Experts in Windows Operating Systems, Windows Networks & PC Hardware

Helpdesk Options:

More Information:

This service is

aimed at:-

Private individuals having difficulties

with their home computers,
We cover all Microsoft desktop and server operating systems,
 

Corporate IT departments struggling to crack a tough network problem

  
plus all PC, laptop, server and network hardware.

and everyone else in between.
Nice things people have said about us
We're based in the UK and operate worldwide.
Helpdesk Stories

If you've got a computer problem and need it fixing fast, we've got to be your best bet!

 

Get Registered!

Why Do I Need to Register?
  

If you're a UK company and would prefer a closer network support arrangement click here
Everyone hates filling in forms so why are you making me do this?

In exchange for telling us your name, street address, email address, and phone number we'll drop our requirement for payment up front. This allows you to contact us straightaway whenever you need to and we can start working on your problem without delay.

We will call registered users for free for troubleshooting sessions over the phone - this applies to registered users in the UK, Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand - more details here.

Registering with us breaks the ice and let's you know what to expect from us and what the costs will be.

Won't registering just open up a new avenue for more spam?

Absolutely not! Read our Privacy Policy.

If I register does this mean I can't use the Free Help via Email anymore?

You can still choose to use the free or paid for email service. We'll know which one you want by the email address you send your problem to.

It costs nothing to register.

It costs nothing to stay registered, even if you never use the service.

You can  unregister at any time.

 

If you don't want to register you're still welcome to use our Free Help via Email and Computer Help Over Instant Messaging options and a limited version of our Helpdesk service is available to you - details here.
How To Register
Individuals

The registration process is not yet automated so may take a couple of hours to complete.

 

If you're desperate we can process your application over the phone.

 

 
Step 1 Send an email to helpdesk@rhebus.com with Register as the subject.

In the body of the email state:

Your name,
Your street address,
Your phone number,
Your email address, (if you have multiple addresses list all those you're likely to use to contact us.)
Step 2 We send you your registration number.
Step 3 Reply to this email and you're done.
 
UK Companies and Institutions

 

 

 

 

Our fax number is:-

0870 0940102

The email address to use is:- helpdesk@rhebus,com

 
Step 1 Send us a letter as a Fax or email attachment on you company headed paper requesting to register for the Helpdesk. List the names, phones numbers, email addresses and position in the company of anyone who is authorised to contact the Helpdesk.
Step 2 We send you your registration number.
Step 3 Reply to this email and you're done.
 

How Do I Pay?

The Majority of Customers

After successfully completing a Helpdesk service option we'll email you details of how to make payment which you should do within 7 days. You can pay by creditcard, debitcard or personal cheque.

Account Customers

At the end of each calendar month, if you've used any of our services, we'll send you an invoice for the total charges. You can pay the invoice by the most convenient means: cheque, creditcard, debitcard or electronic funds transfer.

How do I become an Account Customer?

UK companies and institutions are automatically account customers.

We'll also offer the account facility to overseas companies and any individual who uses our services regularly and has a good payment record.

What if I don't pay?

We'll send you some reminder emails and perhaps a phone call to see if there's some problem.

Customers with outstanding balances will not be able to take advantage of the Helpdesk service.

How do you know when to send an invoice?

Often we give Helpdesk customers some advice or instructions and don't hear back from them. No problem, in all such cases we assume our advice has worked and just send out the invoice. (It's more important to tell us when our advice hasn't worked and, if such is the case, why you can't continue with the fault-finding process.)

If we're in the middle of investigating your problem and you discover its cause by yourself we consider that we've been the catalyst in fixing the problem and send out the invoice.

 

The Helpdesk Options

Choose the option best suited to the complexity of the problem you have, your own knowledge and skills with computers, and the urgency of the problem.
  Email For simple, less urgent problems, or if you just need information, advice or instructions.
  30 minute phone call For problems you want sorting out right now and think are not too complicated.
  Guaranteed Diagnosis For everything else.
Guaranteed Diagnosis

This is where we use whatever methods are appropriate, telephone, email, remote control to get to the bottom of your problem and if possible fix it. There are no time limits.

What We Guarantee

To find the cause of your problem. Although we also try our best, and in most cases succeed, we stop short of guaranteeing to fix the problem because, in some circumstances, this is beyond our control. Here are 3 examples:-

  

We charge £39

for problems with:
Stand-alone PCs

Workstations
Laptops &

Home Networks

We charge £59

for problems with:
Servers &

Business Networks

 
1 - A hardware component is faulty but you want to hold off buying a replacement.
2 - The fault lies somewhere neither of us has access to - in a router, at your ISP or somewhere on the Internet.
3 - There simply is no solution to your problem!
   
The 30 Minute Phone Call
Over-the-phone fault-finding works more quickly than email exchanges.

A lot of ground can be covered in 30 minutes on the other hand, with a relative computer novice, it can be wasted explaining how to find the icon for Windows Explorer and trying to navigate around the hard drive. Just how much can realistically be achieved in 30 minutes is therefore determined by how efficiently you can work your end of the fault-finding process as much as it is by our diagnostic skills.

What we Guarantee

To have made substantial progress
The 30 minutes call be split between several calls, within a 24 hour period, allowing you to try things out on your own  in between calls.

If the problem's not fixed after 30 minutes, what next?

We charge £19.50

for a 30 minute phone consultation plus we'll call you for free.
1 - If we've broken the back of the problem you might be able to finish off on your own.
2 - We can continue working on the problem using email only for no extra charge.
3 - You can upgrade to the Guaranteed Diagnosis option so we can just carry on with no time limits.
4 - If no progress has been made we can just give up with no charge.
     
Exchanges of Emails

Emails allow us to give a more considered response and perhaps include some well crafted paragraphs or instruction sheets from a library of previous responses given for similar problems.

We make it a point to carefully read your emails to make sure we understand exactly what your problem is.

We often include links to other resources we know about on the Internet, especially if they include helpful graphics but we avoid sending replies that are all links with no substance.

There's no limit to the number of email replies we'll send for any particular problem.

We regularly check for emails and always try to reply promptly.

What we Guarantee
To successfully diagnose your problem,

To provide instructions for what you need to do,

To supply the information you require, or

To give our best advice.

The Too-Hard-Basket
Because of the guarantees we offer, usually to find the cause of your problem or there's no charge, we always reserve the option to give up without, of course, charging you for the time we've already spent. We hate the thought of quitting but sometimes we run out of ideas, the problem drifts off into an area we know little about or there's some sort of communication difficulty.

With our Helpdesk Service we are trying to push back the boundaries of what can be achieved by remote fault-finding but some problems still lie outside it's capability. There comes a point when a computer's behaving so weirdly you know you'll never really be able to trust it again and there's no way back except to install the operating system from scratch.

 

We charge £7.50

per problem

 

Approximate US$ and Euro equivalent amounts:
  £7.50 = $13 = €11

£19.50 = $35 = €29

     £39 = $70 = €57
     £59 = $106 = €86


Click here for up-to-date exchange rates


All creditcards will be charged only the £7.50, £19.50, £39 or £59  fee however, for creditcards issued outside the UK, the exact amount charged in your local currency will depend on your creditcard company's rules.

 

Payment can be made using Creditards, UK issued Debitcards or Cheques

 

Remote Network Administration for Companies

From time to time computer networks require administrative tasks to be carried out.

These might include:-

  

 

We charge £10

 per remote access session during which we can perform any number of tasks.
In any one Calendar month the most you pay for remote administration is £50 regardless of number of remote visits.
 
Adding or deleting users.
 
Changing a user's password.
 
Modifying security group membership.
 
Changing access permissions on network shares.
 
Altering the time that backup jobs run.
These tasks are different from problems because the required configuration change is known in advance and there's usually a standard Windows tool to achieve it.

If you don't have anybody locally to performs these tasks and you can allow us to access your network remotely, either over the Internet or using a phone line, we can perform these tasks for you.

You would email us a list of the changes you require, or phone us if it's urgent, and we'll then let you know as soon as the tasks have been completed.

You can keep our access account disabled except for when we need to connect - although this itself requires you to have some administrative skills.

 

How to use the Helpdesk Service

If you're Registered
Either: Send an email to helpdesk@rhebus.com.

In the body of the email answer these questions:-

  

07876 616685 is a standard UK mobile/cell phone number.
Calls are charged at standard rates.
Rhebus receives no income from calls made to this number.

From outside the UK call:

 +44 7876 616685 where "+" represents the code needed to access international numbers.

 

You initiate the phone calls so call charges are on top or our fee.
Within the UK this will be insignificant but if you are outside the UK then call costs could become excessive.

To all registered users we offer to ring you for free for the duration of the troubleshooting session.

See you this works here.
1 - What's your Helpdesk registration number?
2 - What version of Windows are you using?
3 - What computer/networking hardware are you using?
Then go on to describe your problem or ask your question.
Or: Phone 07876 616685

Start by giving your name and Helpdesk registration number before describing your problem. We'll decide between us if it's likely to be resolved with a 30 minute call or it's going to need the Guaranteed Diagnosis.
Calling or emailing us doesn't automatically mean you're going to be charged.

We appreciate that you may want to ask some preliminary questions before deciding to go ahead so our "meter doesn't start running" until we agree to begin the diagnostic process.

 
If your not Registered with us

Hurry up and get registered!

If you have your own reasons for not wanting to register, that's fine but you'll need to pay our Guaranteed Diagnosis fee first before we can start to help you.

Our normal guarantee still applies in that we'll give you a full refund if we can't successfully diagnose your problem.

You can pay the £39 PC and home network fee by clicking here, or the £59 server and business network fee by clicking here.

In each case the links will take you to a secure creditcard payment system.

The 30 minute Phone Call and Email Only Consultation are only offered to registered customers.

If you haven't paid in advance and decide call us on 07876 616685, have your creditcard details handy.

 

What Hours Do We Operate?

We appreciate that most people want their problem fixing urgently and so we try our best to minimise any delays.

The Helpdesk Service is open for business:-

  

Rhebus Networks is based in south-central England.

The times shown on the left are UK times.

The UK is on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) from October to March and GMT +1 from March to October.

 

These times are:

 5 hours ahead of New York,

 8 hours ahead of California

and 9 or 11 hours behind Sydney, Australia.
 

Weekdays:

08.00am to 11.00pm
 

Weekends:

10.00am to 10.00pm
This is when a real person will answer the phone and when we're regularly checking email.

Outside of these times you might get lucky but don't expect a response between midnight and 07.30am.

During our operating hours your call can still go to VoiceMail (maybe we're out-of-range, on another call, or any of the other reasons calls to mobile phones fail).

We normally hear VoiceMail messages within an hour, but maybe wait 5 minutes then try a second call.

 

Why this Helpdesk is Better

This Helpdesk service is designed to be a close second to having a networking and computer engineer visit you in person and fix the problem with your PC, server, laptop or network. The drawbacks are that you've got to get involved in the diagnosis and repair process yourself and success depends on effective communication between us both.
However, there are some ways this helpdesk is better than having a real person turn up - try these out:-
We can normally start working on your problem sooner than you can organise a visit by an engineer or take your PC somewhere to be repaired.
If you're lucky - time-of-day etc - we could start straight away.
There's no call-out fee, travelling expenses or hourly rates to worry about.

We charge fixed prices for our various service options.
We offer a guarantee that amounts to: if we haven't helped you then there's no charge
Because you're in the thick of the repair process with us there's no way we can mislead or keep anything from you, claim to have fixed the problem when we haven't, or sell you any unnecessary parts.
Registered customers get speedier access and don't pay until the job's done.
From the time a repair is made you get a 14 day guarantee period during which we'll restart the repair process, for no extra charge, if any part of the original problem re-appears or undesirable side-effects of the repair procedure become apparent.

 

How Do We Operate?

Talking to you on the telephone and exchanging emails are the main ways we carry out the diagnosis and repair, but we also use the following techniques, where appropriate, to enhance the process:-
If we can get access your computer via the Internet we can work on it directly using remote control software. That way you can sit back and watch the repair process.
We can send you, via the Internet, bootable floppy disk images, bootable CD Rom images

(if you have access to a CD Writer) or other software tools.

We can also send these to you using normal mail if that's the only way.
If you want to save the cost of phone calls then we can use Instant Messaging.
If you have a digital camera you can email us pictures of the screen or the inside of the computer's system box.
If you need a spare part and can't obtain it locally we can mail it to you.

 

Helpdesk Shmelpdesk

Our experience of other computer-related Helpdesks is that you expect to be disappointed and it's a pleasant surprise if you come away with anything useful. We'd  have therefore liked a better name for our service (International Rescue?).

This helpdesk's not run by young recruits, working from a script of obvious suggestions and having a time limit for each caller.

But it's also not free - unless our email-only service solves your problem - so maybe you get what you pay for in life. All our paid-for options have a  guarantee amounting to: if we haven't helped there's no charge.

We don't just solve software problems, if it turns out you've got a hardware problem we'll advise you what you need to buy and adjourn until it's arrived. Then, when you're got your screwdriver ready, we'll guide you through fitting the new part.
 
Back to the top of the page

 

 

The Areas of Computing We're Good at - and the Ones We're Not

All aspects of Windows Servers, Local Area Networking and Internet communications are our specialist areas - so bring on your most challenging problems and see if we're equal to them.

We've also been involved with PCs since the early days of Windows so if it's a PC that's driving you mad we're more than happy to tackle it with you.

Here's a more detailed guide to our skills:-

EXPERT LEVEL - If we don't have the answers, no one else will.

Windows NT/2000/2003 Server, Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP Workstation, Microsoft Exchange/ISA Server & other Firewall products. Microsoft Web Servers. Active Directory, DNS, WINS and DHCP matters. Editing the Registry. Removing Viruses. Gaining administrator-level access to Windows servers without a password. Data recovery.

All PC and Network hardware. Everything to do with email. Wireless networks and GPRS.

PRETTY GOOD - Worth trying us unless you can get access to a real expert.

Cisco Router configuration. Microsoft Word & Excel. Manipulating graphics and audio. Simple Website design (Hey, you're looking at it).

NOT SO GOOD - Look Elsewhere

Macintosh and Unix computers. Novell Networks. Powerpoint, Databases, Lotus Domino/Notes, Microsoft SQL Server or Citrix Metaframe.

"A brain the size of a planet and you want me to change your desktop wallpaper?"
Windows! Don't talk to me about Windows

Marvin the Paranoid Android © Douglas Adams
 
Back to the top of the page

 

Tips for Success

Successful Communications. We rely on you to describe what you can see on the screen and inside the system box and you have to be able to understand and follow our instructions. We can only work in English - a deficiency on our part, sorry - but you needn't be a fluent English speaker as long as you know enough computer terms. If it becomes obvious, early on, that some communication problem is going to stop us making any progress we may choose to call the whole thing off with no charge.    

Send Us a Scan of Your PC Up-Front. If your PC is behaving strangely, we'll often ask you to perform a scan and send us the results.
The scan shows what processes and programs are running in the background and which items run at boot-up.

We use the free program called HijackThis from here:-

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/

It's just over 200kbytes and is not a program you install, you simply run the EXE file.

Choose the option "Do a system scan and save a logfile"

The log file is called hijackthislog.txt which opens in Notepad and you can save it to, say, the Desktop and then attach it to an email.

Why not send us a HighjackThis scan report when you first contact us to save time?

 

HijackThis shows everything running on your PC, good and bad and provides a method to remove the bad items. Identifying which are the bad items is the tricky part.

HijackThis makes a backup before you remove any item to allow it to reverse the action if it was something you wanted after all.

Here's an alternative download link for HijackThis:-

http://www.rhebus.com/download/hijackthis.exe

  

HijackThis has a Donate button to allow you to give support and show appreciation to its author.

Access To Tools. Here's a list of tools than can be helpful:-

Another functioning PC with Internet access to allow us to exchange emails and send you any software you need such as a boot-floppy disk image or hardware drivers.

A Digital Camera - a picture of the screen or the insides of the system box, emailed to us, could be worth a 1000 words.

Hand Tools - a selection of screwdrivers, pliers, a torch*, wire cutters (only for cutting cable ties) and a can of compressed air for blowing out dust.

A CD Writer - we may need to send you files that are too big to fit on a floppy disk and so it's useful to have the option of sending a CD Image for you to make a CD Rom.

    
Stating the Obvious. There may be some detail about your computer you choose not to mention because it seems trivial or irrelevant but, if we were actually there with you, we'd see it as a major clue to the cause of your problem. Perhaps some strange icon or message box or an unusual noise. So try to give more details rather than less and don't be offended by any obvious questions we ask such as "Is the computer plugged in?".    
Helpers. See if you can get some colleagues or friends to help with interpreting instructions, giving descriptions or just holding the phone or torch*.    
Patience. From years of giving over-the-phone IT support we know about the frustration we both feel when things aren't getting anywhere. We can often go down several dead-ends before finding the path to success. We are patient and determined so it helps if you are too. Having time-outs along the way is useful to restore calm and enthusiasm plus it gives time to reflect on the problem which can often often lead to new insights.    

* A Flashlight, in US English (setting fire to your PC would be the repair method of last resort!).

 
Back to the top of the page

 

Free Help via Email

We invite you to email us with your computer problem and we'll email you, for free, our diagnosis and advice on how to solve it. There's no catch - except that we don't promise anything.

However, you're unlikely to get a better, more knowledgeable or straighter answer anywhere else.

 

Send your problem to emailhelp@rhebus.net

 

Some more points to note:-
  

Please put something descriptive and meaningful as the email Subject, then if it goes to Spam we're more likely to spot it and fish it out.
Tell us which operating system you're using.
(Click on the Start button in the left corner of the screen and the operating system is written vertically on the left of the pop-up Start Menu - if it's not there you've got Windows XP.)

 

Not quite a free lunch:-

 

Was our help any good?

If we solved your problem - great!

 

If you felt like it you could send a short message for inclusion in our "What People Say About Us" section,

 

or

 

if you come across a business or organisation suffering computer difficulties you could recommend that they check out our services.

 
We can only work with what we're given: try to include all relevant details.
1 or 2 follow-up emails are OK but, after that, if none of our advice has worked that's as far as we can go. Send follow up emails as Forwards of our last email to you so we can be reminded of the story so far.
If we're on the right track but you need more than written advice to go any further towards solving your problem you can consider upgrading to one of our paid support options.
We appreciate a final email, when your problem's fixed, telling us if our advice worked or what else had to be done to fix it - it helps us to learn and improve.
 
Back to the top of the page

 

Nice Things People have Said About Us

Richard,

Thank you very much for all your help, both by e-mail and over the phone, I would not hesitate to use you again and to recommend you, you may like to know that prior to calling you I had an engineer here for 2 hours whose only useful contribution was to leave, he told me the only fix was to re-install windows and tried to charge me £85.

Once again thank you,

Richard D,  Kent

  

Hi,

Again, a really big thank you for your help. I'm extremely impressed with your commitment and level of service.

Kind regards,

Nick L, Wiltshire

I called the Rhebus team at 8 pm on a Sunday evening. No recordings. No endless music on hold. Just a knowledgeable person who
understood how to solve my problem.

I had to download software onto my I-Mac
to fix my persnickety PC.

After several failed attempts brought on by the cross-platform challenge we overcame adversity and got the PC working again.
 

At Rhebus they know what they're doing and they care. Strongly recommended.

Timothy R V Foster, AdSlogans.com
     
     

 

Helpdesk Stories

George's system halts at boot up due to an unrecognised keyboard
Rohit needs scripts to turn off his server's network card and change his proxy settings
Patricia is fed up with seeing a recipe every time Word opens
Nick wants to remove logon passwords for all users of the family PC
Sometimes we don't know the answer: Mireille was having trouble with footnotes in Word
Annie's Exchange server hadn't been working for 3 weeks - then a miracle happened
Roger had a monitor with the display rotated 90°
Jo was having trouble with her keyboard
Steve couldn't access important files on his hard drive
Cindy couldn't access her email remotely
Sonia wanted to know where her copy of Access had gone

Hi I recently fitted an Microsoft Intellitype Pro 5.0 wireless keyboard and mouse. My system is desktop 2600xp AMD self built with Win XP operating system. I have a Asus A7V8X-X mobo. Both the keyboard and mouse are working fine my problem is in booting up I get the message that no keyboard found please press F1. I do this and it boots ok I have tried reinstalling all but it will not boot until I press the F1 key
I would appreciate your comments
 

Regards George S.

 

George,

The answer to your problem lies in the CMOS SETUP accessible by pressing DEL during the early staging of booting the computer.

The setting is usually called Halt On Errors and the various settings are halt on all errors, only halt on keyboard errors and don't halt on any errors.
The usual setting for this is only halt on keyboard errors, which you need to change to don't halt on any errors.

The BIOS obviously can't detect the keyboard but Windows can when it boots up.

Richard

Hi Richard
Many thanks you are 100% correct problem has now gone and I have learned a bit more. Thanks once again.

 

Best regards George

  

Dear Friends,
My windows 2000 server has no problems but we have frequent power failures for about 6 hours during nights only. So the server shuts down.
I want to disable the Local Area Network automatically whenever the server shuts down. We want to enable the LAN manually after re-starting the server.
How to do it? Please help if you can. Email within 10 days if possible.

Yours sincerely,

Rohit

Rohit,

If I understand you correctly your server can turn off unexpectedly due to a power cut and when it comes back on you want the LAN connection to be disabled until you manually restart it.

I've attached some Visual Basics scripts that can do this.
Save the attached files as stoplan.vbs and startlan.vbs. I've had to rename them to TXT extensions as VBS attachments are often filtered out by email servers.

Put an entry for stoplan.vbs is the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run so that it is run automatically when the server reboots and have startlan.vbs somewhere handy - like on the Desktop - so that you can run it to re-enable the LAN connection.

Helpdesk

Dear Helpdesk,

Thank you very much for sending me the correct scripts to disable and enable LAN. They are working fine. Now my server problems vanished.

I am thankful to the International helpdesk of Rhebus for resolving problems of students like me.

Rohit


Dear Sirs,

In our WinXP client, the internet is through a proxy server with IP address and port number.
Our Intranet runs without the proxy and we have to use the information in the Intranet daily.
Please help me in putting proxy address in the IE whenever I want, by running a script or a program
And to remove the proxy just by running another script or program.

Please help me.

Rohit

Rohit,

You may not need a script to solve your proxy server problem.

In Internet Explorer - Tools - Internet Options - Connections - LAN settings there is the option to "Bypass proxy server for local addresses"
If your Intranet is not on the local subnet there is a further option in Advanced to "Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with:" where you could add the internal DNS names of your intranet sites.

Helpdesk

Hi Helpdesk,

I have tried your suggestion earlier, again today also. Somehow, it is not at all working. My client is win xp. You know, IE6 also has a weak foundation! So, may be due to this, the exceptions from advanced settings are not working.

Every time, I am forced to clear the proxy settings and also enable them to do my work.
so please try to help me. I think some kind of a HTML code or script may help ?

Thanks,


Rohit

Rohit,

I've attached 2 VBS scripts that should do what you want.
The scripts don't change the proxy setting for currently open IE windows but the next IE window to open after running a script takes the script's setting.

Change the extensions of the attachment from .TXT to .VBS before using them.

Helpdesk

Hi Helpdesk,

Thanks a lot for solving my Proxy enabling - disabling problem. Your scripts are working fine.

I am glad you showed me the right and easy way to solve the problem which was pending for the last 3 months.

Bye,

Rohit

  

I am a novice with my computer but hopefully you will help me.
I copied a recipe off the internet and pasted it into Word.

I didn't want to save the recipe as I had printed it off.
From then on it wont leave my screen. On start up of Word it appears on the new page. I can delete all but on saving I say no and exit. Then on start up again it appears.
I thought I may have a virus and did a scan but my Norton Anti-Virus comes up clean.
Please, please help as this is very inconvenient.

Patricia

Patricia,

I think that you have inadvertently modified the default template for Word
which is called normal.dot.

Modifying the template is not straightforward and varies with the version of
Office you have.

First open My Computer - Tools - Folder Options - View and set the 3 options
shown in the attached graphic to how they appear in the graphic.

Then open Word and click File - Open then change the "Files of Type" box to
Document Templates(*.dot) and then navigate to the folder:-

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\
and select to open the file normal.dot

You should see the recipe that you should delete to a blank document and
then choose File - Save

Now when you open word you should see a blank document.

You could also change other things you don't like about the default template
such as the font or language.

The next time you open Word and choose Open you may have to change the File
of type box to "All Word documents".


Richard


Hello Richard

Thank you so much for your prompt reply but I still have the recipe
Once I've reached the template there are two files normal.dot. One of them seems to have, the only way I can describe it - a reverse dollar sign preceded by a small sign wave.
I have gone through the procedure on both of them to the blank page and save. Upon start up on word the recipe is still there.
I have not much experience with the technicalities and really do appreciate your support.

Patricia

Patricia,

The file with the dollar sign is just an old version and can be ignored.
When you opened up normal.dot did it have the recipe in it? If it didn't
then Word has been set to use a different default template and if it did
then please check again to see if it still has the recipe even after you
deleted it. Perhaps you didn't save it correctly or there was a problem with
access permissions. A good test it to close it and immediately reopen it to
see it the changes you made were saved.

Richard

Richard

You're a genius, thank you so much for getting rid of this ongoing annoyance.
Its a pity you didn't taste the recipe it was very tasty Ha! Ha!
May I keep your email for any other problems I may incur in the future, but hopefully not.

Once again, thank you.

Patricia

  

Hi, I'm running Windows XP Professional which I have recently installed. I have added other members of the house as users of the PC but it still has a password request, how can I clear that so it boots up without any password requests

Many thanks

Nick

Nick,

I assume that you want all the users to appear on the XP Welcome Screen and then clicking on any user icon will log them on without having to enter a password.

In Control Panel - User Accounts, when you select a user there is an option to remove the password as long as you know the existing password. I think that doing this for all the accounts is what you want to achieve.

Richard

Thank you, that has fixed the fault.

 

Nick

  

Dear Helpdesk,

Hoping to get some good advise:

I have a Word document in which I have deleted 8 footnotes by deleting the footnote reference mark. After some time I discovered that the footnote reference mark is indeed gone but the footnotes themselves stayed on. I cannot delete them anymore. The other 130 footnotes in the document have no problem, if I delete one it is deleted completely.

Using Windows 2000 Professional.

Thanks for any ideas to solve this problem ....

 

Mireille

 

 

Mireille,

In all my years of using Word I don't think I've ever used footnotes so I can't suggest anything to try. Google Groups is a great source of information on such things so see if the following link has any useful suggestions:-

http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?q=cannot delete footnotes word&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=wg

Microsoft have a Knowledgebase article on footnotes but I don't know if it's relevant:-

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q35599/

and this site is dedicated to Word problems:-

http://word.mvps.org/

Richard

 

Richard, thank you very much for directing me to word.mvps.org which located my problem (a matter of accepting changes without highlighting in the tools menu). You have saved me an enormous amount of frustration!!

Kind regards

 

Mireille

  

Instant Messenger Log

   Annie: help!
Rhebus: My emails to you have bounced
   Annie: seee ... help!!!
Rhebus: Is that your problem - people can't send you emails?
   Annie: I wish that were it... I had two crazy moron's who were Apple "certified" come in to fix a

                small thing on my SBS 2003 server and all hell broke loose.

                They somehow managed to trash 2 x 200 GB drives including all the backups...
               my data just got back from a data recovery company in Florida
                (although we could have fixed it from our local OST files immediately...plus we had offline files)
   Annie: anyway...bottom line...when the data came back and was brought in using exmerge,

                recovery storage, etc. I ended up getting a memory leak and the recovery storage was backing

                up insane amounts of emails, so I was bailing out hard drive space like I was in a sinking ship
                OK...so now...3 friggin weeks later!!!!!!!
                I'm just about out of business because of all of this and I can't get my server to start the
                Microsoft Exchange information store service
                Ta da!
Rhebus: How many users do you have for SBS and Exchange?
   Annie: Really 4 plus a bunch of stragglers, I know, stupid, not my idea
                Can you go in and fix it remotely?
Rhebus: I can certainly have a good try. Is it set up for remote access?
   Annie: Yep. Here are the connection details
                 .................
Rhebus: OK I've connected
   Annie: Can I go have a cigarette....or perhaps a shot of heroin (jk)
                 .................
   Annie: How bad is it?
Rhebus: Well I've tried to restart it and it failed. It said invalid antivirus configuration so I was just

                looking at the Symantec programs
   Annie: I just reinstalled that when things went badly. We were getting inundated with spam
Rhebus: Is it OK to uninstall it to see if Exchange will then start?
   Annie: Of course
Rhebus: OK, I may need to reboot the server
   Annie: OK, I also upgraded to service pack 3 last night as well
Rhebus: I didn't think SBS 2003 had any service packs yet
   Annie: oops, I hope they did, I was exhausted and desperate
Rhebus: The rest of the server operating system seems to be working OK so you couldn't have done

                any damage
   Annie: Oh yes I could :)
Rhebus: I can't see Symantec as an installed program
   Annie: Well it was late, I thought I did, I know I installed auto update and that that ran
Rhebus: Yes, I can see LiveUpdate. My first guess is that Exchange is linked to Symantec Antivirus and

                 is failing to start because Symantec isn't installed properly

                 It seems that, except for LiveUpdate, it isn't installed at all
   Annie: Ah, the Apple guy trashed the software when he trashed the hard drives and the backup. I

                 have the software somewhere
Rhebus: Even though there is a folder called Symantec on the Desktop which seems to contain

                an installed version
   Annie: It used to be there
Rhebus: I suggest that you try to install it again from the installation CD and go into configuration

                and disable/uninstall the bit that interfaces with Exchange and then see if you can start Exchange
   Annie: OK, I'll try and find it
Rhebus: If that works you can try re-enabling Exchange support
Annie: Can u mount the mailbox store however? It doesn't seem to be mounted and it won't let me log

              in via Exchange
Rhebus: It won't mount until the Information Store service can start
   Annie: Oh, hmmm
Rhebus: Anyway it's 1.30 in the morning here now and I have to got to bed
   Annie: OK, sorry. I had the time backwards
Rhebus: I can look again in the morning. Send me an email with a status report when you finish for today.
   Annie: will do...thanks!

 

Next day's email:

 

Annie,

I couldn't see a change in the antivirus state today.
I removed the antivirus link in Exchange this morning by editing this registry key:-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\VirusScan\Enabled and setting it to 0

After this, the Mail Store service started and email seems to be going in both directions now.

I would make sure that the antivirus program you are using is suitable for Exchange 2003 before reinstalling. The junk mail filter in Outlook 2003 is quite effective.
Let me know if there are any other problems.

 

Richard

 

2 days later

 

Annie,

I hope that now Exchange seems to be behaving, your stress levels are lower.

I'm a little surprised that I haven't heard from you, normally when I fix something important like this that's been causing a lot of grief, people tell me how fantastic I am. But maybe you've got 3 weeks of emails to catch up on and work to do.

 

Richard

 

 

Richard

 

If you had fixed it, I would have flown over and gave you a kiss...you went to bed in the middle of the disaster and I frantically tried to find someone else. He was unable as well (in fact, I knew more than him which was scary.) I have someone coming tomorrow to fix it. Fingers crossed.

 

Annie

 

 

Annie,

I logged back into your server that morning when I got up and edited the registry to remove the reference to an anti-virus program that was stopping the mailstore mounting. I was then able to mount the store and email has been flowing ever since. I assumed that you had been using Exchange. I'm sure the log shows you logging into your mailbox.

I sent you an email telling what I did.

Are you saying that Exchange still isn't working?

Richard

 

Xoxoxoxoxo!!!!! Oh MY GOD!!! I seriously thought it was a miracle!!!!!!!!! You so friggin rock!!!!!!!!! That is hysterical! I've been telling everyone that it was a miracle. I went to bed dog tired at 4am...knew it was going to be another shitty day of not working, no one getting email...and when I walked in to apologize to everyone, they were like, what do you mean??????????

OH you are good!!!!!! I didn't get your email...it may have gone into junk. HA. HA....wow!

 

Annie

  

Hi Guys,
 

My friend's computer developed the following fault:-

The image on the monitor has rotated by 90 degrees!!
A local engineer has twice re-formatted the hard drive,

no fault afterwards, then fault returns.

Engineer has now given up!
Is this most likely to be a hardware fault rather than a software fault?

Computer is a Siemens - Fujitsu running Windows XP.
Would welcome any suggestions!!
 

Roger

Roger,

The ability to rotate the display from portrait to landscape is a special feature I don't often see.
If it's a hardware fault then it may be in the video card or perhaps the monitor itself.
If you right-click on a blank part of the Desktop and choose Properties - Settings - Advanced and examine all the settings here you may find one where you can choose the rotation angle.

You want zero degrees or Portrait.

You could also check on the video card manufacturer's website to see of there is an updated driver for your card.
If it gets unbearable you could perhaps get another video card.


Helpdesk

 

Hi Helpdesk

,
You were correct, the computer had an Intel Advanced Graphics card fitted.
In Settings - Advanced, the box "Rotate enable" was ticked and the setting was 270 degrees!!

Restored to 0 degrees and unticked the box, all is now ok.

Many thanks for your help. Happy Christmas!

 

Roger

  

I HAVE WINDOWS NINETY EIGHT I CANNOT USE LOWER CASE OR PUNCTUATION SORRY THIS EMAIL IS NOT GREAT IS IT    CAN YOU HELP  JO

 

Jo,

I wonder if the keyboard itself is faulty. Do the Caps Lock, Numlock and Scroll Lock lights come on and off with the buttons? Has a key got stuck down, such as the SHIFT key?

The other possibility is that Windows thinks you have a different keyboard installed than you do. You can see this in Start- Settings - Control Panel - Keyboard - Language. If it's the wrong keyboard you should be able to select the language that matches the keyboard you have.


Richard


Dear Richard, as you can see, i have solved the problem with your help, thanks Jo

  

I have just bought a new PC running on XP Home edition (this is working fine) but...
I installed another 2 hard drives one had Win 98 and the other had XP pro installed on it. I have been able to recover and use the files on the Win 98 drive but I am unable to get access to the folders that contain the profile information and stored data on the XP Pro disk.
I can get access to all other files and folders on the XP pro disk with the exception of those in F:\Documents and Settings\'username' . When I do try to open a file or folder I get the error message "...is not accessible. Access denied". I have tried various 'help' articles from Microsoft Support but these have not worked.
I hope you can point me in the right direction and assist me in gaining access to some very important files that I require.

Steve,

The problem is that the only account that has any access rights to these files is in the version of XP that was installed on the second hard drive.
You need to seize ownership of these files which an administrator-level account can do. Unfortunately XP Home hides NTFS file permissions and the only way to see them is to boot into Safe mode by pressing F8 early in the boot process. The Administrator should now appear on the Welcome Screen so log onto this account which usually has no password.
Using something like Windows Explorer, now navigate to the profile folder and right-click it and choose Properties - Security - Advanced - Owner
Change the Owner to Administrators and tick the box that says "Replace owner on subcontainers...". Once you are the owner you can add other permissions such as Everyone - Full Control.
Now when you log on normally to Windows you should be able to access theses folders.

Richard

Richard,

Just carried out the fix actions suggested and they worked. Thank you for such a quick response to my problem and for saving me from months of heartache trying to recover the data. I will certainly use your help in the future if needed and will recommend your services to friends and family if they have any PC problems.

Steve.

Hi, I hope you can point me in the right direction.

I work for a school district and we have access to our e-mail through Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (provided by Microsoft Exchange Server 2003). I have used this feature all school year. However, all of a sudden I'm having issues.

I can enter my user name and password. Then it acts like the page is loading...even briefly flashing so that I catch a glimpse of my name/folders/headings. Then the screen freezes.

Sometimes it will show multiple headings in a repeated pattern over and over down the screen. Sometimes a few icons will remain such as the forward/backward buttons. Other times the page will just turn blue (color used by district) or white. It generally "freezes" and I have to exit it through ctrl alt delete.

The computer doesn't freeze however and I can do anything else on it.

I'm operating Windows 98 with Office 2000.

I did have a major computer "melt-down" shortly before this problem began. I think my 6 year old crashed the computer. I used the restoration CD to back-up and recreate my hard-drive. After that I had to reinstall a few applications such as Word/Works, printer, digital camera software, and Norton SystemWorks. Everything went smoothly and the computer is running great. Faster and cleaner in fact! I used the web mail afterwards one time and then the problem began.

I'm at a loss to what "changed." I have not encountered any other issues with internet use or Outlook Express.

I've e-mailed the district and they've checked into their end....everything is working okay. The technician and I both have been able to access it from other locations. I searched through Microsoft & Dell extensively. I find a lot of articles and patches for this and that...but the descriptions don't match my problem exactly and I'm not sure where to start.

I would be grateful for your advice!

 

Cindy

 

Cindy,

Here are a few things you can try:-

1 - In Internet Explorer go to Tools - Internet Options - Delete Files - Delete all offline content - OK and then restart Internet Explorer.

2 - In Internet Explorer go to Tools - Internet Options -Security - Trusted Sites - Sites and add the URL of the webmail site to the trusted list.

3 - Go to www.java.com and download and install the latest version of java - I think Windows 98 is supported.

4 - Download and install the unofficial Windows 98 Service Pack from here:-

http://abclon.dnsalias.com:60616/Windows98SEUnofficialServicePack/sesp162en.exe

5 - Download and install the Mozilla Firefox free browser and try using that instead of Internet Explorer.


Richard

 

Richard,

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! You have ended my frustration and endless searching on-line for a solution.

I went down the list one at a time, except the first one which I had already done as regular maintenance yesterday.

It was downloading the unofficial 98 update that did the trick!

Thanks again. I really appreciate the help!

Cindy

I have XP and I did have a database program. My computer got a virus,  I sorted that but lost the original Office 2000/XP disc. I bought another computer I use for work and home so I installed the Microsoft Office 2003 Basic Edition that came with the new computer but it doesn't have the database included.
Why not, and what can I do to get a database?
I hope this makes sense.

Sonia


Sonia,

By database you are referring to is called Microsoft Access. There are 6 different Microsoft products called Office 2003 and they each contain different components.
This page gives details about them all:-
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/howtobuy/editions.mspx
Only 2 of the 6 editions of Office contain Access 2003 and these are the more expensive ones. Access is available as a separate product but it costs £165. Maybe you can buy a copy of Access 2000 on Ebay.

Richard

This is just to say thank you very much for the advice.
I never thought of that because, if I have to register it, wouldn't that have been done by the previous owner? And if that isn't the case then yes I will certainly be paying e-bay a visit thank you once again you've been a great help nice to know your out there.

from Sonia

The Causes of Computer & Network Problems & How to go about Solving them

Computer Problems

In our experience computer problems fall into the following 6 categories:-

Software Not Configured Properly.

This is the cheapest type of fault to repair as it just requires making changes to some configuration parameters by using a program's Setup menu, a Control Panel applet, a utility program or by editing the Registry.

  

Viruses and Spyware are malicious software misconfiguration
The Wrong Software or a Missing Piece of Software.

The missing software is usually a driver for a piece of hardware. The wrong driver for a video card is the Prime Suspect in many fault investigations. Remedying this type of fault requires more effort as the required software has to be located, downloaded and installed.
Incompatible or Faulty Software.

This type of problem is thankfully fairly unusual but when an example does occur there can often turn out, in fact, to be no solution and the best that can be achieved is to find an acceptable "work-around".

Here are 2 examples of incompatible software:-
  1 - 2 programs each use one piece of hardware - say COM Port 1 - and whichever program starts first hogs it to the exclusion of all other programs.
  2 - DLLs, or Dynamic Link Libraries, are files stored on the hard disk containing executable program code that different programs can share. They keep down the size of executable files and make more efficient use of memory. However, DLLs have caused many problems of incompatibility over the years, giving rise to the term "DLL Hell". Two quite different programs may each come with a DLL with the same name so installing one program causes the other to fail. Some widely used DLLs are often revised or updated and one program may only work with one particular version of the DLL while a second requires a different version. The newer versions of Windows and modern programming methods go a long way to alleviating DLL Hell.
 

Unlike physical devices, software never wears out or develops a fault and so any problem with a piece of software was there from the time it was written and is due to errors or oversights by the software writers.

If a piece of software doesn't do what it should or does something it shouldn't then only the authors of that software can fix it and release a revised version in the form of an upgrade or patch. First the authors need to be aware of the problem, then they have to admit that there is a problem and finally be willing to do something about it. How easy this process is varies widely throughout the industry. Some companies will have the fix to you the next day, some will ignore you or deny there's a problem, and yet others will insist on charging you to put right their errors.

In cases of incompatible or faulty software the best solution is often to seek out alternative software.
 Faulty Hardware.

All hardware will eventually fail but we always hope it will be after we've disposed of the equipment.

Modern computers are reliable and we'd bet that any good quality PC bought new, turned on and left on would operate trouble-free for at least 3 years.

Any part of a computer can fail but those with moving parts or which are subject to the stress of high voltages or temperatures are likely to fail first.

Hardware Items That Commonly Fail Include:-
  Hard Disk This is everyone's nightmare as it means hours of work to restore normal operation and, if you haven't been diligent with your backups, the loss of important data.
  Fans With the manufacturers of CPUs, Motherboards and Video cards designing for performance over efficiency the inside of the system box is an uncomfortably hot place to be. A failure of one of the, perhaps half dozen, fans keeping things stable in there can produce symptoms on the screen that defy logic and, soon after, result in permanent damage to one of the computer's vital parts.
  Memory Memory manufacturers struggle to develop RAM modules that can keep up with the latest speedy CPUs and motherboard circuitry. If your PC supplier skimped and chose RAM that was just good enough it may deteriorate over time. If the contacts and connectors that hold the RAM modules to the motherboard become dirty the RAM's performance can be compromised.
  Power Supply A power supply produces heat, operates internally at up to 300 volts, and requires its internal fan to keep operating to prevent it failing due to overheating. A power supply is not such a headache when it fails as its relatively cheap and easy to replace.
The Wrong Hardware or a Missing Piece of Hardware.

Sometimes you can't get a computer to do what you want because the hardware to do it just isn't there. Perhaps you need to connect something to a printer or COM port and they're all in use; you have a USB2 device but only a USB1 socket; a program refuses to run without 256 megabytes of RAM and 32 megabytes of video card memory and your system specification falls short; you need to network a PC but find it has no network card fitted, the motherboard has no free slots and the Network Switch no free ports. Enough! It's all depressingly familiar.

Sometimes these problems have a simple clever solution but usually it's a case of buying the missing parts.
Incompatible Hardware.

The PC industry has a multiplicity of hardware standards promoted by different manufacturers and you can't mix them. An Intel CPU needs a motherboard that's been designed for it and not for an AMD CPU. If you're ordering PC components you need to be up-to-date with all the compatibility rules. Uninformed purchasing decisions lead to the majority of problems in this category and nothing can be done except to replace the incompatible items. You have to hope that your supplier is understanding and then stand back as the hot potato of blame is tossed around.

A piece of hardware that's been performing admirably can suddenly find itself an outcast, incompatible with the new way of working. Perhaps you have a scanner that's been producing great results under Windows 98 but when you upgrade to Windows XP you find that it won't work without a new software driver, but the manufacturer considers your scanner to be obsolete and so has no intention of ever producing a suitable driver. Reinstall Windows 98? I don't think so, more like buy a replacement scanner and toss the well-loved one onto the scrapheap.
How we Set About Solving Computer Problems

Like a detective in a "Who-Dunnit?" we assemble a list of suspects and investigate them, one-by-one, until the guilty party emerges. Most computer faults are software configuration errors or driver problems, others that are hardware faults are normally obvious, and the occasional problem that falls into one of the other categories can prove the most challenging. It helps if we've had a similar problem before and if a problem's too weird or intractable it's often quicker to reinstall the operating system - after all, we're not that bothered about finding the cause of the problem, we just want it to go away and stay away.

The diagnosis of a hardware fault can only be proven by replacing the hardware and if the problem still persists with the new hardware... oops!

If we're stuck, the Internet is a great source of information. Someone's likely to have had the same problem before and may have reported it to a computer support website.

 

Network Problems

Everything said above applies equally to computer network problems but networks add a new dimension: the cause of the problem is not confined to one PC, it could be in any networked device office-wide, company-wide or world-wide. Just being able to point at where the fault is can be a big step forward. Almost all network problems can be described as a "loss of connectivity" because connectivity is why networks exist and we expect them to be working 100% of the time.

High reliability doesn't come cheap and is achieved by having multiple redundant systems located in environmentally-stable, secure equipment rooms with a guaranteed power supply.

  

99.99%, or "4-nines", reliability allows for only 53 minutes of downtime per year. Telephone companies aim for 99.999% - when was the last time you picked up a phone and didn't hear dial-tone?

In network design you're always asking "What happens if this fails?" and you aim to achieve an acceptable answer within budget.

With smaller networks it's often hard to secure funding for the extra hardware to increase reliability through redundancy but we'd advise always to include RAID hard drives and a UPS on the list of essentials and refuse to entertain suggestions that these might be optional.

In a Windows 2000/2003 network the reliability boost given by having a second server, duplicating most of the functions of the first, relieves the pressure all round and makes maintenance, upgrade and repair tasks so much easier.

 

The 5 Top Problems For Smaller Networks
1 - Name Server Problems

This is the system that matches the numeric IP addresses with human-friendly names and mainly refers to the Domain Names System (DNS). Microsoft is encouraging the phasing out of Netbios names but don't forget about the WINS server, if your network has one and most still do. Name server problems usually show up as inaccessible web pages or mail servers. If you can successfully connect using the actual IP address instead of the DNS name then that indicates you have a Name Server problem.

2 - Permissions Too Restrictive

To access a network resource a user account needs to have been granted the appropriate permission. If your Users' permissions have been made too restrictive they won't be able to do their normal work. If the permissions are too liberal then Users will be able to explore and fiddle in areas they shouldn't. A regime that restricts Users to a bare minimum of permissions requires a lot of administrative effort.

3 - TCP/IP Configuration Errors

A TCP/IP configuration error anywhere on your network can cause headaches and be hard to track down. It may be due to an outdated configuration, a subtle change caused by a typing error or, worst of all, a duplicate IP address. To avoid this type of problem make sure that, from the start, you choose a well thought out IP addressing scheme that can cope with future network expansion and make your workstations use DHCP - the centralised, coordinated, automatic IP configuration tool.

4 - Routing Problems

If your network consists of two or more sub-networks that can communicate then you've got a router somewhere. Routers may be stand-alone devices or a server with 2 network cards. For communications to work smoothly all the workstations must be set to use their local router to connect to any destination not on the local sub-network and the routers must know either the path to all destination networks or another router that does. It's not sufficient just for your information to make it to the remote host, the routers in the return path must also be able to direct the remote host's response all the way back to you.

Not surprisingly this process can and does fail.

5 - Unreliable WAN Links

These are your connections to remote networks, including the Internet, and are usually provided by telecom companies and so are not under your direct control. WAN links can stretch over large distances and pass through many different pieces of equipment which makes them prone to failure. The best way to increase reliability is to have a backup route which will automatically connect to the remote network when the primary route fails. If possible the backup route should be with a different telecoms company and, to keep costs down, should incur minimal charges when not in use.

 
And Finally

To minimise network problems use administration methods that don't require you to visit individual workstations to make configuration changes. As well as avoiding this inconvenience, when your network has more than a handful of PCs, locally set parameters tend to override those applied centrally and are likely to persist long after the IT person who set them has left your company and the reason for setting them is no longer relevant.
 
Back to the top of the page

 

Disclaimer

Although we always act in good faith and are mindful to keep risks to a minimum, Rhebus Networks does not accept any liability for loss or damage resulting from advice given or procedures carried out as part of this Helpdesk service.

By applying to Rhebus Networks for this Helpdesk service and consenting to follow any advice or instructions given you thereby confirm that you accept full liability for any damage to equipment or loss of data or other information that might result, whatever the cause.
 
Back to the top of the page

 

Go back to the main page