Readers may recall that a few months ago the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) was discussed as a tip of the week. Microsoft is allowing anyone to download a copy of the Windows 7 Release Candidate for evaluation before the final version is released in October this year. If you intend on downloading a copy of the Windows 7 RC make sure you do this soon, as downloads of the Windows 7 RC will cease on the Microsoft website on 20th August 2009. Be aware, if you already have the Windows 7 RC installed this will continue to operate until the end of the evaluation period next year. However, if you have not downloaded the RC by this date you will no longer be able to download the product. For more information on the Windows 7 RC, including registration and download links, visit www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx .

Whenever my computer starts Internet Explorer opens and a blank page appears. I need to minimise this page to see my desktop. If I close the page it re-opens again a few minutes later. How can I stop this random internet page from appearing? The computer is running Windows Vista. (more…)

I would like to complete a mail merge using Word 2007, but I cannot figure out how mail merge works. Can you provide advice on how the mail merge functions in this new version of Word? Additionally, my computer has a lot of different folders. I would like to consolidate the number of folders on the computer, but am unsure how to delete these folders. Could you provide advice on this matter? (more…)

If you need to quickly insert text into a Word document (for example, to fill out empty space which will soon be occupied by real-text) there is a handy function built into Word that will insert text into the document. Type the following text exactly as its written into a Word document =rand(1) and press the Enter key to generate one paragraph of text. Changing the number within the brackets will change the number of paragraphs that are generated.

I am running two Windows XP computers which are connected to the internet through a Linksys router. The internet connection drops out frequently. I can reconnect if I disconnect the router for a few minutes and then reconnect. Can you help avoid or minimise the dropouts? I am connected to the Transact network. (more…)