I just changed routers from a Netgear to a LinkSys. One of my computers found the wireless network but could not connect to it. It was stuck on “acquiring network address.” If I chose to repair the connection, I would get the message “renewing IP address,” but the system seemed unable to renew the IP address. The computer would connnect to the router fine with a LAN cable.

What fixed the problem for me was to remove the wireless Netgear entry from my computer (PC running Windows XP):

1. Click Start, Settings, Network Connections.
2. Right-click the icon for the wireless network and click Properties.
3. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
4. Below Preferred Networks, click the entry for your previous wireless router.
5. Click Remove and confirm the removal.

What happens, it seems, is that the wireless network entry for the previous router prevents Windows from renewing or releasing the IP address it was using so that IP address can be reassigned to the computer. By deleting the entry, you release the IP address and Windows can renew it for the new router.

If you try this solution, please post a comment to let me know whether it worked for you.

My wife was having trouble logging into her Novell Groupwise account at her school from home. When she tried to login, she kept getting this error message: Your login is not current. Please login again.

I tried clearing the browser cache as some have recommended elsewhere, but that didn’t help. The solution for us was to use a different DNS (domain name server). Instead of using the Wildblue satellite Internet DNS, we adjusted the network’s TCP/IP settings to use the DNS offered by OpenDNS, an alternate DNS (it’s free).

Change DNS in Windows 7

Here’s what you do in Windows 7 (and probably Windows Vista, too):

1. Click Start, Control Panel, View network status and tasks (below Network and Internet).
2. Click Change adapter settings (on the left).
3. Right-click the network connection through which you connect to the Internet and click Properties.



4. Click the TCP/IP entry (below This connection uses the following items) and then click the Properties button (below the list). You may have more than one entry, such as Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). On my system, the one that has the DNS settings is the IPv4 one, but you may need to check both to find the right one.



5. Click Use the following DNS server addresses if this option is not already checked. If the option is checked, jot down the numbers in the Preferred and Alternate DNS server boxes, so you can change back to the original settings if this doesn’t work.
6. Enter the following DNS server addresses:
   Preferred DNS server: 208.67.222.222
   Alternate DNS server: 208.67.220.220



7. Click OK and then click OK again to save your settings.
8. Try logging into your Novell Groupwise account. If it works, please come back and let me know.

Change DNS in Windows XP

Here’s how you change your DNS addresses in Windows XP:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
2. Right-click the network connection that you want to configure, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab (for a local area connection), or the Networking tab (for all other connections), click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.



4. Jot down the existing DNS settings, whatever they happen to be.
5. Remove the checkmark next to Obtain DNS server address automatically.
6. Click Use the following DNS server addresses, and then type the preferred DNS server and alternate DNS server IP addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server boxes, as shown below.



7. Click OK to save your changes.

Now try it! And don’t forget to come back here and let me know whether this helped.

I have four email accounts. In Outlook Express all my email would pour into one Inbox. Very convenient. In Windows Live Mail, incoming mail for each account ends up in its own Inbox. Very inconvenient, at least for me. If you’re like me and you want all your email in one place, here’s what you do:

1. Right-click Quick Views and click Select quick views.



2. Click All inbox, All drafts, All sent items, and All junk e-mail to place a check mark in each box.



3. Click OK.
4. (Optional) Click the arrow to the left of each account name to hide everything below it.

You opened an e-mail attachment from Outlook Express, edited it, and saved it. When you go to open it, it’s gone—nowhere to be found! You’d just spent hours editing that file, and it has vanished without a trace.

To avoid this from happening to you, always save file attachments before opening them to make changes. The right way to proceed is instead of double-clicking the attachment to open it, right-click the attachment, click Save As, and then save the file to a folder on your hard drive. As long as you can remember where you saved the file, it can’t simply disappear.

Once the file is saved, use your word processor (or whatever program you use to edit or view the file) to open the file and edit it. When you are done editing, you can then attach the file to an outgoing e-mail message to send it.

Is there any hope for that file you lost? Maybe. These files are stored in hidden, temporary folders that Outlook often deletes in the course of doing its business. If you’re lucky, the edited file is in one of these temporary folders. You can try one of the following maneuvers to hunt it down:

Go back to the email message that contains the attachment and try to open the attachment. If the file contains your changes, use the program’s File, Save As command to save the file to a permanent folder on your computer, such as My Documents. If the file does not contain your changes, DO NOT save the file; you could end up writing over the file that contains your changes.

If that didn’t work, try this:

1. Run My Computer by double-clicking its icon on your desktop or on the Start menu.
2. Click Tools -> Folder Options.
3. Click the View tab.
4. Click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.
5. Double-click the icon for the drive on which Windows is installed, which is almost always drive C.
6. Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
7. Double-click the folder for the user name you are logged on as.
8. Double-click the Local Settings folder.
9. Double-click the Temporary Internet Files folder.
10. Click at the end of the entry in the address bar to move the insertion point there, and type \Content.IE5. Your entry in the address bar should look something like this: C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Settings\Content.IE5
11. Press Enter.
12. Double-click each folder in the Content.IE5 folder and look for the file. The files should be listed by name in alphabetical order. It could be in any one of these folders. If you find the file, double-click it to open it, and then use the program in which the file opens to save it to a separate folder on your computer, such as the My Documents folder, so it doesn’t get lost again.

Recently when my satellite Internet connection slowed to a crawl, I assumed it had something to do with the satellite. I called Wildblue. The technician ran a check, informed me that the signal was weak, and advised me to check for snow or ice on the dish. The dish was clear, so the technician assumed the dish fell out of alignment for some reason. This was Friday. We scheduled a service call for Monday.

Over the weekend, I did some heavy-duty maintenance on my computer. I uninstalled programs I no longer use, deleted a bunch of files I no longer needed, and disabled some programs that were running in the background. Instantly, my Internet connection speed rose from about 200kbps to 950kbps – where it should be. I called and canceled the service call saving me fifty bucks.

The moral of the story – don’t assume a slow Internet connection is due to your ISP. It could be something as simple as an errant program running in the background.

First, test your connection speed. A couple good tools to test your Internet connection speed are CNet’s Broadband Speed Meter and Toast’s Internet Speed Test.

If your Internet connection is slower than it should be, here are some things to check:

• Router: If your modem plugs into a router which plugs into your computer, try bypassing the router by connecting the modem directly to one of your computers. If your connection is as fast as it should be, you just narrowed the problem down to the router.
• Background programs: Unbeknownst to you, your computer may be running programs on startup that consume system resources, including Internet bandwidth. Try disabling startup programs you don’t use or can’t recognize as performing any useful task. See “Disabling Background Programs in Windows,” later in this post for details.
• Firewall: A firewall designed to protect your computer from Internet intruders can gum up the works. Running too many firewalls can also be a problem. Check Windows Firewall (Start, Control Panel, Security Center). Check any Internet Security programs installed on your computer (such as Norton or McAfee), and check your router settings (if a router is installed). Try disabling all but one firewall – the router’s hardware firewall, if you’re using a router. One firewall should be sufficient.
• Domain Name Servers: The DNS matches the site address you type into your browser with the ID number of the computer on the Internet. Try changing your DNS, as I explain in a previous post, “Slow Internet? Try Changing Your Domain Name Server (DNS) Addresses.”
• Wireless signal interference: If you have a wireless router, a wireless phone or a neighbor’s wireless router may be interfering with the signal. Try changing channels, as I explain in “Weak Connection on Wireless Router? Try Changing Channels.

Disabling Background Programs in Windows

Windows features a configuration tool that enables you to disable programs when Windows starts. You can disable most of the programs to prevent them from running and then enable each program to identify the one that’s causing problems. To prevent programs from running in the background, take the following steps:

1. Open the Start menu and click Run. The Run dialog box appears.
2. Type msconfig and press Enter or click OK. The System Configuration Utility appears.
3. Click the Services tab and click Hide All Microsoft Services to place a check in its box. By hiding Microsoft services you avoid accidentally disabling a service that’s critical for the operation of Windows.



4. Click the Disable All button. This disables all services that are not critical for Windows to function properly.
5. Click the Startup tab. A list of all the background programs that run on startup appears.



6. Click the Disable All button. This removes the checkmark next to each program.
7. Click OK. The System Configuration dialog box appears, prompting you to restart your computer.
8. Exit any programs that are currently running and then click the Restart button. Windows restarts and then displays a dialog box indicating that you’re running Windows with a selective startup configuration for troubleshooting.
9. Click OK. The System Configuration Utility appears.
10. Click Cancel.

Test your Internet speed again. If it’s as fast as it should be, you know that one of the programs or services that you disabled was causing the problem. Use the System Configuration Utility to re-enable the programs and services one at a time (or two or three at a time), restarting Windows after each change. If enabling a program or service slows down your Internet connection, you’ve just identified the culprit.

I’m not a big fan of touchpads, but I do use the touchpad on my Acer Aspire when I forget to bring a mouse along or am too lazy to plug it in. One thing that almost drove me mad about the touchpad on the Acer Aspire is the Tap and Drag (Click and Drag) feature that’s enabled by default. Tap the pad twice, and you’re in drag mode. Unfortunately, 99% of the time I was in drag mode was unintentional.

If you find Tap and Drag to be one big drag, disable it. Here’s how:

1. Head to the Windows Control Panel and click Printers and Other Hardware.
2. Click Mouse.
3. Click Device Settings.
4. Make sure Synaptic TouchPad is selected, and click Settings.
5. Click the plus sign next to Tapping.



6. Click Tap and Drag.
7. Click Tap again and hold to drag to remove the check from the box.
8. Click OK to save your changes and OK again too close the Mouse Settings dialog box.

If you still feel that Tap and Drag is on, you probably have Tap and Scroll enabled. With Tap and Scroll, if you tap twice in a scroll area on your screen – typically a narrow strip on the right or bottom inside the window you’re working in, this locks scrolling in place, so when you move your finger, what’s inside the window scrolls left or right or up or down.

To turn off Tap and Scroll, perform the same steps provided above, but this time, in Step 5, click Virtual Scrolling, and remove the check from any boxes that are checked.

If you received a Microsoft Word document from a colleague or friend and can’t open it, it’s probably because it’s a docx file — the default file format starting with the release of Microsoft Word 2007. If you try to open the file in an earlier version of Word, you probably get a dialog box that looks like this:

Fortunately, Microsoft offers a solution. If you’re running an earlier version of Microsoft Office on a Windows PC, install Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and install critical updates for Microsoft Office prior to installing the Compatibility Pack.

If you’re running Office on a Mac, install Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0.2.

If some of the keys on your keyboard are typing numbers instead of letters, check to make sure Num Lock is not on. This seems obvious, but it’s a common occurrence on laptop and notebook computers, and it’s not as easy as just pressing a NumLock key to turn it off.

On some Gateway notebook computers, for example, you toggle the NumLock function by pressing Fn+. In other words, you hold down the Fn key (lower left of the keyboard) while pressing and releasing the Scroll key. Toggle means the keystroke turns the function on it it’s off or off it it’s on.

On some Packard-Bell keyboards, you hold down the Fn key while pressing the Ins key.

The important thing to remember is that if your keyboard is typing numbers when you’re trying to type letters, it’s likely that Num Lock is on. Your next step is to read the manual or check the manufacturer’s website for instructions on how to toggle Num Lock off.

This post assumes you have an HP network-capable printer connected to a router with a LAN cable. Instructions for wireless connections and different types of printers may vary, but the overall approach should apply to most home networks.

Some time ago, I did a post entitled “HP Network Printer Going Offline,” in which I provided instructions on how to locate the printer’s IP (Internet Protocol) address and reset it in Windows. Unfortunately, if the printer has a dynamic IP address – an address that is assigned to it by the local server automatically, its address can change later, sending the printer offline once again. You then have to repeat the steps to have the printer setup use the right IP address.

A better way to proceed is to assign a static IP address to your network printer. The static IP address remains fixed, unchanged when the network server is restarted, so the printer remains online.

Identify Your Printer’s Network Settings

Before assigning a static IP address to your printer, first make sure the printer is online, as I explain in “HP Network Printer Going Offline.” This ensures that you are assigning an IP address that actually works.

To identify which IP address is currently assigned to the printer, do the following:

1. On your HP printer, press the Setup button to display setup options for the printer.
2. Press the right arrow button until Network Setup appears in the LED window, and then press the OK button.
3. Press the right arrow button again until the Print Network Settings option is displayed, and then press the OK button. This prints the network settings, which include the IP address, Subnet mask, and Default Gateway (the address of your network’s router).

Setting a Static IP Address

Once you know your printer’s IP address, entering it is pretty easy. Here’s what you do:

1. Run your Web browser.
2. In the Web browser’s address bar, type the IP address of your printer and press Enter. Assuming you entered the right address, the HP printer control panel should appear.
3. Click the Networking tab.
4. Under Connections, click Wired.



5. Under IP Address Configuration, click Manual IP.
6. Enter the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway in the appropriate boxes.
7. Click Apply.

You may need to restart the networked computers, so they can reconnect with the printer.

Network problems can be caused by all sorts of things, including aggressive firewalls, a faulty network installation, and even a defective or disconnected cable. Recently, however, I stumbled across a problem that didn’t respond to the usual solutions. Everything was installed properly and even without any firewall running, I couldn’t connect to other computers on my network. When I tried, I would receive a Network Path Not Found or other error message.

After some research, I discovered the following article on Microsoft’s Web site entitled “You cannot view other workgroup computers on the network on a Windows XP-based computer.” The article recommends the following course of action:

1. Click Start, click Run,
   type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\
   Services\NetBt\Parameters
3. In the right pane of Registry Editor, delete the following values if they are present:
   • NodeType
   • DhcpNodeType

   Note If the NodeType value is present, this value will override the DhcpNodeType value. If neither subkey is present and if no WINS servers are configured for the client, the computer uses b-node mode. If at least one WINS server is configured, the computer uses h-node mode.

4. Quit Registry Editor.
5. Restart the computer.
6. Try to view workgroup computers on the network again.

Note: You may need to repeat these steps on every computer on your network.