IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I have many things that appear twice or more in my add or Delete programs file.Why is this …J2SE Runtime three times.

What is all this stuff and do i really need it all taking up space on my hard-drive…. Grateful for any intelligent but simple language reply Thanks

Sometimes Windows programs don’t behave as they should and you get multiple entries but in this case, it appears they are legitimate programs. Java is particularly notorious for leaving older versions on your computer.

The first thing to do is to run the Windows Installer clean up tool which we’ve described in an earlier post. This will clear out any problems.

For programs like Java which have installed multiple versions, it’s probably best to uninstall all of them then download and install the latest version from the Sun Java website.

In the case of the Windows Updates, these are best left alone as they are specific fixes for known Windows problems. Should Microsoft release a Windows XP Service Pack 4, then it may be worthwhile deleting these before installing the new upgrade.

The Visual C++, we don’t know. Do you have a programmer in your household? If so, best let them deal with it or leave the program alone.

Otherwise, it’s best to delete anything you don’t use often. However the general rule with computer is “if you don’t know what it does, then leave it alone” and that certainly applies to your Add/Remove programs.

I have a Laptop running Vista Home premium 32 bit and keep getting this message when i try to load a new program There is another installation occuring, please finish the existing before continuing.

For some reason the Windows Installer function has become confused, probably by an incomplete installation of another program.

The first thing to do is check your Add/Remove programs function and remove any programs you aren’t using or are giving you problems. If you have the replacement disks, then removing and reinstalling Microsoft Office is a good idea.

If that doesn’t work, then downloading and running the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility may well fix the problem. Note that while Microsoft discuss Office in the linked article, the clean up utility works for all programs.

After running the installer clean up, you may want to clean up your hard drive to flush out any left over nasties before attempting to install the new software.

I have an Apple Mac and I can’t open WMV files. How can I play them?

WMV files belong to Windows Media Player and QuickTime, which is the Apple Mac’s media player, doesn’t automatically run them. So an Apple Mac can’t play WMV files until you install some extra software.

You can fix this by either downloading the Microsoft Windows Media Player for the Mac or by installing the QuickTime add in.

The QuickTime add in allows the Mac’s built in media player show WMV files and is the best solution if you don’t want to be adding more programs to your Computer. You can download it from Apple’s support website.

Alternatively you can install the full Windows Media Player for Mac package from Microsoft’s Mactopia website. This will give you another full featured media player for your system.

Either solution will run Windows Media Player videos on your computer.

I’m finding certain sites like Ebay, YouTube and other sites won’t open. The screen just stays blank and my computer slows down.

It sounds like you have a problem with your Flash player. The first thing you need to do is clean up the system by running a program like ccleaner to flush out any temporary files that could be causing the problem.

Should cleaning up the computer not work, then you’ll have to reinstall Flash. The first thing to do is run the Add/Remove Programs function and remove an Adobe Flash programs listed. Once you’ve uninstalled them, reboot and then run the Adobe Flash Player removal tool. Once you’ve run the tool, reboot your computer.

With Adobe Flash Player now completely off your computer, visit the Abode Flash website and reinstall.

What is the setting on Macs & PCs To make jpg files readable when transferred by email?

Both Macs and Windows systems should be able to read JPG image files. If you have any problems, then two good image readers are Irfranview and Picasa which are free and have some editing capacities.

When ever I try to open anything in windows media player it freezes the computer and the only way to do make it respond is to shut down computer with power button on computer.

The first thing to do is clean up your computer as it may well be something lurking in your temporary files which is upsetting Media Player.

Should the problem continue, you may have to reinstall Windows Media Player. 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.

When trying to watch a news or lifestyle video or Youtube it goes for a few seconds and then stops for quite a few seconds, then starts again. It is virually impossible to comprehend what it is about. very frustrating. What is the cause of this?

Your Internet connection  isn’t moving data to your computer fast enough for the videos to play smoothly. The computer has to stop and wait for more data to be loaded from the server.

The problem is you simply need a faster Internet connection and you should talk to your ISP about moving up a plan or considering moving your service elsewhere.

For the moment though you can fix the problem by pausing the clip once it starts playing. Flash based clips will continue to download and if you wait a few minutes you should be able to watch the full clip without interruption.

You can also change the buffer settings which control how much video data your computer will download by right clicking one of the clips you want to play and choose settings.

In the Flash Player settings you then choose the yellow folder icon and move the Local Storage setting to the far right which is unlimited. This means the entire clip will be downloaded while you wait.

Waiting for clips to download and increasing buffers won’t fix your underlying problem that your Internet connection is simply too slow, so you’ll still have to see about getting a better plan.

If I view a particular website does the website or by any means does it get downloaded to my machine.eg is i am visiting youtube or yahoo, do the videos get downloaded to my machine?

In general yes, it’s called caching and the ideas is by storing data on the computer, the web browser or media player can show the site or play the clip faster.

Sometimes you’ll find the clip plays faster than your Internet connection can store the information and so you’ll see a message telling you the clip is being buffered.

Sometimes browsers and media players don’t clean up after themselves and the caches become too big which can slow your computer and clog your hard drive. This is why it’s good to regularly clean up your computer.

I’m using Word 2003 which won’t open docx files. Could either tell me how to fix, or point me to answer somewhere.

Docx files are Word documents created in the newer Office 2007 system. To read them you’ll have to download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack as we describe in our I can’t read Office 2007 documents post.

Once you’ve installed the compatibility pack you’ll be able to read Word and Excel 2007 files.

what is a set of eight binary digits (bits that are either 0 or 1 that represent a letter, number or symbol? (01000011)

A quick Google comes up with the Tekmom website which has a handy table converting the alphabet into ACSII binary codes.

Good luck