Skylarking

I don’t have any complaints with Windows 7 whatsoever. Really I don’t, but I have read about some people experiencing a problem accessing the G1′s SD card with Windows 7.

Okay, I experienced this problem too, but, luckily, I knew how to fix it.

What happened? I was connecting my T-Mobile G1 Smartphone to my computer to backup the memory chip in the phone. For your information, the G1 was the first phone to use Google’s Android Operating System for smartphones. Today’s leading Android based phones are Verizon’s Droid, Google’s Nexus One, and T-Mobile’s new Samsung Vibrant.

But, as they say, I digress.

HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1)

Shortly after upgrading to Windows 7, I attached my G1 to my PC via the docking station, and then I “mounted” the SD card in the G1 by selecting “Mount” option from the G1′s notification panel.

Now, for those who don’t have a G1, you “mount the SD card” — sounds ‘dirty’, I know — so you can transfer files to and from the SD or memory card in the phone to your computer.

But, now, with Windows 7, one time I attached my G1 via its USB cable (or docking station) I saw a notification on my computer’s desktop that Windows was “installing a driver” for the “HTC Dream”. (For your information, HTC is the company that makes the G1 for Google and T-Mobile. Dream is HTC’s model name for the G1).

I had never seen this happen before, but I thought it was cool because I was thrilled that Windows 7 was capable of recognizing so many devices when they were attached to the computer.

My thrill was short lived.

Once I mounted the card, and I double clicked the “Computer” icon on the desktop, I expected to see an icon, as I had in the past, that represented the SD card in my phone.

The icon wasn’t there.

I unmounted the card, remounted it, and, again, no icon for the card visible after double-clicking the Computer icon.

Uh oh!

This meant I wouldn’t be able to get my files the old fashioned way. Instead, I would have to remove the card from the phone and insert it into the memory card reader on my desktop computer. That would work, but I would prefer being able to just access he chip by attaching the phone to the computer as I always had.

The Fix. Here’s the solution for anyone who has experienced this problem, too.

1. Right-click the Computer icon.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click Device Manager.
4. Locate “HTC Dream” on the list. You may need to double click a few items on the list to reveal the HTC Dream listing. I think I found it under “Other Devices”.
5. Double-click HTC Dream.
6. Click the Driver tab.
7. Click Update Driver.
8. Select “Mass Storage Driver”.
9. Click OK to close out the dialog boxes.

Now when I connect my T-Mobile G1 via its USB cable or dock, and then mount the SD card, I am able to access the G1′s memory chip and transfer my files without a hitch.

Update (Thurs. 3/11. 12:18am) : As of late Wednesday evening the page for “Update for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB977724)” appears to have been “taken down” by Microsoft. No word — that I can find — as to why. Possibly related to an error mentioned in the reader comments for this article.

Yesterday was Tuesday, and Tuesday is the day Microsoft typically issues the free Windows Updates to patch any security problems that have been discovered, fix flaws, remove malicious software (Windows Malicious Software Tool) and add new features.

Four of the six updates my computer downloaded for installation failed to install properly. These were all Microsoft Office 2007 updates:

• Update for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB977724)
• Security Update for Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (KB978382)
• Security Update for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB978380)
• Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB979895)

If you’ve had the same problem with these updates then you will have to manually download and install them. It’s not that difficult to do, and I’ll make it easier by providing you with links to Microsoft’s download pages for these updates. You’ll see two links on each line, but they both take you to the same page.

• Update for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB977724) – Filename: office-kb977724-fullfile-x86-glb.exe
• Security Update for Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (KB978382) - Filename: excel2007-kb978382-fullfile-x86-glb.exe
• Security Update for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB978380) - Filename: office2007-kb978380-fullfile-x86-glb.exe
• Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB979895) - Filename: office2007-kb979895-fullfile-x86-glb.exe

Download
Just click the links above to go to the appropriate download page, then click the “Download” button on each page. Choose the “Save” option, and save them to either your desktop, your documents folder, or your downloads folder. Anywhere you can easily find them later on. If you have to install them on more than one computer you might consider saving them to a flash drive.

Installation
Once you’ve downloaded them, you will need to run them as an administrator. You can’t do this with your typical double-click.

1. Right-click on the file (point at the file, and click the right mouse button, not the left mouse button) and choose “Run as administrator” from the shortcut menu that appears.
2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears — for you Windows Vista and Windows 7 users — asking “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to your computer?”, click “Yes”.
3. Click the checkbox to accept the Microsoft License Terms, then click “Continue”.

Repeat the process above for each of the downloaded files, and that’s it. Your updates should be properly installed at this time.

I wrote about a similar “Failed Windows Update Installations (Office 2007)” problem back in November 2009.

I read this question online recently:

I am upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7. How do I back up my Yahoo! emails and do I need to do it?

If you have a free Yahoo! email account then there is no need to back up your emails because the emails are stored on Yahoo!’s servers and not your computer.

If you have a paid Yahoo! email account, called Yahoo! Mail Plus, which costs $19.99 per year, then it is possible that you could be downloading email messages to your computer with a program such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Eudora, or some other program or email client.

Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive – Midnight Black

Generally, when you are upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 there is no need to erase your hard drive. When the hard drive is erased it is usually referred to as a “clean install”. While it’s always good idea to do a backup before an upgrade, it isn’t necessary. When upgrading from XP to Windows 7 the hard drive must be erased, so this is a case where it would be a good idea to have a backup of some sort.

Still, if you want to take the precaution of doing a backup, go to a computer store and get yourself an external USB drive such as a MyPassport from Western Digital and use the Windows Easy Transfer wizard to copy important files to the external drive. For more info on Windows Easy Transfer go here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/easy-transfer.aspx

For more info on upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 go here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-vista-to-windows-7