h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ok, Just upgraded to Windows XP (mainly because of a problem with chuffin MP3 player but hey ho)

At first I couldn't get onto my broadband connection But amazingly, I sorted it by myself I did it without my hootoo technical advisors!

So, the second (less important than broadband but pretty annoying) problem I've occured so far is this...

On my desktop, there are about 272 icons and they're all bunched together so it's difficult to tell whats what. When i had windows 98 (2 hours ago) I could just drag the icons around a bit and they'd stay where i put them, but my XP icons are stubborn buggers When i go to drag them, they back home.

How can I space them out? I've had a look in display poperties n things but can't see anything

ahhhh! I'm gettin good at this! Sorted it, but I may need help later

Well I was goign to say make sure align to grid and auto arrange aren't ticked when you right click the mouse, but you say you've worked it out so I won't.

*Keeps an eye on this thread*

Yep, i de-ticked that and it worked

Clearly you're a genius (but don't let it go to you're head)

returns after many months

Ok, two things have been annoying me since i upgraded.

1st off, Before, when i went to shut down the computer, I'd go to start, shut down etc, then it'd come up on screen "it is safe to turn off". So I'd press the big button on the big box to switch it off.
But now, after "safe to switch off" thing, pressing the big button doesn't work, I have to switch computer off completely at the plug

2nd, sometimes the net doesn't work properly, after being on for say 30 minutes or so, the net is still connected, but doesn't let me open any more pages

Any ideas?

If you see the "Safe to Switch off" thing with XP, you either have an old computer that doesn't support ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) or ACPI is not installed. To turn of from the Front Panel, press and hold the button for about four seconds.

The second question looks like a problem with Windows Explorer. Try clearing out the Internet Temporary Files folder, Cookies and History. You will find them under Documents and Settings under your Log-on Name.

Donald

Donald, I'll try that now.

One more thing that I've only just noticed. I don't use outlook express all that often, it's just where all my Tiscali emails go to, so i just opened up outlook for the first time since i upgraded and It's all empty! Where are all my emails gone?!

I've found a cookies folder, but nothing about history in this directory
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Cookies

I dont use Outlook at all, Express or otherwise so I dont know how to help you with your tiscali problem. However, if its any consolation, it is a common problem - I have heard of other people having the same thing happen. How they solved it I do not know.

If you want some real expert information on Windows XP try the follwoing website. There are some clever people there and they will solve your problem in seconds;

http://computing.net

You will find the necessary folders here:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\History
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Cookies
Good luck

Donald

The Power thing is probably because you still have an AT power supply. (As opposed to the more modern ATX). You may need to do a little rewiring inside your PC to sort that out as the reset button functions differently.

for the link Donald, I've posted a msg there and cleared out a few things in computer, no problems so far

actually AT cases (586s and lower) which XP WOULD NEVER INSTALL ON have a physical power switch which I miss.

alot of it is to do with the APC being disabled in the BIOS or XP doesn't support your motherboard properly.

Down with windows! Down with Lock in!

-- DoctorMO --

Its not that Windows doesn't support the motherboard, its the motherboard that doesn't support ACPI. When ACPI was first introduced there were a few motherboards that didn't implement it properly in the BIOS. Most have been sorted by now.

Windows XP will implement the ACPI facilities properly, but only if it is properly implemented in the BIOS, which is not always the case.

Donald

You would have thought they could have sorted it out by now. but I have seen motherboards that support ACPI, works fine in Linux but Not in windows XP.

This net problem doesn't seem to want to go away After being on for about 30 minutes, the net is still connected, but doesn't let me open any more pages. If i diconnect and shut my browser for a while then it fixes it for a while, but sometimes have to restart to get back on properly

Can't come up with an answer off hand Footy, sorry. What browser are you using, and does it still behave in that way if you use a different one?

I'm using Mozilla Firefox. I'll try Internet Explorer for a bit and test it

Gahhh! Pop ups!!!

Hmm, seems to be running ok for now

I've got another thing though!

I had to reinstall my printer, which is a printer combined with scanner. I've only just got round to trying to scan something and it's not wrking I thought of uninstalling it and reinstalling, but when i went to add/remove programs and tried to delete Epson Software, it says its deleted but I can still see it in the list