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How to move your fonts to a Windows 7 PC

February 6th, 2010, 1:31 am by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: Here’s one that should have strong general application. I do editorial work using XP, and have built up a useful stable of fonts. I just got a new computer using Windows 7, and want to move the fonts over to it, but can’t make anything work. Is there a way to do this?

Fonts!PC CLUB: Before we get to the punch line, let’s start with some font facts:

  • Windows 7 ships with 235 fonts, versus 191 in Vista and 133 in Windows XP. PrePressure.com offers a handy  list of typefaces that ship with Windows 7 (link: bit.ly/windows7fonts).
  • The more fonts that you install, the more computer memory (or RAM) is used. Your system must load all fonts at boot-up and this may extend your boot time. This is not as critical with newer PCs since they have faster processors and more RAM but it’s something to keep an eye on. Read the rest of this entry »

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What’s the real capacity of your hard drive?

January 19th, 2010, 3:15 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: I have a PC running Vista Home Premium.  I have a 500 gigabyte hard drive with an actual capacity of 455 gigabytes. When I look at “Properties” for the C drive, it shows that I have used 444 gigabytes with 11 gigabytes remaining. However, when I use Windows Explorer and add up the sizes of each directory (e.g. Documents, Windows, Program Files, etc), I end up with 400 gigabytes used.  I have a gap of 44 gigabytes between what Properties says and what I added up.  What is in the hidden 44 gigabytes and how can I see what it is?

PC CLUB:  This is a common question since there’s a lot of confusion regarding advertised disk capacity versus the capacity reported by Windows. This confusion stems from the fact that 1 gigabyte is actually 1,073,741,824 bytes, or 230.  Therefore, if you open My Computer (or Computer in Vista or Windows 7) and examine the properties of a hard drive by right‑clicking it, you will see 2 numbers. Assuming the disk is advertised as a 500 gigabyte disk, the numbers will be listed as follows:

Capacity: 500,096,658,212            465 GB

This confusion led to a lawsuit several years ago resulting in disk drive manufactures having to place the following or similar statement on their packaging:

One megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Computers • Stump the PC Club • • • • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

How to fix a computer that has lost its sound

January 13th, 2010, 3:02 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: The speakers that I have connected to my computer system stopped working a couple of weeks ago. Other than taking my system to a computer repair shop I don’t know what to do. For example, I can watch a PowerPoint presentation, but don’t get any sound, i.e., music. Any suggestions?

PC CLUB: There are several explanations for losing your sound from the very simple to an actual hardware failure. Here are some possible problems.

Connection Problem: Although it may sound obvious, the first thing I usually do in is check all of the connections to the computer. Most speakers use an AC adaptor that plugs into an outlet and have a cable that plugs into the green jack on the rear of the PC. After checking the connections, the next thing I do is try another set of speakers or even a headset if possible.

Hardware Problem: To see if you have a hardware problem you can open your Device Manager and check the sound hardware. Follow these steps:  Read the rest of this entry »

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How to reinstall a deleted printer in Windows

November 24th, 2009, 4:10 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: Is it possible to configure a Windows Vista computer to run a printer that was on the list of available printers but has been removed from the list?  A Vista type driver for this printer has been downloaded.

PC CLUB: I take it from your question that a printer was deleted and is no longer on the list of available printers. There are several ways to add a printer back to the list of available printers in Vista or XP.

The basic procedure for most printers is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

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How to get rid of Windows temporary files

November 11th, 2009, 4:47 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: I receive many e-mails with attachments which I download to a folder called Temporary Files.  How do I delete the Temporary Files? I know it’s slowing down my PC.  Thanks.

PC CLUB: I don’t believe that Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 normally has a folder named Temporary Files. If you have a folder with that name, either you or perhaps some program may have created it. However, there are folders named Temp and Temporary Internet files.  That doesn’t mean that you don’t have such a folder, however. To delete the contents of that specific folder it’s necessary to first locate it. Read the rest of this entry »

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What are drivers and why you should update them on a PC

October 21st, 2009, 4:03 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: What do we need to know about drivers? Should they be updated regularly and what is the best way to do it?

PC CLUB: A driver, or more specifically, a device driver, is software that helps hardware devices function operate on the computer’s operating system, such as Windows XP.

Changing software drivers in Microsoft WindowsWithout the right drivers, a computer’s video card, modem or printer may not work properly. Microsoft builds many drivers into Windows XP and its other operating systems. Frequently, the built-in drivers are generic and don’t provide all of the functionality the device’s manufacturer intended.

It’s up to the hardware device’s manufacturer to provide Microsoft with software drivers so the devices work with Windows. This takes time and money. That’s why when Microsoft launches a new operating system, as it plans to tomorrow with the new Windows 7, some hardware devices may not work. Here’s a story from 2007 about manufacturers scrambling to update drivers for Windows Vista: “Vista ripples across industry: Manufacturers hustle to make sure their products are compatible.”

However, it is not unusual for someone to buy a PC and use it for a long time without any problems and without even knowing what a driver is. On other occasions, a driver may have to be updated. Here are some examples of  when you’ll need to update a driver: Read the rest of this entry »

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How to transfer files between Windows Vista and XP PCs

October 6th, 2009, 5:08 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976.

Ed Schwartz, Stump the PC Club contributorHi readers! I’m Ed, the guy answering your questions. I look forward to all of your input and want to remind you of two things: There is no such thing as a dumb question and, I love questions on popular topics, especially digital cameras, Windows, Spyware, the Internet, e-mail, etc. You get the idea. The more popular the topic, the higher the probability of getting an answer. Keep those questions coming. Just e-mail thegadgetress@ocregister.com

QUESTION: I am running a desktop with Windows XP and Microsoft Word and a laptop with Windows Vista Basic using DSL and a router for wireless connection. How can I transfer some of the files from my desktop PC to the laptop? Are the two Windows versions able to communicate?

PC CLUB: You can transfer files between your XP PC and Vista PC in several ways. One way is make use of your home network. Your PC’s become part of a home network once they are both connected to a router either directly or using wireless. To do this, however, several preparatory steps must be taken as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

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SleeSpot: Stuck on Microsoft? Its Fix It site has fast help

August 28th, 2009, 4:00 pm by

SLEEspot: Gadgetress intern Sandra Lee spots a tech deal daily.This month, Gadgetress’ summer intern Sandra Lee has been posting a tech bargain, tip or fun fact every day at 4 p.m. Short, sweet and simple: It’s the SleeSpot! But today’s her last day. Sandra hints that SleeSpot may continue if she can handle her high-school workload as an incoming junior. Stay tuned…

Having a difficult PC problem? Microsoft’s Fix It may have a solution to solve your technical problems in the click of a button. From “Uninstalling Microsoft Internet Explorer 8” to “Fix Windows Update error 0x8000FFFF,” the help page has hundreds of answers. Best part: It’s free! Visit support.microsoft.com/fixit for instant help (Fix It also has a Facebook and Twitter page). No more waiting for those long phone calls that never seemed to help much anyway! ~ Sandra Lee

Got a tip for the SLEEspot? Tell me about it at slee@ocregister.com or Tweet me @sleespot.

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Posted in: Computers • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

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