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Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 202 • 2009-06-18 • Circulation: over 400,000

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Spam-Proof Your E-Mail Address, 3rd Edition

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Table of contents
TOP STORY: Break from MS Office with free alternatives
KNOWN ISSUES: Simple fixes for problems related to IE 8
WACKY WEB WEEK: People are strange, when you're on Craigslist
LANGALIST PLUS: Find the cause of "bad pool header" errors
BEST SOFTWARE: Speed up your PC by using portable software
WOODY'S WINDOWS: Microsoft lets you remove IE from Windows 7

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TOP STORY

Break from MS Office with free alternatives

By By Scott Spanbauer

If you're thinking of skipping the next expensive Microsoft Office upgrade, you can begin preparing today for the move to a free Office-like suite or Web service.

A gradual and easy transition allows you to avoid any possible file incompatibilities, because you can still keep an old copy of Office available as a safety net.

I like almost everything about Microsoft Office except its price. Even so, like many people, I use only a fraction of the suite's features. I rely mostly on the basic formatting, spellcheck, grammar, and review features of Word, with an occasional Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide thrown in for good measure. The rest of Office is bloatware to me.

I don't automate my documents with VBA macros; my Excel tables are rudimentary; and my PowerPoint presentations are just the facts, ma'am. Do I really need to pay to load a copy of Office on every computer I use?

I stuck with the Microsoft behemoth all the way through Office 2003. To date, I've never felt a need for Office 2007. In recent years, meanwhile, upstart productivity applications have seduced me away from Microsoft's ubiquitous suite.

I started using the free, open-source OpenOffice.org suite on a daily basis several years ago to see whether it could really replace Office. Though OpenOffice's menu commands, dialog boxes, and settings often vary only slightly from those of the corresponding Microsoft Office applications, I found the switch to OpenOffice's Writer and Calc applications easy.

And because OpenOffice is free, I can install the program on every one of the PCs I use, whether it runs Windows, Linux, or OS X. You can get your copy — or copies — at the OpenOffice.org download page.

I outlined the major differences between MS Office and OpenOffice in my Oct. 30, 2008, review of OpenOffice.org 3. There are a couple of reasons why I haven't given up Office 2003 entirely. For one thing, I maintain several important databases in Access. Unfortunately, OpenOffice's Base database program is not a replacement for Access. Base can't read and save Access files the way Writer does with Word files, Calc does with Excel files, and Impress does with PowerPoint files.

Another reason I keep a copy of Office around is because OpenOffice lacks a PIM analogous to Outlook. This is a hole you can fill with one of the many alternatives I reviewed in my July 31, 2008, and Aug. 14, 2008, Best Software columns. Another alternative is to use OpenOffice with Yahoo's free Zimbra Desktop service in place of Outlook.

Compatibility with Office file types remains a problem for OpenOffice and other Office alternatives. Before you make the switch, open your most important Office documents in the Office replacement of your choice to ensure that the files look and function as expected.

OpenOffice opens and saves files in .doc, .xls, and .ppt formats (among others), usually without a problem. In my experience, however, those documents may not always look and behave exactly as they do in Microsoft Office.

You can protect yourself from unwanted surprises by opening and printing a generous sampling of key files you've exchanged with co-workers and clients. More importantly, keep an old copy of Office installed on at least one of your computers, just in case.

Stick with standard Office file formats

You can minimize file-compatibility issues by standardizing on the most common file formats. By default, OpenOffice.org saves files in Open Document Format (ODF). Microsoft's by-the-book support for ODF, unfortunately, breaks some spreadsheet files, according to a recent ZDNet blog post.

OpenOffice reads and writes Office 2007's default .docx and .xlsx XML file formats. But the older .doc and .xls formats are still the ones most often used. I suggest that you make the classic Office formats your defaults in OpenOffice. To set .doc as the document default, for example, open any OpenOffice program and do the following:

Step 1. Choose Tools, Options;
Step 2. Select General under Load/Save;
Step 3. Click Text Document under Document type in the Default file format and ODF settings section;
Step 4. Choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP in the Always save as drop-down menu and click OK.

To make .xls the default worksheet format, open the same dialog box and follow the same steps, with the following differences:

Step 1. Choose Spreadsheet under Document type in the Default file format and ODF settings section;
Step 2. Choose Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP in the Always save as drop-down list and click OK.

The best sites for taking Office files online

Both Office and OpenOffice are tied to a specific computer. If you're like me, you're constantly bouncing from one PC to another as you wend your way between home and office, coffee shops and airports, iPhones and Blackberries.

If you long to store your documents in the Internet cloud — where you can reach them any time from any Internet-connected PC — make Google Docs your first stop. Thanks to the recent addition of Google Gears offline caching, you can even view and edit your Google Docs when you board a flight or are otherwise unable to access the Net.

As with OpenOffice, be sure to upload, open, and print a representative sampling of your existing documents in Google Docs to check for compatibility before you make a permanent switch. Google's Web-hosted document, spreadsheet, and presentation apps offer far fewer features than their counterparts in MS Office and OpenOffice.

However, because your Google Docs files are online 24/7, you're not the only person who can access your stuff via the Net. You can also share the files with other Google Docs users. You can even publish documents to your blog with just a couple of clicks. And it's no surprise that Google Docs can also be seamlessly integrated with Gmail.

You may find that Google Docs and the similar, collaboration-oriented ThinkFree Online Web apps are too streamlined for you. If so, try Zoho Office, a Web service that offers feature-rich word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications.

Zoho Office matches Google Docs' offline support via Google Gears (in the Writer application only) and provides a dozen more free apps. Zoho even has a plug-in for Microsoft Office that lets you open, edit, and save Zoho-hosted files in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint themselves.

You can do the same trick with an extension called OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs. This bit of software is available on the OpenOffice.org site. Despite its name, the OpenOffice extension also supports Zoho and WebDAV servers.

Microsoft offers a similar tool through its free Office Live Workspace. The software giant reportedly also plans to make online capabilities a part of the upcoming Office 2010.

Fortunately, you don't have to wait until 2010 to use the Office-like suite of your choice, either online or offline.

UPDATE 2009-06-25: For a look at other Office alternatives and readers' take on file-compatibility problems between Office and OpenOffice.org, see the June 25, 2009, Known Issues column.

Scott Spanbauer writes frequently for PC World, Business 2.0, CIO, Forbes ASAP, and Fortune Small Business. He has contributed to several books and was technical reviewer of Jim Aspinwall's PC Hacks.

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KNOWN ISSUES

Simple fixes for problems related to IE 8

By Dennis O'Reilly

If the installation of Internet Explorer 8 knocks your Windows desktop for a loop, you may be able to repair things without having to revert to an earlier version of the browser.

Restoring explorer.exe or refreshing your network connection could be all that's required to return a shattered system to working order.

Every software installation or update is fraught with peril. You never know when a relatively minor system change will cascade into a big-time headache.

In the June 11 Known Issues column, computer repairman Bob Millard described how he restored several XP notebook systems for his clients after the installation of IE 8 resulted in blank desktops (no icons, no nothing). We subsequently heard from several readers who offered additional, straightforward solutions to similar problems that IE 8 had induced or worsened. Travis Walden's approach, which restarts Windows' Explorer shell, is about as simple as fixes get:

"I had a similar issue with my laptop after installing IE 8. However, I came across a much easier solution. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up Task Manager. Click File, New Task (Run). Type explorer and press Enter. This brings up the desktop icons, taskbar, Start menu, and everything else that failed to launch on my laptop."

David C. Battistoli's problem was somewhat different, but his solution was similarly quick and effective:

"I recently read the tip submitted by Bob Millard, written up by Dennis O'Reilly, and published in Issue 201. Although we had rather different circumstances, there were a few similarities — mostly, no network of any kind and no icons on the desktop. (I never tried to access any USB devices, so I don't know whether or not they were affected.)

"This was on a friend's Vista laptop, and the problem just seemed to happen of its own accord. I started working on it and doing the various voodoo tasks often necessary to get a Windows system running again. When in Safe Mode with Networking, I had a desktop and a system, but still no networking. There were other possible clues, but the biggest one was that the EventLog service was stopped and couldn't be started. When I tried to start it manually, Windows displayed Error 1747.

"It turns out that the TCP/IP stack had become corrupt. In this case, I was able to open a command prompt (by right-clicking it and selecting "Run as Administrator") and use the command netsh winsock reset [and press Enter]. The system needed to restart, but after that it worked fine.

"This has been a problem I've encountered since early WinXP days. It's quite rare, doesn't seem to have any particular rhyme or reason, and I'd really hoped that Vista would have fixed it. Still, it's a rather benign (albeit annoying) problem with a pretty easy solution."

Robert A. Palmer believes the IE 8 problems that Bob Millard and others reported on may involve more than meets the eye:

"Just a quick comment on the reported IE 8 install issues. From the description of the problems, it sounds as if these computers had pre-existing issues exposed by the installation of IE 8 rather than problems caused by IE 8 itself. Remember that IE 8 is an integral part of the OS and as such is only as stable as the underlying health of the OS.

"In 17 years of supporting computers and networks in a Windows environment, I've found more often than not that major patches, updates, etc., seldom have major holes glaring back at you. If an update installs on 99% of computers with no issues, you can't defame it for the failure to install on 1% of computers. It's like saying that exercise is bad because in 1% of the population it may cause death."

As with most Microsoft updates, IE 8 will install without a hitch on the vast majority of PCs. Still, if you're one of the unlucky few whose system is hosed by a Windows update, the only thing you're interested in is getting the fix as soon as possible.

As Robert points out, some updates may uncover problems that existed on the machine beforehand but weren't apparent. Microsoft can't guarantee that updates it releases will be problem-free. Still, when problems arise, we owe it to our readers to publish workarounds to any glitches that affect a substantial number of Windows users.

Bootable utilities enhance PC troubleshooting

Bob Millard's solution to his clients' IE 8-related problems involved the use of PC troubleshooting programs. Klaus Liebold is curious about these tools:

"Bob Millard claims 'The only way I could get them back was by using one of my bootable utilities that would allow me access to the restore points.' Any chance of finding out what those utilities are? I would love to buy just one and I'm sure that most of your readers would be interested as well."

Keep your money in your wallet, Klaus. You don't have to buy a bootable troubleshooting utility — some of the best of these tools are available for free. WS contributing editor Mark Edwards reviewed four such programs in his Aug. 14, 2008, PC Tune-Up column. The best programs scan for malware in addition to recovering PCs that fail to boot up.

Looking for the feel-good Windows stories

It can be tough to sound cheerful when you write about PC problems, security threats, and the questionable practices of some vendors. That's why we sympathize with Jim Elder when he responds to the somber tone of so many articles:

"When you do have bad news to report — and you will — I'd hope you will have some depth. The piece titled "Problems confirmed with Vista Service Pack 2" gave an example of a single guy with a problem. How many thousands of people have installed Vista SP2? All you could identify was one guy?

"If you're going to warn me about a problem, I'd appreciate a little more credibility than just one guy who had a bad experience. If one guy's bad experience was enough to hold me back, I'd never install or purchase anything. I expect a little more credibility from a professionally published newsletter. I can get the one-unhappy-guy coverage from any number of user forums. (Conversely, I'd expect a "run out and get this now" article to be based on more than a single user's good impressions.)

"Anyway, thanks for listening to my hopefully constructive criticism. I do appreciate the newsletter."

Rest assured, if you see a problem covered in Windows Secrets, we've heard about it from many readers, though for the sake of brevity our article may quote only one.

As I mentioned above, updates such as Vista Service Pack 2 install fine on a majority of systems. But a problem that affects just 1% of the estimated 1 billion PCs in the world still represents a lot of headaches. It's our job to let people know how to fix things and avoid similar glitches in the future.

Personally, I'd much rather publish stories about the wonderful new features of Windows 7 than report on yet another Internet Explorer security hole. Let's hope Microsoft delivers good news on this front.

Readers Travis, David, Robert, Klaus, and Jim will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we printed. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page.

The Known Issues column brings you readers' comments on our recent articles. Dennis O'Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com.

Contents Index

WACKY WEB WEEK

People are strange, when you're on Craigslist

By Katy Abby

Do you need a job? A date? How about a massage, a private chef, or a bicycle? Anything and everything that can be bought, sold, bartered, or donated can be found on Craigslist. This social phenomenon has exploded in popularity over the past few years, eclipsing newspaper classifieds almost completely.

It's a small wonder, then, that the infamous Weird Al Yankovic has homed in on this super-site as his latest target. Take a look at his psychedelic new video and see whether you can guess the inspiration behind this rockin' remake. (You'll probably figure it out before The End!) Play the video

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The following link includes all articles this week: http://WindowsSecrets.com/comp/090618

Free content posted on June 18, 2009:

TOP STORY
By Scott Spanbauer
Break from MS Office with free alternatives
Stick with standard Office file formats
The best sites for taking Office files online

KNOWN ISSUES
By Dennis O'Reilly
Simple fixes for problems related to IE 8
Bootable utilities enhance PC troubleshooting
Looking for the feel-good Windows stories

WACKY WEB WEEK
By Katy Abby
People are strange, when you're on Craigslist

You get all of the following in our paid content:

	LANGALIST PLUS By Fred Langa Find the cause of "bad pool header" errors Don't be stymied by arcane error messages Vista user profile is missing in action Did your PC ship with a trial version of Vista? External-drive format dilemma thwarts backups
	BEST SOFTWARE By Ian "Gizmo" Richards Speed up your PC by using portable software Modern programs need hooks into the OS USB memory sticks can rescue an over-apped PC Using portable apps to replace installed programs Gizmo's preferred portable utilities
	WOODY'S WINDOWS By Woody Leonhard Microsoft lets you remove IE from Windows 7 IE integration and disintegration with Windows Microsoft tap-dances its way around Europe More Win7/IE machinations expected this summer

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YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

The Windows Secrets Newsletter is published weekly on the 1st through 4th Thursdays of each month, plus occasional news updates. We skip an issue on the 5th Thursday of any month, the week of Thanksgiving, and the last two weeks of August and December. Windows Secrets resulted from the merger of several publications: Brian's Buzz on Windows and Woody's Windows Watch in 2004, the LangaList in 2006, and the Support Alert Newsletter in 2008.

Publisher: WindowsSecrets.com LLC, Attn: #120 Editor, 1700 7th Ave., Suite 116, Seattle, WA 98101-1323 USA. Vendors, please send no unsolicited packages to this address (readers' letters are fine).

Editorial Director: Brian Livingston. Senior Editor: Ian Richards. Editor-at-Large: Fred Langa. Technical Editor: Dennis O'Reilly. Program Director: Tony Johnston. Program Manager: Ryan Biesemeyer. Web Developer: Damian Wadley. Research Director: Katy Abby. Copyeditor: Roberta Scholz. Contributing Editors: Susan Bradley, Scott Dunn, Mark Joseph Edwards, Michael Lasky, Woody Leonhard, Ryan Russell, Becky Waring.

Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, Support Alert, LangaList, LangaList Plus, WinFind, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

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