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 questions posted on: 10-25-2000

Question	Submitted by Neil
Hi guys, Could you recommend the best way to re-install Windows 2000 from scratch (i.e. the best way to create a boot disk to reformat the hd, and will still allow the cd to boot up). I've got a 10gb hd. Are you guys also aware of any problems instally Quark Express 4.1 with a machine running Windows 2000? I've tried this several times with no luck, the installer gobbles up the processor power and the machine sits with 100% CPU Use. I've had a look at the Quark site but there doesn't seem to be any mention of the above problem. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards
Solution 1	Answered by Brian Lyttle
Neil, This the basic procedure you should follow... 1: Make backups of all important files, especially Certificates for any volumes using the Encrypting File System (EFS). 2: Insert your Windows 2000 CD in your main CD ROM drive (one which is bootable). 3: Restart your computer. When prompted hit a key. Windows 2000 CD should boot with a blue-colored, DOS style screen. This is referred to as the text-mode part of setup. 4:The setup will probably offer to install a NEW Windows 2000 installation, or Repair an old one. You must select NEW. 5: The next thing you must select is where to install Windows 2000. Any hard disks in your system will be listed, along with their partitions. Delete whichever one currently holds Windows 2000, and then select to install Windows 2000 on it. You are then given options on how to format the drive. Choose whichever is appropriate for you. Fat 32 is probably the best choice, as you can upgrade to NTFS later. 6:You should be able to follow the setup from this point onwards. Relatively little interaction is involved. Windows 2000 additionally provides the option to perform automated (scripted) installs. These are useful if you find that you regularly reinstall Windows 2000, like me. More information is available in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.

Question	Submitted by Warren A. Buchler
Hi there, I have a problem with a program that prints label with the Novexx on com1. The program uses a template that bypasses the Windows print engine. This works fine with Win9x. The author of this template has told me that if the command 'echo' (or Print or copy) will work, his template will work too. If not (exactly this is the case), he told me to check the settings of the OS and/or port. What do I have to do ? Are there any references? best regards.
Solution 1	Answered by Brian Lyttle
Ralf, You may have encountered a problem with the differences in architectures between Windows 9x and Windows NT/2000. Windows 9x allows direct access to hardware by software applications, often required for the use of Serial (Com) ports. Windows 2000 does not allow such access, other than through special channels. This improves system stability, but means compatibility problems with Windows 9x applications. I think you should go back to the vendor and find out if they have actually tested their application on Windows 2000.

Question	Submitted by Warren A. Buchler
After installing Windows ME, I am unable run some of my dos clipper applications. Under my Windows 98 SE I had an autoexec.bat and config.sys file, but these appear to be gone in Windows ME. What I had in my config.sys file was "Files = 99". and in may autoexec.bat file I had set path, and set clipper F=75. Will I be able to establish these setting under Windows ME?. Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Geoffrey Lo
Hey there, Windows ME has a new "file protection" feature that prevents alters from system files. Unfortunately apart from a registry tweak, there is no other way to do this.
Solution 2	Answered by Andrew Funderburk
In addition to the "Windows File Protection" mentioned in the other answer, WinME also contains a good deal less DOS code than Win95/98/98SE. This could be part of the problem. The reason for the loss of code is to bring consumer Windows closer to NT/2k, increase stability and prepare for Whistler.

Question	Submitted by ???
The reason that I send this e-mail is that I have a problem with windows 98se. I live in Greece. My computer is an Athlon 550mhz, motherboard qdi kinetiz 7a with kx133 chipset cd rom asus 50x, plextor 8x4x32 atapi and 256mb ram. When windows is loading I get the message "windows protection error. You need to restart your computer." This happens many times but not always. After that windows displays the screen in which you choose the mode you want to start. I choose safe mode and when windows finishes loading, under the tab "performance" of "y computer" I see the message "compatibility mode paging reduces overall system performance, drive a is using ms-dos compatibility mode, drive c is using ms-dos compatibility mode". Also sometimes when I shut down my computer it starts by it self immediately. I have checked all my files for viruses but everything is okay. I would be grateful if you could give me an advice.
Solution 1	Answered by Geoffrey Lo
Hey there, Sometimes dust clogs up onto the RAM in the computer, and it'll drop eventually, and new dust will come. The "Windows Protection Error" is normally because of defective hardware, either a bad cluster on the Hard disk, or the RAM.

Question	Submitted by Dave
Probably a simple answer to this one, but it perplexes me all the same! On my master PC I currently have two identical Hard drives [ 20 Gb/udma 66/5,400rpm ], both of which are on the Primary ID slot as Master & Slave. My secondary IDE slot has my 8 X DV-Rom drive on it. I now want to add a CD-RW drive [4x4x32] to the system. What, then, is the best possible configuration to set all four up in? The Master HDD has the O/S [ME] and all my other software on board. The Slave HDD is currently bare, but is going to be used for Video Editing. Purpose of the CD-RW is to copy useful software found on UK cover disks, occasional back-ups of No. 1 Hard drive and, of course, burning my finished Videos to CD for posterity. I might add that the PC this is all going on will also be used as a server for three other PCs - if that has any bearing? Thanks in anticipation.
Solution 1	Answered by Geoffrey Lo
Hey there, Currently, I do not suggest burning CDR/RW's using servers. This is because there will be a lot of buffer under runs because of insufficient cache and will waste a lot of disks. It's best to use a system not connected to the network. If you do want to, I suggest using the CDRW as the Secondary Slave. Any further questions, e-mail me.

Question	Submitted by ???
I am looking for information regarding Win2000 Pro workstation performance tips and hardware advice, as opposed to all of the server-related crap...essentially, I am trying to get a list of graphics cards that are Win2000 ready in the 2D (Photoshop) area.... many cards seem not to be optimized for possibly new/changed Win2000 shell API's, and thus the system ends up having to accelerate in software, making for awful performance...(it doesn't seem to be a driver issue...) (I can dual boot back into Win98 on the same system, and everything is MUCH faster...). Thanks.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
The fact that Windows 2000 is much stabler and faster in terms of performance and scratch disk, there is no reason for you to stick with windows 9x if you can afford the upgrade. If you are building your computer from scratch, I would recommend you to start from your motherboard, chipset and CPU, these elements are the key winner for top notch graphics processing. Check out sites like anandtech.com, sharkyextreme.com, tomshardware.com, etc, look for a review before you decide on buying them. The next would be your graphic card, personally, I love Matrox G400 Dual Head that I have, you can check out the newer model, the 3D performance is unbeatable, especially when you do 2D, and only 2D, it's a great package for such a price. Usually, performance also comes from compatibility, my ASUS P3B-F, PIIICoppermine, and G400MAX, is very stable and compatible with most programs I run, which includes Photoshop. I would recommend you getting a SCSI drive if you can afford it. My maxtor hard drive can't keep up the speed of my memory. When you finally decide, check out the vendors website, and read for the KB issues or drivers download package and the readme files, it will give you a clear picture of what will it like once you buy the system. Good Luck

Question	Submitted by Sol
hi there, I have a problem with media player 7(mp7), I have just installed it on a fresh install of win98, every time I open mp7, my pc just locks up, I have un/re installed it 3 times, the message at the bottom of mp7 is always "media changing", can anyone please help, my system is a AMD K62 450, WITH 2 IDE HDD,TOSHIBA IDE DVD,TEAC IDE CD AND SONY SCSI 8432 CDRW, this runs on a adaptec isa scsi card, my mb is a gigabyte ga5ax and I have a voodoo 3 3000, graphics card, im using nero 5.0 for cd burning. the sound card is a SoundBlaster live pci. Incidentally Music match juke box also crashes at startup. any help kindly appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
First run the troubleshooter. Download the latest ASPI driver from adaptec (go to the support website). and read all the infos there, ASPI driver issues has been causing a lot of problems with WMP7, especially when you have a cd burner installed. you should have no problem when you update your ASPI. Good Luck.

Question	Submitted by sicksock
Ok, this is a problem that has been bothering me for over two years, and no one seems to have the answer. In Internet Explorer, how do I open a new window maximized. If the window you are viewing is maximized, and you right click on a link and click "Open in a new window", a new window will open with the page non-maximized. ( but not minimized ) Internet Explorer will open the new page sized to the last page closed while not maximized. I know about the full screen view ( F11 ) and that is not what I want. I have noticed on numerous message boards that other people have had this problem, but the right answer is never given. Please help, give me any reply, even if you cant solve it yourself.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
This is not a problem or bug, this is how the software was designed and coded. IE writes its last windows settings location and size to the registry when it closed, when you open a window in normal mode, then closing it in the maximized state the nest time you open the window, it will maximized, as well as the "Shift-Click or Open in new window". There's no known fix or patch for this until now, but IE 5.5 has functions better on this then it's predecessor.

Question	Submitted by Louis Seymour
I recently downloaded a theme from cnet for Halloween and when I returned to my themes in the control panel to change it, they were gone. I don't know if downloading that theme had anything to do with losing all the themes that came loaded on the computer. I tried to find them, and it appears they are still in windows, but it seems I have to use the msdos to make them active again. I don't understand what they want me to do. I asked for your help once before and you gave me instructions in "English". Thank you for any and all help you can offer.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Open the desktop themes control panel, and click browse instead of clicking on the drop down menu, open the following location: "C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes", and pick up a theme file. Then the files should appears on the drop down menu/list.

Question	Submitted by Fred Weaver
I uninstalled a program the other day and now when I start my PC, the above termination notes appear. I can click & remove them and still enter Windows 98. Any idea why these are appearing and how to stop this? Thank You
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
This is a bad installation program, to remove the entry from eh registry, do the following: (Please backup the registry before you proceed) Press Winkey+R, and type "regedit" without the quote from the run command menu, this will bring up the registry editor. press F3, and type in the filename, in your cause it would be either whiz and/or realplay.dll try doing it one after another, after you find any instance of the key, press del from the parent tree (left pane highlight), and press F3 after each search until it finish searching. Download RegClean from Microsoft which cleans up your orphaned registry, go to http://newlife-win98.server101.com/ for more info on related issues and regclean download. Good Luck

Question	Submitted by Barb
Hi, I am trying to test with some older versions of I.E. - currently with 4.0 on a win95 desktop - I can't seem to open any new windows from this - any hints on what I need to set? When I right click over a link to 'open a new window' nothing happens... When I visit a site that would spawn a window on another computer, it does not spawn... What could I have done to my computer to cause this? Any help would be very appreciated!!! Thank you!
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Install the latest scripting engine, download from microsoft.com/script, if you install IE4 as an upgrade, just reinstall IE4, and/or update to the latest service pack. (SP2 at the moment)

Question	Submitted by Richard
Hello, I'm using an IBM ThinkPad a20p with Windows 2000 Professional on a 6 GB HD. I own a second HD (20 GB) which I can insert in the ThinkPad's Ultrabay. I can boot Win 2000 from the 6 GB and have Win 2000 recognize that the 20 GB is inserted/present. HOWEVER, I can't find any way to "see" the 20 GB drive in Windows Explorer. The hardware and device managers see both drives, but I can't get to the 20 GB HD to format it, etc. I'm curious because I have 3 partitions on the 6 GB HD, two of which are unformatted. I can still "see" those partitions in Windows Explorer, even though they are unformatted. Do I have to "mount" the 20 GB HD, somehow? Thank you
Solution 1	Answered by Philip Tan
Hello. To get Windows 2000 to "see" your new hard drive, right click My Computer and select Manage. In the Computer Management window, select Disk Management under the Storage branch. From here, you can see all hard drives and their corresponding partitions. You can create, delete, and format partitions here.

Question	Submitted by Paul
Hello, I have recently upgraded to ME, I have a Pentium 3, 450mhz proc, Voodoo 3dfx with the latest upgrade. Since upgrading I have trouble with graphics on TOCA 2. The game plays the first time but if you continue with the game the graphics become jerky and it is unplayable. Codemasters can't help me, I have the latest direct x 7. I need to know if I'm going to have to reinstall win 98? Please help me. Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putman
I'm not familiar with this particular game, but a couple of questions. 1. Did you do an upgrade over Win98 or a clean install. One of the biggest issues is drivers. Check with 3dfx for drivers designated to WinMe. You may also want to consider a clean install of WinMe. 2. Are there any patches/updates for this particular game?

Question	Submitted by Stephane
Dear Activewin, I would like to know if you know of a fix for the following issue...I go to the Microsoft windows update website and click on update...then I get the error message..."Missing System Files"...I had just reinstalled and formatted a new hdd and get this error message...I ran system file checker already and does not give me any error messages...Is there a way I can fix this problem? Thank you kindly.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putman
This sounds like you're running Win98. Is this a retail version of Win98 or an OEM version that came with a computer? Is there some antivirus, firewall, etc software that you're running? If you have a firewall, this may be protecting the system files from being read by the MS update site.

Question	Submitted by Brian Tharar
Help, This may be a silly question...but, I just installed IE 5.5 and as a former Netscape user I am unable to locate the proper settings to turn off those really bothersome popups, and redirects!!! please help.
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Tharar, In IE 5.5 there are two places where you will find the option(s) that you are looking for. Go Tools Menu->Internet Options Security Tab, Custom Security Level or Tools Menu->Internet Options Advanced Tab You will find the different restrictions in those two windows. Hope this helps. Regards

Question	Submitted by Tom
When I select the "Search Icon" at the top of the IE screen a search frame correctly appears on the left side of my screen. On the top left hand side of this frame is the word search. To the right of this should be the usual "close" button, but this is" invisible". If I place the mouse arrow over the correct area the button appears, but is blank ie. no X symbol. I have recently upgraded to IE5.5 from version 5, but the problem is still there. Please can you help? Thanks
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Tom, You could try and reinstall your Internet Explorer. I've had small, annoying problems like that in the past and that usually works in resolving them. Also, if you do not want to install IE5 there is another way to close the search window. After you click the search icon, and the box appears on the left hand side of the screen, when you are done right click on the search toolbar and you should get three options (Refresh, Open in New Windows, and Close). Hope this helps. Regards

Question	Submitted by Pat
Hi! my name is Pat! I am making a HTML page for my Active Desktop and I have a the following problem: I want to use animated GIF has shortcut to start my applications but if I click on a link the download page appear!!! Is there a way to start a APP. form a HTML page like a normal shortcut wood. If you can help me please send me a Email ! Ps. Sorry for the writing... I'm French !
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Hi Pat! I think I know what you are trying to say. There are many different links you can make in HTML; FTP, news, mailto and many more. Making a link to launch a program isn't any different. If the link is to an application on your personal computer, you must first try and figure out which file is the main application executable. To do this, right click on an existing short cut and choose properties. For example, when you right click on the Internet Explorer icon, choose properties you get this: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE So in MS front page, type which text you want to make link from, highlight it and press ctrl + K. This will bring up a hyperlink box and simply paste the above string into the field. Click "Ok" and your link is finished. Here are some other common program links: C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe - OE C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE - MS Word Note, these programs may be different on your computer so check before you make your link! Hope this helps. Best regards

Question	Submitted by John Doyle
Hello: I have Win 98 on a Gateway Celeron 400 machine with 64 ram. I was using Macafee virus scan without trouble, but then upgraded to IE 5.5. Boom! computer crashed on every startup, randomly while running and on every shutdown. I found that if I disabled virus scan that no crashes occurred. I also uninstalled IE 5.5 and ended up with IE 5.01. Got the newest virus scan from Macafee, followed the installation instructions and BOOM! The same problem. Does this mean that I have to switch to Norton?
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Download the patch released shortly after IE 5.5 was released, there's an issue about this reported by many users, and at the same time, it's all solved after the update applied. Check out the website for the info.

Question	Submitted by Allie
Hi, I have windows 98, IE 5.5, 212 ram. I haven't been able to access windows update. The message comes up that not able to display. After doing everything suggested on their pages, I'm at a standstill. There are a couple of other sites I can't use, like my banking site and a few other programs. It appears that I have a damaged dll that is used by these pages. After hours of searching around, I don't know. I did run sfc about a week ago, but don't know if this caused my problem. What should I do. I have a Compaq 5222, and windows came installed so all I have is a disk to put me back to the very beginning. Thanks for any help.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Go to http://newlife-win98.server101.com/ for troubleshooting it. or you can go and download all the updates manually for offline applying and future saving. http://corporate.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp or http://newlife-win98.server101.com/Windows98_Updates.htm There are many reasons that make Windowsupdate doesn't work, it's often caused by a terrible connection and/or server responses, I usually have luck after a few times try. Good luck

Question	Submitted by Jules
Direct x 7 now has the transform and lighting feature that allows 3d video cards to offload geometry calculations from the processor. Could this feature be turned off through the control panel or some other way?
Solution 1	Answered by Bob Stein
Jules, I searched the DirectX website (which was out dated) and the Knowledge Base and I couldn't find anything regarding your problem. If you are an advanced user, the DirectX 7 SDK from MSDN might include some utilities that you may find of interest and might help your problem: http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp Although I recommend waiting for Direct X 8, which should be available to download within the month. Best regards,

Question	Submitted by Paul Schwartz
Hello, Enjoyed your site! My problem: I have a new computer with an OEM of 98SE. Often Windows will stop responding after I access a drop down menu. This usually happens the first time I access the File>Print command after booting up. I have learned to wait 5-10 mins and then the dialogue box appears. After that, the access to Print is normal. When I do Ctrl-Alt-Delete I get a message that such and such a program, Word say, has stopped responding. In a similar way, upon first booting up I'm faced with only wallpaper, no icons. After waiting 5-10 mins the icons do come up. What do you think? Thanks in advance.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Try to reduce the number of programs that run during startup, and/or remove the programs that you don't frequently use, there are problems reported that some programs is causing the issue, another possibility is the Shell add-on that you might install. If you can run windows normally in safe mode, it's your program that is causing the problem, run the troubleshooter for more info on how to troubleshoot in safe mode. This is what I can suggest for now, since you don't give us the basics info on your computer. Good Luck.

Question	Submitted by Andy
All my IRQ settings seem to be wrong! I have my on-board sound chip (Rage Pro Turbo II) on IRQ 10, My ISDN card on IRQ 11, and some others are empty, like IRQ 3! As a result, whenever I am online and I visit a page with loads of Sound, my ISDN card hangs and I have to re-boot if I want to commence surfing. If the sound chip was on IRQ 3, would this solve this problem?
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Yes, there are known issues for onboard sound chips and IRQ settings, if you can get your hand on the manual settings, this will prevent the problem from happening, you can also configure it from your cmos settings in the bios, read the troubleshooter for more info.

Question	Submitted by Colethia
I have a computer that has constant hesitation problems. Intel Pentium III 733 Mhz, 128 ram, board running at 133. The computer hesitates periodically throughout the day for about 45-60 seconds. The mouse pointer disappears and nothing can be done until it comes back. This happens in all programs. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This is a new system with all new drivers. We are running Win98 SE. New install on new drive. Thanks for your help.
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Run the troubleshooter. Since it's a newly installed system, try booting into safe mode, and see if the problem occurs. My point is, you should know after which driver/program from hardware setup has caused the problem. Revert back to a "Just started state" a state where windows start for the first time, before anything is installed, and install your custom package one by one, until you find out the core problem. Read the help files on how to run the scanreg in MS-DOS mode, it's as easy as typing scanreg /restore after you boot with a startup disk, and choose the earliest date in the list. Good Luck.

Question	Submitted by Melvin
We are in a business environment using Dell OptiPlex GX1 workstations (128 mb ram/400 mhz) running Windows NT 4.0. Most of the workstations currently have Internet Explorer 5.0 installed; however, we have recently started testing for upgrading to Internet Explorer 5.5. On machines that have been updated to IE 5.5, we have problems (text overlapping, etc) when printing some web pages (primarily various microsoft.com site locations - knowledge base, office updates, etc.). It is not every page, and the same pages that print improperly in IE 5.5 printed fine using IE5.0. Do you know what would cause this and what we might do to solve the problem! Thank you!
Solution 1	Answered by Bill Wiriawan
Based on the fact that the machine runs the same operating system, there's no reason for IE5.5 to failed the print. I'm wondering whether you tried the print preview feature? It comes to my mind that perhaps the encoding of the page, and the IE5.5 settings doesn't match, thus, causing the print to overlap. Try choosing the Auto-Select for the encoding, and set the font size to default, then Preview before you print. We are unable to find any related issue in the database, and along us, so this is what we can give for now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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