AskGordRoutley.com Blog

Answers to computer questions!

UPDATE on last post – “Cannot send photos from browser in Windows 7 w/Outlook 2003″

Q:  Gord, I followed your instructions from your last post but it didn’t work for me as you can see from my email, there’s no images or hyperlinks attached and it wouldn’t use Office 2003 Outlook. It looks like Windows Mail has taken over & I don’t seem to be able to uninstall it. Do you have any other ideas?

A:  Try this >>> goto control panel (in Windows 7). Navigate down to “Programs & Features” and open it. Right-click on Microsoft Office 2003 Professional >>> select “Change”. When the pop-up appears, select “Repair”. Follow the process through and make sure that Outlook 2003 is selected and that “Run all from computer” is also checked. You might need the Office 2003 CD to do this. Even this may not work. I’ve been poking around in the forums for answers to this problem this week and many, many people are having the same problem. There are also many other problems with Office 2003 on Windows 7 as well including the infamous “roving cursor” issues, amongst many others.

Another thing to remember is that Outlook 2003 (any version) is not really recommended for Windows 7. This is especially true if you have Windows 7 64 bit! I bought Office 2007 Professional (Academic Version since I’m also a Teacher) on eBay to solve my problems with Office 2003, and particularly Outlook 2003. The Professional version is the only version that has Outlook 2007 (with contact manager). It cost me less than $180 Canadian (including S&H) and took 16 about days to get here.

Another option would be to buy Outlook 2007 by itself. It’s a costly investment of about $160 (CDN). You could also buy the Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 edition for about $149 to $179 (CDN) but it DOESN’T include Outlook!

Let me know if the above work-around fixes the issue. If not, I’d suggest going to Office 2007 Professional (Academic Version) or the stand-alone Outlook 2007 application.

Follow-up: I got an email from Lew today and the work-around above fixed his problem. He said >>> “I followed your instructions & also updated Office 2003 on Microsoft Update.  It seems to be working, and I was able to send  the pictures I took that I was trying to send. Thank you for your help”.

May 2nd, 2010 Posted by DoC | Attach to email, Attachments, Computer Frustrations, DIY (Do It Yourself), Email, MS Outlook, Outlook, Photos, Windows 7 | no comments

Internet Explorer error frustration!! Need help.

Bill writes: Gord, when shutting the computer down at night I am getting the following message more frequently – almost every time now.

  • “End Program – iexplore.exe. This program is not responding”
    And it invites me to “close the program NOW”.

This isn’t serious or urgent, but extremely irritating. Any suggestions? I do my regular maintenance as you taught me. Have a nice weekend. Thanks, Bill.

I replied: Quick and easy fix for this one Bill. My advice is to download Firefox 3!
Get it here >>> http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
It’s safer & faster than Internet Explorer. Best of all you’ll get rid of the Internet Explorer error forever!!! It’s not a perfect solution and we can probably Google the fix for IE, but that will take time and more frustration. This fix is quick and best of all painless. I don’t call IE “Internet Exploder” for nothing!
Hope this helps.

September 10th, 2008 Posted by DoC | Computer Frustrations, Firefox, Freezups, Glitches, Internet Explorer, Windows XP | no comments

Adobe Reader 8 is driving me nuts trying to upgrade to it.

Hi Gord: I’ve been having real problems upgrading Adobe Reader to the latest version 8. An online course I take requres the latest version and I can’t get it to install right. I have 3 different ones installed when I go to the control panel add-remove programs. There’s version 5, 6 & 7! I can not get the Adobe 8 problem resolved! I think it might be in the Windows registry and I dont go there. Your advice would be appreciated. Thanks – Henry

Hi Henry:  I got your email about Adobe Reader. Here’s the standard answer:

You will probably not be surprised to hear that un-installation problems are covered in the TechNotes on Adobe’s website. One advises you to download the Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, msicuu2.exe, which “removes enough information from the registry to reinstall Acrobat and restore the missing registry keys”. >>> http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=332773. (click here or the title above to read full article)

August 4th, 2008 Posted by DoC | Adobe Reader, Computer Frustrations, Freebies, Uninstall Issues, freeware | one comment