Internet Explorer is not formatted properly and I don't know how to fix it.

We got a new computer. All was going well until the hard drive failed. I followed the prompts and backed everything up like I was told and it has just been fixed.

The first thing I noticed is that internet explorer is kind of stretched out sideways. All the text is kind of fatter than it used to be and it is really annoying. I don't know how to fix it.

Then, I try to load the stupid backup disks that it made me do, only to find that they don't work. I have lost everything that was uploaded to the damn thing including some photo's that I am very annoyed about losing.

Anyone able to help me?
 
Could the screen format be something as simple as the resolution of the screen? For example, did you get a new monitor that is widescreen?

Standard monitors would usually be 1024x768, but widescreens are more likely something like 1200x800 (just guessing coz I'm using my laptop, not desktop)

Right-click the desktop, select properties, then settings and try moving the slidebar to adjust the resolution.

Probably can't help with the backups, sorry - one of my personal fears...
 
I left Hubby to look after the damn thing when Lil Skater & I left to do our skatey thing in the City. He had half the day to play with it and told me that it could not be done. He had tried everything and it was going to stay the way it was.

I mess around with it when I come home, and of course check out SS. Then, he gets all cranky with me, kicks me off the computer and 5 mins later has fixed it.:rolleyes:

Now, next problem.

When I open Outlook and click on send/receive I get a message to enter Network Password for each of our 5 email addresses. I have ticked the 'save password' button, but it comes up repeatedly and is driving me nuts.

Can anyone help with this one please???
 
Try this:

Open Outlook
Click on Tools
Click on Account Settings
Under the EMail tab, click on Repair

And for any deleted/lost files such as photos, there are free recovery programs out there if you're interested, that will probably get many, maybe even all of them back - the hardest part would be sorting through the huge list of recoverable files, to select which ones you want.
 
And for any deleted/lost files such as photos, there are free recovery programs out there if you're interested, that will probably get many, maybe even all of them back - the hardest part would be sorting through the huge list of recoverable files, to select which ones you want.

:confused: How can this be? I had a failed hard drive. The repair person came and installed a new one and took the old one away. Surely all my data has gone for good if my recovery disks don't work?
 
Oh, if they've physically taken your old hdd away, well then there's nothing that you'd want to undelete on the new hdd of course :eek:

Seems like your only option is to try and get those recovery disks working.

What error/problems were you getting when trying to recover?
 
Skater,

My recommendation, for the future - can't help with what's currently lost, is to get a huge external USB hard disk (eg. 1 or 2 TB) and some drive imaging software (I use Acronis True Image, although not the latest version) and periodically store images to the external drive. Take one just after getting the computer set up with all your apps, and don't overwrite that one, and another periodically after any significant changes.

For large amounts of data, like photos and videos, I just back them up as-is to the external drive (keep them on a separate hard disk partition so they don't also get included in the drive images).

Taking images is dead easy, and if you have a lot of stuff on the hard disk so that it takes a long time, just run it over night.

Note though that the drive should only be a backup disk (ie. a copy of something stored elsewhere). It can fail just as easily as any other disk, so you don't want your only copy of anything on there either.

GP
 
Nothing. There was nothing at all.

At the risk of sounding stupid, what does that mean exactly :confused:

I don't like GreatPig's idea of storing all backups in the one location, and especially not all on the one hdd :eek:
Not only will the hdd have a very short lifespan compared to cd or dvd, for example, but it's also sensitive to static & magnetism. All it would take is a simple fault in the external adapter's psu, which can instantly destroy that hdd, and all of the backups with it - short of sourcing some very expensive recovery services.

I make backups every ~6months to dvd's, and for important files i'll also make a duplicate backup, which are stored in a separate location - a fire & heat proof box.

And did you fix the outlook issues? You're not giving much info to work with here :mad:
 
instantly destroy that hdd, and all of the backups with it
That's why I said it should just hold backup copies of things, not the only copies. As well the drive being destroyed, it can have more insidious issues like being able to be written to okay but then failing to read back.

Normally I recommend multiple backup copies of stuff, but typically once you mention more than one copy peoples' eyes glaze over and they think "too complicated" (especially those people who so far haven't had backups at all). A single external hard disk is the only practical media I can think of that is large enough to hold backup copies of everything, including drive images, photos, and videos. If I did a drive image of my home server to DVD it would take up more than 60 DVDs.

What I actually have myself, in more detail, is:

  • Two 1 or 2 TB drives holding drive images, virtual machines, photos, and videos.
  • A USB memory stick and the file server for daily, or more frequent, backups (from my laptop) of what I'm working on at the time.
  • A copy of all my original works (including photos) on a PC at work for off-site storage (anything sensitive is encrypted).
  • Periodically-written DVDs of my original works for archival purposes.
  • An Internet file server for the latest copies of my original works (except large stuff like photos), again for off-site storage, and again encrypted.
A lot of my original works are software source code and documents, and these are also maintained in a revision control system with all the revision history also being periodically backed up to the locations mentioned above.

And I separately backup my emails and related stuff, although that's also captured in the periodic drive images.

To simplify the backing up of individual data, I create batch files that use the command line ZIP program 7-Zip (I don't like using special backup software, except for the drive images). Even though that supports encryption, if I want to encrypt files I use a separate program I wrote myself, again driven from the batch file (although prompting for the password).

Cheers,
GP
 
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At the risk of sounding stupid, what does that mean exactly :confused:

And did you fix the outlook issues? You're not giving much info to work with here :mad:
Sorry, been painting all day.

When I put the disks in nothing happened. I opened the cd drive and there were files there, but when each was opened there was nothing there.:confused: I don't know how else to describe it.

As for the outlook issues, no, I didn't get that fixed either.
 
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