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This section of the website is to provide current up to date information on known issues and their resolutions. Click a topic below to see the resolution for the issues associated with that application.

Email/Address Book Issues FrontPage Login Issues
Bookmarks Issues Download New Villanova Desktop Background Images
MS Word Issues  Windows Explorer Crashes/
Memory Error
Logging Into Wireless Network Disabling Laptop Pointing Stick/Touchpad

 

Email/Address Book ISSUES

Email Address Book Import Issues Thunderbird Email Settings & Preferences
Email Local Folders Are Missing Old Netscape Email Templates and Drafts Don't Work in Thunderbird
You Have Two Personal Address Books and Cannot Delete One Formatting of Outgoing Emails is Lost When Sent
Thunderbird is Storing Outgoing Email Addresses in My Personal Address Book    

Email Address Book Import Problems

You may find that on some PC's that have been refreshed, the user's Netscape Address Books may not have imported into Thunderbird properly. Click here for the resolution to this problem.

If the Personal Address Book is there, but the personal distribution lists are not there, click here for the resolution to this problem.

Netscape Local Folders Are Missing

Some users may notice that some or all of their email Local Mail Folders are missing. They are on the machine, but just are not being seen by Thunderbird. To fix this problem, please call the Helpdesk.

You Have Two Personal Address Books and Cannot Delete One

After receiving their new PC, some users may notice that they have two Personal Address Books in Thunderbird. The first one is usually empty and the second is the one that is the user's old Netscape address book.

The first Personal Address Book is the built-in system address book and cannot be deleted. While you can drag the cards from one address book to the other, you cannot move distribution lists. There is a fix for this problem. Click here to learn how you can make the user's old Personal Address Book the default address book in Thunderbird.

Thunderbird Email Settings & Preferences

Users may complain about the following issues in Thunderbird. To find a solution for each one, click on individual issues listed below.


Old Netscape Templates and Drafts Don't Work in Thunderbird

People who had email Templates and Drafts in Netscape or Mozilla may find that these no longer work. To fix this problem:

  • Open Thunderbird.

  • Click Tools and select Account Settings.

  • Click Copies and Folders.

  • Change the storage settings for Drafts and Templates from Local Folders to the user's email server account (usually called firstname.lastname).

  • Click OK.
     

Formatting of Outgoing Emails is Lost When Sent

Users may notice that whenever they use font formatting, background colors, bullets/numbering tables, etc. in an outgoing email message, that formatting is lost when the message is sent (user looks at message in Sent folder and formatting is lost or recipient informs sender that formatting was lost).

The cause for this is a problem with the conversion of the user's old Netscape address book entries into Thunderbird's address book.

Every Address Book card in Thunderbird has a setting that says "Prefers to receive messages as ...". This setting should be set to either Unknown or HTML in order for the recipient to be able to receive the message formatted as intended (Unknown will use the settings indicated in the Send Options located under Tools, Options, Composition, Send Options - HTML will send the message in HTML every time).
 

In many cases, when a user's Netscape Personal Address Book has been moved over to Thunderbird, this setting has been changed to "Prefers to receive messages as Plain Text," which is causing the HTML formatting to be stripped from the outgoing email message.

To fix this problem, the user will need to:

  • Open Thunderbird

  • Click the Address Book icon (or click Tools, Address Book).

  • Locate and click once on the Personal Address Book (if the user has two Personal Address Books, click here to learn how to fix that).

  • Double-click on the first address book entry to view the properties of the card. In the middle of the card, look for the Internet section and look for "Prefers to receive messages as..." If this is set to Plain Text, change it to HTML. Click OK.

  • Repeat this process for every card in the Personal Address Book (and other address books he/she may have created). Be sure to change this setting for your own address book card, if there is one in your Personal Address Book. THERE IS NO WAY TO GLOBALLY FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ALL CARDS - THEY MUST BE DONE ONE AT A TIME.

Thunderbird is Storing Outgoing Email Addresses in My Personal Address Book, Making My Address Book Very Large

Thunderbird wants to make it easier for you to address messages to people you correspond with regularly by collecting the email addresses of those  you send messages to. This is the purpose of the Collected Addresses folder in your Address Book.

However, you may find that Thunderbird is actually sending these collected addresses to your Personal Address Book, not to the Collected Addresses folder. To change this setting:

  • Open Thunderbird.

  • Click Tools and select Options.

  • Click the Advanced button.

  • On the right, under General Settings, you will see "Automatically add outgoing e-mail addresses to my: Personal Address Book." Change this to "Collected Addresses."

  • Click OK and then OK again.

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Netscape Bookmarks issues

All user's old Netscape Bookmarks should have been imported into the Internet Explorer Favorites menu as a folder called Imported Bookmarks. If this is not the case, please call the Helpdesk and ask for assistance in importing your old Netscape Bookmarks into Internet Explorer Favorites. Your old Bookmarks are on your new computer, they may just not have been imported properly.

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Microsoft Word Issues

Strange Codes Appearing in Word Documents (& Other Word stuff) Printer Icon in Word Doesn't Give Options
Toolbars in Word Are Both on One Row Changes Made to Word Settings & Toolbars Don't Stick
Pictures and Charts Do Not Appear on Screen, but Will Print    

Strange Codes Appear in Word Documents

You may notice that the field codes in MS Word are turned on so that you see strange codes instead of data (e.g., instead of seeing the page numbers, you see a {PAGE} code).

To turn these codes off, simply hit Alt-F9 on your keyboard. No need to save any open documents to save these changes. This will toggle the field codes off for good.

Toolbars in Word Are On One Row

In Word, you may notice that your Standard and Formatting Toolbars are now on one row, as opposed to two separate rows as before. To fix this:

  • Open Word

  • Click Tools and select Customize.

  • Click the Options tab.

  • Check the box that says Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows.

  • Also make sure that there is a check in the Always show full menus box.

  • Click OK.

Pictures and Charts Do Not Appear on Screen, but Will Print

You may notice that your images and charts appear as empty boxes in your Word documents, but they will print out fine. To fix this problem:

  • Open Word

  • Click Tools and select Options.

  • Click the View tab.

  • Under the Show section, look for "Picture Placeholders."

  • Uncheck the "Picture Placeholders" box.

  • Click OK.

Printer Icon in Word Prints without Giving Options

When you click the Print icon in Word (and other Office applications), you may notice that it prints directly to your default printer and does not give you the option of what and where to print.

You can replace the printer icon on your Standard Toolbar with one that will give you a dialog box, asking you what and where you want to print. To do this:

  • Open Word.

  • Click Tools and select Customize.

  • Click the Commands tab.

  • Locate the existing Print icon on the Standard toolbar and drag it off of the toolbar.

  • On the Commands tab, locate the Categories on the left and select File.

  • On the right, scroll down the list until you find Print...

  • Drag that Print... command from the list up to your toolbar and drop it where the old Print icon used to be.

  • You can continue to add and remove commands from/to your toolbar/

  • Click OK when done.

  • Save the document you are in (if it is a blank document, just give it a name like Document1 - you can go back later and delete this document).

  • Now hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click File from the menubar.

  • Select Save All.

  • Close Word and then reopen it to make sure your changes to the toolbar are still there. If they are not, call the Helpdesk.

Changes Made to Normal Settings and Toolbars Won't Stick

You might want to change certain default settings in Word, such as the default page margins or font, or your might want to edit toolbar settings or create keyboard shortcuts, AutoText entries, macros, etc. All these settings are saved in the Normal.dot file, which is the file used to create all new documents in Word.

There is a conflict between MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7.0 which prevents any changes to the Normal.dot file from being permanently saved.


There are two fixes for this problem:

  1. Manually saving the normal.dot file anytime you make a global change to the template (directions below).

  2. Disabling the Adobe toolbar add-in (click here for directions).

1. Manually saving changes to the Normal.dot file

Anytime you change one of Word's default settings (margins, fonts, AutoCorrect/AutoText entries, macros, toolbar settings, etc), these changes are stored in the Normal.dot template so that the next time you create a blank document, the changes are there.

To manually save these changes:

  • Make the necessary changes:

    If you are changing your default margins (File, Page Setup) or your default Font (Format, Font), be sure to click the Default button at the bottom of the window.

    If you are creating macros, keyboard shortcuts or AutoCorrect/ AutoText Entries, do them as you normally do.

  • Save the document you are working in and give it a generic name (document 1) or name it whatever you want to call it. This file is not needed for your changes to stick, so you can delete it later if you want to.

  • Now click and hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click File from the menu above (where it says File, Edit, View, etc.).

  • You will see Save All on the File menu. Click Save All.

  • Close completely out of Word and then go back in to make sure your changes are there.

You must use Shift-File-Save All EVERYTIME you make changes to the default settings in Word. One way to make this process a little easier is to add the Save All command to your Standard toolbar. To do this:

  • Open Word.

  • Click Tools and select Customize.

  • Click the Commands tab.

  • Locate the existing Print icon on the Standard toolbar and drag it off of the toolbar.

  • On the Commands tab, locate the Categories on the left and select File.

  • On the right, scroll down the list until you find Save All.

  • Drag that Save All command from the list up to your toolbar and drop it next to the existing Save icon (or wherever you want it to be).

  • You can continue to add and remove commands from/to your toolbar/

  • Click OK when done.

  • The new Save All icon will look like three diskettes on top of each other.

  • Now click your new Save All icon to save your changes to the Normal template.

  • If prompted to save the document you are in, save it and give it a name. You can always go back later and delete that document if you don't need it.

 

2. Disabling the Adobe Toolbar Add-In Permanently

 

Click here to learn how to disable the Adobe toolbar permanently.

 

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Desktop Background Images

If you attended the PC Refresh Training, you may have been shown a number of new pictures of the Villanova campus and told that these images would be available to you as Desktop Background images on your new machines. However, when you returned to your office, you probably noticed they are not there.

To download the new Villanova Desktop background images to your PC:

  • Click HERE to open the Desktop_Images.zip file.

  • Select Open when asked if you want to Open or Save the file.

  • Wait a moment while the Windows Explorer opens the file.

  • Once the Windows Explorer opens, you will see the Desktop Images listed. You must now extract them.

  • On the left, you will notice a taskpane that says Folder Tasks.

  • Click Extract all files.

  • The Folders Extraction Wizard will open up. Click Next.

  • When the Select a Destination window appears, click Browse.

  • Double-click My Computer.

  • Double-click the Villanova (C:) drive.

  • Double-click the Windows folder.

  • Click OK.

  • You will be brought back to the Extraction Wizard and where it says The files will be extracted into this directory, it will say C:\Windows.

  • Click Next.

  • You will see the files being extracted.

  • When it is done, click Finish.

  • Close the window that appears and any other windows that are open.

Now you can use the extracted pictures as your Desktop backgrounds. To do this:

  • Close or minimize all programs and get to your Desktop.

  • Right-click your Desktop and select Properties.

  • Click the Desktop tab.

  • You will see all the new Villanova images listed, each starting with the letters VU.

  • Select the image you want and click OK.

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Windows Explorer / Memory Error

When performing searches or managing files/folders in the Windows Explorer, you may periodically receive the following error message which causes Windows Explorer to shut down:

explorer.exe - Application Error
The instruction at "0x77f16a3b" referenced memory at "0x77f16a3b".
The memory could not be "written".
Click on OK to terminate the program
Click on CANCEL to debug the program
The exception unknown software exception (0xc000409) occurred in the application at location 0x59a7295d.

To fix this problem:

  • Close all programs and get to your Desktop.

  • Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.

  • Select the Advanced tab.

  • Under Performance, click the Settings button, then click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

  • Select the Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select radio button.

  • If you see Windows Explorer listed in the window, click the checkbox next to Windows Explorer to enable it, then click OK. You will be told that your changes will not take affect until you reboot. Click OK and OK again. Reboot your computer by clicking Start, Shut Down, Restart.

  • If you do NOT see Windows Explorer listed in the window, click Add.

  • In the Look in... section, click the down arrow and select Villanova (C:).

  • Double-click the Windows folder.

  • Locate and double-click on explorer (it may say explorer.exe).

  • When you get the error here, click OK:

     

  • Make sure that Windows Explorer is listed and that it has a check in the box.

  • Click OK.

  • Close all programs.

  • Reboot your computer by clicking Start, Shut Down, Restart.

 

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FrontPage Login Issues

Some users may experience problems logging into their websites using FrontPage 2003. There are a number of potential problems here:

  1. The user may not have access to that website. If the site is the user's personal Villanova website, then he/she should have access. If the user is attempting to edit a departmental website, he/she may not have access. Please call the Helpdesk to verify his/her access rights to the site.

  2. The user may not be typing in the correct Username and Password. Please verify that the user is typing in their Villanova LDAP username and password and that the CAPS LOCK is not on.

  3. The user may be typing the website address in wrong in FrontPage. To remedy this problem, do the following, he/she should:

    • Open Internet Explorer.

    • Type in your website address and hit Enter.

    • Highlight your website address (e.g., http://www39.homepage.villanova.edu/ort.smith/) and copy the address by hitting Ctrl-C on your keyboard.

    • Open Microsoft FrontPage.

    • Click File and select Open Site.

    • Click in the Site Name box and paste your website address by clicking Ctrl-V on your keyboard.

    • Click Open.

    • Type your username and password.

    • If you still get the error message, see the directions below.
       

  4. If none of the above issues apply, the user may be experiencing a well-known problem in FrontPage 2003. To work around this problem, click here to learn how to use Internet Explorer to log into your website.

 

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 Using your laptop's Wireless connection

Your new Dell laptop is configured with a built-in wireless card. There are an increasing number of wireless access points on Villanova's campus, so you should be able to use the wireless network connection from many places on campus.

When you get your new laptop, the wireless card may or may not be turned on. If you look in the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen (to the left of the clock), you should see two symbols that look like two connected computer monitors. One is for the LAN connection (the one you use when the gray or green network cable is plugged into your computer) and the other is for the wireless connection.

If the wireless card is not turned on, you will see a red X on the wireless symbol. To turn your wireless card on, hold the blue Fn key on your keyboard and hit the F2 key.

Once your wireless card is on, click here to read how to log into the Villanova wireless network.

If you need assistance accessing a non-Villanova wireless network (such as Comcast), please contact your wireless network service provider.

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Disabling Laptop Pointing Stick/TouchPad

Your new Dell laptop has two built-in mouse features: the Pointing Stick and the Touch Pad.

The Pointing Stick looks like a blue eraser between in the middle of your laptop's built-in keyboard. The Touch Pad is the black square pad located below your space bar. Both of these have corresponding buttons that act as the left and right mouse buttons.

You can use either the Pointing Stick, the Touch Pad or both.

Some people find that they want to disable one or the other of these mouse devices, especially the Pointing Stick, as it interferes with their typing (your fingers rub against one or both of these buttons/pads and causes you to lose control of your cursor).

If your computer is not plugged into the docking station that is on your desk, you can disable one or the other of these mouse devices, but not both.

To disable either the Pointing Stick (and its buttons) and/or the Touch Pad (and its buttons), do the following:

  • Undock your laptop from the docking station and make sure that there are no external mice attached to the laptop.

  • In the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen, locate your computer's clock. There are a number of icons to the left of the clock - this is called the systray. Not all the icons in the systray can be seen unless you click the arrow pointing to the left.

  • In the systray icons, you will see an icon that looks like a square - if you hover your mouse cursor over it, it should say "Touch Pad." If you don't see this icon, you may need to click systray's left-facing arrow to open it up.

  • Once you find the Touch Pad icon, double-click it.

  • You will see a screen that allows you to enable/disable either the Pointing Stick (looks like a little blue eraser) and its corresponding buttons OR the TouchPad and its corresponding buttons.

  • If you choose to leave the Touch Pad enabled, you can change its settings by clicking the Touch Pad tab.

  • Click OK when done.

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Updated: 09/20/2005