Many users of Windows are aware that when viewing lists of files/folders through Explorer views (e.g. Windows Explorer or My Computer) the displayed list can be sorted based on certain criteria such as: name, size, type and date/time modified. While sorting these items through Explorer views is very useful, another useful way to sort these lists of files/folders is through dialog boxes, such as the Open and Save dialog boxes which are found in most programs. There are multiple potential benefits of this approach. For example, should you wish to open the most recently modified Word document, you can sort the Open dialog to display the files in order of modification date. This allows you to immediately find the most recently modified document, without the necessity of trawling through all the files to find that document. To sort the items, in the dialog box right-click on any white space within the directory listing then select ‘Arrange Icons By’ and click the criteria which you want to use to sort. (more…)

After logging onto the computer in the morning I have no problems accessing various websites or my three email accounts. However, after an indeterminate length of time (sometimes 2 hours, sometimes as long as 8 hours) I cannot access any webpages, but instead receive the ‘Page is unavailable’ message. I can temporarily fix the issue by rebooting the computer, although I suspect the root cause may be with the firewall (ZoneAlarm Security Suite version 5) as I am able to access webpages if I disable the firewall. Sometimes if I disable the firewall, then re-enable the firewall I am also able to access webpages without the need to reboot. The computer is running Windows XP Professional. (more…)

I am having difficulty uninstalling the trial version of F-Secure Anti-Virus. Even after following the uninstallation instructions, I still cannot remove the entries from the Start menu or ‘Add/Remove Programs’ control panel. Even most frustrating, the following message now appears whenever the computer is started: ‘Runner Error. Runner File Name (fspex.exe) lacks a “-” (the app id separator)’. The computer will not allow me to close this message box, so I have to hide the message at the bottom of the screen. I have tried disabling this process through msconfig, but cannot identify which process to disable from loading on startup. How can I completely remove F-Secure, and get rid of this message? (more…)

Whenever I attempt to run a particular program, the following error message appears: ‘Resource file version mismatch. Visual FoxPro cannot start. Could not load resources’. I have run other programs from the vendor, and also been sent a replacement copy of the CD, but the problem persists. (more…)

When closing Internet Explorer, the following error message occasionally appears: ‘iexplore.exe - Application Error. The instruction at 0×7c9105f8 referenced memory at 0×00c10010. The memory could not be read’. The error message reports ‘urlmon.dll’ as the faulting module. I read somewhere that clearing the Internet Explorer history may fix the issue, but completing this procedure did not fix the problem. I also tried uninstalling Adobe Acrobat Reader (which has an Internet Explorer plug-in) but that did not help either. The computer is running Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2. (more…)