ITS Knowledge Base

Update: Microsoft has re-released the offending patch with a fix that should resolve these problems.

Last week, Microsoft released a patch (MS06-015) that installed a binary component to verify shell extensions before they are executed, in an effort to improve Windows security, particularly for unsigned ActiveX controls. In certain situations, this process can stop responding, causing various strange problems, which can include (but is not limited to) the following:

• Unable to open documents in Microsoft Office.
• Unable to save documents from Microsoft Office.
• Special folders (such as My Documents or My Pictures) cannot be accessed.
• Microsoft Office freezes when you try to save or open files from My Documents.
• The Address Bar in Internet Explorer (where Internet addresses are typed) stops responding.
• When you try to expand a folder in Windows Explorer, nothing happens.
• Address Book entries or E-Mail messages are deleted in Microsoft Outlook Express.

For more information, please click on the following link: Microsoft Knowledge Base issue 918165. Continue reading for solutions to this problem. (more…)

The problem? We have more data than will fit within Excel’s default margin settings. If you go to File | Print Preview: Only five out of the six columns are visible

To correct this by mouse, go to File | Print Preview. If you don’t see dotted lines representing margin settings, click the Margins button to display them. Mouse over any of the margin lines. When the cursor changes to a bidirectional arrow, click and drag to change the margins visually.

In many cases, you can pull that last column back onto the page by shrinking the right and left margins. Save even more paper by shrinking the top and bottom margins, cutting a three-page print range down to two.