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Q:    I recently upgraded my computer (Dell Dimension 4100, 1 GHz. Pentium III, 512 MB Ram, 60 GB HDD) operating system from Windows XP Home to Windows Vista Home Basic.  All the drivers are up to date as well as the currentVista updates.

After the upgrade, I find that almost every operation such as booting, shutting down, acquiring web pages and email, etc. takes 2-3 (or more) times longer now than with the previous Windows XP OS.  I have another essentially identical computer (933 GHz Pentium III) with Windows XP Home that is much faster than the one loaded withVista.  The one withVistais even much slower than my laptop running Windows ME.  Is the slowness withVistaan inherent property of that OS?  Is there something I need to do to make it operate faster, or am I just stuck with a lousy OS?

– Ken C.
Fort Walton Beach, FL

A: Based on the specs you supplied, I’d have to say that your computer is probably just barely capable of running Vista, and probably needs to have the memory at least quadrupled to 2 Gigs to have any hope of running applications without an irritating performance lag.  A more modern processor would be a big plus too.

Note that there is a pending class action lawsuit against Microsoft over its “Vista Capable” certification program, claiming that Microsoft intentionally understated the hardware requirements needed to run Vista – particularly versions that utilize Vista’s Aero interface.  You can read about more realistic hardware requirements for Vistahere: http://tinyurl.com/yynjok.  For more information, I suggest you Google “Vista Minimum Requirements” and check out some of the articles.

Q: My church has an online events calendar.  It contains a “Submit a new event” link that is supposed to send an e-mail to the calendar administrator.  When I try to use it, all I get is the message “Default mail client is not properly installed.”

– Thomas B.
Baker, FL

A: The calendar apparently has an embedded “MailTo::” link, which, when clicked, is supposed to launch a “Compose New E-mail” dialog using whatever e-mail program is defined as the default in Windows (usually Outlook, or Outlook Express).  In your case, it sounds like your computer doesn’t have one configured. 

To configure a default mail program in Windows XP, perform the following steps: Run Internet Explorer.  Click “Tools” and select “Internet Options.”  Go to the “Programs” tab.  On the dropdown labeled “E-mail:,” select your e-mail client.  Click “Ok” on all the dialogs.  Assuming everything else is configured correctly, clicking that link should now pop-up the above-mentioned dialog.

You could get the e-mail address manually by watching the status bar at the bottom of the IE window when you mouse-over the link, or right-clicking on the link and selecting “Copy Shortcut.”  Then manually compose a new e-mail and paste the address into the “To:” line.  Be sure of what you paste before attempting to send an e-mail, as that link might contain more than just the e-mail address.