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Computer Tips
for those annoying problems

 

This page was created to help Computer users solve some of those irritating little problems that microsoft forgot to tell you how to deal with, and also so that I can remember myself how I delt with those problems!


Windows XP - Messenger Service One of the first annoyances is that Windows Messenger window that keeps popping up telling you all sorts of dire things like your files are corrupted and you need to go to some web site to fix the problem, when really all that is happening is that some organization is trying to sell you something, or even worse some arsehole is trying to fool you into letting them hijack your computer. (sorry for the swear-word)

Whilst I did find some way once of turning off Windows Messenger Service, the easiest way is to download a very small program (22kb) from http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm then you can switch the damn thing off and not be bugged anymore.


Tracking Cookies Now with spyware becoming a major issue, with so many companies wanting to track your every move so they can target you with adverting spam, and the more lethal Malware that can get in, making sure your system is clean is an important move for every Internet user. Of course you can get Ad-aware or Spybot and do frequent scans, but as soon as you remove them damn tracking cookies they come right back.

Instead you can set up Explorer to stop them returning, using this simple strategy.

1. Get Ad-aware and run it after you have been online. Get it from http://www.lavasoft.de/

2. Before you delete the cookies it found, write down the names of the web sites that the cookies came from.

3. Go to Control Panel - Internet Options - Privacy, and click the edit button to override Cookie handling.
Enter the name of the web sites that you found in Ad-aware, one at a time, and click Block, then click OK.

To get you started doing that right away, here is a list of that you can enter in, one at a time, exactly as shown.

247realmedia.com

maxserving.com

2o7.net

mediaplex.com

admt.com

overture.com

adrevolver.com

pointroll.com

adserver.com

questionmarket.com

advertising.com

realmedia.com

adviva.net

realtracker.com

atdmt.com

ru4.com

bfast.com

serving-sys.com

bravenet.com

spylog.com

centrport.com

statcounter.com

coremetrics.com

trafficmp.com

doubleclick.net

tribalfusion.com

fastclick.net

tripod.com

hitbox.com

webtrend.com

hitslink.com

webtrendslive.com

humanclick.com

wildtangent.com

liveperson.com

liveperson.net

An alternate way to deal witth this issue is to download Spybot Search and Destroy off Internet, ( and make sure you have the lastest updates ) then run the program and see what it finds. Before you remove what it found click on the Immunize Button, and you can automatically place blocks in Internet Explorer!


View Source in Windows XP While view source works fine when you are offline, you might find that you can't view source on a page when you are online. What you need to do is reduce the size of the Temporary Internet Folder to say 30mb, ( Explorer - Tools - Internet Options - Temporary Internet Files - Settings ) and under Tools - Internet Options - Programs, make sure Notepad is selected as your Html Editor.


U.K users on U.S Computers. Sometimes we British people need to send an email to England, or write a letter using the Pound Sterling symbol, which is does not have a key on a U.S Keyboard. Go to Control Panel - Regional & Language Options - Languages - Details - Select English(United Kingdom) from the drop down list, and click ADD, then click OK.

The word EN and some symbols will apear on the Start Toolbar, clicking on the EN will alow you to select English(United States) or English(United Kingdom) the Pound symbol is now an uppercase 3, and the @ symbol has changed places with ". When you close the program or window you were using the language will return to the default United States setting.

This web page and the info on it are provided courtesy
of White Mountain Innovations - www.remedydevices.com

Spell Checker in Outlook Express is not there It appears that Outlook Express 6 does not have its own spell checker, but it uses the spell checker from some other program, such as Microsoft Office. Assuming you have Microsoft office installed, and spell checker still does not work, it might be useful for you to know that the spell checker in Microsoft Office lives in the Office Tools folder, so if you did not install Office Tools, you will not have spell checker in Word for Windows OR Outlook Express.

In addition in order for Outlook Express to access the Spell checker in Microsoft Office, you need to have a file called csapi3t1.dll installed on your computer, this is on the Windows XP disk, but for some crazy reason it is not installed when you load Windows XP. To save you the trouble of seaching for it and trying to find the correct places to install it, you can go to http://www.tech-pro.co.uk/howto_010.html who have a little program you can download which will install it for you. Alternatively you get csapi3t1.dll from the Windows XP or Windows 98 Disk and copy it into C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof, you should also copy it into C:\Program Files\Outlook Express.

Have you noticed that sometimes you get an email from someone, and when you reply to it you can't spellcheck your reply?

This is because they already spellchecked it, but if you view source on it and find where it says dir=ltr and delete that, you will then be able to spellcheck it again.


Getting rid of the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar Everytime I load Microsoft Office 97 on another Computer I have the headache of getting rid of that very annoying shortcut bar. I found these instructions on the Microsoft web site, that tell you exactly what to do:

Q7. How do I remove the Office Shortcut Bar in Office 97 for Windows if I decide that I do not want to use it?

A7. To remove the Office Shortcut Bar in Office 97 for Windows, follow these steps:

1. Quit the Office Shortcut Bar. To do this, click the control box in the left uppermost corner of the Office Shortcut Bar, and then click Exit.

2. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.

3. Click the Install/Uninstall tab.

4. Click Microsoft Office 97, Professional Edition or click Microsoft Office 97, Standard Edition, and then click Add/Remove.

5. In the Office 97 for Windows Setup program, click Add/Remove.

6. Click Office Tools, and then click Change Option.

In the window that appears, the check box that is next to Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar is selected.

7. Click to clear the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar check box, and then click OK.

8. Click Continue - back to the top.

Performing these actions in Windows XP is slightly different from the above, the the result is the same.


How to find and insert a fraction character into a web page or email Character Map seems to have been first introduced with Windows 3.1 and remains the best way of finding fractions and other characters and pasting them into whatever documents you need, and suprise, suprise, it is included in Windows XP. You need to left click on the desktop and select New - Shortcut & browse to C:\ - Windows - System32 - Charmap.

With Charmap you can find and select characters such as: � � � � � � for example!

 

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