IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I am looking to buy a new laptop. It will be used for powerful programs like achicad, film editing, musical applications etc. I’ve already found a suitable model with enough power (Toshiba A300/M00), but it comes with Vista Home Premium built in.

Would you recommend Vista yet, or would you hold off for a while until Microsoft releases more software updates?

Also is there a way to change the operating system of a laptop with Vista already pre packaged?

You can “downgrade” a computer to Windows XP but it’s time consuming and expensive. Generally our advice is to stick with the operating system that comes with the computer.

The important thing with Vista is to make sure you have plenty of memory on the system and good fast hard drive. The Toshiba M300/M00 is a reasonably well specified machine that shouldn’t have any problems with Vista.

We would recommend getting the three year Toshiba extended warranty on the unit and, if the budget allows, upgrade the memory to 4Gb.

The only way you’ll come unstuck with Vista is if you are trying to connect to older equipment or install software that’s not the current edition. Many packages struggle with Vista’s security measures.

If you have an adequate computer and you are using newer technology, then there should be no problem with Vista.

I have a AMD 4200+ dual core CPU will it go in to a socket 939 board. The board in question is a gigabyte GA-K8N pro sli so is this possable. Thanks christian.

The short answer is no. The AMD 4200+ CPU has 940 pins while the GA-K8N Pro SLI motherboard only has 939. The CPU simply will not plug into the motherboard.

Generally the best thing when upgrading Central Processing Units to do is buy a new motherboard that’s designed for that chip. The number of pins is only one factor in dozens that affect the running of the system.

While upgrading a CPU can give you some performance improvements, far more cost effective upgrades are more RAM, faster hard drives and better video cards.

I have two computers. One with XP the other Vista Home Prem. Is it better to turn these computers off when not using them; use sleep mode, or leave on?

From a power saving point of view, turning them off is the best thing to do. From a reliability point of view leaving them running is better.

You can use sleep and hibernate modes as a sort of halfway compromise. Of these, sleep is the better as you use a tiny fraction of the power but the computer is still running. Hibernate shuts the machine down and can have problems with slow reboot.

There’s a few other problems with leaving the computer running: It may get damaged by storms or power surges and if a fan fails it could overheat.

Our own preference is to shut the machine down.

I have a new HP tablet/notebook running Windows Vista Home Premium. When I start it up I get the error message “Wmdsync.exe – unable to locate component. This application failed to start because re. Re-installing the application may fix this problem”.

I suspect it happened because I installed ActiveSync, then realised I didn’t need it, then uninstalled it. I have tried installing the latest version of Windows Mobile Centre, but it has not fixed the problem. Any advice please? Regards Wendy

Hi Wendy,

The problem is ActiveSync still want to start but Vista, correctly won’t let you install the required dll.

To fix the error message, open the system configuration tool, select the Start Up tab and take the tick off Wmdsync.exe. This  will fix the error message.

You may need to install the Windows Mobile Device Center which is the Vista replacement for Active Synch. You can get the latest update from the Microsoft website.

I am wondering about a program that keeps wanting to download to my computer. It is called wksvcsc.exe.

That’s a baddie and it indicates you have a Trojan horse on your computer that’s trying to get a backdoor program onto you computer. Once it’s installed there’s a risk your computer can be taken over by others.

It’s essential you follow our instructions for removing a Trojan.

I have Vista Ultimate with AVG8. Last time I ran HijackThis it identified 020-AppInit.DLLs:avgrsstx.dll C:\Windows\system32\guard32 .dll C:\Windows\system32\cssdll32.dll.

Some forums say it is dangerous and should be removed and others say it is OK. I thought it came as an AVG8 update but I am not sure. What do you think? Thanks for your great radio program and web service.

It’s legitimate and part of the Comodo security suite. You may want to check you don’t have some unnecessary programs hanging around on your computer.

I do a lot of travelling and I would like to take my own movies with me.  So I recently bought an ASUS EeePC (XP version) and a very thin and compact external 160gb WD hard disk.  As you would know the Asus has no DVD facility so I want to burn DVDs to an external drive so I can view them on my EeePC.

I’ve tried a couple of freeware things like Handbrake and DVD Shrink (which has a fraudulent scamming website purporting to be its real website!).   Is there a way I can do this safely, please?  Barry.

Warning: Duplicating copyrighted material without the owner’s permission is illegal in most countries. Make sure you have the right to copy before doing so. This answer assumes you have that permission or legal right to do so.

Copying DVDs to disk is useful function. I use DVD Shrink myself to copy DVDs that events organisers have sent me of my speeches and presentations. It’s very handy to save them to a hard drive and helps with making showreels and compliations.

The official website for DVD shrink is at dvdshrink.org. This site doesn’t have any malware and it sounds to me like you’ve been directed to a malicious site by a search engine.

The Pain in the Tech website has an excellent tutorial on using DVD Shrink and that’s what I would recommend you follow to get the files across. Once they are on your external drive, try them on the EeePC.

Let us know how you go with this as it’s an interesting use of an EeePC we haven’t tried.

I am using a D-Link G604T for wireless broadband. I set a password on WPA (on the desktop hard wired to the router), but after a short time it stops working wirelessly and especially with the laptops using it, they won’t connect properly, when setting in the password.

When we put in the WPA password, a message came up to say SSID stopped working. I don’t know whether this has anything to do with it, as I don’t know what SSID is.

The SSID, or Service Set Identifier, is simply the name of your wireless network. In your case, the name is currently dlink. This is what appears on the list of available wireless networks your laptops show.

What the computers are complaining about is that they can’t find the wireless network you want to connect to. This is probably because there’s another Dlink router nearby with the same settings and this is confusing the system.

You can set the SSID to whatever you like and we’d suggest something everyone in your house or office will recognise but won’t be obvious to your neighbours.

To set the SSID on a Dlink 604T follow the instructions in their manual. The setting for SSID is step 7A on page 11.

When I send a Word Document, as an attachment, the recipient is unable to read it – it consists of a multitude of incomprehensible symbols.

The first thing to check is that the recipient has Micorosoft Word. It they don’t they should download the Word Viewer from Microsoft.

It’s also possible they have a older version of Word than you. In this case they should download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. This will allow them to open newer versions.

If you’re still stuck, check our previous post on a similar problem with the instructions on how to change Word’s file formats.

Finally, your recipient may have messed up their file associations so the wrong program is trying to open the document. We’ve covered fixing that previously.

I have a new computer with Vista in the place. When I am typing emails, the lines jump up all over the place. I have contacted their service dept but their advice did not help. as you can see it has jumped during this email (fortunately only once) but it usually goes all over the place. taking me ages to type and fix. any suggestions?

If this is a laptop, what you’ll probably find is the touchpad at the front of the keyboard is too sensitive and when brush it while typing it moves the cursor.

Depending on the brand, there will be a way to change this either using the system software or by changing the mouse sensitivity in the Control Panel. To do the latter, Microsoft have the instructions on their website.

Some people have found problems with the “tap to click” functions on  HP and Toshiba laptops. It’s worthwhile disabling those in the software settings if this is a problem.