Fix PC Troubles  4
 
 

Junk in the terminal window

Reason Your telephone line could be noisy or the modem software installation may be incorrect

Solution

  • If you have a noisy telephone line, get it checked

  • There is always a piece of software that comes with your modem. This is the modem driver and makes sure that Windows communicates properly with your modem. If this isn’t installed, a wrong driver is installed or it’s corrupt, your modem won’t work properly

  • Go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Modems and remove the modem

  • Make sure that the modem is on and restart your computer. Windows should automatically start installing the modem again. If it doesn’t, your modem isn’t Windows compatible, is too old or is faulty

  • Windows will ask you to select your modem from a list. If your modem isn’t listed and you don’t have a disk that came with the modem, select "Standard Modem" and complete the installation

  • Internal modems can cause this problem if the power supply of your computer is faulty

Takes forever to authenticate password

Reason Problem is at the server end—not yours

Solution

  • This is a problem of the ISP and is not dependent on any settings on your system (except for a noisy telephone line), and could happen especially when the traffic is heavy

  • Talk to your ISP and/or try connecting at odd hours when the traffic isn’t so heavy

Downloading stopped—page reset

Reason Web servers are set to "time-out" or treat a connection as disconnected if there is no activity for a certain length of time. If you’re trying to download a large site, this could take a long time and there may be no communication from your end to the server

Solution

  • Download one page at a time

  • Some programs download sites by keeping the connection "alive" for the entire time that it takes to download. You can find such programs on shareware sites such as http://www.cnet.com. Look for "Connection Alive" when searching for such a program

Can’t resume downloads

Reason Most browsers don’t let you resume interrupted downloads.

Solution

  • Get a shareware program such as Download Butler, Jetcar or Flashget, Go!Zilla. These programs automatically resume downloading from the point where you left off. If you want to download a really big file, say 5MB or more, you can use these programs to spread the download over several sessions rather than having to stay connected for a couple of hours at one time

Watch out The ability to resume interrupted downloads is also a function of the server from where you are getting the file. Most servers have this ability, but not all do.

Can’t save password in dial–up networking

Reason This was a bug in Windows 95 that either the checkbox for "Save password" would be grayed out or the password wouldn’t get saved even if the box were checked

Solution:

  • Download a new version of Dial-up Networking from http://www.microsoft.com or upgrade to a newer version of Windows

  • If your computer is on a LAN, and instead of logging on, you cancel the log-on screen; the computer will start and work. But passwords will not be saved and those that were saved earlier will not be available because Windows cannot recognize who you are

Browsing blues

"IExplore caused an invalid page fault in module Mshtml.dll..."

Reason This can happen if your color settings are not proper if you’re using old third-party video adapter drivers

Solution

  • Get the drivers from the manufacturer of your video adapter

  • Go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings. Reduce the Color Palette setting in Display properties to 256 color. Click OK. Restart your computer

"IExplore caused an invalid page fault in module unknown..."

Solution

  • Right-click the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop, and then click Properties. Click on Delete Temporary Internet Files, and Clear History, and then click OK

  • Go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs. Click on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Tools, then click Add/Remove. Click on Repair Internet Explorer, and then click OK

  • Restart your computer

General Protection Fault on quitting IE

Reason Old version of browser incapable of handling scripting codes

Solution

  1. Download and install the latest scripting engine from the Microsoft site, http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/vbscript/scripting.asp 

  2. Upgrade to the latest version of the browser

"Invalid page fault in module Apitrap.dll"

Reason Incompatibility between IE 5 and the apitrap.dll file installed by Norton CleanSweep version 4

Solution

  1. Get an updated version of dll for IE 5 from Symantec site: http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/ftp/cleansweep/cleansweep_v4.html 

  2. Or get in touch with Symantec

Outlook Express

"There was a problem logging onto your mail server…", "The connection to the server has failed…"

Reason Information regarding the username, password, or mail server may be incorrect

Solution

  • Go to Tools-Accounts. Click on the account, and click on Properties

  • Click on the Servers tab. Make sure you’ve entered the username, password and the mail server information correctly

  • While typing the password, make sure that the Caps lock isn’t on because passwords are case sensitive. If you’re unsure about the mail server information, call up your e-mail service provider’s helpdesk

"Msgsrv32 invalid page fault in module kernel32.dll"

Reason The password file may be damaged

Solution

  • Go to Start-Find Files or Folders. Type *.pwl in the Named box and click Find Now

  • Delete all the files that get listed in this search. Restart your PC. The password files will get created again

  • If you’re using the earlier version of Windows 95, you’ll need to download a file from the Microsoft Website: http://download.microsoft.com/download/win95/update/95/w95/en-us/mspwlupd.exe 

"MSIMN caused an invalid page fault in wsock32.dll"

Reason A newly installed program may have replaced the file wsock32.dll with an older version

Solution

  • Try replacing the wsock32.dll file with a newer version from your backup or a friend’s computer

  • If that doesn’t help, reinstall Outlook Express 5. Make sure you have backed up your messages

"MSIMN caused an invalid page fault in module INETCOMM.DLL at…"

Reason This can occur if you install the Windows Sockets (Winsock) 2 Update for Windows 95, but don’t update TCP/IP

Solution

OE crashes on sending a file

Reason You may be sending an attached file, which is too large or corrupt

Solution

  • Delete the mail from your Outbox

  • The Outbox itself may be corrupt. Delete the files in it

Error messages about Inbox being damaged

Reason Some folders may be damaged

Solution

  • If the message tells you that it is repairing the damaged folders, let it. If that doesn’t help, you have to delete the folder and start all over again. Be warned that you’ll lose all the mail in that folder

  • Go to the Start Bar on your Windows and select Find

  • Go to the Named box and type Inbox and in the Look In box, select the drive where Outlook Express is installed (say C:\)

  • Click Find Now. This brings up two files— inbox.idx and inbox.mbx. Delete these

Watch out When you restart Outlook Express, it will automatically create fresh copies of these files and the error message will be gone. You’ll lose the existing mail in that folder.

Someone else pries on my mailbox

Solution

  • Create an identity for each person who’s going to use Outlook Express 5. Choose File-Identities-Add New Identity and set a password if you don’t want other people to see these messages

  • Use File-Switch Identities to change to another user and File-Identities-Manage Identities to change settings. When you switch to a new identity it’s like closing and re-opening Outlook with new settings. You’ll need to set up e-mail and news accounts from scratch and create any rules and folders. Choose Tools-Accounts-New and fill in the username, password and mail server in the Internet Connection Wizard

Got so many messages but can’t find them

Solution

  • Create folders to hold different types of messages. Choose File-New-New Folder and choose where you want to create the new folder

  • Create a mail rule to move messages directly to a folder when they arrive. Choose Tools-Message Rules-Mail or News and click New, then set criteria for messages to move

  • Newsgroups get hundreds of messages, so choose whether to download all the messages or just the headers to look at in News Synchronization settings and how many headers to download from Tools-Options-Read

  • Hide messages that you’ve already read by selecting View-Current View-Unread Messages and see replies to your own posts with View-Current View-Replies to my Posts or choose View-Current View-Customize Current View to customize messages to be seen in different colors

  • Use Tools-Options-Maintenance to save disk space by automatically deleting old messages. The messages you delete go in the Deleted Items folder. Right-click on Deleted Items and choose Empty Folder. You can also go to Tools-Options-Maintenance and select Empty Messages From The ‘Deleted Items’ Folder On Exit

  • To block all mail from someone, click on Blocked Senders and choose Add. Here you need to enter the e-mail address of the person(s) whose messages you want to block

OE starts dialing everytime on opening even if I want to work on it offline

Solution

  • Choose Tools-Options. Deselect Send/Receive messages on startup. Now dialing will happen only when you click on the Send/Receive icon

OE sees an attachment where none exists!

Reason This occurs if your message begins with the word "begin" followed by 2 blank spaces.  That word is used to indicate the beginning of a real attachment, and OE mistakenly tries to create an attachment from the rest of your message

Solution

  • There is no known fix or workaround at this time, other than to avoid using the word "begin" with 2 spaces as the first word of your message. If you receive a message with such a bogus attachment, you can read the message by pressing Ctrl-F3 to view the source

Virus attack!

Word saves document only as a template

Reason If Word lets you save a file only as a template, comes up with strange error messages, unnecessarily asks for a password or says something about macros, you could have a macro virus

Solution

  • Close Word

  • Search and rename the Normal.dot file to Normal.xxx or move Normal.dot to the desktop

  • Make a backup copy of the infected file

  • Open the infected file while holding the Shift key (so that macros are disabled)

  • From the Tools menu, go to Macro-Macros. In Macros In, select All Active Templates

  • Delete all macros that are not part of your document

  • To recover the text of an infected document:

  • Select entire document (Ctrl+A) except the final paragraph mark (Shift+Left arrow)

  • Copy the selection into a new file

  • Go to Tools-Macro-Macros. Under Macros In, check All Active Templates to ensure that the virus has not replicated

  • Save the document

Watch out Any file that you’d opened after your program became infected with a macro virus, will be infected. Repeat these steps for all such documents.

Tip If you suspect a file may have a macro virus, hold down the Shift key when you’re opening it. If a macro virus is present, it will not be loaded.

No 32-bit Disk Access. Computer is stoned. CHKDSK reports 639 K (or less) total memory

Reason Your PC may have a boot-sector virus

Solution

  • Boot your system with a clean floppy and run a virus check with updated anti-virus software. If you don’t have a clean disk, use a virus free system to create one

  • Insert floppy in the computer

  • If you’re using Windows 95/98/NT, go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs-Startup Disk. Click Create Disk

  • Windows 2000 users insert Windows 2000 CD in CD-ROM drive. Choose Run from the Start menu. Type the name of the drive followed by bootdisk\makeboot A: and then click OK

  • Follow the screen prompts to finish creating the bootable system disk

  • Write protect this disk to avoid infection (push the little notch in the corner back till a little square hole is visible)

Virus! But no anti-virus software

Solution

  • Download a trial version (most manufacturers offer a free trial) from the Internet. Installing an anti-virus program when your system is infected is a bit dicey—the antiviral program itself could get infected!

  • Shut down the machine and switch the power off

  • Get a clean bootable disk (see previous error). Some anti-virus programs are supplied on bootable CDs. If you have an original CD—not a pirated one, use it instead of a bootable floppy

  • Start your system with the floppy or CD in its drive

  • Go to the BIOS setup. (As the system starts, a message will tell you which key to press to go to BIOS setup. This is usually the Del key but may differ on your system)

  • Set the Boot Sequence option to boot from the floppy disk (drive A:) or CD. Save settings and exit

  • The computer will resume booting but don’t expect Windows to start—most often you’ll be left at the DOS prompt

  • Now install the anti-virus software and run a thorough scan

  • Remove all floppies or CDs and re-boot

  • Do a full scan again

A virus warning asking to destroy a file on the PC

Reason The Net abounds with virus hoaxes. This could be one

Solution

  • Do not delete any file on your system or forward e-mail to others just because a mail asks you to

  • Visit your anti-virus manufacturer’s Website or an anti hoax Website (http://www.vmyths.com) to check for hoaxes. If this mail is not listed, submit it to the site for a hoax check

Kagou-Anti-Kro$oft says not today!

Reason Your system has the KAK worm. KAK adds itself to the end of legitimate outgoing messages as a signature so you could get it in a mail even if you haven’t downloaded any attachment

Solution:

Watch out Once executed, the worm appends itself to all your outgoing messages as a signature. To prevent this, go to Tools-Options. Click on the Signatures tab and delete all signature files.

Can’t open Word. Windows prompts for the location of WINSVRC.VXD, system hangs

Reason Your computer has NAVIDAD—an e-mail virus

Solution

Watch out The worm checks for all messages in your Inbox and replies to those messages that have one attachment. The reply message has the same subject line and body, but contains the worm attached as NAVIDAD.EXE.

.jpg and .jpeg files missing, get renamed with a .vbs extensionReason You’ve got the ‘I love you’ virus or one of its 29 variants

Solution

Few functions begin on their own—monitor resolution changes, printer prints strange messages, speaker starts or stops playing, strange images show on desktop and CD-ROM’s door opens or closes

Reason One or more of these problems suggest your computer is infected with a trojan like sub7

Solution

  • Configure your ‘updated’ anti-virus scanner to launch at startup. The trojan should be detected and blocked

All .jpg and .zip files are lost

Reason If you recently got an e-mail with ‘A great Shockwave flash movie’ in the subject line, you may have caught the W32.ProLin.Worm

Solution

Suspect virus, but anti-virus software finds nothing

Reason Could be a problem with your hardware or software (improper uninstalls, defective memory chips, application bug) or your current anti-virus software may not be updated

Solution

  • Update your anti-virus software with the latest definitions from the manufacturer’s Website

  • Boot from a clean disk (see No 32-bit Disk Access. Computer is stoned…) and run an anti-virus check

  • If nothing specific is found, run a check for the symptoms on an anti-virus site

  • If you still can’t find a thing, your problem is unlikely to be a virus

Watch out If you’re using more than one anti-virus software, it could cause the problem as one software might detect scan strings from another as a virus. One good updated anti-virus software is all you need for your PC’s protection.
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