Aunty Virus 2nd November 2011
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Ray via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I have a problem that in the past three days Yahoo has taken over as my default search engine, even though in Google it's clicked as default search engine in Chrome. I erased Yahoo elsewhere on my PC but it has still somehow taken over again and appeared in ‘basics’ underneath Google chrome (default). Can you help with this problem to keep it off my computer?
Aunty Says:
Hi Ray. Under the ‘basics’ setting in Chrome make sure you have ‘open the homepage’ set under the ‘On Startup’ section, and in the ‘Homepage’ section make sure you have google.co.uk where it says ‘open this page’. That should do the trick.
Hi Aunty, I have a problem that in the past three days Yahoo has taken over as my default search engine, even though in Google it's clicked as default search engine in Chrome. I erased Yahoo elsewhere on my PC but it has still somehow taken over again and appeared in ‘basics’ underneath Google chrome (default). Can you help with this problem to keep it off my computer?
Aunty Says:
Hi Ray. Under the ‘basics’ setting in Chrome make sure you have ‘open the homepage’ set under the ‘On Startup’ section, and in the ‘Homepage’ section make sure you have google.co.uk where it says ‘open this page’. That should do the trick.
Steph via email asks:
Hi Aunty, This is only a minor problem that I’m hoping you can help me with. I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium and it’s requesting that I backup. I’ve bought myself an 8GB memory stick but can’t seem to be able to get my laptop to do the back up onto it, it keep requesting discs to be inserted into the drive, well I got to 7 and gave up. Any ideas please?
Aunty Says:
Hi Steph. You’ll probably find your backup is too big to fit on an 8GB memory stick. The Windows 7 backup utility is pretty good but I found it a bit too excessive, as I was really only interested in backing up my personal files etc. If you go to ‘control panel’ you can get to the backup program where you can choose exactly what/when to backup, and as in your case, where you want to store it. Click on the ‘set up backup’ link and follow the prompts until you see the ‘let me choose’ option which is where you can untick the ‘include a system image’ which will limit the backup to just your data and enable you to fit it on your USB stick.
Hi Steph. You’ll probably find your backup is too big to fit on an 8GB memory stick. The Windows 7 backup utility is pretty good but I found it a bit too excessive, as I was really only interested in backing up my personal files etc. If you go to ‘control panel’ you can get to the backup program where you can choose exactly what/when to backup, and as in your case, where you want to store it. Click on the ‘set up backup’ link and follow the prompts until you see the ‘let me choose’ option which is where you can untick the ‘include a system image’ which will limit the backup to just your data and enable you to fit it on your USB stick.
Fred via email asks:
Hi there Aunty. I have recently replaced my tower PC as the old one suddenly stopped working. I have managed to save the original hard disk and I have connected it to my new PC via a USB connection by putting it into a hard disk enclosure which I bought on Ebay.I have been able to transfer all of the documents and pictures from the old disk to the new PC but I cannot find a way to get the emails from MS Outlook on the old disk. Unfortunately I had not done a complete backup on the old PC. Do you know of a way for me to be able to see these emails and transfer them to my new system? Both the old and the new PCs use Windows XP.
Aunty Says:
Hello Fred. You can do this by locating the outlook.pst file on the old disk and then using the ‘file’ ‘import’ function within Outlook to bring the emails in. The .pst files are normally hidden so you will need to go to ‘control panel’ ‘folder options’ ‘view’ and ‘show hidden files and folders’. Once you have enabled this you can use the Windows search function (start search) to find the latest outlook.pst file and copy it to the new computer. When you start the import process within outlook you need to choose ‘import from another program or file’ and browse to the location that you saved the pst file. Good luck, and take your time and you should be OK.
Hi there Aunty. I have recently replaced my tower PC as the old one suddenly stopped working. I have managed to save the original hard disk and I have connected it to my new PC via a USB connection by putting it into a hard disk enclosure which I bought on Ebay.I have been able to transfer all of the documents and pictures from the old disk to the new PC but I cannot find a way to get the emails from MS Outlook on the old disk. Unfortunately I had not done a complete backup on the old PC. Do you know of a way for me to be able to see these emails and transfer them to my new system? Both the old and the new PCs use Windows XP.
Aunty Says:
Hello Fred. You can do this by locating the outlook.pst file on the old disk and then using the ‘file’ ‘import’ function within Outlook to bring the emails in. The .pst files are normally hidden so you will need to go to ‘control panel’ ‘folder options’ ‘view’ and ‘show hidden files and folders’. Once you have enabled this you can use the Windows search function (start search) to find the latest outlook.pst file and copy it to the new computer. When you start the import process within outlook you need to choose ‘import from another program or file’ and browse to the location that you saved the pst file. Good luck, and take your time and you should be OK.
Chris via email asks:
I am using Outlook Express and Mozilla Firefox on my XP home computer and for the last month I have a red notice in the centre of the screen saying "AUTO CONFIG PLEASE WAIT" the notice disappears completely but reappears every minute for the first hour, after that it reappears when I switch programs or open a new webpage. Task Manager does not show anything else running and as far as I know I have not downloaded anything new. I can´t click and move on the notice, but although I can type under it I obviously cannot read or see anything under it. When the notice is on screen all the colours of the page fade. The computer and monitor are about 5/6 years old.
Aunty Says:
This message is possibly being generated by your screen’s internal configuration program (rather than Windows) as there is an issue with your screen coping with the PC’s higher graphic capabilities. I’m not sure why it has just started happening, or why it is repeatedly appearing but you may be able to adjust down your screen resolution settings within Windows (Control Panel, Display, Settings tab, Advanced button) to a lower and more compatible setting. Maybe downloading the latest drivers for your graphics card will help as well. Of course it is always possible you have a faulty screen so let me know how you get on.
Ask Aunty all your computer related problems over in the forum.