PCinfospace

First of all they can be called many names.  Jump drive is a brand.  They are also called  Thumb Drives, USB drives, backup drives, portable drives or, for that matter, whatever you want to call them.

What are the differences?

There too many to mention all of them. By now almost any manufacture is OK to use.  Most “bad” ones have been weeded out of the market.  You mainly need to be able to know what you want to use it for.

• Some swing open while others just have a cap on them. Some even slide in and out. Larger drives are connected by using a USB cable.

• Transferring or storing a small amount of data- This drive can normally be as small as 500 Megabytes.  You still need to know how big the file or files will be however.

• Using as a backup drive- This depends on if you are going to use a backup utility that will over write the files each time.  If you are going to back up individual files or programs on a regular basis I would recommend a large drive.  Backup Drive physical sizes are normally bigger than a simple flash drive. Their storage space can be as large as one terabyte. In fact, they get bigger every day. Small flash drives have gained in storage space and can be as big as 16 GIG at this writing.

• Cost considerations – The type of drive you get may depend on your budget. Although a very large drive is nice to have you may be forced to buy a smaller drive.  USB drives have come down in price very fast.  As the large drives started coming out the small drive prices dropped like a rock.
• Storage capacity- Here is a good way to look at it: If you have a 500 GIG drive on your hard drive, buy a drive half that size.  Usually your data would have fit on a 500 GIG drive without a backup as an example. However, have a computer technician look at your storage needs.  Do not try to play technical.  This never saves any money. If you do it right the first time, you will go years without a worry.

Are there any warnings I need to know about?

Yes! As in any new technology, there is a procedure you need to follow if you want things to go properly.  When you plug it in it will install itself.  Do not panic if it takes a while. However, when you remove the drive you need to take special steps. If you just pull out the plug you can corrupt the data and/or make the drive inaccessible. If that happens, you will not be able to access any data that was on the drive.  Some people have done this numerous times without problems. Well! You know you are the one that this very bad problem will happen to. In the lower right corner of your desktop you will see “Safely Remove Hardware” if you hover over it with your mouse.  Double click it . You will see several selections normally. You need to find and select the proper drive and device.  Once you are sure click OK. In some cases it may take a while before it say that it is safe to remove.

Here are some examples: I will only use the setting in Firefox and Internet Explorer for now.

Preventing URL’s (Internet page) from printing at the bottom of a page printed from a website.
You can prevent the URL’s (or any other item) from printing from most (if not all browsers). In Firefox click on File | Page Setup | Margins & Headers/Footer. When the screen appears change the drop downs to print what you want, or remove items you do not want to see. In Internet Explorer, click on File then Page Setup. This is where you can make changes to the Headers and Footers section. There are other settings that will affect the way your page prints and looks. Some of these setting are as follows:

In Firefox you can also set other parameters that are under Header & Footer. You will need to use the drop down menus provided. Left, center, and right parameters can also be set. The Format & Options tab will give you even more choices. The only problem with changing these is you may need to go back to the original settings for some reason. Therefore it is a good idea to keep track of the way it was when you started. You may get angry if you can not figure out how it was set up to start with.

In Internet Explorer you also have many choices except there is only one page instead of two. I feel this is good. There are numerous header and footer settings using the drop down menus. You can also set margins, select the type of paper you are printing on, portrait or landscape, print background colors & images, and if to shrink to fit.

Again, care should be taken when changing any setting. At least write down what the original setting was. This is especially true if more than one person uses the computer. Maybe the next person wants something different. In any case you can waist a lot of paper (and time) if it does not print the way you want it or need it.

Also remember that the type of font you use and if it is bold or italics will also affect how your page looks and how many words you can get on a page.

Another factor is that not all web sites are set up to print like you want them to. You will find some sites that have a button that you can click for a printable version of what you want.

Advertisement problems
Many web sites have advertising on them. Some times you can turn these off. As an example: Map-quest will let you turn them off when you print. However, the main thing is to do a print preview. This not only shows you what will print but how many pages will print. Sometimes it is shocking how many pages will print. PDF files usually have a large number of pages to print. Browsers normally have setting that will let you turn off certain content. The problem with that is some pages will not load at all or you can not see ads, pictures or content you want to see.

Outlook Express is probably one of the most popular e-mail programs ever made.  Version 6 was around for quite a while.  Then Microsoft released Microsoft Outlook 2007.

The problem comes when you install the Microsoft Office program. If you install that program Outlook express will only spell check in French. There is no way to change it back to English once this is done.

Although this is frustrating, you may need to use a third party spell check program or type it in word or some program that has spell check. You can also install Outlook 2007.  I know it will cost you more. Maybe Microsoft planned this. In any case that would solve the problem also.

Outlook Express does not have its own spell checker. It relies entirely on the spell
checker  installed with  Microsoft Office. In fact, if you do not have Microsoft Office programs installed the spell check will not work at all. All Old spell check files are removed and replaced with the newer ones which are not compatible to the Older Outlook Express program.

AVG is no longer safe. Fake Anti-Virus programs have figured out how to get around its protection. These fake programs are spy-ware and can steel your identity or badly damage your computer.

I have seen numerous occasions were a client wanted to send a large amount of pictures or data through Outlook 2007.  Although I have not found anything that says the actual limit here is my advice:

• Never send a large amount of pictures through e-mail. They either will not send at all or they will take forever.  Also, the person or company you are sending them to may have trouble getting them. Certain mail servers may treat it as Spam and therefore treat it as junk mail.
• If you want to send large amounts of photos or data cut them to a DVD and give it to the person or send it through the regular mail system.

The Internet and e-mail are wonderful things but they do have their limits.  With the speed of the internet increasing at a rapid pace you should be able to do almost anything.  However, you are always limited to what any program will do.

How can I fix an e-mail that is stuck in the outbox?

You can try to right click the e-mail and then click delete.  This may work.  However, if the e-mail has already started to send you will not be able to do this.  Before you do anything it is advisable to backup what you have. Go to “File” then click on “Import and export”.  Click on “export to file”. Now click on “Personal Folders File (PST)” and click next. Click the box that says “sub-folders” if you have any and click next.  Click if you want to replace duplicates or not. Go to Browse and find a location to store the file.  You can rename it if you wish. Click “finish”.  When the next screen comes up, just click “OK”.  You should see it moving data to the file.

You will need to locate your Outlook installation disk.  After the disk loads pick “Reinstall” DO NOT pick remove. I you do remove the program, you will need to import the PST file you created above.  If you pick Reinstall you will not have to do that.

After the screen says it is done, go to the Out box folder, find the e-mail you want to remove and delete it.  This should work.  If it does not work you may have other problems.

What other problems are possible?

It is hard to cover all of them but here are some:

• Your mail box may be full.  Yes! There is a limit.  It goes by size so it is hard to say exactly the number of e-mail we are talking about.  Periodically remove deleted e-mail from the deleted folder.  Also, do not keep every email.  Delete the ones you have read or store them in a separate folder or disk.
• You may have a Virus.
• The registry may be corrupt.

I hope this article helps.  Always take it to a professional if you don’t know what to do.