New Outlook Error 080073cf8 New Outlook would not launch, so I tried to uninstall it, But it didn’t uninstall. It would not no matter what I tried. I got the error “You cannot uninstall Outlook” as well. Quick Answer on how I fixed it I typed this in the run line %localappdata%\Microsoft Deleted the OLK […]
Author Archive: Lisa Hendrickson
Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Comcast and Norton Crashes Another Computer
We have found that “one size doesn’t fit all” here at Call That Girl!
Unfortunately, I have to blog about this yet again. On Saturday I had a networking colleague call in with the “black screen of death”. Her computer would not get past the black screen after it crashed the day before. Luckily, I know how to troubleshoot remotely with folks to get their computer back up and running, but she did not.
After we got her computer going again, I asked her what had happened that morning and she didn’t really know. So I did my “usual suspects” list of what can cause it (Antivirus programs or Windows Updates are the big two) and what do you know, after checking her computer, it appears Norton had done an update 19 hours earlier. I asked her when did this black screen happen. She stated that the day before at 5:00 she started having problems. She called at 11:30 on Saturday, so after doing the math…I have no one else to blame but Norton for causing this problem. I guess we could also blame Comcast as well. We can’t blame my client as they were offered it for free by Comcast. I don’t understand how Comcast can offer a product or service to their customers that is a well known product to crash computers.
My last blog about Comcast and Norton crashing computers, posted on Feb 12th has almost 30 comments on this same issue. It is the #1 blog if you search “Comcast Norton slow.” If you would like to see the blog, here is a link to it.
https://callthatgirl.biz/comcast-users-should-avoid-installing-nortonsymantec/
As much as I enjoy working with these folks, I always want to call Comcast and just complain that “one computer program doesn’t fit all”, meaning that they should check the computer’s age and memory to see if the Norton Security Suite can even hold the program and do it’s unscheduled sporatic updates.
If you are going to download the Comcast/Norton Security Suite or have already downloaded it, then please be aware of a few things.
- Your computer may be too old to run it
- You may not have enough hard memory
- You may not have enough hard drive space
Here is the link to Comcast’s site for the Norton installation requirements. I have read through this list and still think that 256 MG of RAM is not enough to run this robust program.
http://security.comcast.net/norton/resi/?cid=33_230
If you have any questions, feel free to comment.
If you want help with this slow down, please let us know!
If you want to get RID of NORTON and replace it with an awesome program, then click on the logo below. Install Malwarebytes instead. $25 for a lifetime license!
https://callthatgirl.biz/my-computer-is-slow-help/
While having coffee this morning, I watched a virus infect my computer
I know for some of my readers they would be scared, but for a computer repair tech, it was pretty neat to see it happen. I’ve been waiting for this day, where my computer gets infected without me doing anything or clicking on anything. (Yes, I do have protection, but I keep it limited so I can get what you folks get so I can witness it).
Here’s what happened….
I left my computer on all night doing a back up, then I went to check my hotmail email and once I clicked on an email that should have been safe to open, I saw a window pop up at the top of the hotmail window, asking for permission to download. But right after, I saw the “download installer” start moving. I didn’t give it permission or press the install button. I watched for a bit to see if it would show me what I was installing, it never came, so I cancelled the installation.
Too late. Next thing I saw pop up on my screen was “Your computer may be infected, please check your antivirus software” and I knew I got infected right then and there.
- I didn’t click on anything
- I didn’t install anything
- It self-installed
- It started running without me doing anything!
Next thing that happened was a big green shield showed up in my system tray and then POOF, a huge window popped up and starting running an antivirus check. The virus I got was “Anti spyware Soft” (I believe). I have seen this before on client’s machines, so I was familiar with it. I could not believe what had just happened though, it was crazy to see it all happen. It was crazy to actually witness what happens to my clients!
I then fixed my own virus (just like how I fix your viruses) and went on with my morning. As a repair tech, we fix our own problems. We rarely if ever have to call a “helpdesk” or “repair company” but for you folks, you probably do need help to remove these.
We fix these problems and quickly. Your best bet is to write down our phone number in case your virus takes away your internet access. Mine didn’t work after the infection.
612-865-4475
Happy Saturday, it’s really just too cold here in Minnesota today!
Call That Girl is the SCORE success story of the month
Since 2007, I have worked with 2 counselors at SCORE to help with my business coaching needs. As I had never started a business before, I really had no clue how to do a few things and needed mentoring. I set up an appointment to meet with Virgil at the St. Louis Park office and it’s been smooth sailing ever since.
SCORE has posted a blog about my successes with them at their Minnesota Blog, feel free to read more here
http://www.scoreminnesota.org/2010/05/04/call-that-girl-another-score-success/
If you have a few questions about your business and need assistance, I highly recommend using SCORE. They are all retired business professionals who want to help you, for no charge.
How to reset and configure IE 8
Are you having problems with your Internet Explorer being glitchy and not working right? Maybe it’s stalling when you try to open it, or just not playing nice. We have created a video for you to watch to reset and configure IE 8 on your own. It’s a short 4+ minute video with no sound to watch and then you can do it on your own.
Remember to close your Internet Explorer 8 window at the end and open it again. You should find that it works much better and faster. Click on the button below and you will be redirected to our YouTube channel.
Call That Girl’s Guide To Outlook
Call That Girl will be launching a new business services line of support and to get going, I thought I would do a review of Outlook. Outlook is probably one of the most used software programs out there. I am a big fan of it, have used it for years…but there are a few things everyone should know. The big tips are at the bottom of this blog. We will start with a review of who uses Outlook and for what purposes.
HOME USERS
So, let’s start with the average home user. Why do you need Outlook? You probably don’t unless you have a smart phone and like synchronizing your calendar, tasks, contacts, etc. Most home users use free email services such as Gmail, Hotmail and Comcast. Many Mom’s like Outlook for the kids calendar, home calendar and keeping track of contacts.
SMALL OFFICE/HOME OFFICE USERS
SOHO (small office/home office) crew. Yes, you folks need an email program of sorts if you are going to run a business. Outlook is a great option, and here is why…
- Email from mulitple accounts can be added to Outlook in one profile
- Easy to move from an AOL, Hotmail, MSN to Outlook and start using your professional business email account with easy transition.
- Great for smart phone users, synchronizes all data from Outlook to smart phone.
- Rules and Alerts, use these to organize emails from certain groups, people, companies that need to be organized as they come in your email inbox.
- Easy to back up
- Easy to use with social networks
- Most importantly, give your business that professional edge! Getting your own website and email is where it’s at for running a business.
SMALL BUSINESSES
Small businesses need Outlook help too. If you are in an office with around 20 people, you probaby don’t have in-house help, but rather one person who happens to know the most about the company IT and do it as well as their real job with the company. Sometimes having an outsider who knows Outlook is a great option for the quick fixes (for us!) and less headaches (for you!). With our 15 minute quick fix rate of $25, you can’t go wrong asking Call That Girl to help out on occasion.
CORPORATE USERS
Many corporate users have Outlook and keep all of their contacts/calendar appointments at work. They may also have rules about taking data with you, so we recommend you check with your manager or HR department before calling us and assisting with that. Your company IT department may also be able to assist you in exporting critical Outlook information (email, contacts, calendar).
Are you an Outlook Express user? If so, as you may or may not know, Outlook Express is no longer supported by Microsoft. You can still use it, but support is not an option with them. We at Call That Girl can support you, but many functionalities just do not work so well and we are now moving folks to Outlook. You can also opt for Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail if you are still looking for a free option. But of course, you may have problems importing in your folder list from Outlook Express. I have seen this be a problem for some of my clients.
TIP: Outlook by default opens a PST File (Personal Storage) in a hidden file on your computer. That is where most of your email and folders probably are. Not everyone knows this and it’s very important that you back up that PST file often. If your computer crashes, the PST is just as important as your pictures and music!
TIP: if your Outlook is getting slow to open, you may want to see how large your PST file is. Some versions of Outlook will lock you out if it gets too large. If you have a newer copy, you have a lot more room. But keep this in mind, the larger your PST file, the longer it will take to open. I won’t get into technical talk about this, but if your Outlook is slow to open, call us for a quick review on it, we can help you move off old emails to another PST and get your Outlook in good shape again.
TIP: Using multiple computers and am sick of dealing with mail everywhere? I happen to use a service that synchronizes all of my email and folders. I was at a place a few months ago where I had 4 computers I was checking email on and was just tired of all the extra work I had to do to manage the email. If you are interested in learning more about this, contact us for a review.
TIP: Set up rules and make your life easier! I have been doing this for years and LOVE IT. If I happen to get a ton of email from one person, I give them a folder and a rule. When I get an email from that person, it goes right to the folder I need. Outlook marks it unread, so you know there is new email there.
TIP: Looking for a calendar sync tool? I have been using the Google calendar with my Outlook for a couple of months and have to admit, I really like it. As many of you know, I’m not a big fan of using Google for everything, but I am liking this calendar option. You have to invite yourself to the event, and then it syncs to your Outlook calendar. I have my assistant do all the bookings on the Google calendar and I get the invites on my Blackberry and every computer I have Outlook on. I really dig this!
TIP: Be sure to check your junk e-mail folders! So many of us forget to check that folder, and I have found many important emails sneaking in there! Why is that? Because of the subject line. The person sent it with a title that was caught by spam/junk filters. I think checking that daily is important, you can mark what is not spam/junk to make sure that those emails come to your regular inbox.
I hope this helps many of you, if you have any questions about your Outlook, feel free to comment or give us a call for a review of any problems you are having. 612-865-4475
Computer training, it’s not for the classroom anymore
Are you wanting to get a bit more technical and learn to do a few things, but just don’t know how to do it? Call That Girl’s core business is repair, but we sometimes we will show you how to do a few things to not get that glitch back or make your business run smoother. If you are wanting to learn a few technical issues at your own pace, you should check out Modern Inconveniences, “Tech Guide”. It’s a really neat little book! The book has insert cards (kinda like the old school cookbooks) and every quarter, they will send you new cards to insert in, so you have easy reference very handy.
Tech Cards: Members receive six new Tech Cards per quarter by mail – a total of 24 cards over 2010! Tech Cards illustrate technology tools and how they can be used for small business owners, applications, helpful hints and step-by-step instructions. Collect them all to build your own technology resource library!
Notes: Each Tech Guide features a section to capture your questions and answers, jot down resources and suggestions.
Resource Directory: Need a quick referral for your business? The Tech Guide contains a Resource Directory for easy-to-search, categorized listings of helpful businesses that have the tools to make your job easier! Flip to the Resource Directory tab in your Guide, or visit the Guide online at: www.modernincon.com/resources.html. Over $750 in discounts!
To purchase a book, see the little book over to your right on my website, click on it and it will take you to the purchase site. Or click on this link! Cost is $54.99.