IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I have a Dell pc running xp pro. (well – it used to)
The pc while running was unplugged. Now I need to try a repair or reinstall XP.
With the xp disk in I am prompted for the rego number. It now refuses to accept that Rego Number for that disk.

The disk is in clean and in good condition and the relevant rego number (sticker) was attached to pc case for safe keeping. That bit worked out.

A little history
XP home use to exist on the machine but I formatted away in the XP Pro install.
Or did I ?.

Have you herd of this problem before?

The sticker on the computer refers to the original XP Home installation. So it’s not the right number. If you want to reinstall XP Professional, you’ll need the number from that disk.

Your problem with the “reinstall Windows” message is probably due to a damaged registry. This can be fixed by recovering the registry files from one of the system restore points. Microsoft have instructions on their website.

Keep in mind this is a complex task and we strongly recommend any work like this should be done by an experienced computer technician.

I am currently running Windows XP. My PC is only a few years old but lately I have noticed that the whole system runs v e r y slow.

I have heard on an ABC radio show that this may have something to do with windows trying to update either Windows Exploer or Microsoft Office product. I can’t remember which.

I have Trend PC Cillin as my anti virus and Fire wall. And this is all up to date and no spyware, viruses or harmfull windows programs have been found. I schedule anti virus scans daily.

Can anyone offer any help?

Brett

Hi Brett,

It is possible the Microsoft Update service is slowing the machine. We’ve covered this previously. Some of the recent revisions to Microsoft’s update services may have addressed this problem so it may solve itself in the next round of updates.

We’d also recommend uninstalling any software you no longer use, checking your hard drive isn’t full and running a cleanup program like Microsoft’s Cleanup Manager or the superior Cleanup! and CCleaner.

The last two questions have asked about problems with email formats. We like to keep things simple and use plain text for emails. The problem with that is most people like some sort of formatting and, like Andrew in this query, may need advanced features.

Microsoft Outlook has a number a quirks in this respect and it’s best to turn them off to avoid problems with sending mail.

Open Outlook and click on Tools, then choose Options. In the email options box, choose Mail Format.

Under the Message Format heading, choose HTML in the box next to “Compose in this message format”.

Below that box, there will be tick boxes for using Word to edit email messages. Take the tick box off each box.

Save the changes and restart Outlook.

I have Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Am trying to type in Mandarin Chinese Characters.
Used \”Text Services and Input Languages Services\” pop-up under \”settings\” of \”language bar\” to install.
Chinese PRC Handwriting Recognition and Keyboard (Microsoft IME 3.0) are installed and typing in Chinese is possible, however, when it is sent as an e-mail, no character encoding recognises the characters typed.
In the past this was not a problem when I had IME under Windows ME operating system.

It sounds like formatting problem in your email program. If you are sending in plain text or Rich Text, it’s unlikely the characters will translate properly.

The solution is to send the email in HTML format. If you are using Microsoft Outlook it’s important also to turn off using Word as an email editor. We’ve found Word has a habit of slowing Outlook and mangling emails in this sort of situation.

I use the Blind Carbon Copy in Yahoo web mail to send Word documents to around 30 addressees. One of the recipients receives the attachment as a .dat extension (in lieu of a .doc file) and cannot open it. If I send the attachment as a one off to that person it is received as a .doc file and can be opened without problem.

The recipient’s son suggests I use Plain Text in lieu of Rich Text. The only reason I use Rich Text is because Yahoo generally defaults to it. I wouldn’t have thought that Rich Text would be the cause.

The problem is Rich Text and it’s a long standing issue. Emails created in Rich Text store their formatting information in the DAT file. Most email readers will read the DAT file and apply the formatting to the mail message.

Some email programs can’t handle the Rich Text format so just show the raw text in the body and the DAT file as a separate attachment.

The recipient’s son is quite right, the only way to overcome this problem is to turn off Rich Text. We find HTML is the best way to format email messages and we’d also recommend sending Microsoft Word attachments as a PDF file to overcome similar problems with Word.

I have been a McAfee user for a year, but my subscription has run out and when I tried to renew nothing happened, they took the money and I did not get renewed. They have repaid me the money , but I need to have virus protection, can you help me with my problem please.

Unfortunately McAfee and Symantec don’t make it easy for customers to renew their subscriptions and it’s one of the reasons why we recommend other products.

For antivirus, we’d recommend something like Kaspersky, F-Secure and AVG Professional. These are paid-for programs which give you support.

If you want to save money, there are free programs like AVG Free and Anti-Vir. Be aware that free software comes with no support. So if you hit problems you are on your own.

Another criticism we have of the bigger anti-virus programs is they have convoluted and unreliable removal programs. We’d strongly recommend going to the Add/Remove programs section of the Control Panel and removing anything with McAfee in its name.

I’ve been asked to “zip” a file. How do I do this?

“Zipping” a file is where you make the file smaller through what’s called a “compression” tool. This takes out all the wasted space in a file and squeezes it into a smaller file. Sometimes you might want to use it to get around restrictions on certain types of file being sent.

The term “zipping” comes from the MS-DOS utility called Zip, which is now known as Winzip. Winzip is not the only file compression utility, other popular programs are Stuffit and WinRAR.

Both Windows and Mac OSX have built in zipping tools. To zip a Windows file, right click it and select “Send to:” and then Compressed (zipped) folder. The file will then be created with a .zip suffix.

On an Apple, hold the command key down and click the file, on the menu that appears click the Create Archive item.

Keep in mind some documents don’t compress well as some file formats don’t have a lot of spare space. Zipping an already compressed file will actually make it bigger.

I have a new Vista computer, how do I remove the Office 2007 trial program?

It’s a very good idea to remove the trial program before installing any other software as we’ve seen a few problems, particularly after installing another version of Office.

To remove it, click the Start button, go to Settings, click Control Panel and then select Programs.

Once you are in the Programs applet uninstall anything that refers to Office 2007.

Reboot the computer when you’re finished and proceed with installing your other software.

I’ve bought a new Vista machine, can I run my old Office XP software on it?

The short answer is yes. Office XP is listed as being compatible with Microsoft Vista.

There are a few provisos to this. We’ve found Office XP hates running as a Limited User unless you’ve run it first with the user being an Administrator, this is common with most versions of Office on Windows XP and Vista.

Instructions on setting up XP for a Limited User are here. The procedure is similar for Vista.

One thing we would strongly suggest before installing any software is to remove the Office 2007 trial if it has been included on your system. We’ve found a number of machines running terribly because it wasn’t removed before installing another version of Office.

I’m using Firefox and finding it keeps freezing up on me. I have to restart it everytime.

 Can I fix it?

System freezes are a pretty common complaint in the current version of Firefox. A good free program to fix it is FireTune. We recommend downloading this program and installing it on your computer.

When you run it, make sure Firefox is closed. Click the “Create backup of configuration” button so you can undo things if they go wrong.

In the first window, you’ll be asked what combination of computer and Internet connection you have. There’s an explanation of what is a fast computer and Internet connection at the bottom of the screen.

In the Other Useful Settings tab, click the Optimise Firefox memory usage button.

Click the Tune It! button and close the program.

Restart Firefox.

So far, trials on our machines have seen a good improvement. Give it a go and see how it works for you.