How do I clear my cookies?
You may clear all your cookies by clicking here. .
In Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP:
1. Click the "Tools" menu.
2. Select "Internet Options" from the menu that appears.
3. Click "Delete Cookies" on the dialog box that appears.
It will be in the center area of the "General" tab.
In Mozilla Firefox:
1. Click the "Tools" menu.
2. Select "Options" from the menu that appears.
3. From the dialog box, select "Privacy" on the left.
4. Find "Cookies" on the main pane, and click the "Clear" button adjacent to it.
Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility The Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility helps you determine if an MPEG-2 video decoder (also called a DVD decoder) is installed on your Windows XP computer and whether or not the decoder is compatible with Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP Media Center Edition. see C:/CD_Project
System restore point for Vista and XP
The system restore point option is available if you are using Windows Vista or Windows XP. When this is selected a system restore point is created before the fix errors process begins. To access the system restore you can go to Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore
Internet: Technical support can be reached here: http://support.regcure.com/
Email: Please email us at support@regcure.com if you are still experiencing difficulties.
2008
Wednesday 02 July 2008 Save yourself from spyware with System Restore
No matter how vigilant you are, you may wake up one morning and find your PC overrun with pop-up ads or your browser hijacked by a piece of spyware.
...To access System Restore, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. If you have System Restore turned on, you'll be presented with a calendar showing available restore points. If not, you can choose to create one before you install a new app.
Friday 20 June 2008 surge of interest in Firefox 3.0 has continued and Mozilla has reported that the software has now been downloaded more than 10 million times.
The flaw potentially lets an attacker take over a PC if a user clicks on a booby-trapped link.
Wednesday 04 June 2008 Microsoft grants XP new lifeline
Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP again - this time on low cost desktop machines. Windows XP reaches its end of life on 30 June but Microsoft has now said it can continue being sold until June 2010 but only on cheap desktops.
Saturday 17 May 2008 There is no doubt this problem will be rectified but PC Pitstop cannot recommend installing Windows XP SP3 at this time. Information on the issues addressed with this important update can be found in our recent article "Windows SP3: The Long Journey | Windows XP SP3 has problems
Friday 16 May 2008 The $125 Upgrade
Attached to your trusty old PC? Here's a relatively non-invasive procedure that will give it new life.
Monday 28 April 2008 Loopholes keep Windows XP alive
PC makers are exploiting loopholes in Microsoft license terms to keep selling Windows XP beyond a cut-off date. ....Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP Home until 2010 on low-powered PCs, such as the Asus Eee, that might struggle to cope with Vista's power demands.
Ballmer: Since You Don't Want XP, It's Done < HREF="http://ct2.enews.pcmag.com/rd/cts?d=42-1067-573-1028-269311-276672-0-0-0-1-9-269">
Microsoft could re-think plans to phase out its Windows XP operating system by June 30 if customers show they want to keep it but so far they have not, chief executive Steve Ballmer said.
Friday 25 April 2008 Myself & not many people I know are installing SP3, preferring to wait instead until it becomes part of windows automatic updates... many of the updates. We have already, but there is some cool security stuff too. Especially with your system (lots of stuff!) I would wait until they iron bugs for sure.
Larry Laurent & DTN
XP SP3 is largely a roll-up of earlier service packs and updates. There are a few improvements and even a new feature or two, but for most users who regularly apply fixes from Windows Update it adds nothing as such. It looks like only the US English, Japanese and German versions are available as I write this. The update is not yet available on Windows Update. SP3 can be installed on top of XP SP1 or SP2, but not, it seems, SP0 (Windows XP with no service packs).
Because not everyone wants to install it, Microsoft did not include Internet Explorer 7 in SP3. You are free to install it separately if you wish. Many other new features which have been released since XP SP2 are included, such as MMC (Microsoft Management Console) 3.0, MSXML 6. and WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access).
Several new features, some security-related, are included. There are improvements in the detection of "black hole routers," which are routers that silently discard packets. SP3 also includes support for Microsoft's NAP or Network Access Protection. NAP is roughly similar to Cisco's NAC, and both pre-qualify a client to access a network in terms of configuration, e.g. whether certain patches are applied or anti-virus updates are up-to-date. The Security Options Control Panel Applet has more explanatory text for its settings. There are also improvements to the Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module and Windows Product Activation.
NO task bar at the bottom of the screen and NO icon's on the desktop? \
start up the Windows XP Task Manager and select the Applications tab.
Now select the New Task button at the bottom of the window. A new smaller window will appear. In it simply type:
explorer.exe
explorer.exe is the Windows Program Manager (or Windows Explorer.) It manages the Windows Graphical Shell including the Start menu, taskbar, desktop, and File Manager. By restarting this process the graphical interface for Windows will reappear. http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?showtopic=154071
Stuck with a boring browser? Wish that Word could handle more tasks? Feel hemmed in by Photoshop? You don't have to toss (or upgrade) your existing software to get new features and tools. Give your browser, office apps, and multimedia programs new life with these 50-plus add-ons, tips, and tweaks.
Meeting with clients. Visiting suppliers. Presenting at trade shows. You have a lot of work to do outside the office. Fortunately, staying productive when you're mobile is getting easier, thanks to Web-based services. Each of the following eight mobile tools can help you more efficiently manage some aspect of your business while on the go--without your having to fire up your laptop.
These efficient workhorses combine color laser printing, scanning, copying, and, frequently, faxing.
Friday 29 February 2008 Microsoft cuts Vista prices ...In the United States, Microsoft will reduce prices for Windows Vista Ultimate, the company's top-end operating system, to $319 (U.S.) from $399 for the full version and cut the price for an “upgrade” version to $219 from $259 for consumers who already run Windows XP or another edition of Vista. ...Nonetheless, some consumers have raised issues with Vista's performance, stringent hardware requirement and lack of support for other software and devices like printers. Microsoft said it would continue to sell Windows XP until June, 2008, delaying a scheduled transition to Vista.
Australia 2/7/08 Microsoft responds to Save XP petition Microsoft's decision to discontinue OEM and packaged sales of Windows XP at the end of June - leaving
businesses and consumers with the less-than-celebrated Vista as their only choice
of Windows operating system on new PCs - has drawn considerable criticism and
led to an outpouring of support for the continuation of XP sales. Over 75,000 people have signed Infoworld's
'Save XP' petition; a Web site complete with an XP countdown timer, video tributes,
and a series of articles detailing why a large number of businesses, organizations
and consumers are unhappy with Microsoft's decision to force them into adopting
the yet-to-be widely accepted Vista operating system.
Tuesday 04 December 2007 XP to overtake Vista with speed boost: report
....But XP SP3, scheduled for the first half of 2008, did improve on XP's earlier performance, running 10 per cent faster than SP2.
March 01, 2007
live.pirillo.com/ - Here's why I'm "upgrading" from Windows Vista to Windows XP in a few days. I just flipped on the webcam and started talking - it's all based on a post I made to my personal blog the other day. Are you on Vista? Are you still on XP? What are your plans?
August 7, 2006, zeNet Apple shows Leopard's spots SAN FRANCISCO--Apple Computer on Monday introduced the Mac Pro, the company's first Intel-based professional desktop, and also gave developers a preview of Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X. Leopard nipping at Vista's heels
| c|net
A simple way to speed up a defrag operation in Windows XP
is to restart the system before you launch Defrag. This allows the operating
system to clear out the swap/paging file and reset it to the default size. This
lets Defrag focus strictly on the necessary data on the hard disk, without
having to stop and manage a huge swap file loaded with unneeded data.
Another approach to speeding up a defrag operation in Windows
XP is to configure them to occur immediately upon startup. Fortunately, you can
do so easily with a simple registry edit. Follow these steps:
Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce.
Right-click the RunOncesubkey and select New | String Value.
Name the value Defrag and press [Enter] twice.
Type Defrag.exe c:
/f in the Value Data text box, and click OK.
Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows.
The defrag operation will begin when you type in your
password and press [Enter]. (Keep in mind that values added to the RunOnce key are removed immediately after the command has
been run.)
The Microsoft Management Console houses the Windows XP Disk
Defragmenter, which makes it impossible to schedule a regular defragmenting session via Task Scheduler. However, there's
also a command line version of this utility, called Defrag.exe,
that you can schedule. To do so, create a batch file that runs
Defrag.exe along with the appropriate parameters, and then create a schedule to
run your batch file.
To run Defrag from the batch file, use the following command
line:
Defrag x:
[/parameter]
In this command, x
is the drive letter of the hard disk you want to defragment,
and parameter is one of three
optional settings that you can use to configure Defrag:
/a: Analyzes the volume and displays a summary of the
analysis report.
/v: Displays the complete analysis and defragmentation
reports. Can be used
in combination with /a to display only the analysis
report.
/f: Forces defragmentation of the volume regardless of whether it
needs to be defragmented.
Here's how to schedule the Disk Defragmenter:
Launch Notepad.
Type the appropriate Defrag command line.
Save the file as Defragger.bat.
Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools |
Scheduled Tasks.
Launch the Scheduled Task Wizard by double-clicking Add
Scheduled Task.
Click Next and select Defragger.bat.
In the following three screens, select the Weekly or
Monthly option, the time that you want to defragment
your hard disk, and then type a username and password
with Administrative privileges.
Click Finish.
Now, your computer will regularly run
a defragmentation operation to keep your Windows XP
system in tip-top shape!
Note:
This tip applies to both Home and Professional editions.
Friday Feb 3, 2006 c|net 2/3/06 Are you ready for Windows Vista? ...Prices will fall on the current cream of the crop as newer, faster, more powerful components will arrive on the market. The machine you buy today will be considerably cheaper in 8-9 months when Vista becomes available. It's a sad, ugly truth behind computers - they don't hold their resale value for very long.
Wednesday Jan 18, 2006 it Windows XP Service Pack 3 Not Due Until 2007
Microsoft has gone public with a tentative date for its
third service pack for Windows XP. And that date is
considerably later than many company watchers were expecting.
Over the weekend, the company released patches for beta
testers running the Windows Vista December CTP (Community
Technology Preview) and Windows Vista Beta 1, and warned
that the new operating system was vulnerable to a remote
code execution flaw in the Graphics Rendering Engine.
Windows XP comes equipped with a utility called the "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard," designed to facilitate the movement of both documents and personal settings from your old computer to the new one. Thanks to this utility, transferring everything, from the entire contents of your My Documents folder to your network and/or dial-up connections data, screensaver, and display preferences to your Web browser and e-mail client customizations, is simplified. As long as your old computer is running a Microsoft operating system from Windows 95 or later, you should be able to run the wizard without trouble.
here are several ways of transferring over your old files,
2005
From: Windows XP tips and tricks
Turn on your firewall
Microsoft included a firewall in Windows XP to keep you safe from
hackers while you cruise the Internet. How do you know that the
Internet Connection Firewall is on? Go to the Control Panel and
double-click the Network Connections icon. In the dial-up, DSL, or
cable connection dialog that appears, check the Status column. If your
firewall is on, it should say Firewalled. You can turn the firewall off
with the check box, but unless you are going to add a third-party
firewall for heightened security, it's best to leave it on.
Is your firewall turned on? You can tell from the
Status column.
Now that you know that your firewall is on, how do you know that it's
doing its job? Test it with ShieldsUp, the free testing service
sponsored by Gibson Research (http://www.grc.com).
According to our tests, XP's Internet Connection Firewall kept the
computer in full stealth mode. Hackers could not break in and couldn't
even see the computer online.
From: Interactive tutorial on Troubleshooting Windows 9x Configuration Problems
One of the first types of problems you can encounter when
troubleshooting Windows 9x is startup problems. For startup problems, a
good general troubleshooting method is to try to start Windows 9x in
Safe Mode and to proceed from there to identify the problem.
Problem: Computer Freezes Up When Starting Windows 9x
Follow the steps below to troubleshoot when a computer freezes up when starting Windows 9x.
Check the computer's CMOS settings for a virus protection feature. Some
computers have a BIOS setting that prevents applications from modifying
the boot sector of the startup drive. Windows 9x must modify the boot
sector during Setup or the first time it runs. Disable the virus
protection feature by using the computer's CMOS setup program.
Disable real-mode drivers in Autoexec.bat and Config.sys and restart.
If this solves the problem, be sure that devices with real-mode drivers
are not using the same system resources as other devices. Obtaining new
Windows 9x drivers for these devices might provide a solution.
If the problem occurs after you installed device drivers intended for
Windows 3.x, remove entries in System.ini that were added by the device
driver's installation software. If the device is displayed in the
Device Manager, delete it. Restart Windows 9x, and use the Add New
Hardware Wizard to reinstall the device using Windows 9x-compatible
drivers.
Problem: Bad or Missing File Message
Follow the steps below if the Bad or Missing message is displayed at startup.
Check the syntax of the entry in the startup file (e.g., Config.sys).
Verify that the file is stored in the correct location.
Verify that the file is the correct version.
Verify that the file has not been corrupted. (If you suspect this is
the problem, try replacing the file with a known good version from
another computer.)
open a copy of Windows Explorer. Click Tools > Folder Options. Then click the View tab. On the tab, you should see a list of options you can enable or disable. Look for the Hidden Files/Folders option. Set the option to "Show hidden files and folders" and click OK...
Behind the Scenes in Microsoft Windows XP
This lesson will provide you with some basic conceptual knowledge about Windows XP and how it interacts with your hardware and applications. You'll learn how to change login settings, how to install and remove applications, how to control background programs, and how to find out what hardware you have.
Lesson Assignment 1 Quiz 1 Discuss with Instructor
techrepublic. Hard drive failure troubleshooting checklist
Having a reliable set of troubleshooting guidelines can increase your odds of recovering from a hard drive failure. This checklist walks you through a proven hard drive troubleshooting process that covers physical connections, BIOS settings, viruses, partitions, formatting, physical and logical errors, and Windows 2000 and XP Disk Management.
techrepublic. Add Safe Mode to the standard Windows XP boot menu
Next time you have to go into Safe Mode on a Windows XP system, don't worry about having to repeatedly tap F8. Instead, use this tip to add Safe Mode to the standard Windows XP boot menu so that you can easily enter Safe Mode without cramping up your index finger.
techrepublic. Creating a quick Windows XP SP2 slipstream CD
After installing Service Pack 2 (SP2), you may wonder what you should do if you decide to rebuild the system from scratch using a reformat-reinstall operation. In order to avoid having to reinstall SP2, you can create a quick Windows XP SP2 slipstream CD using your original XP CD, the network installation version of SP2, and a special command. Here's how:
Save and Protect Your Hard Drive
Windows XP comes with a competent backup program (ntbackup.exe), but it's only installed by default with Windows XP Pro. For Windows XP Home, insert your Windows XP CD, navigate to D:\valueadd \msft\ntbackup using Windows Explorer, and double-click on the ntbackup.msi file to install it.
Go to Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs to uninstall any unnecessary programs. Next, run an antispyware utility like Spy Sweeper 3.5, PC Magazine's Editors' Choice ($29.95, www.webroot.com ), to eliminate malware.
Lastly, clean out your Temp folder. Windows and most applications almost never delete temp files when they're no longer needed. Temporary files are the most likely files to be fragmented and corrupted, contain viruses, and degrade performance.
In Windows Explorer, go to C:\Documents and Settings\{your user name}\Local Settings\Temp. Sort the listing by date, highlight all files with a Last Modified date older than when you last started Windows, and delete them. You could also use Creative Element Power Tools ( www.creativelement.com/powertools ) to clean this folder automatically.
It may not be possible to avoid every calamity that could threaten your hard drive and its data, but you needn't wring your hands waiting for disaster. We detail many backup solutions in our 2004 Utility Guide ( http://go.pcmag.com/backupsolutions ); both Windows and third parties offer encryption tools; and Windows has methods to help you recover from a crash, streamline your data, and free up disk space. If you master them now, you'll be ready if trouble strikes.
Disabling or enabling Windows XP System Restore While this is a desirable feature, in some cases it should be temporarily turned off. For example, if the computer is infected with a virus, then it is possible that the virus could be backed up by System Restore. By default, Windows prevents System Restore from being modified by outside programs. As a result, there is the possibility that you could restore a virus-infected file, or that the on-line scanners would detect the virus in that location.
Tuesday Jan 11, 2005 globe The new Mac mini lives up to its name, measuring 6.5 inches wide - slightly wider than a CD-ROM disc - and two inches tall. The tiny case houses up to 1GB of memory (depending on the model), either a 1.25 GHz or 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 processor and ATI Radeon 9200 graphics with 32MB of dedicated DDR memory, a slot-loading combo optical drive that can read DVDs and CDs and burn CD-R discs, an ethernet card and a fax/modem. Apple simply calls the hard drive "spacious," but insiders say the $499 (U.S.) model has a 40-gigabyte hard drive and a $599 model will have an 80-gigabyte hard disk. ..... the Mac mini lacks things like a keyboard, monitor and mouse that can be found in the average $500 (U.S.) PC.
Tuesday Jan 11, 2005 pc User Name Mismatch in Windows XP
Here's the story. When you create a user account, Windows XP creates and populates a subfolder of the C:\Documents and Settings folder whose name is the account name. But in your your case, you'll find a folder named C:\Documents and Settings\owner
Set Administrator's Password
You can customize your system's generic administrator account by adding a password (something the setup utility strongly recommends). This account comes in handy if for some reason your system is not letting you in with your regular account or if you fail to give your regular account administrative rights. By default, the admin account's user name is "administrator," and there is no password. If you add a password, make sure you write it down in the same safe place you did your serial number. To go to the admin log-on if you're using Windows XP Pro, reboot to get to the log-on screen. If you're using the Welcome screen, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del twice, then type administrator in the username field, and then hit Ent. If you're using the classic log-on prompt then simply enter administrator into the name field. If you're using Windows XP Home, reboot and press F8 after your computer's splash screen, choose Safe Mode, and you'll see an administrator log-on. Click it and hit Ent.
Set Up E-Mail and Instant Messaging
Many of you already have existing accounts for e-mail and instant messaging. If you want to bring over your settings and documents for these from another system, see the "Migrate" section on page 126. For those whOWN to set up instant messaging, you can download the free client for AOL Instant Messenger (www.aim.com), MSN Messenger ( http://messenger.msn.com ), or Yahoo! Messenger ( http://messenger.yahoo.com ).
Saturday Dec 4, 2004 pc All Is Not Lost
If the only tools available to you are those bundled with Windows, a deleted file that's been removed from the Recycle Bin appears to be gone forever. But it's not. With specialized hardware and software, you can recover virtually any file--even if the data is overwritten, the drive is reformatted, the boot sector is trashed, or the disk controller has stopped functioning. We tell you how to rescue your data in today's tip.
Small Pictures Become Huge Documents in Word This problem specifically affects Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003. It surfaces when a document containing an image in JPEG, GIF, PNG, or EMF format is saved in Rich Text Format or in Word 6.0/95 format. If the document is saved in Word's current format, the problem doesn't arise.
Print a eb page. The first Internet Explorer workaround to try is to change your margins to give you the widest possible printing area. To do this, go to the File menu and click on Page Setup. Under Margins, set Left and Right both to 0, then try printing to see if the page fits.
Since the browser prints in portrait mode (vertical) by default, you could also try setting the mode to landscape (horizontal), so that you are printing across the wide part of your page. To do this, go to the Page Setup screen again, and select Orientation. You will see settings for landscape and portrait.
As for software solutions, if you are using a Canon printer, the company offers a program for IE users called Easy-Web Print. You can read about it at www.canoneasywebprint.com/en/index.htm.
(see "Migration Utilities," in our June 8 issue; http://go.pcmag.com/utilityguide ). also http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1743637,00.asp
Open your Sent Items (or Outbox) folder, and make
sure you have the Size column displayed in the message index. In
Outlook Express, go to View | Columns, and click on Size. In Outlook,
select View | Current View | Customize Current View, and then click on
the Fields button (
Figure 1 . With Size displayed, click on the Size
column header to sort the index by message size; then select the larger
messages that you want to get rid of and delete them. Outlook 2003
contains a very useful Large Mail search folder that organizes all your
mail by size, making it easy to spot really big messages.
Outlook also allows you to delete sent messages automatically after a specified period of time. Choose Tools | Options. Click on the Other tab and then select the AutoArchive button. One option lets you permanently delete items older than a specified age. For other e-mail clients, you may be able to write a filter that automatically deletes messages after a period of time, but the easiest way may be to sort your messages regularly by date, highlight messages older than 30 or 60 days, and then delete them as a batch.
?
????
If your Web browser (particularly Internet Explorer) isn't configured
correctly, some Web sites can install spyware without asking
permission. IE6 has two options that you must disable. (On IE5 and
earlier, only the first will be present.) Bring up IE, and select Tools
| Internet Options. Click on the Advanced tab; under Browsing is a list
of minor topics. The two to uncheck are Enable Install on Demand
(Internet Explorer), and Enable Install on Demand (Other) (
Figure 3
). Then click on OK.p>
The best way to get rid of spyware and adware is to use a
utility that's specifically designed for this. Our current favorite is
Webroot's Spy Sweeper ($30 direct), followed closely by the free Spybot Search & Destroy ( www.safer-networking.org;
donations are encouraged). In addition to spyware, these programs
remove cookies from known spyware and adware companies. Both programs
are very easy to use; run them regularly to be sure that nothing sneaks
past you.
Tuesday Aug 31, 2004 pc Power strips and surge protectors provide a handy way to turn all the components in your computer system on and off, but leave your printer out of it. If your printer has a power switch, use it to turn the device off. This lets the printer complete its shutdown procedure; for ink jet printers, this includes parking the print cartridges so they don't dry out. In most cases, you probably don't need to turn the printer off at all; most now have sleep modes that draw negligible power, and many ink jets don't even have power switches.
Thursday Aug 12, 2004 pc To open the GPE, go to Start | Run and type in gpedit.msc. Those familiar with the Registry Editor or Windows Explorer will feel at home here. There's an expandable tree on the left from which categories are selected and a details list that shows the settings in the selected category on the right.
Thursday Aug 12, 2004 pc Smooth and simplify your online research ClipCache Plus lets you drag and drop pieces of information for quick transfer to your computer. You can even separate your clips into categories such as Graphics or Text so that you can quickly find what you need.
Clipboard Buddy opens up from the side of the screen and lets you retrieve your last 20 copied items. You can also set up a clipboard file so that the same items remain in there while you're doing repetitive tasks such as data entry. (Free/Windows)
Under Windows XP, Start's very first argument is an optional window title, in quotes. When you put the full pathname on the command line in quotes, Start treats it as a window title. For example, suppose you use this command line:
START "C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\PSP.EXE"
This will create a Command Prompt window whose title is the specified path. The solution is simple: Insert an empty pair of quotes ahead of the path, thus:
START "" "C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\PSP.EXE"
Your program should start without any problem now.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2004 I'm enjoying using your tip on how to extend the Windows desktop across two screens when running Windows on a notebook (for more information. But once I have the computer set up to use two screens, I'd rather have the taskbar on the desktop monitor instead of on the laptop LCD. Q) Is there any way to do this?
A)It's easier than you think. First, make sure the taskbar is not locked. Right-click on it and make sure the Lock the Taskbar option isn't checked. If it is, click on it to uncheck the option. Then click on the taskbar and drag it to the second screen. Windows will try to dock the taskbar to the edge of the first screen, but keep dragging until the taskbar reaches the second screen, after which you can position it however you like. When you tell Windows to stop using the second monitor, the taskbar will automatically return to the laptop monitor.
Thursday Aug 12, 2004 pc Disinfecting Your PC If you can't get online, you're stuck with the tools built into Windows XP. Your first step is to reboot into Safe Mode. This will prevent much of the software on the system from loading, including whatever might be causing your problem, but will still leave you in a position to correct it. To get into Safe Mode, press F8 as soon as your system beeps on boot-up and select the appropriate option from the menu that appears.
One way to get back to a working state is with System Restore, accessible from Help and Support on the Start menu. Unless you've told it not to, Windows periodically saves the system state so you can restore it relatively easily. System Restore undoes changes such as program installations, intentional or otherwise, but leaves your documents and most other changes untouched. It's a rather coarse tool, though, and you might want to avoid endangering other changes you've made—or perhaps you've already disabled it.
You can create a line across the page of your Word or Outlook document with just a few keystrokes. Type three consecutive hyphens and press Enter to get a normal line. Type three underscores and Enter, and you'll get a bold line. And if you type three equal signs and press Enter, you'll get a double line.
---
Saturday Jun 26, 2004 pc Security Watch Letter: Adware, Phishing Plague IE Users ...highly critical flaw in RealPlayer. Several versions of RealOne and RealPlayer have been found to have a buffer overflow vulnerability that could allow remote execution of arbitrary code on a victim's system. RealNetworks has confirmed the problem and has issued a patch. See our Security Bulletins section for more information. microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-011.mspx
Monday Apr 5, 2004 pc To turn on Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) before you connect to the Internet for the first time. To do this, go to the Control Panel, select Network Connections, and highlight the name of the connection. Right-click and select Properties to bring up networking settings. Click on the Advanced tab, then select Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet, and click on OK. ICF is now on.
Next, connect to the Internet and browse to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Follow this page and download and install all critical security updates.
To stay safe, know that ICF can do the job as a basic firewall, but third-party solutions do more and offer greater control over security settings. Our Security Watch page (www.pcmag.com/security) contains reviews of personal firewalls and antivirus utilities. Once you've installed and updated these, you can turn ICF off.
Monday Apr 5, 2004 pc ABS Awesome 6300 $3,599 direct
2.4-GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-53, 1GB DDR SDRAM, dual 120GB 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives in a RAID 0 array, Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card, DVD±RW drive, DVD-ROM drive, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card, Logitech Z-680 5.1 speakers, Samsung SyncMaster 191T 19-inch LCD, Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Monday Apr 5, 2004 pc Microsoft Windows XP won't allow you to uninstall Internet Explorer. How can you fix the browser or even reinstall the program if it becomes corrupt? If you don't yet have the very latest Internet Explorer, you can fix many problems by visiting http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and updating to the latest version. If you're already up to date, however, the site won't let you reinstall the program. You need to fool the system into thinking you don't have the latest version.
Tuesday 30 Mar 2004 pc SATA technology, Hard Drive Update for speed.
Monday 29 Mar 2004 pc Key XP Shortcuts try F1 & Tabmore
Switch among applications: Windows-Tab or Alt-Tab.
Open the Start menu: Ctrl-Esc or Windows.
Either shortcut will open the Start menu. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move through the menu, and the Enter key to choose an item. The two shortcuts vary slightly depending on your version of Windows. Ctrl-Esc, Esc leaves the Start button selected but not pressed. In Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0 (but not Windows 2000 and Me), Windows, Esc will return you to the window or desktop selection you were working with previously.
Monday 29 Mar 2004 pc Insert a Signature In Microsoft Word Next, in Word 2000 or 2002, choose Insert | Picture | From Scanner or Camera. If the Cameras and Scanners add-in is installed ...Scan the signature in 1-bit mode—with every pixel assigned as black or white ....Save the scan in an uncompressed bitmap format, such as TIFF or BMP. You can also crop or tweak the signature if needed. Then use Word's Insert | Picture | From File
Monday 22 Mar 2004 The printer drivers that ship with Windows XP often suffer from shortcomings, and the best that can be said—for some of the drivers at least—is that they'll let your printer print. We've seen similar problems in PC Magazine Labs—most recently with a Lexmark color laser printer, which suffered from extremely slow printing and poor output quality using the driver that ships with Windows XP. Changing to Lexmark's own driver improved both speed and quality. The moral here is simple enough, and it applies to most hardware, not just to printers: Even if Windows XP comes with a driver for your hardware, check the vendor's Web site for a better version.
Monday 15 Mar 2004 pc If you're running Windows XP, you can use the Tweak UI PowerToy (downloadable at www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp) to customize the Places Bar in the standard Open and Save As dialogs. When you run Tweak UI, go to Common Dialogs | Places Bar on the hierarchical list; this is where you can change the folders that appear in the Places Bar. Note that you can have only up to five places, and for each your choice is limited to certain system folders (such as History, My Pictures, and so on).
..Our article "Personalize Office's Places Bar" (www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1265371,00.asp) inspired many readers to ask whether the systemwide File | Open and File | Save As dialogs could be configured in a similar fashion. As this tip explains, they can, but only if you're running Windows XP. You can choose from among 11 system folders, or you can actually type in any folder name you like.
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Shutdown Problems?: Visit support.microsoft.com and click on Search to bring up the Advanced Search dialog. Select your operating system from the drop-down list and search for shutdown problem using the all of the words entered option. You can choose from a number of articles, from the general "Resources to Help Troubleshoot Shutdown Problems in Windows XP" to the more arcane "Computer Hangs if USB Selective Suspend Option of USB Mouse Is On." There's even a Webcast called "Microsoft Windows XP: Troubleshooting Startup and Shutdown," which is also a good introduction to troubleshooting in general. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1537602,00.asp
in Outlook 2003 To hide the buttons move the mouse cursor over the thin bar at the top of the list of buttons. When the bar changes to a vertical double-arrow, click and drag the bar down. As you drag the bar over each button, each one will, in turn, disappear as a space-hogging text button and reappear as a small icon on the bottom row.http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1537599,00.asp
Friday 27 Feb 2004 To log on to Windows XP without going through the Welcome screen, you must have exactly one user account defined and you must have the Guest account turned off. That's the arrangement you had originally. A recent Windows XP update screws up this plan by adding a virtual user called ASP.NET, which isn't useful unless you're a programmer. Assuming you're not, just delete it.
Of course, subsequent Windows updates are likely to bring back that unwanted account. For a more permanent solution, download TweakUI from /powertoys.asp. Install and launch TweakUI; unlike earlier versions, the utility launches from the Start menu rather than the Control Panel. Double-click on the Logon item to open it and then click on Autologon. Check the box titled Log on automatically at system startup, enter your user name and password, and click on OK. Now TweakUI will log you on using your user name and password even if more than one account exists.
FONTS
(The page at www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.asp may help you figure out which systems have the fonts you want.) On that system, launch Windows Explorer and navigate to the Fonts folder (usually C:\Windows\Fonts).
You can launch the Character Map accessory by entering CHARMAP in the Start menu's Run dialog. The Character Map dialog lets you copy any character to the Clipboard and paste it into your e-mail. In addition, when you select a character, it will show you the keystrokes to create it (for example, Alt-0252 for ü).This means that you hold down the Alt key, then tap out 0-2-5-2 on the numeric keypad (not the top-row numbers) and then release Alt.
Thursday Dec 18, 2003 pc Dvorak Online: Microsoft's Strong-Arm Upgrade Tactics
Columnist John C. Dvorak thinks he knows why Microsoft decided to cease support of Windows 98 and Office 2000, and he doesn't think it's because the software is outdated. He believes the move is one way to force people to upgrade to new software, and that it could be a step toward what he holds is Microsoft's wish for a subscription model for OSs and Office applications. Dvorak does not paint a pretty picture. Read his column for all the alarming details.
Friday Sep 5, 2003 cbc Trouble with Fast User Switching
"I just installed Windows XP Home Edition and I wanted to enable Fast User Switching. When I go to User Accounts in the Control Panel and select Change the way users log on or off, I get an error message saying: A recently installed program has changed the Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching. To restore these features, you must uninstall the program. The following file name might help you identify the program that made the change: MSGINA. What program is this, and how do I uninstall it?"
Tuesday, 21 October, 2003 bbc Microsoft backs e-mail controls In Office 2003, people can limit who else can open, edit, copy or even print a document.
You can even set a time limit on it, so that a document will 'self-destruct' after a set period, though a copy will most likely remain on a central server. ...Office 2003 will be available in a set of packages at range of prices, starting at around £120 [$264cad] for students.
But the programs will only run on a PC with Windows XP or 2000.
There are times when you can't boot your system from the hard drive, thanks to either a system problem, a lost password, or the simple fact that the OS hasn't been installed. Windows XP offers a number of options for booting from floppy disks, but you must prepare them before they're needed.
A computer with no operating system installed will usually boot from the Windows XP CD. For that rare system that won't, Microsoft offers downloadable programs to create the necessary set of bootable floppy disks. Navigate to http://support.microsoft.com and search for article 310994. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1203124,00.asp Find the download link for your Win XP version and language. The downloaded program will create six setup disks, which can be used to start your system up and begin installing the OS from a CD in a nonbootable drive. You need 6 flopies better get you store to fix your computer!
...CNN The company's Office launch is a strategy change for its second most-profitable business division. Business software accounted for $9.2 billion in sales in its 2003 fiscal year, with operating profits of $7 billion -- a 76 percent profit margin. It is second only to Microsoft's core Windows operating system business in revenue and profits
...The Office suite ranges from $149 to $499, depending on edition: student/teacher, standard or professional. Server software, however, costs thousands of dollars, such as SharePoint Portal Server, which retails for $5,619. ....But some of the new features rely on new or updated server software released Tuesday that include Live Communications Server, SharePoint Portal Server and other products that promote group collaboration and joint work on documents.
Window Size: IE has a notoriously bad memory for certain things, window sizes among them. Here is a technique that often fixes the problem, though it's not guaranteed. First, close all open IE windows, then launch IE again. Right-click on any link and choose Open in New Window. Resize the resulting secondary window to the size you want for all secondary windows.
Now close the window by holding the Shift key and clicking the X icon in its top-right-hand corner. Set the remaining window to the size you want IE to have when initially launched, and close it in the same way. IE should now remember your preferred window sizes. If it forgets after a while, apply this simple fix again.
Run this tip by opening the Start | Run dialog and entering Eudcedit. Create and edit a custom character to use as text: You can make a character out of your name, for example, or a company logo. The process is a bit confusing: When you open the Editor, it asks you to assign your character to a spot on a grid. Accept the default and begin editing on the 50-pixel-square workspace. To use a saved character, open the Character Map (Run | Charmap). For Font, select the top choice, All Fonts (Private Characters), then select, copy, and paste your character into a document.
Get Hardware Details from the Device Manager Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties, or launch the System applet from the Control Panel ...Hardware tab
First, I can't stress enough the value of a personal firewall such as ZoneAlarm or Sygate. They're very easy to set up. Second, don't leave your P2P client on all the time. Many of these applications default to launching when you start up Windows. Find that setting and turn it off; and only turn on P2P software when you are looking for or downloading a file. Also, check which folders your P2P client shares with the rest of the world. Ideally, you should use a removable storage device such as a separate hard drive or a CD-RW drive, making it harder for someone to hack into a shared folder on your main system.
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