Windows User Interface Archives

I Deleted a File by Mistake, Can I Get It Back?

I got carried away and mistakenly hit “Yes” when I was prompted about deleting a file — except it was the wrong file! Can I get it back? If so, how?

I think anyone who has used computers for any length of time has been where you are now. I know I have, and on more than one occasion.

The answer to your question is “maybe”. It depends on a lot of things.

How do I stay protected using an administrator account?

Leo, I’ve heard that browsing with an admin account puts you at more risk and I’m wondering what are some ways to stay protected without switching to a less privileged user account. Also, what is sandboxing?

What you’ve heard is correct. Running with what’s called a limited user account (LUA) is indeed safer.

It’s also something that unfortunately, many people don’t do… including myself.

Why does my cursor disappear while typing?

Why does my cursor keep disappearing? Almost every sentence that I type disappears and I have to click the mouse to get it back so I can continue typing. Just in writing these two sentences, it disappeared three times.

First, let me clear up one thing. You don’t need the cursor to type.

A disappearing cursor could be a bug, but it’s also possible that it’s a feature. It depends on the cursor that you’re seeing.

Let’s begin by talking about the cursor.

Is It Safe to Store Files on My Desktop?

Hi, Leo. Since the days of Windows 98, I’ve been keeping a few files and folders on my desktop for quick access. I’m now running Windows 7 and up until recently, I’ve kept five folders with photos and some videos in them and three text files on my desktop. Last week, for no apparent reason, two of the folders emptied themselves of all their contents. Also, one of the folders and two of the text files up and disappeared completely. Fortunately, I was able to recover most of the data. I’m wondering what the problem was. I searched the internet for similar things and found one article that said one should never keep files or folders on one’s desktop. The desktop should be only for shortcuts. I’m wondering about your thoughts on this situation.

We’re actually treading into what I’d call religious territory here. There are definitely some strong opinions on both sides of this issue.

I actually agree with the article that you found. The desktop should be only for shortcuts, not for files.

Personally, I’m not a fan of putting even shortcuts on it.

This file does not have a program associated with it – what does this mean and what do I do?

How can I create an association in Folder Options? I get this error message when attempting to open picture attachments on Outlook Express: “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Folder Options control panel.”

A file can contain anything. Under Windows (and under MS-DOS before it), the convention was established that the characters following the last period in a file name, called the file “extension”, tells you what kind of data that file contains. “.EXE”, for example, is an EXEcutable program. “.JPG” is a jpeg compressed image file, “.TXT” is a plain text file, and so on.

In addition to knowing what type of data a file contains, Windows also needs to know what program should be used to access that file.

If that information is missing, then “This file does not have a program associated with it…” is one of the possible error messages.

My window is too large and wider than my screen. How do I resize it back?

Something was downloaded to my computer while I was away this week. (My husband probably thought it was ok.) Now when I open an email thru Outlook it’s huge – it goes way off the screen to the right. I don’t know how to resize this or fix this.

Can you please tell me in simple one and two syllable words just what to do?

Oh, those husbands. Can’t leave ’em alone for a minute, much less a week.

The too-wide window could be the result of a download, but it’s also possible that it’s not his fault. Even though it’s not supposed to, sometimes it can happen for other reasons. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to fix.

Can I Avoid Retyping Error Messages When I Need to Report Them?

Can I avoid retyping error messages when I need to report them?

In short, yes. Sometimes.

Microsoft points out how in one of the shortest Knowledgebase articles that I’ve ever seen. And as short as it is, the article even manages to include an error!