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 07-27-2001

Question 3	Submitted by Irving
I was defraging drive C and got this error: Windows cannot defr this drive bec it contains errors that must first be repaired. Ck Help & carry out instructions for repairing the errors, and then try defrag the dirve again. Error DEFRAG004. Help!
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
Go to Start, click Run, then type "scandisk." Let it automatically fix the errors, then run defrag again.

Question 37	Submitted by ?
Is there any way I can make WinAmp my default Audio CD player INSTEAD of Windows ME Media Player ? #2- If i can't, then why doesn't my Windows ME Media Player play my Audio CD and have visualizations at the same time. I click on Digital and nothing happens. It says it will play but won't have any Visualizations
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
Go to www.winamp.com and download the latest version. When installing it, it will give you an option for making it the default for audio CDs. As for the visualizations in WMP, check to make sure you have the Now Playing button selected.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
Even if winamp is already installed just enter the preferences and n the file types section check the box to make winamp the default player for Audio CDs.

Question 24	Submitted by Frankie
I keep getting an erros message: WAOL caused an invalid page fault in module < unknown> at 0000:7632c000. I have contacted aol 3 times to no avail. I have contacted Gateway but could not follow their instructions. Can you help me in terms that I can understand to fix this problem? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
Get your AOL disc. Click on Start, point to Settings, click on Control Panel, double click Add/Remove Programs. There will be a list, look for America Online, and double click it. Follow through the steps. Then, insert your AOL CD and reinstall AOL.

Question 7	Submitted by ?
My windows 98 does not have choice of MS internet explorer on the add-remove program. I canot access the explorer and need help repairing explorer 5. Where do I get this? Using the Sysinfo tool did not help.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
website If you need to repair it, go to the IE and download the setup file, and then force a reinstallation of all components.

Question 19	Submitted by ?
While surfing on the internet I somehow got a restriction set on my computer that doesn't allow me to access the browser options. Where do I find information on setting computer restrictions? I'm running Window 2000 profesional.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
You may be locked out of the ability to change settings if you aren't a power user or an administrator. Make sure you are in the right group and try again.

Question 35	Submitted by ?
I am using Microsoft Outlook 5. There are times when I am sending sensitive documents and don't want to be identified by my name "boudrie" which appears on the sender part of the e-mail. Is it possible to change this sender idendity for certain documents? If not, I may settle changing it for all outgoing documents. Thank you for your assistance.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Yes. Go to the tools menu, hit services (or accounts), and find the service used to send mail. Select it, hit properties, and then replace your name with the name you would like to appear. If you wish, you can also change the from and reply-to addresses as well. However, it is impossible to change the routing information...if a person wanted to track down the sender he COULD -- it just wouldn't be as obvious.

Question 31	Submitted by Parker
sir/madam, how do i remove few programs which are a;reayd installed in the quick launch bar so that the boot up time for my PC reduces.
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
Right click the icons, and click "Delete" It will not improve your bott time though. To do that, delete the items in Start > Programs > StartUp using the same procedure.

Question 43	Submitted by Parker
I am running a polywell polystation 880x (I think) It has dual P3 933 chips 256megs of Ram a Maxtor 45 Gig boot drive (quad-boot Win2k, BeOS, Debian2.2, Solaris 8) an internal RAID card (Hot Rod 100 Pro) with two striped 30 Gig Western Digital Drives, a WinFast GeForce 2 graphics card, and all the other crap you would expect. My problem is it randomly hangs and crashes to the ground when any games, Windows Media player, or honestly, just about anything, is run. I have all the latest patches and updates and the programs on startup are Palm hotsync, pgp, and zone alarm. Any guesses? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Try temporarily replacing the graphics card. As crazy as it seems, 9 times out of 10, that is what is causing the hangups.

Question 6

Submitted by Victor

Hello,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Please your help is urgently needed in the area of entering my password into the dial up network field and the freezing of my WINDOWS ME on start up. I am using WME Pentium lll, since I entered password onto the supervisor and user password area on the CMOS I can no longer log on to my network. I could not enter my password into dial up network field, when I tried to enter my password nothing appears on the dialog field on the network Whenever I start up my system it takes ages to really get into a normal work mode, in other word every thing just stops working for sometime. Please how can I rectify these problems? Thanks.

Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
I hate to mention the obvious, but did you try removing the CMOS password protection?

Question 1	Submitted by Grace
Hie,I have a personal computer at home I have been running Nt server I have several personal files in it and I was thinking of updating to win2k server just for practice as I aspire to be a network administrator so please advice me on how to go about it,i don't want to loose any file and at the same time I want it to give me full service i.e I don't want to start receiving error messages after upgrading. Thanks in advance. Regards
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
WinNT 4 Server --> Win2K server is a very smooth update; I have never had any issues in that. If losing data is a possible concern, make CD/ZIP/DLT backups of any irreplaceable data first.

Question 2	Submitted by ?
I currently have win2k installed on a 30gb hard drive. The C: boot partition, 2Gb, is getting full and I want to increase the size. I also have 3 active logical partitions, E, F and G. If i delete one of the logical partitions can I increase the boot partition? Do I have to do a clean re-install? What is the best way to do a clean reinstall of win2k? What files are safe to delete in order to clean the C:
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
I would suggest partition Magic to resize and manage your partitions without deleting any files.

Question 17	Submitted by Gary
Hi, I do tech support (real support) on computer hardware. I have a hand built pc, dual boot with win98se and win2000 pro, service pack 2 installed. I've spen at least 20 hours searching for how to control what programs launch automatically when Windows boots, like the sweet little msconfig in win 98. I cannot find it, internet searched, help files utilized. Under applications and services is the closest I've found. Is there any other way to pick and choose what I want to load on bootup? I did finally find how to disable the icons for the sound blaster live, if you guys need help on that. These were not listed in the services and applications area. Thanks for your help, and I really like your web site. It has a link on my toolbar in IE5. THanks again
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
There is none, because msconfig controls files that are not needed in Windows 2000. Try downloading X-Setup from http://xteq.com/. It should help with what you desire.

Question 14	Submitted by Pam
I keep getting nav32 errors and when I open a folder containing puzzles, I get WCdemo error if I exit and then try to go back in. I have to keep shutting down and rebooting. Crt/alt/delete does not shut down the computer. I have to manually shut down and then reactivate my desktop each time. What can I do to stop the error messages? Why do they keep appearing?
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Nav32 is Norton Anti Virus for Windows. Uninstall it and then reinstall the latest version. That should eliminate your nav32 error messages. As forWCdemo, that is a demo version of a game that apparently has some issues in it. It is not a critical component of anything, so if you are getting issues, remove a program (in the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet) that is called Wxxxx Cxxxx demo (where xxxx is the rest of the name of the program).

Question 27	Submitted by ?
I'm purchasing a new computer soon and almost all of the comps that are out now have windows ME preloaded on them yet many of my friends and other people have told me that Windows ME is very crash happy and extrememly incompatable with alot of games. So what should i do im not puting my own computer together in fact im actually probably going to get the Compaq Presario 5108 but is there anyway i can ask the vendor to load a different version of windows on or anything like that? And i do not want to wait for windows XP, that is definately not a windows i will be upgrading to so what should i do?
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
I suggest you go with Windows Me, because it does run games very well. It runs great when it's preinstalled, so go for it. You might want to wait for XP, because it's a great OS as well. If it's Product Activation you are worries about, don't worry, it's not on preinstalled computers.
Solution 2	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
NO! do not get a Compaq Presario. Don't even get a Compaq. Compaq's come with WinME and they don't support your computer unless you have the version of WinME it came with. Dell's, on the other hand, come with a fully-licensed version of the OS. That means that when you get your computer, if you don't like all the junk that is on it, simply reformat, and pull out the CD's that came with your computer. One of them is a CLEAN INSTALL of WindowsME (which, when installed clean, doesn't crash at all), and the other CD's contain easy-to-install drivers. I hate my presario. You will regret it if you buy it.

Question 33	Submitted by James
I love your site...very helpfull, but i didn't find an answer to question I have.. I was wondering if you can set a password to any file,folder, or program through the registry?? If so, how do you do it? If not, how do I do it out of the registry?? Thanks very much
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Only in Windows NT/2000 with NTFS. Just right click on the file, choose properties, then click security, and type in your password. that's it.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
And for the other versions of windows there are third party software available to enable you to password protect folders and files.

Question 22	Submitted by Steve
I am on win 2000 and when on the net keep getting the following error message LEXPLORE HAS CAUSED AN ERROR AND WILL NOW CLOSE ,any ideas why or how to solve this please
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
It's actually IEXPLORE, and you are getting that error because your installation of IE is somehow messed up. Either uninstall it and reinstall it, or download the latest version (that usually works as well). Good luck.

Question 18	Submitted by Allen
I have a home network in which I share a Cable Modem connection using WIFI (and DHCP for the IP addresses). I would like to make the hard drives on the various machines visible to one another over the network, but I can't figure out how to do this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
If you are running WinME, 98 or 95 on any of the computers, make sure that they are running the Client for Microsoft Networks, are all on the same workgroup (rt-click on network neighborhood, choose properties, click identity), and are all running file and print sharing for microsoft networks. Then go into My Computer and right click on each drive you want to share. Click on properties, then the sharing tab. Specify that you want to share it, then specify the level of access control. In Windows NT/2000, sharing is automatically installed, so just right click on the drive, click Sharing, then give access control to "The World." If you just pick names not everyone on the network will be able to access the drives.

Question 4	Submitted by ?
I am getting the error message: WAOL caused an invalid page fault in module AMSVCR.DLL. (0177.7800d577) AOL is telling me it's Microsoft's problem and from what I'm reading, they're telling me it's AOL's problem.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Tell you what: search for the file AMSVCR.DLL. if it is in AOL's directory, the it is AOL's problem. If it is in the Windows (or system) directory, it could be either problem, so in that case, try uninstalling and reinstalling AOL.

Question 5	Submitted by ?
I bought a new Quantum Fireball Plus AS (30G, 7200rpm). However my computer only detect it as a 9.99G hardisk. Why? So how can I partition this huge hardisk into 5 section with 6G equally? Please help me.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Contact your Motherboard or Computer manufacturer. Your BIOS needs to be updated to support the disk (also, your computer can't be running Windows 95). You did not provide enough information to help you through that process.

Question 8	Submitted by Tano
Hello ,Hi! I've installed a CD-Rom on a Window nt 3.1. I haven't got the software to do the configuration, can you help me how to configure in bios? And also, the cd-rom is a standard one, do i still need to get drivers? Please help! Thank you.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
I would strongly recommend upgrading your computer. i would be surprised if your CD drive is even compatible with your BIOS/motherboard.

Question 12	Submitted by Carolyn
I am trying to help a neighbor who is running AOL 6.0 and Win98. Frequently when trying to start AOL she get the following message. "A fatal exception OE has occurred at 0028:CA3317E2. The current application will be terminated." She then has to restart her computer and AOL will start. What is going on?
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Apparently, from the time she starts her computer and the time she starts AOL, she also opens a program that disrupts AOL from working. Try randomly running programs and starting AOL until you get that error. Then uninstall THAT program, reinstall it, and see if the issue remains. If so, contact that program's manufacturer's tech support and obtain an update.

Question 25	Submitted by ?
Hi, I keep getting this 0x0000001e crash in the Ntoskrnl...... the arguments are 0xc0000005 and the rest are all zeros. I read from a microsoft page that this could be a ram problem, but i ran gold mem and everything checked out fine. I am suspecting that this is a Windows problem, which requires a fix... Thanks David
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Gold mem doesn't tell all. The only way to completely determine if it is a memory issue would be to take off your computer cover, and remove memory chips one by one to see if the issue goes away. If it still remains, you have some arguing power of Microsoft tech support now!

Question 26	Submitted by ?
Dear Askaw, Each time I boot up I receive this error message: "Microsoft ISDN Configuration Wizard. No ISDN devices were found. Please install an ISDN device and run the configuration wizard again." I click the OK and things go on normally. What is an ISDN device? How do I get rid of this error message?I am running Windows 98 (first version)(4.10.1998). Someone told me this "device" has something to do with a network. I do not have a network. E. Dickman Computer: Mitzuba 128 MB RAM 350 Hard drive: 7.8 GB 6.06 GB used 1.74 GB free Scanner: Agfa T 1200 Serial port CD Rom CD Writer: HP9300 series Iomega Zip drive: Parallel / external Epson Stylus Photo 780 printer: USB port SanDisk: USB port
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Open your control panel, choose Add/Remove Programs, and click the Windows Setup tab. Click the + next to communications and remove ISDN support.

Question 29	Submitted by Will
Great site it helped tons but, Maybe you can help me: I've lost most of my sound and I can't figure out why. I have Win 98se, a AMD k6-2 400 pro and a Voodoo3-2000 video card. I can faintly hear some sound when doing tests and some static when I play something very loud but otherwise nothing. It was working fine until a few days ago.? Helppppp! Sincerely
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
make sure your microphone isn't plugged into your speaker port or that you don't have headphones plugged into your speakers. otherwise, your sound card may be dying, in which case, you should contact the tech support of your sound card and order a replacement (if under warantee) or have them talk you through the diagnosis process.

Question 30	Submitted by Tony
Hi, having a problem when I connect to my local ISP via modem, my web browser hangs for about 15 seconds, then loads the home page.Even during my surfing there will be a hang for 30 seconds or even a complete freeze occasionally.Any advice would be appreciated.Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
It is usually your virus scanner that is causing this, especially if you did not turn off your virus scanner when you upgraded your web browser. try uninstalling your virus scanner and reinstalling it. If that doesn't help, please email me.

Question 47	Submitted by Robert
I recently found "DLHELPEREXE.EXE" in the start menu folder on my Windows ME system... What is this file for and why was it in this folder... I have copied the file to a diskette and removed it from the the hard drive... everything appears to be working well.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Apparently, you installed some sort of download accellerator/helper. Those programs are generally snoopware and should be avoided -- they don't help and instead set up proxy servers in IE that are often non-functional, causing internet browsing to stop working. You were wise to remove it. I'd suggest uninstalling it as well, in addition to resetting your proxy settings (to NOTHING)

Question 38	Submitted by ?
why does the Maximise/Restore button appear as two different icons at different times
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
The only time that occurs is if (a) Windows has run out of memory, or (b) if it is in a Window contained within another program, such as Microsoft Word 97, as you can either restore the window to its previous state, or occupy the entire workspace with it.

Question 44	Submitted by ?
Hi, just got here... I have 2 hard disk each installed with Win98SE (as primery) and W2kPro (as secondary). When I installed both in one PC, I can not access the second. Is there a possibility to get my Win98 accessing hard disk formatted with W2kPro ? Thank you.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
If it is a normal installation of Win2K, then that drive is formatted with NTFS and cannot be accessed of any version of Windows (except NT, of course). There may be 3rd party utilities that work within Windows 98, but they would provide read-only access to the NT drive. The only programs I know of run command line off of boot disk for troubleshooting purposes....one of them is called ntfsdos (pro)

Question 34	Submitted by Mrs S. Rimmer
Dear Ask AW, I was having trouble with my PC crashing/freezing up when I was on the net. This has recently got less though I dont know why. However, during the last week or so, the computer has actually frozen up when the screen saver has been on! The other night I left it for approx half an hour. When I returned to it, the screen saver was stuck solid and I had to use the reset button to get back into Windows again. We are using Windows ME. I sometimes wonder if Windows 98 would have been better. I await your reply with interest.
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
Turn off power management, and see if any programs are set to automatically run when you are not using your computer (i.e. SETI, defrag, antivirus). Disable those. If there are still issues, please email me.

Question 28	Submitted by John
There is a windows 2000 upgrade package that allows you to go from windows 9X. My question is does that also include windows ME? I need to go to windows 2000 to use windows CE emulator but I've gotwindows ME? thanks for any help
Solution 1	Answered by Adam Sowalsky
You must do a clean install of Windows 2000. There isn't any upgrade path supported for Windows Me to Windows 2000.

Question 16	Submitted by Roslyn
I've been running IE5.5 for a while. I also run win98-2e. I have a program which I need to use to print to an Epson LQ-2550 wide-bed dot matrix printer. Apparently (via program's discussion list comments) IE 5.5 has trouble printing to wide-bed Epson printers. Everyone using the program with IE 5.0 seems to have no problems printing. (The program actually uses IE as its programming/run environment [DressShop v4.0 by LivingSoft].) I must have had 5.5 installed for some time, as when I did control panel/add-remove programs, removing 5.5 just reverted back to my DSL provider's version of 5.5. Of course the ie5.0 sp2 download from MS won't install over it. I've been to Epson's site for a new driver, but they just point me to win98se. It's not working for that program. Generic win98se print test page works fine. Other apps work fine. So, it appears the discussion list is correct. How can I revert to v5.0? Can you help? Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Michael Kircus
There isn't a way to go back to an older IE once backups of it are deleted. You'd have to do a clean install of the operating system to revert.

Question 23	Submitted by ?
Can W2K server be upgraded to Advanced Server?
Solution 1	Answered by John Lampson
No, Windows 2000 Server cannot be upgraded to Advanced Server. Your best bet would be to back up the System State, format, install Advanced Server, and restore the System State.

Question 21	Submitted by Mason
In Windows Millenium, I use the Internet conenction sharing to link two computers together using a cross-over cable. Can this be done in any shape or form using Windows 2000. I prefer 2000 to millenium.Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by John Lampson
Mason, Simply right-click on the connection that you wish to use in Network and Dial-up Connections and choose Properties. You should see a Sharing tab. Select the option to share and the wizard will guide you through the remaining steps.

Question 39	Submitted by Stan
Windows 2000 error message "Out of Scan range". What is it and what is causing it? Thank You
Solution 1	Answered by John Lampson
Stan,I generally see that message displayed on a monitor when the screen resolution or refresh rate has been set too high. Make sure that your monitor can support the resolution you selected before setting it. If this message displays constantly, boot Windows 2000 into Safe Mode and set the resolution to 640 x 480, then reboot.

Question 48	Submitted by Rod
Ok - here's an odd one. I have an intellimouse explorer and when I use it with my laptop (running windows me) the side buttons work as they are supposed to. When I use the mouse with my desktop machines (Win2000 and Win98) the side buttons do nothing. I have tried installing v3.2 of the Intellimouse software, which seems to make no difference. The mouse applet in control panel does not even include the Intellimouse Explorer in the drop down list of mice, so I can't even get the mouse applet to recognise that the mouse has side buttons, let alone define functions for the buttons. Any ideas? Rod.
Solution 1	Answered by Brian Lyttle
Rod,It sounds like your driver setup is not initialising. Do you have the mouse connected via USB or PS/2 type connector? If you are currently using PS/2 try connecting via USB or vice-versa. Install the drivers again and see if the buttons work correctly. You could then move the mouse back to the original connector.

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