Monday, February 25, 2002		Dr Tribune

Q. I have P III 800 MHz, 128 RAM, 40GB Hard disk and Windows ’98 OS. I found CIH virus and removed it from C: drive through a bootable CD of Norton anti-virus. But I can’t install anti-virus. Please help me. Karan Bedi,
AIET, Faridkot.

A. In order to solve this problem, you should fresh boot your system with a clean floppy CD ROM and then try installing the anti-virus software, this will solve your problem.

Q. I have a PC, P III, 550 MHz, 256 RAM, 20 GB HDD, Windows ’98 SE as an operating system. I have two questions: Firstly, is there any software on the Internet to record the temperature of the CPU? If yes, please tell the Website. Secondly, is there any utility to protect a folder with a password or to make it inaccessible to others in Windows ‘98 to avoid file tampering?

A. Regarding your first question, there are many software available, which not just take your computer’s temperature continuously, but can also trigger action preset in case the temperature goes beyond a particular level. Generally, these software are bundled with the motherboard CD. Notably, these software are a common feature with AMD Duron and Athlon processor’s motherboard having VIA Chipset. However, for other motherboard, you can download software called Radiate from http://www.ocmod.com/img/store/Radiate_Installer.zip. This is good software for measuring the temperature of the CPU. Regarding your second query, there are many user-friendly software available on the Net, which can either hide or protect your windows folders from the screening eyes. One such software is Magic folder and can be downloaded from www.pc-magic.com. I am hopeful that these software will solve your problem.

Q. I have a system having configuration of Celeron 300, 64 MB RAM, 10 GB HDD, Window ’98 and NT 4.0 as dual operating system and networking card of complex 10/100 Ethernet Card. My problem is that when I start my computer it detects networking card in the name of Realtek RTL and hence does not install properly and there is an exclamation sign in the device manager. Please guide me how can I sort this problem. My second problem is how can I create NT startup or bootable disk. My third problem is I have one user in Windows ’98 OS. I won’t like to enter into my Windows desktop without entering password otherwise I can enter by pressing Esc key or cancel button.

A. The first clarification on your problem is that the name of the card you are mentioning must be of the marketing company or the company, which has assembled this card using the Reaktek RTL chipset. So essentially your card is a RealTek RTL card only and thus in order to use this card properly, you should use the correct version of driver on your computer. Since, you are getting an exclamation sign in the device manager, it clearly shows that your card is not installed properly. Thus in this case, you must first remove it from the device manager and then install it afresh on your system using the correct and the latest driver. This will solve your problem. Regarding your second problem, you can create NT bootable disk from the Control panel> Add remove program> Windows setup. However, you will require 3 floppy disks to create NT rescue disk. Regarding your third problem, you must give a password in the password option under the Control panel and in the Network properties under the Control panel, choose the option of client for Microsoft networks. This will solve your problem.

Q. I have some problem with my PC. I have AMD Athlon 1 GHz, Win XP/Win 2000 professional as OS, 256 SD RAM, SIS 730s MB. My problem is that whenever I use the Internet and open 4-5 explorer windows, I have to do end task, as the Windows can’t be maximised or minimised. My computer gives me not responding message after doing end task. Sir, please help.

A. I may require more particulars about your system for solving your problem like other programs loaded on the partition, size of the partition, hard disk space left on the partition and the size of the Swap file etc. any case of memory leakage, as these information could give me the clue to solve your problem. However, generally speaking, you should clear your system first, of all clutter, which could be consuming your precious system resources. Moreover, you should also remove all junk files and clear the memory and disk cache and then run scandisk in thorough mode followed by disk defrag. This is will boost up your PC and would solve your problem.

Q. I have Celeron 850 MHz, 810e Intel chipset motherboard, 128 MB RAM,
40 GB hard disk with four partitions, 52X CD ROM. My operating systems are Windows ’98 SE on C:\ and Windows XP on E:\ . Recently when I tried to install audio and graphic driver from motherboard CD to Windows XP, an error occurred that these drivers doesn’t pass the Windows XP logo test. Hence they are not right drivers. My motherboard CD identifies Windows XP as Window Whistler and I don’t know motherboard manufacturer site.

A. Let me break up your problem in two parts for an easy solution. 1) What is the logo tes t2) How can it be resolved The Logo Test is being put in place by the Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) to ensure the compatibility of hardware with Microsoft Windows operating systems. WHQL provides test kits to qualify devices, systems and servers for the "Designed for Windows" logos and for inclusion on the Windows Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). The Windows Hardware Compatibility (HCT) kits are based on the Microsoft Windows Logo Program for hardware requirements. Products that earn the "Designed for Windows" logo must pass testing to ensure that they meet Microsoft standards for compatibility on the Windows operating systems designated on the logo.

Now since the driver you wish to install does not meet the logo test thus it simply means that this is not the appropriate version of driver and there should be a better and more recent version of driver available for use on your operating system.

Second, since you have mentioned that the driver covers the Whistler version, which is essentially the beta version of Windows XP, so there is a fair amount of likelihood that it may not work in the final version. So, in a nutshell, please upgrade the driver for your hardware for the best solution of your problem.

Q. I have P III 550 processor, 128 MB SD RAM, 810 motherboard, AT cabinet, and I use Win 98 Se. Earlier when I usually shut down my computer I received a message (it’s now safe to turn off your computer). But now I am not able to get that message, instead of that screen goes blank and monitor goes in standby mode. I am not comfortable with this option. This problem occurred after I formatted C: drive and reinstall Win 98 Se. Please help me out.

A. This problem could be due to many reasons. Some possible reasons could be change in your power settings, corrupt shutdown files, corrupt shutdown sound file, problem in any program during shutdown etc. However, the first and the most effective solution to this problem is to load the default settings or the fail safe default settings in the BIOS. I am hopeful this will solve your problem.

Q. I am facing a strange behaviour of my P III 700, Mercury 815, 512 MB, Seagate 40 GB Win ’98 Se PC. Even when the computer is properly shut down, it gives the message on booting that the computer was not shutdown properly and afterwards Scandisk on partition ‘C’ is done. This happens every time.

A. From the description of your problem it appears to me that there could be some problems in the Windows and which could be best sorted out by reinstalling the Windows. However, before that you may also try scandisk in thorough mode as it may help some problem, which could be there in your hard disk.