Monday, November 3, 2003		Dr Tribune

Q I have Pentium III 500, Intel 810 chipset motherboard, 128 MB RAM system running Windows XP Professional. I connect to the Net via Airtel GPRS service. My phone is a SE T310 connected to the computer via IR link. I use Sigmatel USB to Infrared adapter on my computer (IR Dongle) on USB port. The problem occurs when I connect to the Net, the IR link gives warning that the wireless link is interrupted. The phone, in the meantime, is still in range and properly directed. The problem occurs usually in these circumstances:

1) When I open Kazaa (either KMD or K-Lite) and,

2) When I open a Webpage with flash animations (www.sonyericson.com/fun).

A warning is displayed when the Webpage Window is the active Window. The link is restored when the window is minimised during loading of certain applications. For example, Winamp 3. At times, the message disappears in a short time and I can resume but at times, the connection is lost and I have to redial. The problem starts when I upgrade to Win XP. However, drivers for both IR link and T310 are the latest and the same goes for Win XP.

A IR Link is not the best idea for accessing the Internet, though if it is connected and placed properly you may get good connectivity. As far as your specific problem goes, it appears that the packet transmission rate is not maximised, therefore it drops when large blocks of packets are being put on traffic. Check out your drivers for optimised settings as this may give a clue for the solution. Secondly, I would suggest you to increase the RAM as for optimal performance of Windows XP, 256 MB or higher RAM is desirable. 128 MB RAM in Windows XP often causes memory related problem, which is clearly the case in your perspective. I am sure increasing RAM to 256 MB and checking out the optimal setting of your drivers would solve your problem.

Q My system configuration is Pentium III processor, genuine Intel 815E motherboard, 256 SDRAM, 20 GB HDD, OS Windows XP professional, modem- Motorola SM56 PCI internal modem. My problem is whenever I connect my system to the Internet a message appears after a few seconds, "Your system is going to restart, save all your applications. The problem is caused by NT authority/system. Windows need to be restarted because a remote procedure call (RPC) terminated unexpectedly." Then the countdown starts and the system restarts in 60 seconds. Please help.

A Your system is affected by MSBlaster worm, which is causing the problem. However, you should first scan your system thoroughly with an updated virus scanner to make sure which viruses are present in your system. However, I am reasonably sure that your system has MSBlaster worm. Once you have known about the virus you can log on to www.mcafee.com or www.symantec.com to know the procedure of virus removal. For MSBlaster worm following is the procedure. First download the necessary security patch from the Microsoft’s Website on a clean and separate medium and also download a removal tool for either www.mcafee.com or www.symantec.com. Then read the instructions available on both these sites for applying the security patch and removal of virus. Once you have read the instructions thoroughly and installed the security patch then you can easily remove this virus from your system by running the virus removal tool file.

Q Recently I upgraded my computer (PIII 933, 256 MB DDR, 40GB 5600 RPM, 17", 56.6k internal) to P4 2.4, Intel original G845 GERG2 motherboard, 512 MB DDR, 80 GB 7200 rpm HDD. I have two queries:

1. How to add Punjabi and Hindi fonts and other English fonts to MS Word (Office XP).

2. My ATM 4.0 deluxe (supplied with PM 6.5) does not work with Windows XP. (In my earlier machine, it was doing fine with Win XP as well). Whenever I try to activate ATM a window pops up saying, "This version of ATM will work with Win ’95 only." I never had Win ’95 and when I tried to download it from the Web, it didn’t work after running the downloaded update.

A Windows 2000 and Windows XP have built in support for ATM fonts and you do not need to install ATM for installing. To add these fonts, the procedure is simple. Just go to Start > Control panel and then click Fonts icon. Then click File and Install new fonts. This will open a new window on your computer screen. Simply locate the fonts in the file/folder/drive in the lower window and then select the fonts you wish to install and press OK. This will install the fonts on your system, which could be accessed from any program including Office XP.

Q I have a Pentium III and the sound card that I have is Sound Blaster Live! My problem is sound output is nil. Now I have checked all my drivers. Volume, playback and recording all are checked and nothing is mute. The only sound that I get from my speakers is when I put a CD music disc in. I don’t hear those alert sounds when MS Windows boot up or when someone sends an e-card. I can’t even watch movie trailers on the Internet because I can’t hear them. Please help.

A First make sure that the settings for Volume is unchecked and not checked as checked settings make it mute. However, if this is what you wish to convey, then I think there is some problem with your Windows Media player. Try upgrading it with the latest version or install any other media player like Real for sound output.

Q I have Compaq Presario 6166 with Windows XP home edition. My problem is whenever I start my PC, a message that pops up says "the driver \ \ .\ VSBMIDIX is not located. What does it mean? Please tell me the solution as soon as possible. Secondly, when I have to see the properties of some files and folders, I select more than four files. Then an error occurs and all Windows close. I have to start all over again. Sometimes, when I am on the Net and open any site, a message occurs that says: "Your system is going to shut down in one minute" and it shuts down. Why does it happen? Please tell me the solution and is there any software, which can convert DVD to CDs.

A This is a problem related to the driver of integrated onboard SoundMAX digital audio sound card. Probably the sound card driver has become corrupt or has some problem and you may need to load it again to solve this problem. Regarding your second problem, I suspect the presence of some virus in your system. Please check your system thoroughly with an updated virus scanner and if virus is found, remove it immediately to solve this problem. Regarding your third query, the Internet is full of such software and you can search one easily as per your parameters.

Q I have Motorola SM56 voice modem with Win ’98 Se. My problem is whenever I try to connect to the Net, it shows SM56 hardware warning message: "Unable to support country setting. Change country setting to the USA in tray helper application." Please tell me how to get rid of this message. I have checked the modem settings. It already has the USA in country settings. I also tried Ctr21 in setting but the same problem resurfaces.

A The solution for your problem lies in the Ctr21 setting, as this is the right setting. However, since you are saying that even this setting also returns the same problem (which sounds strange), I would suggest you uninstall the modem first and then reinstall it again to get rid of this problem.

Q I want to know the name of the software by which we can edit a picture. I have a software, Magic makeover. But I want another software, which is more user-friendly. Please tell me from which site I’ll get that software? Secondly, I have Pentium III 667, 128 MB RAM, Motherboard mercury 810e, Operating system Windows Me. I have a problem when I use the Internet. All my icons change colour and then become white. I always get an error message stating that an error in the Internet Explorer has occurred and the Web page that I had opened get closed. I formatted my hard disk and reinstalled Windows. The problem still persists.

A Regarding your first query, the best software I have known for playing with pictures is Adobe Photoshop. However this is costly software. Other good software, which I found useful for picture editing and effects, is PaintShop8. You can download a trial copy of this software from www.jasc.com or from any good shareware sites like www.tucows.com or www.download.com. Regarding your second query, please scandisk your hard disk thoroughly and make sure that your hard disk does not have bad sectors. Also, run disk defragmenter for improving the efficiency of your hard disk. I hope these will solve your problem.

Q I have an assembled computer with 500 MHz, P-III, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB hard disk. I am facing some problem with anti-virus program. I had Norton anti-virus program that stopped working one fine day. I reinstalled the program and after a few days, it again stopped working. Now it displays the following message:

Line: 174.
Char: 5.
Error: unspecified.
Code: 0.

URL: res://C:\ PROGRAM%20FILES\ NORTON%20ANTIVIRUS\ NAVUI.DLL/scan_list.htm.

I surface scanned my computer, defragged it and again loaded the program. Still it stops working after few days.

A This is a typical Norton anti-virus related problem, and has specific solution for each category of operating system. Since you have not mentioned the details of your operating system, so it is difficult to tell exact solution. However, since this is a noted problem and has already been dealt by Symantec corporation you can check out the Symantec Website at http://service4.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/pfdocs/2001092515183306 for the solution related to this problem. I am sure this will solve your problem.

For all your computer-related problems contact Dr Tribune at drtribune@tribuneindia.com