IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I have just updated to xpsp2 now my Microsoft updates won’t download

There’s a number of things that can be doing this. First, you need to check Automatic Updates are working.

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative tools and open the Services applet.

Make sure both Background Intelligent Transfer Service and Automatic Updates are set to Automatic and have started.

Then go to the Automatic Updates applet in the Control Panel and set updates to “Download Updates for me, but let me choose when to install them”.

This should allow your system to Automatically receive the updates over the next day or so.

You may also need to change your firewall settings to give BITS and the Automatic update services access to the Internet.

I have recently upgraded my computer to dual core e6550, 2 gb ram running Vista Business. I am having problems running USB devices. All goes fine untill I plug in my External HD. USB Printer fails to operate. If I add a Flash drive to the front USB the computer stalls.

It appears that not enough power/information can get through the installed USB\’s. What upgrade should I look for to solve this?

This is a classic overworked power supply problem. One of the problems with many computers is the power supply is designed for the bare minimum and adding any additional load causes these sort of problems.

We’d recommend upgrading your to a higher capacity power supply.

I have set up a home Network with my 2 Desktop Computers. Both running Windows XP Home. Desktop 1 is hardwired from the isp modem through to the D-link Wireless Router (and works fine). Desktop 2 has a Broadcom Wireless Card installed (Drivers installed by “Found New Hardware”) and I have run the networking setup (several times now) and have set up the network…..

If i go into Properties the connection has numbers beside a Physical address, IP Address and Subnet Mask but nothing beside Default Gateway, DNS Server or WINS Server. I have no idea what these are or how I get numbers beside them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks Paul

The clue to the problem lies with those missing numbers beside Default Gateway and DNS Servers. The DNS server translates addresses from human friendly names to computer names, without the DNS settings the computer can’t see anything on the Internet. The Default Gateway tells the computer what the router’s address is.

The first thing to check is the Internet Protocol settings for the wireless router is set to Automatic. In the properties, change the setting to Automatic. This means the settings should be given to computer by the router.

If that doesn’t work it may be the router’s hasn’t been set up properly. Copy the settings from the other working computer. The IP address should be different in the last three digits, eg; if the wired computer has an IP address of 192.168.0.100 then the wireless one should be 192.168.0.101.

If this doesn’t work then there may be further security settings set on the router. You’ll have to consult the manual to ensure features like Mac Address Filtering haven’t been enabled.

Wireless networks are notoriously touchy and can be a pain to set up. You may need a computer tech to evaluate whether a wireless network is appropriate for your location.

In the “Tools” bar (Word Document) is a number of “Mail Merger” items. It takes quite a bit of time to get to the end to find the end – “Customise” and “Options” I have never used mail merger, and don\’t know how it has acquired so many of them, they just keep growing.

Is there any way I can delete some of them?

There certainly is, just right-click the toolbar and take the tick off the Mail Merge menu.

You can remove more icons by clicking the customise tab then dragging the commands off the tool bar into the customise box.

I accidentally removed windows XP service pack 2 from my computer. i logged back on and tried to down load again and couldn’t as i need internet explorer 5. so i tried to download that but was unsuccessful. I have the original windows XP home edition CD but i cant find my serial no. how do i get my computer running normal again?????

Missing registration keys are a nuisance that we’ve discussed in a previous post.

The fact you can’t install Internet Explorer indicates there is some sort of problem with the Windows installation. You’ll need to repair this by running the System File Checker function.

If this doesn’t repair the problems, you’ll need to call in a computer tech. The good news with that is a competent tech will have both the later versions of Internet Explorer and SP2 which will save you the nuisance of the big downloads involved.

I am moving into a very small aged care independent living unit. My current computer hardware and television are too bulky.

Is there hardware & software available to do all these options using only the one LCD screen? Thankyou for ypur assistance.

There certainly is, you can add a TV tuner card to your computer that will receive the TV or cable signal and show it on your LCD screen. In fact, the computer this is being written on has one. You can buy them for between $50 and $400.

There are two types of tuner card; digital and analogue. Analogue is the older type and it will pick up the standard TV stations while digital will receive the newer digital signals.

You can use a tuner card to watch cable and the card plugs into the cable receiver just as a TV would.

The problem with cable is that the type of signal will depend upon the location, the cable operators are moving over to digital but some places like retirement homes and apartment blocks may transmit the signal in analogue. You’ll have to speak to the management to find out which type you need.

Having decided whether to get analogue or digital, you’ll now have to decide what type of connection. There are three ways to connect a tuner card to your computer; Firewire, USB and internally.

The internal way is the less cluttered and is the cheapest but will have installation costs. The card plugs inside the computer. You will need space inside the computer as well.

USB plugs into the one of the USB connections and sits outside the computer. It’s simpler to install than an internal card but adds to clutter and takes up one of your USB ports.

Firewire is similar to USB and is standard on Apple Macs and common on better laptops.

Given the complexities, we’d suggest you get a computer tech to have a look at your system and get the part that will suit you.

I run XP Home Edition and after a recent upgrade to RAM, mother board and HD I am getting intermittent problems with Local Area Connection Status: “Limited or no connectivity”.

Thank you Diane

Generally the procedure for fixing this error is to troubleshoot the connection by eliminating the possibilities. While I’m sure you’ve gone through this with the support techs, it’s worthwhile recapping the procedure.

Given you’ve just replaced the motherboard, and you’ve probably followed this procedure a number of times with the techs it sounds like the LAN port is damaged.

We recommend you take it back to the shop to replace the network card or motherboard.

I just paid a visit to the Bigpond website to locate a free registery cleaner, downloaded it and was then asked to pay $29.95, is there such a thing as a free!! reg cleaner. I was told I had 1045 problems,my computer had become very sluggish and I don’t know how to fix it.
Regards,
Chris

Hi Chris,

We’ve covered registry cleaners before. There’s no need to buy any and many are snake oil. Make sure you backup anything important before you run any cleaner.

You might want to consider running clean up tool as well. These will clean up any temporary files that might be slowing your system.

I have Windows XP and would like to know do I have to remove Adobe 3 from the system before installing Adobe 8

It’s a good idea to remove older versions of Adobe as one of the long standing bugs with Acrobat is it leaves older versions sitting around to cause trouble.

The best way to remove programs is to open the Control Panel (click Start and then Settings), go to Add/Remove Programs and then select each of the older versions of Acrobat on the system.

Unfortunately this doesn’t always work as it should, if this happens Adobe make it difficult to remove the package. Adobe have the instructions for removing version 6.

To remove earlier versions, it might be best to delete the Adobe program folder and then run a registry cleaner. We recommend you get a qualified tech to help you with this.

We are running Windows XP – every time we start the computer we get the following error message:
Windows – No Disk: Exception processing message c0000013 Parameters 75b6bf9c 4 75b6bf9c 75b6bf9c

It doesn’t seem to make any difference to the way everything works – is it a problem – or how do we stop the message appearing.

It sounds like there’s a program starting with the computer that looks for a disk, probably a removable drive or a CD/DVD that isn’t in the tray or connected so the system bleats about it being missing.

To fix this, first disconnect your computer from the Internet. By this, we mean unplug the affected computer from the modem or network.

Then open the System Configuration Utility by clicking start, run and typing MSCONFIG. Once in the utility, go to the startup tab.

In the startup tab, take the tick off ALL the items. This will probably disable your firewall and antivirus which is why we recommend you are not connected to the net while doing this.

Reboot the computer. You may get other error messages relating to other programs not starting, ignore them.

If the error message does not go away you need to call a tech.

Normally the missing disk message should have gone away. It’s now a matter of finding which one is the problem program. We do this through a process of elimination.

Go back into the start up tab of the System Configuration Utility and tick the top half of the programs listed and reboot the computer.

If the problem re-appears on restarting, it’s one of the programs you’ve ticked. Take half the ticks you put on last time and reboot again. Keep doing this until the problem go away.

Should the problem not reappear, it’s in the other half of the programs. Tick half the ones remaining and restart again. Keep doing this until the problem reappears.

By adding and removing programs, you’ll find the one causing the problem. You can then leave that one disabled or uninstall the program.

We often see this after removing spyware or viruses, the removal tools fix the underlying problem but don’t remove what was starting with the system.