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Issue #59: September 7, 2008

Q: Help!  I need a Geek!  When I’m using Internet Explorer, I can hardly tell the difference between the colors of links, and links I’ve already visited.  How do I change the colors to make them stand out more?

– Spouse Peripheral
Bluewater Bay, FL

A: For those of you unlearned in the Geek-speak I use in this column, “Spouse Peripheral” is the name I use to refer to my lovely bride, and yes, she actually asked me this question this past week.  It seemed like something that would be helpful for everyone to know, so here goes.

I’m assuming that you already know that “links” are the parts of a page that you can click on to take you to another page.  Under “normal” circumstances, (if there are such things on PCs and the internet) unvisited links are blue, and visited links are fuchsia.  You can override these settings, and make them appear any color you want.  However, website designers can also specify their own colors for each page, which override your settings.  As if that’s not complex enough, you can override their ability to override you, thus forcing links to appear in your specified colors.

To override the default IE link colors, click on Tools->Internet Options.  On the “General” tab, click the “Colors” button.  Uncheck the “Use Windows colors” checkbox, and the other controls will un-grey.  Click the color you want to change, and select a new one from the dialog.  If you want to override web designers’ ability to specify colors, click the link that says “How to ignore preset colors” and follow the instructions.

Q: Is the update for Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool something I should allow?  I can’t understand why it would require my acceptance of the Licensing Agreement since the computer has been automatically updating without it up to now.  Also, I noticed that two updates failed when the computer was first purchased.  It shows them as “important” so I am wondering if this might be a problem; and, if so, what I should do about it.

– Angie S.
Fort Walton Beach, FL

A: The update you mentioned is definitely something you should allow, Angie.  It is Microsoft’s attempt to remove malware that has come to their attention.  They’re not asking you to pay for it, nor do anything else other than accept their License Agreement, which is a standard Microsoft practice.

I would speculate that you had a couple of updates fail when your computer was new because your copy of Windows wasn’t registered yet.  I assume it is now, as it would have stopped working a long time ago if it wasn’t.  It’s possible that the failed updates were automatically re-tried at a later date and succeeded.  You can find out for sure by running Windows Update manually from within IE, by selecting Tools->Windows Update.  When the page finishes loading, look for the “Restore Hidden Updates” option on the left-side navigation bar.  If it’s grey, you have all available updates, otherwise click it, and select the updates you missed.


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