When purchasing my new computer running Windows Vista the salesman said that the computer was not capable of running dual-operating systems. However, I would now like to install my existing copy of Windows XP on the computer. Will this work, or are there some computers which are simply incapable of running multiple operating systems? (more…)

To protect my computer from unwanted people and processes attempting to access the computer it is running the Windows Firewall on the network connection. However, when the firewall is enabled both Windows Update and AVG 8 will not operate correctly and refuse to download updates. The error code being reported is 8024402c. Can you provide a suggestion as to why this problem is occurring? Additionally, I have been considering upgrading to a more powerful firewall that can also do outbound program blocking. However, all the packages that I have reviewed require the user to make a decision about which programs should and should not access the internet, with many of these programs having rather cryptic names making it difficult for the average user to make an informed decision. Can you recommend any programs that are easier to use? Finally, can you advise whether I should be running a registry cleaner on the computer? When searching Google advertisements for such utilities regularly appear, but I am unsure about their usefulness and effectiveness. The computer is running Windows Vista. (more…)

When Windows Vista starts two messages appear which interrupt the startup process. The first message informs that “Metadata monitor has stopped working. Problem event name APPCRASH. Application name: MtdAcq.exe. Application version: 5.0.8.0”. The second message which appears warns that “Spooler Subsystem App. stopped working and was closed. Problem event name: BEX. Application name: spoolsv.exe. Application version: 6.0.6002.18005”. I understand that the spooler is generally related to printing issues. Previously I had a Lexmark printer which was not compatible with Windows Vista and I needed to manually restart the print spooler every time I wanted to print a document. This printer has now been replaced with a new HP Deskjet 2560 which is Vista compatible, but I am wondering whether any files could remain which relate to the Lexmark and are causing this problem? (more…)

I have been trying to load some photos from my laptop onto a digital photo frame. After hours of choosing and preparing an album using Photoshop Elements 7, including tagging the photos and choosing appropriate music, I found no way to correctly save this “work of art” to the “Pictures” folder on the computer. The folder only showed the photos themselves, without any of the gimmicks or additional effects (such as music). The order of the photos was also mixed-up very erratically. When I attempted to save the photos (around 1000 files) to a 2GB SD memory card, which can be connected to the digital photo frame, a message appeared saying “Error 80070052. Unable to save” and some of the photos were not saved onto the memory card. Assuming that the memory card may have insufficient space to store all of the photos, I subsequently divided the 1000 photos into 5 sections to transfer them onto the card in stages. However, the same error always appears despite there being 1.33 GB of free space on the card. In light of this information, there are two questions which arise. First, how can I transfer the photos from the Pictures folder onto the SD memory card without the error. Second, is it possible to transfer and save to the pictures from Photoshop Elements 7 in the exact way they were prepared (e.g. music, tagging, etc)? The computer is running Windows Vista Home Premium. (more…)

In a recent article you detailed how to enable and disable startup items by going to the “Start” menu > “Run” > “msconfig”. However, when I try this procedure on Windows Vista there is no “Run” option in the start menu. Is this procedure done differently in Vista? (more…)