Gibberish indicates failure to unzip the file before opening it

Q. I recently requested a military history file from the Public Records Office in England. It turned out to be 96 pages long so it was zipped to me, I downloaded the file and the first line came out with what looks like gibberish. I ran off a few pages then gave it up.

I e-mailed the office twice and both times received the same reply, which is as follows: "Once downloaded and unzipped, open it with a word processor or text editor for reading."

Several computer users both at home and at work have tried to work the problem and failed — some of whom are pretty good with computers. Maybe the answer is too simple; can you help? — John Harris, johlin@aol.com

A. The problem is that you haven't unzipped the file before trying to open it in your word processor. The most popular type of file "zipping," or compressing, is PKZip from PK-Ware, and the PK at the beginning of the file indicates that it was, indeed, compressed with PKZip.

To unzip the file, download PKZip from www.pkware.com. You can either download an evaluation version, purchase a downloadable version online or order the product on CD.

Q. I recently tried networking two computers using a 10/100 5-port workgroup switch. One of the computers has a USB Ethernet adapter, and one is an older computer that had an Ethernet card. I have cable Internet access, and that has worked fine on both computers. But I can't get the computers to recognize each other so that they can share the printer and files, even though I have activated it on both computers.

The LED lights on the switch indicate that the connection is detected on both computers, but the first computer is operating in full duplex-transfer mode and 100 Mbps speed, while the older computer is operating in half-duplex transfer mode and 10 Mbps. Could this be the problem? Would replacing the Ethernet card on the older computer correct this or is it a software configuration problem? — Ilyse Davidoff

A. Network configuration, even with a peer-to-peer network, is one of the trickiest chores you can undertake with your computer. Yes, there could be a problem with the way your software is set up. But it's more likely that you've got incompatible network interface cards (NICs) trying to work together.

Some networks do support the use of both 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps, but because you're not achieving a connection, that would be the first thing I would look into. And because NICs are inexpensive you'd probably want to upgrade that old card anyway.

Q. I've been using the IBM 1411 ThinkPad for almost two years. Recently, however, my screen images freeze if I leave the mouse or keyboard keys idle for two minutes. I must restart the computer by using Ctrl-Alt-Delete each time. Do you know of any similar problems with this brand laptop? — P. Buehler, bubbles@olypen.com

A. Like you, I've been using a ThinkPad for a number of years and have found it to be one of the most trouble-free laptops I've ever used. I guess that's why I've been using it for years.

I haven't heard of this problem with that model of ThinkPad and my inquiries to IBM turned up nothing. In general, when you encounter a problem such as this, the first thing to consider is what devices or software you've installed recently. Something may be conflicting with, say, the graphics adapter memory.

If you're sure you haven't got any outright conflicts, it's possible that a driver file or the laptop's energy-saving program has been corrupted. I'd try reinstalling software, including your operating system. If that doesn't solve the problem, I'd contact IBM. It's possible that something has gone amiss with the hardware.

Questions for Patrick Marshall may be sent by e-mail to pmarshall@seattletimes.com or by mail at Q&A/Technology, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.