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September 7, 2007
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! Before I start on to this week's topic, I'd like to thank everyone for all the kind words and congrats about my son going to kindergarten. I shared your e-mails with my wife, and she was very happy to see what a wonderful community of members we have here.
And speaking of a wonderful community, it's not often that we get follow-up responses from our members who submitted their questions for our community members to answer, but on occasion, some of them do post back in the discussion thread to tell us how your information helped. So without further delay, I give you a thank-you note from Bill L. who was seeking advice on backing up his PC and restoring to what it was. Thank you, Bill, for your note of gratitude, we really appreciate it.
So on that note, I encourage all of you who see your question being presented in the newsletter to swing on by after the answers have been presented to tell us how you're doing with the issue or simply post a note to say thank you to our members who have taken their time to help you out. Now let's move on to this week's topic, where Clare finds her XP machine no longer performing automatic updates.
Clare's question is one of those tricky ones where there could be many possible factors causing the Windows XP automatic updater to suddenly go amok and stop performing its task. While we did receive lot great recommendations and advice from our members, they were all over map--ranging from possible security utility blocking the updates, incorrect date and time-zone settings, to having a possibly corrupt Windows Update Temporary folder. All in all, there are many possible solutions presented, so I encourage you to read all the answers given.
To get you started, I gathered up a few selected answers from our members in hopes that it will clue you in to what solution may help you solve your issues. I would recommend starting with simple tasks and working your way up to the more intricate ones. And at any point, if the information provided from our members gets a bit too technical or beyond your level of skills, I would highly recommend asking for help from others who may be better versed at it or going directly to the Microsoft support site.
Good luck, Clare! Please swing by to ask more questions if you need help with anything and let us know how things worked out. Thank you all for your participation. Have a fantastic weekend!
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Member Question of the Week
I have my Windows XP computer set to update automatically and
thought all was fine until I checked at the end of June. I
found that I had no updates installed since May 10 and
nothing I have done so far has helped. When I go to the site
to check for critical updates I either get no progress with
the scan or else if I get as far as seeing the 11 I need to
download I get no further once I click on the INSTALL button.
Even trying it singly has not helped. Please help!
Submitted by:
Clare W.
Vote for the most helpful answer
 Below are the answers we've selected for you to vote on. Click on the title to read the answer by the member.
Here are the selected submissions grouped in one post.
Time to vote! Now that you've read our members' answers, which would you consider the most helpful? Click on the button to weigh in on the decision.
(Note: Below is the section to vote, please read the individual answers above before casting your vote below.)
 Vote for answer by tallin
Vote for answer by jsheehy
Vote for answer by bwh48
Vote for answer by spacecrew
For the member whose answer was voted the
most helpful by our community, we will send
this member some cool CNET branded gear.
 Previous week's Q&AThe votes are in! Below is the answer voted most helpful by our community to last week's question.
How would one go about encrypting and password-protecting
specific data files or folders on my PC so that in the event
my machine is either accessed physically or through
cyberspace intruders, those people will not be able to access
or open those particular files? Any details or recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.
--Submitted by:
Mudiaga O.
Multiple facets; you didn't mention your operating system, but if you are using Windows XP (Professional and Media Center editions) or Windows Vista (Business or Ultimate), the first option is EFS (Encrypting File System). It is a security feature built into the OS, enabling you to encrypt files such that only you can access the files by logging into your account. The benefits are that there is no third-party software to purchase/install, no additional passwords to remember, and no need to launch a program just to access or encrypt a particular file. Just right-click the file(s) or folder(s) in question, select Properties, click the Advanced button, and check the box labeled "Encrypt contents to secure data." The initial application of encryption can take some time, but if you encrypt the entire folder any file saved or copied to there from then on will automatically be encrypted "on the fly" with little to no reduction in...
(read more)
Congratulations to the winner!
Community Buzz
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Have fun and enjoy!
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Check out next week's question:
I'm really excited. After years of dealing with my old half-functioning Windows Me machine, I finally jumped and bought myself a brand-new Dell desktop PC with Vista Home premium loaded on it. Now the questions I have for you, is where do I start with a new machine in order to maintain a good running computer for the long run. I have had all sorts of headaches with my older computer and I want to start off this one on a clean slate. I know an antivirus utility is critical, so I have that installed already. This might be a tall order to ask of you, but please, I could really use some pointers for maintenance hardware and software wise, as this PC will be in use for a long time. I'm not computer savvy like many of you here, but I'm a good listener and follow instruction well. Any list of recommendations and tips will be extremely helpful to me. I look forward to reading all of your suggested guidance. Thank you.
--Submitted by:
Maria R.
We feature a new question every Friday, and if you have the answer for our member, you can submit it above. If your submission is picked by our members as the most helpful answer, you'll receive some cool CNET branded gear.
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