IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I had the same error as described in this earlier question on my HP PC. I have tried the steps you showed above, but I got an error from RegSvr32: “The module “c:\windows\system32\mscomct2.ocx” failed to load. I have looked into the c:\windows\system32 folder and couldn’t find the mscomct2.ocx. 

If the entire control is missing, you’ll have to reinstall the files. To do this, visit the Microsoft website and dowload the Microsoft Windows Common Controls-2 6.0 package.

Once you’ve downloaded the cab file, you’ll need to open it by double clicking it and copy the contents into the c:/windows/system32 folder.

Once you’ve copied them into your system folder you’ll be able to register them as we discussed in our previous post.

This can be a complex problem to fix and if you are still having problems, you may need to call a computer tech.

When I open my computer I get a message box stating “run time error “339′: component ‘MSCOMCT2.OCX’ or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid”

Can you please advise on how I can fix this problem.  The computewr is a Acer laptop and is running on Vista Home Premium with an update.

The problem is part of a program hasn’t been properly registered by Windows Vista. It’s a simple task to fix it.

Click the Start button and in the Vista Search Box type run. A list will appear and at the top you will see a program called Run. Click the Run program.

A Run box will appear, type in the box the following line.

regsvr32 /u c:\windows\system32\mscomct2.ocx 

Then select OK.

You will see a message box saying the unregistered succeeded and you’ll need to select OK.
Repeat clicking the Start button and opening the Run program.

This time type regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\mscomct2.ocx and select OK.

You will see a message box saying DllRegisterServer in C:\windows\system32\mscomct2.ocx succeeded select the OK button.

This should fix the problem, if you get a message that mscomt2.ocx is missing or not installed then you’ll have to reinstall it as we describe in another question.

Fixing this problem can be fiddly and difficult, so you might want to call a computer tech if you are encountering problems.

Hi, My pc has the following:

Norton Internet Security 2008
Spyware Doctor 6.0.0.386
ThreatFire 4.0.0.8
SpywareBlaster 4.1
MalwareBytes’ Anti-Malware

My question is: is KIS 2009 compatible with ThreatFire 4.0.0.8 as I want to continue with ThreatFire as it is a very good program?

I intend to keep Spyware Doctor.

It sounds like you are very much on the ball when it comes to protecting your system against malware and certainly your choices of sofware make sense.

However I’m concerned your system’s going to struggle with both Kaspersky and Threatfire on your system. Generally it’s not a good idea to be running two scanners at the same time.

While I’m not familiar with Threatfire, it’s likely it will cause problems with Kasperski or any other anti virus simply because Threatfire will identify the anti virus program as acting suspiciously.

It’s good practice not to have more than one malware scanner running at once and I think it would be best to leave one or the other’s automatic protection off and manually run a scan every few days or weeks.

Malwarebytes and Spyware Blaster are good programs as well and it won’t hurt to reguarly run a manual scan using those programs as well.

If you are really concerned about malware then it may be better to be a Limited User for your day-to-day computing. This will stop most nasties getting on to your machine.

This 89 yr old must be a slow learner. My Vista home prem has picked up “about:blank”.  Please point me to a  s i m p l e  way to delete. 

The about:blank page is the opening page for Internet Explorer when there’s no start page set.

Usually this is easily fixed by opening Internet Explorer, clicking Tools, Internet Options and select the General tab.

Once you are in the General settings, you can type the page you’d like to start with in home page box or click the Use Default button.

If Internet explorer keeps going back to the about:blank page then you probably have a spyware infection and you should follow our Removing a Trojan instructions.

We have MS Windows XP Pro Version 2002 Service Pack 2, 80gb Hard Drive, 512mg Memory. We keep getting the MS pop-up `Virtual Memory low`. What does this mean and what can we do about it? Please help.

Hi, we’ve previously covered the problem. It’s best when you set the maximum memory to put it at the maximum 4000Mb.

I have been receiving unsolicited large (240Mb)downloads, and only found out about them by looking at my bigpond usage monitor. I would like to find out where they come from, but BigPond cannot or will not identify the source. I run XP ver 2, two year old computer, have a Bigpond wireless USB (blue) modem, do not have a LAN, and I am the only one who uses the computer. Is there a utility which will identify the source of the downloads?

There are utilities that will do that for you, but the information you get is difficult to understand unless you really understand the Internet (which is why Bigpond support can’t help you).

It’s probably easier to kill off whatever is downloading the excess data. In your case it’s probably Windows or another program automatically trying to update itself and there’s a number of things you can do to turn these programs off.

I’ll cover the specifics of turning off the automatic downloads in Windows Update, Real Player and Apple QuickTime and iTunes in the next posts, in the meantime you may want to check you don’t have any spyware on your computer just to be safe.

When i switch my computer on all I get is a message saying user interface failure rtlgina.dll i have tried the restart and pressing F8 to no avail and I can not find my recover backup disc. Have you any answers or solutions to this problem?

This problem is caused by poorly designed for Netgear and Linksys wireles network cards. The setup program has replaced the Windows msgina.dll with its own rtlgina.dll.

To fix this, on another computer download Doug Knox’s XP Fix Logon script and save it to a CD, thumb drive or floppy disk.

On the damaged computer, start the computer in Safe Mode and run the script.

If you can’t start in Safe Mode then you’ll need to call a computer tech to help you fix the problem, luckily you won’t need the installation disks and a comptent technician won’t lose any data.

My computer crashed (ouch!) so I reloaded XP then while replacing my desktop settings must have clicked on some elusive weird button and now I only have a black screen with icons.  

If I right click to try and restore the settings I can’t see anything because it’s all black but I know the screen has changed because the icons have.

What did I do and can I undo it.  I have reloaded XP in the hope that it will restore the default settings but it comes up the same. Thank you so much. Kind regards, Alanna

The problem, Alanna, seems to be the color scheme you’ve chosen. It sounds like you have to reset your desktop to the default Windows XP scheme.

To do this, click Start, Settings, Control Panel. In the Control Panel choose Appearence and Themes and then Change the Computer’s theme.

In the Themes tabs, click on the drop down box and choose the Windows XP option. Click OK and that should clear the problem.

I have XP and heard to wait before I install Microsoft Service Pack 3…  Do I need to be wary of it?

No, we recommend you should install it as we suggested in a previous post.