by David Hakala
Docx is the new file format used by Microsoft Word 2007 by default. It cannot be opened by previous versions of Word. If you do not want to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, there is an alternative way to convert docx files to previous versions’ doc format.
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by Gabe Goldberg
Like changing your car’s oil or replacing your home’s air conditioner filter, a little PC cleaning pays off with a faster, more reliable, and longer-lasting computer.
Although nothing suggested here is either rocket science or inherently dangerous, always follow the medical adage, “First, do no harm”. So don’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable (perhaps have a more experienced person clean up while you watch and learn), and back up your system and data. Then reboot, to get a clean start, and don’t open any programs.
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by David Hakala
Say you don’t want your spouse or parents to know where you’ve been surfing because you’ve been shopping online for birthday presents. Or perhaps you work for the CIA and don’t even want your password-protected, biometrically accessed, triple-DES encrypted personal computer to know what you’ve been working on. You need to erase your tracks; delete the recorded history of your computer activity.
History is convenient. Windows, by default, keeps track of files you have opened. When you open the Start menu in Windows XP, you will find a list of them under My Recent Documents; just click on one to open it and start working again. Separately, Web browsers keep track of URLs you have visited so you can just type a few letters of one to pull it up and click to go there, instead of re-entering the whole thing. That’s great, but so can anyone who has access to your computer. If that thought makes you uncomfortable, here is how to minimize or eliminate your history.
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by David Hakala
It’s your PC, right? So how dare it tell you when you click on a folder:
Folder is not accessible. Access is denied.
The feelings that message inspires are like the ones you get when you try your own home’s bathroom door and find it locked: surprise followed swiftly by resentment, irritation, and a certain sense of urgency.
Access to a folder may be denied because the folder was created on a NTFS file system using a previous installation of Windows, and you then installed Windows XP without reformatting the drive. The security ID of the user changes under this scenario, even though you may register the same username and password. The user’s security ID no longer matches that of the folder, and so access is denied.
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by David Hakala
When you go to add or remove a program in Windows XP or Server 2003 you get the error message:
The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance.
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by Gabe Goldberg
The Windows mouse is a mixed blessing. It does things – such as highlighting and dragging text — that would be tough to do with a keyboard. And yet moving one’s hand between mouse and keyboard is a major distraction and time waster; even accomplished touch typists lose keyboard focus when mousing.
So it’s worth exploring how Windows’ flexibility, providing multiple ways to do things, lets keyboard shortcuts replace many common mouse functions. First, remember that many tasks are standardized across Windows applications, so learning them once helps early and often. And while they’ll become second nature as you practice them, don’t be overwhelmed by their number — notice a few that will be most helpful and consciously use them instead of mouse clicks. When they’re automatic for your hands, pick a few more. You’ll soon amaze colleagues and friends with your dexterity.
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by David Hakala
Many programs want parts of themselves to run in the background all the time, even when they are not being used. These unnecessary tasks consume system resources and can cause unexpected conflicts with other software that make your computer crash or behave strangely. Programs that you deliberately set to load at Windows startup can also cause problems. Worst of all, malware likes to hide in the background and start with Windows.
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by David Hakala
When you start a large program, such as Microsoft Office components including Word, Excel, or Outlook, you may experience very slow startup of the program, a thrashing sound from your hard drive; and the following message:
Your system is low on virtual memory. To ensure that Windows runs properly, increase the size of your virtual memory paging file. For more information, see Help.
After you click “OK”, you may see this further information:
Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file. During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see Help.
We don’t want to see Help for more information; we want our program to load faster and our hard drive to stop tearing itself apart. So let’s quickly summarize what Help would tell us and get on with the fix.
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by David Strom
Prices are coming down and small is once again beautiful in the world of laptops, with a new series of products that are called Netbooks. They have several advantages: they are small and lightweight (around two or three pounds), they boot up in seconds, they cost less than $500–in some cases a lot less–and run Windows XP Home, which is getter harder to find these days. Did I say that they are about the smallest form factor with big enough keyboards for touch typists? OK, now I did.
If you are on a real budget and don’t care about using your laptop for much more than Web surfing, email, and the occasional PowerPoint presentation or document, then these are the right tools for you. If you are tired of lugging your laptop through mile-long airport concourses, or don’t care if one gets lifted from the trunk of your car (that happened to me a few years ago), then the price point of these PCs will have a lot of appeal. And if you are impatient with long boot-up times and the kind of person who likes to have a laptop that can be up and running within a few seconds to answer a quick Web query or look up an email address, then the Netbooks are very appealing. But if you are looking for a desktop replacement, or if you can’t stand to compute with a screen smaller than 15 inches, then look elsewhere.
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