Computer Help

From a design standpoint, Microsoft developed Windows to be easy and intuitive; most computing tasks can be accomplished with relative ease within the cozy Windows environment, and, most of the time, Windows will get out of your way and let you do your thing. But every version of Windows has a dark side that gets a little illumination from time to time: lurking in the cyber shadows are annoying security alerts, long unplugged USB device notifications, and pointless balloon messages that announce the obvious and lame, just to name several Windows annoyances that can be quickly disabled at your whim if you’ve got the inclination and information.

These are some of the common Windows nuisances, along with their solutions.

Irritant: “Delayed Write Failed” Error caused by Disconnecting USB Drive

This problem occurs when you disconnect a USB drive without notifying Windows first. There’s a chance that Windows will still be writing data to your USB drive if you just suddenly disconnect it, which may result in scads of corrupted files, a gamble most users don’t want to take. To ensure that Windows has completed all write operations to your USB drive, always use the “Safely Remove Hardware” utility located in your system tray; this tool will notify you with a message balloon when you can remove your USB drive. For the computer aficionado that craves more control over their numerous USB devices, throw Google a query, as there are plenty of free programs on the web that can manage your USB device collection for you.

Irritant: Die Hard Security Alerts

No matter what kind of a security freak you may be, there is no way you can outclass Windows. You have your firewalls, you have your antivirus software, but still Windows tries to prove you wrong, by sending you annoying security alerts letting you know that a virus is about to take control over your computer. Here is how you can silence these messages. Click on the next one you see and go to Virus Protection Panel. You will see in the Recommendations menu the option saying “I have an antivirus program” that you can mark in order to get rid of these nuisance.

Printer Messages Are A Hassle

If you send files to a network printer, you may have been annoyed at the “item printed” balloon message that pops up every time. To disable this lame option, navigate to the Control Panel and go to Printers and Faxes; next, click File, Sever Properties, and choose the Advanced Tab; at the bottom of the box, uncheck the “Notify me when remote documents are printed” check box.

When URL’s Don’t Act As URL’s

Today, we can use more than just one web browser to surf the Internet. The thing is that Windows do not like changes like these and it acts accordingly. If you wanted to use for some time Mozilla Firefox, and then just returned to Internet Explorer, you will see what mess you have gotten yourself into. Just after you made the switch and you uninstalled Firefox, you get an e-mail through Thunderbird or Outlook. And, surprise! Any URL from the e-mail no longer works and you get annoyed and frustrated. Here is how you should do to save yourself a headache. From Control Panel, choose Internet Options; there, in Programs, make Internet Explorer the default browser for surfing the net. That’s all!