If you’re having trouble with Internet Explorer 8 crashing, it could be due to a problem with one of your add-ons. Running the browser with all addons switched off can help you check if this is the case, and may get you back in control of your browser to fix it.

Opening IE8 with no add-ons is accomplished with the command: iexplore –extoff
You can create a special shortcut using this command or enter the command manually. In Windows XP, enter it in Start-Run; in Vista or 7, enter in Start Search .

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For Windows XP, the easiest method may be to take advantage of Microsoft “Guided Help” as described at this Microsoft link.

The same page also describes how you can fix the problem yourself. Open Notepad and enter the following:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Then save the file to your desktop as “Show desktop.scf” . Make sure Notepad doesn’t tack the extension TXT on the file name. Now drag the new icon to the Quick Launch bar and drop it there.

For Windows Vista, the HowTo Geek has provided a file.

Or you can skip the icon entirely. In either Windows XP or Vista, you can use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + d

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To quickly shut down a non-responding program, open the command line and enter:

taskkill /f /fi "status eq not responding"
For convenience, you can create a batch file with this command. Simply enter the command given above in Notepad and save it as “close_stuck_programs.bat” . Be sure that Notepad does not tack on the extension TXT. Place the file on the desktop or somewhere convenient. If a program hangs up, double-click this file to close the program down.

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I am often asked if there is a quick way to close down a computer without having to go through all the steps Start-Turn Off Computer-Turn Off. Windows XP comes with a special executable file for shutting down called shutdown.exe that allows you to make a shortcut for just that purpose. It can also be used to logoff a user or to restart the computer; the details are given at http://www.vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/shortcuts2.htm. Here is how to make a shortcut to shut down. Right-click on an empty spot on the Desktop and choose “New-Shortcut” from the context menu. In the line “Type the location of the item” enter:

%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t 0

Press “Next”, give the shortcut a name and choose “Finish”.

Here’s some additional shortcut tips:

If you are a keyboard aficionado, you can use the sequence: Windows key, u, u

This last shortcut will not work in Vista. To enter the “Sleep” mode in Vista, use the keyboard sequence: Windows key, Right Arrow, Enter

To really shut down, the sequence is:Windows key, Right Arrow, Right Arrow, Right Arrow, u

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“Stand By” is a standard option in the dialog that you get when you click “Turn Off Computer” (figure below).

The “Stand By” mode shuts down the display and the hard drive but leaves the computer running with the RAM still powered (and its cooling fans). This setting reduces power consumption but maintains all programs and files that you had open. So when you resume, all open windows and programs are still there. Resuming after being in “Stand By” is quicker than a complete restart but the hard drive still has to be powered up. “Stand By” is not intended for long term shut downs and will gradually drain a laptop battery.

“Hibernation” basically turns everything off and puts the system in a low power maintenance state. The contents of RAM are written to a large file on the hard drive (hiberfil.sys) equal in size to the amount of RAM that you have. When you resume, the contents of the file on the hard drive are restored to RAM. Thus your open files and programs are maintained. Resuming from Hibernation takes longer than Stand By because the hard drive has to write to RAM. “Hibernation” consumes less power than “Stand By” and can be used on a laptop for more extended periods of time.

The “Hibernation” option does not appear in the default configuration when you click “Turn Off Computer”. So how do you choose “Hibernate”? After you click, “Turn Off Computer”, hold down the Shift key. “Stand By” will change to “Hibernate” as long as the Shift key is pressed down. You can also use the keyboard sequence Windows key, u, h.

Hibernation can be enabled or disabled in the Power Management control applet in Control Panel. The dialog can be opened by Start-Control Panel-Performance and Maintenance-Power Options-Hibernate
A faster way to the Power Options applet may be to use the Run line. Open Start-Run and enter “powercfg.cpl” (without quotes). Then click the “Hibernate” tab.

Note that Windows Vista introduced a different power scheme called “Sleep”, which is a hybrid of “Stand By” and “Hibernate”. Shutting down Vista has been discussed previously.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

control userpasswords2

In Windows Vista, enter the same command in Start Search.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

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You might think that entering “rstrui” in the Windows XP Run line would also work but it doesn’t. The file rstrui.exe is not in the default path in Windows XP. You could enter the full address %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe into the Run line but typing such a long name is obviously not optimal. That is why I suggested creating the shortcut described in the earlier post. I also wrote two scripts that can be used to quickly create a restore point. They can be downloaded at my computer education site.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

• 25 essential Firefox add-ons for power users
  From TechRadar
• Five Firefox Shortcuts You Need to Learn Right Now
  From PC World
• Firefox 3: 8 Untold Secrets
  From ExtremeTech
• Useful Firefox 3 Configuration Tweaks
  From Lifehacker

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Did you know that the executable file that opens Word can have switches? There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to use startup command line switches to start Word 2007, Word 2003, Word 2002, and Word 2000. Most of the switches for the file winword.exe are of little use to the average Word user but there is one that allows a handy shortcut. I’ll discuss the details below but if your eyes start to glaze over and you want to skip the discussion, I have prepared a little file for you that implements the shortcut. The download link is at the end, following the discussion.

As you know, Word keeps a list of the most recently used files (MRU). They can be seen by opening the File menu or in Word 2007 by clicking the orb in the upper left corner. You can then access a previously opened document by clicking its name in the list. However, there is a way to access a previously used document before Word is even open. It makes use of a switch that has the form /mfilen where n is the place of the file in the most recently used list. Thus to open the file that you last used (it is first in the list), the command would be: winword.exe /mfile1To reopen the next-to-last file that you used the command is:winword.exe /mfile2 and so on until you exhaust the MRU list. You could enter the command into the Run box or use the command line. The command line would actually use “start winword.exe /mfile1″. However, creating a shortcut is more convenient.

It’s easy to create a shortcut that will open Word and the last document that you worked on. You will need to know the path for the executable file winword.exe. Normally, it is in a folder of the form C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeX where X is a number that depends on your version. For example, Office 2003 is Office11 and Office 2007 is Office12. I give general procedures for creating a shortcut at Computer Education. The command to be used in the shortcut for Word 2003 is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\winword.exe" /mfile1 and for Word 2007 is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" /mfile1 Note that the quotation marks are needed because the path has spaces in it.

If you prefer a ready-made shortcut, I have written a little batch file that should do the job on most systems. Download it here, unzip, and place anywhere convenient. Double-clicking this file should open your copy of Word with the last document that you used.

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