Alex James Brown » windows 7

Dell Latitude E5500 – Windows was unable to connect to

Alex — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:12:27 +0000

Having taken delivery of a new E5500, we configured the machine (not that it took much effort, as it came with none of the usual “crap” that is pre-installed") and attempted to connect it to our WiFi in the office.

Every time it returned “Windows was unable to connect to CrocusWiFi”

Our network is nothing out of the ordinary – We use a plain old Belkin F5D7632 router, with WPA2-Personal security, TKIP. Nothing fancy, and plenty of other devices use this without a problem.

A phone call to Dell technical department predictably concluded that it must be our WiFi networks’ fault (not their laptop, of course) despite several devices (including other Dell machines) being successfully connected, without a hitch.

They agreed to replace the unit.

When the replacement unit turned up, the exact same error occurred.
I haven’t had time to dig around trying to find out what the problem is, however I suspect it’s a software issue.

If anyone can shed any light on this, please feel free to comment!

Outlook – Error with PDF Preview Handler for Vista

Alex — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:32:27 +0000

Up until a few moments ago, I was unable to preview PDF files in emails in Outlook using Windows 7 64bit.

The problem is that Adobe have not updated their installer of Adobe PDF reader to allow the correct values to be set in the registry.

However, there is a fix.

I came across this:

http://www.pretentiousname.com/adobe_pdf_x64_fix/index.html

It worked great!

Windows 7 – Sticky Notes

Alex — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:01:33 +0000

This is a sticky note!

This is something I will use all the time!

Windows 7 has a feature called “Sticky Notes” – basically, these little notes are like post it notes – they stick to your desktop!

You can change the colour, resize, move them around etc… So simple, yet so useful!

How to get Messenger to run in the TaskBar in Windows 7

Alex — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:58:59 +0000

After installing the Windows 7 RC, I installed the latest Windows Live Messenger.
After using it, it appears that it does not run in the task bar, as it used to in Vista! This is pretty annoying, as I only keep it open to use now and again.

There is a way around this however… you need to set it to run in Compatibility Mode for Windows Vista.

To do this, first exit Messenger, then locate msnmsgr.exe (in your Program Files directory)
Right click it, select Properties

Choose the Compatibility tab, and select Windows Vista.

Hit ok, and then restart Live Messenger.

It now runs in the notification area!