Replies

Thanks for all the help – I’ll research these and hopefully report back positively.

Thanks – tried that. My contacts folder now comes up as the first to be checked when the address book is invoked, but despite designating my own entry in the Contacts list for vcrd use in an autosignature, it must by default still go to the GAB. I can manually add the vcard from my contat list for each e-mail, but that is somewhat defeating the purpose, I think.

It may be that I’ll have to buy some flowers for the administrators and have them put more info in my GAB entry.

Sorry for the delayed respone – I was away on the road, and my dialup connection didn’t encourage long browser sessions.

BigAlDoc – thanks for the advice – I may try that.

As I only have an administrator’s account just now, every software load is coming through that access.

At present, I have an operating computer and my wife and I have e-mail, etc. Being previously well-exposed to Murphy and his law, my initial (Luddite) iontention is to leave well enough alone. Perhaps |I’ll work up the courage to do what BigAlDoc suggests. More to follow.

Gosh – my simple (simplistic…?) question has all the gurus posting furiously.

My dilemma remains. I’ve reloaded various software programs, using their builtin setups – Office 97 among other newer ones. I follow all their default setup suggestions re: folders, icons, etc, which has served well in the past – including my first install of XP Home.

I still can see only some of these programs in other than the default administrator user profile – now called Zulu (Thanks BigAlDoc – although I’m leaning to Omega or something equally final at this point.)

I find also that Drive Image requires more than a little computer knowledge to have it do its job properly, and I fear that I’m stumbling badly in some of its settings for imaging the base hard drive.

Nevertheless, I have basic computing services back, I’m backed up six ways from Sunday, and I will dream of MicroSoft in my nightmares.

I have indeed imaged the main hard drive to the secondary internal hard drive. I had just thought there might be some merit in having it on standalone (bootable?) external storage media like a CD-R.

My burner is in fact connected through the LPT port via a switch box which also has the scanner and older laser printer coming through it – should this change things with respect to DOS visibility?

According to their FAQ, any CD burner faster burning at 8X or faster is okay, which I have.

It’s been a while since I struggled with DOS commands – is there a quick way to see if DOS sees the burner – a dir command or something equally arcane?

Office doesn’t show in the menu which comes up under the Programs button in the bottom left. It’s a bit bizarre, as other software does indeed show both in the program list and as icons on the desktop in both the user accounts I’d set up.

Again much thanks, I’ve found two fo your posts which give me details on creating an MD DOS startup disk, and a link to MS Help for creating an xp startup disk. I also searched MS Help and found the (simple, duh!) guidance for creating a password recovery disk.

I’m going to get my computer from the hospital now, willthen don surgical gloves, and see if I can get up and running again without more exscitement.

Thanks to you Big Al, Joe, and Dave A among many others for, as always, useful advice.

I cannot answer this post on the grounds that my answer may incriminate me….

Thanks Joe – after I take out a second mortagage to get my computer back, I’ll cash in my empties and look for a decent backup solution – Drive Image seems to be quite popular.

Thanks very much – precisely what I was looking for.

The three disks you mention I will search out in the Lounge and in the MS help site – I do recall having seen mention of them, however if I run into trouble, I hope I can call on you for more advice? – best given to me in words no bigger than two syllables…..

Thanks very much, Joe, I couldn’t locate an actual ME CD, because I thought I’d throqn it out gleefully, In fact, ME is on the Compaq Recovery disk which came with my machine originally.

I’ve given the whole kit over to a computer service centre, and should have it back today to resume my home connected life.

Now I just have to get into the proper backku-up discipline – I understand XP can make this quite simple. I shall see.

Thanks for the suggestions – I had a horrible premonition that re-installation would be the solution, but was trying my best to avoid thinking about it too hard.

I suddenly seem to be in the same boat as the lengthy problem described by Dr. Jellyboat.

I’ve had XP Home installed since last year and have been impressed with its stability and robustness.

We suffer occasional power outages here – in the summer storm season, in the winter storm season and, it seems, in most seasons in between…

All earlier ones required only a reboot and I was back in business. However, we had another outage yesterday, and the machine has gone into the loop described by the first post in this thread.

I can’t seem to be able to boot in any of the less than full modes – safe mode seems to list a number of system files and then lock up. If I put my XP home CD back in, the Repari module won’t load, the upgrade module insists I’m not entitled to upgrade ( I had previously installed XP by upgrading quite legitimately from the accursed Windows ME) and a new install calls for an Administrator’s password which I have never created. Hitting enter is not accepted.

Any suggestions what the password might be – my user name, for example?

I’ve seached the Lounge and the MS knowledge base, and some not very relevant tips suggest I must be logged on first to make any subsequent changes, and of course I can’t get to even that stage.

Any advice for a forlorn out-in-the-computer-cold guy?

Certainly, resize it to the dimensions you want, but exit using theFile/Close or Exit command, not the X in the upper right corner.