PinkPanther

Hello all, I am one of those people (seems like there are fewer and fewer) that absolutely hates skins in software, especially like MusicMatch where all the skins seem to give it a "bubbly" rounded look. Anyway, I have tried other ripping software that does not use skins, but I have not found anything that matches the features in MusicMatch:( So, my question: Does anyone know if it is possible to fully remove the skin from MusicMatch and force it to use the default Windows look? (I have XP set to look like older versions of Windows) Or, as an alternative, does anyone know where I can find a skin that at least simulates the Windows look very closely - that's the Windows 2K look, not the default Windows XP look. Thanks for any help

Hello all, When one first installs Windows XP, it allows for the option of telling the computer to always assume that a certain user is logging in, thus the machine boots without stopping to ask for user information. Can someone please tell me where I reset this setting so the machine will start asking for Login info? Thanks

Thanks for the replies. I don't know if I am missing something here or not, but the procedure described above does not seem to exist in Windows Xp Professional. I DO remember this is excatgly how it was done in Windows 2000, but in XP, the User Accounts control panel applet does not seem to have any options for turning this option on and off. I have also tried the Admin tools, but can't find it there either Maybe I am just blind - hehe

Hi all, In Microsoft Word, I use page layout as my default working view, and there are 4 corners that are visible on the page. They are marking the active area of the page. I have tried everything I can think of to turn these off; in previous versions of Word I was able to have a completely blank "sheet of paper" to work on, no markings on it of any kind. I have checked the border settings, margin settings, etc. but have had no luck figuring out what it is that turns these corners to invisible. I already checked Headers & footers, but no luck there either. Does anyone know what I am describing and how to get a fully blank screen to work on with Word? Thanks P.S. If needed, I can take a screeshot and upload a picture someplace

When you enter an incorrect URL into the address bar, IE displays the MSN auto search page, which is http://autosearch.msn.com I would like to completely eliminate this "feature" since more often than not, the problem with the URL is a simple typo, like using a comma instead of a period. But because the URL listed in the address bar gets changed to the long asp string of the MSN search, I can't just simply click on it and replace my typo. I hope someone knows how I can prevent the autosearch from kicking in at all. Thanks

Thanks so much - as far as I can tell with a few tests, that solution works great

Outlook displays a login screen everytime you try to check email, asking for the user name and password for the email account. Then it INSTANTANEOUSLY fails to validate and keeps asking. Microsoft has a "knowledge base" article describing this problem. According to them, setting the "always use this account" in the connection properties to your dial-up account "fixes" this problem. Sadly, this is not the case. The problem conitues. The infamous login screen displays an advertisement saying "This way to the best of the web" Has anyone out there having this problem found a true, working solution to it? Thanks

ok, I tried it but no luck. Yes, I could ping the pop3 server at MSN, but Express just refuses to actually access the net at all, even when I entered the IP numbers instead of the DNS names. It is NOT trying to connect to the server, it thinks there is no connection. That is the problem Like I said, Microsoft is aware of the problem. MY problem is that their solution is not working, which is to tell Express to use a specific dial-up connection. Oh well - thanks for the help - will continue to look and if I get anything to work, I'll post it here in case others are facing a similar situation. Here is the MS Knowledge Base article on the issue: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q297360

Thanks for the info: I can get my email fine from other machines, so the peoblem is not at the ISP level. Norton is not running or installed. Basically what is happening is that Outlook Express is not actually accessing the net at all, but it thinks it is, thus failing every time. You have to understand that less that half a second goes by before Express asks for the login info again. Like I said, Microsoft has documented this issue. It is not unique at all, and it is a problem with the way Express chooses its connection. Unfortunately, Mocrosoft's solution does not seem to work The computer having problems is a WinXP pro system. Thanks again for the input

Hello, I was wondering if there is any type of paper form with a "carbon" copy backing that can be used on a laser printer. I assume that no such thing exists for inkjets, since all they do is spray ink on the sheet, but since lasers use heat, I thought maybe there was someway to get the text to transfer to a second sheet automatically. Or, is the only way to use such forms is to use pressure based printing, like dot matrix? thanks

Hello all, I need to move my wife's Eudora account/messages over to Outlook 2002, and apparently there is no built-in way of doing this. Outlook supports only version 4.x and lower of Eudora, and Eudora does not even ackoledge Microsoft's existance So, does anyone know of a third-party tool to perfrom the operation? I would like to preserve my wife's folder structure when she makes the move to Outlook. If there is no third-party utility, has anyone found a good way of moving everything over? Primary, I am concerned about the actual messages. Her address book is small enough I can simply re-enter everything into the Outlook contacts folder, but we are dealing with hundreds of messages she needs to keep. Thanks for any help, M

Hi all, I hope I can explain this problem properly. First my system config relevant to the problem: GeForce 4 MX20 video w/ 64MB memory Viewsonic PF790 monitor PIII System (750) Ok, my monitor has started to "jump" on the left edge of the screen. What I mean is that periodically, the edge of the screen on the left side will get a little bigger (wider) and then return to normal. When this happens seems to be completely random; sometimes it only happens once in 2 hours, and sometimes it happens 10 times in 2 minutes. I can not figure out a pattern. The most basic things have, of course, already been checked, and double checked, and triple checked. The latest drivers have been installed (certified AND non-certified), the monitor resolution and refresh rates and color depths have all ben changed several times, and the problem comtinues. Because this started happening suddenly without ANY change of hardware or software, my fear is that the monitor is dieing. I have lost monitors before in some very strange ways, and my previous one seemed to have a similar problem but it was much worse. Does anyone know much about monitors and has a guess as to what can be causing this? Thanks, and of course, I'll be happy to answer any questions about details regarding this problem. PP

Hi, The only thing next to the monitor is a pair of Harman/Kardon speakers (shielded), but I have tried removing them, and this did not help There is no other equipment or odd things around the monitor. Thanks for the replies so far. PP

Hello, I have a 5 computer network at home, and I connect to my ISP via a wireless connection using a Cisco Aironet network card. I need some assistance in getting a STABLE Internet Sharing utility that will allow me to play AC on ALL 5 computers simultaneously. Here are the technical details of my situation and/or problem: 1. Yes, I do have 5 AC accounts, this is not a request for some type of cheat or anything. 2. I have tried Winroute Pro, and I found it to be excellent at sharing my connection with the other network computers. It never once stopped working. However, I do not think it is possible to have 5 different machines access AC at the same time using this software. I had trouble even getting just one to maintain a connection to the AC server(s). 3. I have tried Wingate Pro, and although this WILL allow all the machines to play AC at the same time, I have found Wingate to be terrible when it comes to stability. Even in just regular internet browsing, Wingate stops working at random intervals, and the Wingate engine must be stopped and restarted manually in order to restore connection, which is annoying enough when using the net in a casual way and terribly irritating when playing AC, since it always leads to the characters being booted. Please note my comments on Winroute, so that it should be clear that these troubles are Wingate related and NOT the fault of my ISP or my Cisco card/drivers. Under Winroute the connection is rock solid for months at a time. 3. All computers on the network run NT based operating systems, 3 run Windows 2000 Professional (including the machine with the live connection to my ISP) and 2 run Windows XP Professional. ALL level of users have been tested on the network, and permissions seem to have no effect on the situation. It does not matter if you’re logged in as Admin, guest, or anything in between - parts number 2 and 3 of this post are true under all types of users. 4. Yes, all hardware on ALL the computers have the latest drivers, and both Winroute and Wingate are the latest version available at the manufacturer’s websites. So, does anyone out there have a similar network and successfully plays AC without problems? (I’m not talking about Zone/Turbine based instability here) What internet sharing software is reliable and good for a game like AC? Thanks in advance for any information or suggestions, Michael

Hello, this is what happened ... MusicMatch Jukebox 7 crashed when it had trouble reading one of my music CDs. At this point, I tried the usual approac of bringing up Task Manager and asking it to forcefully end MusicMatch. After about 20 minutes of waiting and countless requests to the task manager to kill the app, I was forced to log off, since MusicMatch was still running and completely hung. I even tried ejecting the offending CD to see if that would allow MusicMatch to shut down, but no luck. Now, I log off and get the Accoutn selection screen. I log back in and MusicMatch is STILL frozen and on my screen, preventing a successful login. Important Note: I did NOT select switch users, which I know saves your windows state for the next time you log back in. I selected a full logoff, which result in a clean login after that, but somehow, MusicMatch remained. Eventually, I hit the hardware reset button and that finally made MusicMatch disappear. So, my question Is there a better tool than Task Manager to TRULY kill an application once it has hung? Thanks for any information and/or advice.

Hi, You need a utility to convert the .bin file to a .iso file. You can try WinISO, for example, which also can directly burn your CD from the .bin file. I personally don't like using it for burning because I have had some problems, but I do use it to convert the file to iso and the use easy CD creator to burn the CD. Running a search on Google for WinISO should easily lead you to their site. Hope that helps.

Davros, I tried both. My first few tries were under the applications tab, after that failed, I tried in the processes tab. Both were unsuccessful

Hello all, Is there any Disk Checker/Fixer software that can actually fix disk errors without rebooting or simply asking me to run chkdsk /f? I have used Norton and Ontrack SystemSuite, and both, when they find a disk error, tell you to run the chkdsk command in Windows to repair it. I am just wondering why they even include Disk Checkers if all they do is to delegate to the one built into the OS. I am looking for a Disk Checker that can check and fix the errors on my drives without me having to reboot at any stage of the process - does such a thing exist? Thanks for the info

Thanks for the replies ... just to clarify, I was not in any way implying that chkdsk does not do its job adequately. I am just very confused as to why companies like Ontrack and Symantec even include a disk "fixer" when all they do is delegate to chkdsk, and I wanted a disk fixer that did the job it CLAIMED it could do - that's all Apparently such a product does not exist, so yes, it's back to the console for me to run chkdsk with its many options. Thanks again, everyone.

Hello, I have another annoyance Anyone know how to prevent the "My Pictures" folder from displaying thumbnails in the common save or open dialogs? NOTE: I know you can set the view for the Windows Explorer, but this does not affect the common dialogs; for example, in Windwos Explorer I can set the view to "List", but if I then try to save an image from the web using any browser, like Opera, and navigate to the "My Pictures" folder, the view there is still thumbnails. I know you can set the view from within the common dialog, but this only affects that immediate instance, so if you try to save a second picture using the browser, the view is right back to Thumbnails even if you had just set it to something else. Also, I know that one solution is to tell the operating system that the "My Pictures" folder is some other folder, thus eliminating this display view from the one called "My Pictures", but this means that some programs, when saving pictures, will default to the "fake" location, forcing me to navigate to my actual folder, thus wasting time. Any ideas?

Hello, Does anyone know how to force Windows Explorer to display folders without ever changing them unless I do? What I mean is this ... I have used the [Tools][Folder Options][View Tab][Apply to All Folders] procedure to set my folders so that they will all display the "List" view. However, from time to time (I have yet to discover a pattern) a new folder will default to either "Tiles" or "Thumbnails" view. Please note: sometimes I create new folders and they indeed follow the rule and default to "List" view, but sometimes they don't. Content does NOT seem to be the cause. I have created new folders and placed images insides, and during my tests, I have gotten all 3 views as default, "List," "Tiles," and "Thumbnails." Anyone know how to maybe kill all the other views? Thanks for any info.

Thanks for the replies thus far. AS I mentioned in the original post, I have already used Norton Disk Doctor, and it fails to correct any errors it finds on the drive used by the Operating system (C: drive 99% of the time). It merely instructs to run chkdsk /f in order to fic the errors. What I am looking for is a disk doctor that can fix erros on ANY hard disk without using chkdsk. If I find one on my own, I will make sure to post the informaiton here. Cheers

Hello everyone, Does anyone know how to force IE to open using a specific window size, or is there a utility that can control this? I run my desktop at 1600x1200, and I do a great deal of web design. I would like to be able to test web pages at specific resolutions without having to reset my desktop just to do it. Thanks for any information

Nope, noy using a Domain at all; I have one machine that has a direct connection to my ISP via a wireless antenna; this machine is 192.168.0.1. The other machines got static IP numbers from 2 to 7 and use the 0.1 machine as the gateway; those are the only settings on the whole network, so I'm all out of ideas Thanks for the reply, by the way.

Ok, let's see if I understand your setup correctly: You have only one computer; this computer has one NIC that gets connected to the Cable Modem, right? Now, I have never used a cable modem, so I do not know if the modem itself get an IP ADDY or not, but IF it does not, then you are correct, and it is your ISP that controls the IP assign to your computer. Unfortunately, most ISP charge much more money if you request a static IP ADDY (some don't even provide this option.) However, there is a simple way to test this: On a home LAN, the machine directly with access to the internet usually uses IP 192.168.0.1, so you can check the following - the worse thing that happens here if this not work is that you lose internet access until you put the setting back the way it was, which is very easy. Go to Start/Settings/Network Connections and right-click on your NIC and choose Properties. Find TCP/IP from your list of protocols and double-click on it. Right now, it should be set to Obtain IP automatically; change this to Use the following IP address and enter the following: IP Address: 192.168.0.2 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1 Preferred DNS: 192.168.0.1 Alternate DNS: Leave Blank Click ok all the way out of these screens; when you have closed everything, your NIC will be using the new address, so check if you have Internet access or not. If yes, then you are set, if not, then it means your cable modem does not get an IP address and your NIC needs to get it from the ISP, so just go back and set both the IP and DNS options back to Obtain Automatically. Hope this helps,