|
This is our News page, visit here for what's happening on the computer scene, we'll try to keep this page updated as often as we can.
Here are a few questions we've had this week. If you have a question please post it using our contact form
Warning: you can't roll back to IE 6 after installing SP3
If you're running IE7 on your XP computer and you install Service Pack 3, it
appears you won't be able to go back to IE6 afterward. Same thing applies if you've installed
a beta of IE8 - there'll be no going back to IE7 after installing the service
pack. So if you want to roll back your browser, you need to do it before
installation of SP3.
Office 2007 SP1 coming to automatic update near you
Service Pack 1 for Office 2007 has been available for download for months, but
if you don't want to install it for some reason, be aware that it's to be
released to Automatic Update in June, so you'll need to take steps to prevent
it from being installed automatically (such as setting your computer to
download updates but not install them until you give permission).
The XP SP3 vicious reboot cycle
SP3 is finally out, but some of our peers are reporting that after installing it on
some computers, the system goes into continuous reboot mode. This happens
because something in SP3 (on some hardware configurations) causes the computer
to crash during the boot process and the OS is set to automatically reboot
after a crash. A similar thing happens with Vista.
How to back up the registry
We always recommend backing up the registry before editing it - just in case.
We always get phone calls asking "how do I do that?" Well, here's
how:
- Open the registry editor by typing regedit.exe in the Run | Open box.
- To back up the entire registry, highlight the root of the registry tree in
the left pane, labeled Computer.
- Click the File menu and select Export...
- Give the backup a name and save it as a .reg file to a location you'll be
able to access easily (we recommend saving it to a separate partition or hard
disk, a USB drive or a flash memory card).
To restore from your backup, follow the same steps but in Step 3, select
Import... and then navigate to your backup file and select Open.
All the Desktop icons are missing
If you find that there are no icons on your desktop, but they do show up in the
Desktop folder, it may be that the "Show Desktop Icons" settings has been
turned off. It's easy to turn it back on again; see the instructions in KB
article 330170
HP and Lenovo join Dell in offering XP after June cutoff date
Now in addition to Dell, which first made the announcement, both Hewlett
Packard and Lenovo are planning to provide XP recovery discs with systems they
sell, even after the June 20, 2008 official "cut-off" date for OEMs to sell
computers with XP pre-installed. This will make it possible for people who buy
Vista computers to "downgrade" them for free to XP. Read more here:
How to change the icon for specific file types
Don't like the little notepad icon that signifies a text file? Want something
snazzier to represent Word files than that "W"? You can change the default
icon for specific file types (without affecting what program opens them).
Here's how:
- Right click Start | Explore to open Windows Explorer.
- Click the Tools menu and select Folder Options.
- Click the File Types tab, and highlight the type whose icon you want to
change (for instance, TXT)
- Click the Advanced button at the bottom of the dialog box.
- In the Edit File Type dialog box, click the Change Icon button.
- Select an icon or browse for one on your hard disk, then click OK
Changing the icon for drives? Some of our peers find a few problems so you
probably should leave that one alone.
System Restore displays a blank calendar
If you run the System Restore tool on XP in order to restore your computer to a
previous state, you might find that the calendar on the left side of
the "Choose a Restore Point" window is not displayed or is blank. This happens
because the file association for HMTL is not in the registry. You can fix the
problem by editing the registry. For instructions, see KB article 313853.
|
