[[Help] - Microsoft Office Outlook has hijacked Explorer]

I'm sorry, Andy. I thought for sure that your suggestion must be what I was overlooking, but it did not work either.

It is Outlook 2003 that we're talking about here, fyi. You're right about that.

I even tried to do some other stuff in Outlook's Tools but to no avail.

However-- your advice did prompt me to make Office's changes, then, to take a quick look at Outlook Express' options. Under the general tab, the "Click Here to Make this Program Your Defaul Email Client," was not selected.

How this could be is beyond me. It was my default program for many moons, and I made no changes that I was aware of.

But, I clicked it, made the changes to Office Outlook, and Internet Options, and it works again!

(Drives me nuts how many loop holes XP has... sigh... but I wouldnt have it any other way.)

Thanks, man--

tim

[[Help] - Microsoft Office Outlook has hijacked Explorer]

Well, in typical Microsoft fashion, everything with my computer was running great, and then, blam-o, something goes wrong and XP won't obey commands.

I had my internet options set up to where when a email address on a webpage was clicked, outlook express popped up and I could send my message.

Then, today, when I clicked on a link, Microsoft Office Outlook popped up. I did not change the setting myself, and I am the sole user/admin on my cpu.

Now, I went into Internet Options again, and changed the email program to Outlook Express... hit apply, and tried to send another email. What crops up? Microsoft Office Outlook.

I looked at my internet options again, and low & behold, Office Outlook had wormed its way back into the mix.

I changed it back to Express (as the admin) and hit apply, then ok, and when I tried to send another email. What crops up? Office Outlook.

Can anyone help? I am about to just remove Office Outlook program all together.

Title Edited - Please follow the forum rules from now on

-- Martin L

[Connecting to my WPA-PSK network.]

geeze, im not even sure what a MAC address is.

To answer your question, her wireless card is just that, a card that fits into the PC card slot... Cisco makes it. I put in the drivers CD that came with it, and updated the drivers, but it seemed to do no good. Maybe I'll look into their website, because I really dont think it supports WPA. That may be the issue.

I'll do some googling and see what I can come up with.

But thanks, your help is much appreciated. Hope you got that rest you were after.

oops, I should add that she does opperate XP SP2, and I make sure she stays updated on a regular basis (every 2 weeks or less).

[Connecting to my WPA-PSK network.]

Hey guys--

Recently I ran my DSL connection to run a WPA-PSK wireless connection. My laptop detected the network, and I was able to set up a profile to access it.

However, I'm attempting to do the same exact thing with my GF's computer, and while the network is detected, I get the following prompt:

"Unable to connect to the network. The network may no longer be in range."

Now, I know this isnt so because my laptop, right next to hers, picks up the network just fine, excellent, in fact.

How the hell do I set up a new profile here to access an already existing secure connection? I've noticed that when I open the Wireless Network Connections, then click on advanced settings, then the wireless networks tab, followed by attempting to add my network, the network authintacation wont let me enter WPAPSK and the Data Encriyption type wont let me enter TKIP. They only allow, Open/Shared, WEP/Disabled.

Could this be a driver issue with her wireless card?

[monitor your bandwidth via Task Manager]

Very cool.

[XP's firewall logfile.]

Gouki--

Hey, thanks a lot. Just what I was looking for.

cheers--

[XP's firewall logfile.]

Back in the dark ages, I used Norton's AV security, and they provided a firewall. One of the things I liked about it was that it had a log you could access. It included such information as how many hack attempts there were... blah blah blah.

Does XP's firewall include such an option, and if so-- how do I reach it?

Thanks in advance--

[How many Mbps is standard for DSL?]

thanks phatcat, ill check it out.

[How many Mbps is standard for DSL?]

That was a really cool link, with my wireless connection I came in at about 722 kbps for downloads and 132 kbps for upload.

From what I understand, thats actually pretty good for DSL, right?... or not?

[How many Mbps is standard for DSL?]

When I open Network Connections and check the status on my wireless network, next to speed, it reads, 54 Mbps.

How can this be? From what you say, that kinda speed should seem impossible... but it still seems slow to me.

Ethernet reads around 100 Mbps for speed.

[How many Mbps is standard for DSL?]

I'm running at 56 with wireless and about 100 with ethernet....

Is this slow? I've got Verizon's deal. But I gotta wonder if its worth it... isnt dial up like 50 Mbps, or am I wrong here? It really doesnt seem that much faster than my old free dial up connection.

I secured my wireless with WPA-PSK but could somebody still be piggybacking my network?

[Internet Security]

Why not just keep your XP firewall updated and running, then use AVG free. It works good, is not a resource hog like Norton, and is... FREE!

[Just set up wireless, with WPA-PSK encryption.]

Hey guys--

I just set up my first wireless connection in my apartment. The thing with my building is, your laptop will pick up like four or five different unsecure connections at a time. You could piggy-back on to any of these if you wanted. But I wanted a secure connection, so I got my own.

I configured my router for WPA-PSK and then built a profile on my computer. (I followed a tutoral off of Microsoft's website) Now, when I look for wireless networks availible, the half-dozen pop up, with mine, showing up with a big ole lock, saying Secure Wireless Network. You cant get on it without the Pre Set Key.

And while that's great for me. Have I done enough to detour the casual hacker? I know that somebody skilled could do the deed, but for the jokers in my building-- they're not going to be able to get in, right?

thanks--

[Wireless connetion, help required]

This may be way off base, but have you tried to run your command prompt and ping the router to see if youor computer and it are talking?

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

this may actually take awhile. I had installed winmerg on my computer before my vacation... now, it has disapeared without a trace. I dont know where it went or why... weird. I even ran it before, trying to figure it out. It doesnt make any sense... so, I have to get it again.

I did do a system restore, but that shouldnt have effected programs.

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

Zxian--

I'm baaaack. Sorry if I've been negligent, just got back from a vacation. B) I'm going to run this baby and see what turns up. I appreciate your paitence.

Toggling the page file on and off shouldn't harm anything, but it's best to leave it on. Once you start to run low on memory, XP gets very buggy.

Thanks Hyperhacker... so far, no problems, but I dont want to learn the hard way, you know?

[DVD Shrink]

I'm somewhat like you, in that my DVDs never leave my house. If ever I'm going to a friend's place to watch a movie, I'll bring a copy. I've never had problems with DVDShrink not reading any of my DVDs.

My suggestion in general is that if it works, use it. When the day comes that you can't backup a DVD, then start looking for alternatives.

What's your process? Do you first save files to your HD? Or do you just make a back up right then and there?

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

Zxian--

Thanks. I downloaded and installed the newest version of WinMerge. However, (and forgive me for being slow here) I am stuck there.

When I open a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd->Enter) and plug in %systemdrive% I get the same prompt (C:\Documents and Settings...)

Then, if I cut and paste the entire code you offered, it says:

not recognized as an internal or external command.

by the way, just to be sure, Im running Win XP SP2 Home Edition.

Could you walk me through it a little bit... and as far as copying the files for use in WinMerge... do I cut and paste into notepad or word or something?

Thanks--

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

Try using programs like Sequoia or iDisk to try to track down the used hard drive space. Obviously something's changing, so you should be able to find out what's different before and after.

You could also try to make a batch file that compares two files (the directory listing before and after) and prints out the differences. I'll see what I can come up with if you don't know how to do that yourself.

thanks-- I'll google that stuff and try to read up on it. However, I should note, that what you suggest is way out of my league as of yet. Especially the batch file. Hopefully after some more research, I'll know better.

Also- I'm going on vacation for this week, so I may not reply for a while. (Starting the 22nd) I'll make sure to check in if I can. I'm not ignoring you B) and I really appreciate everyone's help.

I'll leave the page file settings (as far as a memory clear) alone for now. Soundz like a real pain in the arse.

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

I've never noticed a change in the amount of free space on my system drive when transferring files to/from CD/DVDs or other digital devices (cameras, digital camcorders, USB keys).

You're saying that each time that files are transferred, the free space on your system drive drops? If you go to transfer another 6-7 GB of video, the free space drops again?

Yeah... exactly. I'll usually compress the 6-7 GB of footage with DVD Shrink.... ending up with, oh, 4.7 GB. If I dont dump the footage to DVD at school, I do it right from the camera onto my PC. (They have us use a lot of footage to learn editing.... plus my job in post production demands it.)

Lets say I'm using the DVD way. I open Shrink, open the DVD and create back-up files onto my external HD. After doing this, there is roughly a GIG taken away from my laptop's free space.

I posted a similar query here awhile ago, and somebody suggested setting the page file "no page file". I did that, and the problem was solved. Consequently, I could not find any temp files or anything that was causing the problem.

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

thanks guys-- (eyeball is a great name, by the way!_HA!)

i doubt this will have any effect... why do you want to disable the page file though?

The reason I disable the page file, is that for some reason, when I'm transfering like 6 or 7 GBs of video from my cd/dvd reader to the external hard-drive (I do this because my vid-editor can use the files faster) there is always like a gig of phantom memory taken up on my C: drive. I cant pin it down, and at the rate I download footage to my external drive, if a gig was consumed each time, I'd have to reformat in a month.

Turning off C:'s paging file and assigning my external drive a paging file takes care of the problem, and my computer runs fine. Only, I have to do this like twice a week and, well, thus the original question.

What do you think?

[[Question] | Frequently changing the Paging File]

Hola--

I'm a TV student that has to work with large GB's of video footage. Uploading them to my external hard-drive was eating up the Gigs on my laptop too... so the solution was setting up a "No Paging File" on my laptop during dumpdowns.

Once the process is complete, I usually reset everything back to normal.

I do this at least twice a week, and was wondering if the frequency inwhich I change my Paging File and reboot my computer may be harming the OS (XP Home SP2) or the hardware.

If somebody has a suggestion besides icing the paging file, that would also be appreciated.

Thanks Everyone--

[Question about DVD write speed.]

Thanks, Zxian:

I picked up a pretty good drive from newegg for around 90 bucks. Totally within my budget, and it'll burn DVD-R/+R and some others at pretty good speeds.

And since it's got a firewire interface, it should run pretty fast too.

I appreciate your advice. Saved me a ton of frustration.

[Question about DVD write speed.]

To answer your question, the second burner only supports writing to DVD+R and DVD+RW. The first one can do both DVD-R and DVD+R. For more information on the two, look here. If you want to play them back on a DVD player, I'd suggest using DVD-R discs.

Finally, I'll add that if you've got a semi-new desktop (3 years old or newer), I'd recommend getting an internal DVD burner. Once installed, it's a lot more convenient. If you need help with installing it, just google for guides. There are plenty out there.

Thanks alot-- looks like I should probably save up a little cash and pick up the more expensive one. So, do most DVD players not play DVD+R? I guess the speed doesnt matter that much to me.

I've got a brand new Dell Inspiron 1200 Notebook... and I dont really want to get an internal drive just yet. Plus, my girlfriend will get some use out of a external drive on her Computer too.

moved to appropriate forum, next time directly post in the appropriate forum

Thanks, Martin. Will do.

[Question about DVD write speed.]

Hey everyone--

I'm in the market for an external DVD-RW/R drive, and I've found two that I like. Only, there is a price difference of about sixty bucks. Here are their specs:

The Higher Priced Drive:

Device Type DVD±RW drive

Enclosure Type External

Interface Hi-Speed USB

Optical Storage 1 x DVD±RW

Read Speed 40x (CD) / 12x (DVD)

Write Speed 40x (CD) / 4x (DVD-R) / 8x (DVD+R)

Rewrite Speed 24x (CD) / 2x (DVD-RW) / 4x (DVD+RW)

and...

The Cheaper Drive:

Device Type DVD+RW drive

Enclosure Type External

Interface Hi-Speed USB

Weight 2.6 lbs

Optical Storage 1 x DVD+RW

Read Speed 32x (CD) / 8x (DVD)

Write Speed 12x (CD) / 2.4x (DVD)

Rewrite Speed 10x (CD) / 2.4x (DVD)

Is the only difference here, the speed inwhich media is read and written? Or, will I not be able to use the cheaper drive with regular DVD's? For instance, if the DVD says 4x:4.7GB:120min or 8x:4.7:120min, will I not be able to use the cheaper one that writes at 2.4x? Or will it be okay, just slower?

(By the way, I'm backing up video that I'll be able to watch on any old DVD player.)

thanks guys--