Posts by TallCool1

I just wanted to let you know the problem is fixed for the task bar with start button missing....I redownloaded " Greatis " did regrun , clicked on clean windows boot , and restarted system..and it came back. Thank you for your time in viewing the problem.... pixie

Thank you for reporting back!

have built 2 before with no problems but this time monitor only stays on for a couple of minutes then goes black. Also trying to run maxblast (to format HD) and it gets to a point where you have to click ok and there is no curser

Does the monitor go into standby mode?

One possibility is shutdown due to overheating--that is, an improperly-fitted CPU heat sink or an improperly-plugged-in CPU fan. That function can be monitored in the BIOS. After a surprise shutdown, reboot and take a look at the power supply voltages and CPU temperature to see if anything looks out-of-line. CPU temperatures of more than about 50C are suspect.

Another possibility is that the computer is going into power-saver mode for some reason. A new motherboard shouldn't do this out-of-the-box, but it's possible that the BIOS is set (incorrectly) for this. Although the exact menu title varies depending upon which brand of BIOS is being used, look for a title like Power Management and turn off all the power-saving options. Those can be handled in Windows, anyway.

Those are just the most likely causes. Check those first and let us know what's up.

Oops... please ignore the first paragraph of my reply in your case:

Start by running Shoot the Messenger, DCOMbobulator, and UnPlug n' Pray from Gibson Research (about mid-page). This will close the door on some of the vunerabilities used.

It doesn't apply to Windows 98. I was thinking XP, for some reason. Sorry about that!

I have tried to reinstall the newest ATI drivers, and I reinstalled DirectX9
My games worked before but they dont know so it has to be some that wasn't installed right.
Now I have tired games liek Halo, and Need for speed under ground, they worked before now they dont, but games like savage, and Star wars, kight of the old republic that are also 3D do work.
I reinstalled Halo, and Need For Speed, but they still dont work.

I agree with ajax--it would appear that OpenGL is working OK, DX9 is not, for whatever reason. I think it's an ATI driver issue.

I need to know how to wire a RJ45 8-conductor jack. Can someone point me in the right direction?

You mean like this?

I go to "My Computer" and it shows the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) I put in a floppy and double click the icon and i get a message that says "please insert a disk into drive A:"

I have everything hooked up correctly. The LED on the front of it lights up and the floppy cable is taut.

Does the LED stay on all the time? If so, the problem is that the floppy-drive cable is plugged in upside-down at one end. They are supposed to be keyed to prevent this, but it doesn't always work out that way. If that's the case, it will "see" a drive, but no access will occur. Flip the cable over at one end.

Fortunately, this rarely damages the floppy controller.

Currently I have ME, but I want to upgrade my PC to XP, because basically ME is ish. It's a free PC though, so hey. Should I go to ebay and buy a copy... or should I download it from an FTP?

There are no "legal" downloads for XP, hence no FTP for you to get it from. eBay is ok -- you can get the OEM version of XP Pro for about $130.

I'm writing an article, called XP Out-of--the-box (it's not done yet) which will talk about securing XP before you get on-line to download the patches--here's a couple of tips to tide you over:

Do a "clean" install, not an upgrade. Especially with Me, there are likely to be conflicts between Me and XP.

I have seen machines hit by the Blaster worm and Messenger spam even before the patches were downloaded. Once you get XP installed, and before you get on the Internet, start by running Shoot the Messenger, DCOMbobulator, and UnPlug n' Pray from Gibson Research (about mid-page). You can download these to a floppy ahead of time. This will close the door on some of the vunerabilities used by malware

This article (PDF file, right-click to download) discusses the issues involved, but realize that much of what it does manually is done automatically by the above tools, hence the need for my article--to simplify matters and bring up other useful issues..

Can someone please have a look at this hjt log as my friend is gettin a lot of pop ups i have run adaware and cwshredder and a few more and fixed a lot of problems.

Start by running Shoot the Messenger, DCOMbobulator, and UnPlug n' Pray from Gibson Research (about mid-page). This will close the door on some of the vunerabilities used.

Next, you should remove the following malware-related items:

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {CE31A1F7-3D90-4874-8FBE-A5D97F8BC8F1} - C:\PROGRA~1\BARGAI~1\BIN\APUC.DLL

O3 - Toolbar: ISTbar - {5F1ABCDB-A875-46c1-8345-B72A4567E486} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ISTBAR\ISTBAR.DLL

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RDLL] RunDll16.exe (be sure to remove both instances)

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IST Service] C:\Program Files\ISTsvc\istsvc.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [msbb] C:\PROGRAM FILES\180SOLUTIONS\MSBB.EXE

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Bargains] C:\Program Files\Bargain Buddy\bin\bargains.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [EOIVZCFJM] C:\WINDOWS\EOIVZCFJM.exe

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [eZmmod] C:\PROGRA~1\ezula\mmod.exe

O16 - DPF: {6CAE02B8-EB30-11D1-8CE5-0004ACF74B57} (IFS_List Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_List.cab
O16 - DPF: {5DD1BBF5-E4B2-11D1-9211-0004ACF75CFC} (IFS_Wizard2 Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Wz02.cab
O16 - DPF: {F3DAE1EA-01DA-11D2-8E33-08005AAA630C} (IFS_Wizard4 Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Wz04.cab
O16 - DPF: {5915C16A-F555-11D1-8E31-08005AAA630C} (IFS_Wizard5 Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Wz05.cab
O16 - DPF: {C6C07D4E-3911-11D2-8708-0001FAF8D5C4} (IFS_Wizard7 Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Wz07.cab
O16 - DPF: {A3186A8D-134F-11D3-BBAE-0010E3624141} (IFS_Wizard8 Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Wz08.cab
O16 - DPF: {35831956-96AF-11D3-BC12-0010E3624141} (IFS_Wizard10 Control) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Wz10.cab
O16 - DPF: {1096842F-FEE6-11D2-965E-0010E3622565} (IFS_Lib00) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont...1.0/IFS_OLB.cab
O16 - DPF: {8F78C964-B20B-11D2-8D4A-0004ACF74B57} (IFS_Lib01) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Lb01.cab
O16 - DPF: {C6726AD0-E1E0-11D2-929E-0004ACF75CFC} (IFS_Lib03) - http://tescoonline.co.uk/dbpc2/cont....0/IFS_Lb03.cab
O16 …

here's the problem: I start up win2k, then I log onto it, then an error message appears that says "your system has no paging file or your paging file is too small." then it gives instructions on how to adjust the paging file. I click on 'ok' then it logs on again, then, shows the s2pid error message again. when I click on 'ok' again, it goes through the same procedure again...

has a free-download floppy disk image that, when expanded to a floppy, creates a bootable disk that will allow you to delete files or copy them from an NTFS partition to a FAT32 partition (or another hard drive) or a network. The site has other NTFS utilities as well, both free and for pay.

Hi. I run Windows 2000. For the past week I have had a problem shutting down my system. I get the box that says end program-rundll32.exe. It starts it's countdown where I can hit any button and end now or let the countdown go and it will do it on it's own. If I hit any key, the system shuts down. If I don't, I get a message that the program is not responding, and the system does not shut down. I can't think of anything I did that would have changed anything.

Under Windows 2000/XP, rundll32.exe is supposed to run-and-release, that is, it loads the DLL it's called to load--then terminates. If it continues to run, it usually indicates some sort of malware. See the article in my signature for information on spyware/adware tools such as HijackThis, Ad-aware, Spybot - Search & Destroy, and CWShredder--with tips on using them.

I've had my computer for a while, but a few months ago, apparantly for no reason, whenever i go to windows update and click "scan now" it always stays at 0%. I can leave it running for hours but it will not move. It works perfectly on all other sites on the internet but that one.

Your problem is most likely a simple one. Somewhere on your machine is a directory called WUTemp or similar -- there may be other directories that begin with "wu," as well. I can't remember if it's hidden or not (I don't have it on my system right now). If you don't see it, open any folder window, go to the menu Tools->Folder Options->View and check Show hidden files and folders. Once you find it, delete it. Most likely, it's one of those directories that are blocking your access. It's worked for me more than once.

Another possibility is that ActiveX is disabled or corrupted, though that usually will generate an error message.

:!: Well... erm yea. Everytime I restart my computer my homepage changes to this exotic porn type website and some links (xxx porno type) into my favorite. Please help me. I have used the lavasoft adware remover many times and it did not help.

Some hijackers are more persistent than others. We need more inforrmation. See my article link (in my signature) to find out more about using HijackThis so that we can see what's going on.

This just happened yesterday without me doing anything at all...

here's the problem: I start up win2k, then I log onto it, then an error message appears that says "your system has no paging file or your paging file is too small." then it gives instructions on how to adjust the paging file. I click on 'ok' then it logs on again, then, shows the s2pid error message again. when I click on 'ok' again, it goes through the same procedure again...
here's what I have: win2k +SP4, AMD K6-2 500, 4G HDD

You need a bigger hard drive, or to aggressively clean up your current one. You are running out of swap space. A good dfrag wouldn't hurt, either.

I run CwShredder and bellow you get the log (shall I hit Fix ?)

Yes. Then run HijackThis again as a cross-check, to see if anything is left.

Besides that every time I run Google.com a pop up ad comes up just after submiting any entry a new browser windows opens with this pesky search company :
(http://search-company.com/search.php?qq=kee+bird&pin=10213)

Despite I have employed Hijackthis to clear out the system , the d a m n thing goes on happening...

Your primary problem is a CoolWebSearch variant. First run CWShredder--download from here. Then re-scan and re-post.

Just so you know, this diagnosis is based on the following items from your log:

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://uol.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = C:\WINDOWS\system32\blank.html
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Multi Media Marketing
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Connection Wizard,Shellnext = http://home.uol.com/
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {2E9CAFF6-30C7-4208-8807-E79D4EC6F806} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\SUBMIT\SUBMITHOOK.DLL
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {FCADDC14-BD46-408A-9842-CDBE1C6D37EB} - D:\IEDOCTOR\ADFLR.DLL
O2 - BHO: . - {587DBF2D-9145-4c9e-92C2-1F953DA73773} - C:\WINDOWS\APPLICATION DATA\WINVX\WINVX.DLL
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {FD9BC004-8331-4457-B830-4759FF704C22} - C:\WINDOWS\APPLICATION DATA\WINVX\MSIESH.DLL
O2 - BHO: ShowSearch module - {E2DDF680-9905-4dee-8C64-0A5DE7FE133C} - C:\WINDOWS\APPLICATION DATA\WINVX\MSSEARCH.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: &IE Doctor Bar - {123249EB-F891-44C4-946F-450064F9080E} - D:\IEDOCTOR\IEDRBAR.DLL

O19 - User stylesheet: (file missing)

all of which indicates a hijacker.

hi everybody,I need help,cannot login to hotmail and navigation is too slow,because ActiveX is not functional.

In windows update I could not get my Win98SE past the "Administrators Only" roadblock to scan and fetch updates I need,because my ActiveX doesn't work properly.

Wow! Talk about hitting flies with a sledgehammer!

Your problem is more likely a simple one. Somewhere on your machine is a directory called WUTemp or similar. I can't remember if it's hidden or not (I'm in Linux right now--nothing on my Windows partition is hidden). If you don't see it, open any folder window, go to the menu Tools->Folder Options->View and check Show hidden files and folders. Once you find it, delete it. Most likely, that's what's blocking your access. It's worked for me more than once.

I have recently been gaming and during my game my PC freeze's and I have to hard boot, at first I thought it to be my cheap Graphics card but I went out and bought a GF FX 5900 SE 128MD DDR AGP and it still is happening any suggestions ??? Oh yea I am running XP PRO Intel 2.6 P4 512 Ram.

Most likely, it's a RAM problem. Try MemTest86 to test it overnight. It's not an absolute, but it's pretty good.

On boot up I also still getting a box that says "You (or a program) have requested information from storm.godofthe.net which connection do you wish to use?" The message also used to use the name "relay.kontiki.com" but Ad-Aware found the kontiki folder and removed same. Thanks all for your help this is driving me more insane that I already am.

O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{6179ED18-10E5-40A1-94DE-4AF6F58DEC60}: NameServer = 203.109.250.50 203.109.250.61

That last 017 item is interesting. Are you in Australia, by chance? Is yout ISP iHug? If not, that may be your culprit, if "StormGod" is hosted by them.

Folks, when you sign up, at least tell us what country you are from. It is not at all unusual for that information to affect the answer. This is one of those cases.

You also seem to have a lot of references to the on-line virus scans that you did (nearly all the 016 items), but that probably has no effect on performance. They really should clean up after themselves better!

Other than that, I see nothing in the HijackThis log that seems amiss. There are a few things that I would remove because they are pigs, but that's just me. Have you cleared out your Internet Temporary Files folder lately?

I am not sure if this is the right forum to post this but here goes:-

I had MS Blaster which was shutting down all my programs. Now I find I have WORM AGOBOT.UY which seems to prevent me from running any virus software. It is in C:\windows\system32\msnmsgr.exe and I tried the malaware fix but it never lists the program as running. I don't want to have to do a reformat.

This worm has various names. That's one of the problems with multiple anti-virus companies crawling over each other to "solve" your problems for competitive gain. Try this Symantec link, and enter the word Agobot in the search box. You can also try this Google search. I'm not sure which tool removes it.

Thanks to both zachery and tallcool1
I am on Cable and only have a router. Any suggestions on a firewall brand?

Most routers can act as a rudimentary hardware firewall. Some even come with firewall software. Combining a router with ZoneAlarm should be enough--but make sure that your router's firmware is up-to-date. More than one manufacturer has reported vunerabilities that can be patched this way.

You can test your firewall status using ShieldsUp! (GRC.com) which is part of one of the most useful service sites on the Internet--especially when you upgrade to Windows XP. You want all your ports to be "stealth."

I currently have nothing other than Norton Anti-virus and Spybot on my PC. Should I have another program to prevent pop ups, adware from planting themselves? I run spybot but the same pop ups keep coming back. At least the Porn ads stopped. Any suggestions. Running Window 98 second edition. Should I also upgrade internet explorer?

The free Google Toolbar is good if you continue to use IE--it has a built-in Google search, pop-up stopper, form-fill, and other handy features. As Zachery mentioned, Mozilla and Firefox are good alternatives, though be aware that Firefox is still in beta. The Mozilla-based browsers can be set to reject third-party cookies, the ones that are most likely to be ad-based.

If you are on broadband (DSL or cable), you should have a firewall, as well. The free version of ZoneAlarm is decent.

ok I'm not really sure what catigory (sp?). I've seen some computers at my school that when they boot up a picture will display. This also happens on my personal Acer computer. It will flash a blue background with the word Acer in the middle. My schools will flash Warwick Public Schools. My dad told me it was done in the bios. How do you do this? Is there a program? please help me thanks

Some newer PCs have the ability to flash a picture into the BIOS itself. I can't give you brands, but I did see something about this recently. An interim measure would be a custom logo for Windows boot-up, depending upon which Windows version they are running. I'll look into it for you. Here's what I found so far: BIOS Logo Changer though this is somewhat limited. Is this enough?

IBM thinkpad ,vertial lines on the top half of the screen ,they show as yellow,blue and pink on a light background ,1 solid blackline on the blue desktop about 1/4 in apart. hooked to my monitor via a KVM switch they are not there so its in the laptops screen ,is it fixiable !!

It might be a ribbon-cable problem. The cable might be loose, but it's not likely. An LCD screen is divided into two parts, upper and lower--if something is affecting only one half, the problem could be either electronic or mechanical. Look over some of my other replies in reference to LCDs in this forum for clues. I was going to quote myself, but it's all here in the other messages...

Here's my story: when I went to restart my computer, I accidentally kicked out the cord that connected my moniter (LCD) to the computer. It did this quick flash, turned the display red, then restarted. When I replugged the cord back and once it had finish restarting, the display had this reddish color.

It looks like you have damaged your video card, and the green output has been pulled loose inside. If you apply enough force to a video connector (easy to do with a bulky, stiff monitor cable), you can tear loose a solder joint or break a trace (the printed-circuit board eqivalent of a wire). If you have a friend who is handy with a soldering iron, have him (or her) take a look at it--it may be fixable. A shop may charge more than the repair is worth to you, unless you have an ongoing relationship with one and they fix it cheaply for you. The bottom line: it may be repairable, but unless you do the repair yourself, it will cost you.

Allright, I know it's old but its what I got with me. I got to use it for awhile. Now I should mention that I don't use both anti-virus at same time. .

Ahhh, but HijackThis clearly shows both programs launched from the Registry and running in the background. You may not be invoking both programs manually, but they are both running at the same time. Uninstall Norton immediately and most of your problems will be solved, I think.

It's probably not worth trying to upgrade your processor at this time. Save your pennies for your next system.

MSN Messenger 4.7, "On-line" users appear "Off-line"

MSN Messenger 4.7 is hideously out-of-date and 100% deprecated--I'm surprised that it even worked for you as late as it did. The current version is 6.1. Get it.

i have the same problem with no luck and i have ran Spybot and AdAware, and still nothing.

See the malware article link in my signature, below, then come back with more information.

i haf a geforce 2 gts pro, currently using the newest NVIDIA drivers.
current monitor setting is 1024x768 @ 85Hz @ 32 bit. I recently reinstalled my windows xp pro. My problem is that while i'm browsing the net with a fully updated IE6 the colours seem like its 8 bit! I've got no problems outside IE6...movies, games run fine. I've never had this problem before and its probably an IE problem, but after countless times browsing thru IE i still can't find a remedy.

There's a fix for this I have seen--but I can't remember where I saw it. I'll keep looking.

:confused: Hi, My computer has 400MHZ, 448MB, 80 GB(can only use 31 gb out of it, I dont know why).

You can use only 32 GB of your 80 GB hard drive because of the limitations of your motherboard's BIOS. Prior to late 1999, 32 gig was the limit. The cheapest way to get around this is a bootable PCI IDE card for around $30. Alternatively, you could get a 40 GB drive, strap it to 32 GB, bounce the current drive image to it, and use the 80 somewhere else.

Your main problem is that you are running two anti-virus (AV) programs at the same time. You can't do that!--the two programs tussle with each other big-time. If it were my choice, I would dump the Norton--in my opinion, it sucks up much more in the way of system resources than Grisoft without providing any performance advantages, especially on a slower system like yours.

But to be serious.....taking into account your experience....what monitor would you recommend for heavy graphic applications (CRT prof range)?

I always start with the CRT (picture tube) and work back. In my opinion, the best CRT on earth bar none is the Mitsubishi Diamondtron. This is because Mitsubishi licensed the Trinitron tube from Sony then improved it with a better electron gun design.

The basic Trinitron design is the best for a number of reasons -- its main drawback, the faint horizontal lines (shadows) caused by the tension wires across the aperture grill, are outweighed by the advantages. The advantages of an aperture grille over a shadow mask include much higher efficiency (a shadow mask only allows about 15% of the beam current to reach the screen, the aperture grill passes much more) and higher vertical resolution.

A number of manufacturers agree with me. You can get Diamondtron tubes from such manufacturers as Samsung, Iiyama, Viewsonic/Optiquest, and, of course, Mitsubishi themselves. All are on my recommended list, and all have consumer, professional, and "prosumer" lines. Of course there are others that may be just as good--but to my mind, these are the leaders. Of course, all those years of rosin fumes from slaving over a hot soldering iron may well have rotted my brain, so your mileage may vary...

As far as the comparison between CRT and LCD monitors, you can view my opinion here …

any tips on reseating the ribbons? what should i do?

It's not unusual for a ribbon connector on a mass-produced piece of gear to not be fully latched, or for the ribbon to be not fully poked home when it was latched, or for the ribbon not to be straight in the connector. Any of these conditions can cause problems.

The ribbon is connected to the printed circuit board via a ribbon connector. The ribbon connector consists of two parts, body and latch. The ribbon enters the connector body through a slot in the latch. The latch itself has "ears" or tabs for finger grips on either end of the long dimension. Grip the ears, not the ribbon, and (gently) pull the latch out, away from the body until it stops. This releases the ribbon. Pull the ribbon from the connector and look at it to make sure that it's not kinked, torn or ragged and that the metal contacts look shiny. If you want to clean it, isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab works best. Rubbing alcohol, while widely available, is not suitable for this purpose--it's 30% water. The easiest way to get near-pure isopropanol (about 98%) is to go to an auto-parts store and get an isopropanol gas dryer such as Iso-Heet. Note: Don't use a methyl alcohol dryer--methanol doesn't work as well as a solvent (the same goes for your gas tank, for that matter). It's easy to tell one from the other -- methanol dryers …

The hard drive is a Quantum fireball plus AS 10.2gb. My computer is just an 266mhz made in 1998.

Some PCs of that vintage will not recognize a hard drive bigger than 8.4 GB, or will only recognize 8.4 GB of a larger drive due to BIOS limitations.

Make sure that your second drive's jumper(s) are set correctly for slave. Run a Windows 98 boot floppy (or boot into MS-DOS mode) and do an fdisk from the command prompt. The slave is physical drive 1 (the boot drive is 0). Check to see if drive 1 has a partition table, or if the system even sees it.

Hi, I have a been given a 2nd hand harddrive that I want to install as a slave. The problem is I am unsure what is installed on this harddrive. Do I have to format this drive? Or should I just plug it in?

If it is FAT32, Windows 98 will see the contents, no problem -- unless it's too high a capacity for your BIOS. Most 1999-and-earlier PCs had a 32 GB capacity limit. Can you give us the brand and model number of the drive? Also, the age and processor speed of your PC, for compatibility verification.

If it was used for Windows NT/2000/XP, it may have the NTFS file system on it, in which case Windows 98 can't see it directly. Do you know what it contains? There are ways of reading NTFS drives under earlier versions of Windows.

The monitor is just under a year old. The refresh rate i normally use is 85 Hz, everytime i go to change that or the colour depth on display properties from 16 bit to 32bit or vice versa the monitor suddenly flickers very quickly & switches itself off in an instant & when i switch it back on its ok, as i say it never used to happen at all before.

Without a doubt, you have a bad monitor. If it's less than a year old, it may still be under warranty.

Technical details (optional):

Modern cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors use about 30,000V (30kV) to accelerate the electron beam to the screen. In order to prevent possibly-excessive X-ray emissions, the voltage is both regulated and limited -- if the high voltage exceeds a certain limit for more than a certain amount of time, the monitor shuts down for safety. When a monitor switches modes, the high-voltage supply may produce a brief "spike" of excess voltage. Since this pulse duration is shorter than the safety circuit time delay, no problem -- but if there is no time delay, or the voltage is already near the trip point, shutdown occurs. My current (older) NEC shuts down this way sometimes.

On an older monitor, this type of problem is usually caused by dried-out electrolytic capacitors due to heat build-up -- dry caps lead to no filtering, hence no delay -- or component aging. Dry caps and bad solder joints seem …

Hello all (that read this)

I have noticed in IE that for all images over a certan size, when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the image, he or she is given the option of either saving, printing, or emailing that image - or opening his or her images folder. I think it looks really tacky and am wondering if there is any way to turn off this option..

I know there is a Javascript technique (or maybe a Java applet?) to prevent the possibility of saving out an image, though I don't know exactly what is required -- but I do know it exists. Something like "roll over the graphic but the script hides it." Some "adult" sites use this technique.

it is ntfs where can I get a boot floppy? will I have to reinstall IE?

My first reply included a direct link to the floppy download in the body of the message -- and, no, IE does not need to be reinstalled. The directories under content.ie5 are recreated automagically the next time that you run the program.

When changing the refresh rate in windows xp or the colour depth the monitor switches itself off for some reason & from time to time it starts to flicker even while booting. i have also recently flashed the BIOS to a newer version. Dont know if the cause of the problem is the monitor itself, the graphics card or coz i flashed the bios???????

The monitor itself is most likely at fault. What refresh rates are we talking about? What are you using to switch them? I doubt that the BIOS has anything to do with the problem, especially if it is happening at boot-time. How old is the monitor, exactly?

I have a 9600XT, and ever since I reinstalled windows games like Halo look bad, When U start the game all U see is black and white blocks, no color at all, Anyone know what cause be causing this problem?

It could be a driver error. Did you install the newest drivers after the Windows reinstall? Older drivers will usually work OK with 2D graphics due to backwards compatibility, but anything that uses advanced 3D features may fail spectacularly, as yours has. Also check your DirectX is up-to-date with the DXDiag command.

Bought AST vision 20H (3+ years old) from my friend.... I think that the prob was caused by transportation. The monitor simply gets bright green glow after i start up the PC. It gets back to normal after an hour or so....

That can be one of several problems, including a bad picture tube, but it's most likely a bad solder connection. Most of the AST monitors were made by Acer, which was known for that problem with that vintage of monitor. It will probably turns out that the board connector pins are poorly soldered to the printed circuit board. As the unit warms up, stuff expands and the connection "heals" temporarily. Unless you fix it yourself, it may not be economical to repair.

ok i m13 im new here i just need some help with my comp so HI:)

now i was having some problems with counter-strike a video game and it takes something like 70 fps but my comp can't handle it so it spazzes to 5 fps then back to 70. my friend said i needed a new driver i tryed getting one but it didnt do anything. could u tell me what kind of driver i need, where to get it and how to install it?

It may not be the video card. Something else may be sucking up resources or interrupts. It's possible, for example, that your systemlacks enough RAM or the DMA settings on your CD-ROM may be incorrect (not turned on). It's also possible that the BIOS feature Assign PCI IRQ to VGA is turned on, which could cause conflicts and timing errors. A board in PCI slot 1 (the one nearest the AGP card) can also cause similar conflicts.

Please help us help you. How about more system details? Run something like AIDA32 in a text-report mode and post the results.

I have files in my temp internet folder that wont delete and can't be renamed.

Is your root filesystem NTFS or FAT32? If it's NTFS, get the NTFS boot floppy and delete the Content.ie5 directory from the command line. If it's FAT32, use a Windows 98 boot floppy to do the same thing.

You might also want to check out Microsoft's Really Hidden Files for more information and tips. Warning: potentially offensive site name and email address.

I have an IBM ThinkPad T22. for the life of me i can not figure out why my s-video doesn't display on my TV. I can hook a desktop computer monitor up to the monitor port on it and it works fine. The minute i hook the s-video up nothing displays on the tv. The laptop runs fine doesnt lock up or anything but it won't display on the tv. Is there a driver or program I need to run it? also I have an ifra red port on my T22 do I need a program to run it?

I don't think your video problem is driver-related -- there are only a limited number of resolutions which are supported by the S-video output. Try 640 x 480 first, then 800 x 600, both at 60 Hz vertical refresh. I can virtually guarantee that 1024x768, for example, ain't gonna work.

If you are using the s-output regularly, you may find the free utility MultiRes useful -- it allws a user to switch resolution and vertical refresh on-the-fly.

As far as the infrared, a Google search is fruitful.

I have a computer that will boot up. But when it's supposed to go to Windows (i.e. the begining where you have to log on) it will not show up on the screen. It will show the boot stuff, but after that, NADA

I have already tested this on 2 different monitors and no success.

It may simply be that the default resolution that Windows is currently set to is not supported by either monitor you tried. Before you go mucking about with the drivers, go into Safe mode, open the Desktop menu, go to the Properties window, click on the Settings tab, and set the video resolution slider to 640 x 480 or 800 x 600. Click on OK to exit, then reboot. Check on the Internet to see what your monitors support, or look under Control Panel -> Monitors to see if they are listed.

I have problems with computer freeze up and auto restart when I play games or playing a loading amount of songs in my winamp playlist.
For playing games I play like BF1942 (battlefield 1942) or RON (Rise of Nations) with the upgrades and get freeze up and then it automatically restarts by itself.

On Winamp I use a shoutcast plugin and the player itself. I get a freeze up when I play a long duration of Mp3s. For example I play about 12 songs and when the 12th song is over to go on to the next one it freezes and I have to restart again. I can't do Crtl-Alt-DEL, I have to reset is from the reset button. Also I play like about 1800 songs in my playlist.

What is the problem? Can somebody help me? Can it be an heat issue? I bought one of the best fans for my cpu as it's a vantec Aeroflow.

The current version of DirectX is 9.0b -- make sure it's up to date.

To monitor temperatures, try MotherBoard Monitor. If you can't do it that way for some reason, the next time it locks up or restarts itself, reset it and immediately go to the page in the BIOS that monitors voltages and temperatures to see if the temps or voltage are off-kilter.

Make sure your memory DIMMs are secure in their sockets. You would be surprised at how often they are not properly …

I do have 1 quick question...you asked me.... What do you scan for adware and spyware with.... well I have no idea. Is the Grisoft Avg software that you use to scan for it, or should I download something else. Anyway thanks for your help, and I will be getting rid of my Norton 2002 and will replace it with 2004

Dealing with adware and spyware is a somewhat different issue than with viruses, though Trojans overlap some. You can start by reading my malware article; the link is in my signature, below. It will help give you a better idea of what software to download and which questions to ask.

There is nothing that Norton do for you that AVG can't, except suck up resources -- that's what it's best at; I cannot recommend Norton software for any purpose (except some of the free tools, perhaps -- I'm grateful for those). I'd stick with the Grisoft stuff for now.

I'm in the process of writing an article on Securing Windows XP and I will post it to my site when it's finished, probably by the weekend (maybe a bit later).

ok since last week my other computer can't open webpages...it keeps on saying canot display...and it says sometyhing about my server and a dsn...but i tried refreshing reconnecting to the net...i checked my connection and its all fine

Who is your provider? SBC, for example, just changed their DNS setup, so some software may need to be reset. Is DHCP turned on? It's possible that may need to be done. Contact your service provider's Technical Support and see what may have changed, or need to be changed, since the first of the month.

It was "freesurfer" popup blocker. Most worthless piece of crap that I have every used. Not only that but it now seems to have screwed the settings up. Thanks.

Apparently, this has been an ongoing problem. I found this by searching like I said to.

As a side note anybody know what roughly the current market value of these things are so that I know how much I am about to *iss away if I can't get the puzzle back together.

You could always do a search on eBay or uBid.

I installed a popup blocker a few days ago and got sick of it since it blocked my ability to read e-mails, write, etc. through AOL. It also would not allow me to click on the link of one site to another (new window would not appear or "pop up". This is still happening even after I uninstalled the software. Did it change the internet registry? If so what do I need to change in order to view pop up pages, hyperlinks, etc.?

Which pop-up blocker was it? It should not have made unreversed changes to your Registry, though I think you are correct in assuming that that's what happened. Try Googling on the program name (in quotes) and the phrase new window (also in quotes) and see what turns up.

Heve you checked your settings: Tools -> Internet Options -> Security? I can't say exactly what settings might need changing, but it won't hurt to check.

As to a pop-up blocker, that's one of the main reasons that I run Mozilla, but a good pop-up blocker for IE (and useful in general) is the Google Toolbar.

Ive been having a problem with connecting to websites lately. Im running 3 computers (2 run XP Home Edition, the 3rd runs Win 98) through a Netgear RP614 router on a cable connection, and all three have the same problem with intermittent connection. I just moved over the weekend, and at the place I lived before I didnt have this problem so Im tempted to blame my new provider.

It may be that the DNS stuff is different from one to the other. If the old one used a static DNS setup, but the new one requires DHCP (for example), it might lead to this kind of problem. Contact your provider -- but don't mention the router until you know their policy on them!