by Jim Ross

Created on: November 03, 2008   Last Updated: November 11, 2008

Computer life for Vista users is to say the least, at most times, pure hell! For the last nine months I've lost count of the number of times I have had to completely reinstall the image disks supplied by the manufacturer, because of one fault or another. Indeed, it has taken nine months just to discover those answers and employ remedies - answers and remedies that should have been corrected in the first place by the authors, computer manufacturers, and their software installers, except they weren't. Up to now, my impression is, all these errors, restarts, services shutting down, could have been avoided - and so could have the reinstallation of Vista. And, if Vista had followed its predecessors like XP etc, none of this "probably" would have ever happened. After months of scouring the internet for answers, the solution was found without their help, or anyone else's, for that matter. In fact, you can scour the internet, like me, search Google, read the many colourful answers, and none will help you, because they are wrong!

One of the main culprits to find out if you're affected is to click on an email link from any web page. If you receive the notice: "cannot carry out this function because the default email client is not installed correctly," then you're included in our merry bunch. The answers on the internet with regards to this problem alone vary, and suffice to say, every one of the answers supplied' by these experts failed to rectify the problem. Some have even gone so far to say that the registry needs editing to make it work and that is a frightening thought, especially for less experienced users - one mistake could make the operating system unstable and that means a reinstallation of it, if you know how, or a trip to the computer shop adding more expense to an already hefty bill - and, it isn't necessary.

Most users will have already set their computer defaults correctly, and if so, then the problems are only "half-sorted." If you haven't, do it now by following these simple steps.

1: Click on the start button, and then select from the right column "Default Programs."

2: Now select "Set your default programs."

3: Methodically go down that list and set every default for every program that you use.

After completing these tasks, click OK and your computer is now half way home to being setup properly.

Staying on the start page of default programs the next step is click on the last link "Set computer access and computer defaults."

1: Click on the radio button marked

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