IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I have an error come up when I log on to my computer, it is:

Buffer overrun detected

program: …iles/CA/CA Internet Security Suite/caissclt/.exe

A buffer overrun has been detected which has corrupted the programs internal state. The program cannot safely continue execution and must be terminated.

How do I do this and what does it mean?
Thanks
Raelene

It appears you have a problem with the Computer Associates Security Suite. This is either because you’ve switched to another security package or you’ve been infected with some spyware.

Before doing anything else, we’d suggest you check your computer for malware. If this is due to a virus or spyware infection, then you’ll need to clean it up before going ahead with anything else.

To repair the CA installation and get rid of the error message, you’ll first need to uninstall the program as per our instructions for that on a previous post.

Before uninstalling, check you have the software installation disks. If you’ve replaced this software with another antivirus, then you don’t need to bother about reinstalling and the disks probably won’t be necessary.

If the Computer Associates software is your security suite, then you will have to reinstall. Be aware that you will not be protected until you have reinstalled the software. We’d recommend disconnecting the computer from the Internet while your security software is disabled.

 I have a friend that update Norton 360 and now cannot access his wireless network. He can from a wired LAN NIC. I turned off the Norton 360 firewall and the Windows firewall and it could still not access the wireless network.

Has anyone seen this?

It sounds like the incorrect software’s being used for accessing the wireless network. Some wireless adapters require you use their software rather than the built in Windows wireless configuration tool.

To switch to the other software, open the Network Connections, click on the wireless connection’s properties and in the Wireless Networks tab take the tick off “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings”.

After rebooting you should find the wireless software has changed to the manufacturers. It may be necessary to download and upgrade the latest software for that model adapter.

 I am using Win XP Pro SP2. I don’t actually have an error message, but rather a general query regarding cleaning up software I don’t use, etc., using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel (I want to know can I do anything about all the updates downloaded by Windows?

It’s best to leave these alone as you don’t know how removing these will affect the performance and security of the system.

Hopefully, the long overdue service pack three will clean up the horrendous number of software updates in Windows XP.

 Windows XP Home. My AVG will not update and cannot download e-mails. E-mail error msg: Server responded with error.  A/c ‘MAIL.BIGPOND.COM’ Server: ‘MAIL.BIGPOND.COM’, PROTOCOL: POP3, Server response: -ERR AVG POP3 Proxy Server: Cannot connect to the mail server, Port:110, Secure (SSL): No, Server Error: Ox800CC90, ERROR No.Ox800CCC90.

I am on cable broadband with BigPond.  I dont understand Pop3′s and Port’s
Tks in anticipation.
Regards Robyn, Magic Happens so keep smiling

Hi Robyn,

POP3 is the language computers use to exchange emails while ports are the doorways into computers. Port 110 is the doorway on Bigpond’s computer, known as the mail server, that holds your emails.

The problem is AVG can’t see Bigpond’s mail server.

This almost certainly due to your firewall program blocking AVG’s access to both the mail server and the AVG update server. You’ll need to change your firewall setting to allow AVG to access the Internet.

I have a laptop just over 2yrs old running Windows XP SP2 without virus problems.Your advise has been helpful and I have been running AVG 7.5 anti-virus and Windows Defender.I have had no troubles with viruses until recently.On the 25th of January 2008 three “Exploit” viruses were found and quarantined and two more were found on the 29th,using the morning “complete scan”.

It brings into question the effectiveness of this version of AVG.

What’s happened is AVG has found an attempted Internet Explorer malware attack in your Firefox or Opera file cache. The anti virus didn’t report it because the script didn’t attempt to run.

The writers of AVG, Grisoft, have made a choice not to scan these Javascript applets because it would slow down the computer and web browsing. If you are concerned about these, then you can add .js programs to the Resident Shield in the paid version, or just tell AVG to scan all files in the free version.

Be warned though, this will slow your computer dramatically.

In our view, it’s better to setup users with Limited User profiles which prevents these things from being able to get on your computer.

The fact these exploits didn’t run on your system is a good sign that you are practicing safe computing. I’d be more reassured than worried.

How do I uninstall a program in Windows?

Uninstalling software should be easy. Open the Control Panel by clicking Start, settings and Control Panel.

In the Windows 95, 98, ME and XP Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs or in Vista choose Programs and Uninstall a Program.

In this screen you will get a list of programs that are installed on your machine. Click the one you want to remove and the uninstall process should start. You may have to answer some questions during the process.

That said, it isn’t always that easy. If the program is damaged, then it may not uninstall. Some programs are simply badly designed and won’t obey the rules.

Sometimes the program will have it’s own uninstall routine which you can access by clicking Start, Programs and then selecting the program group and looking for a item that reads uninstall program name.

There’s a few programs that are so complex they have specialist uninstall programs. Norton products are a good example and they provide the Norton Removal Tool. Some of the more “legitimate” spyware applications also have these removal tools.

If those isn’t available, then you’ll need to uninstall the program manually. This involves deleting the program folder and then running a registry cleaning tool. This is something we don’t recommend to inexperienced users and we’d urge you to call a computer tech to do this for you.

Every time I boot up my PC there is a dialogue box saying “Preparing to install ScanOmnisoft” and I cannot ‘cancel’ it away I have to Ctrl/Alt/Del to get rid of it. How do I fix?

Omnisoft is a program that was installed as part of the setup for many scanners. What’s happened in this case is the installation has failed or become corrupted.

The first, and easiest step, is to attempt to uninstall the program through the Control Panel’s Add/Remove programs function.

It’s likely that will fail as the installation is probably damaged so the next step is to reinstall the software. You’ll need to run the installation package from the disk that came with the scanner. Keep in mind it may be an older scanner and not your current one.

If you can’t find the disks, then you can repair the Add/Remove function with the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility which is a free download from Microsoft.

If all of that fails, you can kill the install through editing the Windows registry. But this is a complex task that really shouldn’t be carried out by inexperienced users and you should call a tech unless you know what you are doing.

I have just downloaded Norton Internet Security 2008 Upgrade on my Windows XP and now the following message keeps popping up on screen:
Windows – No Disk
exception processing message c0000013 parameters 75b6bf9c 4 75b6bf9c 75b6bf9c\”

Underneath this message there are three options:
cancel
try again
continue
However none of these options work and the only way to get rid of the message is to keep clicking on the X box at the top of the message.
I would appreciate your advice please.

We’ve covered some no disk errors previously and you may want to try those solutions, particularly the MS Config part.

A quick solution is to take the system back to a restore point shortly before you installed the Norton update and then re-installing the update.

A number of people have found this error is actually a Quicktime problem and updating Quicktime removes the error. If you are installing QT, uninstall the old versions listed in the Add/Remove programs Control Panel.

If you still have the problem, you’ll need to do some detective work in the Event Viewer. This will give you more clues as to where the problem lies.

As you can see there’s a lot of potential things that can cause these problems. If you are still stuck, you may need to call a tech.

When I try and download a “.wmv” file sent as an email attachment I have problems. Windows media player automatically opens and begins playing it. I want to save the file to my desktop but I can’t figure out how to do it. My PC runs on Windows XP and my works computer runs on Windows 2000. Any ideas how to save these types of files to my P.C.please?.

The problem is your wants to automatically open the attachment. While you can change settings on this, it’s difficult to explain without knowing what email program you are using.

Generally, attachments appear in the email with a paperclip icon or a list of attached files. If you right-click the attachment and select “Save To” you should then be able to save the file.

I am running Windows XP with service pack 2. I have Norton Antivirus. The computer is running slower by the day. It was suggested to me that I might need to check for Spyware , so i have downloaded spy Doctor . Now it runs even slower . It takes about 10 mins to access the internet from stat up

It could be a number of things causing the problem. You may have a full hard drive and we’ve covered this previously.

It’s possible Norton is causing this problem. One of our criticisms of Norton products is that not only do they allow spyware onto machines, but when the spyware is on the machine Norton makes the problem worse.

The next step is to check your machine for spyware, we have instructions on doing that in an earlier post.

Once you have checked and cleared any spyware, consider installing the latest Windows Scripting Host. Norton relies upon this software to run properly.

In the worst case, uninstall Norton and replace it with another anti virus program.

If the problem continues, it may be you have a more serious problem with your computer and it may be time to call a computer tech.