IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I’ve a received a file which ends in .rtf and I’m not sure if that type of file is safe to open or what it does?

An RTF file is a document saved in Rich Text Format; a basic computer standard that allows documents to have formatted text like italics, bold and bullet points. Because RTF files are simple compared to files saved in Microsoft Word’s format or those of other sophisticated word processing programs, it’s a fairly popular way to send files.

You can open RTF files in most word processing files including Wordpad, the basic free programs included with Microsoft Windows, and TextEdit, Apple’s free word processor that comes with OSX.

Generally RTF files are safe to open although it is possible that when opening them with Microsoft Word you could be caught by a macro virus, although these are rare at the moment.

If you open the file in Wordpad or TextEdit you should be fine.

I can’t determine whether I have usb 2.o. When I plug any usb device in I get message  “device could operate faster using high speed port…” When I go to “Device Manager” It shows a list of USB controllers and one is -SiS PCI to USB Enhanced Host controller. I’ve tried changing ports but nothing changes. All devices seem to work OK but I always get the “slow speed message” when I plug anything in.

I am using windows XP service pack 3, Pentium 4. 2.53ghz 1.75gb ram

The underlying cause for this are the different USB standards; there’s USB 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 with each one being faster than the previous number. Windows tries to help by telling you when you’ve plugged a device capable of the higher speeds into a slower port but it’s often incorrect about the problem as the Laptop Junction website describes.

It is possible your USB cable is damaged or only capable of the lower speeds so you can replace your USB cable with one certified for the higher speeds. However you’ll probably find either the system’s USB ports are only the 1.1 standard or Windows is misreporting the problem.

Should you not need the higher speed, you can turn off the error messages by clicking on the Advanced properties of USB controller in the Device Manager. This will only get rid of the warnings.

If you do want the higher speeds, you should ask your local computer shop or support tech about adding a USB3.0 expansion card to your system which should cost around $100 excluding installation.

Hi guys, hope you can help before I lose all my hair.

My screen and browser have suddenly developed a red line around them.  The text within the browser is blurry and appears to have a shaddow effect, again this is red.

O/S Win XP professional
Ver 5.1.2600 SP 3 Build 2600

Browser details:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.4 ( )

Monitor is Philips CRT 107s

No new software has been added and I did a system restore to a point 30 days ago with no change at all.

Tried updating the graphics and display drivers, again no luck.

Have not reformatted in about two years.

Appreciate any help you can provide.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

It sounds like the CRT monitor has reached the end of its days. Although you may want to check the pins inside the plugs at each end of the cable that connect the PC and monitor as red effects usually indicate there’s a problem with the colour mixing and a bent VGA plug pin is a common culprit.

Should it turn out to be a bent pin, use a pair of needle nose pliers to gently straighten the pin. If you break the pin, then you’ll need to replace the cable unless you know someone good with a soldering iron.

Overall though, it’s probably time to consider retiring the CRT and moving on to a more environmentally and real estate friendly LCD monitor.

Hi, I need to reinstall my Win XP OS to get rid of all the junk I’ve accumulated;  I’ve burnt a DVD with my documents on it, but will my emails be there as well ?  if not, how do I preserve them ?

Your emails probably won’t be in My Documents unless you’ve specifically told your system to save them there.

Finding your emails on a Windows system is particularly irritating as the different programs dump them into different folders. In Outlook Express and Windows Mail the address books are also saved in a completely different location.

The best thing is to back up your entire profile, this sits in the Documents and Settings folder on your C: drive and the profile will be either your log in name or something close to it.

By backing up this entire folder, you’ll save your My Documents folder, desktop, web browser bookmarks, address books and email. Just take care that your email folder isn’t so big it won’t fit on a single DVD.

I have received a fraudulent email from a bogus UPS parcel delivery site. As I have been expecting a delivery, I mistakenly opened the email and clicked on the attachment.

My AVG 9 program promptly detected 2 viruses which I thought I had then successfully removed. However now, when I boot up, I get the following 2 error messages:
C:\\WINDOWS\\rhstap.dll – Specified module could not be found
C:WINDOWS\\olamobel.dll -Specified module could not be found

1. Does this mean the registry is damaged?

2. How can I repair the registry and avoid getting these error messages … can you recommend a safe registry repair tool?

It’s good your antivirus picked up the problem and removed the malware. Just to be safe, we’d recommend following our Removing a Trojan instructions as well.

Once you’re happy you’ve cleaned the computer out, you can fix the missing .dll issues. The registry itself isn’t damaged, it’s just trying to find the files the malware installed and told it to run on startup.

The best tool for cleaning out the errant registry entries is CCleaner and running that after making sure you are free of viruses should give your computer a significant performance boost.

I have an Apple Mac running OS 10.6 and Mozilla Firefox. I don’t want to use Apple’s Mail program as I have a Gmail account. How can I set my Mac to open Gmail instead of Mail?

Doing this on a Mac is pretty straightforward. First you need to set Firefox to use Gmail for email links on the web, then tell the Mac to use Firefox for email. The steps are as follows;

1. Setting Firefox mail preferences

Open Firefox then select firefox from the menu and choose Preferences. In Preferences, select the Applications tab and go down the list of available applications until your reach mailto: then select Gmail from the drop down options. Exit Applications.

2. Setting the Mac default mail preferences

Open the Mac Mail program and under the Mail menu choose Preferences. In the General tab, the top setting is Default email reader and in the drop down box select other. This will open your applications folder and you then find and select Firefox.

Now, whenever you click on an email link, the system will open Firefox which in turn will open Gmail.

I have had my Hotmail account hijacked. My password, secret question and alternate email address have been changed. All of my contacts have been notified allegedly by me that I am stranded in London and require money.

My IT lady has cleaned and updated everything on my computer and we have notiified Windows Live Solutions in order to attain a new password in order to access my contacts. Have notified our bank and Western Union , who are supposedly to receive any money sent to me. I will notify the police on Monday, as they were closed when I went to advise them yesterday. Have not heard back from Windows Live as yet.

Is there anything else I should do? Do you think I could open another Hotmail account ? I am hesitant to do so in case the perpetrators are still linked to this computer. My IT lady says it should be fine, as she has cleaned and updated the computer. Interestingly enough, I culd still access Facebook using my hotmail address and password. I only did this the once, and am not game to get back on to change the password.

Hoping you can be of assistance.

The number one thing you must do is setup a new email address with another service such as Yahoo! or Gmail then change all the password and email addresses on every web service and computer you use. You should do these NOW before the bad guys can do mischief with your other services.

We’ve covered what to do with hijacked Hotmail accounts before and because your IT lady has already cleared your computer it sounds like it is safe to assume your password was cracked.

When you set up a new password, follow our instructions on choosing a secure password which will reduce the risks of this happening again.

I have dial up email, if I connected the phone line to the wrong connector on the back of my computer will I damage the programs or my computer? ie the network connector and the other one?

No, the plugging the phone line into the wrong socket normally won’t affect your computer, although it’s pretty pointless as your modem won’t work.

I’m told my copy of Windows Vista is “at the end of support”. What does that mean?

Being at the end of support is Microsoft’s way of saying they won’t help you with that version of Windows any more and other people will probably stop writing programs for it. Microsoft explain it in a bit more detail on their website.

If your system is legitimate and working well, you can upgrade Vista or Windows XP to their latest Service Packs through the Windows Update site.

For most people though it doesn’t mean much. As long as your system is working fine, there should be few problems and experience has shown Microsoft will still provide important updates over time.

You should ask your computer tech to upgrade your system to the latest Windows service pack though at the first opportunity.

I have Windows 7 and I’ve discovered that Windows 7 does not have windows mail.  We have Bigpond account with a proxy server.  Can you suggest an email program for me?

Microsoft’s decision not to bundle an email program with Windows 7 was a strange one which is awkward for most users.

There are a number of ways to resolve this; with Microsoft’s free download, with an online service or with a third party email.

Third Party Solutions

If you are installing Microsoft Office on your computer then you may have Outlook as part of the suite. Use that for your email.

Otherwise, look at downloading a program like Thunderbird or the venerable Eudora.

Online Services

For many people the online services are fine. These include Gmail, Yahoo! and Hotmail. These can be set to collect your Bigpond or other ISP emails. The advantage with these is they are easy to use, portable and don’t require you to install anything on your computer.

Windows Live Essentials

The fact Microsoft calls them “essentials” indicate they should have been included with Window 7. The only thought why they were not is as a marketing strategy or a ruse to get around US or EU competition concerns. The Windows Live Essentials pack is free and contains mail, calendar and chat functions.

So there’s plenty of options for mail with Windows 7, have a look at them and see which one works best for you.