Registry repair

Problems with Pre-loaded Software

April 16, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

We’re all used to our computer manufacturers preloading Windows, Windows Media Player, AOL and a couple other dial-up services, anti-virus trials, Microsoft Office trials and a bunch of other stuff.

I usually delete the junk quickly. Whether it’s a trial version of an antivirus I don’t want or a trial of Microsoft Office, I want the software that I pick — and from the vendor of my choice. Those preinstall “deals” often seem to be at list price.

I recently ran into a client’s computer that would not communicate on his network or access the Internet. Guess what?

It was the pre-installed, partially activated Norton Internet Security that was causing the problem. Since it was installed but not activated, it was blocking everything!

Filed Under: Bug Fixes, Patches, Performance Tweaks, Pre-installed Software, Registry repair, Security Fixes, Security Issues, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

Switching Users in Windows XP

April 1, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I received a question from subscriber Joseph Baker who was having problems with his Windows computer. For some reason, his “Switch User” button wasn’t working.

The Switch User function (Start Logoff) is a powerful feature of Windows XP that allows multiple different IDs to use the computer– which would allow his wife to switch the active user from him to her without logging him off

Unfortunately, while I could think of a couple possible reasons for his problem, I didn’t have anything definitive:

1. Windows may have been hung — it happens
2. Swapping users takes a lot of memory if you had a number of programs open. Sometimes, when Windows is swapping real memory to the hard drive(called “pagiing” to “virtual memory”) and vice versa, Windows will seem hung but isn’t really,
3. The program in your user session may have crashed — and needed a Control-Alt-Delete to pull up task manager to close it Undoubtedly there are other possibiliites. If the problem happens again or routinely, look into it. If it was just this once, blame it on the phase of the moon or Bill Gates’ Revenge.

Read the rest of the story in Switching Users in Windows XP

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Registry repair, Services, Speed Tweaks, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

Problems with Pre-loaded Software

March 4, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I usually delete the junk quickly. Whether it’s a trial version of an antivirus I don’t want or a trial of Microsoft office, I want the software that I pick — and from the vendor of my choice. Those preinstall “deals” often seem to be at list price.

I recently ran into a client’s computer that would not communicate on his network or access the Internet. Guess what?

It was the pre-installed, partially activated Norton Internet Security that was causing the problem. Since it was installed but not activated, it was blocking everything!

Since he used a different anti-virus program and a different firewall, and since Norton showed that it was not protecting his computer, he thought that was ok. NOT!Read more in Problems with Pre-loaded Software at Terry’s Computer Tips.

Filed Under: Firewall, Operating System, Pre-installed Software, Registry repair, Security, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

WinXP Slow Shutdown Problem — Solved!

November 27, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

Several months ago, I solved a Windows XP slow shutdown problem that had been plagueing me for about three months on my notebook.

Since I normally let the notebook run overnight or close it to let it hibernate, I wasn’t able to identify when the problem happened, so I wasn’t able to identify the change that occurred.

Read more in my article WinXP Slow Shutdown Problem — Solved!
at Terry’s Computer Tips.

Filed Under: Driver Corruption, Operating System, Registry repair, Speed Tweaks, Windows XP

Top 20 Tips for Keeping Windows XP Fresh

November 7, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

PC World has an interesting article Top 20 Tips for Keeping Windows XP Fresh.

While I don’t plan to implement all the suggestions, such as the registry tweak to prevent XP from using the hard drive as virtual memory unless it absolutely needs to, they make an interesting — if long — article.

The article is broken into bitesize chunks (apparently for more ad displays).

Filed Under: Memory Issues, Microsoft Updates, Operating System, Registry repair, Windows Updates, Windows XP