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Some software installations have a nasty ability to make a mess of your system by overwriting files, changing settings, installing extra programs, and generally behaving badly. Here are some questions and answers that can help you avoid problems -- and fix them after they occur:
Q: I downloaded a new browser, and now I've lost the page that's supposed to load at startup. How do I get it back?
A. By default, Netscape Navigator will change the homepage of both itself and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) during installation. You can avoid this by making sure "Make Netcenter my home page" is not checked during installation. But if you missed your chance, it's easy to undo the damage. In IE, click the Tools menu and select Internet Options. On the General tab, type in the address of the home page you want -- or click the buttons to choose the currently loaded page or a blank page. In Navigator, click Edit then Preferences. Select Navigator in the tree on the left and type in the address of your home page, or click the button to select the current page.
Q. Ever since I installed Netscape, it has been fighting with Internet Explorer over which one gets to be the default browser. How do I make them stop?
A. Choose which one you want to open whenever you click on a Web link. To make Netscape the default, launch Navigator. When the dialog box pops up and asks if you want Netscape to be your default browser, click "Yes." Then launch Internet Explorer. When it asks if you want it to be the default browser, click on the box marked "Always ask" to uncheck it, then click "No." If you want IE to be the default, use a not-quite reverse procedure. Start IE, click "Yes'' when it asks to be the default, start Netscape, check the box that says "Don't ask," then click "No.''
Q. I installed AOL 5.0, and now it wants to dial AOL every time I start my computer. How do I make it stop?
A. AOL is one of the nastiest setup programs for doing things without asking. To make it stop trying to launch itself, right-click on the AOL icon in the system tray at the lower-right-hand corner of the screen. A dialog box will come up. Now select "Don't use any Auto Start options."
AOL also sprays icons all over your computer. In addition to the system tray, it places shortcuts to launch AOL in the Quick Launch bar in the lower-left corner of the screen, on the desktop, and two on the Start menu. To get rid of these (or any other) shortcuts on the desktop or the Quick Launch bar, click on the icon and drag it to the recycle bin. Removing a shortcut -- signified by a bent arrow in the lower-left corner of the icon -- has no effect on the program itself. To eliminate the items on the start menu, right-click the Start button, select Open from the menu that appears, and drag the icons you don't want to the Recycle Bin.
Q. I installed RealJukebox when I updated my RealPlayer. Now, when I click on an MP3 file, it plays on the RealJukebox instead of WinAmp. How do I make it go back to WinAmp?
A. Windows makes it possible for any install routine to change the settings specifying what programs open which kinds of files. Some, like RealJukebox, at least ask for permission, though you have to pay close attention to catch the request. Changing the settings back to use the original program is a tedious chore, but here's how to do it:
Open My Computer and click on the View menu, then Folder Options. (If you are running Windows 2000, use the Folder Options control panel instead.) Click on File Types, and you will get a window that shows a list of every file type that your computer understands. Scroll through the list to find the type of file you want to change -- I said this would be tedious -- and double-click it. A window will open showing how the computer is set to handle that type of file. Double-click on the word Open or Play in the list of actions. To change the application that will open that type of file, click the Browse button and navigate to the application you want to use to open that type of material. Note that you have to know the official name of the application, for example, winword.exe for Microsoft Word.
There's also a more draconian method that works most of the time -- one that is far simpler. For the Add/Remove Programs Control panel, remove both the new program that has hijacked your file setting and the original application that you want to go back to. Then reinstall the original program, which may require downloading it again. It should restore your original settings.
Wildstrom Is Technology & You columnist for Business Week. See this week's column: "When Software Wreaks Havoc". Follow his online advice, only on BW Online Edited by Beth Belton
Copyright 2000, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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