Windows XP attaches a small picture to each user, which is displayed on the Welcome page and on the ‘Start’ menu. Windows comes with a variety of default pictures which can be used, but you can add your own pictures. Go to the ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘User Accounts’ control panel. Click the user for which you wish to change the photo, and click ‘Change my picture’. Under the list of pictures, click ‘Browse for more pictures’. Select which ever picture you wish to use and click ‘Open’. (more…)

I am running a home LAN, with ADSL internet access through a D-Link 604+ ADSL wireless router/modem which is connected by Ethernet to a Windows XP computer, and at various times by wireless to another Windows 98 computer and three laptops (running XP and 98). I have allocated fixed IP addresses for each computer with MAC address security implemented on the router. All computers have antivirus software and Zone Alarm firewall. Frequently, one or more of the computers encounters a problem connecting to the internet (using Internet Explorer or Outlook). In each instance the computer transmits packets to the router/modem, but there seems to be few received packets. The problem often arises after being connected for a period of an hour or so. I am able to ping the router, and also have a successful response using ‘net view’. To temporarily fix the problem I must reboot the ADSL router/modem, or restart the affected computer, but this is not successful in all cases. The greatest number of instances of this problem occur when one or more other users in the LAN are running MSN Messenger. I suspect the LAN is somehow being put behind a firewall at the ADSL router/modem, but I have no firewall settings manually selected at the router/modem. (more…)

I received a PowerPoint presentation a friend sent through email, and would like to use a picture contained in the presentation as my Windows wallpaper. How can I extract the picture from the presentation? Also, I would like a scene from a DVD set as my wallpaper. However, the screen capture function does not work. I am using Power DVD on Windows XP. (more…)

Windows keeps resetting itself at the Windows XP splash screen. The problem occurred after moving the computer to a new location in my house. More recently the computer died and had the motherboard and case replaced. I was hoping this would fix the restarting problem as well, but the problem persists. Several reformats and reinstallations of Windows have not solved the problem. If I use System Restore to roll-back the computer to an earlier point, it will run fine, and reset and shutdown. However, when the computer is off for a long period of time (like overnight) the problem will arise again next time the machine is switched on. I have tried changing the monitor and video card, but nothing has worked. Perhaps the hard drive is causing the problem? The computer is running Windows XP Professional, on an AMD Athlon 1400 MHz computer. (more…)

When attempting to save a document in Excel the following message appears: ‘SaveToDMS could not be found’. To work around this problem I use the ‘Save As’ function on the ‘File’ menu. How can I stop this message from appearing? (more…)