Recently my computer suffered a major problem and Windows XP was reinstalled. Before reinstalling Windows any important data from the computer was backed-up, including the Outlook 2003 Contacts which were exported to a flash drive. Two files were saved onto the drive, in a folder named ‘Address Book’: ‘Jills’ (description: Address Book File - 173 KB) and ‘Jills.wab~’ (description: WAB~ File - 173 KB). Since reinstalling Windows and Outlook 2003 I have been unable to open either of these files. Double-clicking on the ‘Jills’ file produces a new email message window, with the address book file as an attachment. Also, when I double-click to open the ‘Jills.WAB~’ file a message appears asking which program should be used to open the file. How can I import the address book into Outlook 2003? (more…)

After the computer has been idle for some time, a message appears saying ‘The device driver for the standard 101/102 key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard is preventing the machine entering standby. You may need to update this driver’. Rebooting the machine does not resolve this issue, and it always occurs after a period of inactivity. While trying to fix this problem, I also noticed the Windows taskbar has been modified and the three buttons which launched Internet Explorer, launched Outlook Express, and displayed the desktop, have disappeared. How can I stop the error message appearing, and recover the missing icons? (more…)

My laptop computer is setup with Telstra WiFi Home, and my main home computer has Telstra broadband ADSL. While at home I am able to connect to the internet using wireless without any trouble. However, when I recently went to Broome (Western Australia) and attempted to use the internet the Speedstream Connection indicated there was internet available at the General Store (about 200 metres from where I was staying). Next, I travelled to Melbourne and stayed in a city motel which advertised high speed wireless broadband, but I was also unable to connect to the internet in this location. Does this mean that although I have paid internet with Telstra that I need to pay again to access internet at these other locations (e.g. the motel)? (more…)

If you have upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista you may be slightly disorientated with the new arrangement of the Start menu. Many people are particularly confused by the absence of the very useful ‘Run’ command found in previous versions of Windows. Never fear - the Run command and the Search function have been integrated into one, making life much easier and convenient in the process. You can type a normal Run command into the Search box (such as ‘cmd’ to open a Command Prompt) and then press ENTER to execute the command. In addition, the Search box is a great way to quickly locate programs, without having to navigate through the entire Start menu. Start typing the name of the program you wish to find and almost immediately programs and functions matching the typed text should appear. You can then click on the relevant item to start that program. (more…)

Website developers need to make sure their sites display correctly and uniformly across different browsers. However, it can be difficult to load multiple versions of Internet Explorer onto one computer. Fortunately, Microsoft has developed a method using Microsoft Virtual PC which allows Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 to run on one computer, using virtualisation. For full instructions visit: blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/11/30/ie6-and-ie7-running-on-a-single-machine.aspx . Thanks to Darryl Butler of Itchybrain Productions for this tip. (more…)