Aunty Virus 19th July 2010
Phil via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I recently bought a new laptop with windows 7 and I have 2 problems.
I have a 2 year old HP Photosmart c4280 all in one scanner printer on trying to install the drivers from the disc that came with the printer I found that the disc had only XP and Vista drivers and the laptop didn't want to install these. I searched the internet and downloaded drivers from HP's home page, however on installation it was installed in Spanish and I couldn't find a way to change the utilities to English so I went to hp.co.uk
downloaded again installed again still in Spanish can you help please. The second problem is we use windows live messenger to keep in touch with family in the UK, our 7 year old grandson loves this way of contact because he can play games with his grand mum online. When we try to launch a video call live messenger does not start our webcam, we can see and hear other side and other side can hear us. I installed Skype and tried Skype to a friend and this works fine video and voice
Aunty Says:
The first problem Phil is because HP are using your Control Panel Regional Settings to decide which language of the drivers to download. This can be easily changed to the UK and switched back after the drivers have installed. Regarding the Live Messenger webcam problem, this could be a number of things so try the easiest first. Make sure you have the very latest version of Live Messenger from www.messenger.live.com and the latest drivers for your webcam from the manufacturers’ website. There is also a webcam option in Live Messenger under ‘tools’ ‘audio and video settings’ which can sometimes give you an idea where the problem is. Try these and let me know how you get on.
Maureen via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I have had a problem now for the last 3 days which is driving me nuts and I am unsure how to rectify it. When going into Word to type my letters everything is fine until I come to ‘file’ and ‘save’. Up pops a message saying that "Word has encountered a problem and needs to close". Then another message comes up saying "Word automatically saved changes to the normal document template, do you want to load it?" I answer No because it warns you of further problems if your answer is Yes. Once I press No the screen turns blue and then comes up with a blank "Document 1" page and to the right of the screen there is a column headed "Office Online". I go to the X at the top right of the screen to get out of the programme. Sometimes it lets me get out of the programme and other times it just says "Programme not responding, End Now".
Aunty Says:
Probably the easiest option Maureen is to repair or reinstall Word from the Office installation CD. If you don’t have access to this then maybe try out the wonderful free Open Office suite from http://www.openoffice.org which can read and save documents in Word format. I would also strongly recommend checking your computer with the latest AVG, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware from www.download.com as I have encountered many virus that target MS Office system files.
Azza via email asks:
Dear Aunty, my E-Systems laptop says I have a DVD/CD drive that can play both CDs and DVDs. It can play CDs but cannot play any DVDs. I think the problem seems to be with the DVD decoders. Is there any websites you know where I can find any of these for free? Or do you feel it could be another problem. Thank you for your assistance.
Aunty Says:
If it is a codec problem then I have found the Media Player Codec pack (or Windows 7 Codec pack) from download.com have sorted this out. If either of these don’t resolve the problem then let me know.
James via email asks:
Hi Aunty, can you help please? I am getting 10-15 messages in my spam every day, mostly from pharmacies and car dealers. After the 30 days they are still there so I then delete them myself. I am on Google’s Gmail so should I change my email address completely and use another supplier? Google does not delete these after 30 days as stated, well not in my case.
Aunty Says:
Hi James. I make a point of looking in my spam folder every couple of days as I quite often find emails in there that aren’t actually spam, and whilst there you have a ‘delete all spam messages now’ option which takes about 3 seconds. I don’t think changing your email address or supplier is necessary as they all seem to be targeted indiscriminately these days.
Hi Aunty, I recently bought a new laptop with windows 7 and I have 2 problems.
I have a 2 year old HP Photosmart c4280 all in one scanner printer on trying to install the drivers from the disc that came with the printer I found that the disc had only XP and Vista drivers and the laptop didn't want to install these. I searched the internet and downloaded drivers from HP's home page, however on installation it was installed in Spanish and I couldn't find a way to change the utilities to English so I went to hp.co.uk
downloaded again installed again still in Spanish can you help please. The second problem is we use windows live messenger to keep in touch with family in the UK, our 7 year old grandson loves this way of contact because he can play games with his grand mum online. When we try to launch a video call live messenger does not start our webcam, we can see and hear other side and other side can hear us. I installed Skype and tried Skype to a friend and this works fine video and voice
Aunty Says:
The first problem Phil is because HP are using your Control Panel Regional Settings to decide which language of the drivers to download. This can be easily changed to the UK and switched back after the drivers have installed. Regarding the Live Messenger webcam problem, this could be a number of things so try the easiest first. Make sure you have the very latest version of Live Messenger from www.messenger.live.com and the latest drivers for your webcam from the manufacturers’ website. There is also a webcam option in Live Messenger under ‘tools’ ‘audio and video settings’ which can sometimes give you an idea where the problem is. Try these and let me know how you get on.
Maureen via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I have had a problem now for the last 3 days which is driving me nuts and I am unsure how to rectify it. When going into Word to type my letters everything is fine until I come to ‘file’ and ‘save’. Up pops a message saying that "Word has encountered a problem and needs to close". Then another message comes up saying "Word automatically saved changes to the normal document template, do you want to load it?" I answer No because it warns you of further problems if your answer is Yes. Once I press No the screen turns blue and then comes up with a blank "Document 1" page and to the right of the screen there is a column headed "Office Online". I go to the X at the top right of the screen to get out of the programme. Sometimes it lets me get out of the programme and other times it just says "Programme not responding, End Now".
Aunty Says:
Probably the easiest option Maureen is to repair or reinstall Word from the Office installation CD. If you don’t have access to this then maybe try out the wonderful free Open Office suite from http://www.openoffice.org which can read and save documents in Word format. I would also strongly recommend checking your computer with the latest AVG, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware from www.download.com as I have encountered many virus that target MS Office system files.
Azza via email asks:
Dear Aunty, my E-Systems laptop says I have a DVD/CD drive that can play both CDs and DVDs. It can play CDs but cannot play any DVDs. I think the problem seems to be with the DVD decoders. Is there any websites you know where I can find any of these for free? Or do you feel it could be another problem. Thank you for your assistance.
Aunty Says:
If it is a codec problem then I have found the Media Player Codec pack (or Windows 7 Codec pack) from download.com have sorted this out. If either of these don’t resolve the problem then let me know.
James via email asks:
Hi Aunty, can you help please? I am getting 10-15 messages in my spam every day, mostly from pharmacies and car dealers. After the 30 days they are still there so I then delete them myself. I am on Google’s Gmail so should I change my email address completely and use another supplier? Google does not delete these after 30 days as stated, well not in my case.
Aunty Says:
Hi James. I make a point of looking in my spam folder every couple of days as I quite often find emails in there that aren’t actually spam, and whilst there you have a ‘delete all spam messages now’ option which takes about 3 seconds. I don’t think changing your email address or supplier is necessary as they all seem to be targeted indiscriminately these days.