Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Updates and a Tip

By Cate Eales
Appeared May 15, 2008 on castanet.net

This week we have the latest on Windows XP SP3, a progress report on slide scanning, and a tip for XP and Vista users.


Update on XP
Did XP SP3 show up in your Microsoft Updates last week? It did for me, although I had a heck of a time downloading it. But, once the updates were all on the hard drive, it was only about a 45 minute job to install the whole thing. I had no idea I could hold my breath that long, but it all turned out fine.

Not everyone was as lucky. Even if you're not experiencing the continuous reboot problem, you might need a little help sorting things out. As they did with Vista SP1, Microsoft is making free technical support available for XP SP3 related problems. Visit this link for help.

Microsoft has another bunch of updates for us this week. Make sure your Automatic Updates are turned on, or point your browser to Microsoft Update.


Update on scanning slides
Last week I asked for advice on scanning old slides. Thank you to everyone who wrote; I got a ton of advice. I've passed along your suggestions to the reader who asked for help, and I'll sum the whole thing up in an upcoming column. It's not too late to offer your advice.


Stop Windows from copying for no reason!
When you have more than one file to move, delete, cut, drag & drop, or what have you, doing the same action over and over can be tedious. Why not select all the files, and just do the action one time?

To select more than one file, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the files you want. Then, you can drag and drop them, or right-click and select from that menu, or delete them. As long as you want to do the same thing to all the selected files, you're in good shape.

You SHOULD be in good shape, that is. But sometimes when I select a big whack of files to move, Windows just starts copying them. What the heck? I never told Windows to copy! Well, it turns out I probably did, and never knew it. When you select files and end up dragging them more than four pixels in any direction, Windows assumes you mean to copy them.

To fix this in Windows XP, download TweakUI, available here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx. Install TweakUI, open it, and:

TweakUI won't work in Windows Vista, but there is an interesting feature in Vista that comes in handy here. Instead of using Ctrl + Click, we can use check boxes. But first we have to turn them on.

Thank you everyone who emailed with questions, comments, and words of encouragement. You can reach me at cate@rlis.com if you have anything to ask or tell about your computer. Don't forget, you can browse the column archives at any time. Point your browser here to go there.  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
Turn on Automatic Updates http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/automatic.mspx
Microsoft Update http://www.update.microsoft.com/
Continuous Reboots Plague XP SP3 Users http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2302371,00.asp
Microsoft Vista SP1 Support: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11274
Microsoft XP SP3 Support http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11273&gprid
Last Week's Column http://rlis.com/columns/column145.htm
TweakUI http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
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.

© Cate Eales 2008 – All Rights Reserved
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