Suddenly, a problem with e-mail printout sizing

[packman 0]

Anyone experiencing any problems with the size of e-mail text, when it's printed out (File/Print)? I'm referring to Outlook Express 6 v.6.00.2800.1123, and working under Win2KSP4.

 

At the moment, whenever I print out an e-mail message, the body text gets printed out at the absolute maximum size, a size which is totally crazy. I've searched through all my Fonts settings in OE6's Tools/Options but can't find anything amiss. And this has only just started to happen. The only changes I've made recently have been some further security updates from the WU website.

 

Word documents and pdf documents all print out okay, at the correct text sizes, so it's obviously being caused by something in OE6.

 

Anybody got any ideas?

 

Have I inadvertently nudged a keyboard key(s) which has set this large font? If so, can somebody give me some guidance on correcting it, please?

 

 

[Sampson 0]

OE uses the Internet Explorer print engine, so you have to configure IE for printing before you print in OE. To do that, open Internet Explorer and click File | Page Setup.

 

The print font size is also affected by Internet Explorer. If the font is too large or too small, change the text size in Internet Explorer by clicking View | Text Size and then try printing again.

 

This is microsoft's take on it:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q276435

[packman 0]

Fixed! Many thanks, Sampson. The View/Text Size, in Internet Explorer, was set to a much larger size than normal and putting it back to the default size cured the printing problem in Outlook Express.

 

A bit odd, that, though. There are quite separate Text Size settings in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express (View/Text Size) and so one wouldn't normally expect that changing the text size in the browser would change the size of printout text from the e-mail client. Ah well, I guess it's just another Microsoft foible.

 

Incidentally, on the keyboard, should Num Lock be normally ON (once the PC has booted into Windows), or OFF? Or doesn't it matter? And what about Scroll Lock? I use a standard keyboard (no frills) and, earlier today, I'd had a small accident and spilt some fluid over the righthand side of it. In quickly cleaning it off (with the PC still on), several of the keys on the righthand side obviously got pressed randomly, and so that's why I wondered whether some of the keys were now left in non-default positions or that I'd perhaps activated some obscure function via a combination of keys.

[Sampson 0]

In XP normally when you boot up Num Lock and Scroll Lock are off. In 95, 98, ME - Num Lock is on. You can go to your BIOS to change the behavior of the keyboard also. Have been there and done that to the keyboard -- coffee, Coke, beer, you name it, I've spilled it. I had to take the thing apart (mine had a kind of tin foil inside). Used rubbing alcohol to clean it. Gave me a chance to vacuum the keys. Had great success with one machine. However, one keyboard had to be replaced - that was the beer spill. It worked but some keys just seemed not to make contact.

[packman 0]

Actually, it's Win2K that I'm using. I'll assume, then, that both Num Lock and Scroll Lock should be OFF, on my machine. Okay?

 

Yes, it was a small quantity of beer that got spilt. I could kick myself for letting it happen but you know how it is - I was just retrieving output from my printer, over to the right, and my hand just caught the glass, a glass with a thin stem. A chunkier glass wouldn't have knocked over.

 

Some of the fluid got into the number-pad on the RHS of the keyboard. I quickly upturned the keyboard to shake as much out as possible, then swept some paper towel between the respective keys, to soak up what'd got in. It'd only been a few droplets. Being a good Cherry keyboard that I'd especially bought only about a year ago, I can only hope that the surround of the keys has stopped the fluid getting to the key contacts. It's a soft-feel membrane type of key contact, BTW. I've thought of taking the keyboard apart, to have a good look inside, but haven't done so yet. I might just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. Trouble is, beer is acidic and so, longterm, could corrode contacts, resistors, pcb tracking, etc.

[Sampson 0]

Yeah, the beer dries funny. Even though I swabbed it with isopropyl alcohol, there must have been some sugars or something that just wouldn't let the keys function properly. Worse, it was a Compaq keyboard and the computer howled because it wanted a dyed in the wool Compaq keyboard and not something generic. Oh well, you'll know after a few hours whether you will need to perform surgery.

[packman 0]

Yeh, I know what you mean by the sugars in the beer drying out. Potentially, a spillage like this could be very damaging and, as you say, could write the keyboard off. But, with mine, so far, so good - it's been nearly 24 hrs since it happened and I've just tested the two righthand clusters of keys and they all seem to be working fine.

 

Whether fluids and dust can easily enter the key contacts area of a keyboard will, I presume, depend on the design and, judging by the quality of my Cherry keyboard and the price I paid for it, I would hope that, in this regard, the design was good. If doubt remains with me, I might e-mail Cherry and get their comments.

[Sampson 0]

You'd think that the keyboard would have shown a little gratitude for a sip of beer --- shows you how inconsiderate these machines are --- dull personalities caught in a loop of boring sameness. Congratulations in saving it from a life of spiraling addiction.