Outlook Express Freezing

Norman was finding Outlook Express freezing. It is essential for Outlook Express users to have an anti-virus program, if you haven’t got one download one now! Outlook Express mailboxes have a tendency to get very big, so make sure you delete unwanted mail and regularly clean up your computer.

To help deal with mailbox bloat, Outlook Express has its own clean up tool. Click on tools, options, maintenance and click the clean up now box. If you haven’t done this for a while it could take some time.

Corrupt Excel Files

An inaccessible excel document is causing problems for Diane. The basic things to check is if the file is marked read only or the floppy is locked. If the file itself is corrupt it may be possible to import it into another spreadsheet. There are tools available to recover corrupt excel files including Excel 2002. There are reports Star Office can sometimes fix corrupt MS Office files.

Installing Hardware Drivers

Peter was having trouble with device drivers. When you download drivers they are usually compressed and need to be extracted before you can use them. Some will do this automatically, some need an compression program. When they are extracted, note where they have been extracted. You’ll need to tell the hardware setup program where the files are located.

As usual we had a lot of callers who couldn’t get through. If you’d like to know when we’ll next be answering questions please send us an e-mail. Happy computing.