IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Recently I have heard a lot about running software to repair the hundreds of faults that you have on your computer that occur in your registry, I`m new to all this computer stuff so just wandering where do I get the software to repair my registry or do I really need to repair it at all?

The registry is the core of Windows operating systems. It’s where all the system settings are kept. If the registry gets damaged, then your system is in trouble.

A lot of registry cleaner programs are snake oil. We’d strongly recommend saving your money.

It’s best for none technical users to avoid doing anything with the registry. This engine of your computer and it’s best to leave it alone unless you know what you are doing.

If you insist on cleaning the registry, CleanReg is a good free program and Microsoft have a registry repair tool called RegClean. Neither these are tested with Microsoft Vista and we’d strongly suggest not using them on Vista systems.

On the subject of snake oil, if you are getting boxes popping up on your system claiming you have registry errors, then it is possible you have a spyware infection. If this is the case, run a scan and contact your local computer tech.

Overall we recommend leaving the registry to qualified computer techs.

I have some emails that I saved and now want to read but when I click on them the wrong program opens and all I see is gobbledygook. How do I get my email program to open them?

What’s happened is your computer is associating the wrong program with the files. When Windows tries to open a file, it looks for three letters at the end of the file which are known the file extension.

Windows keeps a list of programs that open with each file extension. For instance, Microsoft Word documents open with doc while Notepad opens files with the txt extension.

For Outlook, the message are saved with an .msg extension, Outlook Express uses .eml

On your computer, the wrong program is associated with one of those file extensions. To change it do the following.

Right-click on one of the files that won’t open, a menu will appear and select “Open With“. Select “choose program” then find the program you want to use for this type of file, tick the box that says “always use this program to open files of this kind of file” and click “Okay”.

If the program isn’t listed, you’ll have to click “browse” and search the hard drive for the program you want. Most programs are kept in the c:\Program Files folder.

Losing file associations is a nuisance and this is why it’s important to read all messages and notes when installing new software or making changes to your computer.

My outlook express will not open hypertext links.I have to copy and paste the links  to the address bar to view the linked page.

First you need to check that this is just Outlook Express, you might want to check that links work from other programs. If it is all other programs then it could be an errant firewall, security or pop-up blocking program at work.

If it is only affecting Outlook Express then it sounds like a problem with Internet Explorer. IE controls many of the functions in Outlook Express so the first possible fix is to open the Internet Explorer options, click “Advanced” and click the “Restore Defaults” button.

If that doesn’t work, then we’d recommend reinstalling your web browser. Click Start, Run and type “sfc /scannow“. You may be asked for a Windows disk.

Generally we recommend using an alternative to Internet Explorer for general web surfing. Our favorites are Firefox and Opera.

As a matter of course we’d also recommend checking for spyware and viruses. If the problem continues you should call your local computer guy to have a look at it.

I use MSN Mail and I’m worried about backing up my email files

Your MSN Mail is hidden away deep in the program settings. To find it, click on start and then either run (Windows XP) or Search (Windows Vista) and type the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\

You’ll get a list of users on the computer. One of those will be your profile name. If you aren’t sure which one it is then note all of them.

Again, click run or search and type. “your_user_name” will be what you found in the previous step. If you aren’t sure which one it was, use each one until it works.

C:\Documents and Settings\your_user_name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN\

When it does work, you’ll see a folder called “DB” which contains your email. Copy it to a flash drive, removable hard drive or anther computer.

When I start my MSN Premium email, it starts and then just hangs with the butterfly flapping its wings.

We’ve also encountered this when sending and receiving email in MSN. It appears to be a problem with the upgrade to version 9.5.

To fix this, you need to download a patch that repairs the problem.

Go the following website in MSN, if you can’t open MSN then use Internet Explorer.

http://autoupdate.msn.com/fix95upgrade.hta

Click on the box that says “Click here to fix MSN 9.5 Upgrade Issue”.

You might receive a security message asking you if you want to allow this program to run. Click Yes or Ok as the case may be.

You will receive a message informing you that the problem has been fixed.

Restart the computer.

I have Windows XP. I removed an Anti Virus and replaced it. Now, when i enter Control Panel and click Security centre I receive a message \”Security Essentials\” \’ The Security Centre is currently unavailable because the the Security Service was not started or was stopped. Please close this window, restart the computer( or start the \”Security Centre\” service ) and then open the Security Centre again.How can I have new Anti Virus included in ? ( I can configure \’Internet Options, Automatic updates and Firewall )

It appears the old anti virus has disabled the Security Center Service. To fix this it should be a matter of enabling the service again.

To do this, open the Control Panel, go to Administrative Tools and open Services.

Go down the list until you get to Security Center, click on it and select the Startup Type as “Automatic” and click “Apply”. Then click “start”.

Many services rely on other services to run and the Security Center Service relies on the Windows Management Instrumentation and Remote Procedure Call Services. You might have to check both of these are set to “Automatic” and are running.

If any of these services have a problem starting then we’d suggest taking the computer back to an earlier restore point and if that fails, call your friendly local computer tech.

Technorati Profile

A newsletter I subscribe to had an item regarding Broadband speeds. It recommended readers check their download speeds by going to “speedtest.net“

When on that site a link was shown to products which offered access to free applications that would clean your computer and make your computer run faster. Do you know of these applications and are they safe? The applications are listed on the right hand side of the Speedtest screen

Anthony

Hi Tony,

I had a look at that site too. It’s a terrific little setup.

That said, I wouldn’t trust any broadband accelerator with a bargepole. You can slightly improve the speed of your Internet connection with various tweaks and but the risks of messing something up are high. A lot of the paid for accelerators are snake oil and many of the free ones are spyware supported.

We’d recommend you give them a miss.

Recently my computer has started slowing to a halt after a few minutes use, when it does I press CTR-ALT-DEL and find my computer is using 100% of resources. What can I do?

This appears to be a problem with the Microsoft Update service. The immediate fix is to open Windows Update, go to the Change Settings links, scroll down and the option to Stop Using Microsoft Update is at the bottom.

If it continues, you can disable Automatic Updates in the Control Panel. Choose Turn off Automatic Updates. Microsoft have further instructions at their website.

It appears NVidia drivers can cause this problem as well as discussed in this thread on the Microsoft usenet groups. We’d suggest calling a computer technician before uninstalling IDE or RAID drivers as this can render your computer unusable.

Problems like this can take some time to troubleshoot, so it’s best to start with the simplest and obvious first.

Good luck.

My Internet Explorer 7 window keeps shutting down by itself. What could be the cause of this problem? I am using Windows XP on a Centrino Duo Laptop.

Thank you!

First of all you need to clean to clean up your browser. First of all, uninstall all toolbar packages, search assistants and similar things that might be loading up with Internet Explorer.

Next, clean out your temporary files. Internet Explorer has a horrible habit of accumulating too much. We recommend using the excellent Cleanup! tool. Make sure you read the instructions before running it.

The next step is to make sure you don’t have any spyware on your computer. We recommend running the free online XScan to start with. If it detects any spyware then you’ll need something stronger like Spybot, Adaware, AVG or a visit from your local computer tech.

If the problem still persists it’s worthwhile uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 and returning to IE6.

It’s also worthwhile running the System File Checker while the computer is in IE6, you can do this by clicking Start, Run and typing SFC /scannow this does take some time and you may be asked to provide your original Windows XP disk.

If the scannow and revert to IE6 work, then reinstall IE7 and see if the problem is then cleared.

Good luck

Currently I can receive and post email however when opening internet explorer 7 I cannot display web pages unless I \”Pause\” Kaspersky.  Any suggestions appreciated

Regards,

Barry 

Hi Barry,

I assume by Kaspersky you mean Kaspersky Internet Security.

What’s happening is the firewall has blocked the program from accessing the net. If the firewall doesn’t trust the program then it won’t let connect. This is what a firewall is supposed to do and why a firewall is an important part of protecting your computer from malware.

Like all firewalls, you can manually change the settings, Kaspersky have the instructions at their website. When you click “add” to the trusted the file path should be %ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe. 

While IE7 is a good browser, we’d still suggest you use Opera or Firefox for day-to-day browsing and only use Internet Explorer for sites that won’t work with the other two.

Good luck