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Often when I am browsing files using explorer I will come across a file that is an avi, when I move my cursor over the file or click on it, explorer will crash with the following message (or similar):
explorer.exe – Application Error
The instruction at “0×04080db8″ referenced memory at “0×00000000″. The memory could not be “written”.
Click on OK to terminate the program
Click on CANCEL to debug the programOK/CANCEL
Analysis of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Read the rest of this entry »
I added a word to my Mozilla Firefox spell check personal dictionary by mistake the other day, and could not figure out how to remove it. Firefox seriously lacks custom dictionary management.
To open your profile directory do the following or use the “Open Profile Folder Firefox Add-on“…
Simply go to Start -> Run, enter:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
Locate the profile you’re using (usually default.something).
Then, inside the folder you will find a file named “persdict.dat”.
Open that, and there you have it, your custom list of words.
Edit it how you like save, and restart Firefox.
All done!
Possibly one of the most annoying and confusing issues on windows is dealing with and understanding which codecs you need to do what.
There are a number of solutions to ensure all of your music, videos and other media will play on your version of windows.
I’ve recently experienced a problem where Windows Media Center returns a decoder error.
This was stopping me from setting up the audio within the wizard, so the plan of action was to locate an all in one codec pack which then meant I didn’t have to worry about which codecs I need to do what, it just includes them all, or so I thought.
Okay, so the codec pack got the sound working, great. However when I come to play DVD’s there’s a decoder error yet again, which means I require DVD decoder software.
There are a few options with this…
Not to worry though I can use the Microsoft Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility to make sure any I do choose is compatible.
To be fair although it should be a crime to have to pay to watch DVDs on your computer considering you have purchased a piece of hardware that is essentially a DVD reader, you do still need a DVD player, and $14.95 (just over £8) is not a bad price for a legit piece of DVD playing software, and its a damn sight cheaper than purchasing a separate DVD player unit to do the same job.
However, more often than not, if you purchase your PC from a large retailer, or you purchase a retail optical drive, you will receive a copy of one of the Microsoft approved DVD decoders listed above, so it might be worth considering that before you make your next purchase.
Yet with all that in mind, I’m still looking for that free or open source DVD decoder that will work with Windows Media Center or approved by Microsoft. We can all dream can’t we?
You may ALSO require DivX, QuickTime and Real Player (or their alternatives) to name a few to play certain types of videos, and I would also suggest taking a look at Winamp if you haven’t got it already as its a brilliant piece of software for playing music and video clips.
Additional Notes: Recently I have been looking at both VideoLan’s VLC and Media Player Classic which are either free or open source alternatives. I’ve yet to test their ability to play DVDs, how compatible they are with different video types or how other software (such as browsers and other media players) utilise their codecs.
What should I do? Reinstall? NO!
So how do you recover it? You can’t, BUT you can reset it…
There’s a nifty utility called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (aka ntpasswd) that will reset Windows NT/2K/XP passwords. It runs from self-booting diskette or CD. Please note that it will not recover AD passwords, and may render EFS encrypted files permanently unreadable.
To save wasting CD’s with small applications you can actually find this utility and a whole range of other useful recovery tools together on the Ultimate Boot CD (aka UBCD).
As if that isn’t enough Winternals (the same people who make Sysinternals Freeware) offer a peice of software called Administrator’s Pak which you can purchase from them. This software creates a bootable CD called ERD Commander which contains a utility called Locksmith which allows you to reset lost passwords.
Today I had the joy of fixing an Epson Stylus C46 UX printer.
It had the following error: “Parts inside your printer are at the end of their service life. See your printer documentation.”
After a little searching I discovered that most people were saying that “It is simply not worth repairing”, however, I took that as a challange, and decided that if I was going to throw it away anyway I might as well try to fix it first.
Before long I located a page on fixyourownprinter.com’s forum, which had plenty of details about similar issues.
This is the process I used after reading details on that page:
Done!
Additional troubleshooting…
If you have problems with paper feed, take it apart again, check everything is in place correctly, push things together tightly, and put it together again.
If you have trouble with print quality, open the lid, clean any ink residue, use the SSC Service Utilitiy to clean the heads.
Here’s a quick guide on what to do if your “Safely remove hardware” icon has disappeared from your system tray.
This is a troublesome issue as it means that you cannot stop your USB devices therefore meaning you could cause corruption on your USB device.
How to always bring up the dialog (without the icon)
How to control the “Safley remove hardware” icon behavior
How to restore the icon to your system tray
Note: If you don’t plan on hot-swapping your USB device very often, and you will ALWAYS make sure you use the “Safely remove hardware” dialog to remove your hardware, then use “Optimize for performance”, otherwise in most cases it is best to use “Optimize for quick removal”, this will allow you to unplug your USB device without worrying about corruption.
Further details are mentioned here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828012
You’d be surprised the amount of times I get people asking me this question, therefore this is a guide on what to do to try and work out what the problem might be or completly solve the problem all together.
Check for resource intensive applications
Go to Start -> Run -> type: taskmgr -> Press OK
Windows Task Manager will appear, from here you will have tabs at the top, you are looking specifically at the “Processes” tab, click that.
From there, you need to first sort the list by “Mem Usage”, you can do this by clicking on the writing twice, which will sort this list with the most at the top, you will then notice to the left “CPU” which is how much of the CPU it is using, and then further left “Image Name” which is the raw name of the application.
If there is a particular application that appears to be using a lot of memory and using a lot of CPU you need to select it and click “End Process” at the bottom. It is particularly noted that if you have no idea what this application relates to you inspect it further by searching for the Image Name on google, this should bring up a site that will tell you want the application is, what it does and most importantly if it is a threat or not.
If you restart your computer and the application still runs anyway you will need to look at your System Configuration.
Go to Start -> Run -> type: msconfig
From there you can select exactly which applications you wish to run (or not run) at start up.
If you suspect an application may be a threat to your computer I recommend you take steps to remove malware.
Recently installed software
Have you recently installed some new software?
Try uninstalling it by going into safe mode.
You can get into safe mode by hitting F8 BEFORE the windows logo appears at boot up, and select SAFE MODE from the menu.
Once in safe mode, simply go to the Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs, from there uninstall the recently installed software.
Restart your system.
Contact the author of the software for a fix.
Check your hard drive(s) for errors
Go to Start -> Run -> type: cmd -> Press OK
Command prompt will appear, type: chkdsk /f
It will most likely tell you that it will run next time you boot up, at this point you will need to restart your computer.
If bad sectors appear on your hard disk you need to purchase a new hard disk as soon as possible.
Always contact your manufacturer and check warranties.
Defragment your hard drive(s)
What it does: If you imagine the hard drive in a physical sense there are usually between 2 and 4 circular discs inside, at the top of the hard disk there is a motor and reader head. What happens is as you store data onto the hard disk it gets distributed across the hard drive as it is used. The idea of defragmentation is to move your most used files (such as programs) to the edge of the discs, so as the head physically moves across them, it does not have as far to travel.
How to run: Go to Start -> Run -> type: dfrg.msc -> Press OK
Remove Spyware or other Malware
Faulty memory
If the RAM in the computer is faulty any data read or written from the memory is potentially going to error.
There are a number of applications that can test if your RAM is faulty or not.
If the RAM turns out to be faulty you need to work out what kind of RAM you have in your computer, there are three methods of discovery:
Once you know which memory you have, you will need to purchase a replacement. With any luck you can purchase older ram from eBay or cex, alternativly newer ram can be purchased from eBuyer or your favorite retailer.
Bad Capacitors
Although it’s not very common, it is possible that your motherboard can have bad capacitors. To identify bad capacitors, badcaps.net exists to help you.
If in fact you do discover that you have bad capacitors you need to either manually replace the capacitors (which takes much skill), or get a replacement motherboard (under warranty or purchase from a retailer or website).
Other Hardware
Have you tried swapping the hardware out with an alternative?
Unplug all non-vital devices externally and internally. Try that, otherwise…
Locate an alternative graphics card, PSU or other suspicious hardware. You could try asking a friend to borrow theirs, ask your local computer store, an IT expert or a supplier.
Last Resort – Format
I don’t like to recommend it, as it can get very complicated, and data can be lost. However it may be worth doing a clean install of your operating system using the original disc.
Make sure you backup all your important data, then insert your operating system disc, reboot and make sure the CD-ROM driver has priority in the boot sequence in BIOS.
From there simply follow the on-screen instructions, making sure you do a new install (not repair), and do format the hard drive.
None of the above
If none of the above works, contact your local IT expert or supplier.
After many years of using Nero, I’m finally fed up with it.
I have been using Nero 6 for some time now, and refuse to upgrade to Nero 7 because when I did use it, I did not like it and I felt it used up far too much hard disk space for such a simple task.
Over 200mb of space is used by a standard installation of Nero 7, there must be another option.
I looked back, and remembered changing from Easy CD Creator to Nero because of this very issue, Easy CD Creator was simply excessive for what I required, Nero was very simple and straight forward.
No doubt at some point you will have experienced this error at one point or another:
“Cannot delete Folder: It is being used by another person or program”
AKA:
“Cannot delete file: Access is denied”
“There has been a sharing violation.”
“The source or destination file may be in use.”
“The file is in use by another program or user.”
“Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.”
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