Plastic Nev

OK. There is another option, and that is a free program called "Open Office" it does everything that MS Office does, it can handle all MS Office documents including word. However I am not sure about Power Point as I haven't used Open Office myself, but many who have reckon they find it better than MS Office. Have a look here and see what you think, OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite There are several links to tutorials and explanations about what Open Office does, so you can look round before downloading and installing it. For the short term it may be an answer for you till someone with more knowledge of the original Office software can offer more advice. Nev.

Hi, and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. we moved this as the introductions is for just that. Here is where you should ask your questions. Can you please tell us a bit more information as the PDF document is for all three sizes of machine, which one is it? If the smallest I doubt even a low profile card will fit, but I may be wrong. Also the size depends on how many memory slots there are, and seems also to determine what type can be fitted. Nev.

Hi Jimmy and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. I am no expert here on wireless networking but here are a few basics to start with. First off, are there any walls or other objects in the way of the wireless signal? Secondly, strange as it may seem, you can have problems if the signal is too strong, so are receiver and transmitter too close together? Third one, is there a near neighbour also on wireless, and their signal is interfering with yours? Also have a look here about general BT hub security- BT Home Hub security advice | Help | BT.com You may also find other relevant articles on that site. Nev.

Hi again, I feel there is maybe something being left behind during the uninstall that is messing up the later new install. If you can't find that normal.dot file it will be something similar. If you don't already have "Revo Uninstaller" download it from here- Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download Then use it to totally remove all of your Office 2003. first. It is a good program that will search for all asociated files for you, and saves having to find them manually. Then try to reinstall your copy of Office 2003. See if that cures the problem. In the mean time in case that doesn't work. (which it should) I am searching for other answers. Nev.

The perfect sermon? A minister was delivering a sermon on sin. "Is there anyone here who is without SIN?" he shouted, glowering at the congregation. Embarrassed parishioners stirred nervously in their seats, but no one stood. Feeling he really had them this time, the preacher said, "Is there anyone here who thinks he or she is PERFECT?" One small man, seated next to a rather imposing woman, rose nervously to his feet. "So, Mr Jones, you think YOU are PERFECT?" "No, sir", the man replied, "I'm just standing for my wife's first husband!"

Shut down and power off, ever since I got some massive electricity bills because of not only the PSU in the computer still on, but also monitor power, plus external hard drive, plus printer, plus a couple of chargers for camera batteries. It all mounts up to some fair amount of energy waste.

Always best to feed the rabbit first- [YOUTUBE]130qT36_UnE[/YOUTUBE]

Yep, I understand where you are at mate, so for my two pence worth give that Samsung a bit more attention, they do have a good reputation and service support. Nev.

It is basically a case of what you can afford against the companies reputation Shrimply mate, I recently bought a 22inch Delium and find it superb and great for video, and general surfing. Any reason you are looking at 19 inch in preference for a bigger size, other than financial?

Should be no problem with that. Just remove the old hard drive, fit the new one in its place. If there is room inside the box, the old drive can then be fitted next to it later. Install Windows to the new drive first, (you may have to obtain a new copy of Windows, a lot depends on the type of disks you already have, so we need to know to advise on that) Once you have a working operating system, install the old hard drive. If no room inside, you can obtain a caddy to then connect it to a USB port as an external drive.

Hi Sighthound, Samuria meant a search of your computer for the normal.dot files. Click "start" then "Search". Click all files and folders, type, or copy and paste in the box "normal.dot" (without the " " ) Click more advanced options and put a tick in each of the boxes- "Search system folders", "search hidden files and folders", "search sub folders". Then click "search". It may take a while but should find those "normal.dot files. Once you know where they are, highlite and delete them. If those files are the problem and quite often is, then a reboot and open Office 2003, it should be working again.

Hi Superowl, You could perform a windows repair perhaps, it depends on what disks you do have though, and how the original Windows installation was set up, Dell have done a few different ways of providing recovery options. If you can tell us everything you know about the PC, model number and series name etc we may be able to help further. However your other suggestion of installing a new hard drive, installing Windows to it, then obtaining your data from the old hard drive is quite easy to do. All we need to know to help with that is the drive type, is it IDE or SATA? Nev.

Hi and welcome Christian, not too far away from myself and a fellow Lancashire lad. Nev.

Rather than changing the card, is it possible to borrow a monitor to try first, it may be the monitor faulty. Nev.

A long time before the idea of a personal computer was even thought about, in fact from the time when the IBM chief himself said he couldn't see there being any need for more than a few computers around the whole world, this little radio was probably being assembled on a Philips assembly line. It was bought by my parents some time in the late 1950s or very early 1960s, making it around fifty years old. Yes it still works, medium waveband and VHF FM bands, and the glass bottles glow well in the dark.

Samuria, has come up with a very good idea regarding screen shots of whatever you are viewing in whatever format. A screen shot normally automatically saves as JPG which you can then save wherever you want for future use. You don't state which operating system you are using, but if Vista, that has its own screen shot facility called I believe "Snipping Tool" . However if not on Vista but XP or other, there is a very useful free download called "MwSnap 3" available here- Mirek's Free Windows Software It has a facility to be able to "Snap any rectangular area". To use this facility you just choose a start point on screen and drag/expand an area you wish to cover with the mouse cursor while holding down the left click button. release it, then click again to save that area. I find it extremely useful for all sorts of copying where the usual copy and paste may not be available, or in many other applications such as pictures in a PDF doc. Nev.

OK Vkky, I also am out of it too as my speciality is sound and its hardware, definitely not networks. However one of our more expert guys should be on line later or in the morning and hopefully get you up and running. Nev.

Hi Vkky, Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, I don't know that much about networking myself but have you carried out the suggestions put forward by PChucks page, and what were the results? I hope that will help one of our network experts. Nev.

Ah, you did it the wrong way round mate. First off, uninstall everything related to your IPod that is on there now, then install the software before plugging in the IPod. It should work then. Nev.

I will add that CCleaner should only be run in its cleaning mode and not in the registry. I also do not recommend anyone clearing stuff out of the registry without having a great deal of knowledge about such things. One wrong move or deletion can stop the system dead, and can only be retrieved with a reinstall of the operating system. Beside which, Windows in its present format just ignores wrong or faulty entries anyway, so clearing them out rarely helps the overall speed. Nev.

Due to a slight misunderstanding, this topic will not continue here as it is being attended to in the Windows XP forums, so for now I will close this till further notice.

Hi Josh and welcome from me too, JellyBean has covered most angles there but some are quite complex to do, by all means have a go, but do also read my comments as well. You say in your first post that your son turned the computer off without shutting down Windows. Did he just turn off the power at the switch, or socket? I am afraid this can sometimes damage the hard drive and is one of the reasons why it is never recommended. The sudden loss of power can make the read head physically crash into the disk if it is spinning at the time and do damage. You can do what is known as a "Check disk" which will search the disk for damaged sectors and then isolate them, but you do need to do it at a time while Windows is still working. Here is how to do it, click "My Computer" then right click on the hard drive, typically "C" drive. Next click "Properties" then the tab "Tools", you will see in the top section marked "Error checking" then click "Check now" put a tick in both boxes for "Automatically fix file system errors, and also "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" then click start. It may then tell you it will do the check next time the system boots up, so close down and restart the machine to let it do so. It will take some time but let us know the results if any. Nev.

Hi Cass, there is a converter to transfer IPod to PC here- iPod to PC Transfer: Transfer iPod to PC, iPod to iPod transfer tool It is showing as a free download or buy. I assume the free may only be trial software perhaps but worth a look at. As far as the computer not even seeing new hardware when you plug it in, lets try the simple one first (I like simple:) ) have you tried a different lead?

Ok this is now a week old, sorry for not finding it earlier. Windows users ambushed by attack on fresh IE flaw. more here- Windows users ambushed by attack on fresh IE flaw ? The Register However Microsoft have issued a work round that is in two parts, one for an earlier discovered hack on similar lines to the latest one, plus a work round for the latest discovered hack. They are here- Microsoft Security Advisory: Vulnerability in Microsoft DirectShow could allow remote code execution and here- Microsoft Security Advisory: Vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX control could allow remote code execution The latest news is that a security patch will be issued for the first in the normal Tuesday updates on the 14th July, with a fix to be issued for the second at a later date. If you implement these work rounds please delete or undo them before downloading and installing the patches. These problems only apply to activeX controls within Internet explorer, so if like me you use Firefox or other browser you are likely to be unaffected. Nev.

OK, the recovery disk is it one you made when you first got the computer or is it one that came with the machine? In either case the key on the label which I assume is stuck on the back of the case should be OK. However, there has been quite a lot of keys that have been hacked that Microsoft have shut down on them, and your key may be closely related. There is only one way forward if that is the case, and that is to ring the Microsoft help line and explain to them where you are at. If everything is OK and above board at that point, they will issue you a new key. Nev.