Problem opening files

Sometimes you may receive an email attachment containing a file you can't open. You know its a document but word can't read it. Many people are using Open Office as an alternative to Microsoft office.
You can download an add-in from here http://www.sun.com/software/star/odf_plugin/index.jsp which may help.

Computer tip of the day

Don't rely on a web hosting company to tell you when their servers are down, some do, some don't.
You can have your site monitored all day, every day by an in independant network monitoring company who will contact you when there are problems. This usually costs very little.

Computer Tip of the Day

Use a spare USB memory stick to speed up windows vista (and 7). Simply plug in and select "Speed up my system". Just follow the instructions and that's it. Note you must use a good quality device for this.

Computer tip of the day

Use your company's internal messaging service to collaborate with your colleagues rather than email. It's far more efficient. Conversations are still on record for future reference and you can get instant interaction.

Computer tip of the day

Take time out to really get to know the Microsoft Office programs. It'll make your working day more productive and enjoyable. It may even get you a pay rise. Visit the Microsoft Office training site for some very good instruction.

Computer Tip of the day

Need to restore your computer to a properly working state? This can be done by using system restore. You have to be logged on as an administrator, close all programs, then click Start > All programs> Accessories> System Tools then click on System Restore. This will launch the system restore wizard. After you have read the section on the left, select "Restore my computer to an earlier time" and click next. Select a restore point to a time that you know the machine was working properly then click next and you'll see the confirmation page. Clicking next again will start the restore process and will require a reboot of your machine. Once done, you will be presented with a notice confirming the success(or not) of the restore. Note that this process should be non destructive however, always have a backup to hand.

Computer tip of the day

We've all done it, changed a word document, saved it and found out that we changed the wrong document. That's part of being human. How do we get back the previous version. This is very simple for files and folders shared on a Windows Server 2003.
Just simply navigate to where the document is stored. Right click the file and open the properties box. You'll see a tab called previous versions and in that, you'll find copies if the data saved at different times. You can simply use one of these to overwrite your existing file of copy it to a new location.