Not too much time left before you have to send in this year's reckoning of your tax history for last year. That is, unless you have filed for an extension. Don't you just love April? I'll be heading off for a week at Nag's Head just before the deadline so I suppose I'll have mine finished and transmitted before I depart.

I don't know if you remember hearing about the following extravaganza that Microsoft is running on April 4th, but here are a couple of details and a number that you can use to see if you can get in.

On Saturday, April 4, 1998 in 38 cities across the country, live from Microsoft Studios via satellite downlink, we will be presenting the 2nd Microsoft eXtreme event, demonstrating the newest and hottest products from Microsoft. This is an exclusive opportunity for you and your membership to see Windows 98 presented by the Product Managers themselves! The first 400 people who register at each location receive a T-shirt, special offers, and free popcorn and soda.

You must register to attend this free event. For registration and complete information, visit our Web site at mseXtreme, or call (800) 550-4300, and be among the first to eXperience Windows 98! (Register early - Limited seating available.)

I wish I could drive up to Richmond to see this show. They are promising some software handouts, don't know what they might be but I would suspect a copy of Windows 98 Beta.

As I compiled the following software gotchas, I started to think that we are all beta testers even though we didn't ask to be one. Take a look at these and see if any apply.

WORDPERFECT 8 ERROR

If you get this error while working in Corel WordPerfect 8 for Windows, get ready for a new step in the reinstall rumba:
WPWIN8 caused an Internal Page Fault in Module WTLI80.DLL @ 0137:36a540d8.
This error may also pop up in safe mode at the same memory address. Corel's fix: Reinstall WordPerfect 8 using the COPYVERIFY switch. This startup option does a byte-for-byte verification of all files, notes the differences, and writes them up in a WPI80.log file.

In Microsoft Windows 95, when you run the tutorial in WordPerfect, version 6.0, 6.0a, or 6.1, your computer may hang and the menu bar may flash when the Show Me button is clicked. This problem occurs when the mouse pointer moves automatically to an item on the menu bar that you can click. Although you can close the WordPerfect components by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete, when you try to start WordPerfect again, you will receive the following error message:
ERROR: Cannot Initialize.
Microsoft's solution: To run WordPerfect again, restart your computer, but do not run the tutorial.

Microsoft has acknowledged a serious bug in Word 97 for Windows (also known as Word 8.0) that can cause data loss when users attempt to use the Save As command. According to Microsoft, a bug in two files (winword.exe and wwintl32.dll) causes Word to look for a drawing object whenever the Save As command is used. If a drawing object is not found in the document, then Word doesn't close the document correctly before saving it with a different name.
In a network environment, users may get an error such as:
"[Original document] is being used by another user: do you want to make a copy?"
where [original document] is the name of the file the user is trying to save with the Save As command. This error may occur even though the original user no longer has the document open.

In a Novell GroupWise environment, users may get an error such as:
"GroupWise Error 8201--cannot return document to library"

Worst of all, if you are using a document management system like PCDocs, "you may experience data loss in the original document," says Microsoft.

Microsoft has updated the winword.exe and wwintl32.dll files to fix the problem, but it has not finished regression-testing the fix. If you must have a fix for this problem immediately, contact Microsoft technical support at 425/ 462-9673 and request the files associated with Knowledge Base article Q179435. Microsoft technical support will provide you with a file called odmaupd.exe, which contains the updated versions of winword.exe (5199K, dated January 14, 1998) and wwintl32.dll (1131K, dated January 14, 1998).

MICROSOFT FAX CRASHES WHEN SENDING AND RECEIVING SIMULTANEOUSLY

Microsoft Fax can crash if it is still processing a fax when a new fax is received. A fatal exception error message may also be displayed. A workaround for this is to increase the number of rings before Microsoft Fax picks up the line. To do this, select Start, Settings and double-click Mail and Fax. Choose Microsoft Fax, click the Properties button, select the Modem tab, and choose the modem that is used for answering faxes. Choose Properties and increase the number of rings to allow Microsoft Fax more time to complete the previous fax. Accept changes.
Note: Setting the number of rings too high may cause the calling fax machine to hang up.

You may receive one of the following error messages when you copy text from Microsoft Word and paste it into Microsoft Excel 97 or 7.0:
- "Excel caused an Invalid Page Fault in module Kernel32.dll at 0137:bff858cd"
- "Excel executed an invalid instruction in module [unknown] at 0000:00000017"
- "EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module EXCEL.EXE at 0137:50018fd6"

This may occur if you've copied text that resembles a formula or function (text that begins with an equal sign [=], minus sign [-], plus sign [+], or at sign [@]) from a Word document into Excel by choosing Paste Special on the Edit menu, clicking Text, then clicking OK.

Microsoft's workaround: Before you copy the text from Word, take out the beginning symbol so it does not resemble a valid formula or function in Excel. Microsoft is continuing to research the problem.

FRONTPAGE EXPRESS CUT-AND-PASTE ERROR

You may receive the following error message in Microsoft FrontPage Express when you try to perform a dragging operation, such as cutting and pasting text:
"FPEXPRESS This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor."
At present, there is no fix or workaround.
FrontPage Express would be on your computere if you choose to install it when you installed Internet Explorer 4.

According to Microsoft, Age of Empires may hang after several minutes of game play if you are using a Sound Blaster AWE 64 sound board. The company's solution: Make sure you are using the latest audio drivers available for your sound board. However, if Age of Empires continues to lock up, add the Msync parameter to the command line in the Age of Empires Shortcut.

If you are using Windows 95:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, then select Taskbar.
2. Select the Start Menu Programs tab, click Advanced, then double-click Programs.

If you are using Windows NT:

1. Right-click Start, select Open All Users, then double-click Programs.
2. Double-click Microsoft Games, then double-click Age of Empires.
3. Right-click the Age of Empires Shortcut, select Properties, then select Shortcut.
4. Type "msync" (without quotes) after the existing command line text in the Target box (e.g., "C:\Programs\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires\Empires.exe Msync") The parameter must be separated by a space, but capitalization is not required.

When you use Microsoft Bookshelf 98, if you press the Application key on the Microsoft Natural Keyboard, the program may not respond to the keystroke. Microsoft's work-around: Right-click rather than using the Application key.

If you install Netscape Communicator 4.03 onto a Windows 95 computer with multiple hard drives, and it is installed onto a drive other than C:, you may have problems with the Netscape SmartUpdate feature. Not only will SmartUpdate not work, but it may also corrupt the entire Communicator program, which means you must reinstall it. This will only happen if your temporary directory is on a different drive than the program files directory. Netscape says that this is not a SmartUpdate bug: "SmartUpdate just exposes a Windows 95 bug." (Of course, there is no bad blood between these companies.) A workaround has been added to Communicator 4.04. If you are still using 4.03, either avoid installing on the other drive, or don't use SmartUpdate.

HITTING 'STOP' ABORTS NAVIGATOR'S URL SEARCH

If you enter a nonexistent URL into Netscape Navigator 4.04, you should not click the Stop button until you get the error message from the browser saying that no DNS entry has been found. If you jump the gun and click Stop before that, says Netscape, then Navigator will find no more URLs. If this happens, you will have to relaunch Communicator before you can find additional pages.

TEMPORARY BATTERY REMOVAL MAY HELP SONY MAVICA

Here's a real high-tech solution--right up there with thumping the side of the TV to improve reception. Sony reports that if your nifty Sony Mavica digital camera unexpectedly goes black during testing, try removing the batteries for 60 seconds and then powering the unit back up. If nothing else, it'll make you feel like you did something.

A couple of notes that have been passed on to me concerning the way Turbo Tax manages income distributions for Virginia State Tax returns. If you and your wife each have amounts to declare, Turbo Tax doesn't seem to be able to designate which person is credited for which income when you import your 1997 data from Personal Tax Edge. Since that is the program I used last year, this portends some manual corrections will have to be done when I reach that part. I do note that Turbo Tax's interview did come up with a couple of questions that led to an additional business deduction that was available last year but Personal Tax Edge didn't talk about at all. It was almost enough to make me go back and file an amended return, but not that much.

Intuit says you may get this error message after installing Quicken 98 for Windows:
"Setup requires the following DLL ISRES.DLL"

Why? According to Intuit, this error is caused by a known problem with Windows 95: Windows 95 doesn't allow items to be deleted out of the StartUp group properly.

Intuit does provide a workaround. On the Start menu, click Settings and select Taskbar. Click the Start Menu Programs tab in the Taskbar Properties window and then click the Remove button. Scroll down until you see StartUp and click the plus sign to the left. Click once on the Nploader to highlight it and then click the Remove button to remove Nploader. Restart your computer.

Intuit notes that if Nploader is not in your StartUp group, you will need to run NPINST.EXE from the Quicken directory.

Intuit says you may encounter this error message in Quicken 98 for Windows:
Account (xxxxx) cannot be accessed with the social security number that you have provided.

What you need to do is check the account setup information. From the Lists menu, select Account; select the account, click Edit on the button bar, and then click Next and check the Social Security Number field. If the social security number you entered is correct, verify that you are using the correct PIN for that account when you connect. If the social security number is correct and you feel you are using the correct PIN, you need to call Travelers Bank Customer Service at 800/772-7889.

Once you install Symantec's Norton Utilities 3.0, you may not be able to close Microsoft Outlook 97 without invoking Norton's Crashguard Anti-Freeze utility. Instead of closing, you may see this error message:
"OUTLOOK caused an invalid page fault in module AWFXCG32.DLL at (address)"

Symantec says it is actually due to a conflict with the Distributed Common Object Model for Windows 95 that comes with many Microsoft products, including Visual C++ 5.0, Visual Basic 5.0, Visual Studio 97, and the Microsoft Fax service. Microsoft details five solutions at: Microsoft

According to Symantec, the best fix is to upgrade the module awfxcg32.dll, which you can get at: Symantec

Symantec released a live update, labeled version 3.02, for Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 on January 3. A patched version of NUSPLASH.DLL that works with all the utilities fixes an incompatibility with some Diamond Multimedia video cards. You can download the new file by using the Live Update feature on the NU menu.

An incompatibility between a component of Norton Utilities 3.0 and the America Online Web browser may cause the browser to lock up when you try to close it. Norton Utilities updates the Windows 95 OLE software module DCOM. Unfortunately, this module is incompatible with AOL. Here are some temporary workarounds:
- Minimize the AOL browser window instead of closing it.
- Use an external browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, in place of the AOL browser.
- Install Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, which apparently solves the conflict (though details on why it does so are unavailable).
- Uninstall Norton Utilities 3.0, DCOM for Windows 95, and AOL; then reinstall AOL.