When my Coby MP3 player is connected to the computer a message appears saying “CardReaderLookupWindow”. I never had this problem before connecting the Coby MP3 player and am worried that the computer is infected with spyware or adware. Could you provide advice on how to stop this error?

In most cases the CardReaderLookupWindow error is not a serious problem, so you should not be overly concerned about receiving this error message. Generally this error occurs when you have USB devices connected to the computer and attempt to shutdown Windows. For some reason Windows generates the CardReaderLookupWindow message if you have not disconnected the USB devices on your computer prior to shutting down Windows. Why such a cryptic message appears is unknown, but the problem can often be solved by disconnecting the USB device from your computer before shutting down. This can be done by clicking on the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon in the system tray (next to the clock, in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen) and then selecting your USB devices and disconnecting these from the computer. Although, if the problem only occurred with your MP3 player connected to the computer then disconnecting the MP3 player should be sufficient enough to stop the message appearing on shutdown. If disconnecting the MP3 player before shutting down the computer is too much of a hassle then as the message itself is not a real problem you can continue to ignore the error.

The previous workaround of disconnecting the MP3 player from the computer is a fairly inconvenient solution, so it would be good to find an alternative. There have been reports that the installation of third-party software can also cause this problem. In the first instance, many users have reported that Adobe Photoshop Album SE can cause the problem. This software used to be installed as an optional component of the popular Adobe Acrobat Reader application (used to read PDF files). However, a quick read of the Adobe website has shown that Adobe Photoshop Album SE is now discontinued and support for this product will be ending soon. As such, go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Add or Remove Programs” control panel and check whether this software is installed. If so, uninstall this software. You should not be disadvantaged, since this software is likely causing the CardReaderLookupWindow error and is also no longer supported by the manufacturer.

However, if you find that the Adobe Photoshop Album SE is not installed then it is possible a different program is causing the problem. To check whether this is the case we will try disabling all programs and processes from loading on startup and then check whether the problem continues. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “msconfig” (without the quotes) and click OK. In the System Configuration Utility window that appears, click the “Startup” tab. This will list all programs and processes which load on Windows startup. Write down all the programs and processes which are currently enabled (ticked). This is a necessary step as we will be disabling all the processes in the next stage and need to know which ones were disabled so they can be re-enabled later. Once you have written down all the processes which are enabled, click the “Disable All” button (or individually untick all the processes) and then click OK. Restart the computer and no programs or processes should load on startup. Once the computer has started make sure the MP3 player is connected and then check whether the problem persists.

If the problem does not continue, then one of the previously disabled startup items was causing the problem. In this situation it will be a process of elimination to determine the program or process causing the problem. Go back into the System Configuration Utility window > Startup tab and then re-enable one of the previously disabled processes then click OK and restart the computer. Once the computer has restarted, check whether the problem occurs again. Keep re-enabling the processes and restarting until the problem re-occurs, at which time you know that the most recently enabled process is the one causing the problem. At this point you may wish to further investigate that program or process to check its origin and what function it performs. If you find that the program or process performs an unnecessary function, then you should be able to leave it disabled. However, if you do need the functionality provided by that process you may need to leave it enabled and live with the problem. Alternatively, do some additional research on the internet to determine whether anyone else is experiencing a similar problem with that program or process and if there is a resolution, such as a newer version offered by the software manufacturer.

However, should you find that disabling all the programs and processes which load on startup does not resolve the problem we should next consider the possibility that something has become corrupt during the device installation of your MP3 player. To check whether any Windows system files have become corrupt and remedy the issue, run the Windows System File Checker. The SFC utility will scan the computer for any missing or corrupt Windows system files and replace these with known good copies. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “sfc /scannow” (without the quotes) and click OK. The System File Checker utility will commence operation. Be aware you may be prompted for your Windows XP CD during the process, so make sure this CD is handy. Once the System File Checker has completed operations it will exit silently with no user feedback. Once this has occurred restart the computer and check whether the problem persists.

In your question you also asked whether your computer has been infected with spyware or adware. While the CardReaderLookupWindow error is unlikely to be caused by spyware or adware, this is still a good opportunity to discuss the best ways to protect your computer against such threats. As the first line of defence you should have an antivirus scanner installed on your computer. If you are looking for a free solution then AVG Anti-Virus Free (www.avgfree.com.au) is a very good option. However, if you are looking for a more feature-full antivirus scanner then I recommend ESET NOD32 antivirus (www.nod32.com.au). This is one of the few antivirus scanners which still has a relatively small footprint and does not significantly impair system performance once installed, which is why I quite like this piece of software. However, antivirus software will only protect you against virus-based threats (and also some malware, depending on whether the antivirus scanner also detects malware). Therefore, I also recommend that you download and regularly scan your computer using three good free utilities: Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads), Ad-Aware Free (www.lavasoft.com), and Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org). These three utilities should be able to detect and remove most malware detected on your computer.

That said, it is always better to prevent such malware infections rather than remedy after the fact. Therefore, you should also be running firewall protection for your computer and network. If you are using a broadband connection then I would strongly recommend you use a broadband router to supply internet to your computer and/or home network. Most (if not all) routers use network address translation (NAT) which allows multiple computers to share one internet connection. By definition, NAT also functions as a firewall as they mask the computers on your internal network side of the router from the internet side of the router. Additionally, you should also be running firewall software on your computer. If you are using a NAT-based broadband router then the default Windows firewall should be sufficient enough to provide basic protection, as the NAT router will take and reject the brunt of attacks against your computer. However, if you are not running a NAT router (or your computer is directly connected to the internet) then you should be running a more industrial strength firewall on your computer. ESET also offer Smart Security which integrates antivirus and firewall capabilities together. This may be worthwhile investigating if you have such requirements.

As a final word of advice, you should also make sure that your installation of Windows is fully patched through Windows Update (windowsupdate.microsoft.com). It has been shown that an unpatched, unfirewalled Windows computer on the internet will be compromised in less than four minutes. This is quite a scary statistic, so it pays to make sure your computer is patched and also protected.