ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers
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Have your own question for the Fleet?  Click here to ask it.

Question submitted by Connie:

I cannot open programs that end in .pps. How can I correct this?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Connie.  pps files are PowerPoint files. If you don't have PowerPoint installed, you can still view them with the PowerPoint viewer, which is a free download you can get from Microsoft.Here's the link to download the viewer:
http://snipurl.com/e2r

Question submitted by telluy22 @ yahoo.com:

sound and auto device, when i try to get sound all i get is this err id oxcood11ba,conditions id= 00000000 and thats it except when i go into sound and volume it won't let me slide the button over it  says sound devise not detected, please tell me how i can get it back again  thank you ps i no hardly any thing about computers help

Answer from William Warren:

Which model machine? We need more information to determine which sound card is in the machine

Reply from telluy22 @ yahoo.com:

my computor is a xp home eddition T2642 - 56K  MODIUM- 145142 E MACHINE MODEL NO

Answer from William Warren:

Click on your Start button, choose Settings>Control Panel>System. Click on the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button, click the plus next to sound, video and game controllers, find either ac97 or legacy audio (or both) and remove it (them). reboot the computer ... the drivers should reload and reset themselves.

Question submitted by Mark from VA:

I subscribe to several pay sites on the web, in which access is governed by popups that ask for a user name and password. All of them worked perfectly well on my HP laptop until recently, when I installed messaging applications from Yahoo and AOL. Now, when I try to get my usual access to the pay sites, no popups appear no matter what I do.  Can you think of any solution short of de-installing the messaging applications?

Answer from Hal Cardona:

I investigated the IM clients you have installed and they don't seem to have any pop-up blockers as part of their features. I would remove both of them and then download and install Trillian basic which is free multiple client IM software and works with both Yahoo's messenger and AIM.  You can get Trillian for free from here:
http://trillian.cc

Question submitted by  iamlstl @ dsl.pipex.com:

When I turned the computer on after I shutdown I could access my most
recent documents via:
1. Start: My Recent Documents or
2. In Word, File: Tools - Options - Recently Used File List //// Entries or
3. In Word, Toolbar- Work - Add to Work Menu
These facilities no longer works and I am unable to access any recent
documents other than going to Open and searching for the document.  I can find no solution in Help or any Window/Word books; how do I get this
facility back on track. I would be very grateful for any suggestions or solutions. Many thanks

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Have you used some tweaking program like TweakUI or something that lets you set up privacy settings to hide some stuff (like Internet history, etc.)?  If so, that's what's causing this and you will have to turn it off in that program.

Reply from  iamlstl @ dsl.pipex.com:

Dear Linda - First let me thank you for such a prompt response. You are quite right, I did have Tweak UI as well as Proxomitron and I noted some time ago that the problem seemed to coincide with the installation of probably Tweak UI and I uninstalled Tweak UI ( as well as Proxomitron) .I also recall that Internet History disappeared about or at the same time that I lost My Recent Documents etc. It may be that the problem lies with some kind of a residual piece of Tweak UI. Does this analysis provide any clues?  Secondly, I would be happy to subscribe or contribute or pay for the service rendered by your website ( that sound awfully crass, doesn't it?)  Again my thanks for any help you can give me, if you need more information please let me know.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

You will have to reinstall TweakUI, then use it to reverse the change you made. Once you make changes with TweakUI, uninstalling it does not undo the changes you made.  Reinstall TweakUI, then reverse the changes, then uninstall TweakUI and I'm not sure what you mean when you say you would be happy to subscribe to this service...you already ARE subscribed to ABC - that's why I'm answering your question. The service is free.  Hang in there.

Reply from  iamlstl @ dsl.pipex.com:

1. - I realize that I had subscribed and the subscription service is free, however, I thought I read on your website that a newsletter cost $11.00 or
something similar. What I was trying to say, however badly, was that I would be quite happy to pay the $11.00 or whatever was required. I did not want you to think I was trying to get something for nothing.

2. I reinstalled Tweak UI and checked and unchecked the necessary boxes and uninstalled, to reverse the changes, to no avail. I reinstalled Tweak UI assuming the omniscient Tweak UI might correct the problem; Under the Explorer rubric I unchecked "Clear Document History on Exit" checked " Allow Recent Documents on Start Menu" " Maintain Document History" " Maintain Network History" and " Show Documents on Classic Start Menu" Still doesn't work. Is the fault within Word itself?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

I doubt the fault is "within Word itself" since you say your Internet History disappeared at the same time as your Recent Documents in Word. I still believe this was caused by some tweaking program you used. In TweakUI, there's some Privacy settings that remove the Recently Used documents (tho I can't remember exactly where cuz I don't use tweaking programs like that anymore ... but I do remember there was a Privacy tab and that's where the setting was in the older versions that I did use). You can try repairing Word and see if that fixes it in Word (tho it won't bring back your Internet history). Go to Word's Help menu and choose Detect and Repair...you will probably need the Office CD.  I'm forwarding a copy this to the Fleet also since I'm obviously not able to solve this one as easily as I thought...Unfortunately, Vic Ferri is unavailable right now and I'm SURE this could be fixed in the Windows Registry (cuz that's all TweakUI does is adjust the Registry), and that's Vic's specialty, but hopefully someone else in the Fleet may know where to fix it.

And no, you did not read that there's an $11 charge for subscribing to ABC. ABC and this service are free. (However there is a donation link on
ABC's home page if you ever want to donate.) If any of the Fleet members have any suggestions I will forward them on to you. Good luck.

Reply from  iamlstl @ dsl.pipex.com:

Dear Linda - You are absolutely correct - the problem "was caused by some tweaking program" I used. The program is called "cc cleaner" (no caps). I had downloaded it quite some time ago and forgot about it. I came across it as I reviewed the stuff I had downloaded into the computer. It works very much like Tweak UI and performs more or less the same functions. In any case, I unchecked the boxes, uninstalled the program and I am now back to my original settings. My enormous thanks for your help.

Question submitted by irra:

linda, i just opened your web about explaining the sims 2. i have a major problem here in indonesia. me and my friend had already buy the sims 2. and then when we played it, we CANNOT BUILD A HOUSE!!. in the sims 1 when we want to build house we just click the walls, etc and drag the arrow on the grid and voila! we can make everything! but in my sims 2, i CAN'T DO IT! and so does all my friends. when we click the wall and point the cursor to the grid, it displayed NOTHING!! just an arrow move back and forth. what must i do? i really want to play it! we only could buy a house that is offered on the original list. but then, WE ALSO CAN'T RENOVATE AT ALL!!! every time we click on walls, or paint, wallpapers, (etc related to house build mode), it can't no nothing!...we only could buy a furniture. but what's a furniture without a house! an the original house is so BORING without renovation. all of my friend in my school suffered the problems. please mail me the tips. i want to play! it so badly. please please please.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Not much tips I can give you on this. You will have to contact Electronic Arts directly and tell them the game is not working correctly. I have nothing to do with Electronic Arts so there's no way I can fix your problem. I'm just a player like you. But it sounds to me like you don't have enough memory in your computer OR your video card is not good enough to run The Sims2. good luck

Question submitted by GGGGGGGG:

web addresses (http://...., msn search...,etc. ) are being added to the run dialog box pop down (suggested entry desired) as if I had recently typed them into the entry box (above start button). these items (may all be searches, I can't tell-"www.msn.com" is listed), are not causing problems with the system as far as I know (everything seems to work well), but the list of internet addresses keeps growing. norton "system works" finds no errors on the machine. I have a history folder in windows, (linked to "c drive ",deleting this history has no effect. I don't know where the dialog box entry's are stored, its maximum capacity, or how this storage area is now linked to web addresses (the addresses are active & will, if clicked on, connect to the website). perhaps, I should not worry & this handy access to recently visited websites should be left as is unless it causes problems. ****I have limited Knowledge of dos, which is how I ended up with "c drive only" after installing a new 40 gb hard drive.( I used the original compaq software set which should have yielded "c partitioned to d". I have installed roxio "go back" to replace the system restore that (to the best of my knowledge,) utilizes the partition "d drive" to restore the system to a prior time. roxio boots before windows and will probably provide a better restore than the (now inoperable) "windows restore" supplied in the origional compaq software. I also managed to understand norton ghost well enough to create a complete backup disk set for c drive, (two days !!, downloading-studying info, & 1 phonecall to norton)- I am not computer literate !!. this set will however, contain the roots to the same problem. if I can correct this problem I will make a new set of disks.****  where should I look to solve this problem of internet search http's entering as if I had typed them into the run box? (msconfig & other entrys I actually typed are still there along with many msn & other web addresses. msdos program functions correctly as well as access to msconfig, regedit etc. via the run box. I am aware that a purchase of tweakUI will provide a tweak that will empty the "run" recent entry's. (I downloaded a free trial version but this tweak is omitted.) the run "recent entrys" tweak would probably delete the "http: entrys" as well. I do not however, want to purchase tweakUI just for a solution to this problem, but don't know what else to do.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

These are stored in your Windows Registry. All TweakUI does is remove them. Go to the Run box and type Regedit to get into the registry editor and navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU.  In there you will see them all...just delete the ones you don't want in there, then reboot and they will be gone from the dropdown list in the run box.  If you aren't familiar with editing the registry, read this ABC article by Vic Ferri that tells you how to back up the registry before you make changes:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v5/vic5.htm

Question submitted by Frank G.:

Dear Linda,  I received this from my brother and I have no idea what he is talking about This is something I have never done. 

Hey Expert, When I check the extra disk space I can get if I compress my files its really significant. I've been warned not to do it. What's your opinion???

Appreciate your opinion. Thanks

Answer from Linda Johnson:

I assume he's using Windows XP? If so, send him to this article of Vic Ferri's in TechTrax ... it explains all about compression and how to do it.
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=427

Question submitted by Mark:

Can someone point me to where I can set Excel to default to print gridlines?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

That's part of Excel's page setup feature, so you can't make it a default like you can if it's in Tools>Options. The only way to make it the default is to set it up in Page Setup, then save that file as a template. If you want that template to run every time you open Excel, you need to put it in your XLStart folder and name it Book.xlt or set it up in Tools>Options as your startup file. Instructions on how to do both of those things are here:
http://snipurl.com/9zp3

Question submitted by Terry:

Nearly every time I start Excel a Windows Installer message box pops up saying: "The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available. Insert the Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1 Premium disk and press OK." When I cancel, Excel starts normally.  Twice now I have got so cheesed off that I have gone and fetched the CD and reinstalled, but it makes no difference. I have downloaded and installed all the Office updates to date.  Can anyone help? Thanks.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

When you installed Office, did you choose "Install on first use" for any of the features? If so, whatever is trying to load when you open Excel is trying to install. Perhaps an addin or something? If you go into your Windows Control Panel and choose Add/Remove programs, then click on the Add/Remove button for Microsoft Office and choose to Add/Remove features .... then you will see a list of all of them with little disk icons beside them ... click on the very top disk icon and choose Run ALL from my computer ... you may need the Office CD to finish this. Then, reboot your computer and launch Excel and see if it still happens. Or, you can go to Excel's Tools menu and choose Addins and see if there's some addin that is trying to run at startup and remove that.  If none of that fixes it, the next thing I would check is to see if your Windows XP user account is corrupt. Try creating a new user account and see if it happens there ... if it doesn't, then you may need to make a new user account.

Instructions for moving stuff from a corrupted user account to a new one here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Reply from Terry:

Followed your instructions and Bingo! It now seems fine. Thank you extravagantly for your help. Cheers

Question submitted by ED:

Ever since I tried to install Windows SP2 my computer has crashed and after running a repair on it, it is very slow.  I would like to reformat it and start over. Is there any way you can help me by giving me the steps to do this or tell me where I can find detailed information on how to go about this? THANKS

Answer from Linda Johnson:

The slowdowns you are experiencing are probably due to spyware on your computer, so using Adaware or Spybot to clean that up may solve your problem.  But, if you want to format and start over, with Windows XP, it's pretty straightforward. Just put the XP CD in the drive and reboot, choose to Install...it will ask you if you want to format first, just say yes.  Be sure to backup all important data first, becuz formatting wipes the drive clean. If you don't know what to backup, read the special ABC backup issue here and good luck:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v10/vol10.htm

Question submitted by Colin P from B'ham - UK:

When I use conditional formatting I can get the 3 conditions to recognise
dates, but I need a 4th condition to apply, that the cells which apply to rows not yet entered do not show any colour until the data (dates) against which the condition is to apply have been entered. The 3 conditions that are identified are dates overdue (Red), dates nearly due (amber) and dates not yet reached (green). Can you please help.

Answer from Ray Blake:

A back issue of ABC covers how to get more than 3 formats. It's here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v18/chad18.htm

Reply from Colin P from B'ham - UK:

Thanks Ray,  Having only limited Excel capability, and no VBA knowledge, could I attach an example of the file I am trying to develop to explain my predicament? Your suggestions/solution would be most appreciated.

Answer from Ray Blake:

Looking at your sheet, we're in luck; there's even no need to resort to VBA! I've attached a fixed version, but just so you know what I did:
1. I selected the range you had conditionally formatted (R3 downwards)
2. I went to the conditional formatting dialogue
3. I changed condtion 3's dropdown from 'Cell is' to 'Formula is'
4. In the resulting formula field, I entered: =AND(R3<>"",R3<TODAY()-23)
This approach means that in order for the cell to go red, there needs to be an appropriate date in the cell; if the cell is empty, none of the formats will trigger. All the best.

Question submitted by patti:

just have a question regarding winbackup, and internet security. do
you need winbackup if you have Norton internet sercuity?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Patti. WinBackup and Norton Internet Security are two different things.
Norton's program basically keeps you safe from hackers, spyware, popups etc. while you are connected to the Internet. WinBackup is just a program that lets you backup your important files in case you ever lose them from hard drive failure, file corruption, etc. So, comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. I don't think you "need" WinBackup, but I do believe you DO need to backup your important files some way...an ounce of prevention goes a long way :-)

Reply from patti:

Any suggestions on what to use to back up, would Back up that is with xp be ok to use? Thanks

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Like I said in my article, these are the three backup programs I recommend .....
http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v38/
bkuprevs.htm

I prefer them to the backup utility in XP becuz they offer more features. However, if you don't want to spend money, you can use XP's backup or something called Syncback which many people recommend but I've never tried ... it's free and you can download it here:
http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html

Question submitted by Ed:

I have the Windows SP 2 CD and am trying to install it. I have tried to install this 2 and both times after installation my computer has slowed down to a crawl and almost froze up. I don't know what to do to install it. Has anyone else contacted you about having problems with it? Thanks

Answer from Hal Cardona:

Check viruses, Adware and Spyware, then install it. Most people don't have issues if their system is clean.  Use Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy to check for adware and spyware.

Thanks to all who submitted questions this month.  If you submitted a question and did not get an answer, and the problem still persists, try going here and submitting it again.  Just remember that we cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, though I think the Fleet did a bang-up job this month!  Thanks to all of the Fleet for your expert advice and your valuable time :-)