IT Queries: Computer problems answered

“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 uninstalled Zone Alarm Free but it appears that some remants are left. I try to use RegEdit to delete Zone Labs
(MiniLog, TrueVector, Zone Alarm) but get a message saying “Cannot delete Zone Labs: Error while deleting key.” I get the same message if I try to individually delete items.
How can I get rid of Zone Labs?

The first thing to check is that  you are logged on as an administrator. To check, right click on the start button and if “Open All Users” is an option, then you are an administrator. If not, log off and back on as an administrator.

Next, check you have removed Zone Alarm using the Add/Remove Programs function. If not then do so, if you have and it appears not to have fully uninstalled, it’s best to reinstall Zone Alarm, reboot and remove it again.

It isn’t unusual to find remnants of registry keys from old programs, some developers don’t do a good job of writing uninstall routines. Generally these won’t hurt the computer and shouldn’t detract from performance.

Should you want to remove these keys then first check all the Zone Alarm files have been deleted from the computer after uninstalling. Once you’ve confirmed this, run a registry cleaner.

WARNING: The following paragraph is for advanced users only. Do not edit the registry unless you have a backup and understand what you are doing.

If the registry keys still remain, you may be able to delete them by booting into safe mode running Regedit, right clicking the errant registry key and selecting Permissions. In the permissions screen, give yourself full control. If it doesn’t you’ll need to click on Advanced, Owner and make yourself the owner of that registry key.

Generally though, we strongly recommend leaving the registry alone unless there is a serious problem that needs to be resolved.

I have recently changed to broadband from a dialup connection and each time I go into Outlook (2007) it tries to connect using my old dialup connection instead of the new broadband connection. I have removed all the links to the dialup connection as far as I can see, but still the problem persists. I am using Vista home premium and Outlook 2007

The problem is in Outlook. It thinks the dial up setting is still there and tries to connect through it.

To fix this, click on the Tools menu and choose email settings. Select your email account and choose view or change existing settings, if you have more than one email account you’ll have to do this for each one.

Once in the the change account screen, click the More Settings button and then the Connections Tab. You’ll find the rogue dial up connection sitting there.

If you are connecting over broadband, then choose the Connect using my local area network.

I am running vista Home Premium and MS Office 2003 and for the last couple of months, I have been unable to open any pps attachments. The logo has changed to that of internet explorer and when I click on it, a internet exlporer page appears with option to open/save/cancel the particular pps file. When I click on open, it flashes back to the original email and then back to the internet explorer page and I could continue doing this all day if i desired.
I have found that I can save the file to desktop and opne the file this way, but there must be a reason that this problem has occurred.

What has happened is your computer is associating powerpoint files with the wrong program, in this case Internet Explorer.

To fix it,  go to the Control Panel and choose Default Programs. In this screen, select “Associate a file type or protocol with a program”.

In there, you will get a list of file extensions. Go down the list and choose the PPT extension and click “Change Program”.

You’ll get the Open With dialog, Powerpoint will be one of the listed programs, choose it and click “Okay”.

Exit out of this screen and it should be working.

Every time I try to install messenger so i can chat on computer by typing it says something is interrupting it from connecting

If you can connect to the Internet through your web browser or email program then it is almost certainly your firewall blocking Messenger.

To fix this, you’ll have to tell your firewall that Messenger is a legitimate program. To do this with the Windows firewall, click on Start, Control Panel, Windows Firewall.

In the Windows Firewall control panel, click the Exceptions tab. If Messenger is listed, tick the box beside it. If it isn’t listed, then click “Add Program” and select it from the list.

If you have a different firewall then you’ll have to go through a similar process. Unfortunately there are dozens of different firewall programs so we don’t have space to go through them here.

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.

Hi, I have a brand new Dell Vostro that is really slow when I’m typing. The letters appear on the screen several seconds after I type. The computer is almost unusable.

The reason for this keyboard lag is the MediaDirect feature Dell have in their Vostro systems. It appears the program loads up your Outlook contact list so the more contacts you have, the slower your computer becomes.

It’s easily turned off by opening MS Config, clicking on the Startup tab and taking the tick off the PCMService item.

Click Okay then restart your computer and the problem will be over.

I have Outlook 2003 which I’ve just installed on my new Vista computer. I’m finding doing anything in Outlook is incredibly slow

The problem is due to the indexing service. Vista automatically includes the Outlook folders in the list of locations the system monitors and this process slows Outlook down dramatically.

To disable it, open Outlook then click Tools, Options, Preferences and Search Options and take off all the ticks in the “index messages in these data files” box.

You can also disable the Indexing Service features by clicking the Start button, Control Panel and System and Maintenance.

Click on Indexing Options and click on the Modify button, and then untick the boxes Outlook folders under the “Change selected locations” box.

You may also want to take the ticks off everything except the Start Menu box as we’ve found that can speed up the computer as well.