IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I’m using a 150Gb external hard drive to backup my data. The software, Retrospect Express, keeps telling me there isn’t enough space on the hard drive.

When I check the drive there’s 100Gb of space available. I’ve reinstalled the software but the problem keeps happening.

Almost certainly the problem is how the hard drive has been formatted. Most external drives come with the FAT32 system format. This limits file sizes to 4Gb. Your backup file has gone over that limit.

When Microsoft starting using the FAT32 system in 1995 it was rare to find a 4Gb hard drive, let alone a single file that big. Today that system struggles; particularly when faced with backup files that easily go over the 4Gb limit.

Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS support the older file system but Windows systems today use the NTFS file system that supports bigger files and has better security features.

You need to convert your hard drive to NTFS by running the convert.exe program which is included in Windows XP. Microsoft have instructions on using it at their website.

When using it, make sure you do not turn the drive or computer off while it’s converting. Usually the program will take around 20 minutes to convert a 100Gb hard drive.

Once it’s converted, restart both the computer and drive. You may have to also rerun your backup program’s setup routine.

Why would the computer not let you play  solitaire on it?  It just flickers on and off and says something is not responding?

Contrary to popular belief  Solitaire isn’t just a time waster. For techs, it’s a quick and easy way to test your graphics hardware is behaving itself.

In your case it could be the graphics card is misbehaving and if that is the case you’ll need to take it to your local computer store to get it checked.

It is possible this is caused by a virus or defective software. Before lugging it down to the store you should give the computer a clean up and check for viruses.

If you have the Windows disk, you should also check there aren’t any damaged files in the system by running the System File Checker tool. This will repair any problems with the Windows files including the solitaire program.

I am regularly getting this message “Windows – Virtual Memory Minimum Too Low
Your system is low on virtual memory.  Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file.  During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see Help.”

I don’t find “Help” very helpful and would like to know what is virtual memory and what I need to do to remedy this situation?

Sadly the help files aren’t much assistance for problems like these.

All computers use memory to store what you are using on the computer. When you’re finished using a document or web page or whatever you can save it to the hard drive or just shut it down and lose it.

The built in memory is known as RAM or physical memory and they are computer chips that plug into the main board of your computer. This is what the system uses most of the time.

If the computer finds it’s running out of physical memory it falls back on virtual memory which is a file on the hard drive. This is saves the machine from simply crashing when it runs out of physical memory.

In your case Windows has for some reason set the virtual memory level too low. To fix this, click Start, Settings, Control Panel and select the System icon.

In the System applet, choose Advanced and click the Settings button in the Performance section of the screen.

The click the Advanced tab and Change under the Virtual Memory section. Set the initial size under the Custom heading to at least 500Mb and the maximum to 4000 which is the highest Windows XP and earlier can go. Click Set and then keep clicking okay until you get back to the desktop where you’ll be asked to reboot the computer.

Cannot access any web page even though modem is dialed up properly. Typical page not available message.

Running Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP sp2 on Dell 2400.  I use dial up with Eartlink.  Access internet modem connects up properly — hear dialing and handshake and then message pops up that it is connected and I can see a IP address(I have even checked this by using a brand new USB modem and get the same result, so it is not modem). I have tried Earthlink and Dell help lines with no success.  I reloaded Internet Explorer 7 with no effect.   Am unable to use recover utility.  Anyone out there have any ideas?

The first thing to do is uninstall any firewall programs. Before going on the net, make sure your dial up connection has the Windows Firewall enabled so you don’t get any worms wriggling their way onto your system.

If you still have the problem, then try repairing your TCP/IP stack by clicking start then run and typing CMD in the box.

You’ll find yourself at the DOS prompt and there you should type the following command.

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Press enter and this will reinstall the basic TCP/IP stack.

One thing to note with this problem is that it can be spyware related so it is essential you check your computer for spyware and viruses.

You may also have to completely remove Internet Explorer 7 and then reinstall it. This may be an opportunity to check out alternatives like Firefox, Opera or Safari.

 I file a lot of my emails using Folders and sub-folders. When I file something all the sub-folders open up. Is there any way of stopping this?

This is called auto expanding and it irritates a lot of people. To disable it click Start then Run and type Control Panel. In the Control Panel double click on Folder Options.

Select the View tab and in the Advanced Settings box take the tick off Display Simple folder view in Explorers folder list and click OK.

Every time we update our Windows XP Professional 2002 Service pack 3 programme, it causes our computer to cut out the top tool bar when we access Explorer. We are both novices at IT, so have no idea regarding rectifying this problem, other than using System Restore and going back a couple of days before the update. Why is this so ?

It sounds like the position of the screen changes. Press the Alt key and the space key (Alt-Space) together and you’ll get the dialogue box that include Move and Size. Choose Move and you’ll be able to drag thescreen to where you want it.

Is it possible to have the default for all files in my Documents and elsewhere to appear in the list option?  This used to happen but since my computer crashed it now defaults to icons and I find them hard to rcognise.  I know that I can chance them BUT I hope that there is a way to set the default.

First get the view you want. Open My Computer, click View and select either List or Details.

Then click Tools, Folder Options and the View tab. Click the Apply to all folders button.

Whenever I click any drive (C: or D: ) to open, it asks me to choose a programme to open the file (drive), is this some virus?

No, the problem is more mundane. You have inf files in the root directory of the drives. Inf files are used to run programs when you open a drive or folder. It’s how CDs run automatically when you put them into your Windows computer.

In your case some of these inf files have found their way onto the C: and D: drives, probably through a mistake while downloading or opening files.

To fix this, simply search your hard drives for any files finishing in .inf and rename them to something like .in0.  Remember you should only rename the files you find in the root directory and not in any subdirectories or you may find programs might stop working.

I am using Vista on my Laptop and now i want to change back to XP.

Please help on to how to install XP on laptops already running vista

The problem isn’t XP or Vista, it’s the type of hard drive you have. Windows XP doesn’t recognize SATA drives. You have to tell it what it is and supply the disk with those drivers on it.

Early in the Windows XP installation routine you’ll be asked to press F6 to add mass storage controller drivers. Unfortunately Windows XP will only do this from floppy disk. This presents two problems.

First, these drivers usually come on CD, you’ll have to copy them to a floppy disk. To figure out which drivers you need, you’ll have to look at the specifications of your computer. It’s probably a good idea to download the latest drivers.

The second problem is many Vista machines don’t include hard drives. You can buy a cheap USB floppy drive for under $50 and use that.

It’s often simpler to use a slipstreamed version of Windows XP which includes all the drivers and up to date service packs for your system.

If this is all to hard, you may want to take the system to your local  computer shop and let them do it for you.

When i turn on my PC an errors appear on the screen, “The system has recovered from a serious error. A log of this error has been created ….”

What is the problem? do I need to reformat my PC? or this is a virus?

It could be a number of things. Something is causing an error when your computer shuts down.
First, you should check your hard drive is free of errors. Be warned that this can take some hours to run. We find it best to leave it overnight.

Once the chkdsk has finished make sure your computer doesn’t have a virus or spyware infection.

Once that is finished, uninstall any programs you don’t use.

Then, clean up your computer.

If the problem is still continuing you’ll need to consider reformatting or calling a tech to investigate further. We’d suggest the latter as it actually could be something benign.

Remember though to backup your data as these sort of messages are often an indication something may be going badly wrong.