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Q: I am using an 18 month old Toshiba laptop with a Pentium Dual Core Processor with the max 2mb ram installed running Windows Vista Home Premium.  I am the only user on this computer and do not even have it password protected for entry. 

I have loaded a Print Perfect Fonts Deluxe cd, Cosmi, Inc. copyright 2005.  I have used this disc in 2 previous computers I owned without incident.  In this computer when I select a font and then “Install” it gives me an error message that says   Cannot create file “C:\\Windows\Font\ <font name> ” Access is denied.

– Terry H.
Fort Walton Beach, Fla

A: Any time you see “Access Denied” on a computer, you’re usually dealing with some sort of security conflict.  Most of the time, that means you’re trying to access files that are owned by some other user.  Since you specifically said you’re the only user on the computer, the only other possibility is that the files belong to the system itself.  When files belong to the system, an attribute is modified that specifically identifies the file as belonging to the system.  When this attribute is set on files, they are given special protection by Windows, and are even hidden by default, so they don’t show up in directory listings.  When the attribute is set on a folder, it too is hidden, and you’ll get a message similar to the one you asked about if you try to paste any files into it.  Removing the system attribute is done through a command prompt window, using the ATTRIB command.  Microsoft has a nice article on how to do this available in its KnowlegeBase.  Visit support.microsoft.com/kb/326549 for all the details.

Here at Geek Central, the single most oft-mentioned topic I deal with is e-mail.  It seems appropriate then, that I wrap up the final column of 2009, with a few words on that topic.  About a year ago, a reader asked me for information about how to get rid of all the vertical blue lines that build up on the left-side of oft-forwarded e-mails.  I’ve received several requests to repeat that information, so here goes:  Each of the blue lines represents one person forwarding the e-mail.  So, if you have five blue lines, you know that e-mail has been forwarded at least five times.  You can get rid of the lines by simply selecting the text, and clicking “Decrease Indent” from the toolbar.

Another reader asked me to re-iterate the importance of the BCC: field in e-mail, which many people don’t even seem to know exists.  This “Blind Carbon-Copy” feature was originally designed to enable an e-mail sender to send a copy of an e-mail to one or more recipients without the other recipients knowing.  These days, with electronic privacy being such a critical concern, the BCC: field has grown to become a means of protecting people’s e-mail addresses from other recipients in mass e-mailings.  You should treat everyone’s e-mail address with the same respect you would treat an unlisted phone number, and not just put it out there for all to see (and the internet bad guys to harvest).  That means not putting it into the TO: field of an e-mail you’re sending to a bunch of people who don’t know each other.  Putting the addresses in BCC: causes each recipient to get a copy of the e-mail with only their own address visible.