If you have a PC problem lets hear about it, we may be able to help!

 

thx to all for the advice and 'tips' .. much appreciated .. i agree re the memory i do need to get that sorted..

Yep, as Ricardo says you need 256kMB + for reasonable speed.

kantona,

I agree, the more memory the better (at least 256 for XP Pro), especially as your processor is pretty slow by todays standard.
As for uninstalling the pop up messenger service, this is how to do it - as long as you understand that this will stop all pop ups that use the Messenger service (apparantly there are programs that use this for other reasons).

Start - Control Panel - Admin Tools - Services

From there, set the Messenger service to 'Disabled'. I have done this myself and it HAS stopped all my pop up messages from appearing.

Hope that helps

Rich

 

And more than 1 Screen!

Any good Kantona?

Anti-virus question..... The free subscription to Norton Anti-virus that came with my new PC has expired. Before I renew is there any other virus protection I should look at. TIA, G.
BTW I'm using the firewall that comes with XP.

Whats one of the best power surge protectors for my Apple Mac please? I don't have one but there was a power cut 2 days ago and i have heard they can cause some serious damage to a computer ( fires and the like).

Guitarist - AVG from www.grisoft.com, is good and FREE !!!

Guitarist although it has expired it should work fine still? The only thing is it will no longer download new virus information. However it is still a very effective tool
I also use Trend Micro a free online Virus checker. http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

Also download Ad Aware that finds advertising Trojan virus on your PC which can seriously slow down your internet speed apart from snooping
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
Its free of charge,

brianboru, Croc - useful stuff, thanks. G.

Pleasure,
D,

Croc & Guitarist,

You can still download new information if you alter the computers clock back a year from when the updates finished,reason being is that when you install norton from the disk it asks you for a start date and then your years downloads begin.
All you are doing is kidding the machine:-)i am still downloading from a 2000 copy....

All the above information is what i have been told or rumour has it :-)

Mega...

just remember after downloading updates reset your clock(just a couple of clicks)

Why, when I try to download the software below it tries and then reverts to the same screen??? I've tried the help section to no avail.

==============================================================================
New Windows Update Software Required

The Windows Update site has been updated. To update your version of the software and begin using Windows Update, click Update Now.

Update Now

You can also get online support if you are having problems with Windows Update.

arkwright, from the other side:


The Player - 16 Oct'03 - 10:59 - 5692 of 5718


After spending a small fortune on the phone to Microsoft Helpline, all to no avail, I got an email just now from their Email Helpline which solved my Windows Update problem. Serves me right for being impatient, I guess! ;-(

The solution? Simple. In IE, choose View/Explorer Bar and uncheck the tick mark next to Discuss. It's that simple, when you know how! Maddening!!

I did encounter one other little problem with the Windows Update site however. Some of the links on it I cannot access. In the address bar at the bottom of the IE page the following appears when I hold the cursor over the link:

java script:void(0)

I was told to go to http://java.sun.com and download JAVA VM (in the Popular Downloads window on the right). I did this, and I now have a little cup and saucer icon in my System Tray. But, those links on the Update site still won't open.

Any ideas?

And why do Microsoft use Java links anyway?

Thanks.

TP

Thanks Kayak, but there's no tick mark next to discuss, any other ideas??

arkwright - This is one of Microsofts responses to this query (honest)

"We are still researching this issue. Downloading and installing new Windows Update site software may also resolve this issue."

If you'r running XP or 2000 this fuller response may help though;

Some advanced users have resolved this problem by following the steps below. If you have
trouble finding the files or string value listed below you should not attempt this resolution. Deleting the wrong items in this process can damage your computer.
1. Close Internet Explorer.
2. Delete IUCtl.dll and the IUEngine.dll from both the system32\dllcache and system32 folders.
3. Delete the registry string value SelfupdateStatus present in the
HKLM\Software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\windowsupdate\IUcontrol key.
4. Delete iuenginenew.dll, if it exists.


You may also be able to resolve this issue by deleting the files in your temporary Internet
cache. Follow the instructions below:
1. Close the Internet Explorer.
2. Right-click the Internet Explorer icon.
2. Click "Properties."
3. On the General tab, click "Delete Files."

Kayak - If you have a pop up stopper running that will cause it!

brianboru, tried that a couple of weeks ago and was then told it was not allowed by the administrator or some such thing.I thought 'sod it' it's a home computer for pete's sake. Never had any problems with critical updates before, you'd think microsoft would be able to update their own software so that users could still install critical updates, unless it's just me of course. Are there any other sites where Microsofts critical updates can be downloaded???

tia
A

Can anyone identify a wireless PCMCIA card that support 802.11g (54g), or even 802.11b, that it (a) currently available, and (b) works with NT4.

I can find a lot of the former, but none of the latter. I'm stuck on NT on my laptop, until my employers get around to updating it - which may well be another couple of years.

Don't really want to leave my wireless router gathering dust for that long, so, any ideas?

Arkwright - Download this 9 meg package -

This update consists of previously released critical updates, for Windows XP, rolled into one convenient package. Installing this item provides you the same results as installing the individual updates.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D531BF00-D7BE-48E3-ABCC-961602BD72C2&displaylang=en

but you may need to be logged on to XP as administrator (or the first name you used when installing XP) to run these updates I think. That's possibly why you can't run the standard update? XP checks for digital signatures to authenticate drivers.