Pre-installed Software

Outlook Express Links Don’t Work

December 21, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I received an interesting question from subscriber Maria. She has been using Firefox, as many people do, including me. In this case, she had just upgraded her Internet Explorer to IE7 and was having problems with Outlook Express.

Maria wrote:

Terry, I currently have Fire Fox and Internet Explorer on my computer. I just added the Internet Explorer as a browser after removing it some time ago. Outlook Express is my default email handler. The problem is that in Outlook Express the links don’t open since I added Internet Explorer. [Tech guy] at [a local computer shop] says that it seams like the two are competing I am hoping that you have some ideas as I have tried a few from a Google search.

Fortunately for Maria, I had seen this problem before and thought I knew the answer.

Continue reading Outlook Express Links Don’t Work

Filed Under: Bug Fixes, Communications, Email, IE, Outlook Express, Patches, Pre-installed Software, Security Fixes, Software, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web browsing

HOWTO: Writing Files to CD’s with Windows XP

May 30, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

Windows XP, unlike earlier versions of Windows, has the built-in ability to write files to CD’s.

What does this mean? If you want to copy some files to a CD, you don’t have to buy a special CD burning program like Nero Burning ROM (the one I use), Roxio’s Easy CD Creator, NTI or others. You can do basic CD writing with Windows XP itself.

Of course, you can’t do the complicated things that the other packages do, but Windows XP’s CD-writing capability means you don’t even have to open those more powerful programs when you want to copy a few files to a CD.

So, how do we do it?

The first step is to open Windows Explorer, the built-in Windows file manager. The easiest way to do this is to right-click on the Start button and pick “Explore.”

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Pre-installed Software, Terry's Computer Tips

Filtering Web Content with Windows Content Manager

May 16, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

Subscriber Nena Richard wrote to ask:

In trying to keep grandchildren off “my space,” I loaded “content advisor.”Every site I open asks for a password and I can’t find how to delete it.

Please HELP!

Thanks,
Nena

I assume you mean the Content Advisor that is part of the Windows XP “Internet Options” menu. I’m not familiar with the Content Advisor, but I did poke around in it a little to answer your question.

You can’t delete Content Advisor because it is part of Windows XP. You can turn it off, though.

Microsoft Content Advisor works by creating a list of web sites that you will “Allow” your computer’s users to access without a password. In the same “Allowed Sites” tab, you can also select “Never” for access to a site.

Continue reading Filtering Web Content with Windows Content Manager

Filed Under: Firefox, IE, Operating System, Pre-installed Software, Web browsing, Windows XP

Problems with Pre-loaded Software

April 16, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

We’re all used to our computer manufacturers preloading Windows, Windows Media Player, AOL and a couple other dial-up services, anti-virus trials, Microsoft Office trials and a bunch of other stuff.

I usually delete the junk quickly. Whether it’s a trial version of an antivirus I don’t want or a trial of Microsoft Office, I want the software that I pick — and from the vendor of my choice. Those preinstall “deals” often seem to be at list price.

I recently ran into a client’s computer that would not communicate on his network or access the Internet. Guess what?

It was the pre-installed, partially activated Norton Internet Security that was causing the problem. Since it was installed but not activated, it was blocking everything!

Filed Under: Bug Fixes, Patches, Performance Tweaks, Pre-installed Software, Registry repair, Security Fixes, Security Issues, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

ActiveX or No ActiveX

April 6, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I received a question from a subscriber who asked:

A number of times I have seen you refer disparagingly of “Active-x controls”.
I have seen downloads that require Active X to run properly. I have read the definition of the program, but, I guess I am just dense. What is this thing, and why do you consider it so insidious?
Admittedly, I’m technical-challenged, but can this program be explained?
What does one do as an alternative, if the program you want to download, requires Active-X to run?

Active-X controls are downloadable programs that have full capabilities to do anything on your computer. I’m not sure why Microsoft chose such the innocuous word “control” for a program that originally had few or no security constraints imposed upon it.

Problems with Pre-loaded Software

March 4, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I usually delete the junk quickly. Whether it’s a trial version of an antivirus I don’t want or a trial of Microsoft office, I want the software that I pick — and from the vendor of my choice. Those preinstall “deals” often seem to be at list price.

I recently ran into a client’s computer that would not communicate on his network or access the Internet. Guess what?

It was the pre-installed, partially activated Norton Internet Security that was causing the problem. Since it was installed but not activated, it was blocking everything!

Since he used a different anti-virus program and a different firewall, and since Norton showed that it was not protecting his computer, he thought that was ok. NOT!Read more in Problems with Pre-loaded Software at Terry’s Computer Tips.

Filed Under: Firewall, Operating System, Pre-installed Software, Registry repair, Security, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP