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To Update Web Browsers Or Not?

January 3, 2012 By

Longtime subscriber Chet wrote to ask about the need to update Internet Explorer and Firefox:


Hi Terry

Is it wise to update every time you get an email…for instance I’m still using IE8 and am hesitating to go to IE9…and now it seems FIREFOX, MY BROWSER OF CHOICE, (V3.6.18) is updating every 10 minutes!

I still haven’t gotten around to v4 and they are up to v5. Is it better to wait awhile rather than jump right in as soon as they announce something?

Thanks,

Chet (long time fan and subscriber)

I immediately wrote back to Chet to tell him that it’s time to update to Internet Explorer 9 and to Firefox the current Firefox version.

I usually wait a couple weeks for any "growing pains" to be resolved with IE updates, since I don’t normally use IE.

Firefox, however, I always update immediately. That’s even more important now, since…

Continue reading To Update Web Browsers Or Not?

Filed Under: Communications, Firefox, IE, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web browsing, Windows Updates Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Reinstalling Windows XP Upgrade On An Old Computer

June 10, 2010 By

Subscriber Louis Zarowin wrote this week to ask for some guidance. Louis needs to reinstall Windows XP on an old computer that had been upgraded to Windows XP.

At a time like that, we always worry about whether we’ve found all the needed disks and files, so we can make sure that all our software and hardware works again.

Terry:

I have a somewhat older computer I still use (Dell Optiplex GX-110) and I recently was told by “Dell Tech. Suport” who was on line screen sharing with me that I need to re-install the operating system on it all over again.

It originally had a “Windows 98 S. E. on it” then before I actually got it, it was upgraded somehow to “Windows XP Professional” but the problem with just going ahead and re-installing the “Windows XP Professional” all over again is that the “Drivers/Drives” aren’t directly there, so I was advised that if I can re-install the “Windows 98 S. E. again” then “Upgrade to Windows XP Professional” this would be fine as the “Drivers/Drives” for that older operating system can simply be downloaded from the “Dell Website” as they still have them for that older operating system, but they don’t have them for “XP Professional” from what they told me already.

Microsoft will be sending me the “Disc to Upgrade to XP Professional” shortly but I need the “Windows 98 S. E. Original Disc” and that may be difficult to find right now.

Do you have any further information and/or possible suggestions that can help me?

I trust that you will reply to me about this issue when you have a chance and thanks for the assistance in this.

Yours Very Truly,

Louis R. Zarowin

I wrote back to Louis to suggest that he try to get a replacement Windows 98 SE cdrom from Dell. That’s his best bet if he can’t find his original Windows 98 SE cdrom..

Whether you have to install Win98 before installing WinXP or not…

Continue reading Reinstalling Windows XP Upgrade On An Old Computer

Filed Under: Operating System, Software, System, System Repair, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows Updates, Windows XP

HOWTO: Open a Program in a Maximized Window

January 17, 2009 By

With some programs, we always may want to open them in maximized (full-screen), or even minimized (hidden), mode. Windows allows us to accomplish this via a setting in a program’s shortcut.

Continue reading HOWTO: Open a Program in a Maximized Window

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

WinClear Internet History Eraser the Review

July 4, 2008 By

Product: WinClear
Class: Utility — Privacy — temp file and Windows/Internet history deletion
License: Commercial product.
Version Reviewed: v2.0

WinClear is a computer history cleaner program designed to delete or erase the history of your activity on your computer. Obviously, it can’t dig into the guts of every program to find and delete the history each might retain (and you probably would not want that).

WinClear targets general Windows items, recent document lists in many programs, chat history, and all sorts of data that Internet Explorer records on your use of IE.

I wrote in my email newsletter that I had been trying out WinClear. I was impressed with it from the start.

On my notebook, after I had deleted my temporary files (I thought) and the Temporary Internet Files, I was surprised that WinClear found over 800 MB of temporary files for me. Since I was down to only 2 GB free on my notebook, getting 800 MB more was a significant find.

Continue reading WinClear — Internet History Eraser — the Review

Download and scan with WinClear now

Filed Under: Software, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

HOWTO: Identifying and Changing Default File Type / Program Associations

May 12, 2008 By

If you need to identify which program opens a particular file type, you can do that, and a lot more, using the Folder Options functions in Windows Explorer.

To find Folder Options, open Windows Explorer (right-click on Start, select Explore). Then, on its menu bar, select Tools and then Folder Options…

At this point, we need to select the File Types tab.

On the File Types tab, we see a large, scrollable box that lists file types. As we scroll down the list, we see various file extensions (such as JPG and DOC) along with a text description of the file type.

Continue reading HOWTO: Identifying and Changing Default File Type / Program Associations

Filed Under: File system repair, Performance Tweaks, Software, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Vista, Windows XP

Outlook Express Links Don’t Work

December 21, 2007 By

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

Speeding Up Windows XP – Fine-Tuning Visual Effects

October 28, 2007 By

With all the news about the cute graphics (often termed “eye candy” to denote its real value) of Windows Vista, we need to remember that Windows XP has some of those features, too.

Windows XP’s graphical interface defaults to a number of cute options that are worthless from a usability point of view — and are worse than that, too — they’re animations that effectively slow down your computer.

You can find and control these settings via the Control Panel. As usual, click on the Start Button and then select Control Panel from the menu.

If you’re using the Windows XP-style control panel, you’ll see the Category view and the invitation to Pick A Category. Our options are controlled in the Performance and Maintenance section, so select that button.

Continue reading Speeding Up Windows XP – Fine-Tuning Visual Effects

Filed Under: Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

Speeding Up Windows XP

October 23, 2007 By

Remember back when you got your latest computer? It seemed so fast, so much faster than your previous computer. Now, if it doesn’t seem to drag, it just doesn’t seem as peppy as it used to…

Part of that effect is our memory — not the computer’s memory but the memories stored between our ears. We tend to remember the past with fond thoughts and rose-colored glasses. We also become used to the faster speed and expect it. Fast today is faster than it used to be <grin>.

There are some real aspects of computing, though, that affect our computer’s speed as we continue to use Windows.

The clean, fresh installation of Windows has little in the way of superficial extras that take up CPU cycles, that take up memory and that clutter the hard drive and the Windows Registry.

Continue reading Speeding Up Windows XP

Filed Under: Optimize, Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

How to do a Clean Reinstall of Firefox

August 20, 2007 By

Sometimes, when you have a problem, the only thing it seems you can do is to uninstall and reinstall.

However, when you do that, there are often more steps that you should take, than to just use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall and then reinstall immediately.

Using Firefox as an example, let’s take a look at the steps you might need to take. (I use Firefox because it includes the concept of data files that you want to keep, too.).

Read How to do a Clean Reinstall of Firefox

Filed Under: Firefox, Software, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Vista, Windows XP

Quieting Windows’ Noises (and selecting other sounds)

June 13, 2007 By

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Do Windows’ sounds ever get on your nerves? In my case, I have grown to dislike the click sound when I click on a link in Internet Explorer or in Windows Explorer. I find it distracting as I work or play on my computer.

Fortunately, we can do something about that… Windows lets us assign different sounds to some specific Windows functions (“events”).

In this case, the offending selection is the sound file assigned to the event called “Start Navigation” in Windows Explorer. That’s right, even if you’re using Internet Explorer, that’s the Windows event that gets called when you click on a link.

In order to change the sound assigned to this event, the first step is to open the Control Panel and select “Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices”.

Continue Reading Quieting Windows’ Noises (and selecting other sounds)

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Speed Tweaks, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP
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