IT Queries: Computer problems answered

My pc seems to be getting slower what ways are there to speed it up before I decide to go out and buy more speed for it?

I assume you mean getting more memory when you say “buy more speed for it”. In my view, adding memory is always a good idea to give a sluggish computer a boost.

In this case though we’d recommend you give your computer a clean up just to see if that will give it a speed boost. First, try uninstalling any unnecessary programs. Only remove programs you know and don’t use: If you don’t know what it does, leave it alone.

The next step is to make sure your system is clean with a spyware check.

Once you are sure the system is clear of nasties, run a clean up tool to flush out accumulated junk. We recommend CCleaner or Cleanup! Make sure you backup important data files first.

With all of that done, it can be worthwhile checking your disk for minor errors. The Chkdsk tool built into Windows is as good as any.

If you find all of this hasn’t improved speed then you should speak to your local computer tech about the upgrading options.

Hard drives are complex and precision engineered pieces of equipment and saving files on them is a complex business. Sometimes the computer can forget forget exactly where it has saved files.

When this happens, computers slow down as the system has to search for files when it needs them.

To overcome this problem in Windows computers, you can run the Check Disk command. Click Start, Run and type Chkdsk c: /r in the box. On Windows Vista machines click Find and do likewise.

The c: refers to the main disk drive. If you have more drives you can insert d:, e: or whatever. Note this won’t work with CD and DVD drives but it will with external and flash drives.

A black box will appear and if you’ve chosen the C: drive or any other drive that’s in use, it tell you the drive is locked and do you want to run chkdsk the next time you start the computer. Type Y (for yes) and press the enter key.

If the drive is in use as a network or data drive, you may be asked if you want to dismount the drive. Press N (for no) and then Y for the next question.

When you restart the computer a blue screen will appear telling you a disk check has been scheduled and press any key to cancel. Leave the computer alone and let it run.

Be warned this process might take several hours. Once the process starts, you cannot cancel the operation and the computer must not be restarted.

If Chkdsk detects bad blocks on the hard drive, then you should contact your computer expert immediately as your hard drive is probably beginning to fail.

I installed a digital image editing program (PhotoPlus 11), and now everytime I want to open anything from My Pictures, it opens in this program.  I think I may have made the program the default manager for  all the  image file types I thought I might be likely to use (via the installation wizard on the CD).  I would rather have Windows Picture Manager as the default for viewing my pictures, but I can’t find it as a program on my computer.   Where do I go to change it back?  I have Windows XP SP2 Home Version.

To get the association back on image files, right click one of your images. Click the Open With option and select Choose Program.

In the choose program dialog box select Microsoft Office Picture Manager and tick the box below that reads Always use the selected program to open this type of file.

Click okay and this will fix the problem. Keep in mind you’ll have to do this with each type of image file (eg; jpg, gif, etc.).

“Everytime I open my computer before I log in there is error message “a duplicate name exist on the network”. I already change the computer name on the properties then change computer name. then when I re-start my Computer nothing happen. still the error appears before I log in.

You should check you are actually changing the name. Open the Control Panel by clicking Start, Settings, Control Panel and then click System.

In the System properties click the Computer Name tab. This is where you may be being misled as the “Computer Description” box is different to the computer’s name. The actual name is below under the “Full Computer Name” heading.

To change this, click the “Change” button. Choose a name different to all the other computers on the network and put this in the Computer name box. Keep clicking okay until the computer says it needs to restart and let the computer reboot.

This should clear the problem. If it doesn’t click Start, Run and type ipconfig /flushdns. This should wipe the computer’s memory of other addresses and should get rid of the message on restart.

I have a file called “thumbs.db” on my desktop. I’ve deleted it a number of times but it keeps reappearing. Do I have a virus?

Thumbs.db is a system file. It tracks the thumbnail views of the files on your desktop. Thumbnails are the little previews of your files Windows sometimes shows depending on the folder view.

The file itself is harmless and if you delete it Windows will recreate it next time you restart. So deleting thumbs.db is really quite pointless.

Other system files though are not so happy if you delete them. Erasing a critical file can mean an expensive repair bill, so we generally like to hide them.

To hide them from daily view, open My Computer and click the Tools toolbar, then select the Folder Options.

In the Folder Options screen, select the View tab and tick the buttons next to “Do not show hidden files or folders” and “Hide protected operating system files”.

Click okay and you won’t see thumbs.db or any other important file again

How do I empty my Recycle Bin?

It’s a good idea to empty the bin on a regular basis as it can clog up your machine.

To do this, right-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop. Then click “Empty Recycle Bin” and this will empty the bin.

Be warned, if any important files were in the bin it may be difficult and expensive to recover them after emptying it.

O.S. is XP SP2. I have a problem with Java(TM)6 update 3. When I go to some sites, I cant get in as it tells me I need to install plug ins,I download Java then it tells me my pc alrady has Java installed, I click yes to reinstall,error message internal error 2753 comes up, then fatal error during installation. Have tried to uninstall Java through add/remove programs, but get the same error message internal error 2753.

When i go to start,run,control, there is no Java showing there at all. Windows installer has started turning itself off, so I go to start,control panel, Administrative tools,services,make sure windows installer is on auto and right click on it then start. I am sorry I cannot explain it any better, hope you will understand,thank you.

Hi Desperate Nana,

The problem is with your Windows Installer function. To fix it, download and install the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.

When you run it, it will refer to Microsoft Office. Don’t worry about this.

Once its finished, reboot and the problem should be clear.

 I have a friend that update Norton 360 and now cannot access his wireless network. He can from a wired LAN NIC. I turned off the Norton 360 firewall and the Windows firewall and it could still not access the wireless network.

Has anyone seen this?

It sounds like the incorrect software’s being used for accessing the wireless network. Some wireless adapters require you use their software rather than the built in Windows wireless configuration tool.

To switch to the other software, open the Network Connections, click on the wireless connection’s properties and in the Wireless Networks tab take the tick off “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings”.

After rebooting you should find the wireless software has changed to the manufacturers. It may be necessary to download and upgrade the latest software for that model adapter.

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.