IT Queries: Computer problems answered

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 use two User Accounts, one as a Computer Administrator and one as a Limited Account. Recently a ran the programme Easy Cleaner to do a Registry check on the Limited Account.

It came back with 581 entries to be considered for deletion. Not surprisingly, I could not remove those entries while in the Limited Account mode. I then changed that account to a Computer Administrator and ran Easy Cleaner again.

It then only found one possible entry for deletion. When I changed it back to a Limited Account and ran Easy Cleaner again, surprise surprise, 581 entries once again.

I find that a bit of a puzzle.

It’s a good question and not a puzzle at all.

The registry checker looks at your computer’s settings then checks the files referred to in the registry actually exist.

As a Limited User you can’t access critical system files so the registry checker reports errors as can’t find the files shown in the registry.

The is the reason we like Limited User mode for Windows users, it makes life harder for viruses and other malware.

Running the registry checker is good, but make sure you’ve made a backup before making changes to your registry as you can lock yourself out of your system if the program makes a mistake.

I get the following message frequently and don’t know what to do. The Op System is XP Pro.: -

Windows- Virtual Memory Minimum Too Low

Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your memory paging file. During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see Help.

The problem is exactly what the error message says – your virtual memory settings are too low.

We’ve covered the virtual memory too low problem before. We’ d recommend you follow the instructions and set the memory to a minimum of one and a half times your physical ram and a maximum 4000Mb.

My computer says “says out of range input1: dvi-55.9khz/46hz”

What is the problem?

For some reason your screen resolution has changed and the monitor can’t handle the signal.

To fix this, you’ll need to start your computer in Safe Mode and then change the screen resolution.

In Windows XP, you’ll need to click Start, Control Panel and Display.

Once in the display screen, click on the Settings tab and move the sliding Screen resolution setting to the left.

Click okay and restart the computer.

Recently I received a note to say that my PC had a virus attack. I did turn of the computer and when I tried to re-start it it came up with a screen that I did not have before which indicated that I was part of a network with my user name for a log on. When I tried to logon it came up with “starting up” then immediatly came up with “computer shutting down”. It is now NOT letting me start up at all. any information will appreciated.

Unfortunately you have a serious virus infection.

You can follow our removing a trojan instructions by downloading the spyware removers on another computer, transferring them to CD or flash drive then copying them to your infected computer while it’s running in Safe Mode, but it’s probably unlikely you’ll remove it and that assumes the computer will actually start in Safe Mode.

A virus infection of this size is probably best dealt with by a professional computer technician as it can be extremely difficult to remove.

After updating internet explorer 8, some sites are not opening. How do I remove internet explorer?

The first thing to try is uninstalling Internet Explorer from Add/Remove Programs. Follow our instructions for uninstalling software and choose Window Internet Explorer 8.

If you can’t remove it, Microsoft have a removal tool and further instructions on their website.

Before running the removal tool, we’d strongly recommend backing up your data as a damaged Internet Explorer installation can cause problems for a Windows computers.

Hi , problem is that since a few days back I was using Windows XP on my laptop and I had some encrypted and compressed (locked) folders in d: in which i kept all my important and private data in .

Now yesterday I formatted my c: to install the new version of windows vista home basic but now whenever I am trying to open those folders or files inside them ,its showing errors saying “access to the folder is denied” or you need permission to access this folder . Plz help me coz the data is really important & I literally can’t afford to lose it .

Thanks .Take care .

Normally this is an easy to fix as this Microsoft advice page explains.

However, you’ve encrypted the drive and I’m sorry to say but it’s unlikely you’ll get the data back.

Microsoft’s encryption is fairly powerful and if you lose your passwords or reinstall Windows you will get locked out.

For this reason our recommendation is to keep a secure, unencrypted backup of encrypted data unless you have serious security requirements.

I’d like to give you better news but in this case I suspect recovery is close to impossible.

Can I connect a computer with windows XP home to a small business server network?

You can however you won’t be able to use the Active Directory features. The practical consequence of this is you’ll be prompted for passwords whenever you want to use network resources like shared drives, Exchange mailboxes and printers.

There are many more reasons than that to use an XP Professional system on a business network as taking advantage of Active Directory gives you a vast range of mainentance and security features.

Connecting an XP Home system is fine for one off or occasional  use, however its not recommended if you’re intending to use the computer as an office system.

To set it up, just enter the domain name of the network as the workgroup name and choose a name for the system that doesn’t conflict with anything already on the network and it should work fine.

Remember the user name you log in as needs to be listed in the Windows Server account manager or you won’t be able to connect.

My son attempted to uninstall limewire, my computer is now misty and wiil not switch off and simply refuses to do anything, help.

You’ll need to go back to a system restore point as we describe in previous question. 

However to do that you’ll have to turn off and restart the computer. The easiest way to do this is to hold the on/off button in for ten seconds and it will turn off.

Once the system’s running again follow the instructions on how to reset to a previous point.

It may be this is not Limewire’s or your son’s fault. It could be a different hardware problem as screens “going misty” usually indicates something like a video card problem.

See how it goes and post another query if the system restore doesn’t work

Up-graded my PC including a new hard drive and installed Windows XP Pro and applications on it including Office.  Where should I look for the address book and how do I open it?

On Windows XP and earlier systems, Outlook Express uses the Windows Address Book. This is usually hidden deep in the user profile in a hidden folder.

First, you’ll have to change your computer settings to so you can see your hidden folders. Once you have set this, you’ll have to find the address book file which is usually hidden in c:\documents and settings\yourname\application data\microsoft\address book and finishes in the name .wab.

Keep in mind when you are importing off an old hard drive, the drive letter will not be c:

To import the old address book into the new book, open your new address book by clicking the address icon at the top of the Outlook Express screen.

In the adress book click the File menu, select import and Address Book (WAB) then navigate to the old address book locations. Highlight the address book and click Open. The wizard will then run you through the process.