Windows Tips

Uninstaller overcomes Office 2007's Error 1310

At or near the top of the list of aggravations for new PC owners is the trial version of a program that came preinstalled on the system refusing to uninstall once the trial period expires. The irritation really peaks when the product in question is from Microsoft.

Before I could install a bought-and-paid-for copy of Outlook 2007 on my laptop, I had to uninstall the trial version of Office Enterprise 2007 that was preinstalled on the machine's hard drive when I bought it several months ago. Very early in the uninstall process, an alert popped up reporting Error 1310 and instructing me to verify that I had access to a certain directory.

I decided to try the uninstall again using the free Revo Uninstaller utility. In addition to cleaning up the Registry entries, files, folders, and other refuse that the program's own uninstaller misses, Revo Uninstaller finds and deletes junk files on your PC and performs other cleanup duties.… Read more

Virtualization software adds antivirus scan

Imagine allowing anyone to use your PC without supervision: your children, nephews and nieces, spouse's second cousin, or even your babysitter's boyfriend.

That's the promise of virtualization software such as the $25 Returnil Virtual System. The program creates a virtual PC for you or anyone else to operate in that's sealed off from your system files and personal data. I tried the beta of Returnil Virtual System 2010, which includes the Virtual Guard on-demand malware scanner.

Returnil is another security layer on top of your hardware and software firewall, real-time malware detector, and other security programs. … Read more

Plan way, way ahead with Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Windows 7 is still three months away, but Microsoft has already cranked up the marketing machine with the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. Before you take the little bit of time and trouble to download the 6.2MB file and let Microsoft scan your PC, be sure to visit the official Upgrade Advisor page.

There you will see Microsoft assert that if your system runs Vista, it will run Windows 7, "in general." Another blanket recommendation from the company is that if you're currently using Windows XP, you should buy a new PC with Windows 7 preinstalled. Microsoft even offers links to a shopping helper and lists of Windows 7-ready systems.

Well, so much for running the Upgrade Advisor. Out of curiosity, I ran the advisor on my 4-month-old 64-bit Vista Home Premium notebook. First, I made sure all the machine's peripherals were plugged in. After only a few minutes, I was informed that I could do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate. (You'll find information about the various versions of Windows 7 on Microsoft's site.)… Read more

Free utility brings new views to Windows Explorer

With every new version of Windows, Microsoft tries yet again to give us a fast, simple, and customizable way to open, save, and view the files stored on our PCs. From what I've seen of Windows 7, we can't expect any revolutionary changes to Windows Explorer and the standard folder windows and dialog boxes.

I guess I've gotten so used to the same-old Explorer views that it's a genuine eye-opener when a free program such as Code Sector's Direct Folders gives file and folder management a whole new perspective. The program adds an icon to … Read more

Turn off alerts for Windows updates you don't want

I usually apply all the Windows updates that Microsoft labels as "Critical" or "Important." However, since Windows patches sometimes cause problems of their own, I often wait a week or more to install those that I determine I don't need right away.

If you have Automatic Updates set to download and install updates automatically, you won't see any Windows Update alerts in the notification area of the taskbar (the area near the clock) or anywhere else. Likewise, if you've disabled Automatic Updates, you won't be prompted to view or download anything, though … Read more

Prevent your search default from being changed

The first thing I saw when I booted my PC yesterday evening was a notice that Google had prevented my default search setting from being changed. I certainly didn't want to switch from searching via Google by default. I hadn't even been considering a search change, regardless of Bing's pretty wallpaper.

To find out what program was trying to change my search default, I opened Vista's Event Viewer by pressing the Windows key, typing event viewer, and pressing Enter. I clicked Application in the left pane and scrolled to the approximate time the warning popped up. … Read more

Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services fix a CD drive

A friend of mine named John had good luck using Microsoft's free online troubleshooting service for Vista:

"I am elated with the results of the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services' Fix it. Have you ever run across this service? After 8+ months without a CD/DVD player—and weekly efforts to remedy the situation—I googled my problem once again and this time came up with a link to MATS.

"After several tries (not compatible with Firefox, open Internet Explorer, won't download, try again later) finally it loaded onto my computer and gave me some options to … Read more

Restore a lost administrator account in Vista

A reader named Eric found himself locked out of his Vista administrator accounts:

"Somehow, my account and my son's accounts were downgraded to standard user on his new computer using Vista Home 32-bit. I cannot seem to log in to make any changes to the accounts now. It prompts me to enter a password but no password box is available to type it in. How can I log in to change my account back to administrator?"

In a post last year, I described how to enable Vista's hidden administrator account and password-protect XP's default administrator … Read more

Extend the life of your notebook computer

The motherboard on my HP laptop fried 18 months after I bought it—and six months after its warranty expired. Even though it uses the same overheating NVidia chip that convinced HP and several other notebook vendors to extend the warranty for machines using the faulty GPU, my make and model isn't covered.

When I asked the HP case manager to confirm or deny that my dead notebook shipped with the faulty part—the documentation that shipped with the machine indicates that it does—he said I had "no right" to that information because it was an &… Read more