Terry’s Computer Tips newsletters September 13th
This week’s online newsletter includes:
- How To Organize the Start Menu in Windows 7
It’s easy to add folders to group programs by categories such as games and utilities, or any other way you want… - The Lighter Side of Technology
This week’s computer technology cartoon at Terry’s Computer Tips… - XP Drivers Needed for Older Computer?
A reader needs to reinstall Windows on an old Windows 98 computer he had upgraded to Windows XP… - Followup From Windows 7 Install
Some more tricks and tips about installing Windows 7… - My Security Software Recommendations
My recommendations for anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and anti-spam software…
This week’s email and on-line newsletters are now available:
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Followup From Windows 7 Install
Reading about the ISO burn failures in this article brings to mind a series of failures that I had and the lessons I learned.I was burning files at the default spped of my drives and producec a lot of coasters. I tried various brands of media and even bought a new drive to try to solve the problem. Then whilst browsing one day I solved the problem.
Most ISO file need to be burned at the slowest possible speed, the default speed of most burners is to high for the exacting requirements of intensive data.
I started writing at x2 speed and have never had a failure since, it takes longer initially but saves a lot of time and frustration later.
I have since discovered that Microsoft recommend burning Windows DVDs etc at no more than x2.4.
Perhaps this information might help others to solve their problems
regards
Fred
How To Organize the Start Menu in Windows 7
The Quick Launch Bar can be easily enabled in Win 7 as follows:
1. Right click on a empty space on the taskbar and click on New Tool.
2. In the Folder line, type or copy:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
3. Click on the Select Folder button.
4. You now have a Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar.
By default this appears on the right hand side near the clock but you can place it to the left as follows:
To Have Quick Launch Toolbar on Left Side of Taskbar -
A) Unlock the taskbar.
B) Left click on the dotted lines of the pinned taskbar programs of the left side and hold, then drag it to the right past the Quick Launch toolbar and release.
C) The Quick Launch toolbar is now on the left side of the taskbar.
D) Left click on the dotted lines of these and hold and drag them to make any adjustments to how you want them place on the taskbar. (See screenshot above)
E) Lock the taskbar.
5. To Expand the Quick Launch Toolbar -
A) Unlock the taskbar.
B) Left click on the dotted lines and hold, then drag it to the left or right to adjust to unhide all of the icons. Release the left click when done.
C) Lock the taskbar.
I hope this is useful to someone
I have an even older Dell which I bought for my grand daughter and I have loaded XP to, it is a Dell Latitude CPi A400XT. It originally had 128MB RAM and an 8GB HDD and Windows 98SE.
I managed to upgrade the memory to 256MB which gave me the minimum system requirement for XP.
I then used nLite to strip out a number of unwanted features and finished up with a successful install of XP. But when I checked with the Device Manager there were a couple of drivers needed so I “Googled” heavily and managed to find one of them. The one I couldn’t find I tried the W98SE driver and fortunately it worked okay.
My 9 year old grand daughter is delighted with her computer
Terry –
Read the article about Louis R. Zarowin problem with his Dell and XP.
Maybe I can help indirectly – I have a Dell POptiflex GX240 and still have the original disks that came with it. If Louis would like to have copies of them, let me know. I have the “Windows Reinstall” and “Drivers & Utilities” CDs.
I’m not sure what that would do t0 my registration numbers though (or his for that matter.)
What are your thoughts?
Maybe another of your readers has disks from the same model?
Scott
Terry –
Thanks so much for providing the Start Menu Tip. My Start Menu is now much more organized! As to my 2nd question, when i asked about the Win7 toolbar icons, that’s was what I was concerned about, not the taskbar. In XP the Explorer window had configurable buttons that you could one click to cut, paste, copy. That’s gone in Vista and Win7 and I miss them. Yes, I see the Organize button below the Menu bar, but i want to add icons and configure that bar. Is there a way to bring the icons back or add other icons (i’m not opposed to a registry hack)? Also, has windows added a print directory list functionality yet?
Thx again
Steve
i read How To Organize the Start Menu in Windows 7, nice tips cause yesterday i try to install this OS n failed, now i succed install it, tq my friend
Hi there,
Nice blog, I just found it and I am already a fan.
I read Vol 5 #13 and I also tried dual boots with XP and Vista 64. I gave up and installed HD Drawers and change them for the various Systems. I bit more expensive but a heck of a lot safer. Its also easier to swap a HD than trying to make boot partitions.