NEWSLETTER from PINON PC – Feb 2007 - #4
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS OF INTEREST
1- DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME CHANGE
a. http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst Are you aware that Daylight Savings time starts 3 weeks earlier this year? On March 11 !!! At this link is a Windows patch. Updating Outlook is a separate process. Therefore, Microsoft is warning that some OUTLOOK installations won’t update and will be, therefore, and hour off until the original April DST date arrives and it auto-changes. They go so far as to warn those whose Outlook hasn’t updated, to verbally check with their associates to make sure that everyone agrees as to the time! (An uncorrected Outlook will have essentially shifted its time-zone and report appointments 1 hour off.) As of 2-25 my pc has already received the Windows patch thru auto-updates. I had to update my Outlook manually. (Outlook patch is at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e343a233-b9c8-4652-9dd8-ae0f1af62568&DisplayLang=en )
2- MICROSOFT’S SHARED PC TOOL- goto http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sct/default.mspx and look at this wonderful tool. We have used it to :
a. lock out teenager’s accounts from internet use, chats & programs while preserving the parents internet access thru their accounts,
b. have shared pcs restored to the same initial state upon reboot, …
Its granularity of control extends to individual users on a pc, specific programs and internet functions (chat, surf, email,…), times of day to allow access, total time of access allowed, ... wow! And it is free! (requirements: XP Pro, XP Home or Tablet & NTFS file system)
3- MICROSOFT’S POWER TOYS FOR XP- This is a set of “toys” for XP written by Microsoft developers but not supported by Microsoft. goto http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx , the installers are on the right edge of the screen. I have found TWEAK-UI and ALT-TAB REPLACEMENT to be the most fun and useful add-ons to XP.
4- INTERNET EXPLORER 7
a. HP Director, which came with some all-in-one models, will stop working when IE7 is installed. HP says “sorry” and that they will fix it ‘sometime’. Until then do your scanning thru other programs and ignore HP Director.
b. Menu Bar turn on – to turn on the familiar “File, Edit, View,…” menu bar in IE7 do this: click on TOOLS > MENU BAR. And, go see http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/attachment/715071.ashx for keyboard shortcuts for IE7.
5- COMPUSERVE DROPPING VISTA CUSTOMERS
A CS customer of mine forwarded me a letter she’d received dated late in January which said essentially: If you are a current CS customer and are running or plan to run Vista, well, bye-bye. They have no plans to rewrite the CS software for Vista. Interesting since it is basically the AOL software with a title change. Talk about customer service…!?!?!
6- iTUNES, WildTangent games, MSN games, AND VISTA
a. iTUNES - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305042 – “iTunes 7.0.2 may work with Windows Vista on many typical PCs. Apple recommends, however, that customers wait to upgrade Windows until after the next release of iTunes which will be available in the next few weeks.”
b. WildTangent – After going on all the news shows and stating they were not Vista compliant – well they are now. www.wildtangent.com
c. MSN games - http://zone.msn.com/en/root/default.htm - bit by bit these too are coming up to Vista compatibility too, see the Vista link.
7- “WORD SALAD” IN EMAILS –
a. WIKIPEDIA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_salad_(computer_science) – I have wondered about those random word email messages, haven’t you?
8- PCS WITHOUT VISTA PRELOADED
Yes they are still available – at least for a while. Dell has, in its Small Business line, the Optiplex model line which is currently available in both XP and Vista. They also have REAL parallel ports! In Dell HOME, the top of the line, XPS 710, still offers XP. It needs to as it is aimed at gamers and those high end games are not yet Vista compliant. There is also the Dell outlet to consider. We often buy these refurbs with full warranties, and now there are recent models listed with XP installed. There are even some without any OS preloaded.
9- WINDOWS DEFENDER ERROR MESSAGE AT BOOT
If at boot you are getting an error window labeled “Windows Defender” and stating ”Application failed to initialize: 0x….. A problem caused Windows Defender Service to stop….” . Solution: uninstall Windows Defender, download the full new version from www.microsoft.com and install it. Defender went from beta to full version in Dec-Jan and not all machines updated correctly.
10- DELL VISTA UPGRADE COUPON
Please don’t forget – If you bought a Dell after Oct 26, 2006, goto https://www.dellvistaupgrade.com/default.aspx, follow directions and redeem your copy of VISTA. This offer ends on March 31, 2007 !!!
That’s it for now!!! I am trying to get this out as Pinon PC will be closed from Mar 7-20 for a family get together.
Heather Burke
All prior newsletters http://www.pinonpc.com/newsletters-front-page.htm
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