IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I have the new version of Microsoft Office and people are telling me I can’t read what I send them.

Office 2007 has a range of new formats; Word 2007 saves documents in the docx format which is incompatible with the older doc formats.

The best solution when you are sharing files is to save files to the lowest level everyone can read. In Office 2007 you can set the file format by clicking the Office button (the big round button in the top left corner, click the Word Options button, click the Save tab.

Under Save Documents, click the drop-down arrow in the Save Files In This Format box and select Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) the click OK.

Repeat this for Microsoft Excel.

One downside with this feature is that you will lose some Office 2007 features by saving to the 97-2003 format.

Office 2007 is going to become more common as will this problem. So we’d strongly recommend your friends and colleagues install the Office Compatibility Pack so they won’t get this problem in future.

I am using a Mac iBook OS 9.2.2. [I have just got a MacBook Pro (2.5GHz,250g HD) and am about to change to Telstra wireless broadband (Heaven or PC Rescue help me!). I will then be in to OS 10.5.2 (Leopard).]

I have been able to initialise the external HD as HFS+ OK.

I am instructed to use ‘Custom’, enter the number and size and name the partitions, but I can’t get to ‘Custom’ to do it. 

It’s an excellent idea to split up your drive in this way as it makes recovery a lot easier should something bad happen.

In the Silverline pro, make sure you have highlighted the drive and not the Bus or Partition in the first screen. Until you do this, the Custom command won’t be available.

LaCie have detailed instructions on how to do this in OS9 on their website.

It may be worthwhile trying the Mac Drive setup utility to see if this will resolve the problem. In the Drive Setup box you should get the Custom option after you click Initialize.

Generally the Silverlining Pro and LaCie disk should be very reliable and straightforward to use. If the problem continues you should contact your supplier to check the drive is okay.

I work on a Mac computer.  In the program Microsoft Word, I have accidentally hit a key or combination of keys.  Now my computer is striking over currently typed letters instead of interjecting additional letters to the sentence.

What’s happened is you’ve accidently clicked on the Overtype icon at the bottom of the Microsoft Word screen.

Have a look at the bottom of the screen, you should find the status bar and you will see the OVR box has black writing. Click it and it will turn to gray and the problem will be gone.

I have just bought a Ipod shuffle and have not been able to sync my music and I get an error message unknown error 1418. I have tried with out success is any one able to help??

It sounds like there is a problem with the disk format. The first thing to do is format the disk. On the Mac do the following;

Open the Disk Utility: In your hard drive, go to Applications, Utilities and Open the Disk Utility, your iPod should appear on left hand side.

Erase the iPod: Hightlight the drive, click the “Erase” tab, choose Volume Format as “MAC OS Extended (Journaled) if you only use it on the Mac, or MS-DOS if you might connect the iPod to a Windows system.

If you want to be sure the iPod has been fully wiped tick the “Zero Out Data” in the security options. This can take hours and you must not interrupt it.

Finally click Erase, leave it until it is wiped then eject it. Restart your computer, update iTunes and try again.

If it still doesn’t work on the computer, try it on another. If that still fails return it to the shop for a replacement.

Whenever I try to open my photos in iPhoto I get a “file null cannot be found” error.

This sounds like a problem with the iPhoto library. You can fix the libraries by following the Rebuilding the iPhoto Library instructions from the Apple website.

If this doesn’t work, you might need to repair the system using the iPhoto Library Manager tool by Fat Cat Software. Failing that, you can try wiping the settings by deleting com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that hides in your User/Library/Preferences folder. This will wipe your existing library.

Hi

After working on a document (University paper) for 8 hours that same document was saved without the final changes although it was saved at various stages along the way. All we have is the document opened at the starting point.

Our question is, is there a way to access the document at a point prior to the last save, the save icon was pressed to save the work to C: drive, and also e: Flash drive, but the search with the filter, ‘date modified ‘failed to locate the finished document in either place.

I have Windows XP.

It sounds like the document hasn’t saved to where you think it did. The first thing we’d suggest to search all your drives to see if it isn’t hiding in a different location.

Another possibility is the name is wrong, try searching for all files modified in that time. It might be under a different name or file type.

If you still can’t find it, Microsoft Word (which is what we’ll assume you’re using) saves the file you’re working on as a tmp file. Often, Word doesn’t clean these up so there’s a working copy of your document still on the system.

Often temp files are hidden, so in the Windows search panel choose the More Advanced Options heading and tick the Search hidden files and folders option and repeat your search on all files modified during that time.

Unfortunately in this case it does sound like you’ve done everything right. So if you can’t find it there might be a problem with your computer and we’d recommend getting a tech out to check it.