Aunty Virus 5th October 2011
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Hugh via email asks:
Dear Aunty. I am using Windows XP and Hotmail for emails and recently I have had a problem attaching photos. When I used to click on attachments, a drop down list asked whether I wanted to attach photos or documents. This no longer happens and it goes to my documents. If I then select my photos it shows the photos but I cannot attach them.
Aunty Says:
Hello Hugh. I’m receiving a lot of emails regarding problems with Hotmail and attachments and there are so many different solutions that we’d be here until Christmas. The most effective fixes so far have been to try using a different browser such as Chrome, Firefox or IE8. Also try temporarily switching off your anti virus software as that may be blocking attachments. Download and install the new Windows Live Mail that is meant to replace Hotmail as this has the photo loader/compressor built in. There is also a couple of security setting within Internet Explorer that may need to be tweaked, but we’ll cross that bridge if these fixes don’t work.
Dear Aunty. I am using Windows XP and Hotmail for emails and recently I have had a problem attaching photos. When I used to click on attachments, a drop down list asked whether I wanted to attach photos or documents. This no longer happens and it goes to my documents. If I then select my photos it shows the photos but I cannot attach them.
Aunty Says:
Hello Hugh. I’m receiving a lot of emails regarding problems with Hotmail and attachments and there are so many different solutions that we’d be here until Christmas. The most effective fixes so far have been to try using a different browser such as Chrome, Firefox or IE8. Also try temporarily switching off your anti virus software as that may be blocking attachments. Download and install the new Windows Live Mail that is meant to replace Hotmail as this has the photo loader/compressor built in. There is also a couple of security setting within Internet Explorer that may need to be tweaked, but we’ll cross that bridge if these fixes don’t work.
Meri from Torrevieja asks:
Hi Aunty. I don’t like the layout for the letter template in Windows Office 7. The layout I had in XP didn't give a margin at the top or bottom, even though when printed they were there on the paper. How do I get the layout of Office XP? Thank you.
Aunty Says:
Hi Meri. This may simply be the view option that you have currently set as default. If you click on the ‘view’ menu option at the top of Word you can toggle the displayed document between different layouts. Try the ‘draft’ view and see if that is familiar.
Hi Aunty. I don’t like the layout for the letter template in Windows Office 7. The layout I had in XP didn't give a margin at the top or bottom, even though when printed they were there on the paper. How do I get the layout of Office XP? Thank you.
Aunty Says:
Hi Meri. This may simply be the view option that you have currently set as default. If you click on the ‘view’ menu option at the top of Word you can toggle the displayed document between different layouts. Try the ‘draft’ view and see if that is familiar.
Shirley via email asks:
Hi Aunty. I was given your email address to contact you regarding a problem with my laptop. I have a Fujitsu Siemens Laptop and a wireless router in my house. I have been connected successfully to my router however every now and then I lose my connection and my laptop tells me it cannot communicate with the primary DNS server when I do a diagnose & repair. When it happened before it came back after a few days but now it is driving me crazy and have been without my connection now for 3 days, can you help?
Aunty Says:
You first need to establish whether this is the wireless connection between your laptop and you router, or whether it is your ADSL line that is playing up. To eliminate any wireless problems and test your ADSL line you can plug your laptop directly into one of the ports on the router with the Ethernet cable you received with your router. If everything works OK like this then try relocating your laptop and/or router and see if the signal strength/quality increases and subsequently your internet connection reliability improves. There are a few things that can affect your wireless signal, and the most common are cordless phones and microwaves. The DNS server error message you are receiving is pretty useless and is Windows basically saying it cannot get access to the internet and doesn’t usually help in diagnosing problems.
Geoff via email asks:
Dear Aunty. When I shut down my computer, instead of closing down completely I get the attached blue screen displayed and I have to manually power down. A few months ago the same screen appeared on starting up the computer and I could get no further. I took the PC to my local computer shop who ended up reloading the XP operating system. All was fine until a few weeks ago and now the problem occurs every time I shut down or try to restart, any ideas?
Aunty Says:
Hi Geoff. That’s the infamous ‘blue screen of death’ I’m afraid Geoff. If you’ve recently had a full fresh reinstall of XP (and not just a repair) and the problem hasn’t gone away then this could well be a hardware problem. I would suggest looking at your hard disk and RAM/memory first and then look at other components, such as your motherboard and processor. All PC components should be fairly easy to test and replace (depending on the age of the machine) but the biggest problem I often see is with hard disk failure. Hard disks can simply stop working and you may lose everything so make sure you have a recent backup of any valuables. Maybe phone around and get a few estimates.
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