IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I am running XP and one of my programs when I try to pen it comes up with the Message 429: ActiveX component can’t create object. Can you tell me how to fix it

ActiveX is part of the Windows Scripting function. Many programs rely on Windows Scripting for basic functions. In your case the program relies it for printing.

Fixing ActiveX can be a nuisance, the first thing to do is download the latest Microsoft Data Access Components. A lot of database type programs require this to work properly. Reboot your computer after installing it.

The next step, should the first one fail, is to install the latest Windows Scripting Host. This will update all the scripting functions and is something we recommend if you’ve had a spyware infection.

We’d also recommend you complain to the software company about their program relying on these function. We’ve found MDAC and the Scripting Host to be somewhat unreliable and they tie the program, and it’s user, too deeply into the Windows operating system.

So if Windows goes wrong, such as with a serious spyware infection, the entire system goes down.

Hi,
when i try to open the clock on the menu bar the message appears:

thank you,

Somebody has been playing with your computer and locked you out of various functions. We often see this with second hand corporate systems where the system admins don’t want people playing with the settings.

To fix it, you are going to log on as an Administrator and change your user log on to being an administrator as well. You may also have to change the Group Policy settings.

None of this is simple and you may have to call in a tech.

Hi,
Im not to bad with computers but latley of got the \”megaclick\” virus were it takes you to the megaclick page whenever you clickany link and claims it doesnt exist(obviously a lie since google does exist)
Ive tried all my virus programs wich are

Greg

Greg, you have a spyware infection. Page hijacking, where the start page is taken over by the bad guys, is a classic trick of these people.

To fix it, follow our Removing a Trojan advice. Before starting, make sure your Spybot Search and Destroy is fully up to date along with the other removal tools.

Why does it take a very long time to run check disk utility in windows vista?. It starts running at startup and runs for more than half an hour displaying an information that it is fixing errors? I have Windows Vista Home Premium in my HP laptop. I forced shutdown after 35 minutes. any harm in that

While Vista can be slow for many tasks, in this case it’s probably not the villain. The CHKDSK program can take a lot of time to scan a large hard drive. It’s not unknown for it to take several hours.

We certainly don’t recommend shutting a computer off while running the disk checker. You might damage critical system files or lose data.

One thing to watch out for though is that a slow disk scan can be an indicator of a defective or damaged hard drive. It’s best to check the Application section of the Event Logs after running the disk checker to see what errors, if any, were found.

I have no sound. If I put a cd in these are the messages I get: “There are no active devices available. To install mixer devices, go to control panel, click printers and other hardware, then add hardware.”

Colleen

The problem is with the sound card settings. The first thing to do is open the Control Panel, click on Sounds and Audio Devices and click on the Audio tab.

In that tab, click the drop down box under Sound Devices and choose your soundcard, click Apply and Okay and restart your computer.

If no soundcard is shown, then there is a problem with the system drivers. If you have the installation disk that came with the computer or sound card, then you should run the setup. A call to the manufacturer might assist you with doing this.

If you can’t run the installation routing, you can check the drivers are running properly. In the Control Panel open the System applet, click on the hardware tab and then the Device Manager button.

The Device Manager will list all the hardware installed on your system. On that list, you should check that nothing has a black exclamation mark or a red diagonal through it.

If the sound device has red diagonal then it has been disabled, right click it and choose Enable.

Should it have a black exclamation mark then Windows is having a problem with the drivers. Right click the driver, choose Update and follow the Hardware Update Wizard.

It may be that the card has failed or has come loose on the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll need to see a tech. We may have a technician near to you that can help.

One of my kids has done a system recovery on the PC. We haven’t done a back up for some time. The last restore point is after the recovery. Is it possible to get info back from the hardrive?

This is one of the reasons we think system recovery disks are evil. It’s a cheap and nasty practice that causes problems like yours and we’d encourage consumers to avoid computers that don’t come with a proper operating system disk.

It is possible your data is still there. It depends on what the recovery disk did. Some will reformat the drive, while others will just overwrite the Windows and other critical folders but leave the data intact. Some give a choice of the two options.

If the drive has been reformatted, then there is little chance you’ll get the data back. However if only the Windows folder has been wiped then it’s quite likely the data is still there, just not visible.

In Windows XP, user data is saved in the C:\Documents and Settings folder and in Vista in the C:\users folder. In that folder you’ll find a number of sub-folders that contain the various user profiles and data.

Windows works hard to avoid overwriting these folders, for instance if Pete creates a new profile and Windows finds there’s already a Pete profile, it will name the new profile pete.000 to protect the data that might be in the pete folder.

To see if any might be the data you’ve lost, right click on the folder open Properties and look at the date the file was created or last modified. If either of these dates are before the recovery disk was run then you’ve probably found the profile.

Inside the profile you’ll find a Desktop, My Documents and other folders which will contain the users data.

It is possible to reset a stray profile so the computer looks the same as it did before the trouble, but this is something you would need to get a tech in to do.

Hi

After working on a document (University paper) for 8 hours that same document was saved without the final changes although it was saved at various stages along the way. All we have is the document opened at the starting point.

Our question is, is there a way to access the document at a point prior to the last save, the save icon was pressed to save the work to C: drive, and also e: Flash drive, but the search with the filter, ‘date modified ‘failed to locate the finished document in either place.

I have Windows XP.

It sounds like the document hasn’t saved to where you think it did. The first thing we’d suggest to search all your drives to see if it isn’t hiding in a different location.

Another possibility is the name is wrong, try searching for all files modified in that time. It might be under a different name or file type.

If you still can’t find it, Microsoft Word (which is what we’ll assume you’re using) saves the file you’re working on as a tmp file. Often, Word doesn’t clean these up so there’s a working copy of your document still on the system.

Often temp files are hidden, so in the Windows search panel choose the More Advanced Options heading and tick the Search hidden files and folders option and repeat your search on all files modified during that time.

Unfortunately in this case it does sound like you’ve done everything right. So if you can’t find it there might be a problem with your computer and we’d recommend getting a tech out to check it.

Hi,

Can you please tell me to name of the programme that you can buy/download that is used to return digital dictation that you have accidently deleted from your computer.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Losing any file is a serious pain. The best free tool we’ve come across is Restoration.

When you’ve lost a file, the most important thing is to stop using that computer. The more you use the computer, the more likely you are to overwrite the deleted file.

We recommend you download the program to another computer, then copy the program to a USB drive or CD (Restoration will actually fit on a floppy disk which you can use if you have spare disks and both machines have floppy drives).

When you run it, choose the drive (usually c: drive) where the file was lost from, type part of the lost file’s name (leave blank if you don’t remember what it was called) and click Search Deleted Files.

The search might take some time, several hours if you’ve left the file name blank and it’s a big drive. Be patient and let it run.

Once its finished and the list of found files appears, highlight the file you want and click the Restore by copying button. You’ll be asked to save the file somewhere, make sure you choose a place and name you’ll remember.

Losing data is always a big worry and this is why we always recommend having a backup drive and good backup software.

I’m using Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1. The system is often very slow changing from one page to another, especially on Ebay.

I can select a favourite search in MyEbay and the new page sits there blank white with an hourglass and no activity on the data in & out meter. Hit refresh and it comes up immediately for a second and then goes blank again. This has lost us a few good buys on Ebay cause it wouldn’t go to the next page quickly.

Progressively getting worse, used to be perfect. Now on 1500k/sec connection.

Ta Geoff

Hi Geoff, we assume you are using Internet Explorer. It’s possible the phishing filter is interfering with the site. We’ve discussed this previously where it’s caused problems and we’d suggest turning it off.

You may want to check you aren’t infected with spyware. One favourite trick of spyware writers is to redirect web browsers so it looks like they are coming from somewhere else and this is exactly the sort of problem they can create. Try the XCleaner online scan tool.

Other things that could be causing it are toolbars with various phishing and malware filters. The Google and Yahoo! toolbars are quite capable of this. You can either uninstall them or disable them.

I don’t seem to have any temporary internet files. When I go into disc cleanup no files are shown. I used to have many folders with these files in them.

I have windows XP.

Regards Caryl

Hi Caryl,

Given your web browser is working you almost certainly will have some temporary Internet files. It may be that you’re not using Internet Explorer, programs like Firefox, Opera and Safari save their temporary files to another location.

If you are using IE, then it might be that someone has set it to delete temporary files when you close it.

You can check all of this by going into the Internet Explorer and clicking Tools, options and Advanced. The setting to clear temporary files is under the Security heading.