IT Queries: Computer problems answered

When I start my computer a warning appears saying “update manager an error occurred”. It’s something to do with Installshield but I can’t get rid of it”

You’ll need to remove Installshield with the Remove Programs functions on the computer. To do this, follow our instructions on Adding and Removing software.

In many situations it doesn’t appear in the Add/Remove programs box and you’ll need to go into your drive and uninstall it manually by running unwise.exe from the file C:\WINDOWS\IsUninst.

To do this, click the Vista Start Button and in the search box at the bottom of the menu that appears type in C:\WINDOWS\IsUninst. This will open the folder for the Installshield remover.

Then double click the Unwise.exe program and the removal of Installshield will begin.

With Windows 7 and Vista system you may get the User Access Control messages warning you that this might be unsafe and asking if you want to go ahead with it. The answer is you do and you should click Yes to continue with the uninstall.

When complete, restart your computer and the problem will be gone.

I am operating on Windows XP.

Whilst installing the latest version of AVG Free and after re-booting a dialog box appeared with the following message:- ‘The software you are installing for this hardware Non-Plug and Play Drivers has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatability with Windows XP”.

It recommends not continuing,which I did.

What does it all mean ? should I have carried on or not.

The Windows Logo testing refers to Microsoft’s program of certifying that devices and software is compatible with the current version of Windows. The aim is to let consumers know what products are guaranteed to work on their computers.

While the program is a good idea, it involves quite a bit of cost for vendors and Microsoft so not all equipment is certified. Also older products won’t be certified for newer Windows versions and manufacturers rarely bother certifying new products for the older versions of Windows.

So generally you can ignore the warnings and proceed with the installation, just note that running uncertified products on your system might increase the chances of the computer being slowed down or becoming unstable.

How do I safely download a printer driver for Vista for an older printer without having my computer scanned. I do not trust the “let me scan your computer” scam.

You’re right in not trusting services that ask to “scan your computer” before allowing you to download software. Most of them are a scam and you should avoid them.

One of the barriers to using a Windows Vista system was that many manufacturers dropped support for even comparatively recent hardware like printers and scanners, which meant many people reverted to Windows XP when they found their often recently purchased hardware wouldn’t work.

A way around this is to run your printer in “Emulation Mode”. Printer emulation is where the computer pretends the printer is a different, usually older, model.

Running a printer in emulation usually means you’ll lose some features that the older printer doesn’t support and if you’re running a multifunction device with a scanner and fax built in, you will probably find those aspects don’t work on the computer.

Microsoft have a detailed description of how to set a system up in emulation mode at their website. While these instructions are aimed at Windows XP 64 bit users, the instructions largely hold for Windows Vista and 7 systems.

Some printers, particularly the multifunction systems, don’t have an emulation mode and will only work on the systems they have software for so you may have to search the manufacturer’s website for the right drivers.

In many cases the printer manufacturers never released Windows Vista software, this was disgraceful behaviour by printer manufacturers and if you find this is the case with your printer, you may want to consider a different brand for your next device.

How can I use system restore option. It is in “off” mode in my computer?

On your computer click the Start button, usually found in the bottom left corner then right-click My Computer, and  click Properties.

The System Properties box will open, then click the System Restore tab.

Either take the tick off the Turn off System Restore check box or click the Turn off System Restore on all drives box to turn it back on. Click the OK button and system restore will be back when you restart the computer.

If you haven’t turned system restore off, you should also check your computer for viruses as a common trick for malware is to turn of Windows’ System Restore function.

When I start my computer a message appears saying “ntldr is missing. Press any key to restart”. The machine won’t do anything else.

NTLDR is the key file that Windows needs to load when it starts, if the computer can’t find this then it will sit there waiting for it.

The most common cause of this problem is that a removable drive such as a USB drive or a DVD disk is confusing the system on where it should look for NTLDR. So the first step is to disconnect any USB device and remove any CD or DVD disks.

If the problem still happens on restart, then there is a problem either with the Windows installation or the hard drive. The website Computer Hope has some suggestions of the specific problems and fixes but all of them require some computer knowledge and are best done by a technician.

I use windows XP and have used Incredimail for years without problem, since upgrading to Incredimail 2 as suggested in October, the computer continually closes down with a message the system has recovered from a serious error.

I again upgraded and am still having the same problem The error signature is BC Code14, BCP1 00000003, BCP2 859D9020, BCP3 859D9194, BCP4 8060577E, OS Ver 5_1_2600, SP3_0, Product 768_1 Can you advise me what the problem is please and how do I fix it.

Thanks Denise

Denise, it sounds like the problem isn’t related to Incredimail, it’s more likely to be a hardware problem, possibly a hard drive problem, a memory defect or simply some dust causing the system to overheat.

You can check some of these things yourself by following our instructions in the “System Has Recovered From A Serious Error Message” post, however it’s very likely you’ll need to take your system to a computer technician for a check up.

An anti-virus program called Smart Engine has been installed on my pc

I have sent 3 e-mails to them find how to remove it – the 3rd answer gave a link to an uninstall file however Windows Defender says the file is infectected with the Win32/FileVimes trojan & will not allow me to download the full file – smart Engine advised me to turn off Windows Defender to allow the uninstall file to be installed – this does not sound like a good idea to me

Can you please give me any advise on how to remove this program?

It’s not worth calling Smart Engine an anti-virus. It’s actually a scam that claims you’re infected with all manner of viruses and asks you to pay them to remove the non-existent malware. If anything, it’s more likely to be adding viruses than removing them.

The best way to deal with this program is to download Malware Bytes and follow the instructions in our Removing a Trojan post. This will clean it off.

Before doing it, it’s worthwhile backing up important data just in case something serious goes wrong.

I am using windows 7.  Everytime I open a file that has winrar file in it I get this error message “COM surrogate has stopped working” I have searched Microsoft and the web and have not found a solution to the problem. I have just updated to the lastest winrar, but this didn’t fix the problem. I don’t know what else to do.

I did read to in file options to turn on always show icons,never thumbnails, but because i am into photography this does not suit me. I also tried turning off the com surrogate, but that did not work either. Unlike most people I only have the problem when using winrar.

The “COM surrogate has stopped working error” is related to the way Windows shows files, particularly images and movies.

If a program wants to preview files when you look at them isn’t compatible with your version of Windows then it will cause this crash.

You can change the Windows7 settings by opening the Default Programs applet by following Microsoft’s Change which programs Windows uses by default instructions and setting program access and computer defaults back to the original Microsoft settings.

If it is WinRAR causing the problem, the first step is to completely remove it by going into “Programs and Features” and running the Add/Remove Programs function.

Once you’ve uninstalled the program, restart the system and check the COM surrogate problem has gone away. If it hasn’t you need to start considering what other programs are causing the error, these can include Nero and Adobe products along with any video and picture viewer programs.

When you identify which program is causing the problem you need to then consider whether you should continue using that application. If you choose to use it, then make sure you have the latest, Windows 7 compatible version of the program.

During the installation you should be asked if you want to run a custom install. Select that option and in the associated files list that appears only select archive files such as ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z. Take the ticks off other options such as cab and db.

This should clear the problem. If the error reappears after reinstalling the program, you’ll need to contact the software developer.

I use an 8GB Lexar USB drive to transfer downloaded shows from my Mac Mini to my HDD.

The problem is that when the USB is inserted in the computer and I delete some or all items from it, the info shows that the number of bytes available does not alter and I am unable to add any items.

I have deleted all the downloads from the USB, so it should be blank, but it does not acknowledge this and reports that “the item cannot be copied because their is not enough free space”. I have just copied an item of 366.6MB and the Info says there is 25.5MB available, and 7.98GB used in disk. It is the only item on the disc.

Are you able to tell me how to clear the previous content from the USB?

You should be able to clear this by emptying the Trash Bin on a Mac or the Recycle Bin on a Windows System.

On a Windows computer, right click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and select Empty Recycle Bin. It should then clear all your deleted files off all drives.

It’s a similar process for the Mac, either right click on the Taskbar’s Trash Bin icon and select Empty Trash or click on the desktop, then select the Finder menu and click Empty Trash.

If neither of those work, then you may have to follow our reformatting a USB drive instructions.

Somehow I downloaded a program called Playitall. It started to take over my computer, first by, when starting media player, pop ups occured asking for Playitall instead. I searched out this program within the computer and found it in program files and in documents and settings.

I went to add and remove and removed the program and then searched out any other programs with the same name in Explorer. Entrees that I found I deleted. I then went to the Registry and did the same.
I restarted the computer and was unable to start any programs.

All the Icons on the desktop were labled with .lnk. I did a sfc and that did not work. After all my efforts to restore .exe files, I installed my XP disk and did a total repair of the operating system (not Format). After this I downloaded all updates and service packs. Once completed< Playitall was back. I have researched this on Mcaffe, Norton,and AVG and also google and not come up with any answers. the research I have found is there are other people out there with the same problem but no answers.

The problem is PlayItAll is a poorly designed program that damages your critical file associations which means Windows doesn’t know what to open programs with.

To fix it, you’ll have to download a couple of the File Association fixes from Doug Knox’s excellent site. Specifically the ZIP Folder Association Fix, REG File Association Fix,EXE File Association Fix and the LNK (Shortcut) File Association Fix. Save all of these to a folder you can access easily.

Uninstall PlayItAll and follow Doug’s instructions on running the two fixes from the Command Line as they won’t work without the file associations.

You can then fix the problem by running first the Zip folder which will mean you can unzip the other three fixes.

Once you’ve unzipped the REG, EXE and LNK fixes, click CTR-ALT-DEL and choose File and New Task the type regedit into the box.

In the registry editor, choose File and import then select the REG fix that you unzipped earlier. Import the file and click Exit.

Once you’ve exited the Registry Editor you should be able to just click the EXE and LNK files for them to be automatically run, if not re-open REGEDIT and import them the same way as you did for the REG fix.

When finished, exit registry editor and reboot your computer. You may find some of the other file associations may need to be fixed as well. In the worst case, some programs may have to be reinstalled.

We’ve covered a similar problem in our Cannot Open Programs post.