Tech Panel:  Charlie Le Ber, Tom Rosebush, Janice Zerafa and Joan Wild
Moderated by:  George Chandler

  1. A member has a DOS program he wants to up date. How can he do this with Windows 7 or Vista?
      2. Click on start, All Programs, Accessories, Command prompt and enter the DOS command.
      You can also download free Virtual pc.
      NOTE: Not all DOS commands will be available.

  2. How do you change your screen to a larger type face and picture in your browser?
    • Hold down control key and scroll the mouse wheel towards you. OR
      Right click on your desktop, choose Properties and Settings, and Advanced. On DPI setting choose 125%. Click Apply and OK.
      Suggestion by an ophthalmologist : Make your font larger by at least 125%. If you are online for more than 20 minutes,take breaks away from the screen.

  3. How do we get Favourites tool bar up in IE?
    • Do a right click on an empty spot to the right of the tabs and check or uncheck the tool bars you want. If you uncheck the Menu bar you can bring it back by pressing the Alt key.

  4. How to Set Display Resolutions?
    • For photos you need to keep the resolution at the original set resolution, usually the highest, but it can be changed for reading websites etc.
      Make sure you mark down what the resolution old numbers are if you change them.
      Change by right clicking on the desktop, choosing Properties, click settings, and move the slider.
      Click Apply and OK. Be careful going to "Less" as you may have difficulty with clicking on buttons that you will not see.
      Try going to "More" first. Windows 7 has a place to change your font at top right of the screen

  5. A member cannot copy to a DVD on her computer, but can copy things onto a CD. Why?
    • It could be the drive not a DVD writer. You can buy an external DVD writer that plugs into your USB ports.
      You might be able to find out if you have a DVD writer by going to Computer, right click on the DVD, choose Properties and then choose Hardware.
      You should see RW if it can write.
      AShampoo Burning Studio, which is on our club memory stick, is an excellent DVD writer.

  6. How can I be sure that my VISTA can upgrade to Windows 7?
    • Use Windows 7 Upgrade advisor to make sure you can do the upgrade. Have all your printers and scanners etc operational. Go to Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

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  7. A member wants to copy an error message that appears as she is closing down Windows. The copy will help others to find the problem.

    • The best thing to try is to take a digital picture of the screen without the flash and print that.

  8. A member bought a new external drive,used it briefly, then it crashed and froze while doing a back up. The member is unable to get it working again.
    Can you reformat an external drive?
    • Not if you can't open it. The panel suggested he take the drive back, as it is only three months old.

  9. A member uses Windows XP and Firefox. When trying to download an update, an error message appears: "not enough memory"
    • The computer may need more RAM or more hard drive space. For XP you need at least 1GB RAM. Your hard drive needs 20% free space.
      Go to Control Panel, System, General, and see how much RAM is there. The cost to get more os low.
      Also, click Start, run, then type in 'msconfig' to see what programs you are starting.
      Uncheck programs you don't need to have running every time you start your computer. All you really need running are the anti-virus & 2 anti-malware programs./li>

  10. A member has 1 1/2 year old HP computer, uses Vista and has 3GB RAM. She is trying to back up and its very slow. She is backing up to D Drive
    • It is not a good idea to backup to D drive. The D drive is most often a partition of the hard drive and is used as a repair drive. It should never be written on.
      Back up to a DVD or an external hard drive, using Karen's Replicator or an image backup with Acronis.
      If you are backing up your files to the recovery drive (D:/), you will continue to get warnings about the low drive space on the recovery drive.
      You can open Windows Explorer and delete the files you backed up to the D:/ drive. Be careful not to delete any other files there.)
      Once you free up the space, you won't get the warnings any longer. In future do not backup your files to the recovery drive (D:/)

  11. MSN problem: A pop up keeps coming on to suggest buying an upgrade. The member clicks it off but it keeps coming up when he checks his hotmail. How to stop this?
    • Right click the msnmsgr.exe and select properties.
      Goto compatibility and tick the "Run this program in compatibility mode".
      Set it to Windows 2000. Press OK.

Hackers can now figure out pin numbers on the new Credit cards so beware. It is suggested we not use birthdates as passwords, because there is a program that can find them.

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