I tried to run ‘msconfig’ as described in your column on 5th August and nothing happened. Eventually I found that I had two versions of msconfig.exe on my computer running Windows XP. One copy was in C:WINDOWSSYSTEM and the other copy was in C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32DLLCACHE. The latter copy runs OK. It seems there is a lot of old files left over from Windows ME after the upgrade to Windows XP. What is safe to delete from C:WINDOWSSYSTEM? Also, in the ‘Startup’ section of the ‘msconfig’ utility there are duplicate entries. There are also duplicate entries in ‘Add/Remove Programs’. Is it safe to remove the duplicate entries? (more…)

I am running Windows XP Home Edition with Office 97 Professional. When I open a Word or Excel document by double-clicking the file itself, I always get an error. The error in Excel is ‘A document with the name ‘…[document name]…’ is already open. You cannot open two documents with the same name…..’. For Word, ‘..[document name]… is being used by ….[user name]… Do you want to make a copy?’. If I open the document from within the application, the error does not occur. Any suggestions? (more…)

Whenever connected to the internet, I am redirected to a website which says ‘In order to automatically go to your chosen destination, you should enable ActiveX use in your browser’. I checked my security options under ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Internet Options’ > ‘Security’ tab and set the Active X settings in all sites to ‘Enable’ but this doesn’t seem to solve the problem. How can I get my desired home page to open first? I am running Windows 98 with Internet Explorer 5. (more…)

I am attempting to network a Windows XP host computer to a Windows ME client computer. Both computers are PIII or better and have plenty of RAM and hard disk space available. The XP host is fitted with a Realtek RTL 8139/810X Family Fast Ethernet NIC Adapter and the ME client is fitted with an Realtek RTL 8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter. The symptoms are varied and despite repeatedly checking and going through the complete procedure, I cannot make the network work. After setting up, the host indicates that the network is connected but the client cannot recognise the Entire Network. Clicking on the ‘Entire Network’ icon in ‘My Network Places’, I am told ‘Unable to browse the network’, and ‘Windows is unable to gain access to the network. This may be for a number of reasons. For more information click HELP’. Going to HELP and following all the possible steps provides no explanation. I have tried using a Network Set Up Disk with files copied from the host, and also setting up the client using the Windows XP program disk. During my attempts to network, a Residential Gateway icon made its appearance advising me to click on the icon for more information. When I do this I am told that it is ‘A device that is available on your network’. I understand the problem is a common occurence when combining Windows XP and Windows ME on a network. Therefore, I went to the Microsoft Support site for help and found the article ‘A Residential Gateway Device That Cannot Be Controlled Is Displayed on a Windows ME-Based Client (Q298757). However, I do not understand what is meant by ‘connectoid’ or ‘a presentation page’ which are both mentioned in the above article. The ME based computer has a modern mother board and is plug and play. So I am completely puzzled. Can you please help? (more…)

I have a couple of problems with my internet. The first relates to downloading. Whenever I try to download a file off the internet, a torn or ripped version of the Quicktime logo appears on my screen after which nothing else seems to work. This is a relatively recent problem, with no previous history. The second problem relates to the downloading of a Webshots Desktop package. A message is displayed ‘Error locating Object Handler’ with a comment that there is no viewer available for the type of object that I am trying to open. I have tried to follow the prompts to download a viewer but the directions and options are not clear so I have now given up on this task. I am not sure if the above problems are related. My PC is a Pentium II 350 with 252 Mb RAM, Windows 98. I use Internet Explorer 5. (more…)