This page shows a complete list of all the PC Tips stored in our database, which you can view by merely scrolling down the page.
If you would rather use a search box to interrogate the database please click here.
The message 'Explorer caused an error in mshtml.dll, restart the computer' is usually caused by the activities of adware and spyware residing on your computer. The cure for this annoyance is to run software such as Windows Defender, AdAware SE and Spybot Search & Destroy.
Learn more about the symptoms of spyware and other unwanted software and how you can help protect your computer by visiting Microsoft Security at Home.
You visit (or are taken to) Windows Update and try to download the featured driver updates for your Windows computer (Windows 2000, XP and XP Tablet PC Editions) and nothing happens - the driver downloads seem to hang and will not install. This scenario is documented by Microsoft in a support article and has to do with having too many INF files in the %windir%inf folder.
Check this out for yourself by visiting http://support.microsoft.com.
If you change a file name of one or more of your web pages and a visitor tries to access the old page saved in their browser they will get a 404 page (not found) response from your hosting server. So what's the best way of ensuring all your visitors end up on the right page?
Our web design article explains many uses for the .htaccess command.
Find out more..
Send To is one of Windows' most useful features as it provides a way to open files in an application without setting up a specific association for it.
It also provides a
convenient way to copy files to a backup disk such as a Zip drive or CD rewriter. Just right-click the file, click SendTo, then pick a target from the list.
- Here's how to add to the list of targets
Click Start, then Run. Type 'sendto' in the Open box and click OK.
A new window will appear showing your SendTo folder (under Windows XP users have their own SendTo folder, so items you add here won't appear when logged in as a different user). Now right-click and drag the target drive, folder or application to the SendTo folder window. When you release the mouse button, select Create Shortcut. When the shortcut appears, right-click it, select Rename and edit the name to remove the prefix Shortcut To. The name of the shortcut is the name that will appear in the Send To menu. Changing the name won't change the actual target of the shortcut.
That's all there is to it. Next time you right-click an object and select Send To, your new item will appear on the list of targets.
The list of Add/Remove Programs on your Windows 98SE or Windows ME PC are held in the Windows Registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\Current\Version\Uninstall.
Check this location to see if the list is still displayed in the right hand column. If the Uninstall key is blank then Add/Remove Programs will list no entries.
The easiest way to fix this is to restore a backup of your Windows Registry. But this will only work if you spotted the missing list over the last couple of days. Windows 98 and ME backup your Registry each day and store the five most recent backups (this is the default setting).
To restore a Registry backup in Windows 98 you must reboot your PC to a command prompt i.e. restart your PC and hold down CTRL (or F8) as Windows starts. This will bring up the boot/startup menu. When this menu appears press 6 to select 'Safe Mode Command Prompt Only'.
In Windows ME start up your PC using your start-up floppy drive and select 'start your PC without CD-ROM support'. When the A:> prompt appears type C: and press return.
At the C:> prompt type cd windows\command and press return. Next type scanreg /restore and press return. Use the arrow keys to select an entry from the list of backups and press return to select 'Restore'.
This will replace your Registry with an earlier version.
When the C:> prompt reappears, restart your PC using CTRL/ALT/DELETE or your reset button and see if the Add/Remove Programs list has returned. If it is still not there the only other option is to uninstall all your programs using their own uninstallers then reinstall them to add their entries back to the Add/Remove Programs list.
Most laptops come with one or two memory sockets, which may leave you with no spare slots for upgrades. In this case you will have to remove at least one module before any upgrade can take place.
The RAM module on most laptops sits behind a removable panel on the underneath of your pc or under the keyboard. The modules slip into a slot and are secured at the ends with clips.
Crucial (The memory provider) have a great tutorial on installing laptop memory at
www.crucial.com/install/sodimm
Crucial will also tell you the type of RAM module your laptop needs - www.crucial.com
Adware is computer software that displays advertisements on your PC. These are the ads that pop up on your display screen, even if you're not browsing the Internet. (Some companies provide "free" software in exchange for advertising on your display. This is how they make their money.)
Spyware is software that sends your personal information to a third party without your permission or knowledge. This can include information about the Web sites you visit or something more sensitive such as your user name and password. Unprincipled companies often use this personal information to send you unsolicited targeted advertisements.
For help and advice on how to rid your PC of these nasty infections read our article
'Adware and Spyware removal'.
After upgrading to Windows XP both the Outlook Express mailbox and address book seem to be missing. So where have they gone?
Don't worry, they're still on your hard drive. Though Microsoft doesn't say why it chose not to migrate the old files to the new operating system's user folders during the upgrade, it does explain in perfect detail how to correct this shortcoming.
Visit support.microsoft.com and read Microsoft Knowledgebase article 313055 that describes all the steps required.
Never used the Microsoft Knowledgebase? Then this link will help - How to Query the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
The best course of action is to uninstall this latest software addition to see if this fixes the problem. Also check the software vendors website to see they offer a fix for the problem.
Internet security and monitoring tools are common causes of software conflicts. Also multiple copies of DLL files are another potential minefield.
This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them.
These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more.
Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.
Autoruns works on all versions of Windows including Windows XP 64-bit Edition (for x64) and Windows Server 2003 64-bit Edition (for x64).
Backing up files is a very important part of maintaining a PC and can save a lot of hassle if your PC ever experiences hard drive failure.
For the best ways to do this see our article 'Backing Up Your Computer'.
In Windows 95, 98 and ME open the Dial-Up Networking folder in MyComputer and drag the connection icon - using the right mouse button - to your chosen back up location (e.g. ZIP Disc, another drive partition) then select Copy Here.
The Dial-Up Networking file you've created can be copied to another computers DUN Folder, but before using it open its properties and reselect the Modem so that Dial-Up Networking can recognise it.
If you need to edit the Windows Registry then taking a backup is vitality important because changes you make to the Registry cannot be undone.
If you have Windows XP, creating a System Restore point is probably the best way of backing up your machine before tweaking the Registry (although a full backup would be better).
If you have Windows 98 or ME, then running 'scanregw' will force a backup of the Registry. In the event of any problems this can be restored by booting to a command prompt and running the DOS version 'scanreg'.
Your PC seems to boot normally but your display screen is showing a black screen with horizontal lines and you receive an error message which says: 'Attention: Signal Frequency is out of range. Please change signal timing'.
This scenario usually means that your graphics card has failed. However, it is possible that your PC has somehow switched itself into a display setting your monitor does not support. Press F8 during start up and enter Safe Mode. Open the display settings in Control Panel and try changing the display resolution to a lower setting. And reboot.
If you still get the same message this strongly points to hardware failure and your graphics card (or on board video chip) are the prime suspects.
If you see this message when you start up your Windows XP PC - "Unmountable Boot Volume" - this is probably because your boot.ini file is damaged.
This type of error is usually caused by corrupted files from Spyware, Malware, or Viruses, so when you can get to the Windows Desktop and back online, go to the various download sites and install Windows Defender, AdAware SE, Spybot Search & Destroy and a decent anti-virus program.
Often this infestation comes from an iffy music site, or when you are downloading free stuff, like programs and other goodies. But this is also a corruption problem that can occur on all brands and models of computers now and again. Fortunately it is usually fixable.
If you have a full version of Windows XP (i.e. not a Manufacturers Recovery Disc) try the following:
Boot to the Windows CD and when you see the WELCOME screen, press the letter R, which will give you a DOS prompt. At the prompt, type chkdsk /p
Your system should now boot into Windows XP.
If that hasn't fixed the problem try rebooting to the Windows CD once more. When you get to the Welcome page press the letter R. When you get to the prompt type: Chkdsk /r
Eventually your system should now boot back into Windows XP.
If you only have a Manufacturers Recovery Disc and not the Full version of Windows XP you can go to the Microsoft website and download a six disk floppy disk boot set which will allow you to undertake this fix. When using the floppy discs you may find that Windows needs to access your Manufacturers Recovery Disc for a few files so it's best to leave this disc in the drive tray before you begin using the floppy discs.
Please note that if you get the boot floppy set, there are separate sets for Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.
Here are the main status codes and the explanations produced by Internet browsers, normally when a problem occurs.
300 server couldn't decide what to return
301 object permanently moved
302 object temporarily moved
303 redirection w/ new access method
304 if-modified-since was not modified
305 redirection to proxy, location header specifies proxy to use
307 HTTP/1.1: keep same verb
400 invalid syntax
401 access denied
402 payment required
403 request forbidden
404 Requested URL not found
405 method is not allowed
406 no response acceptable to client found
407 proxy authentication required
408 server timed out waiting for request
409 user should resubmit with more info
410 the resource is no longer available
411 the server refused to accept request w/o a length
412 precondition given in request failed
413 request entity was too large
414 request URI too long
415 unsupported media type
500 internal server error
501 required not supported
502 error response received from gateway
503 service unavailable, temporarily overloaded
504 timed out waiting for gateway
505 HTTP version not supported
Other Errors
13: Out of Memory
12007: Internet Name Not Resolved
12029: Cannot make a connection to the internet
If you see status 200 everything is OK
This shows you have the wrong driver installed for your graphics card. To check this, right click the desktop and select Properties/Settings and check to see if the display card reads Standard PCI Adapter (or a similar message). If it does, you need to install the correct driver for your graphics card.
For the very latest drivers it's often best to find the manufacturers website and download the driver you need for your card.
If you can hear computer sounds but cannot play any Audio CD's open the Volume Control (right click the speaker icon and select Open Volume Controls) and check that the CD Audio slider is not turned down or muted. If this is all OK then you need to check inside your PC to see if the the cable between your sound card and CD Drive is still connected. If not, reconnect it.
Try the Microsoft AutoPlay Repair Wizard. This piece of sofware scans your computer devices to find any defective AutoPlay settings, and attempts to fix these.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP
Microsoft AutoPlay Repair Wizard
If Windows fails to load and you cannot even access your hard drive, try booting from a DOS boot disk to establish whether or not the drive is actually working. If this works, you should be able to view the contents of your hard drive and even reinstall your operating system if necessary.
If your PC will not boot from DOS then the problem can only be one of three things:
1. The Drive itself is faulty and needs changing.
2. The Drive cable is damaged or wrongly connected.
3. The BIOS is incorrectly configured.
You will need to check these three things yourself. Alternatively, engage the services of a pc repair technician to undertake the work for you.
This is usually the result of Auto Insert not being ticked for the drive in question. To check this open Control Panel/System/Device Manager and expand the entry for the CDROM branch. Then select your CD Drive and click Properties/Settings. Ensure that there is a tick in the Auto Insert Notification field. If there isn't, put a tick in the box and click OK twice.
The other area to check is the action defined for the AudioCD File Type. Open Windows Explorer and from the File Menu select View/Folder Options and the File Types. Scroll down the list until you find the entry for AudioCD. Highlight this and check the displayed file type details to ensure that Audio CD's 'open with' CD Player or similar then click Edit and check that the action is Play.
Another option is to find this key in Regedit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Services\CDRom (remember to back up your Registry first). If there is no Autorun key then create a new Dword called Autorun and set it to 1 to enable auto play, or 0 to disable it.
There are two other registry keys that can affect the functionality of a CDRom:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoDriveTypeAutoRun = 0x00000095
-and-
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoDriveTypeAutoRun = 0x00000095
The correct value for each is 0x00000095.
If you buy a PC (especially a second hand one) you may find that the Registered User and Company Name need to be changed. To do this involves changing Registry settings so make sure you back up your Registry before you start.
For Windows 95,98 and ME start the Registry Editor and open Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\
Windows. Then select the folder CurrentVersion. Double click the value RegisterdOwner to change the username and RegisteredOrganization to change the company name.
In Windows 2000 and XP start the Registry Editor and open Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\
CurrentVersion and make the necessary changes.
Changing the hard drive of a laptop pc is far easier than doing the same thing on a desktop. You generally remove a few screws from the bottom of the case, slide out or lift out the old hard drive and put the new one in. It's as simple as that!
Most laptops use a standard 2.5 inch hard drive, but slim ultra-portables may use a smaller 1.8 inch drive. Drives also differ in height, the most common heights are 12.5mm and 9.5mm.
Check your laptop manufacturers website to find out the correct size/height for your particular make and model number. Also check whether you need a Sata (serial ATA) drive or a parallel ATA drive.
The Microsoft VM is a virtual machine for the Win32(r) operating
environment and is shipped in most versions of Windows, as well as in most versions of Internet Explorer.
The VM allows Java Script to be run on a Windows PC and is updated by Microsoft from time to time.
Before downloading an update for the Virtual Machine you will often need to check the version number.
Versions of the Microsoft virtual machine are identified by build numbers, which can be determined by using JVIEW at a command prompt. To do this click Start/Run, type COMMAND and hit Enter. This will produce a DOS Window in which you can now type JVIEW. This shows you the Build Number (version number) of the Microsoft Virtual Machine.
This suggests a corrupt Cmos memory (where your BIOS settings are held). The Cmos is a small block of memory that needs very little power to retain the information it holds and it runs off the same battery that powers your system clock.
If your PC clock is not keeping good time, a failing battery may be the source of this error. So replace the battery and see if this fixes your problem.
There are also a few viruses around that tamper with the Cmos and corrupt it, so check your hard disk with an up to date virus scanner (at QBS we use McAfee Virus Scan. If your own scanner reports that your drive is free of viruses there is a fair chance that a hardware fault is causing the Cmos problem.
It is rare for a Cmos to become corrupted by external causes, although static electricity and bad noise spikes on the mains supply can both cause a PC to behave badly. More likely, is that the Cmos itself is faulty (in which case you'll need a new motherboard) or it is getting corrupted during power up, which could be a power supply fault.
Cleaning your computer, computer components and peripherals helps to keep everything in good working condition.
For more information on this important task read our article 'Cleaning your Computer'.
Clearing the contents of the Windows 98 'Run' Command can be achieved in many ways.
1. Use 'Tweak UI' to automatically clear the Run Command every time your machine boots up. This is part of the Windows 98 Power Toys that you can download from here. (for Windows XP, get Power Toys direct from the Microsoft site XP Powertoys)
2. The same result can be achieved with the program 'Tweaki for Power Users'.
3. If you do not have these software tools then a trip to the Windows Registry is required (be sure to backup your registry before you make any changes).
Fire up the registry editor and drill down as follows:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU.
Here you will find a list of all the entries in your Run Command, numbered a,b,c etc. Any or all of these can be deleted.
Do Not Delete the base settings 'Default' and 'MRUList'.
With the QBS Colour Blender, creating harmonious colour schemes has never been easier!
www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/colourblender.html
Does your computer completely freeze up at unpredictable intervals. Is it then impossible to perform a soft reboot using Ctrl,Alt, Del?.
If a PC locks up completely this usually means that there is a hardware conflict. Check for conflicts in Device Manager, or use the Hardware Conflict Troubleshooter.
You could also try reducing the graphics acceleration. Right-click My Computer, select Properties, Performance tab, click the Graphics button and move the slider to the left.
If these suggestions don't work, try moving the boards around inside the computer so that they occupy different slots.
This is the Windows Default display setting and usually means that your graphics card is not recognised by the Windows Operating System.
Check this by right clicking the desktop and selecting Properties/Settings. Check that the graphics card matches your known hardware. If this shows the wrong display card (e.g. Standard PCI Adapter), click advanced, select 'Adapter' and update the driver using the supplied CD.
For the very latest drivers it's often best to find the manufacturers website and download the driver you need for your card.
www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/contact.html.
One of the problem areas of designing a web site is how to produce a good looking and accessible contact form.
To find out how to do this read our web design article 'How To Create A Basic Contact Form'.
Find out more..
The only way to securely wipe your drive so that no trace of your ownership exists, is to use specialist software that can erase the data thoroughly and leave your drive completely clean! Use the site link to find out more about this.
www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/data.html
The Windows Registry is stored in several large files on your hard drive, and as they grow and shrink they fragment along with every other file on your system. However, because these Registry files are open during a typical Windows session, most Windows XP based defragmentation tools ignore the Registry files completely. The result is that these files become scattered all over your drive which ultimately degrades the performance of your computer.
There are numerous tools that offer to defragment your registry files for you. Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003 users can grab a free tool called PageDefrag which does
defrag registry files.
Download your personal copy from the Microsoft web site -
PageDefrag v2.32
The defragmenter in Windows XP rearranges all of the files on your hard drive, so that programs and files are all stored in one large section of your hard drive instead of being spread out all over the drives surface.
It takes the most commonly used files and moves them towards the inner most part of your hard disk, which in turn will make the access time to that data faster.
For more information on this important task read our article 'Defragment your Windows XP Computer'.
To help with speed of download, search engine friendliness and accessibility CSS navigation is no doubt the best solution.
So where do you start? The best thing to do is lay out your navigational links using an unordered list. You can then style this list any way you want using a linked CSS style sheet.
Find out more..
If you have had your PC for several years there is a risk that your computers hard drive might start to develop a few serious problems and finally fail. This is hardly surprising because any piece of hardware that has moving parts and is a precision instrument is likely to fail if it is used often and for a long time.
So what are some of the warning signs that point to a hard drives ultimate demise? Read the QBS PC Help article 'A Hard Drive Developing Problems'
Whenever you suspect your memory modules to be bad because of system crashes, lock ups, blue screens or unexplained regular reboots, it would be nice to know how to confirm your suspicions, as some of these symptoms also apply to other hardware problems.
This QBS PC Help article helps you to identify some of the common symptoms of memory problems so that you can decide what needs to be investigated.Find out more....
Direct Memory Access permits high-speed data transfers between I/O Devices and memory without any CPU management being involved.
This method of data transfer boosts performance for devices that use it, but because there is no CPU management, the possibility of data corruption is higher than for non-DMA transfers.
DMA transfers can also be performed by IDE/ATA Hard Drive interfaces.
You can certainly enable it and see if it works without any trouble. However, DMA is a bit unreliable with certain hard drives and some older motherboards. So if your PC begins to act strangely its best to keep DMA disabled.
So how do you check if it is enabled/disabled on your machine? Just go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Device Manager and check the properties for your hard drive or CD-ROM(s). Make sure you view devices by type, then click the + sign against the chosen drive type (CDROM or Disk drives), highlight your Drive and then click the Properties Button/Settings. See if there is a tick in the DMA field, which shows that DMA is enabled, or no tick showing it is disabled.
Many PC's that ship today have onboard graphic cards and are fine for everyday work and playing some games. However, sooner or later many people will buy a new graphics card to fit into the spare AGP or PCI Express slot on their motherboard and this is where the problems often start.
If you've already tried to fit a new graphics card you may find that Windows XP refuses to use it, and continues using the onboard graphics system.
So where do you go from here?
First remove the new graphics card and get your system back to how it was without the new card installed. Go to Start/Control Panel/System/Hardware and click the Device Manager button. Open the Display adapters link, right click the driver for your onboard graphic card and select disable. Apply the changes and shut down your PC. Now open up your PC and insert your new graphics card into its slot, making sure it is firmly connected, and plug your monitor into the back of the new card.
Switch on your computer and enter the Setup menu to access the BIOS, typically by pressing F1 or DEL as your PC begins to boot.
In the BIOS find the Advanced Features page and select Disable Onboard VGA. The wording and location may vary depending on the make of your BIOS, but you should be able to find it. Press F10 to save
your changes and exit the BIOS.
Your PC will now start up and recognise your new graphics card and prompt you to install the new drivers for your card.
Knowing what to do with an old PC can be a real problem for small businesses and individual home users.
While old computers should not be thrown out with the general rubbish, it can be very difficult to know what to do with them once there usefulness has expired.
Our latest PC Help guide explains how you can dispose of an unwanted computer and how to recycle old PC’s. Find out more.
Find out more..
Check for a good domain name - www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/domainnames.html.
Most people know how to use DOS commands like Format and FDISK (if not Microsoft have a superb support bulletin all about these commands (255867) but trying to use other commands, that are found on a typical Windows Start-Up Disc or bootable CD, is often trickier.
Here are a few of the key commands that may be of use.
DIR
To view the contents of a directory use the DIR command. At a command prompt type DIR and press RETURN to see all the details of all the folders. If the directory structure is large use the switch /p to pause the display after each screen of information e.g. DIR /p.
ATTRIB
The ATTRIB.EXE command is critical for working with three types of files in a DOS environment: hidden files, read-only files, and system files. By following the ATTRIB command with a filename; a plus or minus sign; and the letter S, H, or R, you can add or remove the hidden, read-only, and system attributes from a file.
For example, if you wanted to make every file in your current directory visible, you could use the command below to remove the hidden attribute:
ATTRIB *.* -h
If you wanted to hide a file that was presently visible, you'd enter the ATTRIB command followed by the file name, the plus sign, and an H. The syntax for working with system files and read-only files is identical. The only difference is that you must substitute the H (hidden) with either R (readonly) or S (system). You can also use multiple switches in conjunction with each other.
EXAMPLES
To display the attributes of a file named "work.txt":
ATTRIB work.txt
To assign the Read-Only attribute to the file "work.txt":
ATTRIB +R work.txt
To remove the System and Hidden attributes from "work.txt":
ATTRIB -S -H work.txt
To hide the directory "c:\hide:"
ATTRIB +H c:\hide
To hide the files (but not the directories) in the C:\ directory:
ATTRIB +H c:*.*
Change Drives or return to the Drive Root
To change to the root directory (or to another drive) just type the drive letter at the command prompt e.g. C: or D: or A:
CD
Use the CD command to move between directories. If a directory called DOCS contains a sub directory called INFO that you want to access, just type at the command prompt CD INFO.
CHKDSK
Although CHKDSK has never completely gone away, the often seen ScanDisk has overshadowed it. However, the CHKDSK command is the quickest and easiest way to see how much disk space is available and if there are any problems with a particular disk. Typing CHKDSK at the command prompt generates a quick report, but if you enter CHKDSK /F this command also repairs any errors that are found. To find out more about CHKDSK type CHKDSK /? and press RETURN. This produces a list of all the available syntax switches that can be used to obtain the required level of functionality.
COPY
The COPY command enables you to copy one or more files from one location to another. When typing this command use the /V switch which verifies that the files have been copied correctly. To find out more about this tool use the /? switch e.g. copy /?
DEL TREE
If you've ever tried to delete a large directory structure from the DOS prompt, you know how tedious it can be. You must remove the contents of each subdirectory individually before you can erase the main directory. The DEL TREE command speeds things up by deleting a directory and everything in it, including sub directories and their contents.
EXTRACT
If you've ever looked at the contents of your Windows CD, you probably know that all the files that make up Windows are stored in a compressed format within CAB files. If you need to replace a damaged Windows file, you can use the EXTRACT command to decompress the file you need.
You can acquire the various syntax's for the command by typing EXTRACT /?
MEM
The MEM command allows you to view modules and drivers currently loaded in memory. To use this command, simply enter MEM /C at the command prompt. You'll then see a detailed summary of the machine's memory usage. Remember that you're working in DOS mode, so you won't see anything related to how Windows is using memory unless you use the MEM command while Windows is running. Instead, you'll see how your boot disk is managing memory.
SYS
The SYS command allows you to make any floppy disk or hard disk bootable. For example, if you were working on a computer that had a hard drive with a boot sector destroyed by a virus, you could boot from your emergency repair floppy or CD and run the command SYS C: This would add the IO.SYS, MSDOD.SYS, and COMMAND.COM files to the damaged hard disk, making it bootable once again.
Keep in mind, though, that any time you use the SYS command on a disk, the boot files from the source disk (floppy, CD, or hard disk) will be copied to the target drive. So make sure that the target system is running the same operating system as the source disk. For example, you could use a repair disk created on a Windows 98 machine as the source disk for another Windows 98 machine, but you wouldn't want to use a Windows 98 repair disk as the source for a Windows ME or XP machine.
XCOPY
The XCOPY command works just like the COPY command, but there are some very useful switches that you can add to custom-tailor the copy process. For example, supplying the IS switch will tell XCOPY to copy the subdirectories, too. For a complete list of all of the switches available for use with XCOPY, enter the XCOPY /? command.
EDIT
If you need to edit a file such as 'system.ini' you use the EDIT command. e.g. in the Windows folder (CD\Windows) you would type EDIT system.ini. This gives you a text only display of the file so that you can amend it.
If you are having trouble with a specific driver for you hardware, or are looking for a DLL file for your Windows installation, your best bet is to search through Driverguide.com. This is an excellent resource and although you do have to register with them, the web site is free to use.
www.driverguide.com
Dual booting means installing two operating systems on your computer and at start up choosing which one to launch.
To find out how to do this see our article 'Dual-Boot XP and Vista'.
Ems and Percentages are considered the "best" units for sizing fonts and layouts in CSS. They are resizeable in all Web browsers that support resizing and they are specified relative to the user's font size preferences, and can therefore adapt to the viewer's screen.
To find out more about ems units see our article'Why QBS PC Help use ems page styling'.
Fire Tune optimises several internal settings of the Firefox browser for improved performance.
www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/firefox.html
Mozilla Firefox is the dream Internet browser you've been looking for. It displays an elegant simplicity and makes your web experience better, faster and even more enjoyable. Find out more by reading our review of Firefox 2.
Firefox 2 review
If your Firefox Browser installation begins to behave strangely after you download and apply an extension or theme you may find it becomes very difficult or even impossible to use Firefox for browsing the Internet.
Before you give up on this excellent browser pay a visit to the Mozilla Knowledge Base and take a look at the Firefox Standard diagnostic as this will solve most problems with your Firefox Profile.
Alternatively, download Firefox 2 which includes a new Session Restore function which will often solve problems like this.
This is usually caused by incorrect jumper settings on the back of the hard drive.
There are usually three different settings: Master, Slave and Master with Slave present. If the settings are not marked on the drive itself or you don’t have a manual, you can usually find the settings to use on the Web pages of your hard drive manufacturer.
Log on as the user(s) whose My Documents folder you want to redirect. (You need to have administrator privileges to carry our this re-direction)
Click the Start button, Right-click My Documents, and then click Properties from the list that displays.
In the Properties box click the find target button and specify where your My Documents folder should be located (even on another partition) then click OK.
For more information see this
Microsoft article.
If you would like to Format your Windows XP installation and do a fresh install, this has to be done using your Windows XP CD-ROM.
Run Windows Setup and when you get to the Partition Screen delete your existing Windows Partition and create a new one, remembering to Format the Partition before you try to use it (do not use the quick Format option). Then reinstall Windows XP from scratch.
If the 'Found New Hardware Wizard' repeatedly appears when your PC is started up, this generally points to an earlier failed or aborted driver installation.
The usual fix is to let the 'Found New Hardware Wizard' run to completion (i.e. do not cancel this action) or deleting and then reinstalling the offending driver file. If these actions do not resolve the problem and your operating system is Windows XP the next step is to repair your Windows installation using your Windows XP CD-Rom.
Earlier versions of the Windows Software may need to be reinstalled to fix this.
If you need an email account that not plagued by too much spam/junk mail then try our free web based e-mail account.
This is available to all our site visitors and gives you a unique internet address - user@qbsmail.zzn.com.
Free Email Account
Here is a link to a basic, two column layout with header and footer, using percentage and ems rather than pixels.
This template is fully XHTML and CSS compliant.
'Get you free two column layout now.'.
This error message comes up when you try to open a damaged Soundstorm program (part of the nVIDIA NForce software group):
'Incorrect size returned during FXMANAGER_ALLOCATE'
The FXMANAGER_ALLOCATE error occurs when you try to open the Nforce Control Panel and then Control Panel trys to open the soundstorm program (C:\WINDOWS\system32\sndstorm.exe - location of file for Windows XP) and fails, producing the error message.
This damaged sndstorm.exe program needs to be deleted and reinstalled. The only effective way to do this is to completely remove the NForce Drivers from your PC and then reinstall them from the nVidia Software Disc, a manufacturers driver folder on your PC (probably located at the root of your C drive) or from the nVidia web site at:
For Password saving to work you must have Family Logon or Client for Microsoft Networks installed on your PC or user profiles must be enabled.
If you are presented with a logon dialog box at start up you must not dismiss it with Esc or Cancel.
To see if the appropriate protocols are installed open Control Panel and double click Network. Check to see if either Family Logon or Client for Microsoft Networks are present. If not install them from your Windows Operating System CD.
Feeling lost? Try the Google search page - 'Hard Drive Replacement and Addition'.
For some useful CSS tips see our article'Help in using CSS for web design'.
To produce the Euro currency symbol Press the [Alt Gr]+[4] combination on any keyboard that shows both the Dollar and Euro symbols on key 4.
Those of us who have been using computers for a few years often have at least one and in some cases two, three or more redundant computers lying around doing nothing apart from gathering dust. In many cases these computers are still perfectly serviceable.
Find out more..
The best way of sharing a broadband connection between two or more computers is to use a dedicated router. To find out more read our article 'How to share a broadband connection'.
As you may have found, Internet Explorer is deeply integrated with Windows making it difficult, if not impossible, to uninstall. However, it can, and sometimes must, be uninstalled.
Check out Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article for detailed step-by-step instructions on how to uninstall Internet Explorer 6.
If you want games, graphics, and other multimedia programs to run faster, upgrading to a more powerful graphics card should be your first priority.
To discover the best way to install a graphics card see this article 'How to Upgrade a Graphics Card'.
If your copy of Windows XP is using the NT file system (rather than FAT32) and cannot process all the Input and Output requests as your computer shuts down this may force your PC to restart.
If these restarts become a problem a good tip is to run the Chkdsk tool to repair any problems with your disks volume.
To do this Click START and click RUN and then type cmd in the box. At the command prompt type
chkdsk /R /C (i.e. repair your C Drive) and hit ENTER.
If the following message appears: “Cannot lock current drive. Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts?”
Type Y and hit ENTER
Reboot the PC and Chkdsk will automatically run and check the drive for errors. It will then attempt to repair these.
This will usually fix the shut-down and restarting problems on most Windows XP machines.
At QBS PC Help we do not use tables to design websites as keeping the content and styles separate (XHTML and CSS) produces a quick loading site that's search engine friendly and far more accessible than a table based layout.
We do use tables to contain data that's best served via a table. So rather than a plain table lets look at a few ways to smarten up our table displays, using CSS.
Find out more..
When I use the HP Director program and click on ‘Scan Document’, an error message appears on the screen "An unexpected internal error has occurred" and then gives a few options to try such as restarting the program, restarting the PC or removing and reinstalling the HP scanner software. How do I fix this problem?
This is a well known problem when trying to scan from HP Director.
To fix this, try opening the folder containing the HP Imaging software. This is usually located at C:\Progam Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital\Imaging\bin and double click ‘hpqdstcp.exe’. Now retry scanning a document and see if it works.
If this suggestion does not help, you will have to uninstall all the scanner software using add remove programs, but disconnect the scanner from your computer first.
Now reconnect the scanner to your PC and start your computer up. The New Hardware Wizard should automatically start up when it recognises the attached scanner. Use the HP Driver Disc that came with your scanner to reinstall all the software back onto your PC.
Windows installer is part of Windows XP Service Pack 2. This error suggests that some components of the installer are missing or damaged or are not correctly registered with the Windows system.
Open the System folder and varify that msiexec.exe is present. If it is open the registry editor and expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Services\MSIServer. The value ImagePath should contain the path to this file 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe followed by a space and /V. If ImagePath does not show the correct file path, amend it to show the right path and then save and exit.
Restart your PC in Safe Mode click on Start, Run and enter msiexec/regserver. This will reregister the installer components.
If none of this works you will have to reinstall the Windows installer program. Download this from support.microsoft.com.
Installing a 56K Modem into a computer running Windows XP is fairly straightforward because XP comes equipped with a variety of "generic" modem drivers, including modems based upon all the popular chipset's.
In many cases, adding, changing, or removing a modem is based on Windows plug and play. But, sometimes conflicts can occur so this guide runs through all the actions you need to take to successfully install a 56K PCI Modem - Find our more....
If the language setting for your keyboard is greyed out and it says ‘old style driver detected' have a look inside your autoexec.bat and config.sys files and remove any lines that contain country.sys or keyboard.sys and try again (These settings are not needed by Windows 98 and more recent Windows Operating Systems).
If your Setup tab is missing the problem is in your Windows/Inf Folder where some of the .inf files have become corrupt.
The likely files are any with LAYOUT in their name and the solution to this problem is to rename the file extensions of these particular files from .inf to .old. To do this open My Computer and select View, Folder, Options, View Tab. Make sure 'Show all files' is selected under Hidden Files and click OK. You will now be able to see the INF Folder and make the necessary changes. Once this is done, reboot your PC. You should now be able to see the Windows Setup Tab.
If you have a problem with a BIOS password you might like to try the backdoor approach. One of the following 'backdoor' passwords may let you into your PC. Its worth a try.
Award Bios - (in upper & lower case): award sw, award_sw, award?SW or biostar.
AMI BIOS - ami,a.m.i.,aaammmiii, BIOS or password.
Phoenix BIOS - phoenix, cmos or BIOS.
Right click the IE Icon on your desktop and select Properties, Programs and make sure that there is a tick in the box 'Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser'.
If you added a tick, the next time you use IE select 'yes' when it checks to see if you want to make it your default browser.
You've Replaced your PC's Motherboard but your manufacturers Recovery Disc will not reinstall your Windows XP operating system and associated files.
The Windows image on your recovery disc is unuseable for two reasons:
1. Your hardware has changed dramatically by installing a new motherboard.
2. The Recovery CD will have been locked to the BIOS of the old motherboard which you have now replaced.
The OEM Copy of Windows on the Recovery CD is regarded as part of your computer and cannot normally be transferred to another PC or even to a new motherboard. So when replacing your motherborard you may well need to buy a full copy of Windows XP.
This could be because:
1. Your memory modules might not be seated correctly
2. The contacts might be dirty
3. One of the modules might be failing
Try reseating your SIMMS or DIMMS, gently rubbing the contacts with a pencil eraser, and just fitting one memory chip at a time. If you are fitting SIMMS, remember they must be the same size, like 64Mb each, and the same speed, like 60ns. If you are fitting DIMMS, make sure the slowest DIMM is in slot one. Also check that you have the modules fitted correctly.
The Microsoft web site is huge and is stuffed full of resources to help you solve almost any problem you might experience when using Microsoft products. From blue screens to driver issues, you are likely to find a solution to your problems or at least a collection of additional resources with which you can further your research.
Here are the main Microsoft Web Site entry points to help you in your searches and some of the Microsoft Support Areas that we often use in fixing PC problems.
How to Query the Microsoft Knowledge Base
Microsoft Internet Explorer Home Page
Help and Support Page
Microsoft Office Home Page
Microsoft Office Previous Versions
Microsoft Outlook 2000 Support
Microsoft Outlook 2003 Support
Microsoft Outlook 2007 Support
Microsoft Outlook Express Support
Microsoft Windows Home Page
If your modem does not report the correct connection speed but says it is constantly connected at 115,200bps then your PC is not using the correct .inf file for your internal modem.
Go to Modems in Control Panel and choose Properties, Extra settings. Add W=2 or S95=41 to this field and click OK (if one does not work, try the other). This should fix this speed reporting problem.
Check that your modem is set to the right country setting. If you are using a phone extension check that the modem does work on the master socket. Make sure you have no messages waiting on BT’s Call Minder (if you have this service).
Outright motherboard failure is fairly rare in a new system, and extremely rare in a system that is already up and running.
Most problems with motherboards result from a bad initial set up or a failure of one or more of the components that are connected to it.
There are a surprisingly large number of possible causes for what may appear to be a motherboard failure. To find out more read our article 'Motherboard problems'.
This is usually due to graphics acceleration being set too high. Go to System Properties, Performance and choose Graphics. Move the slider one notch to the left and click OK.
You have an IRQ conflict between the two devices. Move the modem to a different COM port, as you cannot easily change the IRQ that it uses.
This is a common problem when people buy a new PC or upgrade their version of Windows and find that their printer divers no longer work. To make matters worse even the printer manufacturer no longer supports the printer, so you can't download the drivers from the Internet.
One possible solution (apart from buying a new printer) is to see if your printer is capable of emulating a common generic printer type like HP LaserJet, HP DeskJET or IBM Proprinter. This information should be in your printer manual. If you can use one of these generic drivers you may loose a few of the features that you had when using the correct driver, but a least you'll be able to print a document.
This is a common complaint and there are several things you should check.
1. The speaker connections and the power supply
2. The sound level set for the Windows Volume Control on your Task Bar
3. The Multimedia (or Sounds and Audio Devices) Properties in Control Panel
4. Sound Card Drivers in Device Manager
There are several things that can cause the loss of 'right click' on your desktop, including viruses, badly configured tweak programs and other malicious code.
The simplest fix (if you do not have a tweak program installed) is to adjust a Registry setting so back up your Registry before you start.
Start the Registry Editor and open:
Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Look in the right hand pane and see if you can spot an entry called 'NoViewContext Menu'. Also check:
Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
See if the 'NoViewContext Menu' entry is there.
If it is in either location its value should be <1> (<0> for disabled). If it is not present you will need to create this value. Add a new Dword and set its value to <1>.
When Windows is started your screen disappears into a mess of fast moving horizontal or vertical lines.
This is caused when your refresh rate is set to a frequency that your CRT monitor doesn’t support.
Reboot in safe mode, go into Display Properties, Settings tab, Adapter. Change the resolution setting to 60Hz and restart. You could change to a higher refresh rate if your monitor supports it.
To sort your Start Menu into alphabetical order, right click the opened menu (e.g. Start/Programs) and select Sort by Name.
This also works for your Internet Explorer Favorites Menu.
Have you ever forgotten a password that locks you out of your operating system or program files? Then you need LostPassword.com, a site that sells a superb range of password recovery software.
They have custom solutions for a tremendous range applications including Excel, Access, Outlook, Outlook Express, Word, Internet Explorer, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT, Acrobat, WordPerfect, 1-2-3, Paradox, Quicken, QuickBooks, Act and WinZip. Visit LostPassword.com
Three beeps on power up usually means there is a graphics problem. Remove and reseat your graphics card, clean the contacts of the edge connector, or swap with a different card.
To check if your PC memory is faulty, which is often the cause of intermittent errors on start up, try running a memory tester such as MemTest86 from: www.memtest86.com
This seems to be a fairly common problem with Windows XP as by default your PC will automatically restart if a windows error occurs while you are using your computer.
To see the error that's making Windows XP restart you will need to make Windows report the error. Right click My Computer, click Properties and select the Advanced tab. On the dialog box under System Failure you will see an option Automatically Restart. Clear this by removing the tick and then click OK to finish.
This will not stop the restart problem reappearing, but you should now see an error message pop up instead of watching your PC reboot. Hopefully you will now be armed with enough information to help identify and fix the program that's causing the problem and fix it.
Your Computers Processor may be overworked. Try disabling your Virus Checker and other system utilities.
You could also slightly reduce your Graphic Card's Acceleration by selecting Control Panel/Display/Settings/Advanced/Performance and sliding the Hardware Acceleration pointer back a notch.
The computer POST (Power On Self Test) tests a computer, to make sure that it meets the necessary system requirements before booting up.
To see a full list of beep codes for all the main BIOS manufacturers click here.
If your PC restarts many times and then finally boots up click here to see what this problem might be.
If your PC starts and reports 'Bootable Drive Not Found' your boot drive’s active partition has been made inactive. Use fdisk.exe to make it active again.
For ‘Operating system not found’, your Master Boot Record might have become corrupted. Use a boot disk to start at the A prompt. Switch to the C prompt and then type fdisk/mbr and press [Return] to restore it.
If your PC starts to run very slowly and you find your formerly fast loading programs are now reduced to a crawl there are a number of things you can check to help you improve your PC's performance.
The first thing to do is defragment your hard disc. This process will rearrange the data on the disk so that it loads more efficiently. To do this you must close down all your applications, including those sitting on your taskbar and quick launch bar, as any left running will cause the Defrag program to keep stopping and restarting.
Once you have shut down all your applications open My Computer, right click your main hard drive (C Drive) and then click Properties. Select the Tools Tab, then click Defragment Now.
Depending on the size of your hard drive and how badly the files are fragmented this could take some time to complete.
You should also check to see if your PC is infested with unwanted Spyware and Adware. There are some very good free tools to help you do this. See The Software QBS Use Everyday.
Your Virus scanner will also make your programs load a little slower as it checks each software component as it is loaded. Try disabling virus checking to see if makes any difference. If your antivirus program is the problem there is not much that you can do about this, particularly if you have a broadband Internet connection where online security is so vital (you should also run a good firewall program - See The Software QBS Use Everyday.
The final thing to check are your PC's cooling fans. Can you still hear them? If one or more of these fails your PC will start overheating, so your processor may be running slower so as to generate less heat. A good all round tool for checking this and many other parts of your PC is SiSoftware Sandra. Download the free Lite Version from Download Sites for Sandra Lite
How many times have you had your computer freeze with the message System Failed CPU Test appearing on your monitors screen or even spoken to you through your speakers? Hopefully never, because it can be a difficult task to track down the reason for this error message.
There is a ton of advice on the Internet but basically there is a set routine to try. First, don't assume that your PC's CPU is at fault. In fact this is very unlikely.
Find out more..
You switch on your computer and nothing happens. The lack of any electrical power to fire up your PC can be caused by a number of problems. To find out more click here.
Can I select an item on the Start menu and launch not one program, but two or three or four? Better yet, can I double-click one icon and have one program scan my hard drive, another defragment the drive when the scan is done, and a third start a backup after the defrag?
Yes, clients still ask these questions so you'll be glad to hear that you can accomplish all of this and more with DOS batch files - even in DOS-free Windows XP. As DOS fades from memory, however, fewer and fewer people are comfortable writing batch files.
If you're batch-averse, we recommend Outer Technologies' free Batchrun program, which makes automating multiprogram tasks easy. This nifty utility lets you create batches by dragging, dropping and clicking. You can add commands for such common file manipulations as copying and deleting, and you can instruct the program to wait a pre-set number of milliseconds or until the last program is finished.
To get a copy of this useful program visit www.outertech.com.
If some of your keyboard keys produce strange characters, like an @instead of a full stop, your keyboard is set to the wrong language. Go to Control Panel, Keyboard, and Regional settings to ensure you are set to your local language.
You can prevent pop-ups appearing by disabling the Windows Messenger Service.
To do this click Start, Run, type services.msc and hit the Enter key. Scroll down the resulting list until you come across Messenger. Double click this and click Stop and the start up type to Disabled.
Both MSN Messenger and Windows XP's Windows Messenger (which enables itself by default after installation) set themselves up to launch automatically whenever Outlook or Outlook Express are opened. How can you prevent them launching?
You can turn these instant messaging programs off.
In Outlook 2002, choose Tools/Options/Other and then uncheck Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook. Click OK.
In Outlook Express for Windows 98 and Me, select Tools/Options/General and uncheck Automatically log on to MSN Messenger in Outlook Express.
For Windows XP, click Tools, Options, General and uncheck Automatically log on to Windows Messenger.
Windows 2000 doesn't have this problem as it lacks MSN Messenger.
If you have installed a PC network in your home using either network cabling or wireless technology, or a combination of both, you can easily share one or more printers across that network.
Find out how to do this by reading our article 'Printer Sharing Across a Home Network'.
First check to see if Windows CD-burning service is turned on. Click Start, Run and type services.msc in the box and press enter.
Scroll down the list of Sevices and double click 'Imapi CD-Burning COM Service'. Set the Start Up Type to Automatic then click on Start if the Service is not running. Click Apply and then Close.
Now you should be able to burn files to your CD using drag and drop.
If you insert a DVD disc into your computers DVD drive and the light showing the disc is being read stubbornly stays on, chances are that is a far as you will get and the disc itself will not be read or actioned.
The simplest explanation for a problem like this is that your DVD disc needs cleaning. Also make sure that the disc is not scratched or damaged in any way.
If the problem continues try cleaning your DVD-ROM Drive. Blow out any dust using a compressed air can or use a CD cleaning kit, which should work just as well.
You could also visit your drive manufacturers web site and see if there is a driver update for your DVD-ROM Drive.
If the problem still persists you may need to replace your DVD-ROM Drive.
If Internet Explorer's History panel refuses to display By Date, By Site, By Most Visited or By Order Visited Today, the first step is to launch Internet Explorer and select Tools >Internet Options >Advanced >Restore Defaults. Then close and reopen Internet Explorer. If this solves the problem the following steps are not necessary.
If IE6 is still not displaying your surfing history try some or all of the following steps:
1. Click start > run and type in the open box sfc /scannow {enter} and have your windows XP CD handy just in case it's asked for (This will not work in Windows 2000). Check to see if IE6 is now working.
2. Search your hard drive for the "ie.inf" file (this is usually found in the Windows\inf\ or winnt\inf folders). When you have found it right click it and select install. Then reboot your PC. Check to see if IE6 is now working.
3. Reinstall IE6 - click Start >settings >control Panel >Add/Remove Programs and select 'Add Remove Widows Components' from the left hand panel. Untick the entry for Internet Explorer and click Next. Now reboot your PC, go back into Add Remove Widows Components and put a tick back against the entry for Internet Explorer. Now reboot your PC again. This process reinstalls IE6 and may also solve any speed related problems you may have been experiencing with this browser. Check to see if IE6 is now working.
4. If the History display is still not working try the fixes suggested by Microsoft - 'How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP'
Have you ever come across a program that refuses to register properly and therefore does not get added to the ‘Open With’ dialog in Windows XP.
For a quick and easy way to register or re-register any program try 'OpenWithAdd’. You can get a copy of this great little program from
windowsxp.mvps.org/openwithadd.htm
If your computer beeps irregularly when the computer is turned on, or turns on but does not boot, you may be experiencing a problem with the Power On Self Test (POST).
Find out more by reading this article 'Problems
with the Power On Self Test (POST)'.
Kroll Ontrack® Data Recovery is dedicated to recovering and restoring inaccessible data from any type of storage media. Their track record is superb and QBS PC Help thoroughly recommend their technical recovery service to all our site visitors.
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The desktop icons and items on the Windows Start Menu are all shortcuts and if they fall to work it is likely that the Registry association for shortcuts is broken.
It should still be possible to run programs by clicking Start, Run and typing a program's name, so try running sfc /scannow. This should restore any system files that have changed or been deleted.
Need to find out where we are based, then check out this Google powered location map.
QBS Location Map
If you are looking for a 'strong' password then this simple tool can generate a random password containing 12 characters that you can use to help secure your on-line presence!
www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/randompasswords.php
You should only flash a computers BIOS for a specific purpose, such as with an older PC where you need to use a particular piece of hardware. The only other reason to flash a BIOS is to fix a known BIOS bug that is well documented.
Flashing a BIOS can go wrong and your system could be out of action until you can get a BIOS program restored or you purchase a new motherboard that has a working BIOS chip. To be safe read our article 'Re-flashing a Computers BIOS chip'.
If you need to amend the Windows Registry always make sure that you back up your Registry settings before proceeding. To do this click START/RUN and type SCANREG. This starts the Windows Registry Checker which checks for any errors - if there aren't any, it asks you if you want to backup the Registry again. Accept the offer!
Windows 98 and ME back up the registry at Start Up once a day and by default keep the last 5 working copies. To increase the number of copies kept you must edit the C:\WINDOWS\SCANREG.INI file by changing the MaxBackupCopies value from 5 to whatever you want it to be.
Once the backup is complete click START/RUN type REGEDIT and press ENTER. Now you are confronted with a list of Registry Root Keys:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
This Key stores file associations and related information.
HKEY_USERS
This Key stores the individual preferences for all the Users on your PC. This is mostly the contents of USER.DAT (located in the Windows folder).
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
This is just the section of HKEY_USERS for whoever is using the PC at the time.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
The Key stores information about hardware, software and preference from SYSTEM.DAT (located in the Windows folder).
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
This links to the section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for the current hardware configuration of primarily graphic cards and printers.
HKEY_DYN_DATA (not used by Windows XP)
This key stores information about Plug and Play devices.
If you delete old Keys for the packages you've perhaps uninstalled and you use Windows 98 or ME, you can compress the Registry to improve its performance (this is automatically done in Windows XP). Restart your PC in MS-DOS mode and run SCANREG /OPT to remove unused space and shrink the file sizes.
If there is a problem with the Registry, for example after it's been amended in some way, Windows Registry Checker replaces it with the most recent backup copy. To force Registry Checker to use an older version press F8 as Windows boots up and chose Safe Mode Command Prompt. At the C:\ prompt type SCANREG/RESTORE and chose which backup to choose.
For more tips on optimizing, fixing and tweaking the Registry QBS suggest you visit the Windows Registry Guide at: www.winguides.com
To remove an ISP's browser branding you need to amend a registry setting (be sure to backup your registry before you make any changes). Fire up the registry editor and drill down as follows:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
InternetExplorer\Main
Then edit the WindowsTitle value. This value will only be there if your title bar is branded.
Programs that you disable, by un-ticking a box, still appear listed under the Msconfig Startup tab.
If you are sure that this shortcut to a program is no longer required by Windows it can easily be removed form this list. Any shortcuts that are disabled are moved to a hidden folder called - Disabled Startup Items. To completely remove them all you have to do is track down this folder and delete it.
If you cannot see the 'Disabled Startup Items' folder on your Windows system check that your Windows Explorer Options are set to 'show hidden files and folders'.
A program has been uninstalled but there is still an entry for it in the ADD/Remove Programs List. To remove this, fire up the Registry Editor (be sure to backup your registry before you make any changes) and open Hkey_Local_Machine, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Uninstall.
A folder in Uninstall should contain a value named DisplayName containing the name of the application. Delete this folder.
Go to Control Panel and use Add/Remove programs to delete any printer drivers shown in the list.
Now open the Printer and Faxes control panel right click the printer icon and select delete.
Still in the Printer and Faxes control panel choose File/Server Properties and click the Drivers Tab. Select your printer model from the list of drivers and click the Remove button to delete the drivers from your hard drive.
To find out more about our charges, please see our latest price list click here.
Open Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. If Internet Explorer is listed, click on the Change/Remove link. You should now see an Internet Explorer 6.0 and Internet Tools dialog box. Select Repair Internet Explorer and click OK.
If Internet Explorer is not listed in Add or Remove Programs try another method. Open the Folder C:\Windows\inf and find the file ie.inf. Right click on this file and select install.
To restore an earlier Registry backup under Windows 98 or ME, using your Recovery Disc (you should have created one) boot your PC to a command prompt and type scanreg. Use the menus to restore one of the registry backups that Windows makes each day.
Under Windows XP click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore, Restore my computer to an earlier time.
If your web browsing is for some reason limited to text only and you want to restore the picture display in Microsoft's Internet Explorer then read on.
From the toolbar in IE Select Tools/Internet Options and click the Advanced Tab. Scroll down the list until you reach the Multimedia section and make sure the browser is set to display pictures. If setting this field does not restore your picture display open Add/Remove Programs, select Internet Explorer and use the Repair option.
If Internet Explorer is not listed in Add/Remove Programs go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information and select Tools/Internet Explorer Repair Tool. Choose the Repair Internet Explorer option and click OK. This should finally restore IE's ability to show pictures.
This could point to one of two possible problems. Either a program is interfering with ScanDisk so that it crashes or there may be a fault with your Hard Drive.
To eliminate the likelihood of another program causing the problem reboot your machine into Safe mode and run ScanDisk from there.
If ScanDisk still refuses to work you could try one or all of the following:
1. Empty your Recycle Bin
2. Delete any Temp folders and your Temporary Internet Files folder
3. Delete your History and Recent folders.
If ScanDisk still refuses to run try Microsoft Support for a list of common problems and fixes for ScanDisk.
If after all this, ScanDisk still refuses to work you may have a problem with your Hard Drive. Back up your data, FDISK and Format the Drive, reinstall Windows and immediately try ScanDisk before installing anything else. If the problem persists your Hard Drive will probably need replacing.
To fix this, shut down every program, including all those sitting in the System Tray, any scanner software that is running, any fax software and any screensaver before you start running ScanDisk or Defrag.
If this still doesn't work start Windows in Safe Mode before running these programs.
Get your site appearing on Google, Yahoo and MSN!
A good and proven Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) company can certainly help you achieve this, but what's involved in optimising a web site?
'Get the QBS free guide to SEO'.
Windows 2000, NT and XP all have a built in multiboot capability which uses a hidden system file in the C Drive root directory named boot.ini.
Adding the ability to choose which operating system to boot from is merely a matter of adding a line of text to this system file.
First find the boot.ini file and check its properties, to make sure it is not read only. Then open it in Notepad and add a line at the end of the 'Operating System' section that reads: D:\"Microsoft Windows Millennium" (assuming that its Windows Millennium you wish to dual boot with and that Windows ME is on the D partition).
Link Popularity Check is a freeware program that checks the link popularity status of your own web site on several search engines and compares it to other web sites on the Internet.
www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/linkpop.html
If your computer keeps crashing when you play games or when you are viewing/amending your digital pictures the cause of the crashes is likely to be a problem with your graphics card or its software device driver or even the DirectX version running on your PC.
Read our article 'Solving Graphic Card Problems' to find out the solution to these problems.
Your soundcard might be getting interference from your PC’s power supply.
Try moving the card to a different slot. You should also try disconnecting or muting any microphones you have connected.
Clicking noises are down to cross channel interference between components inside your PC. About the only solution is to move your soundcard further away from your hard drive if possible. If not, fit a small ferrite ring (not a magnet) around the cable between your CD drive and soundcard.
In the Registry Editor (Start -> Run -> type regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop, and add a string value named MenuShowDelay (it might already be there), with a value specifying the number of milliseconds (400 is default, smaller numbers are faster).
Try 300 milliseconds and then see how your PC responds. Then perhaps try 100 milliseconds and see which speed up you personally prefer.
Outlook Express uses the Microsoft Word Spellchecker to spellcheck your e-mails so your PC must have a copy of Word or Office installed for this to work. Outlook Express also needs a file named csapi3t.dll which may be missing if you are using Windows XP. If present you will find this file in C:\Program files\Common files\Microsoft shared\Proof. If the file is not there get a copy from www.dll-files.com.
Unlike previous versions of the Windows Operating System, Windows XP does not have an option to create a bootable floppy disk.
For the vast majority of users this will not be a major problem as they will be able to boot up using their Windows XP CD. However there may be situations where a CD-Rom drive is not available for use (i.e. perhaps non working/damaged).
Fortunately you can create bootable floppy discs from the Microsoft website.
This download will need six floppy discs.
Windows XP Home Edition users should visit:
Discs for Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Professional Edition users should visit:
Discs for Windows XP Professional Edition
(If you need a Windows 98 Boot Disk then visit www.bootdisk.com)
The play sound option is burried 2 levels deep in Outlooks Options dialog. Go to the Tools menu, select Options and then click on the email options button at the top of the preferences tab.
When the email options dialog opens, click on Advanced email Options about halfway down the dialog on the left hand side.
In the advanced Email Options dialog is a frame labelled "When new items arrive in my Inbox". You will see that the first checkbox is "play sound". Uncheck that for comp[lete silence whenever new mail arrives in your inbox.
If you open Task Manager (Ctrl/Alt/Delete) in Windows XP (SP1 or SP2) and you only see an open Task Manager Window with no tabs, menu or title bar you have probably clicked on the Task Manager Window border not realising that this action removes all the usual navigation controls.
To put things right again simply double click on any part of the border of this 'minimal display Window'.
To get the minimal view back again double click in the blank area to the right of the tabs.
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When you go out and spend a lot of money on a PC it is certainly wise to think about this added layer of protection. Read more about the need for surge protection.
Error on Page means that some script code in the page you are viewing has encountered an error. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this message as it is usually the result of a programming error or a side effect of your browsers security settings.
The best thing to do to suppress this message.
If you are using Internet Explorer select Tools/Internet Options and then click the Advanced tab. In the list of settings, under Browsing, put a tick against 'Disable script debugging' and click OK.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology that turns analogue audio signals into digital data that can be sent over the Internet. This allows you to completely bypass conventional telephone networks and their fees and talk via the web for free.
To find out more about this technology take a look at our article 'Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)'.
Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double click on Multimedia. Tick the box that says, 'Show volume control on the task bar'. Apply the change and click OK. You will now be able to access your mixer by double clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray.
If you occasionally come across web sites that Internet Explorer cannot load for some technical reason (time-out) and you find that I.E. takes a long time to tell you the site is unavailable, you can shorten this waiting period by tweaking the Registry. Make sure you back up your Registry before you start.
Start the Registry Editor and open
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Internet Settings
Select Edit, New, Dword Value and call it Receive Timeout. Double click this new Dword in the right hand pane, set its base value to Decimal and type in the Value Data field a value of 60000. Press OK and restart. The time-out will now be set to activate after one minute. The Value Data is measured in milliseconds so you can change this Registry setting as desired (e.g. a 30 second delay would be 30000 milliseconds).
For some useful tips on designing an accessible website see our article'Website Accessibility Guidelines'.
We often get calls about what memory to install in a PC as part of an upgrade e.g. someone wanting to increase their PC's memory from 512MB to 1GB etc.
The advice we give to everyone is to visit the website of Crucial Technology and use their excellent memory advisor tool. This will examine your PC and tell you exactly what memory you need and even how many slots are free on your motherboard.
If you wish to find a manual for your motherboard try Motherboards.org. They offer a good range of manuals, for most makes of board, and the manuals can be downloaded in pdf format.
If you do not know the make of your motherboard a clue to its manufacturer may be available as your PC begins to boot up, but you will need to be quick off the mark to hit the Pause/Break key before the info begins to scroll off screen.
The best reason to partition your hard drive is to keep your software applications and operating system on your PC separate from your data files (i.e. music, pictures and other valuable documents you store on your computer).
Discover how to do this by reading our article 'Why should you Partition your Hard Drive'.
Does your copy of Windows XP on your desktop machine take a long time to shut down/reboot or even hang when you click the Turnoff or Restart buttons? If so, the cause may well be the Windows Power Options that are set up for your PC.
To check these, Open Control Panel and double click Power Options. Make sure that the 'Home/Office Desk' Power Scheme is selected and all three Settings are set to 'Never'. Now try shutting down your PC to see if there are any improvements in shutdown speed.
If there is only a slight improvement you will also need to disable the power management settings for the USB hub. To disable this, right click My Computer, click Properties, click the Hardware tab, then click Device Manager. Double click Universal Serial Bus Controllers to expand it, right click the USB Root Hub and then click Properties. Click the Power Management tab. Click to clear the 'Allow the Computer to Turn off this Device to Save Power' check box and then click OK.
You may well have more than one USB Root Hub listed in Device Manager, so repeat the above procedure for each one.
Now retest the Shutdown/Restart procedure to see if there are any further improvements.
If your PC is still rather slow at shutting down suspect one or more of the programs listed in your Taskbar (especially virus software).
Windows disables 'Standby' if it detects problems when trying to resume from this particular mode.
This can happen if you switch off your PC while it is in 'Standby' mode. To get this mode back again you will need to adjust a Registry setting so back up your Registry before you start.
Open the Registry Editor and expand Hkey_Local_Machine\System\
CurrentControlSet\Services\VXD. Select the Vpowered folder and see if values named Flags and SuspendFlag are present. If Flags is present and has a value greater than or equal to 200, change the value to the current value less 200. Set the value of SuspendFlag to 0 and then reboot your computer.
If this doesn't work, you will have to uninstall and reinstall Advanced Power Management Support. Open Control Panel, System and select Device Manager. Expand the System Devices branch and locate Advanced Power Management Support. Highlight this and click Remove. Reboot your PC and open Control Panel, Add New Hardware Wizard. Let the Wizard install support for APM and then reboot your PC. 'Standby' mode should now be restored.
To restore the standard boot up operation locate a file named winbootng.sts in the Windows folder and delete it. If this does not solve the problem and the PC continues to boot into Safe Mode, exit Windows to MS-DOS, or boot from a recovery disc, and execute the following commands:
Atrrib -s-h-r C:\io.sys
Ren C:\io.sys.old
Sys C:
This should restore the normal start up operation of Windows 98.
Try disabling the Windows Start Up Sound from Control Panel/Sounds. If this does not cure the problem the cause is probably one of your system tray applications. The only way to find out which one, is by a process of elimination.
If you are familiar with MSCONFIG then you can disable start up processes and gradually re-enable them to find out which one is causing the problem.
If you play CD's using Windows Media Player and sometimes receive an error message to say that it has to shut down you may have a problem with your media library database. It may be corrupted and if so, you will need to recreate it.
Open the folder Documents and Settings\
If you are using WMP 10.0 the media library database is named CurrentDatabase_219.wmdb. If you are using Media Player 9.0 the filename is CurrentDatabase_59R.wmdb. Rename the appropriate file to something else and restart your PC. Media Player will then recreate a fresh copy of your database.
If the problem is fixed by doing this, go back and delete the corrupted database that you renamed.
Note:
The type of error message that shows a database corruption would be something like: 'Faulting application wmplayer.exe version 8.0.0.4490, faulting module msisam11.dll, version 4.0.348.1, fault address0x00006a77'.
If Windows asks for a password when it starts up and you want to your PC to boot up and go straight into Windows, then here is how to do it.
Open Control Panel and double click Network. Select the Configuration tab of the Network Protocol and select Windows Logon from the Primary Network Logon drop down list, then click OK.
Now open Control Panel Passwords and select the Change Passwords tab. Click Change Windows Password and enter the old password (if any) and leave the new passwords field blank then click OK.
If your Recycle Bin is missing on your desktop it is likely that your ShelliconCache has become corrupted. The easiest thing to do is delete it and let Windows rebuild it from scratch.
To do this you need to reboot to a command prompt by tapping F8 as Windows begins to load and select 5 from the start-up menu. When the C:> prompt appears type the following commands one at a time pressing Return after each command is typed.
cd windows [Return]
attrib shelli* -h [Return]
erase shelli* [Return]
Now reboot your PC to allow Windows to rebuild the ShelliconCache. You should now be able to see and access your Recycle Bin.
The Administrator account is disabled by default under Windows Vista.
To enable it click Start, Run and enter 'control userpasswords2'. Select the Advanced tab and click Advanced under Advanced User Management. This will open the Local Users and Groups Manager.
Click on Users on the left of the panel and double click Administrator. On the General tab, un-tick the checkbox 'Account is Disabled' and click OK. This will set you up as Administrator.
Windows Vista - read the review.
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can test your Windows XP PC to see if you can run Microsoft’s latest operating system - Windows Vista.
The Upgrade Advisor tool will scan your computer and create an easy to understand report of all known system, device and program compatibility issues and recommend ways to resolve them. Upgrade Advisor can also help you choose the edition of Windows Vista that best fits the way you want to use your computer.
All you need to do is download, install, and run the Upgrade Advisor.
Download Now: Vista Upgrade Advisor.
Note: The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor works with 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. It will not work with Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
Internal modems need to be assigned to COM3 or COM4, which are virtual COM ports. You need to install these first by using the Add New Hardware wizard in Control Panel.
Windows ME and XP both have the excellent System Restore Facility which can get you out of trouble more often than not. But what if this facility becomes unavailable? How can you reinstate System Restore?
Look in your Windows folder for a file named 'wininit.ini' and if you find it, delete it.
Wininit.ini is supposed to be a temporary file used by installers which enables files that are in use by Windows to be replaced or deleted before Windows next starts.
Restarting your PC enables these 'tidying up' actions to take place, after which the wininit.ini file is normally deleted. If this file is on your PC system then it is probably there because an earlier installation or removal of software did not run smoothly. It is this scenario that often causes System Restore to stop working.
If you've installed Windows XP and it's working well, but it halts on the 'It is safe to turn off the computer at shutdown' screen, instead of actually switching off, what do you do?
In Control Panel open Power Options and select the APM tab. If it shows that your PC supports APM, enable it. This allows Windows to turn off the computer after shutdown.
System Restore can stop working if you run short of disc space because it will purge all restore points trying to resolve the lack of space.
System Restore can also stop working for other reasons, so you should first check whether this Windows Service is actually running.
Open Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services and check this services properties. Start it up and set the Startup type to Automatic, so that in the future it will always continue running.
If System Restore fails suddenly, stopping the Service and rebooting usually fixes the problem. To do this open Control Panel/System, select the System restore Tab and disable System Restore. Restart your computer and then turn this Service back on again.
You cannot use any device under Windows unless you have Drivers that work with your particular Operating System. So driver problems usually comes to the fore when you upgrade your Operating System from say Windows 98SE to Windows XP and try to use your printer/scanner etc for the first time.
You will find that many drivers for the earlier versions of Windows do not work under Windows XP. To locate drivers, first check your manufacturers website to see if they have any Windows XP drivers for you peripheral. If so, download these and install them.
You could also try www.windowsxp-drivers.com a site that has links to all known Windows XP Drivers.
If the manufacturers website or www.windowsxp-drivers.com do not have Windows XP Drivers for your particular peripheral, then try installing Windows 2000 drivers. These may work but can sometimes cause Windows XP to become unstable.
If all else fails it may be time to upgrade your printer/scanner etc to a model that will work with the Windows XP Operating System.
All the items in the Programs menu are just files and folders, and can be easily deleted just like any other links. The best and easiest way to restore Wordpad and games is to uninstall and then reinstall them.
From Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs choose Add/Remove Windows Components. In the Window Components Wizard clear the box beside Accessories and Utilities and click next. This will remove the utilites and games.
Now repeat the entire process to reinstall these items.
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