Ask DACS
March 2009

Moderated and reported by Jim Scheef.

Ask DACS is a question and answer session held at the start of the monthly general meeting. We solicit questions from the floor and by email (AskDACS@dacs.org). Hopefully we find the answers from those present at the meeting.

With the General Meeting canceled due to the bad weather, there was no question and answer to report this month. So we’ll take a look at what’s happening on the DACS Community Forum. The first questions come from the Ask DACS Forum. Then I pulled a question from the Windows SIG Forum (available to DACS members only).

Q: Windows 7 must upgrade from Windows Vista?
I've heard that Windows 7 will only be able to upgrade from Windows Vista and requires purchasing Vista in order to hop from Windows XP to Windows 7. Has anybody else heard this, and is it true?

A: True, Windows 7 apparently doesn't support in place upgrades from Windows XP... From The Register:

But this being Redmond there is a caveat: XP customers have to perform a clean install of Windows 7. This means wiping their computer hard drive’s data first, which doesn’t sound much like an upgrade to us.
Unsurprisingly, the transition from Vista to Windows 7 will be much more straightforward because customers will get an “in-place upgrade” of the OS that should mean their data and programs will remain intact.
“I can confirm that customers will be able to purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 - however, they will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7,” a Microsoft flack confirmed to The Register.
“This requires the user to back up their data, install Windows 7, re-install the programs and restore their data. For PCs running Windows Vista customers have the option of an in-place upgrade of Windows 7 keeping their data and programs intact or to perform a clean install of Windows 7.”

Q: How can I open Outlook Express from FireFox 3/0/4
I would like to know how to open Outlook Express from FireFox. I now have to open Internet Explorer, then open Outlook Express and close Explorer. Is there a way to open OE directly from FireFox.

A: Ignoring why you would ever want to use Outlook Express, I will assume that you are asking how to select the email client that opens when you click a mailto: link on a web page.
If this is so, open Firefox and open options on the Tools menu. Click Applications at the top of the options window. Scroll down the list until you see "mailto:" in the left column. Click that line in the right column; that item will become a dropdown list. You should see Outlook Express in the list. Click that entry. Then click Ok at the bottom and you are done. Find a web page with a mailto: link and test your change.
This is, of course, covered in Firefox help. You can read the entry by clicking "Help Contents" in the Help menu. In the webpage that opens, search for "how to select email client". The first result will be "Changing the e-mail program used by Firefox".
Once you get this working you can consider why you are not using Thunderbird. ;-)

Q: Glue Key Back On Laptop
A key just popped off of my laptop and it looks like it is going to have to take a dab of glue to put it back on.
Is there any particular glue that I should use? Where can I get it?

A: Never mind!
Seems Lenovo is better designed than I thought. It didn't need glue, but rather the key snaps on.

A - I've never seen a keyboard where the keys did not snap on to the switch post. Carefully pulling the keys off makes cleaning possible.

From the Windows SIG Forum:

Q: MS Office 07 and IE-7 slow and unstable
Is there any cure for MS Office 2007 slow performance? If I have other programs open, such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, everything slows to a crawl. Screen re-draw is shaky and only when I close all the Office applications does performance return to normal. Additionally, IE-7 has become sluggish and unstable, freezing and crashing on a regular basis even with cache/cookies deleted. (Only the Google toolbar, no other add-ons.)
Running WinXP SP3, 2.99 GHz,3.25 GB RAM, using 76 of 145 GB HD. System is up-to-date on all Windows & Office updates as well as MacAfee protection. Using a Lynksys router (hard-wired) which - after Lynsksys tech support - improved performance recently, but I doubt that's really related to the above problem.
Any suggestions appreciated!

A: For the multiple replies to this problem, see the Windows SIG Forum. If you’re not already registered there, you can take this opportunity to join the DACS forum.

Questions for the upcoming meeting can be emailed to askdacs@dacs.org.

Disclaimer: Ask DACS questions come from members by email or from the audience attending the general meeting. Answers are suggestions offered by meeting attendees and represent a general consensus of those responding. DACS offers no warrantee as to the correctness of the answers and anyone following these suggestions or answers does so at their own risk. In other words, we could be totally wrong!