Office Outlook 2003 Error message - The operation failed due to an installation problem

Error messages such as the above can sometimes occur if you create a new user and try open outlook express.  You may find, however, that outlook express is fine for other users.

(You should back up your registry before doing this, just in case!)

Got to Start and Run and type in regedit and click OK
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
Right-click on "Common" and choose "New". Choose "DWORD" Value and name it "UserData"
Double click on the DWORD (UserData) and set Value data to 1

Close the Registry Editor and open Outlook again

If this does not work try the same in the Office folder beside common

I.E HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\outlook

Best of luck

Online Data backup

Complete Computer Solutions offer an improved. automatic and convenient alternative to the old fashioned process of storing backup data on media such as external hard drives, tapes and CD's.  These outdated backup methods are unsuitable as they require time and human effort to implement, the media is not durable and these meda types can be lost, stolen or damaged in a fire. 

We offer an online backup solution where your data is automatically stored securely online in one of our data centers.  Data is securely sent to our online data center by standard Internet connection such as broadband where it is stored securely in two different locations.  Your data however is available around the clock whenever it is required.  There is no need to worry about security as your data is compressed and encrypted before leaving your computer, so your private information stays private.

Software installed our your computer communicates with our server software using encrypted and compressed data transfers that quickly and securely store your critical data in our electronic data vault. Only you have access to this password protected data. Once the data is transferred, you are able to retrieve any of your backed up files by running the "client" software in restore mode.

If you have any questions about the physical backup and hardware structures that we have in place please feel free to contact us.

Pricing depends on the size of server space required.  Find our prices below.  For custom requirements please contact us and we can quote you according to your requirements.

1 GB - €10 per month or €110 per year (1 month free)

5 GB - €20 per month or €220 per year (1 month free)

10 GB - €30 per month or €330 per year (1 month free)

20 GB - €50 per month or €550 per year (1 month free)

50 GB - €100 per month or €1100 per year (1 month free)


If you decide to avail of our data backup service a technician will visit your premises and configure the software for you.

Contact us for more details.

How to fix Vista Updates that are stuck in a loop

A common error occurs with Windows Vista computers where the third stage of an update reads "Configurating updates: stage 3 of 3 - 0% complete"

Here the computer will freeze and then the computer will then reboot, and continue to reboot and reboot endlessly.  Some users have said that it happened due to a power cut during the update whilst other report that it just occured for no reason.  

I recently experienced this on a clients computer.

If you restart the computer and hit the F8 button (on most computers) it will give you a list of options including "repair your computer"  This option will allow you to try repair the startup problems that have occurred.  This however in my case did not help

The second thing to try is to try the same method of entering repair, but to choose System Restore.  This will try restore the computer to a previous state when the computer was working.  This again, did not work in my case.

The next option is to boot to the vista installation CD by inserting the disk, restarting the computer and hitting F12 and choose boot to CD.  Press any key when prompted. When prompted choose "repair my computer" and enter the command prompt.  

Enter c: to get to the c-prompt as it may read x:

Enter c:\windows\winsxs

There is a file in this directory called pending.xml

To delete this file enter "del pending.xml"

Type exit to leave the command prompt and restart the computer.  

This should resolve your problem!

CCleaner

Ccleaner is a small freeware program that is downloadable in seconds.  It fits into the category of privacy / optimisation tool! It has three inbuilt tools.

The first tool is a cleaner that removes old unused temporary files that accumulate on your hard disk over time.  Scanning usually only takes a couple of seconds.  We have found that running this tool on a computer that has not been optimised before may recover several gigabytes of hard drive space.  If you do manage to remove a lot of files then make sure to defragment after if necessary.

The second tool is a registry cleaner.  Over time. the windows registry can get cluttered with traces of old installed programs etc.  Even experts would find it difficult to trawl through the registry and remove unnecessary registry entries.  Ccleaner is not the best registry cleaner on the market but it certainly is a solid safe registry cleaner.  Scanning usually reveals hundreds of invalid entries that can be removed

The final tool is the Software Uninstaller.  If you are having difficulty uninstalling a program ccleaner may help.

CCleaner is constanly being updated by its creators.  It can be configured to automatically check for updates and when an update is ready it can direct you to the appropriate download webpage.

Certainly another tool to add to the arsenal, ccleaner does exactly what it  says on the tin.  Crap cleaner will remove (most of) the junk on your PC.  Our advise is to run this program on a regular basis.  Thumbs up for ccleaner!

Send free texts from your computer

Ok so we all know that we can log into our Vodafone, O2 or Meteor accounts online and send free webtexts every month.

However if you are like me you will find the process of logging in and navigating to the webtext pages slow and cumbersome.  This is certainly the case if you are doing so a few times a day.

Let me introduce Cabbage!

Cabbage is a program you can install and use instead of accessing the webtext page on your providers website.  To set up a profile, you simply enter the details of your provider, your phone number and your password. Numerous profiles are possible and this is useful if you have more than one phone.

The beauty of this simple product is that you can open the application on demand and enter a phone number manually or from your phonebook and type the message.

This app saves me lots of time during the day!

Computer Repair

Located in Nenagh and Limerick,  Complete Computer Solutions offer computer repair and computer maintenance services to homes and businesses and in the counties of Limerick, Tipperary, Offaly and Clare.

Computer Training is also available both on an individual basis and on in groups. We have training centres in Nenagh and Limerick

Web Design and SEO services are available for any business around the country.  We focus on creating simple functional websites that are tweaked so that they rank well in search engine results.  This will ensure high website visits.

Safely Remove Hardware

Safely Remove Hardware

Is the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in your notification area gone missing? If so then you will be unable to properly disconnet items such as memory keys and removable hard drives.  It's very important to disconnect USB devices, because you could lose the stored data if you disconnect before Windows has a chance to write everything out.

The good news is that the if the icon has gone missing it is probably just obscured from view.  We can get this back.

To do so, right click on the Start menu button and then click on Properties.

Now click on the Taskbar tab, and choose customize

Ensure that the line reading "Safely Remove Hardware" is set to  "Always Show"