April 30, 2007

Dear Sassy: Every time I open Outlook I get an error message saying that I am missing a scanemal.dll file and that I might be out of memory. I've attached a picture of the error message below. How do I fix this problem?
~Happy Monday












Dear Happy: Thanks for including an image of the error. The complete error message really helps Sassy to determine what is going on with your machine. There is an "add-in" with Outlook that is trying to talk to McAfee, so what we need to do is to disable this communication. Open up Outlook, click Tools and then Options. Find the Other tab and click Advanced Options and then click on Add-In Manager. Click to clear the Exchange Scan check box and then click Ok to apply. This should solve your error message.

April 26, 2007

Dear Sassy: Where did the term "jewel" come from in relation to the jewel cases that house cds?
~Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Dear Diamonds: Sassy must agree that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but sadly the term "jewel" in jewel cases does not refer to that kind of gemstone. According to Wikipedia, the meaning is derived from a watchmakers' use of "jewel" and generically refers to a polished bearing used in a mechanism. High quality watches and clocks use gemstones as bearings for their low friction proportion. Not that Sassy would know much about watches, as she can't keep a battery working so she doesn't wear a watch. But back on track regarding the jewel cases... If you look at a jewel case you will notice that there are plastic bearings (in its hinges) when you open/close the case, hence the term "jewel" case.

April 26, 2007

Dear Sassy: I have a Google toolbar that suddenly added a button I do not want. The button is for the Rolling Stone website. How do I remove this?
~Gathering no Moss in Shreveport

Dear Gathering: Glad to hear that you are keeping busy! Sassy had to download Google toolbar in order to assist you with your question. In order to change the settings for the Google toolbar you first need to have your internet browser open. In the Google toolbar there is a search box with a letter "G" and a down arrow. Click on this down arrow and then click on Manage. A new window will open up with some Toolbar options. Click on the Buttons tab. In this window you can add/remove buttons to your toolbar. If you would like to investigate other button options for your Google toolbar, visit this website: http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/gallery.

April 18, 2007

Dear Sassy: I received an error message on my computer stating that my virtual memory was low. Am I really losing my memory (on my computer not in real life)?
~Memory Loss

Dear Memory: Sassy is guessing that the error message also said that Windows was fixing the problem. If you have received this error message once - don't worry. Like Windows said, it fixed the problem. However, if you have received this message several times it could be a problem with Windows. First, we should make sure that your hard drive isn't too full. To do this, Right click on Start, Left click on Explore, locate the drive that you want to check (in this case it is the Local Disk C:), Right click on Local Disk C:, and Left click on Properties. This will open a new window with a graph as well as text noting your free space vs. used space.

If the amount of free space is under 10%, you will need to clean up your computer a bit. You can utilize the Disk Cleanup button on this screen to gather more free space. You could also delete old files - or move them to the libfilesbackup machine.

If the amount of free space isn't the problem, it could be just a setting in Windows that needs to be altered. On your desktop is an icon for My Computer. Right click on My Computer, Left click on Properties, Click on the Advanced tab at the top, find the Performance section and click Settings, Click Advanced, in the Virtual Memory section click Change, look for the System Managed Size option and select it if it isn't selected. With this change you will need to restart your system for it to be in effect plus it should end all the warnings.

April 18, 2007

Dear Sassy: I have to tell you I L-O-V-E your blog! I’ve got a real puzzler for you this time. I recently completed a project, and would like to gather all the various information on the project, including emails I have placed in personal folders, word documents, spreadsheets, etc. together in to one folder. Can you advise me on the best way to accomplish this? Where would you locate such a folder?
~ Ready to fold in Forbing

Dear Forbing: Excellent question! This question caused Sassy to test a few things before answering. Sassy would L-O-V-E to assist you in organizing your files. First, you need to know where you are saving your files (word documents, excel spreadsheets), most times these files are saved in the generic My Documents (or My Files) folder. If you don't know how to tell where your files are being saved - open up the file, and click Save As. This will open up a new window in which you can determine where the file is being saved.

Let's create a new folder in My Documents and place all the related files into that folder.

Here are the steps: Open My Documents. <If you are unsure how to get to My Documents: Right click on Start, (left) click on Explore. This will open up a new window. You should see a folder called My Documents (or whatever folder you save your documents to) on the left hand side.> Here you can right click within this window and click New and click Folder. Name the folder appropriately. Within this window you should be able to drag and drop your related files.

Now to get the emails to this newly created folder... Sassy hopes that you already have a personal folder set up with the emails that you want to put in this folder. Click on the personal folder that you want to incorporate into your folder in My Documents. You will want to Select All (CTRL A) and Copy (CTRL C) the emails. Once you have the emails copied then you will open your folder in My Documents and Paste (CTRL V). If your emails are spread throughout your Outlook, you will need to individually copy and paste the emails into this folder.

Whew, Sassy thinks this was the longest post ever. Sassy needs to go home early...

April 11, 2007

Dear Sassy: Why have the latest Ask Sassy Systems... emails been kinda plain? I mean, what happened to the snazzy new graphic of Sassy?
~ Missing the Graphic

Dear Missing: You have been paying very good attention to the latest Sassy emails, great job! Since this blog was created changes have been in the works for Sassy. Not only is Sassy able to publish to this blog, but I can also push out emails to the library faculty and staff with each new posting on the blog. Sadly the emails come from the blog software and aren't really that pretty. But at the bottom of each email is a link that will take you to the graphical blog. Plus all the previous Sassy articles are posted to the blog and it is searchable. It is available at http://sassysystems.blogspot.com.

April 10, 2007

Dear Sassy: What is a firewall? I hear about it all the time, I just don't know what it is.
~ Just call me the Fireman, that's my name

Dear Fireman: This is a great question! There are several uses for the word firewall. For instance, did you know that your car has a firewall? It is located between the engine of your car and the driver. Its purpose is to protect the driver in case of an explosion or other dangerous malfunction the engine might encounter. But Sassy is guessing that the "firewall" you are asking about is not in your Honda. A computer firewall separates one computer from the other computers on the other side of the "wall." Firewalls help limit computer viruses and spam email, and serve as a filter to the Internet. A firewall can either be hardware or software based. Basically a firewall will let you perform regular Internet surfing while making sure that individuals on the Internet can not access your files on your machine. So in a sense, both types of firewalls protect the end user; however, Sassy hopes that your computer will not explode nor have a dangerous malfunction.