IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I run Windows Vista Home Basic. Around June, I could no longer view my emails using Web Access for Outlook. All toolbars and folder trees were visible but the main area to view the list of emails in any folder is empty with the statement across the top saying – There are no items to view. Using my desktop, I don’t have a problem. Seems to be a change to my laptop in recent months. Our IT dept is unable to suggest a fix after many hours of review. Can you make a suggestion?

The obvious problem is a security patch or update to your system has blocked something on the laptop. You may want to ask your IT department to have a look at the security settings on your system and add your organisation’s server address to the “whitelists”, the list of sites trusted by your laptop’s security programs.

It may also be that your server address has somehow got onto a blocked list in your program settings. If you are using Internet Explorer on Windows Vista, follow these instructions from Microsoft on how to resolve the problem.

You many also want to try another web browser, although  Outlook Web Access works best on Internet Explorer.

Does windows 7 operating system supports 32 bit processor or not? I installed the OS but I cant get sound when I am playing songs? What’s the reason?

Window 7 does support 32 bit systems which is a good thing as your system probably is one. The reason you can’t get sound is that the sound card drivers haven’t correctly installed when you upgraded the system to Windows 7.

The easiest way of resolving this is to install the Windows 7 drivers for your sound card from the manufacturers website if they are available.

Microsoft have a wizard to help fix sound problems in Windows 7 and this might assist you as well.

Do files deleted from floppy disk get tansfered to recycle bin ?

Unfortunately they don’t. Files deleted from removable drives in Windows aren’t saved to the Recycle Bin. Micorsoft discuss this on their website at Files or Folders Deleted from Floppy Disk Not in the Recycle Bin

If you haven’t used the floppy disk since deleting the file, there is a good chance you can recover the lost files by using the software described in our Recovering Deleted Files post.

When I buy a laptop with Windows 7 do I need to buy more software to connect to the internet?

Usually you’ll be able to plug straight into your Internet router and go. One of the great improvements with Windows 7 is the system will automatically detect and configure your connection for you.

If it doesn’t then you should contact your ISP.

Once you are connected, the first thing you should do is let Windows detect any security upgrades through the Windows Update website, allow your antivirus program to update itself and download Firefox, Opera or Google Chrome as a browser to replace Internet Explorer 8.

You should do these before surfing the net or checking email just to make sure your computer is secure.

please list current free anti virus software downloads that are thorough and efficient for windows 7 home?

The free anti virus programs we’d suggest for Windows 7 Home users are the following;

AntiVir: Will offer to give you the Premium edition for free as well, but we don’t like the sign up process
AVG Free: The sign up will also try to steer you towards the paid for package
Avast!: Avast is one of the longest standing free products

While AVG pushes their paid for version the hardest during the download process, all of the free versions are loss leaders for their paid versions.

The paid versions are good value for money compared to the bigger brand name products and give you more features than the free version and tech support for when there are problems.

We’d recommend the paid versions of all of these programs as well.

Note that all of these programs are free only for personal use; if you want to use them in a business you have to shell out for the paid versions.

I notice you advertise companies that provide registry cleaners on your site. I used a uniblue registry cleaner on my small notebook and it completely destroyed the operation of windows. I was able to recover normal operation through system restore. I would like to keep my computers running quickly and efficiently. Do you recommend the use of registry cleaners. I have Windows XP on both our laptops, Dell and Fujitsu.

The short answer is that we don’t recommend any registry cleaners as most are snake oil and the benefits of running a registry cleaner are not that great for the majority of Windows computers.

We discuss this in more detail, along with why we don’t recommend registry cleaners on our registry repair tools page.

Overall, save your money and time.

In regards to the adverts on the site, they are provided by third party companies and we unfortunately don’t control every advert that appears.

I’ve a received a file which ends in .rtf and I’m not sure if that type of file is safe to open or what it does?

An RTF file is a document saved in Rich Text Format; a basic computer standard that allows documents to have formatted text like italics, bold and bullet points. Because RTF files are simple compared to files saved in Microsoft Word’s format or those of other sophisticated word processing programs, it’s a fairly popular way to send files.

You can open RTF files in most word processing files including Wordpad, the basic free programs included with Microsoft Windows, and TextEdit, Apple’s free word processor that comes with OSX.

Generally RTF files are safe to open although it is possible that when opening them with Microsoft Word you could be caught by a macro virus, although these are rare at the moment.

If you open the file in Wordpad or TextEdit you should be fine.

I can’t determine whether I have usb 2.o. When I plug any usb device in I get message  “device could operate faster using high speed port…” When I go to “Device Manager” It shows a list of USB controllers and one is -SiS PCI to USB Enhanced Host controller. I’ve tried changing ports but nothing changes. All devices seem to work OK but I always get the “slow speed message” when I plug anything in.

I am using windows XP service pack 3, Pentium 4. 2.53ghz 1.75gb ram

The underlying cause for this are the different USB standards; there’s USB 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 with each one being faster than the previous number. Windows tries to help by telling you when you’ve plugged a device capable of the higher speeds into a slower port but it’s often incorrect about the problem as the Laptop Junction website describes.

It is possible your USB cable is damaged or only capable of the lower speeds so you can replace your USB cable with one certified for the higher speeds. However you’ll probably find either the system’s USB ports are only the 1.1 standard or Windows is misreporting the problem.

Should you not need the higher speed, you can turn off the error messages by clicking on the Advanced properties of USB controller in the Device Manager. This will only get rid of the warnings.

If you do want the higher speeds, you should ask your local computer shop or support tech about adding a USB3.0 expansion card to your system which should cost around $100 excluding installation.

Hi guys, hope you can help before I lose all my hair.

My screen and browser have suddenly developed a red line around them.  The text within the browser is blurry and appears to have a shaddow effect, again this is red.

O/S Win XP professional
Ver 5.1.2600 SP 3 Build 2600

Browser details:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.4 ( )

Monitor is Philips CRT 107s

No new software has been added and I did a system restore to a point 30 days ago with no change at all.

Tried updating the graphics and display drivers, again no luck.

Have not reformatted in about two years.

Appreciate any help you can provide.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

It sounds like the CRT monitor has reached the end of its days. Although you may want to check the pins inside the plugs at each end of the cable that connect the PC and monitor as red effects usually indicate there’s a problem with the colour mixing and a bent VGA plug pin is a common culprit.

Should it turn out to be a bent pin, use a pair of needle nose pliers to gently straighten the pin. If you break the pin, then you’ll need to replace the cable unless you know someone good with a soldering iron.

Overall though, it’s probably time to consider retiring the CRT and moving on to a more environmentally and real estate friendly LCD monitor.

Hi, I need to reinstall my Win XP OS to get rid of all the junk I’ve accumulated;  I’ve burnt a DVD with my documents on it, but will my emails be there as well ?  if not, how do I preserve them ?

Your emails probably won’t be in My Documents unless you’ve specifically told your system to save them there.

Finding your emails on a Windows system is particularly irritating as the different programs dump them into different folders. In Outlook Express and Windows Mail the address books are also saved in a completely different location.

The best thing is to back up your entire profile, this sits in the Documents and Settings folder on your C: drive and the profile will be either your log in name or something close to it.

By backing up this entire folder, you’ll save your My Documents folder, desktop, web browser bookmarks, address books and email. Just take care that your email folder isn’t so big it won’t fit on a single DVD.