IT Queries: Computer problems answered

We have (Yuk) Windows Vista on our PC and Laptops and none of us like it. Our own computer technician advised to wait awhile before looking at Windows 7 but we seem to hear more praise for this version and would like to know your views on whether it is better and worth while upgrading to Windows 7 now.

Windows 7 is a far more stable and faster operating system than Windows Vista and the benefits of upgrading make it worth the cost of the upgrade.

One thing to watch is that Microsoft have again confused the market by releasing five different versions of Windows 7 each with their own range of features. Fortunately only three; Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate are available in shops as the Home Basic version only comes with new systems and Enterprise is for large volume corporate customers.

We’d recommend getting the Ultimate edition as it covers all the features most computer users want to use. Shop around for it though as prices vary dramatically between outlets.

Also remember to backup all your important data before starting the upgrade.

When I attempt to access the Internet via Internet Explorer I get the message “You appear to be connected to the Internet but the page cannot be displayed” regardless of the page I am attempting to open. Any ideas?

This sounds like a classic web browser hijack where your web surfing is redirected through another page. You should follow our Removing a Trojan instructions.

Replacing Internet Explorer with another browser is highly recommended as well. We like Mozilla Firefox, but there are other alternatives as well.

If you are still having problems, we have further ideas on our Browsers not connecting to the Internet page.

I have a pc with Windows XP. A few seconds after I turn it on (ie immediately after the Dell logo disappears), I get a message saying “1. Auto Detect (Digital Input)” and then another message saying “1. Auto Detect Entering power save”. Nothing on the keyboard then lets me do anything and the screen blacks out. The pc keeps making a whirring noise but nothing happens until I turn it off, either by holding in the on button or by turing it off at the wall. The pc is two years old. This happened a month ago for some days, and then one day it just started up as normal. Now it has happened again and has been continuing for about a week. Please help!

The error message means your monitor isn’t receiving a signal from computer. There’s two likely causes for this; a video card problem or a loose cable.

If it is a loose cable, you simply need to check all the video connections into the monitor and the computer are properly connected. Be careful with tightening the thumbscrews as these only need to be finger-tight. Screwing them in too far may cause problems down the track.

Should it turn out not to be the cables then it’s the video card that is causing the problems. Sometimes cards work themselves loose over time and it may just require a technician to open the case and reseat the card.

It may be however the card is failing and needs replacing. If so, it may be time to consider a new computer as some systems have the video circuits built into the motherboard. Talk to your technician before deciding on this.

I can’t reload Windows XP into my Dell Computer. The first attempt was rejected Error Code 7 – couldn’t find a file. Now it loads all the data from the the XP CD then when it goes to boot into Windows there appears to be nothing there. The response is “A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart”. If you press Ctrl+Alt+Del you get the same response.

There could be three problems here, either the hard drive is corrupt, the XP installation disk is damaged or the computer’s CD/DVD drive isn’t reading the disk properly.

The first part is easy, just follow our instructions on the CD not reading disks post. Giving the drive a clean probably won’t hurt at all even if it isn’t the problem.

Checking the XP disk for damage is also simple, shine a light onto the disk and tilt it to see if there are any scratches, dirt or smudges. If the disk isn’t excessively scratched, you can clean it up with a chamois or a commercial CD or DVD cleaning kit which retails from $5 upwards.

Finally there is checking your hard drive for errors. To do this, boot the computer off your XP installation disk and follow Microsoft’s instructions for using the Windows XP Recovery Mode. Once in recovery mode, check your hard drive for bad blocks. Keep in mind this can take several hours to run.

Experience shows a faulty XP installation is often due to errors on the hard drive, so be prepared to buy a new hard drive or system if chkdsk shows excessive bad blocks.

I have a new computer running Windows 7 and I can’t figure out how to copy the addresses in Outlook Express on my old computer to the new system.

You’ll have to export the old address book into a Comma Separated Value file (.csv) on the old computer, copy the CSV file across to the new computer and then import it into Windows Live Mail. It isn’t complex, but it is a bit fiddly.

First, open Outlook Express on your old Windows XP, ME, 98 or 95 computer and choose Addresses on the tool bar as show below;

Once you are in the Windows Address Book choose File then Export and Other Address Book.

In the Address Book Export Tool, select Text File (Comma Separated Values) and click Export;

The program will then ask you where you want to save the CSV file, choose an external drive which you can plug into the new Windows 7 computer or, if both the computers are networked, a location where the Windows 7 machine can find the exported file.

Once you’ve saved the file go to the Windows 7 system and plug in the external drive if you’ve used that to save the CSV file.

In the Windows Live Mail screen, select the contacts button and show menu, then choose import and Comma Separated Values. The program will ask where the CSV file is, and you’ll need to tell it where the file has been saved.

Click continueand the import process will start. During the process, the program might ask you about field mapping, this is where the computer isn’t sure which part of the file belongs where, so you may have to tell the system which part is the email address, which part the surname, etc.

Once you’ve completed, you should find all your addresses have come across. Keep in mind if you have multiple address books or groups within the address book, you’ll have to recreate these.

I have an Apple Mac and I can’t open WMV files. How can I play them?

WMV files belong to Windows Media Player and QuickTime, which is the Apple Mac’s media player, doesn’t automatically run them. So an Apple Mac can’t play WMV files until you install some extra software.

You can fix this by either downloading the Microsoft Windows Media Player for the Mac or by installing the QuickTime add in.

The QuickTime add in allows the Mac’s built in media player show WMV files and is the best solution if you don’t want to be adding more programs to your Computer. You can download it from Apple’s support website.

Alternatively you can install the full Windows Media Player for Mac package from Microsoft’s Mactopia website. This will give you another full featured media player for your system.

Either solution will run Windows Media Player videos on your computer.

I’m finding certain sites like Ebay, YouTube and other sites won’t open. The screen just stays blank and my computer slows down.

It sounds like you have a problem with your Flash player. The first thing you need to do is clean up the system by running a program like ccleaner to flush out any temporary files that could be causing the problem.

Should cleaning up the computer not work, then you’ll have to reinstall Flash. The first thing to do is run the Add/Remove Programs function and remove an Adobe Flash programs listed. Once you’ve uninstalled them, reboot and then run the Adobe Flash Player removal tool. Once you’ve run the tool, reboot your computer.

With Adobe Flash Player now completely off your computer, visit the Abode Flash website and reinstall.

I keep receiving PPT files from friends, but I cannot open them. What are they and are they dangerous?

PPT files are PowerPoint presentations and normally they are perfectly harmless although it is a good idea not to open any email attachment from people you don’t know.

Powerpoint is the Microsoft presentation program which comes with some versions of Microsoft Office. Just because you have Microsoft Office, it doesn’t mean you have Powerpoint.

If you want to open ppt files, then you can download the free Powerpoint Viewer from Microsoft. This allows you to read and print ppt files but not edit them.

Should you want to change them, the free Open Office program can deal with most Powerpoint presentations.

When i try to log in into my system, it is showing a dialog box with a countdown timer stating that “windows could not log on in user profile but has logged in the default profile”.Then it entered through the default log in and not in my log in. pls help me out………..

Your user profile is damaged. We’ve partly addressed this in a previous post, as it is usually is caused by a failing hard drive.

Some good news is that, assuming the drive isn’t badly damaged, your data can be recovered from the defective profile.

There are a number of ways to recover the profile, but all of them involve serious registry editing or renaming important directories.

The simplest way is to rename the old profile folder. When you log in the next time, a new profile is created and then data can be copied from the old profile.

However doing this can be time consuming and the data is often deeply hidden so we recommend getting an experienced computer technician in to determine the problema and the best course of action to recover the profile.

Our home network consists of a PC hard wired to ADSL2 and a laptop through a router. When we receive a phone call on our landline, we lose the Broadband connection to the laptop when we answer the landline phone and also when we hang up. To our knowledge this has only developed recently.

Would you have suggestions as to the possible cause please?

Is the laptop hardwired to the router or connecting wirelessly?

If the cordless phone is interfering with a wireless connection then the telephone is broadcasting on a similar frequency to the router.

To fix this, you’ll have to try changing the wireless network channels on your router and you’ll find instructions to do this in the router’s instruction manual.

Cordless phones are notorious for interference with other devices on the same frequency. So if the problem continues you may have to replace the phone.

Should the problem be your network from disconnects from the Internet when someone rings, then it’s a filter problem. If you don’t have ADSL filters installed on all your phone connections, you need to do that.

If you do have filters, then one has failed and needs to be replaced. It’s going to be a matter of trial and error until you find the right one.