New computer annoyances

[Builder]

Well, I was forced into getting a new computer last weekend. (@ Berks if he rambles through here: I just about went up in flames (http://forum.powweb.com/showpost.php?p=354639&postcount=2) passing through the 1Ghz barrier :D) I have everything just about as I want it but have run across a couple of things that are frustrating to a certain degree:

1) File icon annoyance. Pretty minor, but this computer had a 60-day trial of MS Office that I (almost) immediately trashed since I had no interest in it. But people do send me Word files every now and then. After uninstalling Office, I associated *.doc with MS WordViewer. Now, for some reason, the file icon for *.doc is the generic Windows file icon. It hasn't changed to the Word(Viewer) icon. As I said, not a huge issue, but if someone has a solution, I would be grateful.

2) Mouse annoyance. This one is a little more of an issue to me. On all of my previous computers I have set the mouse pointer to "snap to" a default dialogue box button. I have found that on notebooks this is very handy to use -- saves a lot of time and finger motion. This new computer will not save that setting. I can set it and it will work, but as soon as the computer is set to hibernate or standby, or is turned off, the setting is lost. Anyone know of a solution?

Applicable computer stats if you need them:

Toshiba Satellite A105 notebook
Pentium Centrino 1.73 Ghz
512 Mb RAM
Windows XP Home SP2 with all updates
"Synaptics Pointing Device" touchpad mouse -- came with it's own interface that integrates with Windows' mouse properties. But you can still access mouse properties through Control Panel without the interface overlay. Tried diddling with #2 (above) both ways with no success.


Thanks,
Kevin

[tpoynton]

you might try disabling the synaptics pointing device; are you familiar with msconfig? if you type msconfig at the run prompt, go to startup, and uncheck the synaptic device, it should keep it from loading at startup - this will allow you to see if it solves your problem without uninstalling it (go back into the control panel, check the "snap to" option). I did this on a Dell and it worked fine for me; what was lost is the scrolling functionality of the touchpad.

if you find this doesnt help, simply go back into msconfig and recheck the program to load at startup. I have an asus laptop that has a similar problem; my "snap to" works OK, but my mouse speed settings get reset every time i restart. having the scrolling functionality in the touchpad is more important to me, so i am dealing with the default mouse speed...

[Builder]

Great idea!

Yeah, this mouse has the scrolling feature as well and I've learned to love it after a few short days. There was a bit of a learning curve -- tap on the corners and watch windows go flying around the screen. :D

I may lose the scrolling feature by disabling the synaptics thingy and will be left with a similar dilemma -- scrolling or "snap to".

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kitchensink108]

In a folder (my documents, my computer, w/e)
- Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types -> [choose file type] -> Advanced -> Change Icon
from there you have to find the icon file of whatever you want to change it to. This could be in the Program Files folder, or something a lot more annoying. While testing this, one of the icons I found was inside the Windows Registry :confused:

-with a little more testing, I'm not so sure this'll work. But it might.

[Builder]

I know of what you speak Kitchensink... I've done this before but I don't ever remember doing it in WinXP. I went on the path you gave and don't get the File Types option under Folder options. Just General and View tabs with nothing about icons under either. But you got me to thinking that there's something under Control Panel about that. So I go there thinking that I can do something. But... I get the error message:
Windows cannot find the file C:\WINDOWS\installer\{91120409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}\wordicon.exe".
Click OK and I get a Change Icon dialogue that's looking in %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll for the icon. The one it suggests is the ancient Word (or was that Wordpad?) icon that had the letter A in the bottom right corner. I guess that'll do, but it's almost like when I uninstalled Office it took back all its icons. Kinda snotty behaviour :)

Thanks,
Kevin