My Windows 2003 virtual server would not allow me to repair a connection, I recieved the error "Problem clearing ARP Cache". Most forums suggest to type the following at the command prompt:

"netsh interface ip delete arpcache"

... however no luck.

I eventually found the problem- "Routing and Remote Access" service needed to be stopped. Here is the fix:

1. Click the < Start> button
2. Click the < Control Panel> button
3. Switch to "Classic View" if you are in "Category View"
4. Click < Administrative Tools>
5. Click < Computer Management>
6. Double-click < Services and Applications>
7. Double-click < Services>
8. Scroll down to < Routing and Remote Access>
9. Double-click < Routing and Remote Access>
10. Examine the "Start-up Type" (The options are "Automatic", "Manual", and "Disabled")
11. Set the "Start-up Type" to "Disabled"
12. Click the < OK> button

Whilst trying to install Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 for Vista I received the following message:

"The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service because the program to be upgraded may be missing, or the upgrade patch may update a different version of the program. Verify that the program to be upgraded exists on your computer..."

What I didn't realise was that I must install Visual Studio 2005 SP1 first!

Vista... over three days I spent trying to install this before Christmas. Each install took around 30-50 hours :(! Very frustrating when i find out it fails each time, with no noticeable errors. This install was different, i HUNTED for SATA drivers, all I could get is a .exe from Intel- no use to load as a driver for vista:(

Finally i found out what files were required and searched my pc for them, when found I loaded them and vista installed in under 30mins! Wow!- not one problem.

The files I used were:

• iaahci.inf
• iaAHCI.cat
• iaStor.sys
• iaahci.pnf

I'm sure the files will be different depending on your chipset and system. Mine is:

Intel 925 Chipset (Dell Dimension 8400) Intel Pentium 4 3.40 GHz 2046 MB RAM

Word 2007 pre-defines a huge line space! This really started to annoy me, as my work seems to spaced out. To correct this issue and have the line spacing the same as previous Word follow the below steps:

1. Select the "Home" tab on the ribbon.
2. Under the paragraph section select the line spacing button (figure 1.1).
3. Select "Line Spacing options...".
4. Select the "Indents and Spacing" tab (default selected).
5. Under the "Spacing" heading select type "0pt" in for "After:" (figure 1.2).
6. Select "Ok" and your finished.

                         Figure 1.1                                            Figure 1.2

Office 2007! It takes a little getting used to as all the drop down menus have disappeared and we have a more modern easier to use "panel" across the top of the page.

In Word, the default font has changed from Times New Roman to "Calibri" which has a better look than the predecessor, and there is better use of Styles.

Excel can apply some handy formatting to imported data, making it easier to read and understand- prints out well too!

Overall very impressed! Well done Microsoft!