Windows Tips

Not too long ago I asked Infopackets Readers for their picks on a good ScanDisk and Defrag replacement for Microsoft since I get lots of emails from folks asking why their Scandisk and Defrag constantly restart (and never get the job done). Here's ... some comments sent in from readers of the Gazette newsletter. Scott T. writes: " Diskeeper is the ultimate freebie Defrag program, as far as I'm concerned. " http://www.diskeeper.com/freeware/freeware.asp Lots of people recommended Diskeeper Lite, in fact. On the other hand, John C. uses the Microsoft Defrag utility from Windows ME: ... (view more)

Last week, Frank N. asked: " I save certain email that has been forwarded and contains angle brackets (>), line brakes and extra spaces. Cleaning this mess line by line and each symbol (>) is time consuming but sometimes necessary. Is there an ... easier way to do this? " I suggested that Frank can remove the forwarding brackets by setting a few options in Outlook Express. Unfortunately, this does not remove the existing brackets already present in the email. Of course, Infopackets Readers were on their toes and sent in some really great suggestions: (Popular pick): J.C. Tremblay ... (view more)

My friend Abba from California called me on the phone this morning after he received yesterday's issue of the Gazette which talked about Disk Imaging and Partitioning. Abba asked me why Windows XP didn't come with Scandisk and wondered why something ... so important such as Scandisk isn't easily accessible on the Desktop. I told Abba Windows XP doesn't use Scandisk anymore and now uses a program called CHKDSK. By the way, CHKDSK actually means "check disk." To use CHKDSK on Windows XP and scan your hard drive for errors usually caused by an improper shutdown: Double-click My Computer ... (view more)

Last week, Susan S. asked the question: " I can't access the web from my favorites in the Start/Favorites list or in the Internet Explorer taskbar. When I click on a link and nothing happens! How can I fix this problem? " My Response: I asked ... Infopackets Readers to send me their thoughts. Below are some suggestions. OffsaMedic wrote: " I've had this problem several times. Using the 'repair associations' feature in Tweak UI worked for me. You can get Tweak UI (power toys) Windows XP , or Tweak UI v1.33 for Windows NT, 2000, 95, 98 . " Chris B. says: " This sounds like ... (view more)

Susan S. writes: " I'm an old experienced computer user, but this has me stumped. Just today suddenly I can't access the web from my favorites in the Start/Favorites list or in the Internet Explorer taskbar. I click on a link and nothing happens. ... What on earth is going on? And how do I fix it? " My Response: Most likely this is a software bug in Internet Explorer -- I can honestly say that I do not recall ever experiencing this problem. I gave a quick look in the Microsoft Knowledge Base from Microsoft's site and also tried Google, but couldn't see anything that match the queries ... (view more)

Douglas L. asks: " I recently re-loaded Windows ME. When I received an e-mail with an attachment I mistakenly used Media Player to open it. Now Windows assumes that every attachment of that type requires Media Player! How do I change it to the ... correct program for these files? " My Response:First, you need to identify the correct file type. This is done by viewing the file extension in the email attachment. Example: a .GIF email attachment would signify that it is a graphic file. You can use Internet Explorer to open a graphic file, or any third-party picture viewing utility for that ... (view more)

Last week's question asked: " I use Outlook Express to read emails. When I click on a web address in an email, nothing happens. I am plagued with the old cut, copy and paste. Is there a way to get Outlook Express to open up the web address in my ... Internet Explorer browser? " My answer: I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their thoughts on this question. The gist is that the problem may be caused if you have installed another browser other than Internet Explorer on your system. This can include ISP providers that install their own version of browsers, including AOL, and Earthlink. ... (view more)

Brian S. writes: " First of all, thanks for your newsletters. They are informative and very helpful. My question is this: When I click on a web address in my e-mails nothing happens. I am plagued with the old cut, copy and paste. Is there a way to ... get Outlook Express to open up the web address in my Internet Explorer browser? " My answer: I've been asked this question a few times in the past but can honestly say that I've never experienced the problem myself. Every link I've ever clicked on in Outlook Express works for me. The only thing I can think of which might block a browser ... (view more)

Last week's mind-numbing question was sent in from Jon W. He asked: " I have a few programs listed in my MSCONFIG startup . One of the programs was LoadQM.Exe, and Google's search pointed me to your web site. Good info on the LoadQM.exe program! ... I've now deleted it from the start-up file. The other two programs I'm trying to find more information on are Carpserv.exe and Nwiz.exe/install, but didn't get any clear-cut information on these two when querying Google. Do you have any input on these two items? " My Response:I asked the Infopackets Readers to send me their thoughts on the ... (view more)

Last week, Phil M. asked the question: " I can't access the Outlook 2000 contacts because they no longer belong to my user account. Is there any way I can access the previous Outlook 2000 contacts list? I don't know where to look. " I didn't know ... the answer to this question, so I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their suggestions. Bill S. confidently writes: " FIRST - a BIG first - go to Control Panel, Folder Options, View and de-select Display Hidden Files. Then go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. There were ... (view more)