Hi all, Ms. Compy Fix-It here.
Today, I found a new suggested solution to my PowerPoint constantly crashing. I had the problem where any editing of embedded charts/graphs using Excel would often cause it to freeze and require the computer to shut down PowerPoint and “try to recover data”. Sometimes, it recovered all of it; other times, barely any. I used to have this problem frequently with a computer that ended up having a hardware issue, so I used to blame that. Then, I got a second-hand laptop to try, and boy, still a lot of crashes. Finally, I get this, a barely-used HP beaut with big screen and presumably better system. Well, guess what?
SO! I figured I couldn’t be the only one, and did some more digging online….. my spec-i-al-i-ty! (Wow, I just realized that was quoting one of my favourite childhood movies, The Neverending Story….. I heard the professor’s voice saying that, so I tried to spell it out accordingly. haha I am a true geek.)
Sure enough, I found this site. Again, thanks to Microsoft Answers, someone suggested getting this HotFix. So far, so good. I’ll report back if it’s junk, though 😉
One thing to note: if you do download this fix, make sure that your problem is exactly what is written in their description. I don’t want you installing unnecessary patches for problems you may not have….. and also, be sure to follow their instructions (including backing up stuff). I don’t want people to say I didn’t warn them in case it doesn’t work quite right. I also did a System Restore point, though I don’t know what the difference is between that and a Backup, to be honest. I just didn’t have any DVDs/time to run the backup, so I thought that was an okay alternative! haha hey I never said I knew everything about computers….. heck, why do you think I’m Ms. Compy Fix-It?!
Anyways. One other thing to note: for me, when I installed the fix, I got scared because when I went to my folder to retrieve a file I’d been working on, it was in PowerPoint Viewer! I thought it did something to my program/deleted it or something, but all you need to do is right-click your file and go to “Open with…..” and it should give you a choice to select the Default Program, and your regular PowerPoint program should be there as an option. Make sure to check the box, “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” to ensure all the rest of your PowerPoint documents open as they normally did.
Happy PowerPointing!
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