This week we have the latest on Windows XP SP3, a progress report on slide scanning, and a tip for XP and Vista users.

Update on XP

Did XP SP3 show up in your Microsoft Updates last week? It did for me, although I had a heck of a time downloading it. But, once the updates were all on the hard drive, it was only about a 45 minute job to install the whole thing. I had no idea I could hold my breath that long, but it all turned out fine.

Not everyone was as lucky. Even if you're not experiencing the continuous reboot problem (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2302371,00.asp), you might need a little help sorting things out. As they did with Vista SP1 (http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11274), Microsoft is making free technical support available for XP SP3 related problems. Visit this link for help:

XP SP3 support

Microsoft has another bunch of updates for us this week. Make sure your Automatic Updates are turned on (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/automatic.mspx), or point your browser to Microsoft Update (http://www.update.microsoft.com/).

Update on scanning slides

Last week I asked for advice on scanning old slides. (http://rlis.com/columns/column145.htm) Thank you to everyone who wrote I got a ton of advice. I've passed along your suggestions to the reader who asked for help, and I'll sum the whole thing up in an upcoming column. It's not too late to offer your advice.

Stop Windows from copying for no reason!

When you have more than one file to move, delete, cut, drag & drop, or what have you, doing the same action over and over can be tedious. Why not select all the files, and just do the action one time?

To select more than one file, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the files you want. Then, you can drag and drop them, or right-click and select from that menu, or delete them. As long as you want to do the same thing to all the selected files, you're in good shape.

You SHOULD be in good shape, that is. But sometimes when I select a big whack of files to move, Windows just starts copying them. What the heck? I never told Windows to copy! Well, it turns out I probably did, and never knew it. When you select files and end up dragging them more than four pixels in any direction, Windows assumes you mean to copy them.

To fix this in Windows XP, download TweakUI, available here:

TweakUI

Install TweakUI, open it, and:

Select "Mouse" from the left menu

In the "Drag" box, change the number to something higher than four
Drag the "Test icon" on the right to get a feel for what number works best for you

OK your way out

TweakUI won't work in Windows Vista, but there is an interesting feature in Vista that comes in handy here. Instead of using Ctrl + Click, we can use check boxes. But first we have to turn them on.

In the Search box, type "Folder and Search Options"

Click on "View"

In the Advanced settings box, place a check in the box for "Use check boxes to select items"

OK your way out

Thank you everyone who wrote with questions, comments, and suggestions. Please keep them coming, to cate@rlis.com. Also, you can look through the column archives at any time by pointing your browser to

Cate archives