By admin on Sep 24, 2009 | In Software | No Comments »
A friend of mine, let’s call him Mitch, had a problem with Microsoft Outlook. Whenever he tried to open it, this message came up: “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Microsoft Outlook window”. I was quite confident I could help. Foolishly, I attempted to repair the installation by running the setup from the CD. This didn’t make it worse, but it didn’t help either, as the problem was still there after the repair-installation. Before I did that, I also tried to open it while in Safe Mode and by selecting Run as Administrator – without success.
Then I remembered that I didn’t have to investigate as Google would probably find the solution for me :). I typed in the error message and found the solution in one of the first few links I clicked.
To fix the problem, all you have to do is click on Start, then on Run and type: outlook.exe /resetnavpane and that was it. After that I could open Outlook. In Windows Vista, you just have to type the same command in the search field instead of selecting Run first. Thanks to the Microsoft Answers forum for the solution.
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By admin on Sep 21, 2009 | In Fun with your PC | No Comments »
In my quest to find more computer pranks, I stumbled upon the BNet Web site and found many new ideas on how to fool PC users. I have listed some of these, but to get the full description and instructions, I suggest you visit the BNet Blog (don’t forget to read the comments too).
Most pranks listed are harmless and easily reversible, except one, where you are supposed to program a new shortcut which, once you click on it, asks the user to cool down the computer or the hard drive will be deleted! This one is risky as some people might pour water on the PC to cool it down (no kidding, this happened – just read the comments on that blog). A much safer prank would be to display some other message, such as: “Restart your computer and count to 100 before you turn the PC back on”, or something like that. The message should look legitimate and at the same time slightly over the top 🙂
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By admin on Sep 17, 2009 | In Hardware, Laptops, Windows XP | No Comments »
Have you ever tried to log in to your PC but couldn’t get the password right, even after several attempts? This happened to me the other day, when I tried to log onto my laptop. I know that CAPS Lock was not on, because no warning message appeared.
I thought maybe I forgot my password or someone hacked into my PC or something was seriously wrong, but then I noticed that the Num Lock light was on. Instead of letters, I was typing numbers! This is harder to spot on laptops, as the same keys are used for letters and numbers. On regular keyboards you have your additional number keypad on the right side and you know when it’s on or off. Laptops have less space, and so everything is squeezed in the same small keypad.
So I found out what happened, but I didn’t know why. Num Lock is usually disabled by default, and it’s like this in most PCs, but suddenly it was enabled after startup. I wanted to change this.
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By admin on Sep 11, 2009 | In Hardware, Laptops | 1 Comment »
If your laptop turns off unexpectedly, the most likely reason is overheating, but it can also be due to a power overload in the AC adapter, intermittent short circuits and less likely, an operating system problem or virus/spyware.
If you have time to do this before it shuts itself off, perform a quick spyware and virus scan. If you cannot do this, try it again in Safe Mode (restart the laptop, press and hold F8 and select Safe Mode from the menu). If the laptop doesn’t turn off in safe mode, then the problem is probably not caused by hardware. While in safe mode, remove spyware and viruses and clean the registry (check my Resources page if you need free cleaning programs).
I assume the laptop will turn itself off even when in safe mode, so the problem is probably due to overheating. First, check whether the battery has anything to do with this. Remove it from the laptop and work only with the AC adapter. If everything is ok, then you need to replace the battery. If it still shuts off, then try to work only with the battery, without the AC adapter. After this test, you’ll know if you need to replace the cable with the AC adapter.
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By admin on Sep 4, 2009 | In PC Crash, Windows 7, Windows Vista | No Comments »
Update 2013: this also applies to windows 7.
I came across a new problem in Windows Vista: the laptop I was given to repair wouldn’t load a user profile and no one could log on. Every time I typed the logon password, it would display this message: ”The User Profile Service failed the logon and the user profile can’t be loaded”, and all I could do is restart the machine. I couldn’t log on with another account because there weren’t any. Administrator account was hidden (read on and learn how to enable it).
I collected several possible solutions on the Internet and tested most of them. If you have the same problem, please try some of these solutions:
First, you should test whether the computer will load in Safe Mode. To do this, press and hold F8 after turning on the computer, and select Safe Mode from the new menu.
1. If successful, try System Restore first. It should restore the user account and profile. To access System Restore, go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Then simply choose a date when you think the user profile last worked and restore those settings.
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