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player ready...Q. I recently updated my version of Windows XP by clicking on the update icon within my program menu. One of the updates offered was for Window’s Media Player 9 series. Now Window’s Media Player launches automatically every time I start up my computer.
This may be a great program–and even the best media player available–but I don’t regularly use the media player, have no need for it to be running and resent having its launch forced on me.
I looked through the options within the program and do not see where I can stop this auto launch.
I feel like Microsoft has pulled one over on me and made the product a fixture on my desktop without my choosing this option. Please help me regain control of my player selection.
Jose [email protected]
A. This isn’t Microsoft’s fault, Mr. L. But let’s blame them anyway.
Microsoft did write the code that permitted some hacker to register your computer to automatically launch Media Player at bootup and play a given tune, movie, animation or whatever. If you look at what file is loaded into Media Player you probably will be able to trace it back to the nasty source.
More and more sites selling music and movie downloads add a bit of code when people play a sample file that makes the file come back like the proverbial bad penny at each boot.
The fix is to click on Start and Run and then type in msconfig (it stands for Microsoft configuration) and tap Enter. In the menu that comes up click on the Start-up tab and look through the list of programs for the one citing Media Player. Remove the check from the small box alongside and reboot.
The next time the computer comes on you will be asked if you want to accept the changes made in the configuration files. Say yes and put a check mark in the box for Don’t Ask Again, and your problem will be history–at least until the next time you play some sample file and get snared again.
Q. I currently use the Microsoft Network for my e-mail. When I receive e-mails from AOL users in the notebook style I cannot read the message.
This apparently only happens with AOL. Other people send me messages in the MSN notebook format and I have no problems.
Larry [email protected]
A. One of my own neighbors loves to use that same stationery background that makes e-mail messages look like those lined pages with holes on the side from a 3-ring binder, and I want to open the window and shout, “What did you say?”
Which is to say I feel your pain, Mr. H., and I found a far more polite way to read these messages where the text color and background art is so close to the text color on my PC that the words are nearly impossible to read.
I open the e-mail and then type Control + A to select all of the text and then Control + C to copy it into memory. I then click on the New Message button and click inside the text area. Then I tap Control + V to paste just the text into that nice blank white Reply form.
This will prompt a message saying that certain pictures and HTML elements will be lost, and that is what you want. Click on OK and they go away. This not only makes the stuff legible without that background, but also gives me a note ready to reply.
Q. “Close all programs before installing!”
I’ve read this innumerable times and I’m only 76.
But how does one do this? I know I’m a simpleton and maybe senile, but hitting Ctrl + Alt + Delete as many times as there are programs open is the only way I stumbled on after many hours searching the many “how to” for idiots books and online FAQs.
I’m sure there is some “secret” key or combination of keys, but what is it?
Vince Marc @cox.net
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A. I too am an old dog, Mr. M., and I’m still learning new tricks, including this one: Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete just once in Windows XP and look at the display that this summons. There will be a box with tabs for Applications and Processes currently running on the computer.
Highlight the top item in Applications with your mouse and then go down to the last item and hold down the Shift key while pressing the mouse again. This will select every program currently running on your machine. Click the little End Task button at the bottom of the box and they will all shut down, leaving the runway clear for your new software installation.
This does not work in Windows 98, which brings up a window with all processes and applications mixed together when one gives the infamous three-fingered salute of Ctrl + Alt + Delete.
Processes run behind the scenes and often are crucial to keeping the machine itself up and running, while applications can be opened and closed at will.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or via snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column.
Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.