Task manager menu bar and tabs are not visible

You open up ‘Task Manager’ and you notice that File, Options, View, Shut down and all the tabs are missing. Fear not – This is a ‘feature’ and is a result of task manager running in ‘tiny footprint mode’.

To restore Task Manager back to it’s default settings i.e. with the menu and tabs do the following :

1. Double click the border of Task Manager i.e. where it is showing as red in the above image.

You will now see Task Manager in it’s full glory !

Why aren’t my icons showing on my Windows 7 desktop ?

So you have a nice new Windows 7 PC and you save an item to your desktop but it doesn’t show up!. A colleague of mine had this problem today and below is how I solved it (with an additional method I could have used had the first fix not worked.

This has to  be one of the easiest fixes going but only if you know what to look for.

Method 1 – Windows 7 show desktop icons setting

Right click on your desktop > View > Select ‘Show desktop icons’.



Method 2 – Configure local group policy (If the above doesn’t work)
1. Go to start menu type ‘gpedit.msc’ and press ‘Enter’.

2. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop.



3. In the settings pane, open Properties of ‘Hide and disable all items on the desktop’.
Configure your choice there. 

4. If Enabled, this setting removes icons, shortcuts, and other default and user-defined items from the desktop, including Recycle Bin, Computer, and Network Locations.
To show desktop icons, ensure that the setting is ‘Not Configured’.

5. Hit Apply > OK.

6. Restart your computer.

Microsoft outlook : The form requested to view this message cannot be displayed

Recently one of my users tried to enter an appointment into her calendar only to receive the following message : “The form required to view this message cannot be displayed. Contact your administrator”.

A reboot or updates won’t solve this error because the forms cache has become corrupted. The following fix worked a treat in Outlook 2003 so hopefully it will work for you too.
From the ‘Tools’ menu, select ‘Options’ and click on the ‘Other tab’.

Click on ‘Advanced Options’, which is in the ‘General’ section of the dialog

Now click on ‘Custom Forms’

Click on ‘Manage Forms’.

Click on Clear Cache

Microsoft FaceID numbers for VBA programming

If you want to use Microsoft’s icons within your VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) code, you will probably have to refer to something called a ‘FaceId’. This FaceID requires a number which tells the office application which image to display. For example in the code you may see ‘.FaceId = 59’.

This FaceID would give you the ‘smiley face’ icon when the code was executed.

So how do you know which number to use for which icon ?.

Thankfully, the answer lies in the following graphics.

1-500	501-1000
1001-1500	1501-2000
2001-2500	2501-3000
3001-3500	3501-4000
4001-4500	5001-5500
5501-5685

How to find the codecs which are installed on your PC using Windows Media Player

I usually look for codecs which are installed on a PC by going to the system options but I have recently found  a nice way of viewing them through Windows Media Player. Below are the steps to follow :

1. Open Microsoft’s Windows Media Player.
2. With the application open, press the ALT key on your keyboard to access the drop down menu.
3. Go to “Help” –> “About windows Media Player”.
4. Click on the "Technical Support Information" link in the About Window.
You will now be presented with a web page listing all of your installed codecs!.