How to print from a command prompt to anything but a local printer on the LPT1 (parallel) port.

The simplest way is to pool the port the printer is attached to with the LPT1 port (right-click printer > properties > ports > enable printer pooling > pick which ports to pool).

Another way is to create a share for the printer and map the printer to an emulated local port that DOS can see, it says here.

An early contender for support phone request of the year...

"Paul's been dicking about with the wires on the printer and now one of 'em doesn't reach, like it shrunk or something. Now he's crawling about under the desk like a knob, pulling cables out. Can you come and sort it out for us?"

If you have Norton Antivirus on the Mac and it starts reporting that a swapfile is infected with Hacktool.Underhand don't panic! Just update the virus definitions to the ones dated 2nd May or later. This is a false positive that has scared the bejesus out of lots of Mac owners this week.

The Symantec helpdesk (which appears to be based in India?) has been of little help with this. After I read on the Apple forums some users saying this was a false positive I thought I'd ask Symantec themselves. Someone called Raju on their helpdesk sent me a standard email that didn't address my false positive question, just told me how difficult it is to remove some viruses.

So it's a real virus then Raju?
Luckily it was the end of the working day and we didn't start taking any drastic action.

By the next morning someone on the Apple forums had posted an email response they got from Symantec confirming the false positive suggestion. But was this a genuine email or a virus writer putting up a smokescreen?

I emailed Raju back, asking him to confirm or deny it.

A day later he came back, starting his email...

"I understand from your message that you want to reconfirme about the message you received from the Symantec website."

Er, no, I want to know if you gave me the wrong advice actually mate. Anyway he went on to state that it is a falsie.

Symantec has now acknowledged this problem on their website.

If your Windows XP keeps spontaneously restarting itself this may be because it is set to do just that in the event of a system failure.

To alter this setting, go Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup + Recovery > Settings and uncheck "Automatically reboot" under "System Failure".

If you are changing this in order to get some error messages to help troubleshoot the problem, try checking your logs for clues first...
Control Panel > Admin Tools > Event Viewer

In our art department there were 2 Canon network printers. These had been named George and Bernard by request of the artists. If there was a sane reason for this I can't remember it.

Today these printers were replaced by 2 new Canon's. The Canon engineer asked what he should call them. A piece of paper started making its way around the room. This turned out to be a referendum on printer names.

The candidates were:

Mitzi & Morag
Kim & Aggie
Sindy & Barbie
Charles & Camilla
Kermit & Miss Piggy
Scott & Charlene
Keith & Orville
Ken & Deirdrie
Max & Paddy
Britney & Beyonce
Cagney & Lacey
Sandy & Donny

Max & Paddy came out the clear winner with 4 votes (The names are from a UK sitcom).

Anybody else out there give 'wacky' names to computers and peripherals?
Does it make it easier to cope with when they break down?

Now moved here.

Based in part from this comprehensive article on The Elder Geek.

XP repair/backup tools (some also appear in earlier versions of Windows):

1. Backup

Utility supplied with both Windows XP Home and Professional (only installed by default in Pro). This utility allows you to select the folders to be backed up, choose a destination and set a regular automatic backup schedule.

When using this it pays to understand the different kinds of backup available. A common approach is to schedule normal backups with differential backups in between. To restore such a backup you only need restore the last normal backup and then the last differential backup. If you use incremental backups restoration can be much more complicated.

Back up types in a nutshell...

Every file has a flag or attribute which tells the system that file is ready to be backed up (or archived). This is the 'A' attribute. Any time a file is changed or renamed then the 'A' attribute is set to 'on'.

A normal backup will back up all files regardless of their 'A' attribute state. It will also set this attribute as 'off' for all files that it backs up.

An incremental back up will only backup files with the 'A' attribute set as 'on'. It will reset this attribute to 'off' on these files. If you have a regime of normal back ups with several incremental back ups in-between then you'll need to restore the last normal back up followed by every incremental back up since to do a full restore.

A differential backup will back up all files with the 'A' attribute set as 'on', but unlike the incremental back up it will not reset the attribute to 'off' for these files. If you have a regime of normal back ups with several differential back ups in-between then you'll need to restore the last normal back up followed by just the latest incremental back up to do a full restore.

More on back up types here.

2. Device Driver Roll Back

Removes a newly installed device driver for the selected device, returning to the previous driver. Doesn't work for printer drivers. To use this, right-click the device in Device Manager > properties > driver > rollback.

3. Disable A Device

Use this to take out a device altogether, to help in diagnosing problems. Right-click the device in Device Manager > Disable.

4. Add/Remove Programs

5. System Restore

In theory this "Restores all system and application settings back to those that were in effect at a point in time you specify. Restores key application, driver, and operating system files changed since that time." And it leaves all your data files intact!!
Sounds just dandy, eh? Yes.....if you could trust it.
DO NOT RELY ON SYSTEM RESTORE!
As it says here, "System Restore points get deleted for many reasons, making it unreliable, especially in the long run"
System Restore can be found in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools

6. Last Known Good Configuration

Restores registry and drivers that were saved last shut down, so is only any use if you realise you cocked up big-style in the current session. Here's how to use this tool.

7. Safe Mode

If this didn't exist the suicide rate among IT guys would soar!

8. Recovery Console

You can run the Recovery Console from your Windows XP cd or install it on your system for later use. To launch it from CD, start the PC with the CD in and hit 'R' when prompted.

Recovery Console isn't beginner friendly, using as it does a command-line interface. Here's Microsoft's list of commands you can use, and here's an example of using the console to extract a system file from the CD.

Good luck!

9. Repair Current Installation

Boot from your XP CD (tweak your BIOS to boot from CD first if neccessary).
Follow your nose until you are offered 3 options. Pick option 1 (not the Recovery Console option).

After you do this you must remember to re-download all neccessary Windows updates.

10. Reformat hard drive, reinstall windows, all software, drivers etc.

The nuclear option. Sometimes it's the only option!