll see your version number in the dialogue box which is displayed. Alternatively, you can point your browser to www.microsoft.com/ie/security/?/ie/security/embed.htm. This page will check your browser/operating system combination and inform you if you're at risk. You'll also find updates for Macintosh and Unix computers on this page.

Stop stops dead
When you search for a non-existent Web address in Navigator 4.04, Navigator presents you with an error message "No DNS entry has been found" when it fails to find the address (the 'DNS' stands for domain name service). That's all well and good. But if you jump the gun and hit the Stop button before Navigator pops up the 'No DNS' message you'll disable Navigator's ability to search for any addresses.

The cure is to wait for the 'No DNS' message even when you realise you've typed in an incorrect URL. If you do hit Stop before the message appears, you'll need to relaunch Navigator/Communicator before you type new URLs.

Update installation error
Some people are finding they get a Fatal Exception when they try to install the Symantec WinFax Pro 8.03 update.

If this happens to you:

1. Close Windows 95 using the Restart option.
2. When the system reboots, first close any running programs.
3. Locate the file patch803.exe on the drive from which you installed the update (you can use the Start Menu, Find, Files or Folders option to search for the file).
4. Double-click patch803.exe to install the patch.

 

Sending and receiving simultaneously
If a new fax arrives while Microsoft Fax is processing an outgoing fax, the program may crash and you might encounter a fatal exception error.

To try to avoid this, increase the number of rings before Microsoft Fax picks up the line:

1. Open the Control Panel by selecting Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Mail and Fax icon.
3. Choose Microsoft Fax, click the Properties button, select the Modem tab, and choose the modem that you use to answer faxes.
4. Choose Properties and in the Properties box increase the number of rings. Don't increase the number by too many rings, or the calling fax may give up and hang up the line.

 

Continuing recalculation woes
We've already reported on the recalculation flaws in Microsoft's Excel 97. More problems have surfaced since then, forcing Microsoft to introduce another patch.

Unfortunately, this new patch doesn't seem to catch all the recalculation bugs either and Microsoft is planning a further patch soon.

In the meantime, you can use the current patch (available on this month's cover CD-ROM) to prevent most of the problems.

Make sure you already have Office Service Release 1 installed before you install the patch. You can then check whether you're experiencing one of the resistant bug strains by trying the following:

1. Type the following into a workbook:

A1: 1
A2: 2
A3: 3

2. In A4, type: =SUM(A1:A3)

3. Select A1:A4 and drag the fill handle into B1:C4.

4. Insert two columns at C.

5. Select B1:B4 and drag the fill handle into C1:D4.

6. Change A3 and drag the fill handle into B3:E3.

If E4 doesn't recalculate, you need to try one of the workarounds below (and modify it to suit your worksheet):

1. Select cell A1, and on the Edit menu, click Replace.

2. In Find what and Replace with, type: =

3. Click Replace All. This will refill the correct formula.

Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Alt+F9 to initiate a full recalculation of all cells in the worksheet. This forces a recalculation of your current worksheet, and you must repeat it each time you change data in a worksheet affected by the bug.

Pasting from Word into Excel
Excel 97 may baulk if you try to paste text from Microsoft Word which resembles a formula. For instance, text beginning with =, -, + or ^AT^ may cause Excel to display a page fault or invalid instruction message if you try to paste it into Excel using Paste Special, Text.

To avoid the error message, delete any opening operators before you paste the text.

Sorting malfunction
In FrontPage 98 you can, apparently, sort discussion Webs in chronological or reverse chronological order. There's a minor hitch: the newest-to-oldest option doesn't work.

Microsoft isn't planning a fix for this bug. Instead, it will remove the feature in future versions.

Out-of-sync TOC
You may find the framed and unframed discussion Web tables of contents provide different results in FrontPage 98.

There's a fix available for anyone running the FrontPage server extensions on NT/IIS (www.microsoft.com/frontpage/wpp/default.htm), with a Unix server fix still to come.