Thanks, Mike

Dear Mike,

I think it is a great idea to back up your files and do a clean install of Windows. HP makes this fairly easy to do, especially if you created the recovery disks when the computer was new.

Saving your favorites is easy, and saving the email is not much harder. Lets start with the favorites.

1. Insert your flash drive into a USB port, and click on “Open folder to view files” in the menu that appears.

2. Click on Start, then click on your username at the top of the right column in the start menu.

3. Arrange the two folders so that you can see both of them at the same time.

4. Drag the “Favorites” folder from your user folder, to the flash drive folder.

Once you have reformated the computer, just repeat the steps above, only drag the favorites folder from the flash drive to your user folder.

Now for the Live Mail messages.

1. Again, insert the flash drive into a USB port and click “Open Folder to View Files” in the menu that appears. Drag that window to one side of your desktop.

2. To figure out where Windows Live Mail stores the messages, open the program, and click on the tab to the left of the “Home” tab.

3. Point to “Options” in the drop down menu, then click on “Mail” in the sub menu.

4. Click on the “Advanced” tab in the Options window, then click on the “Maintenance…” button, and finally the “Store Folder…” button.

5. Highlight and copy the location of your mail files in the “Store Location” dialog box, and click the “Cancel” button to close the window. Close all of the Windows Live Mail windows.

6. Click on the “start” button and paste the location in the search box and tap the “enter” key. A window will open with all your mail files.

7. Drag the mail files and folders into the flash drive window.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Is there a way to set this preference? Amy

Dear Amy,

Yes, there is a way to set the default view to “Details” or any of the other viewing options. Here is how to do that in Windows 7.

1. Open any folder on your computer, and make sure the view is set the way you want it. In this case, we are using “Details”, which is my favorite view as well.

2. Click on the “Organize” tab in the command bar, and click on “Folder and Search Options” in the drop down menu.

3. Click on the “View” tab in the folder options dialog box.

4. Click on the “Apply to Folders” button in the “Folder views” section.

5. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box to save your changes and close the window.

The same directions should work for Windows Vista.
Windows XP is similar, just click on “Tools” in the menu bar, then click on “Folder Options”.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Pete

Dear Pete,

I am glad to hear that you have been backing up the files! So many people mean to backup, but never get around to it.

You will have to reinstall all her programs. The only way a backup would save you from having to reinstall programs would be if it was a full hard drive image, and you were putting the image back on the exact same computer.

Since you are transferring her files to a new computer, you will need to install the programs. While most of your programs should work in the new Windows 7 computer, some of them might need an upgraded version, and if your printer is as old as the XP computer, you might have to get yourself a new printer.

Once you have installed your programs, just access your backup files (you didn’t mention what kind of backup it is, so I can’t tell you how to access them) and copy the documents, pictures, music and other data folders to the new computer.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Thank you for your reply, Tony

Dear Tony,

I do recommend installing the Windows 7 service pack. Here is why.

All Windows service packs are just collections of updates that have been released over time. Since the updates have been available, they are already known to be stable. You want to make sure you have all the updates because many of them were released to make your computer more secure. If you missed an update or two along the way, you might be vulnerable to malware.

Before you do the update, be sure to create a restore point. That way, if your computer has any problems, you can restore it to the time just before the update.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

How can I do this? Thank you, Glee

Dear Glee,

Windows 7 introduced the concept of libraries for file management, but it can be confusing to get used to.

The thing that you need to understand is that a library is not a folder. It is more like a set of search results.

My guess is that your desktop is included in your pictures library. All you have to do is remove the desktop folder from your pictures library. Here is how:

1. Click on “Start” and then click on “Pictures”.

2. In the Pictures Library window, it will say how many locations are included. Click on the blue word “Locations”.

3. A smaller dialog box will open showing you the different folders that are included in your pictures library. Click on your desktop folder, then click on the “Remove” button on the right.

4. Click the “OK” button to save your changes and close the window.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Thanks, Jdoby

Dear Jdoby,

There are several reasons why the hibernate command might not be available to you.

If your computer hardware does not support hibernate, it will not be displayed on the shut down menu.

The Hiberfil.sys file, which Windows uses to store data in the RAM when it hibernates might be missing. It seems that some programs that “clean out” your computer can delete that file to create more free space on your hard drive.

The sleep and/or hibernate functions might be turned off in the BIOS of your computer.

The Hybrid Sleep feature is turned on: The Hybrid Sleep feature puts the computer to sleep and generates a hibernation file when the user selects the Sleep option in any of the power option menus. Therefore, Hibernate is not offered as a power option when Hybrid Sleep is enabled, since sleep does the same thing.

There is not enough free space on the hard drive: You need to have as much free space on the hard drive as you have RAM space. This is because all the contents of RAM are stored on the hard drive during hibernation.

Elizabeth

Thanks so much, Morley

Dear Morley,

You can add many things to the “Send To” menu in Windows 7. Here is how:

1. Click on “Start” and type the following in the search box:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

I would suggest that you copy the text above and paste it into the search box.

2. Once the text is in the search box, press the “enter” key on your keyboard.

3. A window will open with shortcuts to the items that are already in your “SendTo” menu.

4. Keep this window open, and go back to your start menu. Click on “Start”, then, “All Programs” and “Accessories”.

5. You will see a link to Notepad. Using your RIGHT mouse button, drag the Notepad shortcut to the open “SendTo” window.

6. When you release the right mouse button, a context menu will appear. Click on “Copy Here”.

Elizabeth

HELP!! David

Dear David,

I did a little research and found that Microsoft Picture It! Publishing Platinum was released in 2000 thru 2002, so your program is roughly 10 years old. That means there is a pretty good chance that it is just not compatible with Windows 7. You can check compatibility online at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

I found that most versions of Picture It! are not compatible with Windows 7, but there are a couple of versions that have an upgrade available that you can download that will make it work.

If your version is not compatible, you have a couple of options, available to you, all of them will cost money though.

If you absolutely must continue to run this version of Publishing Platinum, you should be able to run it in Windows XP mode on your Windows 7 computer. The catch here is that you must have the professional or Ultimate version of Windows 7. The home versions don’t come with the Virtual XP program.

You can purchase the current desktop publishing program available from Microsoft, Publisher 2010. According to Microsoft on their website, you can download a filter that will allow you to import files created in Picture It.

If you don’t need to import your old files, but just want an affordable and easy to use desktop publishing program, I would suggest that you try PagePlus from Serif Software.

I have used PagePlus for many years now, and the company is great at keeping the software up to date.

I hope one of these options works for you.

Elizabeth

Thank you so much for being there for all of us, Pam

Dear Pam,

I am going to assume a couple of things about your recipe files. First, I am guessing that you have them saved in either a text file, or a Word Document. Second, since you have so many recipes, I’m guessing that you don’t want to copy and paste (or retype) them into another program.

Since your laptop is new, it is safe to guess that you are using Windows 7, which has a great search function. As long as your recipes are in text files, or some type of word processing document, it should be fairly easy to search through them using Windows 7.

Put your USB stick in the computer, and open a window to view the files.

look in the upper-right corner of the window, just below the minimize, maximize and close buttons and you will see a search box.

Type the ingredient you are looking for in the search box and wait a few seconds.

Windows will automatically search through the files in that folder, and show you a list of results. Not only will it display the file name, but also short snippets of the text inside the file that contains your search term.

I hope this helps you keep track of your recipes.

Elizabeth

I have a Dell pc, Vista Home premium system. My question or problem is:

Thanks in advance.
A long time subscriber,
Cheryl

__–__

Dear Cheryl,

One of the new features of Windows Vista was a toolbar that changes depending on what the contents of the folder are. The way it is supposed to work, is that if a folder contains pictures the toolbar has commands for working with pictures. If a folder contains contacts, the toolbar should have commands for working with contacts. It is a good feature… when it works. Unfortunately, Vista seems to have a habit of forgetting what kind of content it is working with. This seems to be a somewhat common problem with windows Vista. I have not seen it as much in Windows 7.

Fortunately, you can change the settings for the folder back to the correct type. Here is how:

1. Click on “Start”.
2. Click on your user name at the top of the right column.
3. A window will open that contains all of your user folders. Your Contacts folder will be in this window.
4. Right click on your “Contacts” folder, and click on “Properties” in the context menu.
5. The Properties dialog box will open. Click on the “Customize” tab.
6. The top section under the “Customize” tab asks you what kind of folder you want.
7. Click on the drop down list and click to select “Contacts”.
8. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of the window to save your changes and close the dialog box.

These directions will work in Windows 7 as well, but the available options are only Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos.

Elizabeth