Monday, October 6, 2003		Dr Tribune

Q I have an HP P4 PC and a BSNL connection. When I get online, a message appears: "RPC service terminated unexpectedly and will now restart your computer (delay 60 seconds)". Please explain this problem.

A Your computer is infected by the Blaster worm, which is causing this problem. You should immediately download the Blaster worm removal tool either from Symantec’s website (www.symantec.com) or the McAfee site (www.mcafee.com). However, before using this tool, you will need to update your operating system with the necessary security patch being provided by Microsoft. You should also read the instructions carefully before installing and removing the virus from your system.

Q I have recently installed Windows 2000 Professional on my system. I can’t receive Webcam during chat. A message appears, saying, "You are behind firewall so you can’t access Webcam." Please tell me how to disable the firewall, or how else can I get around this problem.

A Normally firewalls do not block webcams unless the security settings of the specific firewall bar them. You have not mentioned in your mail which firewall you are using, so in the absence of this information I would not be able to tell you exactly how to cope with this problem. However, you may try and check the security settings to allow Webcams. I strictly feel that disabling firewall in general chat rooms is not a good idea and you should not compromise the security of your PC by disabling the firewall.

Q I have a P4 1.8 GHz PC, with 128 DDR RAM, and 40 GB HDD with 3 partitions. There is Windows 98 SE on C, and Windows XP Pro on D. In Win 98, at times I get this message: "Explorer has caused an illegal operation and will close. If the problem persists, contact your vendor". And some of the links on the right side of the taskbar disappear. It occurs with no particular program and is there ever since I bought my PC (3 months). I have checked my system with Norton 2003, but there is no virus. The details are: "EXPLORER caused a general protection fault in module USER.EXE at 000f:00001810."

A Normally User.exe errors occur due to video-related problems. In some cases its due to drivers not being up-to-date. In other cases, it might be caused from having a video mode of more than 256 colors. You can try resolving this problem first by updating your operating system with latest patches and Service pack (as the case may be). Then try reloading the video driver with the latest and appropriate drivers. Lastly, also try upgrading Internet Explorer. I hope these solutions would help.

Q Even though my VSNL connection is very good, in Outlook Express I cannot receive mail, though I can send it. The message is "check your password". I have already contacted the VSNL office; my username and password are correct. I access the Internet through the same username and password. Is there any solution?

A Well! You should check out if you are using the password in correct typeface and have entered it correctly. Normally these errors cause similar problems and can be thus resolved by reentering the password in the mail settings for POP server. However, a better solution is to create a new identity in the Outlook Express and fill in all the necessary details again, if the above-mentioned method fails to work.

Q My problem is that I am unable to open my Hotmail account. When I log in using my mail Id and password, I receive the following message: "Your Web browser options are currently set to disable cookies. To use .NET passport, you must enable cookies." I am using Windows ME with Internet Explorer version 5.5. I am unable to find any appropriate option in the ‘Advanced’ tab of ‘Internet Options’ to enable cookies. How can I enable the cookies?

A You can find Cookie management under Tools>Internet options>Privacy. Here you can click on the Default tab to restore the settings of cookie to default, and thus resolve your problem. Otherwise in the privacy settings move the slider to Medium to allow cookies. I am sure this will solve your problem.

Q I have about the same problem as Jatinder Singh’s published in the September 8 issue. I have an HP Pavilion computer with authentic AMD, AMD-Kt`99 3D processor, 64MB, 100 MHz SD RAM, 10.2 GB Ultra DMA HDD, 48x Max speed RoM drive and Windows Millennium. I format floppies before copying anything on them or working on them. The problem comes when I want to read them: a message comes that the floppy is not formatted. However, this does not happen every time. At times a message comes that the floppy is not accessible or that it cannot be read. I tried to access the BIOS feature by hitting Del as soon the computer starts, but nothing happens and I cannot load the setting suggested by you to Jatinder Singh.

A The description of your problem suggests that this is a case of hardware problem as your floppy drive might have attracted dust or carbon on its head. Since your floppy drive does read data sometimes, it is not a case of installation and activation of floppy drive and would not be thus solved through BIOS. You should check your floppy drive and if possible get it serviced. I am sure this will solve your problem.

Q I have got a problem with starting my computer. It gets stuck at the Windows 98 display while starting and doesn’t move further. Every time I switch it on, it automatically gets to the scanning mode and shows a message on bad sectors. What should I do?

A The problem in your case is clearly related to bad sectors present on your hard disk. Since the data on bad sectors cannot be read, it causes problems like hanging of the system, freezing, crashing, etc. The solution is this: run scandisk thoroughly on your system. If this does not solve your problem, then run disk utilities like Norton Disk Doctor, etc. These utilities fix the bad sectors and thus bring alive your system. But since the bad sectors have a tendency to grow, the reliability of your system always remains low as they may come up again and create problems. The third and somewhat reliable solution is low-level formatting of your hard disk. This would solve your problem satisfactorily.

Q I have a P4 1.7 GHz with128 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, Windows 98 and Windows XP. My problem is with the monitor: when it starts, a black screen appears and then after 2-4 minutes a blurred screen comes up, after yet another 2-4 minutes the picture becomes fine.

A Try degaussing the monitor. However, you should also check that the connections of monitor are firmly fixed. If despite all these efforts the problem persists, then you can blame the monitor cable, of which one end goes into the monitor and the other to the AGP card of your PC. This cable sometime gets damaged inside the monitor due to a sudden jerk or pressure, thereby causing a loose connection. Checking the cable could solve your problem.

Q I have a PIII with 128 MB RAM and Mercury 815E motherboard and Windows 2000. After using the Net for some time, an error on svchost.exe appears. After that I’m unable to open the links or a new Window. I am also unable to disconnect and have to restart. I read in the September 8 issue that this could be due to the Blaster worm. But when I downloaded a tool for this, it needed Service Pack 2 at least. I need help.

A This error may come up due to viruses like Msblast, Lovesan, Sobig or w32.welchia.worm. Ideally, you should log on to www.mcafeee.com and go in for online scanning for viruses. Let McAfee detect the virus online and then as per the result you should download the fix file for these viruses. But as I have mentioned a lot of times, you would need to upgrade your operating system using security patches and Service pack as the case may be. So, please read the instructions clearly first, mentioned on the sites of Microsoft as well as Symantec and McAfee, and then take the action. In your case, you will have to install the required service pack, which could be downloaded from Microsoft’s site for free.

Q My computer was corrupted and a message appeared: "Windows protection error while initializing device." I tried to start Windows in safe mode, but in vain. After that I tried installation of Windows; that also did not work. Then I formatted the hard disk, which has three partitions. I had my backup on E, which I lost after formatting. Tell me a way to install Windows without losing the backup. Should the backup be done on a CD or hard disk? What is the method of taking a backup on CD with the help of a CD writer? Also, I have Norton Anti-virus 2002. Can I update (free) it from the Net?

A As far as I have understood from the description of your problem, you have already lost your backup data due to formatting your entire hard disk and now practically the back-up can not be retrieved, as it is lost. As far as reinstalling Windows is concerned, there should not be any problem if you are going in for clean installation rather than repair or upgrade. Second, if the problem is due to bad sectors, then you should first address this problem, rather than installing Windows again as this is the basic problem. Third, even if you have to format the C drive, there is no need to format all the drives, as Windows installed on C has nothing to do with the E drive. If, at all, formatting is required, it can be done later on also after restoring from backup. Thus, there is little problem in reinstalling without losing the backup. As far as your query related to keeping the backup on CD or hard disk is concerned, the best solution is back up on a safe and separate partition on your hard disk and take a backup of the same on a CD. Regarding Norton Anti-Virus, check out with the Symantec people for their licensing fee as this is a paid program and you can not update it beyond the trial period for free.