In my August 31st online Terry’s Computer Tips newsletter, I wrote about my experience trying to install Windows XP Service
Pack 3 on my notebook computer. Service Pack 3 didn’t like me.
This week, I got some feedback from Bob in South Africa on his experiences:
Terry, Microsoft’s auto update of SP 3 on [...]

For the first time in a few weeks, I think the last week went by without any new reports from subscribers about problems installing XP Service Pack 3. That probably means that the rest of us are waiting for reports that Microsoft has solved and updated it to fix some of the incompatibility problems. Notice [...]

  
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One of the problems that plagues Windows users is the “locked file” problem. You know, the one that you [...]

Reader Scott Adler wrote about a problem he was having with his computer getting stuck at 100% CPU Usage…

to correct a problem I’m having with Adobe Updater I need to get to change the preferences
Start the AdobeUpdater.exe application from …”\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater 5″
[...]

As a long-time personal computer user, I learned the importance of backing up my data long, long ago.

There are just too many things that can go wrong when you’re working on your computer. Whether it is a hard drive that goes bad (or a floppy, in the old days), or a mental lapse on [...]

Recently, I received two interesting questions from U.K. subscribers. I wrote about and answered the other one, which was about external hard drives, in this week’s email newsletter.
In this question, subscriber Robin wrote about problems she is having with her broadband connection…
Hi Terry
I have a stand alone [...]

Optimize 2.0 Review Number 2
Back in February, 2008, I bought a license for Optimize 2.0 and was very impressed with its cleanup and speedup changes it made on my computer.
Now, five months later, is it still a worthwhile tool?
As I ran the program on Friday night, it had been several weeks since I had used [...]

Sherrill Kerbaugh wrote about a major problemm she and her husband were having on both of their computers:
Hi, Terry… We have a major problem…. My husband has been unable to delete daily e-mails for a few weeks now….we can’t figure out what in the world is wrong!?!?!?! Now, all of a [...]

Like many of the other downloadable programs that are designed to scan and fix computer problems, Optimize 2.0 from PC Pitstop is a program that can be run on schedule to routinely check for and fix problems, or can be run on request to fix and find problems.
Of course, the most significant value will be [...]

Occasionally when I’m installing a new program, or updating an existing program, I run into a special issue. Yes, that’s probably the right term for it — when my security software does exactly what it’s supposed to do — and blocks the software installation or upgrade/update.
Such was the case this week with the surprise update [...]