IT Queries: Computer problems answered

What are all the various domains I need to register to secure my business name?

You’ll first need to decide what domain you want to operate in. For some businesses .com is the right way to go but many of the good names have already gone.

If you are operating in a single country outside the US visit then you may want to consider registering in your specific country’s domain such as .ca for Canada, .au for Australian or .uk for British domains. Every country has their own rules and methods for signing up.

In many cases you’ll find the name is already gone in the commercial, that is the .com or .co domains, so you may have to consider other domains such as .net or .biz.

It’s best to consider which one meets your needs and exactly what’s available. Then shop around and see who has the best deal.

Be careful of super cheap prices however as some domain registrars aren’t as good as others and some try to load you up with extras such as webhosting, e-commerce and other features you may or may not need from them.

If you have a web designer it’s worthwhile discussing this with them as they will be more across what will be right for your business.

When I try to log into Gmail using Internet Explorer the search times out whereas if I use Firefox I can gain access without problem.

The problem could be proxy settings in Internet Explorer, to check these click Tools, Internet Options and Connections.

In the connections box, click the LAN Settings and tick the box for Automatically detect settings. Take the tick off Use a proxy service for your LAN. You may need to check with your Internet provider that this will not affect your web browsing.

Another possibility is an errant add in such as a phishing filter or anti virus program. We’ve covered resetting IE in a previous post. Again note this might affect programs like password managers.

Finally, it may be that Internet Explorer needs repairing. This has also been covered previously.

I use Microsoft Outlook for emails, plus Mailwasher as a filter.  It has worked very well up till a few months ago, when I found that I would receive a few lots of emails successfully, and then the send/receive button would not operate.  I could send emails but not receive them. Restarting the computer resets it to the default again, but after a few goes the send/receive button fails again.  I have checked with my provider, iinet, and they do not think my Inbox is too full. In any case I deleted a lot of emails. What to do?

It sounds like your user profile is damaged. You should backup your data, export your email rules and note all your mail account settings.

Shut down Outlook. Open your Control Panel, click Mail and Profiles. In the Profiles screen you can delete your user profile.

Restart your computer and when you open Outlook you’ll be walked through the account setup wizard and at the end of it you’ll have a fresh installation of Outlook. Once it’s working properly, you can import your backed up data and rules.

I use Microsoft Outlook with Mozilla Firefox and would like to know how to backup my Emails, contacts, calendar etc.

This is a topic covered on our sister website, PC Rescue. Microsoft have a free tool  to automatically back the files up and we’d recommend it.

An important thing to note with Outlook, or Entourage, is the file tends to be hidden deep in the user’s profile.  You should note that location and make sure the .pst files are part of your regular backup routine.

I’m running Vista Premium on a Dell Dimension 9200 using Adobe Reader 8.1.1.It will not install updates or uninstall Adobe Reader–Error 1402 Could not open key. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwareclasses\CLSID\(D38064DA). Adobe will not provide tech help as it was a free download except for a lengthy instruction which involves fiddling with the Registry–which I dare not do.I could not find any reference in your archives.Thanks.

It sounds like something is tying up your Adobe installation. You may want to try starting the computer in Safe Mode and seeing if it is possible to uninstall Adobe that way.

If it isn’t possible, then disabling any Adobe products that are starting with the computer is the next step. You’ll need to open the System Configuration Tool and take the ticks off anything referring to Adobe in the Startup tab.

Finally, you could try creating a different administrative user and seeing if this repairs the problem.

If none of these work, you’ll have to call in a technician to fix the registry problem.

Sometimes it’s necessary to create a new user profile on your computer. To do this, click Start, Settings and Control Panel. Then choose User Accounts. In Windows Vista, choose Users.

Choose Create a new Account and follow the wizard which will include giving the account a name.

When you are asked if you want the account to be an Administrator or Limited User, we recommend Limited User for day-to-day use and Administrator for running maintenance tasks such as installing software and removing viruses.

Dell Windows XP Home PC. I get sound on some sites and not others. I have real player. Why would this happen & what can I do?

It sounds like you need Flash player. Many sites, like YouTube, use Flash to play the media files. You can download Flash from the Adobe website.

Should problems continue then you may have to repair Internet Explorer. You can do this as we describe in on one of our other pages.

If you have a problem with Internet Explorer, you don’t need to uninstall and reinstall the entire program.

Open the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs, or Programs in Windows Vista, and select Internet Explorer.

To right of the selection there are two buttons; change and remove. Click the Change button and follow the wizard to repair the existing installation.

How do I get rid of Windows XP asking me to log on when it starts up?

To do this, click Start, Run and type Control Userpasswords2 then click okay. The User Accounts box will appear.

Highlight the user you want to automatically log on as then take the tick off users must enter a user name and password to use this computer box.

Click Okay and the log in will go away.

I am running my new Toshiba Satellite A210 laptop on the same dial-up phone line as my old Compaq PC with windows xp. My PC now seems to have same start window as the laptop with vista, all old icons have gone and the PC needs much prompting to start. What have I done with windows XP?

The problem sounds like your user profile has been damaged. Given your system is having trouble starting our first thought is the hard drive is failing.

You need to get this computer to a technician as soon as possible to check the drive and recover any data.