IT Queries: Computer problems answered

If i format my PC, will i require the mother board CD to run it again? plz help

Probably not, as Windows will install it’s own software. However you’ll find the computer will run a lot quicker with the proper drivers installed.

You may also find onboard sound, network and video connectors won’t work properly until you run the installation disk.

Generally we’d recommend downloading the latest drivers for all your hardware and saving them to CD before reformatting your computer.

Every time we update our Windows XP Professional 2002 Service pack 3 programme, it causes our computer to cut out the top tool bar when we access Explorer. We are both novices at IT, so have no idea regarding rectifying this problem, other than using System Restore and going back a couple of days before the update. Why is this so ?

It sounds like the position of the screen changes. Press the Alt key and the space key (Alt-Space) together and you’ll get the dialogue box that include Move and Size. Choose Move and you’ll be able to drag thescreen to where you want it.

I would like to network my laptop to my pc both have xp So i can get internet on my laptop – Julie

Network detals XP to Vista – Lawrence

We’ve covered the issues with networking previously. Check out this post.

On your recommendation I’ve installed AVG anti virus and now I find the little green stars and ticks are slowing my web surfing down. Can I turn this off or should I uninstall it?

The link scanning function of AVG 8 is a serious problem and Grisoft’s reaction has been less than impressive. While it’s slowing your web browsing down it is also causing havoc for webmasters having to deal with excess traffic and messed up access logs.

To turn it off, double click the  mutlticolored AVG icon near the time in the bottom left hand corner of the screen to open the AVG control screen. In the AVG Control Centre, click on Link Scanner.

In the Link Scanner dialog box, take the tick off  Enable AVG Shield Search, click the Tools item on the toolbar and select Advanced Settings, click Ignore faulty conditions and tick Linkscanner, click okay, save changes and restart your browser.

There’s a number of alternatives to AVG if this is too fiddly. Other free antiviruses are Avast AntiVirus Home Edition and AntiVir Personal Edition Classic.

Hopefully Grisoft will fix this problem quickly. It would be a shame if such a good product has its name tarnished by this silly mistake.

How can I change the default player on my computer? my default player now is quicktime player and I want to change it to windows media player. thanks…

To change all the default settings it’s best to do it through the Windows Program Defaults settings. In Windows XP, click Start, Run and type control. In the Control Panel click Add/Remove Programs and click on Set Program Access and Defaults.

In Vista, click the Start button, select Default Programs, then Set program access and computer defaults. You might be prompted to confirm the operation or provide an Administrator password.

In the Program Access settings, choose Custom and expand the list by clicking the double arrows pointing downwards to the right. Scroll down the list until you get to  Choose a Default Media Player where you’ll have all the available media players. Tick the box for Windows Media Player and the box alongside that reads Enable access to this program.

Click okay and reboot the computer.

I have an Acer Aspire Laptop with Home Vista Basic and a Trial Version of Symantec Anti Virus 2008. I uninstalled the Symantec Antivirus from the Laptop and installed Avast Free. Whenever I boot the Laptop, Windows Firewall is Off. I turn it on and it stays on. Reboot it’s off. I uninstalled Avast. Still the same problem…… HELP!

First, make sure there are no other firewall programs running. It is possible there is something else in there interfering with the Windows Firewall.

Make sure Norton is fully uninstalled by running the Norton Removal Tool. This will make sure remnants of Norton aren’t interfering.

Next, click the Start button, click find and type services.msc click enter to open the Services window. Scroll down the list of service to the Windows Firewall Service and set it to Automatic.

Restart the computer and it should now be running

How oi I disable the crt+alt+delete and the start menu for the other user in the computer? im using administrator account and i want to disable in order to maintain the safety of the computer. thanks.

You can do it through the Group Policy Editor in Window XP Professional and Vista. The Elder Geek has instructions on using Group Policies.

The problem with this is that Group Policies are a powerful tool and can cause problems unless you know what you’re doing.

Generally, we’d recommend leaving these functions alone and just locking down the other users with Limited User profiles and protecting the administrator profiles with strong passwords.

My sister has a 5 year old laptop with windows xp home operating system. The system says the cd drive is present and correct, however the drive accepts a disc but does not work. There have been no hardware or software additions or subtractions to the laptop. What do you think?

It sounds like the drive doesn’t like some CDs. Try the drive with a number of disks to see if the system can see any of them. You might want to test a recently purchased music CD in good condition.

CD and DVD drives are known as optical drives because they shine a light on the drive and read the reflection sometimes the light or the receiving lens gets clogged with dirt and dust. You can buy a drive cleaning kit for under $20.

If a clean up doesn’t work, then the drive is probably failing and should be replaced. The problem with laptops is it’s often difficult and expensive to get parts for them. Given this computer is five years old, it’s not worth spending too much money on it.

You can get an external CD/DVD drive for under $150 and this is the best bet if you don’t want to replace the entire system.

 So, test the drive with different CDs, clean it and consider replacing it.

I’ve been reading about the new Firefox. Should I upgrade to it?

The new version of Firefox has been breaking all sorts of download records and so far we’ve seen nothing terrible while being impressed with the speed and new features.

One area that may cause problems are tool bars and addins. If you’ve installed these programs that add features to Firefox you may find some of those don’t work.

If you do have tools like password savers that you rely on then you should check that these will work with the new Firefox. If they don’t then hold off installing the new browser until a new version of the add-in becomes available.

Most people don’t use add-ins so the upgrade is recommended.

How do I delete Individual favourites from my Firefox home page. Right click on mouse does work.   thank you Chris

Managing bookmarks in Firefox is a little more fiddly than in Internet Explore. You have to go into the Manage Bookmarks function.

To do this, click bookmarks on the menu at the top of the screen and select Organise Bookmarks. In the Bookmarks Manager screen you can now create new bookmark folders, change bookmark details or delete them as you’d like.

Incidentally, if you do a search on bookmarks.htm on your computer you’ll Firefox saves the bookmarks as a web page deep in your profile settings which you can backup, print out or edit manually if you are really keen.