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Ask Computer Jim - 24th February 2007
Usually, when a new operating system is released, software development companies are ready with compatible products. With Vista that has just not been the case - and companies have had more than three months with the official release to update their software. Can anyone offer feedback on why the following is the case? Problems still exist with a lot of otherwise popular software. Why are these companies dragging their feet, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft?
This month marks the second birthday of Youtube. Bought by Google for the unbelievable figure of $1.6 Billion and now plays over 100Million videos daily!
Call #1 - Bill
Bill emailed earlier this week about a problem with unclickable links in Outlook after uninstalling Internet Explorer 7. This could be due to either html files becoming disassociated with Internet Explorer, or because some security software had been recently installed and was blocking email links.
To check that HTML files are correctly associated with Internet Explorer: Open Windows Explorer and click Tools>Folder options>File types. Select “HTML” extension. The box titled “Details for HTML extension” should say that it opens with IE. If it does, click on “Advanced” and verify that the default action is “open.”
Also, some security software disables links in emails to protect you from ‘phishing’ scams. If you have installed security software recently check for such an option.
As always, if you are deciding not to use Internet Explorer 7 I recommend using Mozilla Firefox instead.
Call #2 Larry from Atlanta, GA
Larry, who called last week, is having difficulty installing Windows onto a new Hard Drive. He can boot from the Windows CD but the installer does not see the connected hard drives.
The first thing to check is that the hard drive is connected properly. If you have a spare cable trying that might also help. Also, check if the BIOS can see the drive by starting the computer and hitting the ‘delete’ key when the post screen shows. Now, in the BIOS, you can navigate to the hardware screen and see all attached drives.
The problem could also be related to the motherboard. As the drive is an SATA connection some motherboards require that you install an extra driver during the Windows installation. This is done by pressing F6, when prompted, after booting from the Windows CD. A guide on installing Windows XP with a third party SATA driver can be found here.
Larry also asks if it possible to make a bootable Windows CD. This can be achieved using BartPE but should only be attempted by power users.
Call #3 - Danny from Pennsylvania
Microsoft Narrator and other accessibility software has improved with Windows Vista, but Danny is more interested in the Orca project and Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a very user friendly version of the open source Linux operating system and is close competition for Microsoft’s Windows and other operating systems. Ubuntu even offers to ship free install CDs, so now there’s no excuse for not trying Linux!
Call #4 - Anthony
Anthony just bought a new DVD player for his computer but is unsure about installing the software that came with it.
To install software from a CD navigate to the optical drive by clicking on My Computer, and then right clicking on the optical drive and choosing Explore. Inside the CD should be file named ‘install.exe’ or similar, run this program to install the software.
Call #5 - Robert
When Robert logs into his computer he has a problem with Windows Defender failing to initialize. Most of the time updating to the latest version of Defender will solve this. Windows Defender can be downloaded from Microsoft’s Website.
Call #6 - Andrew
Andrew has a mouthful of French fries wants to defend Apple. Andrew thinks that this isn’t personal and the lateness in release of new software is due to the amount of changes in the new operating system. It could also be due to communication problems between Microsoft and software developers. It still seems surprising that even software such as drivers for popular printers are still not available.
Call #7 - Rodney
Rodney’s hard drive failure was repaired and information was successfully recovered by Telelink Inc. - If you require computer work or help you can contact us directly on 685 5552 or use the online contact form. Rodney got an iPod nano for Christmas, but when he tries to install iTunes he gets an error message in Windows XP.
iTunes has always seemed a bit buggy in Windows XP over Mac OS X. The following steps from this thread should solve this problem:
- Go to Control Panel –> Add or Remove Programs –> iTunes –> Remove (uninstall the program completely and restart your computer)
- Go to Control Panel –> Add or Remove Programs –> QuickTime –> Remove (uninstall the program completely and restart your computer)
- Go to My Computer –> Local Disc –> Program Files. Once in Program Files you will see the iTunes and QuickTime folder and you will want to delete the iTunes folder and the QuickTime folder. Right click on the iTunes folder and select delete and confirm the deletion. Do the same for QuickTime.
- Restart your computer
- Disable all features of any anti-virus program such as Norton or McAfee
- Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and download the iTunes + QuickTime program. (Do not do any modifications in the download of the program) Just download the program by doing the usual “Next” clicking.
- Once iTunes is finished downloading, double click on the Shortcut Icon on the desktop. iTunes should open with a large square box and you have to click “Agree.”
- iTunes should now work. Now you can enable your anti-virus program and there will no longer be any issues.
Call #8 - Leon
leon thinks that Microsoft is getting a bum rap over Vista compatibility. He has had a development version of Vista for over a year and feels this is more than enough time to get software ready for the new OS. It’s the third party developers’ fault for not having their software ready. Leon gives Vista a 9 out of 10 overall if it’s run on the right type of system. He also feels the new Microsoft Office 2007 is much more easier to pick up for new users due to the new intuitive interface although seasoned Office users might take a while to adjust.
Call #9 - Joe
Joe has had an Acer laptop with Windows XP running fine for about 6 months until it started to slow down and then started dropping the internet or network connection. As this could be a spyware of virus infection one of the easiest things to do is reinstall the operating system. This ensures that the system has not been compromised and the problem, it it persists, can be narrowed down to a hardware issue. Sometimes it’s quicker to go for the reinstall than to mess around and try to figure out if it’s software or hardware - but make sure you back up your data first.
As part of routing maintenance it’s also a good idea to run CCleaner which is available from our downloads section
Call #10 - Robert
Robert upgraded his internet connection to a faster speed but is experiencing slow down during normal surfing, but says he is experiencing a lot of advertisement windows.
Excessive pop-ups and ads, and a slow internet connection, are nine times out of ten related to a spyware or virus infection. Once a system is compromised with spyware the best solution is a new install of Windows as there is no way of knowing what was installed by the malware.
Make sure that you are running anti-spyware applications on a regular basis. There are 3 free programs that you should use. They are Spybot, Adaware and Microsoft’s own Windows Defender. These three, plus free anti virus programs, are available from the security downloads section.
Call #11 - Jim
When Jim receives an email with a PDF attached and tries to open it he sees a lot of nonsense.
Ensure that the PDF documents are opening in the correct application. Microsoft has a guide to changing file associations by following these steps:
- Right-click a file with the extension whose association you want to change, and then click Open With.
- In the Open With dialog box, click the program where you want the file to open, or click Browse to locate the program that you want.
- Select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box.
You could also try saving the file to the desktop first and opening it from there.
Adobe Reader can be downloaded here, and a lightweight alternative to Adobe’s PDF software is Foxit PDF Reader.
Call #12 - Todd
Todd has a suggestion for Joe, today’s caller #9. He suggests trying System Restore first, before formatting and reinstall Windows. More information on System Restore can be found here.
