MS Office Removal Tool

Having trouble removing or uninstalling Microsoft Office, there is a removal tool

which can be found here.

Word 2007 and 2010 losing spaces in a document

Apparently there are incompatabilities between Word 2007 and 2010 which result in spaces being randomly dropped in a document.

There's an article here, which tells you how to sort it.

Fix an unmountable boot volume

How to troubleshoot "unmountable boot volume" in XP.

If you are unable to start Windows and get an error message saying you have an "unmountable boot volume," this can be caused by a corrupt boot.ini file or by a defective hard drive.

To troubleshoot the problem, do the following:

Boot into the recovery console at startup, using your Windows XP CD.

In the recovery console, type chkdsk /p If disk errors are discovered, you may need to replace the hard drive.

If no disk errors are discovered, reboot the computer and go back into the recovery console.

Type the following command at the command prompt:

bootcfg /rebuild

The bootcfg utility will scan the drive and display the results.

When the prompt asks if you want to add installation to the boot list (Yes/No/All), type Y and press ENTER.

When asked to "Enter Load Identifier," type the name of the operating system (for example, Windows XP Professional) and press ENTER.

When the prompt says "Enter OS Load options," type Fastdetect and press ENTER.

Remove the Windows XP installation CD from the drive and type Exit.

Reboot the computer. Windows XP should start normally.

Windows 7 password expiry time

Had a Windows 7 machine which forced the customer to change the password every 90 days and unlike older versions of Windows, there was no option to change this in Administrative Tools.

So it's back to the command line, run this as administrator:

net accounts /MaxPWAge:Unlimited

That means you won't need to change it again.

How to backup ITunes

Most online tutorials make use of iTunes’ ability to burn data disk for music backup jobs. This requires that you have a CD burner and available blank media. This short tutorial requires that you either a.) have an external HD (or iPod) or b.) a second computer to use as temporary storage. If you decide to use an external HD, make sure that it is large enough to store your whole music library. Following this tutorial will allow you to transfer your Window iTunes collection to another computer while retaining your playlists, smart playlists, song ratings, play counts, and last played dates.

Right off the bat I’m going to say that this particular tutorial will be most useful for Windows users that allow iTunes to keep their libraries organized. It was written under the assumption that your iTunes preferences “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” & “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” are checked under the Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab.

The first step is deciding whether you wish to use an external HD or a second computer as a temporary host for your music collection.

If you’re going to use your iPod as your external HD, plug it into your computer and wait for iTunes to startup. You need to enable iPod disk mode if it isn’t already enabled.

In order to keep this tutorial short I’m going to assume your Google skills can help you to get your computers networks. Hint: ICS (Internet connection sharing).

Create a new folder on your external HD or in the Shared folder on your second computer. Name it something like ‘iTunes Backup’. Next, go into ‘My Documents’ > ‘My Music’. Inside the ‘My Music’ folder you’ll find the iTunes folder. All you have to do is copy that whole iTunes folder to your external HD or Shared folder. The iTunes folder contains your complete music library as well as two important files: iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml

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This next step is optional. If you would like to backup your iTunes preferences, which would eliminate the initial setup questions after a new iTunes install, follow these next steps:

Right-click on the Start button and select ‘Explore’. In the ‘Tools’ menu, select ‘Folder Options’. Select the ‘View’ tab. Under the ‘Advanced Settings:’ tick ‘Show hidden files and folders’. Click ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ at the bottom of the window.

Use the left column to navigate to Documents and Settings > Your Username > Application Data > Apple Computer > iTunes. In the iTunes folder you should see a ‘iTunes Plug-in’ folder and a ‘iTunes.pref’ file. This .pref file contains all your preference settings for iTunes which is what you want to copy.

That’s all there is to it. The only thing left to do is to install a fresh copy of iTunes. Download your copy from here and run the installer. At the end of the installation run iTunes once ignoring the import wizard and close it. Then drop the iTunes folder and files exactly where you initially found them. When you fire up iTunes the second time your playlists, smart playlists, ratings, play counts, and last played dates will be right where they’re supposed to be.

Copying data from a corrupt user profile

Occasionally user profiles become corrupt.

You can copy data from your old profile to a new one, to preserve your settings, preferences and documents.

Here's how:

First create a new profile by logging on with administrative credentials and clicking Start | Control Panel | User Accounts

1. Under "Pick a Task," click "Create a new account," enter a name, and click Next.
2. Select the account type and click "Create account."
3. Now log on with an account that is not the one you're copying the files from or to.
4. Right click Start, select Windows Explorer, and click Folder Options.
5. On the View tab, check "Show hidden files and folders," uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System files," and click OK.
6. Navigate to 
7. Press and hold the CTRL key to click every subfolder and file in this folder except: Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log, and Ntuser.ini.
8. Click Edit | Copy or press CTRL+C or right click and select Copy.
9. Navigate to the :\Documents and Settings folder again and find the folder with the user name of the new profile. Open that folder.
10. Click Edit | Paste or press CTRL+V or right click and select Paste.
11. Log off and then log on with the new user account. This will transfer your preferences (wallpaper, desktop icons), settings and documents from the My Documents folder. This will not import your email messages to the new profile.

How to remove programs from the "open with" menu

Windows XP tries to be helpful. If you open a file with a particular extension using a certain program, it will add that program to the "Open with" right click menu options forever after when you click "Open with." What if you have programs in that menu that you would like to get rid of? Maybe you tried to open a file with the wrong program, and now there it is, stuck in the "Open with" options. Here's how to fix that:First, log on as an administrator and open the registry editor.

Back up the registry key you're going to edit, using the Export command in the file menu.

Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts

This will display a list of all the file extensions that are registered, shown as folders in the left pane.

Scroll down and find the file extension that you want to edit.

Click the white arrow beside it to expand the subfolders.

Select the subfolder labeled OpenWithList

In the right pane, you'll see the names of programs in the Data column. Right click the name of the program you want to remove from the list.

Click Delete.

At the "Are you sure?" prompt, click Yes.

Do this for all programs that you want to remove from the list for this file extension. Close the registry editor.

Now the extra programs shouldn't show up when you click the Open With menu.

The Geek Squad Files

At one time I worked in the wonderfully named Covert Ops department of the Geek Squad, our team were called The Night Watch and we helped people sort out their computer problems overnight.
Occasionally a problem came up which needed passing on, if I found the remedy I would email it out but embelish it a little.

Here is a record of these files.

T-Mobile Broadband Dongles and Sending Emails Once more a big hello from The Night Watch, Guardians of the secrets of The Pyramids, watcher of the Turtle, milk monitors at the classroom of life. A further update on the port 25 issue, I received a panic call today from a friend with a T-Mobile connection that was indicating an inability to send emails I immediately thought I had entered a temporal loop or become involved in a sort of Lancashire Groundhog Day, I even suspected that our Stargate had become disconnected from the rest and we had become entrapped in a sort of a time bubble. Extensive research revealed an all time low in sunspot activity so it was possible that we were getting losses due to a weakened ionosphere, but I tested this with a signal broadcast by my Van Der Graaf generator and found no problem. There was no sign of excessive graviton particles so a black hole was not the problem. Once again it looked like an smtp server issue and using the address smtp.t-email.co.uk seems to have solved the problem. Please remember, using the ninth chevron could alert the Wraith to our presence, extreme caution is required. Regards, Next week we will show you an easy way to become an astronaut with the use of some tent pegs, some heavy duty fishing line and a geostationary satellite Agent Holt The Night Watch

Three Mobile Broadband Dongles and Sending Emails Greetings from the Night Watch, keepers of the Eternal Flame, guardians of the Green Lantern, watchers over the twilight hours. Over the last week or so it has come to my attention that several people I know who use a Three mobile broadband connection have been unable to send emails using their own domains. There has been no problem in the past and these people have managed to send emails for quite some time. Having examined the situation I initially suspected that increased sunspot activity had created an inversion layer in the ionosphere creating a tropospheric duct and the packets were arriving out of phase at the recipients end, I broadcast a sinewave and on my oscilloscope  had no problem displaying a perfect lissajous figure so this was not the issue. I then suspected some possible sporadic E reception with some of the data arriving twice but this was not the case. My tachyon detector was showing a blank so there were no trans dimensional warp conduits active and as a further check I connected some new flux capacitors to my orgone accumulator, powered up my anomalous chronographic particle detector, this failed to show any rifts or tears in the space time continuum. It looked like the problem was going to be even more sinister than that. A quick telnet check revealed that Three appear to be starting to block access to smtp servers on port 25 and 587, I attempted to reroute the data through a wormhole in Spiral Galaxy 28958, invert it's phase and then reapply it via the reflective surface of Phobos with no success. There was only one course of action left, I opened up Outlook and used Three's SMTP server as the outgoing mail server. The address of this server is: smtp-mbb.three.co.uk You do not need to use the ninth chevron and no authentication is required. I hope you find this if use. Next week we will show you how to make an Ion Propulsion system using an old cigarette lighter, a 6v battery and a Champion N7Y spark plug. Changing the number of rings before going to voicemail on 02 Greetings once more to you from the Night Watch, care takers of the multiverse, guider of the great turtle, lighters of the lamps of eternity It came to pass that a client called in and said "watcha mate, how do I make my Sony Xperia ring more times before it goes to voicemail?" After some research I initially suggested that a transmorphic reasonator aimed at the outer edge of the rings of Saturn would introduce a sufficient delay. Unfortunately the local hardware store was out of these and so some more research was needed. I thought that If we made a delay line using some piezo electric crystal and fed the signal back in on itself with a phaseshift of 90 degrees then took the resultant signal and fed it through a demodulator onto a tape loop then using a single sidband supressed carrier signal we could bounce it off the e-layer recover the signal and then digitise it once more before sending it back out through the network this might do the trick, I set about creating that apparatus but to be honest I couldn't be bothered. Then a sudden burst of inspiration came up on me, it was either that or heartburn. Why not enter the following code onto the handset **61*901*11*NN# SEND Where NN is the number of seconds before the call goes to the voice mail thingy. Apparenly this will work on any 02 device, please do not use it on any other network as this could cause a huge positive feedback loop and create a wormhole into the dungeon dimension. Next time we will show you how to make a half wave dipole using some scaffolding poles, some self tapping screws a length of wood and some sticky back plastic and we will be asking the question :- If it says on a box of eggs, "Warning, this product may contain eggs", does this mean that occasionally it may contain something else and if so what? Have fun and due to a temporal anomaly I'll see you again previously Agent Holt, The Night Watch Open Office and M$ Office Compatability and a WebBook update Up here at T'Mill, the Night Watch, guardians of the tusks of the 4 great elephants, groomers of Binky and feeders of Gaspode the Wonder Dog have been made aware of some strange goings on in the world of electrickery and technology. We initially though that there may be a Quantum Singularity causing the problem and so we instructed Corporal Clegg to power up the mighty Eclipse, engage the Insterstellar Overdrive and Set the Controls for The Heart of The Sun. He asked if he could have a Psychedelic Breakfast from Alan before we started but I told him that at the Heart of the Atom there was the Mother of all problems about to hit us. We went On The Run to the bridge and took off with the Echoes of our passage through the atmosphere behind us, we were soon high in the sky and Obscured By Clouds and the life support system kicked in so we could Breathe In The Air. But in the end we found nothing, not a sausage, very little in fact, except the solution to some of the problems. The first of these concerns Office 2007 and the Open Document Format. Microsoft have adopted version 1.1 of the format while just about the rest of the entire known multiverse has adopted version 1.2, saving documents in ODF format in Office 2007 can cause data corruption when re-opened in Open Office, the best and safest option is to save the documents in Word or Excel format. And now back to the world of the Elonex WebBook, I don't know if we still have any Linux ones out there but if there are and they have just updated the OS to version 9.04, you may find that the screen resolution is not quite right. Apparently the Elonex BIOS reports some incorrect information back to the operating system so having discussed this with the head librarian he advised me "Ook". So this is what you need to do: You should be able to click on Applications, then Accessories and then terminal. Then type in sudo bash and enter the password. Then cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.original  This backs up the config file in case we make a mistake Next you type nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf And amend the file to read the following Section “Device” Identifier “Configured Video Device” Driver “openchrome” Option “PanelSize” “1024×600″ EndSection That's all that should be in there, once you've done that press CTRL and O to save the file and CTRL and X to quit the editor. Restart the machine and all should be well An update to Evolution has also stopped links in emails opening up FireFox, to rectify this get all the latest updates and install a package called gvfs Restart Evolution and the problem should now have gone away and Bob is your parents sister. That's enough for tonight, next week we will go to Wimbledon common and with the help of a mecano set and some lego will make the worlds first bionic Womble. And remember "My Hovercraft is Full of Eels" Matrox Dual Head 2 Go Adaptor Last Updated on Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:50 | Written by Major Tom Greetings to you from the Night Watch, guardians of Bifrost The Rainbow Bridge, maintainers of the Avo 8 of destiny, dylithium recrystalisation our speciality. Last night I was biding my time, and while walking down the beach listening to the echoes of a different time come willowing across the land, I came across several species of small furry animals who were gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict, they asked me if I could solve a problem for them. The problem was that they could not get their "Matrox Dual Head 2 Go" to display a different desktop on each monitor while using an Intel graphics chipset.. I got on my bike which I can ride if I like and cycled passed a field with a scarecrow in it. I could see my friend chopping down trees so I shouted out, "careful with that Axe Eugene" as I remembered a day when I went to the seaside to watch my niece Emily play. When I returned home I realised that I still did not have an answer to the problem, so I called up my friend Arnold Layne who reckoned he could fix it for some money, he was saving up for a holiday in San Tropez but was currently a bit short as he had received a large vets bill for his dog Seamus. Apparently this is not an uncommon problem and it took the dogs of war to get the information out of the suppliers. I said "it would be so nice" if he could tell me how to fix it and he did. Get the latest drivers from here: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/gxm/software/?os=2&product=56 Uninstall the old ones, reboot and then install the new ones and once complete using the normal windows display utility change the resolution to double the normal horizontal resolution. For instance if it was set to 1024x768 you would pick 2048 x 768, this will just look like a stretched desktop in an LMI session but should display as two separate desktops on the clients machine. Having got this information I went to the park and played on a see saw, in the distance I could hear a band playing some Jugband Blues. I decided to go home again as I like to be there when I can. Next week we will tell how hot to resublimate Thiotimoline to enhance it's endochronic properties. And yet another competition to spot the Pink Floyd tracks, points will be given for each correct answer and you know what points make. Points make it possible to convert a dc supply from a 12 volt battery into an alternating current which can be passed through a coil to generate a high voltage and ignite the fuel in your combustion chamber. Todays prize is just the thing for the dog loving handyman, it's a set of adjustable spaniels Agent Holt The Night Watch We know what we like in your wardrobe

Kindles

Written by Major Tom

I've been a fan of books for ages now and despite being a technical savy person and a sefl confessed "Geek" I always though that the Kindle was a bit of a gimmick. That was until I had the chance to start playing with one. That's when I realised how really good this bit of kit is. Battery life is brilliant, it works in the daylight and sunlight unlike my tablet and you can carry loads of books with you.
Then I came across a short coming in one, one of the books I had was in PDF format and although the Kindle can read these, it was unable to change the size of the text without zooming into the whole page. And of course I had some E-Books in formats that the Kindle couldn't recognise. After a bit of searching, I came across a bit of software calle Calibre. You can download it by going to the creators website at http://www.calibre-ebook.com/
Quite simply, it will catalogue all your ebooks, convert from all sorts of formats to whatever format your book reader uses and you can download the covers and bits of information to help you decided if you really want to keep the book. It's available for Windows, Macs and of course Linux, there's even a portable version available for a memory stick.
Just get hold of it and give it a try out.

Here's it's facebook page