IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I just paid a visit to the Bigpond website to locate a free registery cleaner, downloaded it and was then asked to pay $29.95, is there such a thing as a free!! reg cleaner. I was told I had 1045 problems,my computer had become very sluggish and I don’t know how to fix it.
Regards,
Chris

Hi Chris,

We’ve covered registry cleaners before. There’s no need to buy any and many are snake oil. Make sure you backup anything important before you run any cleaner.

You might want to consider running clean up tool as well. These will clean up any temporary files that might be slowing your system.

We are running Windows XP – every time we start the computer we get the following error message:
Windows – No Disk: Exception processing message c0000013 Parameters 75b6bf9c 4 75b6bf9c 75b6bf9c

It doesn’t seem to make any difference to the way everything works – is it a problem – or how do we stop the message appearing.

It sounds like there’s a program starting with the computer that looks for a disk, probably a removable drive or a CD/DVD that isn’t in the tray or connected so the system bleats about it being missing.

To fix this, first disconnect your computer from the Internet. By this, we mean unplug the affected computer from the modem or network.

Then open the System Configuration Utility by clicking start, run and typing MSCONFIG. Once in the utility, go to the startup tab.

In the startup tab, take the tick off ALL the items. This will probably disable your firewall and antivirus which is why we recommend you are not connected to the net while doing this.

Reboot the computer. You may get other error messages relating to other programs not starting, ignore them.

If the error message does not go away you need to call a tech.

Normally the missing disk message should have gone away. It’s now a matter of finding which one is the problem program. We do this through a process of elimination.

Go back into the start up tab of the System Configuration Utility and tick the top half of the programs listed and reboot the computer.

If the problem re-appears on restarting, it’s one of the programs you’ve ticked. Take half the ticks you put on last time and reboot again. Keep doing this until the problem go away.

Should the problem not reappear, it’s in the other half of the programs. Tick half the ones remaining and restart again. Keep doing this until the problem reappears.

By adding and removing programs, you’ll find the one causing the problem. You can then leave that one disabled or uninstall the program.

We often see this after removing spyware or viruses, the removal tools fix the underlying problem but don’t remove what was starting with the system.

My hard disk crashed and I had to reinstall Windows XP. After that I could not get my screen saver to operate. I reloaded Windows but to no effect.

It sounds like a driver problem. Either the video drivers or chipset drivers aren’t installed or up to date.

To fix this, run the motherboard utilities CD and video card CD that came with the system.

If you don’t have them, you can identify what you have on your system through the excellent Unknown Device Identifier tool and then find the relevant drivers on the Internet.

“When attempting to download images from some websites, I am asked to download a program “Video ActiveX”. Do you know if it is safe to allow this program to my PC?

Also, when I try to cancel the image download, I am not able to without accessing Task Manager and closing Internet Explorer. Can you advise an alternate method?”

Both of these problems indicate a spyware infection. Active X downloads are the favourite methods of spyware writers. Firefox and Opera don’t have built in support for Active X and this is why we recommend them over Internet Explorer.

You must check your computer for spyware. We’ve previously posted the instructions to do this. We’d also strongly recommend you stop using Internet Explorer and start using an alternative browser.

Toshiba SAt A100. Finger Logger (recently replaced) still unreliable. Toshiba Technician claims its related to error message that comes up on logging on.

Carol

A program on your computer has been deleted but the computer is still looking for it on start up. To clear this, you need to use the System Configuration Utility to turn off the start up message.

The Windows System configuration utility is a very useful tool that comes with Windows 98, ME and XP. It allows you to stop programs from starting with just a tick of a box. The quickest way to open it is to click start, run and type msconfig, the Startup tab will show you what starts with the system. You should take the tick off the One Touch Application.

This however will probably not repair the problem with the finger logger. If it doesn’t you’ll need to reinstall the one touch program. The one touch application is either a keyboard or external hard drive program.

If you have a Maxtor external hard drive the One Touch program was designed to let you run a backup by simply pressing the button on the hard drive. If you do have a Maxtor external drive then re-run the software that came with it.

One touch application access is a feature many laptops come with. It’s a way of setting up the keyboard with fast short cuts for frequently used programs. It is possible your computer has come with this. To fix that, you’ll have to reinstall the software that came with the computer.

Be careful when doing this, the system disks provided by Toshiba can wipe the hard drive which will destroy all the data on it. We’d strongly suggest you call another computer tech to diagnose and repair this problem.

I intend to use WinFastPVR to capture my analog video tapes to the hard drive before editing. Which Capture Format should I select so that the various tapes can be edited to create a single DVD.

MPEG-2 is the format to use when burning DVDs. An excellent advice is available on the Sign Video site. This advice includes using a camcorder rather than a capture card like you are doing, but the result is the same.

Best of luck with it. In our experience, it takes a few attempts to get it right but it’s worthwhile.

I am running XP and one of my programs when I try to pen it comes up with the Message 429: ActiveX component can’t create object. Can you tell me how to fix it

ActiveX is part of the Windows Scripting function. Many programs rely on Windows Scripting for basic functions. In your case the program relies it for printing.

Fixing ActiveX can be a nuisance, the first thing to do is download the latest Microsoft Data Access Components. A lot of database type programs require this to work properly. Reboot your computer after installing it.

The next step, should the first one fail, is to install the latest Windows Scripting Host. This will update all the scripting functions and is something we recommend if you’ve had a spyware infection.

We’d also recommend you complain to the software company about their program relying on these function. We’ve found MDAC and the Scripting Host to be somewhat unreliable and they tie the program, and it’s user, too deeply into the Windows operating system.

So if Windows goes wrong, such as with a serious spyware infection, the entire system goes down.

I have been looking at ways of buying Microsoft Office cheaper than recommended retail price.
In my travels I came across an American website (Soft Sales)offering Microsoft Office(OEM) for $79(US)brand new. It says all you need to do is download MS Office(in pdf format). No manual is included but all authentication and verification codes are. What are your thoughts on buying such an item? I haven\’t actually bought the item.
I am currently running Windows XP on a pentium 4 pc.

It sounds extremely dodgy. OEM software is supposed to be sold with hardware and the price is extremely cheap.

What’s more, it appears these guys are expecting you to download the trial edition and they are merely selling the authentication codes to unlock the trial.

To say this is risky is an understatement. Microsoft have a track record of disabling these codes and Office 2007 can be disabled this way. It’s possible you might end up with it simply not working one morning.

With these sort of software deals, if something’s too good to be true it usually isn’t true. If these people are prepared to rip-off one of the world’s biggest companies, then they are not likely to have many qualms about treating the likes of you and I poorly.

We’d suggest avoiding this like the plague.

I have Windows XP Pro 64 bit version as the operating system on my home computer. Can you recommend internet protection software, such as anti-virus, which will run on a 64 bit Windows XP? At least two of the major internet protection providers state in the ‘systems requirements’ for their latest software that it will not operate with Windows XP Pro!

64 bit versions of Windows are always problematic as many programs haven’t been ported across and security software is one of those areas where vendors have struggled.

A search on the net indicates quite a few programs are compatible, but when they were tested by the Start64 website, most were found lacking.

From their tests, it appeared only Computer Associates eTrust and Symantec AntiVirus for 64-Bit Windows Client were the only two the reviewers had any confidence in.

Because our experience with 64 bit Windows is so limited, we couldn’t make any recommendations on our own, all we can suggest is trialling the different available products and seeing how well they work for you.

I had problems that with my new computer which my technician put down to the fact that I had activated the 2007 Microsoft Office System that came already installed and gave me 30 or 60 days ‘free’ use. I’d then installed my old Office XP over it.

I just looked in my uninstall programme list and I saw that I now have installed both the 2007 Microsoft Office System & my own Microsoft Office Professional 2007 – each is occupying 507 MB of memory.

Should I uninstal the 2007 Microsoft Office System, please?

No, if the system is working fine then you should leave Microsoft Office installation files alone. One of the bugbears with MS Office is that it shares a lot of its features across applications and it’s unpredictable how those shared functions work together.

If you are having problems then it might be worthwhile to clean up the problem by uninstalling all versions of Office and then reinstalling the latest one (not the trial version).