[Editor's Note: Solve this month's Windows NT problem and get the chance to win $100 or a copy of one of the author's books about NT. Email your solutions to challenge@winntmag.com. Include your full name, mailing address, and connection to NT (e.g., administrator, user). Because of the number of entries, we cannot reply to all respondents. Look for the solution to this month's problem in the August issue.]
File Associations
Bob DeZiner handles all the graphics development for his company, including Web site, stationery, logo, and product design—you name it, he draws it. He has a variety of graphics applications on his computer, and he uses specific applications for certain file types (e.g., .gif, .jpeg, .pcx, .tif).
Problem
Marvin DeGeek, the company's IS director, likes to be on the cutting edge. One night he updates everyone's computer with the latest service pack. The next morning, Bob can't access his file associations. Every time he double-clicks a graphics file, Paint opens. Bob is livid—he throws stuff around his office; he shreds his Pantone color book and tosses the confetti into the air. He bellows, "Bring me the head of Marvin DeGeek."
Marvin shows up and says, "No big deal; we can easily fix the problem." Bob screeches, "You call hacking the Registry easy?"
Marvin tells Bob that two non-Registry-hacking methods will restore his file associations within 15 minutes. What are these two methods?
FEBRUARY WINNERS
Congratulations to Eylard Harmsen of Leiden, the Netherlands, and to Ruel Oquindo of San Diego, California. Eylard won first prize of $100 for the best solution to the February Reader Challenge. Ruel won second prize of a copy of Windows NT Troubleshooting (Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1998).
Problem
Joe had a problem running NT Backup. When he clicked OK in the Backup Information dialog box, the window that displays the backup's running statistics opened so far up on his screen that he could see only the bottom of the window (including the OK and Abort buttons). He couldn't pull the window into view with the title bar. Joe closed the window and tried relaunching it several times. Each time, the window opened at the far top of his screen, making it impossible to use.
This problem isn't restricted to NT Backup; it can occur with any software. You can use several temporary methods to move a window and make it accessible. However, when you relaunch the application, the problem returns. How do you solve this problem permanently?
Solution
Right-click the taskbar icon for the problematic window, and select Move from the drop-down menu. (If the window is active, you can press Alt+Spacebar and press M for Move.) Place your mouse pointer (which is now a four-pointed arrow) in the center of your screen without clicking.
Then, use the keyboard arrows to maneuver the window onto your screen until you can access it. Press Enter to lock the window into place.
End of Article
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