Monday, December 2, 2002		Dr Tribune

Q. I have Windows XP Professional. My problem is when I right click on my taskbar and go to Properties>Taskbar>Customise, I get a lot of application entries for the system tray, most of which I have already uninstalled. Please tell me how to remove these?

A. You Can uninstall these programs from the Advanced tab of the Task Bar and Start Menu Properties. Simply right click on the Task bar and from the dropdown Window click on Properties. Then click on Advanced tab and in the subsequent Window, choose remove. Now go to Startup and remove the programs you wish to remove from the system tray.

Q. I have a P III, 866 MHz, 128 MB RAM, Samsung 52x CD ROM, 40 GB Seagate HDD with two partitions — C: (6 GB) and D: (31.3 GB) — and Win ‘98 SE (Second Edition) on C:. When I try to copy a movie or MP3 songs from a CD to my system, mid-way a blue screen appears with following error: "An exception 0E has occurred at 0028:C00051EF in VxDVMM(01)+100041EF. This was called from 0028:C0009CBF in VxDVMM(01)+00008CBF. It may not be possible to continue normally. Press any key to attempt to continue. Press Ctrl + Atl + Del to restart."

After this, I press a key but in vain, the system halts. Then I restart my system, but it does not boot and halts at "Verifying DMA Pool data..." After this I boot the system from a bootable Win ‘98 CD. But when I try to read the contents on Drive C: by typing the "DIR" command in DOS mode, it gives the message: "Invalid media type reading C: Abort, Retry, Fail?" Then I format C: and reinstall Windows. After this the system operates normally, but the problem reoccurs when I try to copy data from CD. The HDD has no bad sectors. How can I solve this problem?

A. The error mentioned could occur due to many reasons. The first and foremost being the use of any third-party software, which prompts the Windows Kernel to protect other processes that are running, by reprimanding IE for reading or writing to memory blocks outside of the area which the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM) has allocated for it. First you should check if you are using any third-party software. In this case you should try and recall the history of this problem: when it started occurring and trace down the software responsible for this problem. Uninstall this software and either reinstall it after restarting the system or use an alternative software. Other possible reasons for this type of problem could be due to virus scanners like Norton and McAfee. In this case you should keep your anti-virus always up-to-date to avoid problems. I hope these solutions will work for you. Do not worry about formatting, reinstalling or bad sectors on your hard disk, as this is not the problem in your case.

Q. I have a P III, 500 MHz, and 64 MB RAM, Tomato motherboard with slot processor (512KB), integrated Crystal sound card, 40 GB Seagate hard drive computer. A few weeks ago, my motherboard broke down and also the processor, but I got them repaired. After a few weeks, I damaged my hard drive that was Quantum 10GB. Now everything has been fixed. But I am experiencing a problem when I run Winamp 2.72. I have configured my virtual memory to 128 MB max from my C:, but the soundcard went missing. Both software and hardware for the sound card are not recognised by Windows ‘98. When I run Winamp it shows this error: "MSSYSTEM004 The specified device is already in use. Wait until it is free, and then try again." This problem occurs many times but is rectified automatically. Please advise.

A. Check whether your sound card is installed properly and that there are no issues related to its installation. To check the sound card, you should open the device manager and look for any red circle or yellow exclamation mark. If you find this sign, then there is some problem with your sound card and you would need to set it up again with a correct set of drivers. Also, please make sure that no other driver is conflicting with the sound driver. Some times the driver of the scanner conflicts with the sound driver. In this case you should unload the scanner driver before attempting to play the sound files. Another possible reason could be corruption or conflict of default Windows sound files (.Wav) like the Last.wav file or it is the sound file, which Windows plays while starting the system. Check them as this could be yet another cause of the problem. However, if this does not work, then follow the procedure mentioned below to correct this problem: 1) Restart the computer and press F8 while the computer is booting up. 2) For Windows 98, go to option 3 of Safe Mode. 3) Right-click My Computer, Properties, and Device Manager. 4) Click on the "+" for Sound Devices and REMOVE all the devices except the "wave device for voice modem." 5) Click on the "+" for Other Devices and remove all unknown or sound devices. 6) Restart and reinstall all devices and drivers. This should solve your problem.

Q. "Internet Explorer could not open search page." I keep getting this message while using any dial-up for any Website. When I use LAN, the connection works fine. I have reinstalled TCP/IP and have even fiddled with the connection settings but to no avail. Could you make suggestions?

A. I don’t think that there is any problem with the TCP/IP settings of your system. However, I think that this problem could be due to some wrong settings of your particular Internet connection icon. Follow these steps:

In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Connections tab. Select the particular connection you are using, click on it and then click on settings. In the subsequent Window click Automatically detect settings and then click OK. I believe this should solve your problem. However, if this does not solve your problem, try running the Internet Connection wizard to create another connection to the Internet.

Q. My operating system is Windows ME with Celeron 500 MHz, 10 GB HDD, 64 MB RAM. My problem is the system doesn’t display history pages. In fact it says: "This page cannot be displayed." Please tell me the solution to my problem. I have already tried my best with restoring default settings of Internet Explorer.

A. Please enable offline browsing from the File menu in Internet Explorer for a possible solution of your problem.

Q. I have an assembled PC— P4, 1.7 GHz, 60 GB, 128 RAM. I have four partitions—two of 20 and 10 GB each—on my hard disk. Can I give a password to only one partition of my hard disk, that is of 10 GB? If yes, how?

A. You have not mentioned clearly whether you wish to do it on LAN or in a standalone machine. On LAN it is quite simple as you can define the user and access in the sharing tab of the particular partition. However, in the case of a standalone machine you can use third party software like Partition Magic or Palm Tree for password protecting your files, folders or drives. You can download Plam Tree from http://www.clickok.co.uk/PalmTree/Index.html, whereas Partition Magic can be bought from http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic.

Q. My PC is P III, 500 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB HDD, 52X CD ROM with 6BX81/6ZX81/6VIA81/6VIA81P mainboard. I am using Windows ‘98 SE and am facing a problem with the printer, HP 3420. After giving the print command, it doesn’t respond or print. The head of the printer doesn’t move. It begins work only after restarting the printer or restarting Windows. In the Toolbox of HP 3420, many times it fails to check the estimated ink-level. It then gives the message, "The computer is unable to establish two-way communication with the device." I have taken a print test of the printer hardware and the result is OK. I have installed printer software as per the company’s recommendation. Please help.

A. First check all the connections of the printer with the PC. Sometimes a loose parallel port connection causes this problem. The problem of not checking the ink level comes when the ink levels fall too low. The system normally at this time stops giving the ink level message. So you must check the actual ink level physically. I think your problems are basically related to physical connections. So before seeking any solutions, you must fix all the connections properly. If this problem still persists, then you must reinstall the driver after uninstalling it.

Q. I want to inquire about a problem regarding bad sectors in my Seagate hard disk. It is of 40 GB, having four partitions of 10 GB each. Nearly two months ago, during scandisk I found that there was a bad sector of 8 KB in C:. After a few days there were 96 KB of bad sector in C: and 40 KB in D:. The guarantee period of one year had lapsed a month before the problem. My vendor tells me that nothing can be done. At present, my computer is running well with Windows ‘98, but I am afraid that the size of bad sectors may increase. Please suggest how to remove the bad sectors. Also inform me about the nearest service centre of Seagate.

A. Once bad sectors are detected on your hard disk, your data security becomes a big concern, because bad sectors have a tendency to grow. As far as a solution is concerned, low-level formatting could solve your problem, but the resurfacing of bad sectors cannot be ruled out, though the chances get reduced. You can find a service centre of Seagate in Delhi.

Q. I have Win ’98 SE on C: and Win XP pro on D:. Whenever I delete any file in C: while logged in Win ’98, it also appears automatically in the Recycle bin of Win XP pro. Please tell me why is this happening.

A. The Recycle bin acquires space from all the partitions of the hard disk. Therefore, whether you see the Recycle bin on drive C or D, it is made up of some space from both the drives. Now, if you run short of hard disk space, then it may get reflected in the Recycle bin of the other operating system.