Lack of computer knowledge!

[Sue1]

My knowledge of computers is zilch and I apologise - I just use it and hope!
I have in the last few months changed to Firefox which I am very happy with. I am on windows 7 and do not intend to upgrade to 10 - I have noticed there seem to be problems particularly with Windows 7 - nothing wrong with computer the way it is - well not much anyway.
I noticed that my short cuts disappeared and became "card games"!
I have just had a good look at the computer and found my copy Gedcoms for ancestry.co.uk Trees (4 Trees dated November 2015 in recycle bin).
I think they are probably OK and I am assuming I could upload them to FMP (which I have never used before) thus avoiding using ancestry with its new americanised mess! Is this so?
I notice some of my files are in a "bin" as MHTLs or similar. Can I channge them back to usable files. The Gedcoms are included in the files that have changed type. How would I do this?
(Would be grateful for replies consisting of words not larger than 2 syllables since it will be technical!:o)

I also, a couple of months ago had a mishap with a cup of tea - I did pick up keyboard (I use a plug in keyboard as cannot touch type on laptop flat keyboard - I also have a separate screen to make it viewable!) and gave it a good shake - all is well except for a sticky "n" - I know I can take the top of the key off and clean it but the problem is further inside the keyboard I suspect - any advice please.

Sue

[Guest]

Maybe you could export your tree afresh from ancestry ,have you also put your gedcom on here ?
I must say I am beginning to love the new ancestry look although I hated it at first.
Not too sure about the other problems but somebody will come along and help you.

[DavidNewton]

A number of problems here. Let's deal with the last one first. Your notion of taking off the keycap and cleaning underneath is probably the best. If the problem is more serious than that the cheapest solution is probably to purchase another keyboard.

The shortcuts: it depends whether or not the shortcut is affected or just the icon marking the shortcut. If you double-click one of them do you get something unexpected or do you get one of your usual appications starting. If it is the former I have no solution, If it is the latter than the most likely explanation is that the Windows iconcache.db file has been corrupted. This file is usually located in C:\users\<your username>\AppData\Local and is called iconcache.db. If you can find it just delete it and the next time that Windows starts it will simply reconstruct it and that should solve the problem.

However, and I'm afraid there is a however, this file is a hidden file and so is the folder AppData so you need to change the explorer or folder advanced settings to 'Show hidden folders' in order to see them in Windows Explorer. I am currently running on Windows 10 and cannot recall how to do this in Windows 7 - I think it is in the view menu to change Folder options but I'm not sure.

There is another alternative and that is to individually change the icons of your desktop shortcuts. To do that select an icon, right-click and choose properties from the menu and then within the first page of properties there should be a button labelled Change Icon. Clicking this will bring up the icons attached to the original file (not the shortcut). Select one and OK again should restore the icon but of course you have to do this for each shortcut.

The copies in the Recycle bin can be restored by right-clicking and choosing Restore they will then be restored to their original locatrion. The MHT files sound like offline webpages or possibly email messages. If that is the case then they are text files but changing the extension to .ged will not turn them into GEDCOM files. If you double-click one of these files they should open in Internet Explorer so that you can see what is in them. Of course if I am wrong about what they are that will not happen.

David

[Sue1]

David - many thanks for replying. Messing with the computer terrifies me because I have never done it before without causing major upset to it. I know it is not rocket science but it is to me!
I did think of just re-uploading new Gedcoms from my Trees BUT now that ancestry has changed, I imagine I will get it up in the form of the new website - this is something I want to avoid at all costs.
Yes, I think you are right about keyboard - I will have a look at its internals but (and fortunately they are not very expensive) I may well invest in a new one - save a lot of trouble all round.

[Sue1]

Well, I haven't done anything to the computer - was psyching myself up to have a go when I got a sudden message (from Firefox I think) that my Adobe ?flash plug in was ?unplugged. McAfee got involved as well - it was suggested I upload a new one.
I actually left well alone and the computer seems to be working as it did before.
Are they trying to sell me something because I don't seem to need it!
What does this adobe thingy do exactly?
With reference to my Gedcom shortcuts - they are totally corrupted and are card games!! I will download/upload new Gedcoms. Sue

[DavidNewton]

Adobe Flash player allows you to play certain videos in web pages and is notoriously insecure requiring regular updates. It is being replaced by a more secure method for playing videos. I thought that Firefox had already 'banished' flash so it is possible lthough unlikely that you are not using the most up-to-date version of Firefox. To find out click the 'hamburger' at the top right of the browser window, go to the bottom of the box that pops up and click the small question mark near the bottom right. That will give you a list of help pages and at the bottom 'About Firefox'. Clicking that should give you the version number and whether or not Firefox is up-to-date.

Incidentally you are absolutely right not to accept the offer to upload. You should never allow a webpage to install software unless you are certain you know what it is.

David