http://www.bootdisk.com/ 018 July 2007
HouseCall
Welcome to the 18th Edition of HouseCall
INDEX
1) SP2 Install Slows Down My PC
2) Norton May Cause Browsers To Fail Working
3) Utility To Remove Unwanted Stuff From The IE Toolbar
4) I Lost My Spell Checker
5) Alternative XP Defrag Apps
6) Programs Running On Startup
7) Listen To Computer America
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1) SP2 Install Slows Down My PC
gypsy.doctor asked - I used to have a fairly fast system (XP-pro, 3 gigs ram, 1000 gig HD) but I recently installed Service Pack 2 and now it's slow as heck.
Pennywise answered:
sp2 slow after install:
Me thinks that you need to clean up your OS first and/or afterwards:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898583
***
http://www.bootdisk.com/xptop20.htm#1
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2) Norton May Cause Browsers To Fail Working
notaguru questioned - This Compaq XP laptop worked fine a while ago, but now is in trouble. Email works fine, but neither browser (IE 7 or Firefox 2.0.0.4) will access the internet. Unit is wirelessly connected, and other units in the same office have no problems. Other functions of the computer such as update managers work properly and connect without problems.
Error message:
PROBLEM LOADING PAGE -- UNABLE TO CONNECT
What would prevent browsers (but not email clients) from accessing the net? Norton is on the machine but we can't find a way to disable it. When asking for the Norton Control page it freezes.
Rôgêr said:
Using another computer, download LSPFix and see if that does any good.
Since you are having problems with Norton, I would definitely dump it and get a decent AV program such as Kaspersky or the one I use, Avast. You should go to control panel, add/remove software and get rid of anything that has Norton or Symantec in it's name.
*** Special utilities to get rid of Norton if you need them. Norton is nothing but a problem on many PC systems. When it runs, it runs good, but if it doesn't like your PC you should remove it and use other utils that do the same thing, many even better.
http://www.bootdisk.com/helpdesk.htm
MORE UTILITIES
One guess is that your Norton Firewall or NIS was working incorrectly and didn't ask for permission for your browser to access the Internet.
notaguru posted back - Solved. It was definitely Norton. Uninstalled, then went through the registry deleting perhaps 100 residual entries. Works well now. Thanks!
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3) Utility To Remove Unwanted Stuff From The IE Toolbar
gcorlin posted - Aloha all. Ask Me.com has put a search window on my IE toolbar. I don't want it, but can see no way to delete it. Right-click does not mention it.
martinC responded:
A bit of overkill for this problem, but another useful application for removing junk from the toolbar is ToolBar Cop. Go to this link - it is free.
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm
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4) I Lost My Spell Checker
johngood wrote - Novice has just done a fresh reinstall of windows xp and the spell checker is now absent in outlook express, whereas I had it on there before. Apart from that OE is working o.k. Would anyone please advise how to get the spell checker back.
Peter F. points to:
If you installed Office 2007 also. Then see the following.
You no longer have spell checking capabilities in some languages in Outlook Express 6.0 after you install the 2007 Microsoft Office system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932974
Office 2007 breaks OE's spell check. Downloading a free spell check is the simplest way around this.
Some free spell check programs.
TinySpell:
http://www.tinyspell.m6.net/ (Checks the spelling as you type).
After installing Office 2007 RTM, you don't have English as a choice of language in the spell checker of Outlook Express and potentially other programs.
a. Office 2007 is replacing the v.3 English Proofing Tools that shipped in prior versions of Office with a new version (v.6). There are a number of changes in this new version, but the one that is causing this problem is that Outlook Express doesn't understand the new English Proofing Tools. This is a problem because Outlook Express has never shipped with its own proofing tools but has used the ones shipped by Office.
b. There are a few scenarios in which you wont run into this problem: a. An upgrade from Office 2003 or earlier to Office 2007 RTM if you don't manually uninstall the earlier version of Office. A configuration in which Office 2003 (or earlier) has not been removed. For example, I have Office 2003 still on both of my computers, and I still have English in Outlook Express.
c. The work around for this problem is to install the English dictionary from Office 2003 (or Office XP). There should be no need to install all of Office just the dictionary. The English Proofing Tools can be found in the Custom Install tree under Office Shared Features|Proofing Tools|English.
*** Other spell checking programs:
http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
SPELL CHECKERS
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5) Alternative XP Defrag Apps
Don questioned - Would anyone tell me what is a good cheap defrag program for XP Home?
*** The one that comes with XP is good enough. If you want to try others see here:
http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
Windows XP Specific
FILE AND DISK UTILITIES
Other Defrag Apps
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6) Programs Running On Startup
DaveDavies asked - I am having problems with the amount of programs that run on startup, I know there is something i can type into the 'RUN' box, but have forgotten the command, does anyone know it?
Ken B. replied:
You're thinking of MSCONFIG, but before you run it, read the following:
On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its Options to see if it has the choice not to start. Many can easily and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG from the Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the programs you don't want to start automatically.
However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of running the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell you, you should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but *which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no effect on performance.
Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost in performance is of its running all the time. You can get more information about these with at:
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html
Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.
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7) Listen To Computer America
Listen To Computer America - 2 hours each weeknight at 10PM ET/ 7PM PT
http://www.computeramerica.com/
Cary Holzman, Co-Host, turned me onto this internet TalkRadio show and by far it's the best I've ever listened to. It's great for both beginners and experienced computer repair folks.
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