Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Unstick Me
By Cate Eales
Appeared November 29, 2007 on castanet.net

We all get a little stuck from time to time, and so do our computers. I can help you unstick a print job, turn off a stuck computer, and stick your Favorites where you can see them in Internet Explorer 7.


Living with Internet Explorer 7

A client recently bought an new computer with Windows Vista. We exported her Thunderbird email and GMail contacts, and got her Windows Mail configured and working. We exported her Firefox bookmarks from the 98 machine and imported them into Internet Explorer 7 for Vista.

The next day I got an email (so we know THAT was working well!) saying "I'm stuck!! Where are my Favorites?"

That's a fair question.

IE7 was released about a year ago. If you had any experience with it, you've probably figured out where the Favorites are. But if you're new to IE7, you're in for a shock. Microsoft made some "improvements" to the way the browser looks, and most of us couldn't find anything the first time we tried.

To get to your Favorites, you need to click on the yellow star in the top left portion of the browser window. (We were just supposed to guess that, apparently.)

That opens a slim window with all your Favorites in it. Clicking on any of them will take you to that page.  To add a page to your list of Favorites, click on the smaller star with the green plus sign. I promise, I am not making this up.
 

If you want the Favorites list visible all the time, click on the green arrow to "pin" the list in place. (If you decide you don't like that, click on the red X that replaces the green arrow to "unpin" the list.)

Another frustrating "improvement" is the absence of the familiar "Menu" bar from the top of IE7. To turn that on temporarily, click the "Alt" key. Clicking "Alt" again makes the menu bar go away. To display it permanently, click on Tools and then on Menu Bar.

You can use this utility from InteliAdmin to tweak those settings and others. The tool works in XP; I don't know if it will work in Vista.

You can learn more about Internet Explorer 7 here. Or, you can download and install Mozilla Firefox, a fine alternative to Internet Explorer, here.


Clearning stalled print jobs
One of the most frustrating things is to have a print job stall on you. It's easy to make the situation worse. Your job is stalled, so you send the job again...and again. But nothing else will print until that job is completed or deleted. And yet nothing you do will delete that job.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat. You're stuck in a loop.

Fear not. A freeware utility called "Stalled Printer Repair" will get you out of trouble. Download the program from the Fantastic Freeware site, here. Stalled Printer Repair will run in XP. A Vista compatible version will be availableby the time you read this.


Shutting down a stuck notebook
Several clients in the last month have contacted me because something made their noteboooks freeze. They tried the usual "three-fingered salute" to shut down the problem application without success, and they couldn't turn off the notebook.

Leaving aside, for the moment, the cause of the freeze, IF NOTHING ELSE WORKS, there is a three-step process to follow that will shut down the notebook and let you start over.

1. Remain calm.
2. Press down on the notebook's ON/OFF switch.
3. HOLD IT DOWN for at least 10 or 12 seconds until the computer shuts down and then release it.

That's all there is to it.

Computers, and especially noteboooks, are designed so that accidentally pressing the ON/OFF switch doesn't shut them down. That would be annoying. So when all else fails and you absolutely must shut down manually, you have to make the computer believe that's what you want to do. That's why you have to hold the switch down longer than you would think necessary. Again, exhaust all the normal, polite methods of shutting down before resorting to this one. You risk damaging files this way. But if nothing else works, this will.


Thank you everyone who emailed with comments, suggestions, and questions. If you have something to ask or tell, please email cate@rlis.com. You can also browse the column archives 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.

Links
InteliAdmin Tweak IE7 tool http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2007/01/tweak-your-ie-7-settings.html
Interent Explorer 7 home page http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
Download Mozilla Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Stalled Printer Repair utility http://www.fantasticfreeware.com/index.php/applications/stalled-printer-repair/
Fantastic Freeware http://www.fantasticfreeware.com/
Three-fingered salute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control-Alt-Delete
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.