Virtual Ask-It Basket

[Mike Ungerman]

For those of you in regular attendance at CFCS meetings, you know that we traditionally have an Ask-It Basket where you can place written questions to be answered by the "knowledgeable" members of our audience.

Given this digital age, it seems a good idea to me to duplicate this process on this site. So, here is the online version of the Ask-It Basket. Please use this to post any questions in regards to technology, and let's see if members of our online audience can answer your question for you. A couple have already been asked as seperate discussions, but by replying to this topic, we can be better organized and have all the information in one place.

I encourage our regular readers to respond to questions. We need more people posting as well.

[Mike Ungerman]

Installing an Ancient Printer in Vista

Well, since no one is asking questions, I'll do a virtual asking of a question, "How can an Ancient Printer be installed in Vista?"

For the answer, click on the following two links where PC Magazine answers the question for a specific printer in a specific version of Vista Home Premium. These answers may not do it all for you, but get you pointed in the right direction.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2328086,00.asp

and

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2338863,00.asp

[Mike Ungerman]

Adding Virtual Memory Size to Windows Task Manager Display

Boy, getting you guys to ask a question is worse than pulling teeth! Ok, here's another virtual question and answer until someone starts posting besides me:

Question: How can I improve the diagnosis of problems using Windows Task Manager?

Answer: Most of us have used Windows Task Manager from time to time when programs are running slow or lock up. We hit Control-Alt-Delete and enter the Task Manager. Probably too, most of you just choose to reboot your computer without paying much attention to the tabs and the data that is presented there.

I was looking through a number of articles, and one of them suggested adding "VM Size" to the Processes tab. This along with CPU and Mem Usage can tell you what is hogging resources right now in your computer. However, VM Size is not selected by default. To get it, you have to have the Processes tab active and then click on "View" Then "Select Columns" and click on the box in front of "Virtual Memory Size". While there note all of the other options that can be displayed; many of them I've never noticed before nor examined....fodder for a future Q&A or review at the Windows SIG?

At any rate, now that the VM Size is visible, you can choose to click on any columns' header title and order the resources shown in ascending or descending order. I usually sort in reverse order by size so that I can see the largest use of the respective resources at the top and then look at the Image Name column to see what's using the most CPU, or RAM memory or now, Virtual Memory. It's enlightening!

[Joseph Levy]

Since Outlook Express is not included in Vista, will it be included in Windows 7 and if not does that mean that it is an end of life product or will I be able to download it into Windows 7?

[Mike Ungerman]

Joseph Levy said:

Since Outlook Express is not included in Vista, will it be included in Windows 7 and if not does that mean that it is an end of life product or will I be able to download it into Windows 7?

As posted in the seperate discussion on Outlook Express, I would expect to see Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail in Windows 7. Hewie has installed the first beta and may be able to better answer this.

[Mike Ungerman]

Q: I am using Firefox 3.0.5. While I'm browsing, for no reason, a box sometimes pops up saying "URL not valid and cannot be loaded." I remove it by clicking OK, but I find this annoying, especially since the frequency is very high. This happens only in Firefox. Is there a short easy answer for a rather computer-illiterate old man? —Brian Foord

A: When a strange problem crops up in Internet Explorer I blame the add-ons, but Firefox, as well, isn't immune from add-on-induced bugs. Start Firefox in Safe Mode to see if an add-on is causing your particular problem. How? First, close all Firefox windows. Then in the Start menu's Run dialog enter firefox.exe-safe-mode. If for any reason that doesn't work, replace firefox.exe with the full path of the program, probably C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe—including the quote marks.

Check the box to Disable all add-ons and click the button to Continue in Safe Mode. Problem gone? Okay, exit Safe Mode, restart normally, and re-enable the add-ons one at a time until you find the one that's the source of the trouble. Then either leave that one disabled or seek an update that fixes the problem.

[Mike Ungerman]

Why Can't I Add More Bookmarks in Firefox?

Answer: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2339588,00.asp

[Mike Ungerman]

What's the Best Way to Delete Accounts on the Internet?

PC Magazine has an excellent article on deleting your accounts. See the information at: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342599,00.asp

[Glenn McLain]

I'm in the process of changing email addresses and do not see a way to change the e-Blast address. For other CFCS it's just a matter of telling Jay what the new address is.

[Stan Wallner]

Glenn McLain said:

I'm in the process of changing email addresses and do not see a way to change the e-Blast address. For other CFCS it's just a matter of telling Jay what the new address is.

[Craig Morris]

I just changed the size of my laptop HD from 40 to 80 and restored the image of the original HD using Acronis True Image Home 2009. My issue is the 80 gig HD is now partitioned into 2 37+ drives. I’ve tried several times to change the partition sizes using EASEUS Partition Master 3.5 Home Edition only to get a message 364 and that Easeus can’t changes the primary partition because it can’t deal with something in the NTSF format.
Any ideas?
I'm sorry I didn't purchase the Acronis partition manager software during the meeting a couple of months age

[Mike Ungerman]

Yes, having Acronis Disk Director should do the trick. But I am surprised you didn't get an option to expand the partition into the free space when you restored it on the new drive. Did you bypass some of the option screens?

If you don't mind making a trip to Oviedo after May 6th, I can do it for you. Or perhaps Stan Wallner (407-862-2669) might have it on his laptop and with a USB adapter, could adjust your partition sizes.

Mike

Craig Morris said:

I just changed the size of my laptop HD from 40 to 80 and restored the image of the original HD using Acronis True Image Home 2009. My issue is the 80 gig HD is now partitioned into 2 37+ drives. I’ve tried several times to change the partition sizes using EASEUS Partition Master 3.5 Home Edition only to get a message 364 and that Easeus can’t changes the primary partition because it can’t deal with something in the NTSF format.
Any ideas?
I'm sorry I didn't purchase the Acronis partition manager software during the meeting a couple of months age

[Stan Wallner]

Craig / Mike -

Just google "free partitioning software" - there are several like Partition magic, free:

I have personally used the Easus; the home single user version is free; it was on giveaway of the day earlier; go to http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm. Of course, a good backup first is prudent ...

Stan