Help - My Outlook message text is microscopic!

     We all do it occasionally – hit a few errant keys in just the right combination that we unintentionally mess something up on our computer.  We usually do it so fast that we have little idea of what we’ve really done, but if we’re lucky, we remember just enough to help get us back to where we want to be.

     The other day an exasperated client left a voicemail, “Help, I can’t send any emails.  The text is microscopic!”  She was using Outlook 2007.  I found out she could actually create a message and send it, but she just couldn’t really see what she was typing.  When I received a test email from her, it showed up in the correct font and size.

     I had her check the default message and reply fonts under Tools/Options/Mail Format /Stationery and Fonts/Personal Stationery tab settings ( http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/change-the-default-font-or-text-color-for-e-mail-messages-HA010239585.aspx ).  They were all correct.  She remembered that “something happened” when she accidentally hit the ctrl key.

     A little internet research led me to a potential solution of opening a new message, placing the curser in the body and holding down the ctrl key while using the mouse scroll wheel to change the viewable text size ( http://www.msoutlook.info/question/67 ).  This worked for me, but my client uses a laptop with no mouse and therefore no scroll wheel.  I assume her laptop has some sort of mouse scroll function, but she did not know what it was. I figured there had to be an easier way.

     More research pointed me towards the solution I was looking for: Open Outlook 2007 application, click on a new or received email, click the "Format" tab. Click on the radio button corresponding to the percent size you want to "Zoom to" (http://www.ehow.com/how_6498234_change-zoom-outlook-2007.html).  Easy fix after all.

     We still don’t know what key combination she hit to change this in the first place, but knowing that it had something to do with the ctrl key led us to the solution.

Firefox 4 -- to upgrade or not to upgrade?

     Wow is the new Firefox fast! Boy, do I wish I would have checked the compatibility of my add-ons/extensions before I upgraded!

For example, I found out that the following applications that were not compatible:

     I was really bummed because I use some of the extensions, like LinkDiagnosis and Mozbar, quite extensively.  I felt like I needed to go back to version 3.6.  Apparently, a few other people felt this way as well: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/795075?s=go+back+to+previous+version&as=s

     Here’s how I was able to "roll back" to 3.6 (big thank you to "TonyE" for his post on the above forum :

     “I strongly advise against going back to Firefox 3.5, when you installed Firefox 4 it made changes to a couple of files that store user data, those files will no longer work in Firefox 3.5. If you go back to Firefox 3.5 the files containing bookmarks, history and cookies will be lost, causing you to lose all history and cookies, with bookmarks being restored from a backup.
If you want to downgrade it would be better going to Firefox 3.6.15.
To downgrade to Firefox 3.6.* you can uninstall Firefox 4, but do not select the option to "Remove my Firefox personal data". If you select that option it will delete your bookmarks, passwords and other user data.
You can then install Firefox 3.6.* available from http://www.mozilla.com - it will automatically use your current bookmarks, passwords etc.
To avoid possible problems with downgrading, I recommend going to your profile folder and deleting the following files if they exist - extensions.cache, extensions.rdf, extensions.ini, extensions.sqlite and localstore.rdf. Deleting these files will force Firefox to rebuild the list of installed extensions, checking their compatibility, and reset toolbar customizations.
For details of how to find your profile folder see https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles “

Thanks to "mlwalker" in the same thread, I was able to find the download page for version 3.6:
http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php?old_firefox=109
    
     Finally, after the reinstall of 3.6 I did have to reinstall HTML Validator, but by the time I was finishing this post I noticed that the LinkDiagnosis tool was upgraded to work with Firefox 4!  I haven’t tried it yet since I’m waiting for updates to the other tools I use.  Hmm, I wonder if the greater speed I initially experienced might have been due to fewer extensions being loaded?  Guess I’ll have to wait a little bit to find out.

Having Trouble Scanning From An HP All-In-One?

Can’t seem to use the control panel scan button to initiate a scan to you HP all-in-one?  Make sure you download and install the full printer installation package.

The other day I installed the software for an HP Officejet 6500 E709N on my laptop.  The wireless printing worked just fine, but when I tried to initiate a scan from the control panel on the all-in-one, the unit would not acknowledge my laptop as an attached device. 

When I tried to do this, I kept getting the following error: 'No Scan Options'.  I was a little perplexed since I was able to print, so I looked for the scanner under “Control Panel/Scanners and Cameras”.  I was able to communicate with the E709N from the laptop using the icon I found, but I could still not “see” the laptop from the scanner.

Online research informed me that I could try to initiate a scan from Microsoft Paint (I did not know one could scan from Paint – it works!), but I wanted to be able to initiate the scan from the all-in-one.  A little more digging around provided me with the final answer.  I had downloaded an installed only the basic drivers, but I really needed to install the full package so that I would have the necessary HP Solution Center software - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02450835&cc=us&lc=en&dl#N74

I downloaded and installed the full package.  The installation procedure prompted me to uninstall the previous software and required me to re-boot and start the installation process a second time, but I am now up and running.  Now I need to figure out how to be able to use the Solution Center application with multiple HP devices – initial research has not been promising.