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August - 2007

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Username Change  --top

Windows allows for many different users, e.g., Dad, Mom, The Kids, each user having their own separate logon, password, Desktop settings, screensaver, email, etc.  These are called "user profiles."   The user's individual data is stored under the C:\Documents and Settings\username folder.

Some new computers come with Windows ready to be initialized, where you will supply the initial user's name, while others come with a default user, e.g., Default User, Owner, or some other generic name. 

Under certain situations, changing a username from the Control Panel's User Accounts may cause problems!  For that reason, if the computer has been operated for a while, we recommend you do not change usernames. 

This problem will occur with the Home and Professional edition, but is especially problematic when a computer is removed from a Domain Server.   If you are obtaining a corporate computer, it is best to also obtain the original CDs and reinstall Windows from scratch.  More information later.

Windows requires a username of "Administrator" and although not shown under User Accounts, the original (first) user is the "Administrator."   Changing that original name may not actually change, but rather create an entirely new user profile.  This leaves the original user's data in one folder and creates a new folder for the new user, effectively losing the original data.

Although the original user profile data is not actually lost, it may be a bit of work to get all of your personalized settings back the way you want. 

So rather than renaming a user from the User Accounts, create a new user profile with the desired name.  Then copy the profile from the old to new user:

Right click My Computer > Properties > Advanced (or Control Panel > System > Advanced >  User Profiles > Settings (button) where you will select the old user, click Copy To then Browse (button) to find the new user's folder at  
C:\Documents and Settings\username and there, select the new user's name and click OK.

Various Microsoft articles on profile issues:

• Tasks May Not Run If a User Has Changed the Account Name

• You cannot log on after you remove the computer from the domain

• How to create and configure user accounts in Windows XP

• How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP

• How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile

Google Phone Lookup  --top

Google is a powerful search engine.  It can even show the information, and a map to the location for a specific phone number. 

Try it sometime.  In Google search type your phone number in the ###-###-#### format. If it results in your information, you can be "removed from the list" by clicking the supplied link.

Thanks Tom/Marie

Drag and Drop --top

There are a couple ways to attach a file to an email message.  Perhaps the more common method is to click the attachment icon on the toolbar, then browse through the computer's folders to locate the desired file.
Another method is to drag and drop, but there are two ways to do this.  The first is to have your email mail application and new message in the window mode, i.e., you can see the Desktop behind the different windows... When windowed, you can drag a file from the Desktop or another windowed folder and drop it into the body of the new email message.
The second way can be done with your windows maximized, but can be a bit tricky.  Locate the desired file and drag it down to the Taskbar, but do not release yet!  Instead continue to hold your click and move over the new email message found in the Taskbar.  The new email message will then open on top of everything and at that point, move to the message body and release the click.

Not just for email attachments...

Drag and drop can also be used to open files with applications that file may not be associated with.  To explain the association:  Most files have an extension.  Word documents, for example, have a .DOC extension.  When Word was installed, it instructed the operating system to open the Word application whenever the user attempts to open a .DOC file directly.  So double clicking a .DOC file opens Word, which in turn opens the document. 

Rather than double clicking a .DOC file, you could also drag and drop that file onto the Word application icon.  That effectively opens the document with Word, just as if you double clicked it.  However, opening an associated file that way makes little sense; you may as well just double click the file. 

Where this type of drag and drop is handy is opening a file with a nonassociated application. 

For example:  Most computers have multiple applications that can open a .JPG image, but only one can be the associated (default) application.  So if you have (a great little shareware application like) IrfanView for images, but .JPG files are defaulted to Microsoft's Picture and Fax Viewer, you could drag a .JPG file onto the IrfanView icon and it would open the image.

But drag and drop can be a pain... as it requires access to the desired file AND target application icon. The easiest way is using the Windows Open With option. To do this simply locate the desired file, right click to see this popup menu and here, select Open With and then select the desired application. Note: Windows ME and 98 do not directly show the Open With option, but will if you hold the Shift key while right clicking the desired file.

Just a reminder, you cannot simply change the extension of a file to have some other application open it!  We have seen where people create a word processing file in WordPerfect, which has a .WPD extension, and then change that .WPD extension to .DOC expecting Microsoft's Word to correctly read it.  It is not that simple... 

Word / WordPerfect import  --top

Both Word and WordPerfect have the capability to import the other's documents, but you cannot simply change a Word document's .DOC extension to WordPerfect's .WPD extension and expect WordPerfect to recognize the file.  Instead you need to download and install converter.

To open a Corel's WordPerfect file with Microsoft's Word, search office.microsoft.com for "wordperfect."  That will result in different converters, but you will need to determine which one you need based on your Word version.  Download and install the appropriate converter.

To convert the other way, most versions of WordPerfect have the necessary converters already loaded.  However, if it does not properly open a Word document, you may need to contact Corel's support as there is little information on their site.

Norton 360  --top

Norton 360 includes an online backup option, but we have heard from more than one customer that there are problems using it. 

The backup option includes 2 Gigabytes of storage, but attempting to send even far less than that results in an error indicating there is not enough room to complete the backup.  One person with this issue called Symantec multiple times and each time Symantec sold him more storage space.  Although Symantec has credited these charges, it appears to us their tech support has limited knowledge to resolve issues.  Symantec admitted to this customer they are having problems with the service.

As far as we know, the problem has not yet been resolved...

One other issue to be aware of with an online backup is your upload speed.  Generally your upload speed is half of your download speed, so if you have a 512k service, your upload speed is about 256k.  If you have 2Mb of data to transfer, it will take about 1.5 hours and 2Mb is not a lot of data these days...

Thanks John

Reinstalling Windows  --top

There are various reasons to format the drive and reinstall the operating system.  Perhaps the number one reason is corruption from viruses, but operating systems can become corrupt even without a virus.  Other reasons you may consider reinstallation:  The computer is running slowly or acting up, the drive is being replaced, the computer is being removed from a corporate server, etc.

Be aware, reinstalling the operating system may delete all of your data. 
Back up, back up, back up!

Most computers will boot from a CD and that is the way to reinstall Windows.  Place the Windows CD in the drive, restart the computer and when prompted, "press any key to boot to the CD."  If you do not receive that prompt it will be necessary to enter the BIOS and change the drive boot order, making the CD the first boot device.

Once you have booted to the CD, follow the prompts and you will eventually get to a point where you can reinstall Windows.  There are a couple of options: one is to install over the existing Windows and the other to format the drive and then install.

• Installing over the existing Windows will attempt to utilize the current registry.  If successful, Windows should look and operate as it did before, but without the problems.  This option can be used when some of the Windows files or folders have become corrupt, however, by using this option any registry errors/problems will remain.  It is almost always best to format the drive then reinstall...

• Formatting the drive effectively wipes everything out.  While this gives you the cleanest possible install, but it also makes it necessary to reinstall all your other applications from their original source.  If there are multiple partitions, you will be prompted which partition Windows should install on.  Typically the largest partition is correct.  Select the target partition and read the prompts at the bottom of the screen.  You will want to format. 
  
  Note: If desired, you could delete all partitions and once deleted, install Windows on the one remaining large partition.  Other smaller partitions may contain OEM diagnostic tools or nothing at all.  Those OEM tools may be available for downloaded from the manufacturer.

More/technical information about installing Windows here.

Solar Activities  --top

Have WIFI, a cell phone, pager, TV, radio or most anything else that relies on radio waves?  Be prepared for interruptions in service as the sun will soon be increasing its solar activities.  Increased activity means more problems here on Earth.  The peak of this solar cycle will be the infamous year 2012.  Solar activities images here. 

Up, Up and Away...  --top

We found this interesting.  Here are images and information on the world's tallest building.

Four old geezers came into the pro shop after playing 18 holes and were exhausted.

The pro asked if they had a good game and the first old guy said, "Pretty good. I had three riders today." The second old guy said, "I had five riders." The third old man said, "I had seven riders, same as last time." The fourth said, "I beat my old record. I had twelve riders. I'll buy!"

After they shuffled into the bar, another member said to the pro, "I've played golf for years and thought I knew all the lingo, but what in the heck is a 'rider'?"

The pro replied, "A rider is when you hit the ball far enough to get back in the golf cart and ride to it!"