Question:

I installed vista ,now I can’t get the DVDs to play. the auto play is on .cant add any of the printers I lost to this new bull shit vista why?

Answer:

Read more »

Question:

I’ve installed Vista without the key. Now, after finding the key, I’d like to install it. How is this done?

Answer:

Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

2. The System window appears. Scroll down to the Windows Activation section, and click the link to enter your product key. The link might take a few seconds to appear, so be patient.

Question:

I have a weird one…

I installed Vista Enterprise on my HP Compaq tc4400 Tablet PC. For the most part, it went smooth as silk. When I brought the unit into my office and installed it in the Advanced Port Replicator on my desk, the Microsoft wireless mouse I have (Wireless Explorer 2.0) goes absolutely bonkers. The mouse pointer jumps all over the screen and actual mouse clicks happen randomly. My initial thought was that the wireless mouse was the issue, so I shut down and attached a wired mouse to the port replicator. Unfortunately – same issue.

The odd thing is that outside of the port replicator, a wireless mouse works fine. I have a wireless laser notebook mouse and there is no problem there. The port replicator is OK because it worked on Friday when I was running XP.

Any ideas?…Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks…

Answer:

Read more »

If you see this message after the standard “There is a problem with this website’s security certificate”, it’s probably not a serious problem. This message usually appears because you’re visiting a website using HTTPS with the wrong URL.

HTTPS is a security protocol that verifies the identity of websites and encrypts traffic. To verify a website’s identity, HTTPS uses an SSL certificate, which is like a driver’s license for a web server.

The most common cause of this error is that the name you used to access the web server doesn’t match the website’s “official” name (known as the “common name”) listed on the SSL certificate. It’s like calling me Anthony Northrup, even though it says Tony Northrup on my license. For Web servers, it usually means the certificate was issued for “www.vistaclues.com” and you’re accessing “vistaclues.com”, or vice-versa.

For example, visit my homepage using SSL and the correct name (www.northrup.org). No problem. Now, visit it using SSL and an incorrect, but still valid, name (northrup.org). You’ll see the error. It’s the same website, just the wrong name.

So, the first step in troubleshooting this problem is just to try other names. If you’re not sure of the correct name, click Continue to this website. Once at the website, follow these steps to view the proper name for the website:

Read more »

Protected Mode is one of Windows Vista’s best new security features. With it, Internet Explorer (and anything that a bad website might do when you visit it with Internet Explorer) runs with very minimal rights to your computer. In fact, it can’t read your personal documents, install programs, or do anything that might damage your computer. This will stop a lot of spyware that automatically installed itself when the user visited a website.

If you do need to do something that Protected Mode would normally block, it’ll prompt you, as shown above. If this becomes annoying for a particular website, you can stop Protected Mode just for that website by adding it to your Trusted Sites zone. Just follow these steps:

Read more »

ActiveX is a technology for extending what Internet Explorer can do. Some Web pages use ActiveX controls to display animations, play games, verify the integrity of your Windows installation, or do other things that the browser couldn’t normally do.

Standard users can’t install most ActiveX controls–you need to be an administrator. If you only give your users a standard login, they might run into problems using ActiveX. To enable users to install specific ActiveX controls, you can use the ActiveX Installer Service.

The ActiveX Installer Service is disabled by default (well, it’s not even installed). To install it, follow these steps:
Read more »

If you can’t start Internet Explorer, the problem is probably caused by an add-on. You can verify this by launching Internet Explorer with add-ons disabled:

1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click Internet Explorer (No Add-Ons).

If Internet Explorer does start this way but doesn’t start using the standard shortcut, add-ons are definitely causing your problems. Close Internet Explorer, and then follow these steps to disable any add-ons that you have recently installed:

Read more »

Live Messenger 8.1 is finally out of beta. Hopefully, it won’t crash as often. Don’t forget to close Messenger and Outlook first (it’ll warn you if you don’t), and disable all those unnecessary components!

Interestingly, setup didn’t require a UAC prompt until half-way through setup…

Tip of the hat to Steve Clayton for cluing me in–not sure why Messenger didn’t notify me of the update automatically.

Question:

I need to access the documents and settings folder to manually transfer my old mail etc. I cant get access.
I am logged on the pc as admin and even when I try to set full access I get a error telling me im not allowed. I turned off windows firewall and ran selective startup to not load my symantic suite that came with the pc and it still wont let me access or change the access (sharing) rights. This is my 3rd pc in a week. The first one also wouldnt let me make the system restore disks and had other problems, but it did allow me access to all files and folders. The second wouldnt boot up. This is really killing me as I need that old mail. I’ve been with windows since
3.1 so im not a novice to windows or the problems the new releases cause.

TIA for any help you might offer.

Carl = A disgruntled new vista user

BTW nice site.

Answer:

Read more »

Question:

Hi, I just purchased a new pc with vista loaded and am having 2 problems. 1 is I cant make the restore cd’s so if I lose my drive I cant restore to the factory installation. I did contact HP and they said they will send the cd’s since it;s a new operating system and pc. I dont believe them and expect a battle. My pc will record the first dvd and then give m ea error saying it failed. If I hit retry I just waste another dvd.

Answer:

Read more »

My server has been randomly freezing ever since I upgraded the memory. So, I wanted to run a memory test. For some reason, my bootable copy of Memtest x86+ wasn’t working… probably because it’s scratched from the awful way I stored it.

Anyway, off I went to burn a new bootable ISO. Vista can burn DVDs, but I don’t know of any way to burn a bootable DVD. Of course, the tool I normally use–Roxio (it was on my Dell when I bought it, with Windows XP)–wouldn’t work in Vista. So, I was off to find a new tool to burn bootable CD/DVD images.

I found three free tools that work with Vista:

• DeepBurner. The free version works great. This is the one I ended up using.
• ImgBurn. Another free tool reported to work.
• Magic ISO Maker. A more robust tool for coverting, editing, and burning CD/DVD image files.

If you prefer a different tool, add a comment to let us know why.