Bizarre solutions to bizarre problems - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

BentNotTwisted · 10-21-2003, 02:21 PM

I work for an Information Systems department in the Computer Support section. Yesterday a usee called to say the font size in her MS Word XP help dialog box had gotten very small. That is, when she hit the F1 key the Contents, Answer Wizard, Index, and all detail for each subject were so small as to be nearly unreadable. Only the fonts for the Help dialog were affected. After messing with it for several hours yesterday I went home scratching my head wondering what the user had done. Today I noticed at the top of the Help dialog there is a button drop down for options and one of them links to Internet Options similar to what you would see in Internet Explorer. Unfortunately none of the IE Options have to do with font size. On a hunch I opened IE and looked for other available options. Under View, Text Size the size of fonts for web pages can be modified (roughly). Since I was working on my computer which had no Help dialog font problem, I told IE to change the Text Size to the smallest available. I then went into Word and what do you know, the Help dialog font size is as small as I've ever seen for a screen font. Changing the text size back to normal in IE fixed the problem in MS Word. I checked, and the IE font size affected the help dialog in all the MS Office programs I have installed. Now I know why the Office XP upgrade wanted IE installed.

Have you had any completely bizarre solutions to equally strange problems?

phukraut · 10-21-2003, 04:34 PM

not so bizarre i guess, but in order to remove the GO button on the address bar of my taskbar, i had to do it in IE first. how stupid is that?

charliex · 10-21-2003, 05:46 PM

Once built a worship altar with candles and strange etchings for the CDROM burner we used for making PSX cd's, it did seem to work

BentNotTwisted · 10-22-2003, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by charliex
Once built a worship altar with candles and strange etchings for the CDROM burner we used for making PSX cd's, it did seem to work

LOL

Whatever it takes, I always say.

MontanaXVI · 10-22-2003, 07:44 AM

bizarre problem that i have never gotten a solution to to this day, about a year and a half ago i started having problems on some websites that used java, it just locks up my computer and i have to reboot. One such site is NFL.com the gamecenter that uses java to display all current in game info will lock my box up tighter than a whore at a VD clinic. No idea why this ever happened either, I have done everything short of a format which is soon forth coming just to do it and clean up the OS a bit, I am on a homebuild running a LEGAL STORE BOUGHT copy of XP pro, dual P3 ghz procs, 768mb Kingston 133mhz ram, WD 60 gig 7200 ide hdd, I have went through various graphics cards just as upgrades and the problem still exists so it was not anything to do with drivers or software, I also have a Creative Audigy sound card which has been in the system since I built it over 2 years ago, now mind you the java problem popped up about 6-8 months after the build was completed so that makes me think it was in an MS update or something to do with the MS java screwup thingy. I also have installed different Java clients from SUN and now using the current one still have the problem.

BentNotTwisted · 10-22-2003, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MontanaXVI
bizarre problem that i have never gotten a solution to to this day, about a year and a half ago i started having problems on some websites that used java, it just locks up my computer and i have to reboot. One such site is NFL.com the gamecenter that uses java to display all current in game info will lock my box up tighter than a whore at a VD clinic. No idea why this ever happened either, I have done everything short of a format which is soon forth coming just to do it and clean up the OS a bit, I am on a homebuild running a LEGAL STORE BOUGHT copy of XP pro, dual P3 ghz procs, 768mb Kingston 133mhz ram, WD 60 gig 7200 ide hdd, I have went through various graphics cards just as upgrades and the problem still exists so it was not anything to do with drivers or software, I also have a Creative Audigy sound card which has been in the system since I built it over 2 years ago, now mind you the java problem popped up about 6-8 months after the build was completed so that makes me think it was in an MS update or something to do with the MS java screwup thingy. I also have installed different Java clients from SUN and now using the current one still have the problem.

You've probably tried this, but since you haven't mentioned it I have to ask anyway. Have you tried clearing the web browser's cache? Many times junk gets put into the cache and stays there corrupting each load of a particular web site. If you've already done that then I would recommend reinstalling Windows.

MontanaXVI · 10-22-2003, 03:39 PM

I have a program called WindowWasher that does a cleanup every XXXX hours or so and i manually do the cache too just for GP.

Info on Window Washer here, maybe it doesnt clean it right up or something

10-21-2003, 02:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
BentNotTwisted Optimistic Skeptic Location: Midway between a Beehive and Centennial	Bizarre solutions to bizarre problems I work for an Information Systems department in the Computer Support section. Yesterday a usee called to say the font size in her MS Word XP help dialog box had gotten very small. That is, when she hit the F1 key the Contents, Answer Wizard, Index, and all detail for each subject were so small as to be nearly unreadable. Only the fonts for the Help dialog were affected. After messing with it for several hours yesterday I went home scratching my head wondering what the user had done. Today I noticed at the top of the Help dialog there is a button drop down for options and one of them links to Internet Options similar to what you would see in Internet Explorer. Unfortunately none of the IE Options have to do with font size. On a hunch I opened IE and looked for other available options. Under View, Text Size the size of fonts for web pages can be modified (roughly). Since I was working on my computer which had no Help dialog font problem, I told IE to change the Text Size to the smallest available. I then went into Word and what do you know, the Help dialog font size is as small as I've ever seen for a screen font. Changing the text size back to normal in IE fixed the problem in MS Word. I checked, and the IE font size affected the help dialog in all the MS Office programs I have installed. Now I know why the Office XP upgrade wanted IE installed. Have you had any completely bizarre solutions to equally strange problems? __________________ IS THAT IT ???!!! Do you even know what 'it' is? When the last man dies for just words that he said... We Shall Be Free

10-22-2003, 07:44 AM	#5 (permalink)
MontanaXVI Junkie Location: Go A's!!!!	bizarre problem that i have never gotten a solution to to this day, about a year and a half ago i started having problems on some websites that used java, it just locks up my computer and i have to reboot. One such site is NFL.com the gamecenter that uses java to display all current in game info will lock my box up tighter than a whore at a VD clinic. No idea why this ever happened either, I have done everything short of a format which is soon forth coming just to do it and clean up the OS a bit, I am on a homebuild running a LEGAL STORE BOUGHT copy of XP pro, dual P3 ghz procs, 768mb Kingston 133mhz ram, WD 60 gig 7200 ide hdd, I have went through various graphics cards just as upgrades and the problem still exists so it was not anything to do with drivers or software, I also have a Creative Audigy sound card which has been in the system since I built it over 2 years ago, now mind you the java problem popped up about 6-8 months after the build was completed so that makes me think it was in an MS update or something to do with the MS java screwup thingy. I also have installed different Java clients from SUN and now using the current one still have the problem. __________________ Spank you very much

10-22-2003, 03:39 PM	#7 (permalink)
MontanaXVI Junkie Location: Go A's!!!!	I have a program called WindowWasher that does a cleanup every XXXX hours or so and i manually do the cache too just for GP. Info on Window Washer here, maybe it doesnt clean it right up or something __________________ Spank you very much

10-21-2003, 04:34 PM	#2 (permalink)
phukraut Addict	not so bizarre i guess, but in order to remove the GO button on the address bar of my taskbar, i had to do it in IE first. how stupid is that?

10-21-2003, 05:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
charliex Junkie Location: North Hollywood	Once built a worship altar with candles and strange etchings for the CDROM burner we used for making PSX cd's, it did seem to work