AskGordRoutley.com Blog

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

Problem opening & viewing photos in “My Pictures” folder…

HC asks:  I can’t seem to open and view photos in Windows XP “My Pictures” folder other than in one long single list. There must be a button somewhere to see a page of files and singles, but where? Thanks for any info.

My reply: You’re stuck in “Filmstrip” view! In your “My Pictures” folder, click on the “View” tab then click “Thumbnails” to show previews of your photos. You could also click “Tiles”, “Icons”, “List” or “Details”. They’re all useful for looking at your documents in different ways. For photos I prefer “Thumbnails” over “Filmstrip” because you have to be careful where you drag & drop files in “Filmstrip” view. They have to be dropped in the bottom “well” where the small thumbnails are. If you drop them on the larger “Filmstrip” part, they won’t get copied or moved.

November 7th, 2008 Posted by DoC | Computer Frustrations, Folder views, My Pictures, Photos, Windows XP | one comment

Deleting files in the “My Pictures” folder…

Hi Gord:  I’ve looked everywhere but can’t find the answer to what I need to know. I was checking and trying to clean-up the My Pictures folder, and there are 7 strange files in there. I don’t know how they got there but are NOT related to my photos! I have written them down below and maybe you can tell me if I can DELETE them without any problems?

lst file: “thumbs.db” data base and configuration files.
2nd file: consists of 2 files… A. empty, no preview; B. Thumbs, data base and configuration.
3rd: desk top info: configurations
4th: My Photos bmp … cannot open or view it.
5th: Sample photos?? They’re not mine – I don’t know where they came from.
6th: Data files.
7th: was untitled, but I went in and titled it. But they asked who I wanted to open it with?? I looked at the list and put internet explorer! I wasn’t sure … but then if I lost it no problem, I was just trying some things. Is it possible to just clear out these files or do I have to leave those other files … that have NO relation to my photos! (click here to read full article)

September 23rd, 2008 Posted by DoC | Computer Frustrations, Computer Tweaking, DIY (Do It Yourself), Just plain weird!, Photos, Techie Tips from Gord, deleting photos, thumbs.db | one comment