IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Hi there, im getting a new dell xps L501X, it comes preloaded with McAfee and i hear that McAfree is useless and resource hungry. I’m looking for a good free antivirus program: I’ve narrowed it down to four:

Microsoft Security Essentials
Avast
AVG
Avira Antivir

Any advice would be helpful, i dont want something that will reduce my boot times or interfere with the gaming capabilities…basically I don’t want it to slow down the computer too much.

That’s a fair summary of the four main free anti virus programs available. Of them, each has their own benefits and downsides and it’s difficult to recommend to any particular one.

Our recommendation is to try one, say start at the top with the Microsoft Security Essentials, see how it goes. If you find it does slow your system or interfere with your games then move to the next one.

Of the four, AVG and Avast! are probably the most customisable free anti virus programs so if your games need specific settings to run well, you may find they are best.

When you do uninstall McAfee, make sure you run their removal tool as we describe in our post on removing the McAfee Service Centre after you’ve uninstalled the security program through Add/Remove programs as the McAfee uninstaller doesn’t always work as well as it should.

Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Windows Media Player is default media player.
On saving email attachments that are in Adobe Acrobat Reader format, they show up as _auto_file with the WMP icon and can’t be read unless I go through the process of choosing to open them in Adobe Reader.
A further file type that is defaulting to the WMP icon is PDS for home movie editing. This particular type of file becomes inaccessible and also shows up as _auto_file.
How can I stop the _auto_file function occurring and return the affected files to the correct formats?
Look forward to your advice. Regards Jen

Hi Jen,

In Windows XP you can change the file association simply by saving one of your PDF attachments to a directory or your desktop, then going to that directory or the desktop right-clicking the file and choose Open With in the menu.

Then select Choose Program and select the correct application from the list and tick the box reading Always use the selected program to open this kind of file. Click OK and the problem will be fixed for that particular file.

You might want to check your computer hasn’t had a virus infection as this problem is common after a malware attack, to scan your system visit our Removing a Trojan page.

How do you copy your list of contacts and notes from Outlook onto a memory stick so that they are portable?

Microsoft have a tool to automatically backup your personal folders. This is a free download from Microsoft. The advantage with backing up the entire personal folder is this saves all your contacts, calendar and notes along with your emails.

Outlook data isn’t particularly portable as you have to manually open the PST data file on each computer you use and many don’t have the right version of Outlook, if they have it all. We’d recommend keeping the contacts and notes on a cloud based service such as Google’s Gmail or Microsoft’s Live service.

I read that Apple have a free service to track your iPhone if it gets stolen. How do I get this on my phone?

The Find My iPhone service is part of Apple’s Mobile Me suite and it is free if you have an iPad or an iPhone 4.

You can turn on the built in service by opening the iPhone’s settings, slide down to Mail, Contacts, Calendars then select Add Account

In the Add Account screen select MobileMe and enter your Apple ID and password. If you have an account with the iTunes Store use that ID and password, otherwise create a new account.

Once in the Mobile Me screen, you may be asked to verify your account once and then you’ll be able to turn the Mobile Me account on by sliding across to On the Find My iPhone settings.

Finally you may be asked if you grant Find My iPhone permission to show the phone’s location on a map, select Allow and the iPhone is now being tracked.

When trying to take a webinar out of Practice Mode I keep getting an error saying “check the status of broker”. How do I start my presentation?

The problem has to do with the presenters and organisers along with the way GoToWebinar deals with scheduled events.

You have to log all of the presenters and organisers out of the webinar and then back in, but you have to do this without closing the webinar and upsetting any waiting attendees.

To do this, follow these steps;

1. Get all presenters to log off and back on again with the exception of the designated organiser.
2. Once the presenters have logged back on, the designated organiser should log off
3. GoToWebinar will ask the organiser if they want to designate one of the presenters to become the organiser and they should do so.
4. On logging back on, the presenter can give the organiser function back to original organiser
5. The webinar will now come out of Practice Mode.

That should resolve any problems you’re having with it.

I have an iPhone and I want to set a lock on it so only I can use it. How do I set this up?

Apple call this the passcode and to set it up you need to go into Settings, General and Passcode Lock

Once in the Passcode Lock settings your can turn the feature on and set your code as well as choose how long the phone should wait before locking itself again.

Some of the advanced features on the iPhone passcode lock include telling the phone to wipe your data after ten unsuccessful access attempts (not recommended if you have kids) and to set up a complex passcode consisting of a proper password rather than a four digit number.

The latter isn’t a bad idea but can be cumbersome if you want to use the phone in a hurry.

All of these features also work on the iPad and iPod too.

When I start my computer a message appears saying “ntldr is missing. Press any key to restart”. The machine won’t do anything else.

NTLDR is the key file that Windows needs to load when it starts, if the computer can’t find this then it will sit there waiting for it.

The most common cause of this problem is that a removable drive such as a USB drive or a DVD disk is confusing the system on where it should look for NTLDR. So the first step is to disconnect any USB device and remove any CD or DVD disks.

If the problem still happens on restart, then there is a problem either with the Windows installation or the hard drive. The website Computer Hope has some suggestions of the specific problems and fixes but all of them require some computer knowledge and are best done by a technician.

OS : WIndows XP SP2

I am having a problem with my USB PCI card.It is of VIA, it is written on the card is of 2.0, but I am not getting speed of 2.0, infact whenever I am connecting any USB device (Tried with many PEN drives), windows XP balloon popup says “This device can perform faster ” This USB device can perform faster if you connect it to a Hi Speed USB 2.0 port. For list of available ports, click here.”
I tried many drivers from internet, but no luck.
I am planning to use printer port to connect USB drive
Please let me know whether it will work optimally or not

Plan:
1. Connect Printer port to USB cable
2. Attach USB female to female point at the USB node
3. Attach USB drive at the last USB node.

What will be the result. Whether computer will detect it as USB drive, and in case detected whether will it give 2.0 speed?

The “this device can perform faster” message is a common problem on Windows XP systems, as we’ve discussed previously this message is often simply incorrect.

It could be that the drivers for your USB card haven’t been installed so Windows has chosen to use the standard XP drivers that only detect 1.0 USB devices.

You should have received with the card a CD or DVD with the correct drivers and software on it, if not you should visit the VIA website and download the correct drivers for your USB card.

I just moved and got a new internet provider.  Basically my PC loses internet connectivity about every 30 to 40 minutes.  It says it is an unidentifable network,  90% of the time i have to restart my PC to correct it.  10% of the time the Diagnostic now button fixes it. I have worked with my internet provider and he says it is a computer glitch not the modem.  What might case this problem. any fix suggestions?

We have some suggestions on fixing this problem with our IP address conflict post however it sounds like you are dealing with that problem by rebooting or running the Diagnose Now function in Windows.

The problem sounds like it is with your network router, which is usually the modem on most home networks. The router is giving out the right information for the computer to identify the network it’s connected to and so can’t get an Internet address.

Usually the router or modem has a number of sockets you can plug your network cables into, so try plugging the cable into one of the other sockets as sometimes there’s a defective socket or a loose connection. You can also try a different network cable.

If you are on a wireless network, you’ll need to check the settings in the router and maybe change the channel or security parameters to get a more reliable connection, we have a few more tips on dealing with unreliable WLANs in our wireless connection keeps dropping out post.

In your post you don’t say if this router/modem was supplied by the new Internet Service Provider, if so you should complain to them and see about obtaining a replacement.

I received an email from Adobe asking if I wanted to upgrade to Adobe Acrobat 2010 at a cost of US $12.97 a year for 3 years. As I took this to mean that if I didn’t do this, it would mean that in the future, I couldn’t use this facility for downloads, reading files  etc. Am I correct, as I was under the impression that updates were free.Can you clarify this for me please?

This email, usually claiming to come from “Adobe PDF Support”, is a scam and you should just delete any email from them or mark it as spam.

Adobe products have their own update program which will usually tell you when an update is needed, if you are in doubt you can visit their website for the latest versions.

Should you choose not to update Abode Reader, the program that reads PDF files, then you’ll still be able to read the files but you might not have access to some features (which most people don’t use anyway).

Messages like this you should just ignore.