XP Repair Site

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.

Internet Explorer 7 messes up Outlook Express’ settings if Internet Explorer is not the default web browser when it is installed.

Continue reading Outlook Express Links Don’t Work

Recently, Agnes Brach wrote to me with a question that, eventually, applies to all of us:

Hello Terry,
I enjoy your newsletter very much. I have a question that has been on my mind for a while. I have an old computer which i would like to recycle, but have absolutely no idea how to wipe the machine clean. Could you please give me some ideas of what i can do. Have to tell you that I can work the computer pretty well, but do not have a deep knowledge of the inner workings of the machine.

If you’re going to donate or sell your old computer, or even throw it away, you have a basic decision to make — how bad do you want to wipe out your personal history and data on the drive?

None of the disk wiping systems are convenient, easy nor fast. In order to wipe the disk, they have to overwrite every spot on the disk multiple times with different characters.

Continue reading Preparing An Old Computer to be Recycled

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

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

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

I’ve written a number of times about one of the programs that I use on every one of my computers, including my family’s computers. Well, really on every computer that runs Windows — and I’ve been using it since well before 2004.

This program is a great protection tool called WinPatrol. WinPatrol allows me to control which programs start automatically on my system. It also monitors my system for any changes to the programs that start automatically. Unlike some anti-spyware applications, WinPatrol allows me to make the reversable decision to disable auto-starting of a program, where most systems will simply not allow the program to set itself to auto-start.

WinPatrol is available in two flavors — the totally free WinPatrol and the added-function, added-information WinPatrol Plus.

Continue reading WinPatrol - for System Control and Protection

Recently, subscriber Sandra Day wrote to ask me about a problem she was having. She knew one way to solve it — Word’s Insert Symbol dialog box, but that’s a pretty clumsy way. Here’s what she wanted to do:

Hi Terry! I have tried repeatedly to learn how to use a shortcut to insert a tilde over an “n” (as in jalapeño) in a Word document, but the keystrokes I find listed on the internet never seem to work. One shortcut suggests the control key + the tilde key above the tab key + n, but that doesn’t work. Another suggests Alt + 0241, but that doesn’t work either. I can use the symbol chart to insert it, but would prefer a shortcut method. Do you have any ideas? Is there a way to add that symbol every time I type the word “jalapeno”? Thanks for your help.

Sandra Day

If your problem is always jalapeno, you could use Word’s auto-correct function — put the misspelling as jalapeno and then the correct version with the tilde over the “n” — that should create an automatic correction for you.

You can set up the auto-correct function in Word 2003 as follows:…

Continue reading Inserting Special Characters into Documents

Reader Geraldine Astbury wrote recently with a problem she was having with Windows and emailing:

Hi Terry,
Please can you help me? When I do a right click on a photo and scroll down to ‘mail recipient’ it goes to my Mozilla email programme. How do I change it to go to either Outlook Express or Incredimail? I don’t always want to use Mozilla. Sometimes when I receive certain attachments as eml ’s Mozilla won’t open them, so it’s put me off using it. I can’t find out how to fix this problem in Mozilla even though I’ve really looked at all I can think of. Have you any ideas about that too?
Many Thanks
Geraldine Astbury.
PS I use Windows XP

Geraldine is trying to use a Windows XP function to email a picture.

If you are using Windows Explorer, the Windows file management tool, you can right-click on a file and you get a special context menu that pops up. It’s called a context menu because the menus options change depending on the context - depending on the circumstances under which you have right-clicked. These circumstances include the file type.

Continue reading Forwarding a Picture using Email

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

Reader Ian Holland wrote after reading one of my Special Edition Newsletters, which sometimes go to email subscribers:

Hi Terry,Just read your VERY absorbing newsletter, I have a ( moronic??) question about those SATA hard drives.

I recently ( 2006) built 5 pcs for the office ALL with SATA drives, and they are all the same spec as this one at home with regards to RAM ( 2gb) and processors ( all Pentium 4, 3.5GHz) . So, to all intents and purposes they should be more or less the same ( all ASUS mother boards the same make and type, all with the same version of XP Pro Corp) –except the ones at the office are all on a network to ADSL (yukk!) this one is on a small home network (4pc’s) to cable broadband ( much better!). </em></blockquote>

Continue reading Serial ATA Drives and PC Problems