Novice needs Computer Help
 

Never had this problem before and I know just enough about computers to be dangerous.

When I try to copy some text from a forum post and paste it into a word document, my computer freezes up and I can not take any switch actions. I have to disconnect the power chord and manually re-start the computer. I can copy and paste from one word document to another without any problem.

I'm running windows XP home edition. This problem started right after I downloaded Norton internet security 2004 program. Any ideas what is going on?

Since the problem started with the Norton, I would start there.

Make sure your security settings are not set to 'high'.

Hi Degas,

Along with checking your security options, it might be your windows XP.

I found that my new computer running a new version of Windows tries to copy an internet document complete with all of its formatting. This requires it to actually download data from the net. In addition to taking longer than necessary, it sometimes gets hung up.

Try copying smaller amounts of data and see what happens.

Rather than disconnecting the power cord, just hold the power switch down and the computer will turn off.

Good luck.

Degas, why are you worrying your pretty lil head over this computer stuff?
(The Following is Brilliant advice from Ms Scarlett)
The Yankee had the same thing happen and we found that Mr Norton was killing anything new that came near our computer. He turned it down and it is behaving now. Although my computer now freezes if anyone tries to Instant Message me..go figure~
I too found out that just pushing the little button will shut down things without pulling any plugs.
Good luck, sugar~

ira, I must have a weird computer. It goes into stand-by mode when I push the power supply button on the front of the computer. To get it to completely shut off, you have to take a switch action. Thus the power cord drill.

Anyway, it freezes when I attempt to copy even a single line of text.

I'll email norton, but they'll blame microsoft and then microsoft will blame norton, then I'll really get pissed.

There isn't any reason you should be having problems with simply copying and pasting. I don't think what Ira is referring to is what you are doing, as I understand it.

I have Windows XP and have no problems copying from a forum post and pasting to a WORD document. I have Symantec virus software and Windows XP professional. I don't know what you mean by "switch actions", I'll admit.

The only time I have ever had troubles copying text from the internet to put into an email or somewhere is on AOL. They have some really unusual and obstructive operating system and browser features, however. Basically, it would just not copy and you'd paste blanks, but it wouldn't make your computer freeze up. There are some unusual security features on some web pages that make it impossible for you to just copy their text by holding down a mouse and scanning over the text. I just encountered that this year and I don't understand it, but some web sites can do that. That does make your computer crash, sort of, on the web page I tried to do that with. I think it just knocked me off the internet, however, my computer itself wouldn't freeze up. Fodors is not one of those sites, however.

How are you trying to copy and paste? I just hold my mouse over text in a post, left click, and go to the end of what I want (which should be highlighted in blue). I then do CTL + C (this is a short cut for copying, hold down the control key and hit the C key), and when I go to an email form or WORD document, I then just use CTL + V (which is shortcut for pasting).

Christina, by switch actions I mean I have to click on the start button and then click on the shut off computer button on my screen.

I cut and paste by highlighting what I want to copy and then go to the edit tab at the top of the screen and click copy. Your way looks quicker.

Degas:

Using Ctrl C and Ctrl V often works for me when cutting and pasting from the internet, when the old method of going to Edit, then Copy, then Paste does not. I think that should solve your problem.

Tried Ctrl C and Ctrl V method and my computer still froze!

Hi Degas,

As icethecat mentioned, it might be your Norton's program. Have you reduced your security settings? If so, and it still hangs up, you might have to uninstall your Norton security program, then see if you can copy and paste.

If the problem goes away, ask Norton what to do.

If the problem doesn't go away, "email norton, but they'll blame microsoft and then microsoft will blame norton".

ira, the settings are on 'medium" as recommended by norton. I did send them an email and eagerly await the reply.
Let the finger pointing begin. Technology is a wonder thing when it works right.

As someone noted above the standard copy'n'paste tries to maintain the formatting, pictures, links etc from a webpage and goes onto the net to try and achieve this - on my home PC this can result in it freezing (or occasionally it will work but freeze if I hit undo - Bill Gates has a lot to answer for.........)

Anyway, 4 suggestions:
1) On the web page, highlight what you want to copy and hit copy (or ctrl-c). Then in Word, instead of just doing a straight paste (or ctrl-v), go to the Edit menu on the toolbar (between File and View) and there should be an option for Paste Special. Highlight "Unformatted Text" and click on okay. It should then just copy the text part without trying to keep the formatting etc or hang when it try's to access the net
2) If Word (or almost anything else for that matter) hangs, press the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys at the same time - you have to use the Delete not the "<- Backspace" button, just in case :-). You should get either the task manager up straight away or the option to look at the task manager. Click the the "Applications" tab at the top below the pull-down menu's (the other 2 tabs are "Processes" and "Performance".) Look for Microsoft Word (or whatever is causing the hold up) in the applications list - it may have "Not Responding" written next to it. Click on the one that is causing the problem and hit the End Task button (the bottom right of the window). It may take a bit for all these to come up and it may ask you to confirm a few things but it should kill the program that is hanging your computer without having to restart it completely. Note that you will probably loose any unsaved work in the program you kill.
3) Turn your Nortons down to Medium if it is on High, (or up to Medium if it's on Low, IMHO) - there are too many nasties out there these days to risk leaving it any lower than Medium
4) If Nortons asks you about permissions to access the internet, let Word have access - this may be part of the reason it's crashing. If you can remember saying "No" in the past, then you will have to open your Firewall program (Nortons in your case), look at the permissions and give Word access to the net.

On a slightly off-the-subject note, make sure you keep your anti-virus and firewall software updated (at least weekly with Nortons), they are only as good as the latest set of virus definitions. You should get all this free for a while with Nortons.

I will admit that I set my security things down to low, probably. They just caused too many problems on some pages and I have a virus scanner, anyway. I've never gotten any virus or had any problem, actually, from anything.

My suggestion about cut and paste, etc., was assuming you are only tryinig to copy the words or text of posts. I don't use copy and paste to try to copy pictures, ads, graphics or anything else like that, so think that's a whole other issue. Are you having problems only with copying the words from posts?

To get off the subject of cutting and pasting just for a moment, I have another computer question --

How do you add smileys and such to a posting? I see them, but have no idea where they come from.

Can anyone help? Sorry for the thread interruption.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/smileys/




;)

I have to get in this thread because I'm a computer dunce too. I know I'll need to refer back to this!

Scarlett -- thank you so much. I love all the icons!

@};-

Thanks for all the good info.
Still fooling with it, but still no luck.


Yes, its just with copying and pasting text/words.

Degas;
Since you have checked your Norton settings, have you tried copying and pasting from other applications.

For example from excel or notepad.

This would prove whether it is an html problem or an operating system problem.

Degas. No worries, Calamari to the rescue. Have you considerd that your computer proublems could be the result of too much static electricity being generated by your white leather shoes, matching belt and new velcro fanny pack?

Degas, I have had this problem, and I have managed to get around it by copying into Notepad, and from there into Word.

Thanks scarlett the icons are great...... :-?

For the way AnnM described, do:

put cursor over desktop
click the right mouse button (RMB)
select New -> Text Document
see New Text ... icon on desktop
double click on the New Text Document.txt to open it

in your browser, select the range you want to copy
click the RMB
select Copy
put cursor in the New Text Document window (probably Notepad)
click the RMB
select Paste

The pesky little problem has finally been solved and I'm back in business. Took the following major actions:

removed forty empty beer cans from around the computer

swept up a large bag of pork rind and cookie crumbs

removed six magnetic hula dolls (with matching grass skirts) from atop the compter desk

degreased the keyboard

GAVE "WORD" PERMISSION TO ACCESS THE INTERNET.

I figured that out by much trial and much error. Still waiting for the software company to provide me the official "solution" as they said they needed more info to research the problem. Right!

Degas,

Glad you got it worked out.

This is such a useless addition to Windows; all it does is slow things down. WORD doesn't have to access the internet. It is only necessary the Windows be able to copy and paste.

These "improvements" are enough to make a person switch to Apple.

Damn! Degas.
Now my wife will be wanting me to clean up around our computer.

When I can no longer read the screen, I simply sweep the beer cans off the table on to the floor.

"These "improvements" are enough to make a person switch to Apple."

Which is exactly what I did. Bill Gates and Windows, good riddance! On the Mac, all you have to do is write "simple text" in TextEdit, which comes with every Mac, and presto, all your text is ready for the web, any platform. You never need to open Word. I can't believe I let so many business friends talk me out of a Mac years ago. I'm way ahead of the curve now. Just got my I-Pod and it's charging as I write this.

carnie ((D))

Degas, happy to see you figured this all out by yourself, who needs those people at the company to figure it out!

ira-we are moving and thinking of getting rid of our Dell here, a Pentium this and 17" Trinitron that...fully loaded so it can not only store zillions of files and photographs, but has the capability of making two adults weep in frustration at any given time.
So we are wondering if a laptop (notebook?) or flat screen or Apple would be better for space saving/less complicated computer use. Notice that I am the computer wizard in our home, which gives you some idea of the need for a really simple answer without a lot of computer language..
Thanks for any advice from people waaay more in the know than we are about all of this 'stuff' ((F))

Scarlett, I have a friend who replaced his entire desktop system with Apple's new 17" Powerbook. Talk about saving space. It's the coolest laptop I've ever seen and the power/speed is amazing. You should definitely check it out. Also, rumor has it that the new G5 will be in Apple's Powerbook series in the very near future. The G5 desktop outperformed any PC in all side-by-side comparison tests. Apple is really making exciting, user-friendly products these days. If you can afford one, go for it.

carnie ((D))

carniecosmo, the Yankee and I Thank you very much!
He says we will look into it tomorrow and we will probably have one of those ever so cool powerbooks in the near future~
It has to look good in my new home, which will not have a den/office :)
S~

I had the same problem, disable the Office plugin on Norton. Its on the miscellaneous options tab. Did the trick for me.

If you want to be able to shut the computer off by pushing (and holding) the switch on front instead of pulling out power cord, go to control panel, select power options, advanced. Toward the bottom is a box that says "When I press the power button on my computer" and gives you several options, select Shut Down and click on Apply at bottom.
Will save wear and tear on power cord and your nerves.

Just a note: If anyone has a computer problem that the kind people here are unable to help with go to: www.lockergnome.com

This site has been a great helpt to me. The site includes a great team of people through their message boards that helped me with some security issues that the outsourced techs for my computer manufacturer and virus software people were clueless about.

The way I get rid of that pesky formatting is to copy/paste into notepad THEN copy/paste into word. It's additional step, but it is quicker than rebooting!

This seems to be a safe place to admit ignorance. sfowler, what's notepad? Thanks. J.

I'm not sure whether "notepad" is part of Windows itself or of MS Word, but if you click on "start" on the bottom lower left corner of your screen [this is on PCs] and then on "run" and then type notepad in the box that shows up and click OK it will open. It is just what it says with very few frills. It saves files as .txt -- that is text, rather than .doc

Well what do you know, there it is. Thanks sfowler! J.