After Windows has finished loading, the ‘Desktop Themes’ control panel window always opens. How can this be prevented? A second problem is the ‘Explorer has performed an illegal operation’ message which appears when I am on the internet. This generally appears if I have been connected to the internet for some time. The computer is running Windows 98.

The Desktop Themes control panel is located in the ‘themes.cpl’ file. In fact, all the control panel items are actually .CPL files. If you find the .CPL file for a particular control panel item you can double-click that file and it will open the control panel. When the themes.cpl file has somehow been specified to run at startup, then this could cause it to appear when Windows has finished loading. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) and click OK. In the window that appears, click the ‘Startup’ tab. In the list of startup items, look for any items referencing ‘themes.cpl’. Once you find the reference, untick the startup item then click OK. Restart your computer and the problem should no longer persist.

Regarding the error message you receive, since it appears when connected to the internet for a while, this could be caused by some program running in the background which is attempting to send or receive data over the internet. Reboot your computer and then close all non-essential applications. You will need to use CTRL-ALT-DEL to close any programs/processes which are not visible. You can usually close all applications except explorer and systray. After this has been completed, establish a connection to the internet and check whether the problem persists. If so, then this problem is going to be difficult to diagnose as that particular error message covers a lot of possibilities. Please click the ‘Details’ button on the error message and email me the information contained, in particular, the module in which the fault is occurring, as this may provide further useful information on the problem. I would also like to know whether the error is a result of simply being connected to the internet, or due to some internet program you may be using (e.g. Internet Explorer). Restart the computer and close all non-essential applications then connect to the internet. Leave the computer idle. If the error does not appear in the normal space of time, then continue doing your normal internet routine (e.g. open Internet Explorer and surf the web) to see whether this prompts the error. However, only open ONE program, in order to narrow the scope of the problem. If the error does not occur in one program (e.g. Internet Explorer) then open another (e.g. Outlook Express) to check whether that program triggers the error. Please let me know the results of these tests.