IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Hi. I moved from Optus broadband to Iprimus broadband. Every time I want to send an email on a site I still get the Optus verson of Outlook Express which of course doesn’t work.

How can I get the screen to go to Iprimus email, please?

I have tried looking up the instructions on the web, but I never seem to have the right boxes needed to activate things.

I am a novice in all this and would really appreciate your (very simple) instructions.

Kind regards.
Sylvia.

Hi Sylvia,

There’s a couple points here. First, across the top of your Outlook Express screen you’ll see the Optus name and possibly their logo. Ignore these as they are only for decoration and don’t affect your email.

To receive your email, you’ll need to change your mail server settings. A mail server is a like a post box. Your email gets delivered to that post box and Outlook Express collects the mail from there.

Currently Outlook Express is going to the old Optus mail box. You have to tell it where the new iPrimus mail box is.

This is something you’ll need to ask the ISP. From Primus’ website their settings are pop.iprimus.com.au for the incoming mail and smtp.iprimus.com.au for sending mail.

The Internet is a dangerous neighbourhood so your Internet Service Provider protects your mailbox with a lock and key, known as a username and password. You’ll need those to get the contents of your mailbox.

Finally, you need your email address. This the address people need to send you email. Just like your street address, no-one can send you mail if they don’t know your address.

Once you have those four settings, you’ll need to enter them into your Outlook Express.

Open Outlook Express, click the Tools menu and click Accounts and then click the Mail tab.

Under mail, highlight the account that’s currently there, this is the old Optus account and press the Remove button. This gets rid of the old account.

Next, click the Add button, click Mail and the setup wizard for a new email account will start.

The first question will be your Display Name. This is the name at will appear on your emails, this is NOT your email address. Use the name people know you by.

Click Next and you will be asked for your email address, make sure you enter this correctly or people will send replies to the wrong address.

After you click Next again, you’ll be asked for the mail server accounts; the account type is POP, the incoming mail server is pop.iprimus.com.au and the outgoing is smtp.iprimus.com.au.

Once again click Next and you’ll be asked for your username and password. Make sure your username is correct, for Iprimus it’s the email address but for other providers it might just be the part before the @ symbol.

Then click Finish.

That’s it, done! If you’ve made a mistake you’ll get an error message. We’ll look at what Outlook Express error messages mean in another ITQueries post.

Recently I have heard a lot about running software to repair the hundreds of faults that you have on your computer that occur in your registry, I`m new to all this computer stuff so just wandering where do I get the software to repair my registry or do I really need to repair it at all?

The registry is the core of Windows operating systems. It’s where all the system settings are kept. If the registry gets damaged, then your system is in trouble.

A lot of registry cleaner programs are snake oil. We’d strongly recommend saving your money.

It’s best for none technical users to avoid doing anything with the registry. This engine of your computer and it’s best to leave it alone unless you know what you are doing.

If you insist on cleaning the registry, CleanReg is a good free program and Microsoft have a registry repair tool called RegClean. Neither these are tested with Microsoft Vista and we’d strongly suggest not using them on Vista systems.

On the subject of snake oil, if you are getting boxes popping up on your system claiming you have registry errors, then it is possible you have a spyware infection. If this is the case, run a scan and contact your local computer tech.

Overall we recommend leaving the registry to qualified computer techs.

Through my own foolishness I corrupted my laptop so badly that I had to reformat it. Since then my cd roms will not autoplay. I have made sure that the autoplay settings are exactly the same as the other 2 laptops I have , but still I have to manually find anything on the cds to make them work. I Can still copy to cds and dvds, but autoplay will not go.

It can be a number of things that can be causing this. First, open My Computer and right-click on the CD icon, choose “properties” and click click “AutoPlay“.

On the AutoPlay options, there are different types of files the computer can autoplay ranging from music files through to CD burning. Go through the list and choose the program or action you want the computer to do for each type of disk.

If in doubt, tick the box that says “prompt me each time to choose an action”.

If this doesn’t work, it might be the AutoPlay feature is defective. Microsoft have a tool for fixing this at their website. Download this and run it.

It’s frustrating not having the AutoPlay function, so it’s worth spending some time on getting it working.

I have some emails that I saved and now want to read but when I click on them the wrong program opens and all I see is gobbledygook. How do I get my email program to open them?

What’s happened is your computer is associating the wrong program with the files. When Windows tries to open a file, it looks for three letters at the end of the file which are known the file extension.

Windows keeps a list of programs that open with each file extension. For instance, Microsoft Word documents open with doc while Notepad opens files with the txt extension.

For Outlook, the message are saved with an .msg extension, Outlook Express uses .eml

On your computer, the wrong program is associated with one of those file extensions. To change it do the following.

Right-click on one of the files that won’t open, a menu will appear and select “Open With“. Select “choose program” then find the program you want to use for this type of file, tick the box that says “always use this program to open files of this kind of file” and click “Okay”.

If the program isn’t listed, you’ll have to click “browse” and search the hard drive for the program you want. Most programs are kept in the c:\Program Files folder.

Losing file associations is a nuisance and this is why it’s important to read all messages and notes when installing new software or making changes to your computer.

My outlook express will not open hypertext links.I have to copy and paste the links  to the address bar to view the linked page.

First you need to check that this is just Outlook Express, you might want to check that links work from other programs. If it is all other programs then it could be an errant firewall, security or pop-up blocking program at work.

If it is only affecting Outlook Express then it sounds like a problem with Internet Explorer. IE controls many of the functions in Outlook Express so the first possible fix is to open the Internet Explorer options, click “Advanced” and click the “Restore Defaults” button.

If that doesn’t work, then we’d recommend reinstalling your web browser. Click Start, Run and type “sfc /scannow“. You may be asked for a Windows disk.

Generally we recommend using an alternative to Internet Explorer for general web surfing. Our favorites are Firefox and Opera.

As a matter of course we’d also recommend checking for spyware and viruses. If the problem continues you should call your local computer guy to have a look at it.

I use MSN Mail and I’m worried about backing up my email files

Your MSN Mail is hidden away deep in the program settings. To find it, click on start and then either run (Windows XP) or Search (Windows Vista) and type the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\

You’ll get a list of users on the computer. One of those will be your profile name. If you aren’t sure which one it is then note all of them.

Again, click run or search and type. “your_user_name” will be what you found in the previous step. If you aren’t sure which one it was, use each one until it works.

C:\Documents and Settings\your_user_name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN\

When it does work, you’ll see a folder called “DB” which contains your email. Copy it to a flash drive, removable hard drive or anther computer.

When I start my MSN Premium email, it starts and then just hangs with the butterfly flapping its wings.

We’ve also encountered this when sending and receiving email in MSN. It appears to be a problem with the upgrade to version 9.5.

To fix this, you need to download a patch that repairs the problem.

Go the following website in MSN, if you can’t open MSN then use Internet Explorer.

http://autoupdate.msn.com/fix95upgrade.hta

Click on the box that says “Click here to fix MSN 9.5 Upgrade Issue”.

You might receive a security message asking you if you want to allow this program to run. Click Yes or Ok as the case may be.

You will receive a message informing you that the problem has been fixed.

Restart the computer.

Which version of Microsoft Office should I buy?

Microsoft have made their office range incredibly complex with seven different versions available. Each version has different programs and some have some severe licensing restrictions.

For home users, we recommend the Home and Student edition. This includes Word, Excel and Powerpoint which are the applications most households use. This version is also licensed to go onto three different computers, which makes it an even deal.

One thing to watch with versions of Microsoft Office are the OEM versions that are available. These are tied to the original computer and can’t be used on any other machine, which makes the boxed product better value if you are going to install it on three computers.

For business users, you need to consider carefully which version to get. Office Basic is fine you don’t expect to every use Powerpoint, for most businesses Office Standard is fine, but if you need products like Microsoft Access then you’ll need Office Professional.

You can add features later, but it can become expensive.

Microsoft have the full range of their Office products and their features on their website.

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. IT vendors often sell their software and hardware cheaply attached to a new computer system or part. OEM bundles are sometimes as much 75% off the retail price.

These deals are often great value for money and you should check about the availability of OEM goods when you are shopping for a new computer. You might get big savings on your Office software or keyboard.

Naturally it comes with a catch. Usually the vendor will refuse to help you if you have problems and will refer you to where you bought your computer.

Another trick with OEM goods is they are usually tied to the one computer. If you replace that computer, you have to buy a new version of the product.

For most people this isn’t a problem, but if you are the type who likes to buy a new computer every year, it can be expensive.

In general, OEM software and hardware is a good deal for the canny computer shopper. We recommend it for most home and small business users.

Help! My MSN mail is running slow.

We’ve found the Phishing filter built into Internet Explorer 7 slows MSN down horribly. While the phishing filter is a good idea, it’s execution is less than perfect.

To turn it off open the Tools menu, select Phishing Filter, and then click Phishing Filter Settings. In the box that appears, under Phishing Filter, select Disable Phishing Filter.

There’s more information of the Internet Explorer phishing filter at Microsoft’s website.