Ray Shaw's  Questions  &  Answers  ---  Page 40 10-11-09: Question: I am using a Windows Vista laptop. For the past 18 months, when I selected the Hotmail Attach button, a drop-down menu appeared offering a choice of File or Photo. If I selected a photo, it automatically made it an email-friendly size. Now when I select Attach, there is no drop-down menu, it just goes through my files, and it does not reduce photos in size. How do I change this back? Answer: It appears that this feature may have been removed from the programs functionality. It certainly is missing from my Hotmail account too. You may regain this by downloading MS Photo Gallery as well. Question: I downloaded CCleaner and it found more than 500 errors. However, the program wanted more than $30 to fix this. There was no free service as you suggested. Answer: CCleaner www.ccleaner.com is a free program - you have accidentally downloaded a ransom-ware program instead that is demanding money. Try to remove it using Add/remove programs. If that does not work then use Revo uninstaller www.revouninstaller.com to forcibly remove it. Ransom ware tricks you into paying for services you don't need and can sometimes disable your computer if you try to uninstall it. Question: I have a problem with my scrollbar. When I open a website and try to scroll down, it just goes up again. What might cause this and how can I fix it? Answer: Open IE and go to Tools, Internet Options and reset all defaults on Advanced and Program Tabs. Question: I use Microsoft Outlook Express and the spell check is stuck on French. It only happened in the past few weeks. How do I change it back? Answer: This happens if you install any Office 2007 program as the dictionaries are incompatible with Outlook Express. You can buy an Australian Dictionary for $9.95 from http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/mswordexcl/ Question: I am uninstalling Office 2000 from my XP PC and replacing it with Office 2003. How do I do this? Answer: Go to add/remove programs and uninstall Office 2000. Once that is done you insert the 2003 CD into the PC and follow the prompts. Question: What's the difference between a notebook and a netbook? I want to access eBay, web surfing and the odd email. Could you please advise what memory, processor and hard drive size, etc, that you think I'd need. I expect to spend around $1000 to $1200. Answer: A notebook is more powerful generally using an Intel Core2 Duo processor (2Ghz or higher), a 12-17" LCD screen, 250GB or larger hard disk and an inbuilt DVD-RW. Prices start around $1,000 and they are a good desktop PC replacement. A netbook uses an Intel Atom 1.6Ghz processor (much lower power), a smaller sub 10" screen, no DVD and is priced between $500-1000. Netbooks are meant for travelling and are not for every day use. Question: Is it possible to buy superseded software such as Office 2003? Answer: You can often get this on eBay or in the Courier Mail Classifieds. But be aware that OEM software (that usually comprises a CD/DVD disk only and a serial number) cannot be re-registered so don't buy it. Only full retail boxed product (comes in a large software box) can be re-registered and resold. Also look out for pirate copies. Question: I have a Sony voice recorder and have been using the supplied Digital Voice Editor 2 to download the files to my PC. The files are saved as .msv files.  How do I convert then to play on an iPod? Answer: MSV stands for memory stick voice and you need to convert it to WAV or MP3. The recorder should have come with MSV Editor software to do this. There are a number of free or commercial programs that will do this - search for msv to mp3 converter or have a look at http://www.nch.com.au/switch/plus.html Question: I have been receiving DVDs which are said to have sound on them but they are not playing on my computer. For instance, on a double DVD one of them sounded but the other was silent. They are on WMP and I downloaded WMP 11 afresh but nothing changed. Answer: You don't mention if these DVD's are movies with sound or just sound files. It may be that you are missing a codec. Go to http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_lite_codec_pack.htm and download the full pack that includes Media Player Classic (MPC is not a MS product) and install the whole package. Try the DVD's under MPC and if they work the codecs may also allow WMP to work. Question: I have a problem. I am using a computer with Windows 98, and am using AVG anti-virus software. I think the company stopped supporting this operating system. Could you suggest any other software packages? Answer: Avast www.avast.com still supports Windows 98 and is a viable alternative. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29-11-09: Question: I am trying to install Adobe Reader on my husband's Dell Studio 15 laptop. I try to visit get.adobe.com/reader/ but the page gets to "2 (or sometimes 3) items remaining" and then stops.  Then I am unable to click out of it and have to shut down. Answer: This is a known issue and usually indicates that the operating system registry is corrupted. The best cure is to do a rescue reinstall of the operating system (you will need to back up all data and reinstall all programs). Alternatively you can try to remove the old version of Reader first. Download Microsoft Clean Up Utility and install it:  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301 When it is installed, pull down the menu Start and Programs, and click on Windows Install Clean Up to launch it.  In the list, select Adobe Reader (be careful: nothing else), click on Remove then click on Exit and restart your computer. Try to install Adobe again. Question: I use Windows XP Pro and use Outlook Express for my emails. Recently a window appeared when sending or reading emails and when exiting from Outlook. The message is "to free up disk space Outlook Express can compact messages. This may take up to a few minutes."  The options are to accept or cancel. When I clicked OK, it deleted most of the emails in my files. What happened? Answer: This is a known problem and Close all programs and as a precaution create a Restore Point first (Start, All Programs, System, Restore). Then in the run box on the start menu type Regedit. Look (find) for this key in the Registry:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\ {GUID}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0 Double click the Compact Check Count Select the Base option for Decimal and change the value to 0 Close the Registry. This should cure the issue. Question: I am planning to buy a computer. I understand there is a new operating system, Windows 7, about to launch. Should I purchase Windows 7 or Vista? What are the benefits of either system? Answer: Windows 7 is a major update to Vista and cures a lot of Vista's issues. You should buy it - most existing new PCs will have Vista installed and come with a Windows 7 upgrade voucher. Question: I have Windows XP running on my PC.  Our email through Outlook Express was previously through BigPond, but we are now in an over-50 resort where the internet is delivered through a PABX system with a different server.  Outlook Express automatically still defaults to BigPond so we cannot send emails or photos using OE. How can I change the server to have Outlook Express default to hotmail? Answer: Open OE and under tools, accounts add a new account using the Hotmail login and password. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/220852 for details. Question: I have a computer running Windows XP and my spyware program is SUPERAntiSpyware.  I use the computer for internet banking and business, so I want my computer clean. I also use Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail, but each time I log on to either of these Live programs, they put a tracking cookie called .....@atdmt.com/  on my computer. How can I permanently stop this tracking cookie from my computer?  Answer: Windows Live needs the cookie - its harmless and only works for that program. Question: I am using Windows Vista Home Basic in a Dell 1525 laptop that has Pentium Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB memory and 106GB free. Will Windows 7 give a more accurate estimation of downloading times than Vista?  I have found most times are inaccurate. Answer: No. The problem is not with Windows per se but the variable speed of the internet connection. Download times are really operating system independent. Question: My concern is that someone or some internet site is accessing my computer when I turn it on.  Recently I deleted Logmein from my computer and all other sharing files that anyone could access.  Now my screen has the appearance of someone sharing it.  It looks the same as if someone were connected remotely and servicing the computer.  How can I get my screen back to normal? Answer: You could spend hours trying to secure the present system but the chances are that you would still have issues. First try Spybot free from www.spybot.info. If that does not work the only sure cure is to do a clean install of Windows and then apply all your security programs. Question: Whenever I turn the computer on it causes interference to any radio which is turned on in the house. Is there anything I can do to eliminate the problem? Answer: RF interference is associated with older computers and the cure may be more expensive than getting a new one. The first thing to change is the case and power supply - they are the usual culprits. These cost from about $60 for an economy case to several hundred dollars. If that does not work then the motherboard or other components are at fault and a new system would be best. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to: HOME      Back to: Computers     Back to: Ray Shaw (39)     Forward to: Ray Shaw (41)