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 sudden I can’t [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Reader Russ Tinley wrote about a strange problem he was having: Terry, My computer is connected to a Verizon DSL Modem, and everytime I connect the modem to my PC I get a blue screen and the system reboots. I called Verizon and they replaced my Modem but it still does it. So I called [...]

I’ve done it. I’m sure you have, too. We’ve all installed a program that arbitrarily grabbed certain file extensions (such as .doc, .jpg, .mp3) and changed Windows’ settings. Now, the new program is the default for opening that file type. Sometimes, it’s our fault — many programs that can handle multiple file types will give [...]

Microsoft built a lot of automatic capabilities into Microsoft Word. By default, it checks your spelling as you type and marks misspellings as it finds them. You can even set Word to auto-correct your spelling for specific typing errors you normally have. Word also will automatically create bulleted lists. All you have to do is [...]

I write my weekly online and email newsletters. Then, occasionally I get around to converting some of the newsletter articles into web pages. Google and the other search engines like web pages more than they like online newsletters — the newsletters get indexed fairly quickly, but then get dropped as "old" pretty quickly, too. Here [...]

You’ve seen the problem. The program you use every day, or maybe one you use occasionally, isn’t doing what it should. Perhaps the program can’t load one of its data files, so it doesn’t actually start. Perhaps it won’t do the task you told it to do – even if it worked yesterday. Perhaps the [...]

One of the neat features of Windows is the drag-and-drop system, where you can use the mouse to drag an icon (or a file name in Windows Explorer), over a target icon — and drop the dragged icon on target icon. When you do that, many Windows programs will start and do whatever they do [...]

I received an email recently from someone who was having problems with a Windows dialog box. In this particular case, she was trying to put a registration code into software, but the field for the code extended outside the box — and she couldn’t input the whole code. It really sounds to me like a [...]