ActiveWin: Ask AW

Welcome to AskAW! This section of our web site lets you submit questions about any problems/queries that you may have about Windows. Be it from a little icon that annoys you to hardware freezing your PC, we will try and help you out. You can submit your questions by e-mailing us at askaw@activewin.com. You can browse through previous questions over at our Archive Page. Who knows what you might find.

Here are the answered questions for 03-16-2001

Question	Submitted by Brian
Hello everyone, I've done searches for this problem but found nothing. I have a Dell OPtiplexGX110 (PIII 733) running a clean install of Windows 2000 Professional with SP1 installed. The machine had worked great until I added a parallel CD burner. Once that was installed neither drive internal or external) would read a CD. It would give the message 'Please insert disc for F" or whatever the drive letter is. So I removed the external drive and the problems went away. Then I acquired a SCSI Plextor CD burner and installed that in the second drive bay. I now have the same problem. The original CD-ROM drive is the internal IDE drive that comes with the Dell machine. I can use CloneCD or CDR-Win to read from one a burn to the other. But if I attempt to access either drive from the Explorer or My Computer services, I get the request to insert a disc in the drive. If I disconnect the second drive The original drive works fine. Any idea's? Thank you in advance
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
You may want to consider going with an IDE driver rather than SCSI. You can have your CD set as master and the CDRW set as slave, and connected via the same ribbon cable. Also, go under Administrative Tools to check to see which drive letter is set to each drive and configure them as you want.

Question	Submitted by Jim
About a year ago, I was doing a backup of my data when the power went off momentarily. At the time I was using Win98 1st Edition ( I have since upgraded to 2nd edition). Since that time, there is a 30 second delay every time I start Windows. When I start the system, the BIOS settings are displayed then the Windows logo appears. The logo then goes away and the autoexec.bat file commands are displayed. This is the point at which the delay begins. The screen remains displayed for 30 seconds, then Windows starts normally with no other problems. I have remarked out the entire autoexec.bat file, not loaded my virus software (McAfee) and checked the registry for references that might make t the system delay starting. All to no avail. Is there anyway to eliminate this startup delay?
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
Hold down the left Ctrl key on boot up and choose the step by step confirmation mode. Say "Yes" to everything one by one, but try to take a look at what is slow on the boot up process. As soon as you find which step is slow, then you can try to figure out what it is doing.

Question	Submitted by Bi
Hi. I was wondering where we can sign up for xbox and when.
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
It will be sold at retail stores throughout the country. Look at www.xbox.com for more information as the release date gets closer. This summer you should be able to pre-order one at your local computer/software store as well as order one online, like from www.ebworld.com .

Question	Submitted by Sam
Hello there, I have bought a second hand PC recently, and found to my dismay that I cannot install programs without the administrator password. The person who sold me does not have any idea about the password. Please help me to disable it and install my favorite software. Thankfully
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
There are several programs around that will attempt to crack the password. Try no password, or "password", or "administrator". You might need to nuke your hard drive and re-install Windows 2000.

Question	Submitted by Adolf
I'm getting sick and tired of having this error message come up far too often: Your program has performed an illegal operation. I'm in a program called Printmaster Gold. I scan an image through "Acquire" procedure. I get to the point where I want to insert this image into poster and bingo here comes this stupid message and the program shuts down. I'm using Windows 98. This happens far too often. Is Microsoft ever going to solve this problem? Is there a message board for technical problems?
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
That means your PrintMaster Gold or scanner program is trying to do something that the OS won't let it do. Make sure that you have downloaded all of the critical and recommended system updates for your OS by going to Windows Update from the Help menu in Internet Explorer. The problem really lies with your program, so check the manufacturer's website for PrintMaster Gold for updates (http://support.learningco.com/downloads.asp) and make sure that you are using the most current drivers for your scanner. Windows is probably not the problem here, it is just telling the error that the program encountered.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
See the details tab of the error window. Is it the same dll file all the time? Locat that file and back it up and then replace it with a copy from your win can files by extracting it. Back up before you replace as if you replace it by a file of older version some apps might not work.

Question	Submitted by Alex
Hi.. I need to install Win ME backup and there is no add-on folder on the CD to get the file...Where can I download this? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Candy Baker
On the WinMe CD there is a folder called win9x, right click copy go to your hard drive path c:\windows and paste. The win9x has all the cab files you need. It may still ask sometimes for you to insert the CD though, so you need to keep the CD close by.

Question	Submitted by Richard
I did a registry edit to enable the 'Open With' without having to use the Shift key. I have rebooted several times and it still does not work. When I use the Shift key I now have two 'Open With' options. Just hoping you had any suggestions. I'm running Win98. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Jordan McIntosh
well first off don't mess with the reg unless have a back up of it, and there are a few programs that do it for u www.winboost.com I recommend, its limited freeware unless u pay but what u want it for isa free option
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
What registry key did you edit...maybe that will help me to guide you

Question	Submitted by Tawnya
I am running Win 98se and IE 5. Is there any way to stop secondary windows from popping up when surfing. I hate having to chase them down to close them. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Saumil Mehta
You can use software's like PopUp Killer (available at CNet Download.com). This software will automatically close pop-up windows. It supports most browsers including Opera and Neoplanet

Question	Submitted by Joe
On my system (Win98, 4.10.1998) whenever I go online and then shutdown the system after a period of time I get the following BSOD error and message: "Windows - A fatal exception 0E has occurred at 0028:FF116127. The current application will be terminated." The current application seems to be my windows taskbar. I then press the spacebar and the shutdown "usually" continues properly. Is there any way to stop this from happening and what is it that is causing this. Any and all help appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Try shutting down each app running in the task manager manually till only explorer and systray are up. And then shut down. See if shutting down any app causes this BSOD. Confirm that fast shutdown is disabled in msconfig

Question	Submitted by Russ
Dear AW, Thanks in advance for taking my question. I have an HP 9780c running Windows 98 and recently this problem developed out of the blue (no pun intended). When I send a job to my printer (an HP Deskjet 952c on a parallel port) I get a blue screen fatal exception 0E at 0028:00000001. My printer then begins to print endless streams of nonsense until I manually stop the printing. Once I escape the blue screen (by pressing any key) my whole system gets pretty unstable until I reboot. I have looked everywhere for help with little luck. I have no idea where to begin. Please help!!
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Have you tried the simplest thing yet. remove and then reinstall the printer after a reboot. Preferable with updated drivers from the manufacturer's site.

Question	Submitted by Gordon
Is there a way to remove or clear the list of recently used files found in the File menu of most programs that run under Windows? If its OS specific, I'm running Windows 98. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
With Word 2000 (And maybe even other office 200 apps) what you do is Keep CTRL and ALT pressed and then press the MINUS key on the keyboard. This will change your cursor to a minus sign. Then click on File and go and click with this minus sign on the file you want to remove from the history. For other apps you might have to use the registry where the info is stored.
Solution 2	Answered by Jordan McIntosh
www.webroot.com/washer This will Clear all your file tracks out of Most programs in windows. Including all internet leftover files, cookies, Word 2000, paint, the run bar, many others. Its Shareware.

Question	Submitted by Jay
AW, Using a PIII-700, Win98se, 128MB, 20GB, 16MB nVidia Two problems: 1. When I delete things (by selecting and pressing delete key or right clicking and selecting delete) and it asks me if I want to send it to the Recycle bin and I click yes, it doesn't actually go to the RB. Sometime is seems like a few deleted items will show up there, but when I close and reopen the RB, they're gone! I DO NOT have the box checked that says, "Don't send items to RB, just delete them". Any ideas? (I only have about 500MB left on the 20GB hard drive - will add a second 40GB hard drive soon) 2. When opening programs or web sites, the mouse jumps around the screen. After things open up and the hard drive settles down, then the mouse is fine. Do you know what could be causing this? It didn't used to do it. Thanks for your help!!
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
The mouse movement can be explained if you have smart move enabled for the mouse where it seeks out the default button of the active window. As for the recycle bin...peculiar...just see if someone has changed the size that the recycle bin may occupy on the disk drive.
Solution 2	Answered by Steve Cohen
It almost sounds as if you might have a corrupted recycle bin. I have had a similar problem in the past with Win98se and now with WinMe. Attached is a link to a Microsoft Technet Article on the recycle bin that has helped me out allot. Hope it helps. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q136/5/17.asp?

Question	Submitted by Marie
You have previously helped me out so here goes again. I run Windows 98 and recently downloaded a virus update file to my desktop and not into the downloads folder. I have installed the update but I can't remove the icons off my desktop. When I try to delete them I am warned not to as this will stop the program from running. As well I'd like to rid myself of the older updates that are in the downloads folder, I receive the same message there. Is there no way of ridding myself of all these files and icons? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
You can safely delete the file. Windows just gives a warning every time you try to delete an exe file.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
I’m running Windows 2000 Professional and suddenly java programs will no longer load in my browser. I have uninstalled and reinstalled IE5.5, reloaded Service Pack 1 and Virtual machine. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Norm <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Solution 1	Answered by Jordan McIntosh
I had the same problem with my internet explorer. http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm40.htm Go there and pick Microsoft VM Build 3802 For Windows 2000

Question	Submitted by David
I know nothing about computers, and I just bought a Compaq Presario, with a Pentium III 933 MHZ Processor with Windows ME, and a 30 GB hard drive. One of he reasons for getting a computer was so I could run a certain MSDos program. Now, I have been told that with the Windows ME, I will not be able to run that program. I was also told that I need to buy Windows 98, build a partition, run a dual boot, and run the W98 when I want to use the Dos program. Is this true, and if it is, do I need to set up the dual boot as soon as the computer is delivered? Or, can I set up the dual boot at my leisure somewhere down the road?
Solution 1	Answered by Jordan McIntosh
You Can setup a Dual Boot whenever you want, you just have to do it before you use your program. You may also just want to take Windows ME off and use just Windows 98, Have you also tried to run the dos program in question anyways? some dos games I have still run under Windows ME.

Question	Submitted by Troy
I am using windows 98, is there anyway by using regedit (or anyway period) to delete all those annoying sub-programs under "Find" on the start menu....For instance, say I want to delete "Find using Microsoft Outlook", or Find "on the Internet"....I do not want to delete the "Find" menu itself from the start menu, just some of those annoying sub-titles.........How do I do it? Please help!! Thank You
Solution 1	Answered by Jordan McIntosh
www.winboost.com it does exactly what you want. At least Winboost 2001 Gold does, The program is worth the price. It allows for free time limited Trials,

Question	Submitted by Bob
I have worked on tons of computers .. but this one has me stumped!. I have a Win '98 P3 500 Mhz w/128MB RAM. IE 5.0 or 5.5 runs either very slow (especially when downloading graphics) .. or sometimes does NOT run at all (e.g. will not connect with any web site). Netscape works perfectly all the time! I have deleted ALL temp files (from IE setup ..) but that has no effect. I've also juggled many other items but to no avail. Any ideas? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Candy Baker
After I run a reg fixer, reg cleaner and reg defrag, my whole system runs faster. One that I have found works good can be found at www.ontrack.com.

Question	Submitted by Adam
I've recently read that changing my hard drive settings to use "Dynamic Disk Configuration" will make my hard drive run faster. Are there really noticeable advantages to this, and can you tell me any disadvantages to making this change. Also, should I be overly concerned that changing this setting might jeopardize the contents of my hard drive? I do back up, but not as well as I probably should.
Solution 1	Answered by Brian Lyttle
Adam, Changing to a dynamic disk configuration will probably not make such a big difference. If you were running a RAID workstation or something in that line then perhaps it would be for you. Changing from the normal configuration may mean that some recovery tools will not operate correctly. As with any disk operation (even a defrag) you should backup first. Changing to a dynamic configuration is non-destructive in most cases, but a power outage etc could trash your disks.

Question	Submitted by David
every time I add a site to my favorites, such as cnet or zdnet, sites that have a their own special icon, internet explorer, replaces them with its default icon. how do I stop internet explorer from doing this, so I can keep the special icons. I'm running the latest version of i.e. and windows Me.
Solution 1	Answered by Candy Baker
I went to http://www.pcmag.com/utilities/ and downloaded a program that scans the Web sites in your Favorites list for favorite icons--custom icons provided by the Web site. The icons are displayed on the Favorites bar, the Favorites menu, and the Address bar. Custom icons make the Favorites list easier to scan, letting you locate a given shortcut. It automatically flags dead links as it goes through your Favorites list. If you like, it can update redirected links or reset dead links to the site's root. Kind of fun thing to do. Now that wasn't so hard was it.....
Solution 2	Answered by Steve Cohen
I found that those special favorite icons are stored in the temporary internet files folder. If you, like me, keep the size of the folder small, or periodically clean out the folder, those special icons get removed. I guess no matter how big you keep your temporary internet files folder, they will eventually get deleted by the first in first out rule. Two ways to keep them are to make backups of the icon files and replace them when there gone or, go the link delete and re add the favorite. Hope this helps.
Solution 3	Answered by Steve Cohen
I just realized I may have been in error in my previous post. I previously experienced exactly what I had posted. When I went back to confirm this again I found that even if I manually deleted everything in the temporary internet file folder, the special icons still remained. I found that if you look in your favorites folder the favorite itself contains the special icon itself instead of pointing to an *.icon file in the temporary internet file folder. I am using IE 5.5 sp1.

Question	Submitted by Donald
I just recently got a gateway computer from a rent to own store. My problem is, something went wrong with my internet explorer. I have tried down loading every version of IE that I can find. IE will go through the whole installation process, so I'm stuck using navigater(yuck). Please through some advice this way I really need it.
Solution 1	Answered by Candy Baker
Go to the Microsoft site http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/128bit/detect_and_recommend.asp they will detect what version you are running. Then I suggest you go out and buy your own copy and install it. You will then have the product ID number and no more problems

Question	Submitted by Bill
Thank you for the opportunity to get an answer to this question.....when booting up in WIN2K Advanced Server, there is a line that states "Initializing the MBA" ! I have searched many databases (inc MS) to no avail. Pls tell me what is an "MBA" ??? Thank you very much
Solution 1	Answered by Brian Lyttle
Bill, MBA stands for Managed Boot Agent. It's used to load a specific boot image from a DHCP server. It can be used for initial Windows 2000 installations, or system rebuilds. You will perhaps find more information with your network card.

Question	Submitted by Mark
Hi, I'm trying to setup active desktop on a number of NT 4.0 workstations running IE 5.0 I have uninstalled IE 5.0 and then gone into control panel-add remove programs and chosen IE 4.0 and selected the install active desktop option but cannot seem to find the component on the web page I am directed to. All I can find are links to download IE .5 which is of no use to me without active desktop already being installed on the NT 4.0 machines. Any help appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by Brian Lyttle
Mark, Make sure IE 5 is uninstalled fully. Go to the likes of http://www.download.com, or Microsoft's FTP server, download the web installer for IE 4. You should now be able to install IE 4 with the Active Desktop. Active Desktop was moved from IE to Windows, as it was more practical to integrate it into Windows than the browser itself.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Help! I've Windows 98 2ndEdition with IE 5. When I go to Start and Windows Update I get this message: "Your current security settings prohibit running Active X controls on this page. As a result the page may not display correctly." Only option then is to click OK and that gets me a huge "Cannot Display Page" in bold red lettering. The instructions that follow to correct the problem are very complicated. The settings are at default, for Internet, and medium security. How can I get my machine set to update windows?
Solution 1	Answered by Steve Cohen
Go to tools, options in IE and select the security tab. Then select the default security button setting the security to medium. If needed set the security to medium low.

Question	Submitted by Daniel
Help! I'm running Windows 98 2nd Edition with IE5.50 and I do the prescribed shutdown procedure:Start and Shut Down and OK. Sometimes however, although I get the Win shut down screen and message "Windows is Shutting Down", it doesn't...the screen freezes and hangs there forcing a shut down at the CPU. This happens not all that infrequently and for some time now. Unfortunately, I can't reproduce the incident nor tie its occurrence to any pattern, software, or download. Restarting gets a message that I didn't shut down properly [which I did] and the HD is scanned. Thus far the scans have gotten me back up looking normal, but without any clue as to what's the problem. I'm worried I'm pushing my luck shutting down at the CPU. Appreciate you help
Solution 1	Answered by Steve Cohen
the disable fast shutdown option is not available in 98se so I would suggest looking for the win98se shutdown patch. Info on this can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q239/8/87.ASP?

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