Recent Posts

3751

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2008, 08:12 PM »

I think it must be to do with one of the updates MS pushed out that I installed today (since other BBC users are experiencing similar). Trouble is I have tried removing the patches installed today but most of them don't have an uninstall option and having removed all those I can it makes no difference.

What is worrying is that I can't get to Windows Update any more so I can't even manually check for new updates.

3752

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2008, 07:24 PM »

Got pretty much the same (XP SP2) except lines 2 and 3 end in 11 instead of 13.

3753

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2008, 07:12 PM »

Nope that didn't do it ...

I also decided to check Windows Update History so I went to Windows Update webpage and this is what I get ...

Thank you for your interest in obtaining updates from our site.

This website is designed to work with Microsoft Windows operating systems only.
To find updates for Microsoft products that are designed for Macintosh operating systems, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/mac/.

Is this a subtle hint that they are replacing windows with OS X ?

3754

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2008, 07:01 PM »

Thanks for the suggestion - apparently a number of people have reported this problem to the BBC and it seems to be related to automatic updates from patch Tuesday !!

Thanks MS !!

My 'Platform' key isn't set, however, so I will give it a try.

3755

Living Room / Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2008, 12:48 PM »

I am using BBC iPlayer which loads in Internet Explorer by default.

The BBC only allow TV programmes to be downloaded to Windows based machines because it uses DRM protected WMV files.

Up until yesterday I had no problems but now every time I load the page to download a show it says:



whereas it should say



At the moment I can use Firefox to access the page but the BBC library module use IE by default (which can't be changed so I have to load the page manually in Firefox) and I am curious as to why IE should suddenly start reporting that I am not using a Windows system ???

As far as I can tell I haven't done anything to change the settings for IE. In fact I have restored them all to default and reset Temp files and unneeded cookies etc.

3756

Living Room / Re: HELP !!! Outlook corruption

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 07, 2008, 11:00 AM »

I'm not sure but you can export emails to Outlook, Outlook Express amongst others ... see:



If you export to disc or CD/DVD it outputs individual emails in .eml format. You can also export the whole archive in one go to a folder set with .eml versions of the emails - they can then be imported into many apps, and you can import them back into MailStore too.

Within the program you can search your archive and also preview your emails in the built in viewer (though you don't see the graphics). Emails can automatically be viewed in a range of applications directly from Mailstore if you want to see it in its original format and get to attachments.

The only restriction on the free home version that I find irritating is that you set up profiles for different sources and you are restricted to 3 profiles in the version. That isn't a problem if you use Outlook, Thunderbird or Outlook Express but if you have multiple IMAP email accounts (say in GMail) each IMAP account needs its own profile.

3757

Living Room / Re: HELP !!! Outlook corruption

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 07, 2008, 05:47 AM »

Yes - I looked at Aid4Mail before but I think it is quite pricey for what it does.

I am finding MailStore Home a really useful archive and search engine for emails. The great thing is you can add a load of PST files into your Outlook profile, get Mailstore to archive and index them and then remove the PST files from your profile again. Mailstore still has access to all the archived emails so you can then dump off all the old PST files to a backup and still have access to all your email without having to load PST files).

I recently emailed them about some missing features and they are planning a MailStore Plus sometime soon which will lift some of the restrictions of the free version.

3758

Living Room / Re: HELP !!! Outlook corruption

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 06, 2008, 04:01 AM »

Apparently you can still open TIFF files but there are a number of file formats that are not available in SP3.

Here are a few articles:

Main Office 2003 SP3 info page

Restoring missing file formats

Relating to TIFF

Having said all that there is still no info about other issues being resolved or SP3 having been updated since its original release.

MS are now pushing it as a critical update but if you go to Windows Update via a web browser (eg. in IE Tools > Windows Update) you can elect to have MS not offer those updates again and they then don't appear in automatic updates either.

Personally I am sticking at SP2 until there is some real reason to make the change.

3759

General Software Discussion / Re: Personal Movie Organizers - A quick rundown

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 05, 2008, 07:35 PM »

DVDFab Platinum is pretty good and completely automatic transfer of DVD5 to DVD5, DVD9 to DVD9 and DVD9 to DVD5.

You just put the disc in, put a blank disc in a second drive and click GO. Then go and have a cup of tea.

It will also produce standard Video_TS folders on the hard disc or ISO files ready to burn.

On top of that you can split DVD9 between two DVD5s (keeping menus etc), just copy the main title etc. Also you can encode DVD content for use in a range of MP3-type players (including iPod and Zune as well as generic formats).

OK it isn't free but it is very simple to use!

3760

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 04, 2008, 05:25 AM »

Sorry I don't mean that - my fault for describing it so badly.

I want to login via my desktop computer (the host operating system) as a user of the server running in a VM on the same desktop so that I can play in the host operating system as though it were a network client of the server. The only way I can get my desktop to display a login box is to logout but then that shuts down the server.

I suppose I could try switching users and leaving the server running in the background.

3761

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 03, 2008, 07:40 PM »

I set up a user on the Windows Server (in a Virtual Machine). I can see the server in the host operating system but can't see how to log into the server as the user I created ?? I think I need to go through setting up Active Directory in the server so that there is a domain to log into - but I am not too sure how to do that .... yet!

3762

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 03, 2008, 06:58 AM »

Thanks tinjaw for the Linux references.

Actually what I was wondering was how to login to the server as a user. I figure I haven't got the thing set up properly yet as I need to set up the domain settings. I'll get there in the end.

I bought a copy of a book (about PC maintenance and upgrading desktops and laptops) which came with a very useful overview of Wired and Wireless SOHO networks. I didn't learn much that I didn't already know (which was reassuring) but it had an excellent history of PC netwroks which felt like a walk down memory lane

3763

General Software Discussion / Re: KDE 4 out, and my, it looks gorgeous!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 30, 2008, 03:21 PM »

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but KDE 4 for Windows is available in beta form here: http://windows.kde.org/

Currently it doesn't replace Explorer as the Windows GUI but presumably when the project reaches a stable release version it will do.

There are a few articles about it on ZDNET - here is one that I read which shows a little how the beta version works:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1185

3764

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 29, 2008, 06:01 PM »

Thanks guys - some useful stuff there.

Following a few links I found these which look helpful:

http://labmice.techt...com/MCSE/default.htm &
http://labmice.techt...m/MCSE/mcsecheap.htm

http://www.networkco...orial/homepage.shtml

3765

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Bits Du Jour and GAOTD one-day deals

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 29, 2008, 05:50 PM »

How about a clickable automatic Bits du Jour and Giveaway ticker somewhere so that every day people see what is on offer?

For example:

Today's Offers ..... Bits du Jour: SunlitGreen Photo Editor .... Today's Offers  .... Giveaway of the Day: RQ Search and Replace ...
Don't know how easy it would be to write a little script to read the daily titles (the URLs obviously stay the same).

3766

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 29, 2008, 02:48 PM »

Thanks I'll check the latest Linux one I think - looks good and good reviews on US Amazon.

3767

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 29, 2008, 08:55 AM »

Trouble is things have changed a bit since NT servers. There is a 2003 version but it doesn't get good reviews on Amazon for the basics.

I am looking at buying Mastering Windows 2003 Server which is published by MS. Has anyone actually used it? It runs to 1700 pages and there is second volume on Active Directory !!! I've seen some good reviews but they are from professional network people studying for exams.

Rapidly thinking of a major U-turn on this <jibber jibber> 

3768

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 29, 2008, 06:18 AM »

I have moved out of the paranoid camp and into the light (and a computer that actually works quickly).

My security setup is:

AccessPoint/Router Firewall

On my PCs I have:

NOD32 v.3 (no probs even with NirSoft utils - I just excluded those folders)
WindowsXP Firewall

PCTools Spyware Doctor

The last of those is installed but I don't have it running in the background - I just fire it up periodically and give my system a checkup.

So far no probs (famous last words)

3769

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 29, 2008, 05:35 AM »

Thanks for that link - it looks like the kind of thing I need to do but I really can't afford it at the moment. I'll bookmark it and once things start to bring in some cash it might well be worth considering.

3770

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 28, 2008, 08:01 PM »

Is it me or are lots of people really paranoid? It strikes me that some of the multiple solutions hinted at above would leave systems running at such a snail pace that it might be simpler to simply unplug from the internet and still have a faster surfing experience! 

3771

General Software Discussion / Re: Attention Mod

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 28, 2008, 07:58 PM »

I tend to agree with fOdder on this one.

Why not leave "Send this Topic" alone (or possibly make it clearer by calling it "E-mail this topic") and add a different button to PM the topic to another user by user name. Effective the PM topic button would just open the usual PM window and insert the topic URL as a quote in the text box and a modified subject line - that way the person can simply enter the user ID they want to send to and add a comment. The rest will take care of itself.

3772

Living Room / Re: Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 28, 2008, 07:49 PM »

Thanks - that's a great site but I am not really looking for stuff on programming (although I will bookmark that site for future reference).

Rather I am looking at how to set up and configure network servers (such as Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition) for use (eg) as a file server (Active Directory etc., policy setup, distributed installation etc.) and also as a web server (and I'd be interested in similar stuff for Linux based servers).

I know and have used MS based training materials and reference manuals but they are always written in a way that assumes you don't actually need to read them (except perhaps to refresh your memory on something). They are always full of acronyms and jargon that is never explained and I simply find the style a complete turnoff.

Something that is genuinely aimed at getting a knowledgeable Windows user getting started on setting up server based networks for the first time and then maintaining them would be brilliant but I don't seem to be able to find anything that fits the bill.

While I am on the subject I have downloaded the 120 day trial version of Windows 2003 Server Enterprise and installed it in a virtual environment. It works fine and the domain server I have set up is recognised on my desktop host operating system in the My Network Places. Anyone got any idea how I log in to the server from the host destop OS (Windows XP) ?? Or how I can connect via another desktop on my Workgroup based network. I have tried creating a new network connection but it only seems to offer the option of workgroup computers (not domain servers) in the network connection wizard ???

3773

Living Room / Re: Anyone Getting a Spamalanche Lately?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 28, 2008, 12:56 PM »

My spam hasn't got any worse (probably about 400 a day) - but to be honest I hardly notice it now as I am beginning to take the view I that if I lose the odd email in the spam folder they will contact me some other way if it was important and so I just block delete everything POPfile thinks is spam (and having checked it for weeks it seems to be pretty near to 100% accurate).

3774

Living Room / Looking for web based or book based help on Windows / Linux servers

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 28, 2008, 09:52 AM »

In the dim and distant past I did a lot of user support/training work and also installed minicomputer systems, standalone computers and wired networks in educational institutions.

In recent years I have struggled to find work as a teacher (partly because of where I live) and so recently I started looking to set up my own company providing Home User and Small business support locally. This has partly been in response to numerous local contacts who have encouraged me after helping them to sort out their computer problems.

I am quite happy with the idea of supporting individual workstations and access point or peer-2-peer networking but anything to do with server based systems and I am out of date.

Most of the face to face courses you see advertised are silly prices and way out of my range.

Does anyone know of any good websites and/or books that provide a good basic introduction to setting up and maintaining small server based systems that would get me up to speed quickly (both Windows 2003 and Linux would be useful). Ideally I would like it to be as jargon free as possible (or at least explaining the jargon used rather than assuming you already know what they are talking about).

Cheers

3775

General Software Discussion / Re: Attention Mod

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 26, 2008, 03:44 AM »

I (very!) often miss private messages, for some reason - even though they do crop up in my email client. I dunno if I overlook them, or if I actually do read the email notify and then forget about it. But it happens all the time . So something to "alert" me via forum PMs certainly wouldn't work. For some reason, I don't forget about regular emails as easily, though

-f0dder (January 25, 2008, 07:42 PM)

f0dder - in your profile you can enable notify me about Personal Messages. When you have the DC window open a pop up tells you that you have unread PMs and clicking OK allows the PMs to open immediately in a separate window. I didn't used to use that but I have had it switched on for a while now and it is useful for me.

Re. buttons to invite participation in the IRC channel - I can see that it would be a pain if people were innundated with requests to pop over to IRC but are people really going to be innundated. Perhaps the IRC status of the caller could be checked and only allow invitations from people who are already logged on to IRC (if you aren't logged on yourself perhaps you shouldn't see the status icons by user ids). It can also be restricted to full members of DC.