IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Hi, I have Microsoft Publisher on my computer and I run on Windows Vista.

I have a 2GB memory, This message comes up anytime I attempt to open anything from the internet. How can I fix this?

The problem is Publisher can’t convert the webpage into a format it can work with, so it throws out an obscure and misleading error.

If you insist on using Microsoft Publisher, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to resolve it as Publisher is notorious for compatibility problems although you may want to try re-installing the program to see if a damaged installation is the culprit.

Otherwise, you might want to try copying the website into another program such as Microsoft Word or Open Office Writer, saving it and then trying to import into Publisher.

Generally though you’ll struggle with using different formats in Publisher as it is simply isn’t designed for sharing with other programs.

I have a Toshiba laptop with Vista installed and had trouble finding the location of the product key prior to the grace period end.

I now have limited access to Vista (word and excel)and the product key is not being accepted. The system is inadequate for our uses with out these programmes.

Can you help?

I think by “Vista” you mean “Microsoft Office”.

The problem is many new systems such as your Toshiba come with trial editions of MS Office 2007 and this is what has caught you out. It sounds like you are trying to use the system’s Vista registration key for the Office activation.

An obvious solution is to buy an Office 2007 license. You can do that by following the instructions that appear when you open a Word or Excel document.

If you choose not to, you can install an older version of Office or go for a free program such as Open Office or an online program such as Google Docs and Zoho.

Should you decide ot install an older version of Office or go with a new program then you should backup any important documents and spreadsheets before uninstalling Office 2007.

It is very important you uninstall Office 2007 if you aren’t using it as it makes some serious changes to your system and will interfere with earlier versions of Office and other productivity programs.

Similarly, if you decide to buy a boxed version of Office 2007 then you should uninstall all the trial versions before installing the boxed product.

I’ve set the Microsoft Office Journal function to record documents I’ve opened in word, excel etc.

It works fine for documents on the local computer c: drive, but since I upgraded to Office 2007 , it doesn’t record documents opened from network drives. 

With the release of Vista and the built in Windows Search, Microsoft decided to disable the Office Journaling function for networked documents, the idea being Vista would handle the issue.

While Microsoft Office journaling hasn’t been popular with users as it tends to slow machines down, the few people that do use it were deeply unhappy with Microsoft’s decision.

As a consequence, Microsoft have released a patch for this which can be requested from their knowledge base article, Description of the 2007 Office system hotfix package (Mso.msp): August 26, 2008.

Microsoft hotfixes are funny beasts, you have to submit a request for it and then you’ll be sent a link by email to the download address. When you recieve that, download the hotfix, install it and the network journaling will be back after a reboot.

Remember to back up your Outlook data  files before running this update as it can affect your system.

I tried the Microsoft Office 2007 trial version. I decided to go back to Office XP. However, now Outlook reports an error message “‘Unknown error 0xF5940107 Could not open the item. Try again” when opened.
Also, all my Outlook pst files that I saved in Outlook 2007 now give the following message:
“Unable to display the folder. Microsoft Outlook could not access the specified folder location. Could not open the item. Try again.”

The Business Contact Manager displays the following error:
”Unable to display the folder. Microsoft Outlook could not access the specified folder location. An unexpected error has occurred. MAPI was unable to load the information service BCMMS.DLL. Be sure the service is correctly installed and configured.”

The only pst files that will open are older files containing pre-2007 emails, that were not updated by Outlook 2007.
Do I need to purchase Outlook 2007 to restore these folders?

The problem is Outlook 2007 and 2003 stores their files slightly differently to earlier versions of Outlook. When you did the upgrade to 2007, you chose to convert the pst file which contains Outlook data to the new version.

Now you’ve gone back to Outlook 2002, the system can’t read the 2007 formatted file.

The solution is easy if you still have Outlook 2007 as Microsoft describe on their knowledge base article, “You receive a “.pst is not compatible” error message when you open an Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 .pst file in earlier versions of Outlook”

The problem for you is getting Outlook 2003 or 2007 on your system. In the first instance, try re-installing the Outlook 2007 trial, if the original trial hadn’t expired, you may be able to do the export.

If it hasn’t, then the best solution would be to find a friend, neighbour or colleage with Outlook 2003 or 7 and copy the file to their computer where you can then do the export.

Finally, your local computer guy may be able to help. Most computer shops and mobile techs will have a computer running a recent version of Outlook and can do this work for you.

Do you know when is the next version of MS office coming out as it does not seem worth getting 2007?

For those who already own a version of Office, the current 2007 version doesn’t add much in return for its cost. So most people haven’t bothered and the majority of those with Office 2007 only got it because it came with a new system.

Those that did get it, found a compatibility problem that requires a fix so others can read their files.

The short answer to the question is “no”, we don’t know when MS will release the next version and given their track record of running late with new releases we probably wouldn’t believe the dates anyway.

It’s unlikely Microsoft will add anything radically different in the next version of Office, so don’t hold your breath and keep using the existing one.

I’m working in an office and we’ve been having trouble sending attached documents via email. We have a Windows XP, Professional, version 2002, service pack 3. The computer itself is a Dell Dimension DXP061, Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU.

When we try to send a Word file from our office system to a computer outside the network via email, the document won’t open. A message comes up saying that the file is “corrupt.” This has happened twice, both times with a Microsoft Word document.

The documents were very similar in that they were roughly 16-20 pages long with a lot of hyperlinks and a lot of the text pasted on.

The strange thing was that the first time this happened, we resent the same document saved as a different file and were able to open it. Also, in between these two instances, we’ve sent numerous word documents and were able to open them. No word yet on the second time.

We resent it, cut and pasted onto a different file, but the person we sent it to has not gotten back to us yet. What do you think the problem is?

It sounds like the problem is your version of Microsoft Word. If you are using Office 2007, this is a common problem and we have the fix on a previous page.

Another thing to consider is the size and the nature of the pasted information. Word isn’t efficient at stripping out unnecessary code so something you might paste from another document may contain a pile of redundant formatting instructions which don’t apply to the new document.

If you are pasting into a Word document it’s often handy to paste into Notepad, which strips out the unnecessary formatting, and then cut and paste into Word.

The problem with that solution is you’ll lose any formatting and fancy features so it may not be suitable if you are pasting anything other than text.

Finally, the hyperlinks may not be helping. If you have a number of links that don’t work, this can cause problems for the recipient’s system.

The simplest solution to problems like this is to send the document in a .pdf format which not only preserves the layout but is more reliable and secure.

I run a mailing list for my football club and I’ve started using Outlook to send invites for meetings and events. The people who don’t use Outlook are complaining they can’t read the invites. How do I fix this?

The problem is the format Microsoft Outlook uses for invites. The industry standard is  iCalendar which applications like GroupWise and Google Calendar can read, however Outlook uses its own format which most other programs can’t read.

Outlook 2003 and 2007 will allow you to change the setting so you can send the calendar invitations.

Open Outlook and click Tools, Options then select the Preference tab. Click the Calendar Options button and tick the box alongside “When sending meeting requests over the Internet, use iCalendar format”. 

Click okay and the problem should be resolved. 

Note that people using older versions of Outlook may not be able read iCalendar invites and Outlook Express doesn’t support calendars at all.

Whenever I type the letter C I get the copyright symbol appear. How do I turn this off?

This is a Microsoft Word autocorrect feature. To fix this you’ll have to go into the Auto Correct settings of Word.

In Word 2003, open Word and click Tools on the top toolbar. In Word 2007 click the Word button and go down to Word Options and proofing.

In the tools screen, select AutoCorrect options and click the Autocorrect tab. Towards the bottom of the screen, take the tick off correct text as you type, click okay and this will clear the problem.

Microsoft word puts a capital letter at the beginning of each line, how do I stop this?

First, don’t start new lines by pressing the “enter” key. That key has a slightly different function to the “return” key on a typewriter and Word, along with most other modern computer programs, will deal with the end of a line automatically.

Sometimes though, Word does get a bit confused and wants to put the capital letter in the wrong place. To fix this you’ll need to change the auto correct options.

In Word 2003, open Word and click Tools on the top toolbar. In Word 2007 click the Word button and go down to Word Options and proofing.

In the tools screen, select AutoCorrect options and click the Autocorrect tab. Then take the tick off Capitalize first letter of sentences.

Click okay and this will fix the problem.

Is there a way I can get Microsoft Word document on to my computer without having to pay about £60 that includes software i will never use? A friend told me she bought a disk that had Microsoft Word on it and you could only use it once.

The short answer is no. It sounds like your friend is talking about pirate software which isn’t a good idea for a number of reasons.

If you want to be able to read Microsoft Word documents you can download Microsoft’s free Word Viewer. This allows you to read and print Word documents but you can’t edit them.

Should you want to create or edit documents in Word format, there are a number of free options. The best two are downloading Open Office and going online with Zoho or Google Docs.