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 05-18-2001

Question	Submitted by Mark
Suddenly I can not access OE - I click on the desktop icon and the hourglass shows for a second or so, but no program. I've tried going into the OE Program folder and clicking on msimn.exe and still no luck. Perhaps something got screwed up in a crash? I also wonder if it has anything to do with identities. Seems like I was switching to my wife's identity and maybe back to mine when this happened. I notice that when i click on Start/Programs/Accessories/Address Book it opens my wife's address book, rather than mine. I have version 5.50.4133.2400 . Should I run setup50.exe in my Outlook folder again? Or is there a better way? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Marc Strickland
Something may have been corrupted, run set-up again! That should repair it.

Question	Submitted by Scott
Hello, I am at a loss installing win2k on an AMD based computer. Specs include: AMD 900 T-Bird 512 MBs RAM Gigabyte GA-7IXE Mainboard Matrox G400 MAX 32MB 10/100 NIC Windows 2000 installs off of the CD fine, but after installation is complete and it needs to restart, it gives me a BSOD with the stop error "innaccessible_boot_device". It does display the startup screen with the progress bar in the center of the screen, but the bar gets about half way and then the BSOD. It will boot all the way in safe mode. There are no IRQ conflicts or problem hardware devices. Any help would be appreciated
Solution 1	Answered by Marc Strickland
I found a discussion on this topic at: http://www2.softimage.com/ArchivesData2/ds.archive.0003/msg00153.htm try joining the discussion to get info. Also try this from Microsoft knowledge base: http://support.microsoft.com/support/ I hope this stuff helps you.

Question	Submitted by Russ
Looking for a way to have the current version to run in the back ground with out having the icon in the task bar like version 3.0.0286 did. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Unfortunately, can't be done. The taskbar icon is activated/put in place when Messenger is started.

Question	Submitted by Tuco
Hi I have a 4200 HP scanner installed in win2k, I received the latest CD from HP, they advised me to install it in the safe mode being logged in as the Administrator, that worked, but when I logged off as the aministrator and try to use the scanner it freezes up, I am listed as an administrator in the group and even use the same password, is there a way to get around this so myself and family can use the scanner, without switching to the Administrator, thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
The HP scanners can be a bear. I'm not sure why they recommended safe mode to install. Try reinstalling while logged in as a regular user. Make sure that they have at least Power User rights. Since you're running on a home system, if you have more than one login, you may want to give everyone full (administrator) rights.

Question	Submitted by Mike
Hello AskAW, I am having a problem with IE ever since I started to use a different resolution on my desktop. I used to used 1024x768 16bit and have switched to 1280x1024 16bit for about 6 months now. THe problem I have is that IE will not remember my font size setting. Every time I start IE in the morning it reverts to the "Smaller" setting, and I have to change it to the "Larger" setting. How can I make it remember that I want it at "Larger"? FYI: my IE version is: 5.00.3103.1000 Thank you
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Hi! I would try completely uninstalling Internet Explorer 5 first and either reinstall IE 5 or upgrade to 5.5 if your computer can handle it. I bet a problem like that could be resolved with a simple uninstall/reinstall. Hope it works!

Question	Submitted by Paul
I'm hoping several folks here might share their .mpp (Microsoft project file) for deployment of Windows 2000 for their organization. I've looked around and so far have not found one. Obviously many people have probably created one. I know that the deployment will be different for each company, but not wanting to reinvent the wheel I hope that anyone who has one might provide it as a start for me creating my own. Thanks for any assistance.
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Paul, Luckily Microsoft has a whole section on their Windows 2000 Website dedicated to deployment needs. The URL is : http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/default.asp and I'm sure they have MS Project files among other things to help deploy Windows 2000. Hope it works!

Question	Submitted by Lenny
Hi When I try to enter either standby or hibernate mode via shut down menu, all I get is "Preparing to Standby/Hibernate" message and my notebook just freezes. Have to switch off and on to restart from scratch. Do you know why ? I use W2K on Pentium 3 750Mhz Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Which notebook (i.e. mfg, model, etc). Check with the manufacturer to see if there's a BIOS update to correct the problem. Also, download SP2 for Win2000.

Question	Submitted by Mark
Hi, I just upgraded my w2k workstation to the latest beta of XP. It seems like everything is working properly but every so often I get rundll32.exe related errors. I plan on reinstalling but am wondering if you've seen anything like this. My w2k box was running perfectly fine and I never had any errors of this type. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
A rundll error is usually associated w/ a program running in the background (video drivers, antivirus, etc). A WinXP is still in beta, you're likely to encounter this sort of stuff untill (and even after) the final release. You may want to post your question to one of the WinXP beta newsgroups

Question	Submitted by Louise
Hello,I just tried to upgrade my computer from Windows95 to ME. And i can get into the setup process. But a screen comes up saying that setup can not go any further because a disk compression program is installed on my computer. I have no idea what a disk compression program is, or which is on my computer. I need to upgrade my computer so i can make use of internet connection sharing. But i can't even install ME! (the computer that i am installing it on has all the minimum system requirements, so thats not the problem) Any help would be greatly appreciated as this problem is stopping me from setting up a home network
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Disk compression compresses your files into a smaller size. Win95 included a disk compression program (under Programs, Accessories, System Tools). Check to see if this has been run, and if your harddisk has been compressed at al. You'll need to uncompress it.

Question	Submitted by Steve
I have a question if you have time. During online gaming sessions my hard drive goes bananas. I will be online for awhile and then wham it starts going nuts. I alt ctrl del and the only thing I have left running is systray and explorer. I have system restore disabled and I have find fast with Office disabled as well. I have never had any probs in the past and I have not download or installed anything other that tweakui? Do you have any suggestions? You can post this if you desire. Thank You
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Sounds like time for a virus scan to me!

Question	Submitted by Roger
Did not know where to upload this or who to write to introduce it? Do you have an upload procedure? You can get a new search bar for IE that metasearches 12 top internet search engines, Google newsgroups, and over 1800 news sources for breaking news on MoreOver and NewsHub. It also maintains MSN toolbar and links to the Google Search Bar. Go to: http://www.infogrid.com/homepage.htm
Solution 1	Answered by Marc Strickland
Advertisement?

Question	Submitted by Zon
I recently had to reformat my hard drive at work where we still run under Win 95. Do you know of any site that I can access that still has the Active Desktop installation for Win 95 / IE 4? The Microsoft site does not appear to be there anymore and I really like having an active desktop. Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Solution 1	Answered by Marc Strickland
The site is still on Microsoft's server at this address: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/gallery/ You can get more information at this location: http://support.microsoft.com/support/ServiceWare/IE/Exp50/E9Z56YNCQ.ASP

Question	Submitted by BB
From time to time and without any warning I will be working in a program, ms word or whatever, and the screen goes blue with a lot of stuff on it and a message at the bottom stating "dumping of physical memory" I then have to reboot the computer to clear this screen, and hope I did not loose too much unsaved work. Any suggestions as to why this occurs?? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
These screens are the equivalent of the blue screens of death so familiar to win 9x users. However these are very very uncommon in Windows 2000 and are most of the time caused by incompatible or defective hardware. You can try to correct this problem by applying SP2 that has been released and hope the problem goes away if it is a software error.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Hi,Can anyone tell me where the Send To option is in Windows Professional 2000? It is easy to find in NT via explorer. I need to add the notepad shortcut to it. Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
This one took me a while to find too. 1. Open up Windows Explorer 2. Under Tools menue, choose Folder Options, then View tab. Select show hidden files and folders. 3. The Send To is under c:\Documents and Settings\YOUR FOLDER'S NAME\Send To

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Hello I recently switched from a 56k modem to a dsl and somehow ended up with netscape as my browser how do I make I E my default browser again ? Thank you for your help.
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
In Internet explorer on the Tools Menu got to Internet Options>Programs Tab and check the box for IE should check to see if it is the default browser. The next time you start Internet explorer it will prompt to make it the default.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
I keep getting the message WINDOWS COULD NOT UPGRADE ONE OR MORE SYSYTEM FILES BEFORE STARTING. WINDOWS MAY NOT START OR RUN PROPERLY. IF WINDOWS FAILS TO START, RUN SETUP AGAIN PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE Then I have to hit any key to continue to go into windows. I had done a search yesterday that gave me a link to microsoft for the files to put in my windows/system folder to fix the problem. But now I did the same search and cant find that result anymore. If anyone knows what I'm talking about please send me the link to microsoft or another solution. If I run setup again will that delete all the software i just installed? Thats know problem but I am just wondering cause I have a lot of programs to install.
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
No a dirty install will not remove the previous programs or make you reinstall them. You may however have to reinstall DirectX if you have installed a later version and it will remove any cookies and favourites as well as many fonts might be gone.

Question	Submitted by PBullock
I removed the briefcase folder from my win98se desktop. I just bought a win2kproSp1 laptop. There are available USB ports on each system. How do I replace the briefcase on the WIN98se system, and can I synchronize (with the briefcase) files between the win2kProSp1 system and the Win98se system. What type of USB cable do I need to buy to accomplish this? Thanks in advance
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
I guess you uninstalled Briefcase. That can easily be reinstalled by going to Control Panel>Add remove programs>Windows setup tab. If briefcase is installed but not shown on desktop you need a registry tweak. TweakUI will do it for you. How to Synchronise files....Well read the help menu on briefcase. Its all there.

Question	Submitted by Sehr
Hi! I have internet explorer 5 on windows 98. i always use dialpad but today it gave me an audio device compatibility error. Apparently some 'windows multimedia drivers are missing or damaged.' I have no idea what this means or how i should fix it. Please help me. Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
You might need to reinstall your sound card drivers.

Question	Submitted by Garrett
Hello In WindowsME Start Favorites After reformatting the" favorites" menu now has this strange tiling effect with little arrows to click to show more favorites. Is there a way to eliminate this and have all my " favorites " showing when accessing from the start menu? Thank you for your time.
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Start Button>Settings>Task Bar & Start Menu options> there you will be able to customise it so it shows everything instead of recently used shortcuts only.

Question	Submitted by Chris
My pc has developed a annoying fault. It has lost my dvd drive. Device manager is reporting that my primary ide controller is not present, is not set up or does not have all the drivers installed. I know it isn't a hardware problem as bios tells me it is there. what can you suggest. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Go to control panel and try to get windows to detect all your hardware again.

Question	Submitted by Paul
I have a NT 4 Workstation with Office 2000. I have created a Folder on the C:\ drive call My Documents. I have set each of the Office 2000 applications to have files saved in the C:\My Document folder. <<...OLE_Obj...>> However, for example when in Word I want to save a file I click save and it takes me to the drop down to save in : C:\My Document. This is correct , but when in the same drop down I click the My Document Icon it takes me to the personal folder undder WINNT. <<...OLE_Obj...>> How can I get the Icon called My Document to point to the C:\My Document instead of Personal? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Tweaking the registry lets you change the location of the shell folders. TweakUI if I remember correctly will easily let you do this.

Question	Submitted by Colin47
Hello i have recently run a systems analysis of my PC One of the suggestions to speed my boot up was to remove the Windows 98 Logo ! Can you tell me how to go about removing the Logo when I boot my PC ?
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
I would use TweakUI. In the boot section, uncheck the box for display splaash screen while booting.

Question	Submitted by SJ
Hello to all: I have Windows 95 and when I run Disk Defrag, I get a 'Defrag004' error and a prompt to run ScanDisk. However, when I run ScanDisk it goes on endlessly. I let ScanDisk run coutinously for a whole weekend, FRI- Sunday night and it never completed. In the past I would run ScanDisk and it would take a couple of hours MAX. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Boot to Safe mode and use CTRL-ALT-DEL to close all programs except Exploreer and systray and then run scan disk.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Dear sir After I installed Windowns2000 professional , I foget the password. I do not want to reinstall it. What shall I do ?
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
We get a lot of these queries from people who have FOUND laptops with Win2k installed and cannot get in. So I guess I shall post here but it is upto the manager of this club whether to post this reply on the main Activewin site. Passwords can be reset by tools available on the Net. Look here: http://www.purenetworking.net/Products/LockSmith/LockSmith.htm

Question	Submitted by Colin
Hello, I am not on a network, so how do I get rid of the irritating Network Neighbourhood shortcut on my desk-top? I am running Windows 98SE.
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
TweakUI. Tweak the registry to show hide some of the system icons on the desktop.

Question	Submitted by simonitz
Is there any way to stop all the pop up ads when I am using IE5?
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
There are some shareware popup killers available on the net for download. You need to use one of those.

Question	Submitted by Armik
Hi there. I have two questions: 1- I am about to forget windows nt 4.0 and learn more about w2k professional. All of a sudden, it seems windows xp is in the market. Could I ask why? And how in the name of heaven is the new edition different from 2000 professional. Should I forget 2000 prof. and start to learn xp? COMMENT: I believe you must give users a chance to learn and use w2k prof. before starting xp. Perhaps it is because of w2k is not that much stable as we think? 2- On my ordinary desktop pc, w2k works perfect. On my laptop (IBMs thinkpad model 600E) always crashes. I get a blue screen with a few line of explanation and it restarts instantly. I do not even get a chance to read what does it says. I tried to localize the problem by readin FAQ. It seems, it is only I who suffers such crashes. In the system logbook, it just says it stopped due to unknown cause in some system and lots of 000000000x0000. I have upgraded various drivers related w2k which I down loaded from IBM home page. It does not help either. Yours sincerely
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Well one thing here I can help. You can get time to read what the error message is on the blue screen. In My Computer>right Click Properties>Start up and shutdown...do not make windows reboot on errors. it will freeze on the blue screen and you will have to manually restart your computer after you read the error.

Question	Submitted by JAD
Hi, I recently added the latest updates to Windows Me on my desktop, which is fine (so far, so good with Me, LOL). However, somehow the update changed the setting in Eudora Pro so that when I click on a URL in an e-mail, MSIE comes up and not Netscape Communicator, which I had designated to open instead. I checked the eudora.ini and it has Netscape's program command in it, so I don't know why MSIE keeps popping up. It's driving me nuts. Can you help? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Mean Drake
Thats cos IE is now your default browser. Go to Netscape preferences and make it the default browser.

Question	Submitted by Jorge
Hello I have the SIDEWINDER FORCE FEEDBACK PRO. As software for install I have the Game Controller Software v 3.0 witch does not alow the instalation because now I use the wondows2000 (I think this is the reason). How can I install this joystick in the windows2000 sys ?? Thanks a lot.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
A quick check of MS's support site indicated that the software ver. 3.02 wasn't compatable w/ Win2000. However, there is an autodetect for Sidewinder joysticks. Try running that. If not, you may need to order ver 4 software for the joystick from MS.

Question	Submitted by Deb
When I am on the internet and click on a link that should automatically open with a new window, it will not open. The new window opens but with no address' just an empty box. I have Windows ME and can't figure how or where to fix this. Thankyou
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
If it's happening on every window, then you may have a corrupt install of IE 5.5. In that case, a simple reinstall. If it's just one particular link, then it's a poorly written web site/link, and not your system

Question	Submitted by diony
Hello, i have a problem with windows ME it freezes a lot what can i do to correct this problem without having to reinstall windows.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Can you be a little more specific as to when this happens? Need a little more info, specifics on your hardware, what software is installed, etc.

Question	Submitted by Liza
i am a computer science student studing windows 2000 professional as a part of my project. i would be very greatful if you could send me some information on the following aspects of windows 2000 professional the memory management system: memory allocation, address mapping, memory extension, virtual memory, memory protection, etc. file management system: process scheduling system comparison to MS DOS thanking you very much for your co-operation and help.
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Hi! Visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/default.asp for the latest and most complete information on Windows 2000 Professional. Good Luck!

Question	Submitted by Tony
I get an error message when shutting down or restarting my system as follows: "icsmgr has caused an error in <unknown>" I click ok, it closes no problems. It occurs almost everytime I log off. It anoying.. Could it be be a sign of other problems? Thank you for any help you can give. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
Sounds like a problem in your Internet Connection Sharing. If you aren't using it, uninstall it via the Control Panel. If you are using it, try uninstalling it and re-installing from the Windows ME CD's

Question	Submitted by Kevin
I have installed Netware's latest client for Win98/Me and when I try and double click on the Netware Servers icon, I get the following message (pasted from Faultlog.txt) and end up having to reboot. Do you know what either these files do and what I can do to correct the problem (uninstalling/reinstalling didn't work). I have latest patches from windowsupdate, for WinMe. Cheers
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
I would check the Novell Knowledgebase at http://support.novell.com/search/kb_index.jsp You also have to realize that ME isn't really suited for a business environment. So, try to see if you have the same problem on a 98SE machine. Make sure that you are using the 3.3 Novell Client for 9x/ME. If you could give me the specific error message, I could help you out more.

Question	Submitted by stephanie
How do setup my laptop to logon to my network at home and also have the option to logon to the domain when I am at work?
Solution 1	Answered by Ashton Smith
One easy way to switch network settings while traveling is to use hardware profiles, or to try a program available at http://www.netswitcher.com

Question	Submitted by Didar
hello thank you very much i am sory my englesh not good i have problem i installe windows98SE but the Englesh system ,and naw i want change to Arab system. plaise help me thank you
Solution 1	Answered by Jordan McIntosh
Go to: Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, Regional settings under language pick yours

Question	Submitted by F Poole
Guys I am not able to use the Gold key to which unlocks and windows 2000 server. I have upgrade to sms20sp2 and this had no effect. Could you please give me some help.
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
If your key doesn't work you need to contact Microsoft support. Good luck!

Question	Submitted by judi
help I went to cmt.com voted for my favorite song the microsoft internet explorer window tried to open it never finished I cant close it stop it so I just keep going around it how do I close it ?????////
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Judi,Close all your windows and restart your computer.

Question	Submitted by Rob
What is Meta-directory technolgies mean or what is the function of this technology. Thank you for your time.
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Search either at http://www.microsoft.com/msdn or microsoft.com/technet.

Question	Submitted by Steve
Hi. Do you know of a place where I can download the great new wallpaper patterns that are in the XP beta? Thanks.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
I believe neowin.net has them. Thanks! -Bob

Question	Submitted by Bill
After uninstalling IE 6, I can no long see the text and/or subject when some send me an E-Mail using plain text. I have reinstalled IE6, but the problem remains the same. I can always do my reformat HD & start again, but I am hoping that you can give me some suggestions. Any help would be appreciated. IE 6 also caused some other problems on my dual boot, W98/W2K, but this is the most irritating.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Since IE 6 is still in beta, you may want to uninstall IE 6 and reinstall IE 5 or 5.5
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
Office 2000 has a repair feature too. Why not try that. Or meybe if that fails reinstall Office2000 again fully.
Solution 3	Answered by Marc Strickland
This recently released patch should fix the problem. It worked for me. Get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/preview/ie6/

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