My desktop which operates on Windows 95, has developed a habit of freezing up every ten minutes. It doesn’t matter what program is running, everything stops every ten minutes for about ten seconds. Any suggestions? (more…)

I log on to my PC I get the following messages ‘The following file is missing or corrupted C:CDPROVIDE-CPD.SYS There is an error on CONFIG.SYS file on line 1-20″. Could you tell me what these messages mean and what I need to do? After they appear the computer lets me press any key to continue logging on. The only effect the error seems to have is that the time on the PC is always wrong - it loses time. (more…)

I downloaded a program in a zip file from the net. When unzipping I was prompted to select which program I would like to use to open these files. This happened because I went to open the wrong file first and during the process I inadvertently selected ‘Dr Watson’ to open the file and did not uncheck the box which says ‘always use this program to open this type of file. Consequently I cannot use the files. Can you please help? (more…)

I have a few problems with my computer which I hope you can help me resolve. Firstly, I believe my computer (a Pentium using Windows 95) has been infected by a Trojan virus. The warning with the words Trojan Virus appeared just as a flash on the screen and then disappeared just as quick. I’ve used the latest McAfee Antivirus to scan the hard disks. In no way does McAfee indicate that the virus has been detected, or even deleted. As reported in the Canberra Times of 3/4/00, normal virus checker doesn’t pick up the Trojan virus. Is it true? If it is, what shall I do to get rid of it? Please advise. Secondly, I found a file in the C drive which is enormously large. It’s under C:Win386.swp and has 83.5 MB. I tried to open it to see what it is, incidentally using Acrobat reader. When I opened the file, a message appeared saying “There was an error opening this document. Sharing violation” And I was stuck there! So now the question is: how can I open the file? What is this file for and what is swp? Can I actually delete this file (it is taking up 83.5 MB of hard disk space)? Will the deletion do any harm to the rest of the system? Thirdly, I intend to use Norton Utilities’ Space Wizard to create more disk space by finding unneeded files. There are two methods available. The first is “Express” and the second is “Comprehensive”. The files retrieved using Express are mostly “windows emp” and program files …cache”. The files total 36.6 MB! I can either Compress, Delete or Move. Which is the better way to do? I want to delete them but am afraid of doing the wrong thing. Can you please advise me. (more…)

When I formatted my HDD I lost sound so I reinstalled my sound card. The result was conflict with the PCI Bus. This in turn changed my display setting to 600×400 and 16 colours. I uninstalled the sound card. The display returned to 256 colours and everything works but of course no sound. Can you help me to solve this problem? (more…)