Q. I recently moved my files over to a new PC but I’m having a problem with addressing email. In the past, when I started typing an address, they would appear. On the new PC I have to go to the Address Book and even though I have imported by email and contacts some addresses are missing.

A. Most email programs, especially those from Microsoft, store email addresses in a cache file. Luckily for you, this file is not deleted when you exit your mail program. If you can go back to your old PC you will find the address cache in a file called “Outlook.NK2”. Look for this file in “\Documents and Settings\yourname\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.NK2”.

To get the old cache onto your new PC, first exit Outlook, locate the current “Outlook.NK2” and rename it “Outlook.bak.NK2”. Then simply copy the file from your old PC and place it in the same folder. When you start Outlook again it will use this cache file. If you’re running Microsoft Outlook 2007 it may complain that the program wasn’t shutdown properly and it will repair any inconsistencies.

Q. I am new to Macintosh and I have a new MacBook. What software can I use send and receive faxes?

A. If you have a Macintosh running Mac OS X you don’t need any extra software. If you have a Intel Mac you will need to buy the Apple USB Modem for $59 CDN. With the USB modem attached you can access your ISP via a dial up connection and you can send and receive faxes.

You will need to use a regular phone line. If you are in an office with a centralized digital phone system you may be able to get an “ATA” which allows you to plug in a regular analog phone device. (Ask you telephone interconnect company.)

You can find the settings under “System Preferences -> Print & Fax” pane. Select the “Faxing” tab from the window. You can place a check if you want to receive faxes and enter your fax number. You then choose the number of rings to wait before your fax modem will answer the incoming call.

You then have three options for handling the faxes. You can have them saved to “Shared Faxes” and they will be stored as PDFs in the “Faxes” folder under the “/Users/Shared” folder. You can send them to a printer of your choice and/or you can have them sent as an email attachment. To use this option you may have to purchase “Postfix Enabler” ($9.99 USD) from www.cutedgesystems.com. This will enable the mail server built into every Macintosh. Apple doesn’t configure the “postfix” mail server so Postfix Enabler takes the guesswork out of the process.

To send a fax, with your modem and phone line attached, open the document you want to fax and choose “Print” from the file menu. Then choose “Fax PDF” from the PDF popup menu. Then enter the fax number or choose a contact from the Address Book, choose a fax cover page and press “Send”. You can also preview the fax before you send it.

Q. I am having trouble with my email on Windows Vista. There is a message stuck in my Outbox that will not go away. I’ve called my ISP and they can offer no help. What can I do?

A. Welcome to “Window’s Mail”, Microsoft’s replacement for Outlook Express – the free email program that came with previous versions of Windows. With Outlook Express the email messages, contacts and tasks were stored in a single database file. With Outlook you could usually run a built in utility to repair the database. In fact Microsoft Outlook 2007, part on Office 2007 will automatically repair itself if something goes wrong.

The new Windows Mail stores all of the parts of your email in separate files so fixing things may prove to be easier. The message that you have stuck in the Out Box is a phantom email message of sorts. It is possible to rebuild by removing the file and allowing Windows Mail to rebuild them. If you want to keep your messages, then you would copy the files to a safe location, like your Desktop, and then re-import them into the repaired Mail.

You will find the Mail files under your user folder. (Microsoft has also gone to a more Unix like folder structure.) Look in “\Users\yourname\Application Data\Microsoft\Web Mail\”. You will a bunch of files there. Copy the “Web Mail” folder to your Desktop. Then remove all the files from the original location. When you start Windows Mail again it will rebuild the contents of the “Web Mail” folder.

After it has started again, you can go the File -> Import -> Messages and re-import your messages from the copy you stored on your Desktop. Note. You may have to start your machine in “Safe Mode” to be able to delete the files – if it says they’re busy. If you don’t know how to start in Safe Mode then you shouldn’t be doing this, should you?