How to transfer emails from an old account and where to find free media players
Q: My PC running Windows 10 Professional does not have a DVD player. I had been using a free DVD app that is no longer free. Can you recommend a free app?
— Tracy Corriveau
A: You’re right that Microsoft’s Window Media Player no longer supports playing DVDs. Microsoft does offer Windows DVD Player in the Microsoft Store for $14.99. If you upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7, or from Windows 8 with Windows Media Center, you should have received a free copy of Windows DVD Player. If you didn’t get that automatically you can try the Microsoft Store to find out if you’re allowed to download it for free.
There is a better option. I have long used the free and open-source VideoLAN as my go-to player of all media — DVD movies, CD music, streaming video. You can download it here: videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html. And since VideoLAN is a nonprofit organization, it’s unlikely that the player will ever have a price tag put on it.
Q: I’m hoping you can help me. I’m completely computer illiterate and now I’m in trouble. I have a Green River College email I’ve used for several years. Green River is changing its system and deleting all of its emails. Can I transfer the emails I have in my account to another account? My Green River email account ends in. edu. I’m going to try and get an email that ends in. com, such as a Gmail account. I would really appreciate if you could give me any information as to how to do this.
— Paula Boyd
A: As long as you can still access your Green River College email account you should be able to forward all your emails to a new account, and the three-letter end of the email address doesn’t matter. All email clients I’m aware of — browser-based or otherwise — provide a way to select multiple emails or an entire folder of emails for forwarding. (In most browser-based email programs, there’s a “check all” box at the top of the listing.)
If it isn’t clear how to tag multiple emails or folders for forwarding using your email program, contact the school’s support staff for specific instructions. Contact information is available here: greenriver.edu/students/online-services/student-email.
Q: My 10-year-old Dell laptop has a CD/DVD drive and I was able to install my Epson XP-4100 successfully and effortlessly with the provided disc. My new Dell laptop does not have that drive. I can print just fine, but not scan. I downloaded that from WinZip (Corel) but that program wants to aggressively update ALL drivers on my nearly new laptop, and I think it wants money, so I deleted it. Is there another way?
— Ward Folsom
A: Yes, you can download drivers and utilities for the XP-4100 directly from Epson’s website: epson.com/Support/Printers/All-In-Ones/XP-Series/Epson-XP-4100/s/SPT_C11CG33201.
Q: In a recent column you mentioned PassFab 4WinKey as a solution to let a PC user without the admin password gain access to admin functions by resetting the admin password.
Is 4winkey.com the correct website or passfab.com the site you used? The 4winkey.com free version doesn’t actually perform any reset, only shows user accounts from what I see on their site.
In any case wouldn’t it seem a tool like this would make any PC vulnerable to access by a foreign user? Not that I would want to do that, but what are your thoughts on this, perhaps you could write up an addendum to the article in The Seattle Times?
— Peter Fong
A: You’re right, my mistake. The free version only shows accounts and allows you to create a recovery CD. You have to pay $19.95 for the standard version allowing you to reset passwords. That’s at passfab.com.
And yes, it’s a tool that would make any PC vulnerable — but only to someone who has physical access to the computer. As part of the process, someone has to create a bootable CD or USB drive using that computer. That cannot be done remotely.
