MSN Messenger is an instant messaging program, an essential tool for a lot of computers users. However, it can be very disconcerting when problems occur. This includes prevention of installation or sign in issues. MSN Messenger is developed by Microsoft for usage on Windows operating systems. If you are running a pirated copy of a Windows operating system, it may be difficult to use this program to it’s full potential due to Microsofts attempts to decrease piracy of their software.

Issue:

Can’t install MSN Live Messenger.

• If you have downloaded MSN and get this error message when trying to run the exe (To install live programs, you must be online. Please connect to the internet then try again.), this can be solved by going to the Windows Update website and downloading + installing updates.

Can’t login after installing.

• First step would be to allow MSN access through your firewall, or just disable your firewall altogether. Aswell as your Windows Firewall, some anti-viruses have their own so make sure to check them aswell.
• If you are behind a router be sure to forward the ports that MSN uses. An easy guide to this can be found at www.portforward.com
• Update to the latest version as some older versions are unsupported and should prompt you to update anyway.
• Check your clock and date is set to the right time.
• It is also advised to downloaded and reinstall MSN if nothing else works.

If problems persist, www.webmessenger.com is a temporary solution for your IM needs.

Youtube has never had a download option on their website for people to download videos, however, there are ways to download any video you like. Some people tend to use sites like keepvid.com, which allow you to download videos in FLV format.  However, this method can be quite annoying because you need a special player to play them and the FLV format is not compatible with a lot of other programs.

Downloading videos is easily done with a program called vDownloader. Once you download this tiny program, all you have to do is type in the youtube URL of the video you want, and it will start downloading in AVI format. This is a very popular format and is widely used for videos.

vDownloader is completely free. I recommend you to share this with your friends because no one wants to screw around downloading foreign formats that are hardly used. Plus the fact some people are tricked into paying for FLV to AVI converters. This is purely a waste of money, so spread the word; vDownloader!

Download vDownloader for free.

Lots of people buy computers everyday, however it is a difficult task for some. Deciding between a laptop and desktop PC is an easy decision once you evaluate what tasks you are going to complete with the computer and where you plan to use it. Things like price, computer specs (specifications), portability and style + design are all important factors to consider before purchasing.

One of the most important considerations is; in what environment you are going to use it? If you are just using it at home and don’t need to move it around a lot, a desktop PC would be ideal. However, if you want to use it in multiple locations eg.(on the train, school, work, lying in bed) a laptop would be more suitable. Ofcourse, if you don’t want to move it around, a laptop is more compact and will take up less space inside your house.

Better prices and specs are both reasons to get a desktop PC over a laptop. PCs are drastically cheaper than laptops and have better performance for what you pay. If you see a cheap laptop advertised, you will be able to find a better performing PC for a cheaper price. Desktop PCs are also easily upgradeable. This means you can add extra fans, upgrade video card, motherboard and add your own cards into PCI slots. None of this can be done easily with a laptop.

Whether you decide to buy a desktop PC or a laptop make sure you are happy with the specs and design. Be careful to think about what is best for you before you go into a shop and let a sales person force you into a sale.

Safety is an important issue concerning people when transferring funds online. No one wants to be scammed and lose any money. However, there are many things you can do to to increase the safety of your transactions and protect your account from scammers.

For sending and receiving payments online, Paypal is the best option and probably the most popular. Paypal is free to setup and easy to use once verified. It is highly used within the buying and selling cmmunity at eBay but that is not surprising considering eBay owns Paypal. Users can make secure transactions with their credit card or direct bank balance to avoid keeping any funds in their paypal account. Just like the eBay system, Paypal users build up a reputation the more safe transactions they acquire. This can be useful if a user ever needs to file a dispute against another member to recover funds.

Despite being the best payment processor online, some people still hate it. Most of these people are just unhappy that it isn’t available in their country or their funds have been ceased for ussing a VCC (virtual credit card) etc. However, any action that is taken, is done so in the best interests of the Paypal community.

There is always a chance you will lose your money no matter what payment processor  you use. The internet can be a dangerous place and you have to be extra careful when handling money because you never know the identity of the person  you are dealing with.

When using the start menu of an XP computer, you will notice a delay between different programs you scroll across. To make your computer browsing experience quicker it would be better to eliminate this period of delay so they come up instantly. To do so, follow the steps here. They are completely safe.

Go to Start, then Run.

Type: ‘Regedit’ and press enter.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0.
Restart your computer.

You will notice immediately that you can navigate around installed programs a lot faster.

A few random shortcuts to assist you:

Windows Key + E - Windows Explorer
Windows Key + F - Launch Find tool
Windows Key + U - Launch the Utility Manager
Windows Key + Pause/Break - System Properties
Windows Key + D – Minimize/minimize current all windows.
Windows Key + L - Quick Log Off

Windows Key + M - Minimize all windows

Windows Key + R - Launch Run Tool

Lastly, to disable effects Windows XP uses for your own personal convenience or enhanced computer performance, Right click My Computer, go to Properties, then Advanced, then Settings under Performance and have a little play around with these until you are happy.

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Imagine the thought of losing all the data and files on your computer. It’s a pretty scary situation for some people. Luckily, there are some precautions you can take to make sure you don’t permanently lose your data.

Firstly, consider buying an external hard drive. These come in all sizes and prices. All you have to do it plug it into your computer via USB and copy over the files you want to backup. Now if your computer gets infected by a bad virus or you accidently delete something, you won’t lose all your data.

The same can be achieved by using multiple CDs (700mb each) or DVDs (4.5gb each), but note these are not rewriteable, so make sure you try and fill them with as much data at once.

If you’re having trouble with playing songs on iTunes because they have an exclamation mark next to them, it means the file has been moved from the previous location. There is an option to locate the files one by one, but the easiest way is to just remove all the affected files from iTunes and re add them. The only downside with this is you will lose the play count of the songs.

The easiest way to remove the files is to highlight one file, hold down Shift and select another file. This will highlight all the files in between and let you remove them all at once. (right click and Delete). Also you can select files one by one by holding down CTRL and selecting the files you want.

Many people need to take screenshots of their computer screen for many different purposes.

To take a screenshot of your current screen, no external program is needed. Just press the Print Screen button on your keyboard, open up Paint and click paste.

This method will not work for video because it shown on another layer and the screenshot will come out blank. To avoid this, follow these steps.

For Windows Media Player 11, right click somewhere on the outside of the video, go to tools, options, performance, advanced. From there deselect the overlays option and you will be able to take screenshots of video.

Taking this step with the disabling of the overlays, you will also have the power to watch TV and use full screen games/apps and media players at the same time.