IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I’ve recently installed McAfee Internet Security Suite and now I find I can’t log onto Hotmail. I keep getting “incorrect password” errors. It happens in both Internet Explorer and Firefox.

The password is correct as I can log on from other computers and other computers in my home seem to work fine.

We’ve seen this problem at a couple of places, it appears the Personal Security function interferes with the way Hotmail receives passwords.

It should be possible to disable these functions or add the Live.com website to the trusted list, but none of these seem to work.

The only solution to this we currently have is to uninstall McAfee through the add/remove programs and use a different antivirus package.

I have an error come up when I log on to my computer, it is:

Buffer overrun detected

program: …iles/CA/CA Internet Security Suite/caissclt/.exe

A buffer overrun has been detected which has corrupted the programs internal state. The program cannot safely continue execution and must be terminated.

How do I do this and what does it mean?
Thanks
Raelene

It appears you have a problem with the Computer Associates Security Suite. This is either because you’ve switched to another security package or you’ve been infected with some spyware.

Before doing anything else, we’d suggest you check your computer for malware. If this is due to a virus or spyware infection, then you’ll need to clean it up before going ahead with anything else.

To repair the CA installation and get rid of the error message, you’ll first need to uninstall the program as per our instructions for that on a previous post.

Before uninstalling, check you have the software installation disks. If you’ve replaced this software with another antivirus, then you don’t need to bother about reinstalling and the disks probably won’t be necessary.

If the Computer Associates software is your security suite, then you will have to reinstall. Be aware that you will not be protected until you have reinstalled the software. We’d recommend disconnecting the computer from the Internet while your security software is disabled.

 Windows XP Home. My AVG will not update and cannot download e-mails. E-mail error msg: Server responded with error.  A/c ‘MAIL.BIGPOND.COM’ Server: ‘MAIL.BIGPOND.COM’, PROTOCOL: POP3, Server response: -ERR AVG POP3 Proxy Server: Cannot connect to the mail server, Port:110, Secure (SSL): No, Server Error: Ox800CC90, ERROR No.Ox800CCC90.

I am on cable broadband with BigPond.  I dont understand Pop3′s and Port’s
Tks in anticipation.
Regards Robyn, Magic Happens so keep smiling

Hi Robyn,

POP3 is the language computers use to exchange emails while ports are the doorways into computers. Port 110 is the doorway on Bigpond’s computer, known as the mail server, that holds your emails.

The problem is AVG can’t see Bigpond’s mail server.

This almost certainly due to your firewall program blocking AVG’s access to both the mail server and the AVG update server. You’ll need to change your firewall setting to allow AVG to access the Internet.

How do I uninstall a program in Windows?

Uninstalling software should be easy. Open the Control Panel by clicking Start, settings and Control Panel.

In the Windows 95, 98, ME and XP Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs or in Vista choose Programs and Uninstall a Program.

In this screen you will get a list of programs that are installed on your machine. Click the one you want to remove and the uninstall process should start. You may have to answer some questions during the process.

That said, it isn’t always that easy. If the program is damaged, then it may not uninstall. Some programs are simply badly designed and won’t obey the rules.

Sometimes the program will have it’s own uninstall routine which you can access by clicking Start, Programs and then selecting the program group and looking for a item that reads uninstall program name.

There’s a few programs that are so complex they have specialist uninstall programs. Norton products are a good example and they provide the Norton Removal Tool. Some of the more “legitimate” spyware applications also have these removal tools.

If those isn’t available, then you’ll need to uninstall the program manually. This involves deleting the program folder and then running a registry cleaning tool. This is something we don’t recommend to inexperienced users and we’d urge you to call a computer tech to do this for you.

Every time I boot up my PC there is a dialogue box saying “Preparing to install ScanOmnisoft” and I cannot ‘cancel’ it away I have to Ctrl/Alt/Del to get rid of it. How do I fix?

Omnisoft is a program that was installed as part of the setup for many scanners. What’s happened in this case is the installation has failed or become corrupted.

The first, and easiest step, is to attempt to uninstall the program through the Control Panel’s Add/Remove programs function.

It’s likely that will fail as the installation is probably damaged so the next step is to reinstall the software. You’ll need to run the installation package from the disk that came with the scanner. Keep in mind it may be an older scanner and not your current one.

If you can’t find the disks, then you can repair the Add/Remove function with the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility which is a free download from Microsoft.

If all of that fails, you can kill the install through editing the Windows registry. But this is a complex task that really shouldn’t be carried out by inexperienced users and you should call a tech unless you know what you are doing.

I have just downloaded Norton Internet Security 2008 Upgrade on my Windows XP and now the following message keeps popping up on screen:
Windows – No Disk
exception processing message c0000013 parameters 75b6bf9c 4 75b6bf9c 75b6bf9c\”

Underneath this message there are three options:
cancel
try again
continue
However none of these options work and the only way to get rid of the message is to keep clicking on the X box at the top of the message.
I would appreciate your advice please.

We’ve covered some no disk errors previously and you may want to try those solutions, particularly the MS Config part.

A quick solution is to take the system back to a restore point shortly before you installed the Norton update and then re-installing the update.

A number of people have found this error is actually a Quicktime problem and updating Quicktime removes the error. If you are installing QT, uninstall the old versions listed in the Add/Remove programs Control Panel.

If you still have the problem, you’ll need to do some detective work in the Event Viewer. This will give you more clues as to where the problem lies.

As you can see there’s a lot of potential things that can cause these problems. If you are still stuck, you may need to call a tech.

I am running Windows XP with service pack 2. I have Norton Antivirus. The computer is running slower by the day. It was suggested to me that I might need to check for Spyware , so i have downloaded spy Doctor . Now it runs even slower . It takes about 10 mins to access the internet from stat up

It could be a number of things causing the problem. You may have a full hard drive and we’ve covered this previously.

It’s possible Norton is causing this problem. One of our criticisms of Norton products is that not only do they allow spyware onto machines, but when the spyware is on the machine Norton makes the problem worse.

The next step is to check your machine for spyware, we have instructions on doing that in an earlier post.

Once you have checked and cleared any spyware, consider installing the latest Windows Scripting Host. Norton relies upon this software to run properly.

In the worst case, uninstall Norton and replace it with another anti virus program.

If the problem continues, it may be you have a more serious problem with your computer and it may be time to call a computer tech.

I think my hard drive is full, how do I check it?

To check how full your hard drive is, open My Computer and you’ll see a list of all your computer drives. Right-click the drive you want to check and go down the menu to properties.

Click Properties and you’ll get a graphical view of how full your drive is. Generally we like to have at least 20% or 5Gb free.

If it is full, it’s worthwhile running some cleanup tools on the computer. We’ve covered that in a previous post.

You may need a larger hard drive or to make some system changes to stop this happening again, if so call a computer tech to help you.

I have an problem that some of our PCs shut down while running a certain program. What is the reason behind this? I am working with window XP.

The problem is the program is crashing some of the computers and they are shutting down. Unlike earlier versions of Windows, Windows XP reboots rather than displays the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

The clue to the problem is in the error message the Blue Screen gives you. Among other things, it will list the application and driver that triggered the problem. Microsoft have further information on deciphering BSOD messages.

In your case, given it happens on some machines and not others, it’s a safe guess that this problem is hardware related and is probably the graphics card. You may want to check the differences between the machines that don’t crash and those that do.

Troubleshooting these problems can be time consuming and complex. If you aren’t experienced in doing this then it’s best done by a