I have updated my drivers, scanned my computer for malware and viruses using Malware Bytes and Trend Micro Titanium 2012. I have also performed a clean up of the system using CC Cleaner. I have also performed a system tune up with Trend Micro Titanium 2012.

I have searched for various solutions predominantly the MS website – knowledge base, solutions etc. One solution I found was to do a clean boot.

When I typed in misconfi.exe & misconfig – no such file was found. Is this the source of my problem and how do I fix it?

The program is MSConfig or the MS Configuration tool. You can see what’s slowing the machine down there.

Website Tech Republic has a detailed description on how to use the MS Config tool in Windows 7. It’s worthwhile looking at the non-Microsoft programs starting up with the system and working from there.

The fwcore.sys driver is part of the eAcceleration StopWall firewall product which is a program we wouldn’t recommend.

Removing it could be a problem. If you can, start the computer in Safe Mode and follow our instructions for removing a program to uninstall anything associated with eAcceleration.

If you are able to uninstall it, we’d also recommend running a check to remove any viruses or trojan horses.

Should you be unable to run the system in Safe Mode, you could try to use Window’s Last Known Good Configuration feature then remove the eAcceleration program.

Failing that, you may need to call your local IT support company who should be able to disable fwcore or restore the system to an earlier date.

If you are running the 32 bit version of Windows7 then it should be no problem as IBM’s Support Site describes in their post Information about SmartSuite and Organizer working on Microsoft Windows 7

When you insert the Smart Suite disk, you may have to run setup.exe directly from the disk rather than run the installation program automatically.

To do this, open the CD in My Computer and find the setup.exe file and double click on it.

You may find some of the Smart Suite functions won’t work, but most of the program’s features should be fine.

Computer doesn’t load Yahoo Mail with graphics or hotmail with graphics(u know pretty butterfly etc) and on Facebook some of my friends pictures cannot be seen only the tiny red cross icon.

Also now pages of games I play won’t load. I have been using Trendmicro and yesterday did a Malwarebytes scan which initially seemes to improve, but today things are worse.

I tried using IE ( this is the worst) and Firefox  to see if that made a difference. Very frustrating.

This sounds like your system’s preferred program for showing images has changed. To fix this, you’ll need to select the right program as we describe in our Wrong Program Opens My Pictures post.

It could also be that your hard drive is full and Windows can’t store the images in the cache. You can free up disk space by following our Cleaning Up Your Computer instructions.

The screensaver times are controlled by the display feature settings in Windows. Go to the Control Panel, select Display and you can change the time out settings there.

On some laptops there may be differing power schemes depending on whether the system is plugged in or running on batteries, these profiles may have to be changed in the Power settings.

If you are using an Apple Mac the screensaver settings are found in the Desktop and Screensaver preferences where you can change the times to suit your needs.

The Intermittent beep is what’s called a POST (Power On Self Test) error. When you turn the computer on it runs through a set of tests before trying to load up the operating system, in your case XP.

Because the computer has found an error before the video system started, it has to use beeps to communicate what the problem is and your motherboard manual should tell you what the POST error codes mean.

Often an error like this is due to something like the RAM modules or one of the expansion cards working itself loose so it’s worthwhile getting the local computer tech to have a look or – if you’re confident – pop the box yourself and make sure all the cards are firmly seated in their sockets. Remember to ground yourself first.

It is possible to run most XP programs on Windows 7, a service for this is Windows Virtual PC.

We’re not great fans of the McAfee computer security and anti virus products and for most Windows users there’s plenty of free options. We recommend you don’t upgrade and instead replace it with one of the free online security problems.

First, you’ll need to download the McAfee Removal tool and the free antivirus you want to replace it with. Generally Microsoft Security Essentials is the easiest of the options. We look at them at our Which Free Antivirus is Best post.

Then, once you’ve downloaded the removal tool and the replacement anti virus, disconnect from the Internet and uninstall the McAfee products by going to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalling all the listed McAfee products.

Once you’ve uninstalled the programs (you may have to reboot a few times), run the McAfee Removal Tool you downloaded earlier.

Having run the removal tool, and possibly been asked to reboot again, you can then install the new antivirus by running the program you downloaded earlier.

Reconnect to the Internet and let the anti virus progam update and scan your computer before surfing the net and downloading email.

Without McAfee on your system, you should find it running far quicker and more reliably.

Updating your computer, whether you have a Windows or Mac computer, is very important as new security bugs are found all the time. Unfortunately Microsoft’s automatic update function can be intrusive.

It isn’t a good idea to totally disable the Windows Update service as those updates and patches are important, but you can change the settings so they are downloaded but not installed until you choose to do so.

Microsoft’s Knowledge Base describes how to change the Windows Update Settings, we recommend the download updates but let me choose when to install themoption.

One of the delights of having a decent junk mail filter is you never see the dozens of pointless emails that arrive in your inbox each day. So when an update damages your spam filter it’s a real irritation.

The repair for this is actually quite straightforward, go to the Control Panel and select Programs in Windows 7 or Vista or Add/Remove Programs in Windows XP , click on Live Mail Essentials 2011 and select Uninstall/Change.

In the wizard that then starts select Repair all Windows Live Essentials Programs, the repair may take some hours and require a working Internet connection.

Once it’s finished, you’ll be asked to reboot the computer and the problem should be fixed after the restart.

The process for importing contacts from any email or contact management program into an iPad, iPhone or iPod is a three step process.

First, export the  contacts from the older program into a Comma Separated Values file, in Thunderbird click Tools, Export and choose to save the exported file into a location you’ll remember. Make sure to choose the File Type as Comma Separated Value (CSV)

Then, open iTunes and select Info. In Windows tick Sync Contacts and choose Windows Address Book. On Apple systems choose Info and tick Sync Contacts.

For Apple Systems, open the Address Book application and select File, then Import and import the CSV file.

On Windows Systems open the Windows Address Book by clicking Start then Run and typing either wab (Windows XP and earlier) or clicking the Windows Orb and typing Address Book into the find box.

Once in the Windows Address Book, click File, then Import and select Other Address Book, then choose Text file (Comma Separated Values) and import the CSV file you previously saved.

Having imported the contacts, synch the iPad, iPhone or iPad and the contacts should be imported.

The iPad forums and Apple’s support website have more detailed information on how to transfer data between the applications and devices.