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Feedback
As you might imagine, we received tons of feedback over our hiatus this summer. Below is just some of the comments and questions we've received. Note...to save some reading time, we will no longer post general "thank yous" when someone sends us one of those terrific "thanks" with no other questions attached. But know that we did reply with a big Thank You! We'll post more summer feedback in future issues.
Feedback
A subscribe wrote...
(That they found TechTrax due to a Blog posting and provided the link. So I went to check it out.)
From: Keith Soltys' Core Dump blog
http://www.soltys.ca/coredump/coredump.html
"TechTrax online magazine
"A posting on the word-pc mailing list yesterday pointed readers to an online
magazine called TechTrax. I hadn't seen this before, and I wish I had, as
it's quite good. TechTrax ' is a free, monthly Ezine (online magazine)
published the beginning of each month. TechTrax is geared toward anyone who
wants to learn more about using computers, with a highlight on Microsoft
technologies. TechTrax also makes a point to focus on issues of
accessibility. The range of overall subjects and user level articles in
TechTrax are far reaching to cover a wide audience.'
"The April issue has a very good article about solving table formatting
problems in Word - something I've had to deal with quite a bit at work - and
a good article explaining how to create CSS in Dreamweaver. Archives of back
issues are available going back several years. This is another site that's
going on my bookmark list."
Reply...
Dian Chapman, TechTrax Editor, writes...
Hi Keith...
I was just reviewing my subscriber's comments regarding how they found us.
There were some mentions of your Blog and one subscriber added your URL so I
was able to find your original comments about TechTrax.
As editor...I just wanted to say THANKS! ;-)
(BTW...I'm not a big fan of blogs...but as they do, your is pretty nice.
Easy to read with nice, short blurbs of good info. So kudos right back
atcha.)
Feedback
Todd writes...
I've recently read and implemented the guide to doing a letterhead template in microsoft word, and it was very helpful as I am by no means any kind of office expert. However, being charged with doing this for the company I work for, your tutorial saved me a lot of banging my head against a wall. I do have one question though, if I may, and I have looked and poked and prodded around in word trying to solve this but cannot seem to understand how to prevent Word from 'blurring' or 'fading' out the images I use in my header and footer. It's one of those annoying automatic things that Word takes it upon itself to do for me (seemingly) without providing a way to fix it. I've used adobe illustrator to design the letterhead exactly as I would have it appear, but alas! Is this even possible? You must be a busy woman and I do apologize for sending this request to you... perhaps this may merit a mention on the letterhead tutorial? Or maybe not! I may be the only one who can't figure this out!
Anyways, regardless... it was a great tutorial and I understand more than I would have had I not read it :)
Reply...
Dian Chapman, author of Creating Your Own Letterhead, writes...
Thanks for the nice comments...glad it helped.
Yes, I'm very busy...but if you can send me a copy of the file, I can see what it looks like. It may be a simple thing...I just can't quite visualize what you mean right now.
Further reply...
Dian,
Thanks for your response, I appreciate it a lot! I did some poking around on the microsoft.public.word.pagelayout newsgroup and discovered that this is an unavoidable issue.
One of the Word MVPs explains: "That's the way headers and footers are designed to work. If the recipient prints the document, the headers and footers will appear with the same contrast as the rest of the document."
Sure enough, when I look at my lovely new letterhead in Print Preview it shows up normally... All I can say is that the internet has been around awhile now and I hope Microsoft comes to realize someday that Word docs are often passed around in digital format and never make it to a printer at all. Ah well. Will have to teach everyone how to create PDFs from their word docs!
Once again, thanks for your help and for your website tutorials.. I've linked to it from my sharepoint intranet site for the benefit of our staff.
Cheers!
Todd
Feedback
Jason writes...
RE: Hard and Soft Asset Management with VBScript!
Greg...I just wanted to say a huge thanks for posting a script that is undoubtedly the best I’ve seen.
I’ve been scripting for the last few months and the learning curve is steep I’ve learned loads and was in the unenviable position of having to create an audit database of our hardware against our asset tags. Your script helped me along in Miles instead of footsteps and I thought that the least I could do is thank you for posting it.
Now if I could only figure out how to use ASP front ends to adequately query my database which I haven’t even created yet…
Again many thanks, Jason
P.S. That is a wicked hat by the way!
Reply...
Greg Chapman, author of Hard and Soft Asset Management with VBScript, writes...
Jason,
Thanks very much for your kind compliments! Yes, the curve can be steep but you've chosen a fairly flexible language to learn and there are many, many techniques you can use in order to make the process of learning even easier. As you move things to ASP, the similarities will amaze you...and the tiny differences will make you nuts!<g>
Let me know how your project comes along!
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com
http://www.layer1wireless.com
P.S. As for the hat, thanks. Dian dresses me well.<g> By the way, you can get yourself one, here, where we got mine: http://www.minnetonka-by-internet.com/HatsFoldUp.htm. It conveniently folds up so it's always at hand.
Feedback
Przemek from New York, writes...
Hi, I have a problem. I am currently running windows XP, each of
my family members has their own user and password. My nosy brother keeps
removing my password or even sometimes changing it through control panal. He
also keeps reading my emials and changing around my school assignments. I
have no screensaver password, this XP is a differnt language and there is no password screensaver option. Can you tell me a way, how i can put some kind
of lock that won't let my nosy brother snoop through my account. Thank you for your time.
Reply...
Greg Chapman, Senior System Engineer, writes...
Yep, here's what you do:
-Change the nosy bro's account to a regular user (in other words, don't
let him be an administrator of the system anymore)
-Next, change the passwords on all the other accounts which have
administrator rights including the built-in administrator account
-Make sure your own account *is* an administrator account
-Download and learn how to use this tool: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
That should lock the PITA brother out of any more mischief for a while.
I also recommend following the MS advice for backing up your personal
password for recovery. This won't save you from a changed password but
it's a good idea to do. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305478/
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com
http://www.layer1wireless.com
Feedback
A subscriber from Bangkok writes...
Hi,
I'm using Eudora 6.2.3.0b. When I received the newsletter TechTrax - Here
is your March 2005 Briefing, there were no links to click....in other words
the mouse pointer arrow did not change to a hand anywhere in the email.
Reply...
Dian Chapman, TechTrax Editor, writes...
Sorry, don't know what to tell you...I don't use Endora. The links are there
and they do work. I've also never had this complaint before. I can only
suggest you read the magazine online, which can be accessed at
www.mousetrax.com/techtrax. When each new issue is released online, that same ENTER link at http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax will take you to the current issue.
Also know that other options, besides just receiving a text notice, are to download the magazine each month so you can view it through your browser while offline or use an RSS reader that allows you to see each article listed with it's summary.
To find out more about these options, you'll find details at these links:
Offline Reading
http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax.asp#offline
RSS
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=367
Also know that all previous issues are accessible through the ARCHIVE link along the top menu of any TechTrax issues...should you have missed any previously.
Cheers and thanks for letting me know about this. Sorry I couldn't provide a true solution for you.
Further reply...
Hi Dian, Now I see what is happening. Tthe reason I couldn't click the links is because I was not using the microsoft viewer in Eudora. When I turn on the MS viewer, then I can click on the links. Ho Hum....another problem solved.
Feedback
A subscriber from Missouri writes...
RE: Where Ya Been?
Have I missed May and June ezines?
Reply...
Dian Chapman, TechTrax Editor, writes...
No. If you read the April issue, or our home page, you'll see that TechTrax
is on hiatus until August. We'll be back with the August issue. We mentioned
this in March and then advised everyone in April...and that information is
also on our home page at http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax.
See you around the first week of August.
Feedback
Deb Lusby from Houston, Texas, writes...
RE: What?? No Office Shortcut Bar for Office 2003?? Q & A
Comments: Youroriginal article states you can use the OSB from a previous version of Office. I've looked on an old disk and cannot find where that file is located (or its name for sure). I used OSA.exe, but that didn't work. How can I use the old program in Office 2003? Thanks. (Why did they get rid of it anyway?)
Reply...
Beth Melton, author of What?? No Office Shortcut Bar for Office 2003?? Q & A, writes...
Hi Deb,
You will need to use a custom installation of the previous version of Office
and install only the Office Shortcut Bar. It can be found under "Office
Tools" or "Shared Components" depending on the version of Office you are
using for its installation.
Do note that there are a few drawbacks to using the OSB from a previous
version. The primary drawback is using Office Update. The previous version
of Office will also be recognized and you will need to install unnecessary,
and typically large, updates in order to update Office 2003.
Plus the installation of the OSB requires approximately 37MB and utilizes
system resources.
Regarding your question as to why Microsoft removed the OSB in Office 2003,
here's a link to a response from Microsoft regarding its removal:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?dg=microsoft.public.office.misc&mid=b3fdbe93-9fe4-44bf-a59f-50c1e38ba6ae&sloc=en-us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
Feedback
A subscriber writes...
I tried this Code , but somehow it didn't work for....what can be the reason for that ?
Reply...
Dian Chapman, TechTrax Editor, writes...
Ummm...there are several hundred samples of code on our two sites (MouseTrax and TechTrax), you'll have to
be more specific!
[The reader never bothered to reply further.]
Feedback
Gail from Orange, CA, writes...
RE: TMPGE DVD AUTHOR . Article title: At Last! fast, easy and reliable dvd authoring for the pc
Greg,
I took your advise and downloaded trial version TMPGE DVD Author 1.6
Works fine until I go to the DVD Writer Tool - I get an error message , DVD Writer exe error message: the ordinal 737 could not be located in the dynamic link library px.dll. Would you have any fix on this? Being I have trial version, no tech support. I didn't see anything in their forum on this. Hope you can help me.
I have P4 HT 3000mz 1 gig ram 120 HD Sony dvd recorder with nero software.
thank you,
Gail
Reply...
Greg Chapman, author of At Last!! Fast, Easy and Reliable DVD Authoring for the PC!, writes...
That's an interesting error with an interesting twist!
First, let me tell you that you can download px.dll from here: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?px
The file should have installation instructions for you to follow.
Next, as it turns out, px.dll is part of the old Roxio Easy CD Creator
engine. This amuses me because I never had the reliability from Easy CD
Creator that I get from TMPGEnc! Their advice is to reinstall the
application and reboot. Still, that's the source and support on this engine
will probably be tough to obtain. Here's a helpful thread on the topic:
http://bbs.pegasys-inc.com/bbscgi/ebbs/board.cgi?board=tda&cmd=delete&wparam=442
The indications are that WinAmp and possibly other packages install a
corrupted version of px.dll. Perhaps you have a similar issue?
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com
http://www.layer1wireless.com
Feedback
Karen LeVier from Indianapolis, writes...
I just wanted to say how informative and helpful your website has been for me. I am a PC support professional and your comments have been very helpful.
I was also curious if there is a way to setup a Microsoft Word support document with links in it that automatically open the "Network Connections systems" folder for instance the way the help menu does? If so you might consider an article on this subject for people who create support documentation.
Thanks so much for all your help and insight.
Reply...
Dian Chapman, TechTrax Editor, writes...
Thanks for the comments.
Yes, you can use the FSO (File System Object) to create your own connection menu. It's not the easiest thing to do, but if you have VBA experience, it can be done. You might want to join my Word_VBA free user group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Word_VBA/. I believe this question has been asked and answered in the group, so you should fine help there.
Feedback
A subscriber writes...
RE: Speeding Up Windows XP Boot Up and Shutdown by Denns Roche
My Windows XP (Home)Prefetch directory has 2 folders(?).
The first:- LAYOUT (190KB)Confiruration Settings .This has hundreds of items listed ,too many to count accurately.
The second :- NTOSBOOT-BOODFAAD.pf (874KB)PF file This could not be opened by Windows.
Am I OK! to delete so many entries from the LAYOUT folder/directory ?
Reply...(Dennis Roche was unavailable to provide an answer, so...)
Greg Chapman, Senior System Engineer, writes...
Well, let's look at the question from two perspectives; economics and
impact. First, if your concern is economics, prefetch, in this day of
multi-gigabyte hard disks, is certainly an economical way of improving
performance on its own at a minimum cost in disk space.
The prefetch system is not really a second point at which a duplicate file
is stored. It's a more economical index, a database if you will, pointing to
the location of your most commonly loaded startup files, their locations on
disk and their load order. Prefetch is itself a performance enhancer. The
Layout and BOODFAAD files are part of this index.
There are lots of articles on the Internet encouraging customers to sweat
about the contents of the Prefetch folder system...but I don't buy that
advice...and neither does Ed Bott, who has been pounding on Windows systems
longer than I have: http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000024.html.
Microsoft also explains the use of the Prefetch system nicely in a
performance comparison document between Windows XP and Windows 2000 at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpperf.mspx
by saying:
"I/O Can Be Overlapped with Device Initialization
Using WindowsR 2000, each disk input/output (I/O) may require the disk head
to move to some new location and the disk to rotate to some degree. The
result is that typical desktop disks can only complete 80 I/Os to100 I/Os
each second. Laptop disks are often even slower. This poor I/O rate
lengthens the boot time considerably for Windows 2000.
Windows XP improves this poorly organized I/O process by "prefetching" much
of the operating system at the same time that devices are being initialized.
In this way, the I/O can be overlapped with the device initialization
process. The effect is that code being executed, and data that must be read
during the boot, can be scattered about the disk with no perceptible effect
on startup time performance."
The short answer to your question is that, yes, it's safe to eliminate this
data...but you won't be doing yourself any favors.
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com
http://www.layer1wireless.com
Feedback
A subscriber from California writes...
RE: Setting Up POP3 and SMTP E-Mail Accounts in Outlook XP
Article seems to imply that I need an entry in outlook for each ISP I connect to. The receive side will all be the same (pop.mailhost.com) and the send sides all different? (smtp.isp1.com, smtp.isp2.com)? Is there a way to tell outlook (programaticlly) which connection I am on, and hence which entry to use? Or do I need to set up "home", "office" and "school" groups? Want to change the default ID, since at work, I send through exchange, but when at home & school, want to use doug@mailhost.com. Thanks for help you can give (or point me at a doc?)
Reply...
David Horowitz, author of Setting Up POP3 and SMTP E-Mail Accounts in Outlook XP, writes...
I think you're looking for ways to send through different SMTP servers.
I too on my laptop thought it would be nice to be able to select a
profile which says, OK, now I'm home, or OK, now I'm in the office. You
used to be able to right-click on the Inbox on the desktop and select
different Profiles which would let you do this. I think maybe if you
have the Corporate/Workgroup edition of Outlook, you can still do this,
but I'm not getting seeing that on my computer right now, so I can't
provide more info.
Perhaps the easiest solution may be the following, and I do this all the
time: Prior to sending an email, I click on the Accounts button at the
top of the form, just to the right of the Send button, and there I get a
dropdown listing all the accounts I have setup. This will determine
which account the email gets sent out from. Does this help? Hope so. Good luck!
David Horowitz
Feedback
Scott Baldridge writes...
Subject: DomainReportManager.vbs
Comments: Super great utility!! Saved me a ton of work writing my own thing that wouldn't have worked half as well. THANKS!
Scott Baldridge, Windows Server Systems MVP
Feedback
A subscriber writes...
RE: Forgot My Administrator Password! by Vic Ferri
Brilliant! V clear and easy to follow
Thank you
L
Feedback
A subscriber writes...
Comments: Don't know how I found your site...I'm really bad to link, link, link...but you have an absolutely awesome site...and I rarely use the words awesome and amazing...your tutorials are excellent...signed up for your newsletter...and am now going through the archives...always did appreciate good writing and tutorials...it has now been found...mary
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