Tag Archive | "Windows"
How to Fix a Windows Corrupted User Profile
Your heart may skip a beat when you turn on your Windows computer and see an error dialog window informing you that your User Profile is corrupted, and, therefore, unavailable. Don’t worry– your files and other data is still intact on your hard drive. A corrupt file is preventing you from accessing them, but you [...]
Continue reading...How to Fix Duplicate Gmail Messages in Windows Live Mail
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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If you download your Gmail into your Windows Live Mail (WLM), you may notice duplicate emails in the handy “Quick Views” folder in WLM. What is up with that? The problem lies with the IMAP settings for your Google account. The fix is amazingly easy, but there’s also a second step that you should not [...]
Continue reading...Terrific Personal Management Software
Monday, December 12, 2011
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I’m a utility software junky. Ever since I got that first computer way back when, I delighted in word processors, calendars, personal management assistants, and more. Over the years (and through all the Windows operating systems), I’ve acquired some really terrific programs. I recently had to reformat my computer so all these programs are fresh [...]
Continue reading...How to Buy a Computer For School Use
Saturday, December 10, 2011
I was driving along, listening to the radio yesterday, when a popular computer/technology show got a telephone call for some advice. The caller said that he is going to homeschool his child, and wondered what kind of computer would be best for this type of application. I was surprised with the radio host’s recommendation: a [...]
Continue reading...How to Fix the Windows Sidebar Calendar Orange Problem
Thursday, September 29, 2011
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You may log on to your computer to see that your Windows sidebar calendar displays an orange block. What is up with that?! I had this problem on both my computers, a Windows 7 and a Vista machine. It’s a weird issue, but I isolated my problem to a bug with the latest Internet Explorer [...]
Continue reading...How to Tell If Your Computer is a 32-bit or 64-bit
Monday, September 26, 2011
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Until the early 2000′s, all personal computer were 32-bit. The term 32-bit or 64-bit describes a type of computer architecture, explaining in a simple way the amount of data the computer’s central processing unit (CPU) handles data simultaneously. Think of 32-bit and 64-bit as a juggler juggling balls. A 32-bit juggler can handle 4 balls [...]
Continue reading...Disable the Windows Installs Updates and Then Shuts Down Button
Friday, August 26, 2011
I work at night sometimes, typing away into the late hours. When I’m ready for bed, I’m READY for bed. I want to kick off my womens boots, shut down the computer and relax. But then I accidentally hit that stupid little “Updates” Shut Down button. Gah! I have to sit in the dark and [...]
Continue reading...Disable Aero Theme Windows 7
Friday, August 26, 2011
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Windows Aero is beautiful. But what a resource hog! If you have a computer with a budget graphics card or simply want to squeeze out every bit of processing juice from your computer, ditch the Aero. I do a lot of photo editing and some video editing, and while Aero is pretty to look at, [...]
Continue reading...How to Locate Missing Software
Monday, May 23, 2011
My blogging friend, Karen, recently asked me about a problem she’s had. Her computer was recently reformatted by a computer repair shop. They managed to reinstall her photos and documents and a few basic programs, but her beloved Kodak EasyShare software program was missing. Karen wants to know how to get it back. A reformat [...]
Continue reading...How to Speed Up Your Computer
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Computers are much more stable than they used to be, and it seems that operating systems are distributed less frequently now (thank God). You may be one of those folks who still works from a 5- or 10-year old computer. Over time, the computer system slows down. The hard drive becomes clogged with excessive files [...]
Continue reading...How to Turn Off Windows 7 Desktop Snap Feature
Monday, April 25, 2011
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Windows 7 added a few special new features from Vista. One of them is the Desktop “Snap” feature. This feature allows you to drag an open program window to the top of the desktop, where Windows will automatically “snap” the window to fill half your screen. Doing the same to the other open window will [...]
Continue reading...Why Do Pop Ups Still Appear After I Have Blocked Them?
Friday, February 25, 2011
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I addressed the dangers of browser popups in Internet Explorer and how to block them in my post “How to Prevent Popups in Internet Explorer.” You may have followed my advice and set the popup blocker to a high setting, blocking all poipups unless you manually override it or created a whitelist of allowed sites. [...]
Continue reading...How to Prevent Popups in Internet Explorer
Thursday, February 24, 2011
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Browser popups are much more than annoying. Popups are a security threat. Whenever you go on the Internet, an exchange of information is relayed between your computer and the website’s server computer (and sometimes through a number of other server computers along the way) through open doors called “ports.” Internet Explorer opens certain ports to [...]
Continue reading...Increasing Network Server Storage – The Easy Way
Friday, January 21, 2011
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Rarely do I suggest that you buy a product or products to solve a problem, but in my personal experience, this has been the only option that worked for me. I had spent years of frustration with the Windows networking options only to throw in the towel after getting Windows 7. I had given up [...]
Continue reading...How to Minimize Windows Live Messenger to System Tray in Windows 7
Monday, December 20, 2010
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Windows 7 is a very nice operating system with many improved features over Vista. I was dismayed, however, to realize that many programs no longer sit neatly in the system tray next to the clock, but sit in the taskbar, clogging up my neat work station. I have used Windows Live Messenger waaaay back when [...]
Continue reading...How To Take Screenshots
Thursday, November 18, 2010
At some time or another, you may need to take a screenshot of your computer screen. It can be an image of your desktop, your computer folder, your browser website, whatever. It can be very helpful for when you are submitting your blog to a blog community (sometimes you have to submit your own images) [...]
Continue reading...How to Disable AutoPlay
Thursday, October 21, 2010
AutoPlay is a convenient feature for Windows computers. When you plug in a USB flash drive or CD or DVD into your computer, AutoPlay automatically launches the drive and/or the software on the drive. While convenient, AutoPlay has become a vehicle for the spread of malware. If you insert a virus-infected flash drive into your [...]
Continue reading...Meet The Older Geek
I'm Rebecca Mecomber. I have been a professional blogger and writer since 2006. I've written for or been interviewed by such media outlets as "TIME," The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, "iMedia Connection," NewYorkology.com, Manhattan User's Guide and Salon.com, covering topics such as Federal Trade Commission policy and media regulations, pro-blogging, home improvement, technology how-to, and New York travel.
I currently maintain more than a dozen blogs of various niches, including technology and computers, travel, politics, home renovation, parenting and gardening. You can check out my blogs on my About Page. Thanks for reading TheOlderGeek.com!
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