Tech: Attachment problem

Subject: Tech: Attachment problem
From: kendall
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 12:41 PM

I'm trying to e mail a photo to a friend, and this piece of junk keeps telling me that the file NETSCAPE.EXE can't be found, and it is necessary to do this. What the hell is going on? This is a new problem.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 12:43 PM

This may seem an odd question, but what email client are you using?

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 02:01 PM

as in, are you using email built into Netscape?...somewhere, you may have a default set that is no longer applicable...

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 04:01 PM

Many, if not all, service providers require you to install some sort of software when you subscribe to their email service. It's entirely possible that your ISP uses a "runtime" netscape, imbedded in their software, for some or all of the functions that let you send and receive stuff through their server.

Some email services use your own "default" browser, so it's possible your setup has some conflict in settings (unlikely unless you've used netscape?).

You can certainly look on your machine and see if the file "netscape.exe" is there somewhere; although even if you find it, figuring out where to "put it back" would almost certainly require assistance from your service provider. (It's not on my machine, although Real Player loads a "netscape" folder with what appears to be a few "tranlator" .dll files.)

If the problem happens only when you try to attach the photo - i.e. if you can send email without attachments, you can try pasting the photo in the message. With most(?) email programs, you can right click on a photo that's pasted into a message and "save picture as" to extract it. The only disadvantage is that you usually get the picture at "screen resolution" of 72 dpi, regardless of what resolution was pasted in. You can improve the quality a little by resizing the picture to "as large as you can put on the page" before you paste it, if you have an appropriate image program.

There's too much variation in the "add-in" software that most email services load for anyone to make very helpful general guesses. The best source should be your service provider's help desk.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: GUEST,amergin
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 04:14 PM

Actually, it is getting more and more common that ISPs are providing a webbased access for their customers, as many people are always on the go, for business or otherwise, MSN and Comcast are two examples. Also, most ISPs anymore do not require any installation of any software. All they need is a connection and that can be built manually.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: kendall
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 07:50 PM

I'm using outlook express. Some time ago, I switched to Netscape, but didn't like it so I dumped it. Now it interferes with my sending photos that are stored in my documents file.
Never had a problem until I dumped Netscape.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: GUEST,John M
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:28 PM

Try transferring the photo to a different folder in your pc and then drag it to the eMail box. (Not very technical but it might work)

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:49 PM

I suspect that somewhere is a setting that expects to find the Netscape program.. ( I just opened Outlook Express for the first time in 3-4 years...there is a box to check when you ask it to add an attachment to an email that says "make a shortcut to this file" . Is that checked? Could it be asking Netscape to do the file?...Just guessing..can't figger why Outlook expects Netscape.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:59 PM

What browser are you using, Kendall? If it is anything other than IE, you might try using IE to do this job.

I ordinarily use Netscape, but just occasionally I'll get some problems, and I will try (and sometimes succeed) by using IE, which I normally avoid like the plague.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 09:22 PM

It sounds like perhaps when you had Netscape installed it set itself up (or got set up) as your default browser, and Oulook Express is still trying to use it.

If you go to the TOOLS tab in Internet Explorer, choose INTERNET OPTIONS, and select the PROGRAMS tab, there's a RESET WEB SETTINGS button that supposedly lets you reset Internet Explorer to be your default browser - and should tell OE to use it instead of Netscape. (There's also a check box that tells IE to check to see if it's the default browser - which should have a check mark in it even if IE is the only browser you have on the machine.)

(I'm reading the clicks off of my IE. If yours looks different, click HELP in your version and search for "default browser" and you should find what you need for your version.)

Worst case - it may also change your home page back to a default page; but that's pretty easy to reset, as long as you know how to find the one you want to use.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Mark Clark
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 12:15 AM

Kendall, It sounds as though when you installed Netscape Communicator, it took the liberty of making itself your “default” email client program as well. The Netscape email client actually runs Netscape.exe to get started. IE does the same thing except the email client of IE is called Outlook Express.

The default email client only makes a difference if you're trying to send a file, such as an image, directly by its context menu. In that case your operating system tries to start the registered default email client to send the file.

You can simply start Outlook, open a new message and use the little paperclip icon to attach your image. It will give you a little file chooser panel that will allow you to select your My Documents folder then select your image and attach it to your email message.

After sending the file, you'll also want to go to your Tools,Options… menu in Outlook, select the Other tab and check the box labeled “Make Outlook the default program…”. This will fix your problem so that the next time you want to send a file directly, Outlook will be opened to perform the task.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: kendall
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 04:20 AM

I'll try it. Thanks for the info.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: kendall
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 04:34 AM

It worked! Thanks again fellas. Now, how do I trim the size of the photos? They take up the whole screen and more.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Watson
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 05:36 AM

Kendall, are you using Internet Explorer to view the photos? It has a habit of producing an image bigger than your screen.
Use My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types to change what your computer uses to open the file type(.jpg?). You probably have some sort of tool to view/edit images, such as Microsoft Photo Editor which will allow you to zoom or crop to your heart's content.

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 11:51 AM

Kendall,

If you're using regular scanned photos for prints, then they're probably at 300dpi. That's what you need for them to appear correctly on photo paper, but your screen can only display 75dpi. So, for example, a 150dpi wide image will take up two inches of screen. If you have a standard 4 x 6 print in the it will display over 18 inches of screen.

You might have the small program Imaging for Windows in your Windows Accessories (Start menu, programs, accessories), that you can use to open the photo. Open your photo in that program, then go to the menu item PAGE and drop down to PROPERTIES. A menu pops up--go over to the RESOLUTION tab and a drop down menu lets you choose 100, 200, or 300 dpi. Choose 100 and it will bring it down smaller for the monitor. The other thing to do is leave it as dense as it is now but tell the browser to display it smaller. In which case, you move over one tab to SIZE and set the width and height. It helps to know the math because it looks like there isn't a button to lock the proportions in this program. (Locked proportions allow you to change just one dimension and the other adjusts itself. On the other hand, if you want to look a little taller in the photo, or slimmer, not locking the proportion is the feature for you!)

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 11:57 AM

Microsoft Photo Editor is a more complex program, but it might be one of those small office tools that comes when you buy the Windows Office program. It's in my computer because I have Word, Publisher, Excel, etc. If you don't have any of those then you may have to look for the Imaging program. Try for Photo Editor first, then poke around in the menus and you'll find you can do more or less the same thing I described above. Imaging is an older program.

If you have a more recent version of Word you can even get away with saving a photo file in a document and telling it how to display, though this is a last resort.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 01:03 PM

I don't find "Imaging for Windows" on any of my machines, but Win95 and later all seem to have "Paint" in the accessories folder that will do a crude re-sizing for you. (I don't have a WinME to check.)

In Paint, you pick "IMAGE, Stretch/Skew" and set the vertical and horizontal "percents" the same, 200% x 200% to make it twice as big, or 50% x 50% to make it half as big. There doesn't appear to be a way to change the "dpi" of an image - the 72dpi 2"x3" I loaded enlarged to 72dpi 4x6. A 1.5"x2" 300 dpi enlarged to 3"x4" 300 dpi.

You can also use "IMAGE, Attributes" to enlarge the picture "frame" without changing the size of the image - i.e. add a border to make room to add stuff like titles and such without putting them on top of the image (although it's a little tricky to figure out which side of an image the border is going to come up on.)

The "IMAGE, Attributes" is also the place to look to find out what resolution the image has. With the most common monitor settings, the email programs I've looked at will display at about 72 or 75 "pixels" per inch, so if you want the picture to display 3" wide, you need it to be 3 x 72 or 216 "dots" wide. If your picture is at 300 dpi, you would resize it to 216/300 = 0.72 inches wide to get the 216 "dots" width. (300 dpi x 0.72 inches = 216 "dots.")

Another fairly simple way of "resizing" an image to send to someone is to Open Word, Insert Picture, Resize the picture to look like what you want, Click on the picture to "select" it, then Right Click and either Copy or Cut, and then paste it directly into the email. It should "look" the same size in your recipients email as it looked in Word.

Your recipient can right click it and do a "save as," but in most of the email formats I've seen, it will be saved as the displayed size but at 72 dpi - regardless of the original image resolution.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Attachment problem
From: kendall
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 01:03 PM

I couldn't find anything like Micro photo whatever, but, I did figure out how to crop the photos before I mail them.
Thanks for all the help.