Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is a place for us to share common computer questions submitted to us for help. While we do not publish all of the questions submitted to us, we do answer all of them by way of email. We care about providing quick, accurate and credible information to you.
Table of Contents
- Windows Update says my New XP machine is "missing registered files" and I can not get any updates.
- What if a program will not respond?
- Do I need to use the 'Disk Defragmenter' listed in my 'system tools' tab?
- Do you think I should purchase a 'Firewall' for my new computer?
- Do I really need to scan for spyware everyday I connect to the internet?
- Do I need a long 'Password' or will something like 'car123' do the job?
- What happens to files I delete with the 'Recycle Bin?
- What is 'check disk' and should I use it?
- Can I run 'Disk defrag' even when it says it is not needed?
- When I go online, something called an "I.P. address" shows up on my computer. Can you tell me what it is?
- have the latest version of a major virus scanning program and the virus dat files are current. Would I benefit from the spyware/malware scanners you suggest?
- Why does my computer try to finish my web addresses, when I surf the web?
- Can you tell me why my computer has something called "RUN", listed on my start column? I have typed every word I can think of into it and it does nothing.
- What is the "prtscn" key on my keyboard? I press it and nothing happens.
- You answered one of the keyboard mysteries above, but what about the "pause break" key?
- My computer seems to be running slower when I start programs and recently it keeps popping up a box saying resources are low and Windows is increasing the size. What does this mean?
- Is base64 encoding a type of encryption?
- Is there a way for me to check my "ram memory" for errors?
- How can I set up an easy wireless home network?
- I moved from outlook express to Outlook 2003. How do I make Outlook 2003 save my email addresses when I send receive email?
- I own a HP desktop computer that is about eight months old. Do you recommend installing the new Windows Vista operating system on it?
- How can I tell what is running on start-up?
Windows Update says my New XP machine is "missing registered files" and it will not give me any updates! Now what?
This only seems to be happening with mass-produced machines where
the maker uses a "volume licensing validation" on OEM versions of
Windows XP. It is a flaw in the way Windows is restored from those
ghosting discs (the Windows XP disc is from your maker, and not
Microsoft. We have not encountered this issue with the "retail
edition" of Windows XP.
From experience fixing this error in the field, the trouble is with
a .dll file not registering itself with Windows. There are many
suggestions to fix this error, like reinstalling Windows, but I
would not do it. The problem usually will remain after reformatting
the drive, so I would ignore this option.
You will need to run a command to fix this. If you go to Start and
then Run and then type or copy & paste: regsvr32 msxml.3.dll and
then click OK. This should immediately repair the file registry from
this .dll and have updates working properly. No need to reboot,
nothing more to do.
Less than one minute of your time verses hours of reformatting. When
in doubt with Windows XP, always look for a Computer Command that
will do the work for you. The Command Prompt really is your best
friend!
To the Top
What if a program will not respond?
Right click on your task bar located at the bottom of your screen and click on ‘task manager’ next click the applications tab and you should see the program listed. Click on it and click END TASK. Wait and it will pop up a dialog box asking “do you want to end this task and if you do you will loose any unsaved data.” Click ‘O.K.’ and wait for it to close the program. After it is closed, a dialog box will appear and ask if want to send a “error report” which if you are on-line at the time you should click “YES.” This will only send a report if you are online and I recommend sending all the error reports when possible. They will help Microsoft know what’s happening and they can work on preventing it in the future.
To the Top
Do I need to use the 'Disk Defragmenter' listed in my 'system tools' tab?
Yes! Absolutely it is most useful and will speed your system up and help you in many ways. Let me explain a little further and then decide if you should defrag your system or not.
Try and view your machine as a large filing cabinet with thousands of drawers and millions of categories and sections and separate files stored in a orderly manner, where every thing was in its place. Then you pull pages out of several different files and then pluck complete files out of many different drawers and never put anything back. Well that is what the ‘defrag service’ does for you! It does your housekeeping for you and puts every last piece of paper back in the proper drawer for the next time it is needed. And your machine will love you for it!
To the Top
Do you think I should purchase a 'Firewall' for my new computer?
I would install a third party software firewall on top of installing the Microsoft ‘SP2 for XP’ and turn on all services. The firewall in sp2 is a good first defense to lock down many of the known problems in your O.S. (operating system.) And the software program you purchase will complete the list of tools needed to track and stop most everything else! I would contact http://www.mcafee.com/ and purchase a complete suite of privacy and security applications right away. They are perfect for what’s needed and it will include a shredder, which is needed to participate in LOCKDOWN™ and have complete safety. A fairly easy product to use compared to the other top brands. I like McAfee myself and know they work and do as they should. You need protection immediately before surfing the internet.
To the Top
Do I really need to scan for 'Spyware' everyday I connect to the internet?
Yes, I think you should. The reason is simple– whenever you go online for even a few minutes you could have picked up malware of some type. It does not matter how long you surf and most often if you log on for ten minutes, you will most certainly have 2-3 pieces! And if you don’t do maintenance than those 2-3 pieces will add up QUICKLY. It will not take long for them to assemble every type of malware on your system including ‘Key loggers’ which record every key you press and report them back to “home base” (website) and give up all your secrets including your passwords, account numbers, phone numbers, and even your home address. Clean your system with routine maintenance and never worry about this very serious problem.
To the Top
Do I need a long 'Password' or will something like 'car123' do the job?
Please use a unknown combination of upper and lower case letters along with numbers & characters. (sample password: R&kp#a29DX?+ut) This type of password will keep you safe from the best attacks and make the bad guys efforts go useless! The best passwords are from 14-20 spaces and will not contain any words found in a book or dictionary and will have nothing to do with anything known to mankind. So let’s at least make them work for your valuables and not hand it to them on a silver platter! One last thing, try not to use the same password for all your websites and system log on. Also do not use the same name for your 'Windows XP' screen name, administrative account, and other programs. Try something generic for them as well.
To the Top
What happens to files I delete with the 'Recycle Bin?'
The files stay on your hard drive complete and undisturbed. Once you “empty the recycle bin” but NOT until then are they available to be ‘re-written’ over, after you use enough disk space to cover that area on your disk/hard drive. When you put something in the recycle bin and then empty it, your computer/machine will simply remove the extension of that file, but leaves the file intact and sitting where it was originally (sample file: wedding web page.pub recycle makes it wedding web page) but by removing the extension (.pub or .exe for example) your machine will ignore the file and at some point, write over it. Until something takes its place the information can be restored by software program and see everything. A third party program that “shreds” the recycle bin will write over that file as many times as you want and then shred it just like a paper shredder. The government uses a shredder with 9-13 passes and it considers it gone for now, but still would not consider that hard drive clean until it was destroyed. And since we like to play it safe, I recommend shredding it 14 times to be covered! Another item of maintenance that will help you is the “defrag disk” feature. As you use this, it will move files around on your disk and there-by rewrite areas of free disk space which includes the ‘old files/trash’ space on your machine. As you follow along with us, you will understand how everything is connected and needs to be cleaned by maintenance on a regular basis. Please remember that no computer can be considered 'clean' unless you melt the hard drive in fire! Any other damage can be worked around to pull data out of it. The government's method of smelting the hard drive when 'required' is the best way to play it safe. This is a good idea to do if you give away an old computer or sell it. You can buy a new hard drive for about $40 and change it out yourself. All data published or transmitted electronically will ALWAYS exist somewhere, in some form.
To the Top
What is 'Check disk' and should I use it?
If you click ‘start’ then click ‘my computer’ then right click ‘C drive’ then click properties you will have found several excellent maintenance tools for keeping your system tuned and working at top speed. One of these is listed under the tools tab in this properties section. Click ‘check disk’ and then select the boxes listed and select to perform check at next start up. Restart your machine and let it do all five checks before doing anything. After it is complete it will restart again and you are ready to go! If you watch the monitor as it starts up, you will see a screen saying system volume is clean and any problems will have been fixed automatically.
To the Top
Can I run 'Disk defrag' even when it says it is not needed?
Yes, I would. The default defrag software that came with your windows machine will not easily admit to needing it if you use the ’check for defrag” button. I would defrag every 5-days and even more often if I have a lot of activity going on. You cannot run it enough and the more the merrier! You can run it daily if you want or just stick to the ‘M.I.C.A. Maintenance’ subscribed to you on the lockdown page.
There are more powerful defrag units and they are superior to the default version. The biggest thing to remember is to use it frequently and your machine will thank you. Check out Question #2 if you want a brief definition on the benefits of running ‘disk defragmenter’ and why we stress to do maintenance on your machine.
To the Top
When I go online something called an 'I.P. address' shows up on my computer, can you tell me what it is?
Whenever a computer connects to the Internet, it is assigned a unique number known as an Internet Protocol (IP) address which has (4) blocks of numbers separated by a period (.) and directs all of your information to your unique machine. An example of an IP address would be something like 64.209.239.186 and may change each time you reconnect to the internet. This number is assigned to your ISP account (such as AOL or MSN or one of the many out there) and logs the websites and servers you go to. Generally no one will view this information unless of course, the court issues orders or a search warrant for some case.
The sites you visit only see this address number and a few system specs like your browser type, monitor size or resolution and cookie info, which is why you need to clear those cookies through regular maintenance. However most IP address numbers are assigned by region so a savvy webmaster could narrow you down to a couple of states but that’s all. Your ISP will usually keep all surf logs on accounts for 2-4 months and some like ‘EarthLink’ will keep them for six months.
If your IP address does not ever change you have what’s called a “static IP address” and poses more of a threat because a savvy webmaster could track you or a hacker will hit you over and over, pinging you and finding you every time you connect. It is better to have what’s called a “dynamic IP address” that is picked from several hundred and changes each time you connect.
To the Top
I have the latest version of a major virus scanning program and the virus dat files are current. Would I benefit from the spyware/malware scanners you suggest?
I am glad to hear you keep your virus scanner up-to-date and I hope you use it 1-3 times weekly; however this will NOT find most malware, if any at all! I know it would make sense to think that viruses and malware would be found with the same scanner but you will need several other programs to scrub your machine clean. We provide links for excellent freeware for you to scrub-up and hope you will take back your machine today, before it is too late. Check out our 'Virus Databank' page to learn more about the differences between viruses and the other types of malicious software.
To the Top
Why does my computer try to finish my web addresses, when I surf the web?
I think you are talking about "while you are typing, your computer completes your sentence with what it thinks you are trying to find, based on your previous entries". This is a program built into your Windows XP called "auto complete".
If you go to start / control panel and open 'internet options' and click on the 'content' tab, you will see a tab called 'auto complete' with 4 check boxes. You will need to uncheck all 4 of the boxes and then click the 'clear forms' and click the 'O.K.' box that pops up. Next click 'clear passwords' and click the 'O.K.' box that pops up. Now you have stopped this service from running, and cleared all stored information. While you have this open, go ahead and click the 'clear SSL state' tab and click the 'O.K.' box that pops up. This is a maintenance item that needs to be cleared every 3 days. This will clear any security certificates that have remained from previous sessions. Normally they will clear when you restart your computer, however I have found some after restart, and if you do not turn your machine off regularly, you could have several certificates from the past. These items are safe to clear as often as you wish and have been listed in our "M.I.C.A. Maintenance" as required.
To the Top
Can you tell me why my computer has something called 'RUN', listed on my start column? I have typed every word I can think of into it and it does nothing.
The program you are referring to is a handy tool for 'command line functions', like "regedit" and several other commands. If you open it and type regedit and O.K., you will open your registry. However, DO NOT mess with your registry or you could crash your machine! I only wanted to explain the function of the "run" program. Another excellent one to try is "msconfig", by typing this in and clicking O.K., you can see a ton of information abut your machine, including all the programs running at start up.
More powerful Command-line tools must be run at the prompt of the "Cmd.exe" and then clicking O.K. For a complete understanding of the run tool, along with all of the commands, check out our Computer Commands page.
To the Top
What is the "prtscn" key on my keyboard? I press it and nothing happens.
This is the "print screen" feature and it is an excellent tool for
trouble shooting those error messages. When you press this key, it
will copy everything that is showing on your display, to your
clipboard, at that moment. Then you can copy it to a word editor
program like Office Word or the Wordpad and view all of the
contents, including images.
Once you have pressed the "prtscn" key, open word and press the
"control" + the "V" key at the same time and you have just copied
and pasted the screen contents. This is very useful for those error
messages that pop up. You will have an exact copy of the error so
someone will be able to understand what happened and offer help to
your problem. You can use this feature to track your 'running
processes' in the "Task Manager" as well.
To the Top
You answered one of the keyboard mysteries above, but what about the "pause break" key?
The 'pause break / scroll lock' key is a left over feature of the good ole' dos days. Pause break was used in the dos command line environment to pause scrolling of text on the screen. The scroll lock key was used to allow scrolling of screen text up, down and sideways while using the arrow keys on the keyboard. Some specialty programs still use this feature, while most just require the use of the arrow keys.
We will add a keyboard shortcut section soon, so everyone will know the many features built into their keyboard.
To the Top
My computer seems to be running slower when I start programs and recently it keeps popping up a box saying resources are low and Windows is increasing the size. What does this mean?
Your machine is adjusting your virtual memory to work with the programs you are running. Every program has different requirements for memory usage. When Ram memory is low, virtual memory is increased. They work together to handle your memory needs.
Ram memory is installed into your machine by removing the cover and virtual memory is adjusted as needed by your Windows software. This can be bothersome if you have to continually wait for memory to be increased, so you can set it to run at a optimum level and prevent the constant changing by Windows. You must use the proper setting for your virtual memory resources so we have provided a chart and directions for you to follow.
To the Top
Is base64 encoding a type of encryption?
No, it is not a type of encryption. Base64 is a form of data marshaling that uses a 65 character subset of US ASCII, which allows each character to represent six bits of binary data. It is used to ensure portability across different encoding standards. It is not considered safe for data encryption, but it is respected as a data encoding format. It is part of the MIME specification for encoding any binary data included within a packet that is not read by the user, only machines.
To the Top
Is there a way for me to check my "ram memory" for errors?
The ram (random access memory) modules that are installed within your machine are very durable but they can go bad and cause your machine to act up. If Windows is giving you problems and you would like to narrow down the causes, one of the free online scans that can check for troubles is called Windows Memory Diagnostic and it is very effective at performing this task. You can trust it to be safe, as it is a Microsoft website and program! This tool will determine whether the problem is caused by failing hardware, such as RAM, or the memory system of your motherboard. This tool is very useful tool for verifying your systems stability.
To the Top
How can I set up an easy wireless home network?
You can build a fast, secure wireless connection for your home or small office for less than $100.00 and install it yourself in 3-5 hours. Pick up a Linksys Router and one USB adaptor for each desktop computer you want to install. If you have laptops, they should have one built in, and in that case you will only need the router. You will install & set-up the adaptors and then install the router with the same information as the adaptors. Make sure to change all of the factory default settings with the router. Use long passwords and utilize all of the security measures available with your router. Change the "channel" and re-start your computer and you should be online! Linksys offers some of the safest, easiest to set-up hardware on the market today. The are highly respected for their reliable, secure wireless products. Check out our Wireless Way page to discover more information on this exciting technology.
To the Top
I moved from outlook express to Outlook 2003. How do I make Outlook 2003 save my email addresses when I send receive email?
Outlook 2003 does not automatically save email addresses. It was something changed in order to raise security, while saving your address book from filling up with unwanted addresses. The easiest way to perform this task now would be to simply 'right click' on the address listed in the email header of incoming or outgoing mail, and then 'select' the menu option that says 'add to Outlook contacts' and it will be added to your address book.
To the Top
I own a HP desktop computer with XP Pro, that is about eight months old. Do you recommend installing the new Windows Vista operating system on it?
Microsoft has a handy little online program that will scan your machine and tell you if and what version you can expect to run. If your machine does not meet the requirements, it will tell you what to upgrade and what to add.
However, with that said, I am going to go out on a limb here and recommend that you hold off on that scan and simply wait a little longer before reacting. While this may not be the politically correct statement to make, it is the best advice for me to give you. Windows Vista is so much more advanced in the way the core system operates. Your current goods will not provide the "View" that Vista is all about. So, in my opinion, you will end up with a lesser 'overall experience' than what you enjoy currently with Windows XP Pro. And Microsoft will be releasing SP3 for XP shortly and you will get some of the goodies offered in Vista. And then the will continue updates and full support through 2010. Windows XP has a lot to offer still and about the time your current machine needs replaced, Windows Vista will be the operating system of choice. Windows Vista is the most secure operating system offered anywhere and the technology used within Vista is the stepping stone to the future.
We have provided a site for you to explore the Windows Vista information and screen shots at Optimize Vista.
To the Top
How can I tell what is running on start-up?
There is a super little application that we rely on heavily for this task. It is published by the Sysinternals Team at Microsoft. There are dozens of small, powerful, freeware applications that will save you a lot of trouble while maintaining your Windows based machine. The one you will want for this task is called AutoRuns.
To the Top