You just got your new Dell Laptop with Windows 7 and you are pretty excited about how cool it looks. So you setup a screensaver, wondering why there are fewer built in choices than with Windows XP, set it for one minute and waited.
And waited.
You come back later and find your Windows 7 screensaver still has not kicked in. While this may not matter because the defaults imposed by Al Gore have the darn thing sleeping, hibernating or screen off, hard drive off, usb devices off, etc. anyway —- wouldn’t you like your screen saver to work?
Yesterday I had to work on a workstation that had just been set up with a fresh install of Windows XP professional, Microsoft Office 2000 and Outlook 2003.
After doing all of the updates we ended up passing on Internet Explorer v8 and were left with the “venerable” version 7.
After only two days of using the PC the user complained that she could not print e-mails. What she was getting was script error showing:
Wonderful, I thought. Well after Googling and checking out quite a number of these suspected solutions, some of which of course recommended uninstalling and reinstalling Internet Explorer, I was able to find the exact message and a fix that worked.
What I had to do was run this command (either from Start | Run or a command prompt):
regsrv32 ole32.dll
and then it worked fine.
Turns out this is a well known problem becomes along with Internet Explorer version 7 no real good explanation just here it is. And on Microsoft’s site they had a variety of suspected fixes but not this one away stuff that I saw.
Recently I saw this question posted by a frantic user:
I was doing some hard drive maintenance and I accidentally deleted the partition on my external USB hard drive. How can I get my partition and data back?
Well, the first thing is do NOTHING to that drive!
While there are free tools available for such things, when it comes to important data I reach for a paid for professional program. There are just too many things that can go wrong.
My choice for recovering a deleted hard drive partition is Acronis Disk Director® Suite 10.0. At $49.95 it’s a bargain for what it does.
If you have upgraded Internet Explorer to version 7 you probably found that the Internet Explorer icon is no longer on the desktop. According to Microsoft, that is by design.
If, however, you want it there, here is how to get the internet explorer icon back on the desktop.
When you buy a new Dell computer, you probably bought it so it would be faster than what you had, right? So why not optimize your new PC?
You may have noticed that it came with a bunch of crap you do not need.
Here is what I remove:
Windows Components
Fax Service
MSN Explorer
Networking Services
Outlook Express
Windows Messenger
(No Reboot is needed, despite the question in dialog box)
Then for applications:
Windows Live Essentials (124 MB!)
Removes SQL Server CE
Sync framework services
3 Versions of .NET??? Why? Load only what you need. Unload v1 & v2
Live Sign-in Assistant
Live Sync
Live Upload Tool
Windows Search 4.0 (will warn you about ALL this stuff that won’t work – BS)
SilverLight
Get rid of all of that garbage, then defrag the disk. And don’t ever fall for Microsoft wanting to install SilverLight or Windows Live. Windows Live Mail – why would you want that?
Are you getting BSOD (Windows Blue Screen of Death)?
It could be that your PC is calling for help. Perhaps it sits on the floor, fans sucking in air, lint, dust and dirt, then exhausting only the air (leaving everything else inside it).
PC’s need airflow over clean components to maintain operating temperature within specifications. When the components overheat, you not only shorten their lifespan but you can trigger the safety mechanism in the PC that will shut it down.
Components that get too hot will often malfunction, sometimes causing Windows to go to a blue screen of death (BSOD).
Watch this video and see how you can clean out your PC, extend its life, and even save money (both on your power bill and by not having to buy a new computer).
I have NOT been installing .Net framework 3.5 on the windows computers that I manage.
Why? Because of documented problems with it, another behemoth program to download and bloatware to install, AND, now we find out they are automatically installing an extension in Firefox that CANNOT be easily uninstalled – without telling us about it.
It’s called ClickOnce support for Firefox and it’s supposed to make one’s life easier. But that’s beside the point.
If Microsoft wants to mess up their own software on our PC’s there isn’t much we can do about it, but DON’T mess with Firefox without our permission and then send us to the registry editor to undo it.
You don’t need to wait for Windows 7 to discard MSConfig for Windows startup tuning and application control.
Download Autoruns from the Microsoft Technet site now and use it instead. Autoruns is a vast improvement over MSConfig with about 3 times the number of information tabs and better viewing of the information.
Autoruns is also more valuable for hunting down malware since you can simply right click an entry and search the web for information on exactly what the program is and does.
Do be careful before deleting, though, and I always like to have a current backup of the system registry before making changes like this.
The How-To Geek had this advice and on how to transform your Windows XP computer desktop to look more like Windows Vista or the new Windows 7.
Great advice, neat article, looks easy enough.
But please note the asterisks under the first image “Editor Note:Â Major modifications like these should be attempted with caution because it can create instability in XP.”
As I mentioned in a forum post this week to someone who was using Windows 7 RC-1 on a netbook: gorgeous interface doesn’t impress me near as much as reliability.
If you really want that new updated look and feel, I suggest you wait until year end and buy a Windows 7 upgrade.
I (and my clients) need our computers to work, not just look pretty.
