Tiplet expert tips & tech support

February 6, 2009

Repair Files with Chkdsk

Filed under: computer performance,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

File system errors can cause a variety of subtle symptoms, and not so subtle ones. Your system may “feel sluggish.” Your hard drive may seem to be thrashing a bit and the activity light stays on “too long.” Overt signs include files that take forever to load and the blunt message:

The file or directory filename is
corrupt and unreadable.
Please run the Chkdsk utility.

File system errors may be caused by power failures, viruses, an overworked crowded hard drive, and other things. The point is that allowing your system to continue running with file system errors is as dangerous as running a car without oil. Eventually, it will blow.
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February 5, 2009

Set Up Shared File Folders and Printers in Windows XP Pro

Filed under: computer networks,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Sharing files and printers is one of the main benefits of having a network at home or office. A Windows network lets you easily share selected files and printers. This tutorial for Windows XP Pro assumes you have already set up your network and enabled file and printer sharing during the setup process. Now we will see how to share specific files, folders, and printers.
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February 4, 2009

Uses of Windows Safe Mode

Filed under: computer performance,Windows — Tags: , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

What is Windows Safe Mode and what good is it? It looks awful with its too-small desktop and crude graphics. Much of the software you use isn’t available in Safe Mode. Sometimes you can’t even access the Internet in Safe Mode. Why bother with Safe Mode?

Safe Mode is useful for diagnosing system configuration problems and removing some types of malware or malfunctioning legitimate software that cannot be removed in Windows normal mode.
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February 3, 2009

Create Word Documents from Excel Macros

Filed under: applications,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Suppose you have a database of company information and contacts. You want to use an Excel macro to copy addresses and such into different Word documents. How can you make Excel open a specific Word document into which information will be pasted?

Word’s mail merge feature is one solution. But if you are working with multiple Word documents, the mail merge trick won’t work. You will need something more complicated called Office Automation, which allows creation of macros that work with multiple Office applications and not just one, such as Word.
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February 1, 2009

Use Windows Task Manager to Find and Shut Down Misbehaving Applications

Filed under: computer performance,Windows — Tags: , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Your computer is running slowly, freezing, stalling, and generally making a nuisance out of itself. The worst part is, you just got done giving it a complete “tune up” and things were fine for a short period of time. What’s going on? There’s a good chance there is an application or a process running that is using up all the available computing power your system’s CPU can provide. The good news is that there is an easy way to find out what’s hogging all the power. It’s called the Windows Task Manager.
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Recent Documents List Doesn’t Appear in Microsoft Word, Excel, Etc.

Filed under: Windows — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

It’s convenient to have a list of recently opened documents available when working with one of Microsoft Office’s components such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. Just open the File menu (Office button in Office 2007), select the document you want, and it opens again. But what if there’s no such list?

The problem may be in the Office component that you are using, or it may be in Windows settings that affect all recent document lists. Try the Office component first.
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January 31, 2009

How to Protect Your Windows XP PC Against Accidental or Unauthorized Changes

Filed under: privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Gabe Goldberg

Bill Gates must be a trusting soul, since Windows was designed to be an open and flexible computing environment, usually allowing any user full authority to do all sorts of complex and (potentially) dangerous things. In a perfect world — one in which nobody made mistakes and no malicious acts occurred — this would be useful and convenient.

But in reality, the PC’s openness means that a well-intentioned – and even knowledgeable — user can do damage, sometimes simply by visiting a Web site which has been corrupted to include malware (evil-intending software such as a virus, work, Trojan, etc.) which will download and install itself by stealth.
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January 30, 2009

How to Load and Edit Digital Video on Your Computer

Filed under: applications,online computing,photos and video,Windows — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Once you’ve shot all that great video on your DV recorder, what’s next? If you want to do more than just store the tape away or replay it on your video camera, you’ll need to upload the video to your hard drive. Digital video cameras come equipped with USB or Firewire connections that make it easy to transfer files. Follow the instructions for your particular camera, then open up your video editing software and get ready to become a movie producer.
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Customize Taskbar and Start Menu

Filed under: applications,computer performance,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

The Start menu and the Taskbar are two of the most frequently used features of Windows XP. You can customize how they look and operate to suit your personal tastes.

The Taskbar runs along the bottom of the Windows desktop by default. But you can move it to either side or the top of the screen. Just click and hold on any part of the Taskbar and drag it to where you want it. You can also click and hold on the edge of the Taskbar to stretch and shrink it.
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January 28, 2009

How To Use The System Restore Feature

Filed under: data storage and recovery,Windows — Tags: , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Sometimes your computer begins to act strangely after you install new software or hardware. If you cannot figure out why and correct the problem, you can return the system to its pre-installation state using the System Restore utility.

System Restore periodically saves snapshots of critical system files and some applications. You can then restore the system to one of these previous configurations when it was working properly. You can also take your own snapshot right before making major changes like adding an office suite or a new scanner.
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January 27, 2009

USB Device Not Recognized by Windows XP

Filed under: computer hardware,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

When you plug a USB device into a computer that just “woke up” from hibernation or standby, you get the error message:

Unrecognized device has been found.

Basically, the computer’s USB driver has not yet fully awakened. There can be a five- to 10-second period after the computer comes out of hibernation or standby during which the USB driver is not operating properly.
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