USEFUL OUTLOOK TIP..

Now here's a strange thing. And a problem. And a solution to the problem.

All in one blog post.

Can't be bad?

I use Outlook to collect my work emails like a lot of people. Today I created a message and saved it to the draft folder as I wasn't sure I wanted to send it (it was a rant!).

Then I carried on working. Something went wrong and I had to restart my PC.

When I loaded up Outlook all was ok and I was happily receiving and sending out mail. However, when I clicked on the 'Drafts' folder where the saved message was it froze Outlook.

The only way out was to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and force the Outlook process to end. It did the next time. And the next time.

Stuck in a loop (even after another reboot) I didn't want to not have access to the drafts folder. I often save messages down to calm off and then decide whether to send them or not!

A solution was found. If you are ever in the same pickle you need to know it (if not stop reading now obviously, but remember where you saw this issue last!).

The solution is to start Outlook in safe mode. By that I mean
go to the start menu (bottom left)
select Run...
type "outlook.exe /safe" (without the quote marks!)

Then you should be able to navigate to the offending folder and delete the offending message. Don't forget to then go to the 'Deleted Items' folder and delete it a second time - if you don't it is likely that next time you go to the deleted items folder to clean out your system Outlook will crash once again.

Solution disseminated. Good deed done for the day. I'm off to the pub.
 

WINDOWS 7...

Slowly getting there with Windows 7 that all our new workstations have.  I was looking forward to an all new 64-bit operating system that would whizz along and cause little problem. We bought and installed massive graphics cards, the machines had 6 Gb memory and quad-core CPUs.  Real monsters.

..but then the machines arrived.

To be fair, it's not been all that bad.  The updating process worked a little odd.  A few times the machines seemed to hang on the Windows logo when they were started up? A hard reset was needed by pushing the on-off button and holding.  Next time the machine would boot ok after checking the hard drive for error. Odd but not critical.

One of the main issues we had was that the graphics look and feel was poor for our use.  We are power users and want to simply get to the files we use rather than see all the animations and whizzy Aero interface that Windows 7 ships with as standard.  So switching off Aero and choosing Windows Standard is always going to give you a better performance however much RAM and however good your graphics cards are.  I'd recommend it, it gave us back oodles of RAM!

The Windows 7 OS seems to run a whole heap of services that most will never need though.  It's here that the main speed and performance tuning can be done.  So, here's a list - for our sakes as well as yours - of all the services that are probably unnecessary in Windows 7.  The choice is whether to DISABLE or switch the service to MANUAL (hence it is not run on Windows start-up). Your choice.  afely set to Manual or Disabled.


It is more safe to set Windows 7 services to manual rather than disabling them - some times windows may needs a service due to a new install or something new that you are attempting to do.  It can start it by itself only if it is set to MANUAL. If you disable the service altogether Windows 7 cannot start it.

1. Application Experience
2. Computer Browser (If your PC is at home & does not connect to a network)
3. Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (If you don’t want the aero effects)
4. Diagnostic Policy Service
5. Distributed Link Tracking Client
6. IP Helper
   
7. Offline Files
8. Portable Device Enumerator Service
9. Print Spooler (If you do not use a printer)
10. Protected Storage
11. Remote Registry (You can safely disable it for more Security)
12. Secondary Logon
13. Security Center
14. Server (Mainly home users - where PC does not connect to a network)
15. Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC!)
16. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
    
17. Themes ( If you want Aero and good visual appearence (classic theme will be applied))
18. Windows Error Reporting Service
19. Windows Media Center Service Launcher
20. Windows Search (If you rarely use Windows Search feature )

Go ahead, experiment. Do try and remember which service you are switching and test each one as you step through.  That way, no harm can come your way.