Computer Tutorials

Anyone that’s used Windows Vista from a new installation will know when I’m talking about when I mention the Welcome Center. This little annoying window will give you instant access to a things such as Windows Anytime Upgrade, Add New Users, Whats New in Windows Vista and much more.

However this is still a very annoying window that you will have to close every time you boot up Windows Vista, It’s something that’s very easy to stop and I’ll explain below, I’ll also explain how to find it again after you have stopped it.

First of all lets banish the Welcome Center:
When you start up Windows Vista you are presented with the Welcome Center Window, Well in that very window if you look in the bottom left corner you will see a check box that says Run at startup. All you have to do is un tick this box and then close Welcome Center.

Secondly (for you crazy little critters) how to get back to the Welcome Center:
Click on Start (Bottom left Vista Logo) and type Welcome into the search bar then click on Welcome Center when you see it in the list.

If you for what ever reason what it to show again on every start up then check the box that says Run at startup.

You will also see near that check box (Welcome Center can be found in Control Panel, System and Maintenance) So if you are having problems with the search function or would just like to find out where it is go take a look.

Adam Nugent

This is a little problem that I noticed today and managed to resolve quite quickly and I thought that I would share it with you should you encounter the same issue. I you are using Office 2007 and AVG and encounter any of the issues/errors below then it would be that AVG is causing them.

Bare in mind however this is not a usual with AVG and I only came over these problems because an update on AVG went wrong and made a mess.

Ok these are the errors you might receive:

Outlook 2007

The Addin “AVG Exchange Extension” cannot be loaded

Failed to initialize

Outlook may also not respond and give you the usual “Outlook has encountered an error and needs to close”

Word 2007

The file “File Name” is not available (File Name will be replaced with the name of the file you are trying to open)

Word may also not respond and give you the usual “Word has encountered an error and needs to close”

You might notice that Word is displaying Running Virus Scan in the bottom left of the window where the word count usually is, which is part of the problem. If AVG cant scan a file then its in a way treated as a bad file and you are unable to open again or even use the programs that AVG is linked into.

Don’t worry to much, because this is very easily solved by Uninstalling and Reinstalling AVG. When you Uninstall AVG you will need to reboot (Restart) your computer, then once you are back up again you can download and reinstall the application. I’m under the impression that you know how to do this since you all ready had AVG on your system, if you are unsure on this leave a comment and I’ll explain how and were to get AVG.

So If AVG spits its dummy out and makes your Office pack malfunction you know what to do

Adam Nugent

As we all know when it comes to new operating systems there are always going to be issues with some software programs and hardware devices. With Windows Vista the problems have been much larger then before and to ensure that all your current hardware and software will work under Windows Vista there is a program provided by Microsoft called Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.

Since the release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista and all the updates that have been released Vista is not as problematic as it first was and is now more than ready for the average home user to start using. There is always something missing however which is why before you even think about installing Windows Vista you should run the Upgrade Advisor.

The following tutorial is going to show you where to get Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor then how to install and use it to ensure that you will have minimal issues if any at all.

Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Here!

Now I will walk you through installing this small (But important) piece of software:

1. Locate the file you have just downloaded which should be named WindowsVistaUpgradeAdvisor, Double Click the file to start the install wizard.

2. You may be presented with a security warning at this point asking you to Run or Cancel, Click Run.

3. There should now be a Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor window on display, Click Next

4. License Agreement, Select I Agree and then Next (if you agree of course!)

5. You will now be asked where you would like to install the program, the default location should be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor\ Assuming you have your operating system installed on C: drive if you are happy with this Click Next.

6. Select Create Desktop Shortcut and Click Next.

7. Click Close, Installation is no complete.

I will now show you how to run the program and find out if you would be faced with issues when upgrading to Windows Vista:

• On your Desktop there should not be a shortcut icon to run Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, Double Click this to start the program.

• Once the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor window is displaying Click Start Scan

• While the Scan is taking place (Which may take a while) you can read through the Tabs at the bottom explaining in more detail what you will get in what versions of Windows Vista.

• Once the Scan has completed Click See Details.

• First of all you should select the Version of Windows Vista that you wish to install on the left hand side.

• Now if you scroll down you are displayed with Three important points
1. System Requirements
2. Devices
3. Programs

• Click See Details on each of these in turn to find out if there will be any issues with upgrading to Windows Vista.

• If you do have any issues that require action I would HIGHLY suggest that before you even consider installing Vista you resolve these issues, most software now have versions for Vista but there are some that still do not. Check there websites for details.

• If anything does require attention it’s likely that the Upgrade Advisor will point you in the right direction.

• For any reason if there is something that you don’t understand in the list there is a Print Task List in the top right of the See Details pages, print off a copy and take it to your local PC shop for advice. They should be able to explain anything that you don’t quite understand.

That’s all there is to it really, if the Upgrade Advisor says that you will have issues resolve them before upgrading. If everything is good then go for the install (please make sure you backup any important information first, as with computers anything can and more than often does happen!) and the last thing you want is to lose all those priceless photos and important documents.

Another point to note, when installing Windows Vista if you are asked if you would like to download updates from the internet as part of the installation, if you have an internet connection I would suggest that you say yes to this. It will save you a great deal of time later and also give you all the latest updates meaning that the problems that you could face will be much less.

Adam Nugent

Setting up send and receive groups in Outlook 2007 can be useful for a number of reasons, the main one that comes to mind is download limits and connection speed. For example if you are using a dial up connection and only want to skim your emails you can only download headers or emails that do not exceed a specific size. If you feel that this could help you then follow the steps below and I’ll show you what to do.

1. Open Outlook 2007.

2. Click Tools

3. Select Send/Receive

4. Select Send/Receive Settings

5. Click Define Send/Receive Groups

6. In the Send/Receive Groups window you are now displayed with Click New…

7. Give the group we are going to create a meaningful name (Such as “Headers Only” ) this is really dependent upon what you plan to do with the group. I’m going to explain your options below.

8. Now you are displayed with the Send/Receive Settings – (Chosen Name) window.

9. On the left hand side you will see all your mail accounts including RSS accounts.

Now I’m going to explain your options:

• To add an account to the group: Select the account on the left, and check the box at the top entitled Include the selected account in this group. If you wish to remove the account from the group uncheck this box.

• You can edit the Account properties if you wish, by clicking Account properties… in the top left the only reason you might want to edit these settings is to leave a copy of the email on your server. Account properties -> Advanced Tab -> Check the box that says Leave a copy of the message on the server.

• Under Folder Options you will see two check boxes where you can choose to either Send Mail Items or Receive mail items, check the box as appropriate (for example you might just wish to send an email you have saved but don’t have the time or even want to download any new messages of the server).

• Under Account Options on the lower half of the screen you will see 4 options displayed

1. Download Headers Only: (this is ideal if you don’t have a lot of bandwidth or a slow connection speed)

2. Download Complete Item Including Attachments: (if you want to download everything)

3. Download only headers for items larger than: (This could be useful if you have a slow connection, you want all your emails but don’t want to spend hours waiting for a huge attachment to download)

4. This is where you will select the max size in KB of emails that you will accept for download (anything above the size will not be downloaded)

Now that you have selected the accounts you wish to add into this group and have selected the options that you require Click Ok.

Now you are back in the Send/Receive Groups window and have a few more options that you may wish you change (you will need to highlight the account you wish to change while selecting the options) I’ll cover them below :

• Include this group in Send/Receive (F9): If you wish to action this group every time F9 is pressed then keep it selected however if you wish to only Send/Receive at specific times then uncheck the box.

• Schedule an automatic send/receive every (X Minutes): You can change the number of minutes that Outlook waits before automatically Sending and Receiving again useful if you want to check your emails every 30 minutes/ hour.

• Perform an automatic Send/Receive when exiting: Very useful if you have wrote an email and forgot to send it out and close the program (can save you so much stress if the email was important).

These Next two only apply when Outlook 2007 is Working Offline:
• Include this group in Send/Receive (F9): See above
• Schedule an automatic Send/Receive every (X Minutes): See above

Once you have configured all the settings for your new group Click Close.

There is one more step I would like to point out before I finish this tutorial, if you wish to manually Send/Receive this group Click Tools -> Send/Receive -> Click the group you want to action.

I hope this has been easy to understand, if you feel that I have missed anything out or are confused please leave a comment below. Happy E-Mailing

Adam Nugent

Maybe you have disabled automatic updates and are now worried about your computer not being up to date and vulnerable. Or you’ve just not seen anything pop up about updates in a long time, either way I’m going to show you how to quickly check for updates to ensure that you are up to date.

Click on the Start button (Vista Logo, bottom left).

Select All Programs.

Click Windows Update (usually at the bottom of the window items on the list)

Click on Check for Updates (this can be found in the main window, and on the left)

Now Windows Vista will take a few moments to check the Microsoft servers for updates, If not are found there you are currently up to date with your updates.

If Windows Update finds updates that you have not yet downloaded/installed then follow the steps below:

Click Install Updates.

Vista will now download and then install the update (you may be asked for permission, if so agree).

Once all the updates are installed you may be required to restart your computer for settings to take effect or for the install to complete, if you are requested to restart I would advise that you do so.

That covers checking for windows updates, now that you are at this point in the tutorial (The End) you should have established that your computer is up to date, if it wasn’t at the start, it should be now. Note that this was only checking for windows vista updates if you have other programs not connected to Microsoft you receive updates for these you will have to go to the manufactures website.

Adam Nugent

***UPDATE***
This issue has now been resolved, There was recently a change in security with my web host that shot my code dead in the water, this has been fixed now and everything is well.. On a side note though they may want to inform customers of changes like this (That can affect them!) so we can resolve the issues quicker :).
I can now breath again without chest pains!!
***UPDATE***

If you have been to the main part of this website today then you will notice that there is no navigation and no ad’s showing!. I know the ad’s not showing is not going to be an issue for you (but it is for me).

What will be an issue for you is navigating my site because all the pages use includes and for some random reason they are not loading, I’m pretty sure its something to do with my host because last night i was experiencing memory issues for the php on the blog.

The blog resolved its self after a while, what I’m getting at here is that I don’t know when this is going to be resolved! For some reason I’ve not received any response from my hosting provider, for either the blog issue last night or the php issue today.

I’m very annoyed at the moment and stressing WAY to much about this, like i said the ad’s wouldn’t be an issue for you but for me its the only money i get! and there not displaying, and you as the reader of my site will find it difficult to find the pages you need with out the search function and the navigation links. (Everything seams fine of the blog though, let me know if you see anything that’s not!).

All issues are on the Main site www.adamsdvds.co.uk and HOPEFULLY they will be resolved very soon.

Sorry for any inconvenience this is causing you
I will of course let you know when anything changes.

Adam Nugent

As we all know junk mail (spam) these days is a very serious and annoying problem for every person that uses and email account of any kind. We are getting better all the time in creating software that can detect such mails and block them, however there is always going to be some that get though and this is where your Junk Mail Filter comes in. You can help configure your Junk Mail Filter to keep out that annoying spam.

Open Outlook 2007

Click Tools

Click Options…

You are now displayed with the Options window, in the Preferences tab (where you should be by default) Click Junk E-mail…

Now I’m going to take you though each tab on the Junk E-mail Options window starting with the Options tab.

Options Tab
On the top half of this tab you will have four levels of protection for Junk Mail they are displayed below:

1. No Automatic Filtering: This is the least protection that you can set on Outlook 2007, This means that all emails received will be classes as safe and sent to your inbox (unless you have otherwise told Outlook to send specific emails to the junk mail folder).

2. Low: This is not much better than the above as only the most blatant junk emails will be sent to your junk folder. (Again if you have an email on the blocked senders list, they will be sent to your junk mail folder either way).

3. High: This will catch most junk mail that comes in but can also class emails that are not junk as spam and send them to your Junk Mail folder, therefore if you do use this setting I suggest you check your Junk Mail folder from time to time to be on the safe side. ( if there is a legitimate email in your junk, just right click the email Select Junk E-mail and then Add Sender to Safe Senders List.)

4. Safe Lists Only: This is the most intensive protection level of them all, only emails from people you have added to your Safe Senders List will be received in your Inbox everybody else will automatically be sent straight to your Junk Mail (Consider Carefully before choosing this option).

Now Below the four Levels of protection you have four Check boxes:

1. Permanently delete suspected Junk e-mail instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder: This is not something I would recommend you using EVER, because computers simply make mistakes and you could delete a very important email.

2. Disable Links and other functionality in phishing messages: As it says below this in the window Recommended, I will completely agree with this.

3. Warn me about suspicious domain names in email addresses: This is also good practice to keep active.

4. When sending email, postmark the message to help email clients distinguish regular email from junk email: As long as you are not sending out Bulk emails to a great number of recipients then I would leave this option checked, it’s another tool to help fight the war on spam.

Safe Senders Tab
This is just as it sounds, a list of email addresses that you refer to as SAFE. Any emails in this list will be sent to your inbox because Outlook will consider them safe.

To Add an email to the safe list:

Click Add…

Type in the Email address and click OK.

To Edit or Remove an email in the list First highlight the email you wish to remove/edit and Click either Edit… or Remove on the right.

You can also Import From File… or Export to File (A list of email Addresses you consider safe) to a File or from a file. To do this simply click either Import/Export and find the file containing the list if you are importing or choose a name for the file you are exporting.

The two Check boxes are the bottom of the Safe Senders Tab.

1. Also Trust E-mail from my contacts: If this option is check then anyone you have in your contacts even though they may not be on the list will also be considered safe and come straight though to your inbox.

2. Automatically add people I E-mail to the Safe Senders List: This is an option you need to decide for yourself depending on who you email.

Safe Recipients Tab
Similar to Safe Senders only difference is: E-Mail sent to addresses or domain Names on your Safe Recipients List will never be treated as junk e-mail

Blocked Senders Tab
Again much the same to Safe Senders (used in the same way) only this time to block email addresses. Any address that you add in here will automatically be sent to your Junk Mail folder.

International Tab
This gives you two options the first being Blocked Top-Level Domain lists… Which will block emails from specific countries/regions based on the top level domain. Basically if you wish to block emails from United Kingdom (just for example) you will check the box that says GB (United Kingdom) then click Ok.

The Second Option is Block Encodings List... This will block encodings from being sent to your Inbox, be careful which you check here, as with the above option I would only play about with these if you have reasons to do so.

That covers Junk E-mail options in Outlook 2007, I hope after reading this tutorial (Advice Article) you will configure your Outlook to receive much less spam in your inbox than before.

Adam Nugent

For the purpose of this tutorial I’m going to say that you are using All Ways On mode because this is what I use on my Laptop for a few reasons, you should be able to decide what you need for yourself while following the steps in the tutorial below.

Click on Start (Windows Vista Logo) Bottom left

Click on Control Panel

Click Power Options

Now I’m going to explain a few things here and the rest of this tutorial is optional only, as you will want to select different options depending on how you use your computer. As I said above we are going to do this in High performance mode (Always On) but you can change the options as you see fit from here on in.

Check High Performance, and then click on Change plan settings below.

All the four drop down boxes on here if you always need your computer to be active (many for network reasons) Change them all to Never.

Click Save Changes

One more thing that you will want to change if you are using a laptop is what happens when the lid of the laptop is closed.

On the left of the Power Options window click Choose what closing the lid does.
No you will want to change the Drop down box on when I close the lid to Do Nothing.

Click Save changes

There we go your laptop will now, you have not set up the power options on your computer so that the hard drive/ monitor never turn off and are always active, be aware though that if you are using a laptop your screen will still enter the screen saver if you have on set and will also turn the screen off when you close the lid.

(The main reason I wrote this tutorial is because someone asked me if they can keep a network active while the computer is asleep, the answer to this is no. And these are the steps to stop your computer sleeping.)

Adam Nugent

If you have used Windows XP a great deal in the past and have now upgraded to Windows Vista then you will notice that the Run Command is missing from the start menu. Now there has always been an easier way to bring up the Run Command window up by holding down the Windows Key and pressing the letter R on your keyboard, but for those of you that still which to be able to bring just the Run Command from the start menu follow the tutorial below and all will be well again.

1. Right Click on the Start menu (Windows Vista Logo) in the bottom Left, You can also just click on the task bar.

2. Select Properties.

You will now be displayed with the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.

3. Select the Start Menu Tab (you should be there all ready).

4. Start Menu should be checked, click the Customize button to the right.

5. Scroll down the list until you find Run Command, Check that box.

6. Click Ok

7. Click Apply

8. Click Ok

Now if you bring up your start menu you will now see Run… on the bottom right, another Vista problem solved. Very short and sweet I thought but straight to the point.

Adam Nugent

This account is one huge security flaw when it comes to windows operating systems and removing this account is no easy task, In Windows Vista it’s easy to disable the account however if you’re not happy with just disabling the account there is more you can do.

You can set a password for this account which will make it much more secure then it was before and doing so is very easy as I’ll show you below. You are not able to set a password for the guest account in user accounts! Blame Microsoft not me

(We are going to use the Command Prompt to set a password)

Click Start (Vista Logo) ->All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt
Or
Hold down the windows Key pres R and then type in Cmd and press enter

Now we have a Command Prompt open.

The rest is very simple you are going to enter net user guest and your chosen password after that.

net user guest password

Just change password with your actual password and press enter.

It’s really that simple, now if you want to check that the guest is really now password protected just to and look in user accounts:

Start (Vista Logo) -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Manage Another Account

If your guest account is turned off, to see that it is now password protected you’ll have to turn it on for a moment, and you will see under guest account it says Password Protected.

Hope this Helped you

Adam Nugent