Friend needs help after computer 'repairs'.

A friend in Melbourne has had her computer worked on and things have been changed and/or updated that drive her nuts.

1 - Outlook Express 2007 has lost its English spellcheck. There are third party programs available, but I have no idea which to recommend. Suggestions?

2 - Still with OE, the stationery she downloaded from MS a few years ago seems to have been erased or otherwise rendered unavailable.

3 - Her taskbar has shrunk to the point of being useless. My friend's a lady in her sixties and her eyesight isn't what it was - her idea of small is probably my idea of normal, but if anyone can help, she and I would appreciate it.

If there's any more information that might help getting answers, let me know. (The make of the computer is Leading Edge, which is just a large retail chain for computers.)

Thanks in advance.

 

1. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932974
possibly this http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/spellcheck.htm
You did not mention what version of Windows.

2. I've never used OE so I can offer no help with stationary.

3. Drag the taskbar by the top edge and it will double in size, provided it isn't locked.
First have her right click a blank space on the taskbar and be sure Lock the taskbar is not checked/ticked. Once it is unlocked, she can drag the top edge upword.

Also (I'm in my 60s and appreciate the larger display), have her right click a blank area of the desktop and post what screen resolution she is using. I don't use the default for my monitor size because it is too small for me.

Once we know the size, we might be able to get her a larger view for everything.

 

Here's a link to a free stand-alone SpellChecker for OE. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2952

I have it but don't use it much because I have webmail and have a build-in spell checker. It's pretty good though.

That's about all that I can suggest to you, having no answer for your other queries.

 

Thanks for both of these suggestions.
Elizabeth was freaked out by the splash page for the spell-checker and canceled the install, but I managed to persuade her to try again.
No luck with the stationery but we did solve the resolution and task bar issues.
I passed along suggestions about cleaning out junk files with CCleaner and backing up regularly as well. I was surprised her repairman hadn't suggested these; Elizabeth had never heard of CCleaner.

 

Bill, this same lady once had a tech tell her that she had to buy a new hard drive because the old one was full. I wonder how these guys can look in the mirror to shave sometimes.

 

Well, HDD's tend to fill up just from one's stuff which any cleaner won' t remove to give back some small fraction of the total available which will anyways get filled back up with normal use.

When I'm at %80 full, I buy a new one, like the 1TB that I just got and over time it will get full too, usually a lot faster than I would imagine.:eek

 

You should also get her to defrag her drive also, I use Iobit...

http://majorgeeks.com/IObit_SmartDefrag_d5318.html

it is an excellent tool, easy to use, free, and automaticly defrags,no need to interfere with settings, will keep the drive nice and orderly, running smoothly.
There is also a good run through of basic maintanace here also.....

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=106650

iain.t :major

 

Augie - When the HDD is full, is it still possible to copy files to a stick or disk? What irked me was the tech's attitude of 'Buy the drive' without suggesting alternatives.

Ian - thanks, I hadn't thought of defragging. I'll pass that along too.

 

Absolutely! That's what I do, 4.5GB/DVD can be offloaded for each one. However, HDD's are quite cheap these days so that would be the easiest way to go as one will still have everything there and not have to go searching for the discs which can be a pain if one is not organized, same with sticks.

A defrag is OK for extra speed if one adds/deletes a lot of programs and/or files but will not give one some significant extra space.

 

Some people may not know that when something is deleted it generally goes to the Recycle Bin, unless it's too large or the Bin is already at it's maximum limit.
So all of that space is still occupied.

CCleaner will handle those type of issues.

Lowering the amount of disk space allocated to System Restore could also free a significant amount of space.

Rather than replacing the hard drive, a better solution could be installing a second internal drive,
if the power supply will support that.

More savvy users might use a compression program like 7-Zip, PeaZip, Izarc, etc. to compress
files or folders that are rarely used.

 

mjnc I was surprised that Elizabeth hadn't heard of CCleaner. I'm guessing that she'll find an awful lot of old rubbish that she can delete.

 

Might also, if a desktop, install a second drive as slave and use it for storage. Clear out space on the C drive that way.

 

This drives me crazy, but we have a couple users in our sheriff office that uses the following:

 

There's no such thing as Outlook Express 2007. The last version of Outlook Express is version 6. Outlook Express is not available in Windows Vista or Windows 7. So, I presume she's using Windows XP.

Regarding stationery, did you look to see which ones are available in her Outlook Express?

 

I think you are right that the OS is XP. Can't find the email from her right now.
Not sure where she should look in her Outlook Express.

 

Here's a reference on using stationery in OE: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/171245

 

If she has never used CCleaner, you shoud CAUTION her about possibly cleaning Too Much.

Have her look over ALL of the selections Before cleaning, particularly those under Windows Explorer:

• Recent documents
• Other explorer MRUs

as well as the Browsers on the Applications tab

• Internet HISTORY
• Saved Passwords

Is there an Echo in here in here in here?? rolleyes LOL :-D
Sorry - all in Fun.

 

Excuse me for not wearing my glasses.

to Gregoryno6:
How do you know you're in a fun place?

A: The Sergeants get flip with the Majors. :-D:-D