Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Useful Odds and Ends
By Cate Eales
Appeared November 22, 2007 on castanet.net

Every so often I end up with a list of items for a column and no real theme. This is one of those times. I have a great website for you, a couple of tweaks, and some advice.


Fly Smarter With FlightStats
This week is one of the busiest travel weeks in North America, and it only becomes slightly less hectic as we head toward the Christmas holidays. Whether you are flying somewhere or simply planning to meet someone flying in from elsewhere, FlightStats can save you time and aggravation.

You can track the status of pretty much any commercial flight in the world. You can set email or text alerts about flight status. You can even see the status of delays at a given airport.

As I write this, the Ground Delay Program is in effect at La Guardia. There's a shock. Ah, but you can click to see a list of flights potentially affected by this delay. If someone you know is connecting there, you probably have time to see a movie before you leave to pick them up at the airport here.

This site is very well laid out, and it's easy to grasp the information presented. I kept drilling down, and was astonished by the level of detail available. Give it a look.


TweakUI for Windows XP
One of the most useful utilities I've ever seen is TweakUI for Windows XP. Microsoft describes the tool this way: "This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more." You can easily make changes to how Windows behaves and how it looks. Get TweakUI here. It's completely free.


TweakUI for Windows Vista
Whoops! There is no TweakUI for Vista from Microsoft. At least yet. There is one commercial alternative, called TweakVI (clever!), available here from Totalidea Software, Tweak VI will tweak and optimize Windows Vista. There is a free edition, and two versions of paid editions. I have not tried it.


Managing Windows Update
If you have Windows Update or Microsoft Update set to automagically download your files and to notify you before installing them, you'll see a yellow "shield" icon in your System Notification Area (by the clock). You might also see a message encouraging you to "click here to install updates." If you've ever wondered what updates are being offered, you can right-click the yellow icon and select "custom." That will open up a list of the updates, and by checking or clearing check boxes, you can accept an update...or not. This is useful if you've had a problem that's preventing you from properly installing an update, you can clear the check box until you've had a chance to track down a solution.

If ALL the updates won't install, and you are running Windows XP, you might need to reregister some dll files. To do that:

The complete Knowledge Base article from Microsoft is available here.


Thank you everyone for your tips, comments, and questions. Please email me with more of all of those! You can reach me at cate@rlis.com. Also, you can browse through the entire column archive here.  If you'd like to subscribe to this column by email, please visit this link.  It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the RSS Feed, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends. Enjoy the parades and the football.


Links
FlightStats http://www.flightstats.com/
TweakUI for XP http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
TweakVI for Vista http://www.totalidea.com/content/tweakvi/tweakvi-index.php
KB Article on fixing Windows Update http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910359/en-us
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618
RSS Feed http://rlis.com/rlis.xml

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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.