RandyL

Hi jb1122; I recieved your email. But I wish your email to me was posted here. I also have typed out a long reply but it may not help you much. I would prefer that our communications were posted here so that everyone can benefit. May I post your email to me? Just asking. I will respect your wishes. RandyL

As much as I dislike Microsoft I do not condone anything illegal. Also this could be dangerous as you don't know what other code may be included. And I never trust P2P file sharing. Please spare me the lectures. I won't do it and I think it's bad advice to offer it out to the general public. RamdyL

Hi jb1122; Microsoft Office is a full office suite application. It will need to be installed from the Office CD's. Microsoft Office is not free. It's actually rather expensive. There are different versions. I do know that version 2000 and up will work with XP. I don't know about earlier versions. Microsoft Works Suite (different versions) came bundled with some computers in the past. Maybe that's what you had before. Either way, you backed up your files to disk so you should be able to access them once again. Microsoft has converters and viewer programs that will allow you to get your data back. Also Open Office is a good free program that should allow you to access them. Also just changing which program to open the files may work. I wish I could be more specific but I need more details first. Microsoft Office version? Microsoft Word version? Microsoft Works Suite? Saved files have what extension? Did you upgrade your PC to XP? Did you buy a new PC with XP? What make AND model of PC are you talking about? etc.etc. More info will help with a more specific responce. Post back please; RandyL

To start with remove bearshare. Remove the bundled programs that came with it. Delete all the downloaded music files. Next try running the Norton virus scan from safe mode. Run Housecall and choose remove when given the choice. It's free. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ Try running the Stinger from Mcafee. http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ Install, update and run Spybot and AdAware Se Personal. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php If by chance you get lucky and all these steps fix your problem the first time you may still need to turn off and turn back on system restore to keep a virus from coming back. That is if you use Windows ME or XP. Some trojans are extremely hard to remove sometimes. I know you can't tell yet which one you may have. Removing the root programs and files that started this mess is the first step. Cleaning up the leftovers will take more time. Running Norton, Spybot and AdAware in safe mode may be needed. Repeated steps in order after reboots are sometimes needed. If it still doesn't work go back and look more unknown programs. Remove and repeat the above steps again. If all of the above doesn't work try another trojan scanner besides Stinger and Housecall. But only use one of the reputable ones. Contact Symantec only after trying all of the above steps to see if they think a re-install of Norton will help. I've lost count of how many computers I've cleaned after they were infected after music sharing programs were installed. I've never seen two exactly alike. The possibilities are numerous. Be prepared to get lucky or be in it for the long haul. Post back and we'll try to get you through this. I did not list more options because I don't know which version of Windows you use.

Hi Jamey; Quite the coincidence that you mention MRU Blaster. I've used it for years. I intended to set it up to delete the photoshop mru's from the registry. That's why I was looking. I see we're on the same track again. Anyway thanks for looking and posting back. Ubuntu looks extremely interesting. But I need to find another computer to check it out. I gave away all my extras to those in need and I need to keep a Windows system for trouble shooting. Hopefully I'll get a replacement 98 system soon as well as an XP system. It gets old having to use someone elses XP. I'm still limping along with my stable ME. And soon I'll need to buy a new computer so I can learn Vista. Argh. But as soon as I can get some old units again I will definetly try out Ubuntu. You're right. I long for the freedom from Bill Gates. It's free too I see. That's a plus. Especially now. I am a union worker and we are on strike. But free is a big issue with me anyway. I love free and open source. Thanks for the help and the tip Jamey; RandyL

Your welcome. Thanks for posting back that all is well.

Hi people; I'm having a little problem with photoshop 5.5. I want to set the mru to 0 in the registry but I can't seem to find the path. I hate mru's and can't find the option in photoshop 5.5 or in the registry. Not a real problem. Just wish I could change it. In case it matters I'm using Windows ME. Just a pain. Not a real problem. So don't knock yourself out over it. But if you just happen to know it please pass it on to me; RandyL

Hi raj_head; What model of Advent do you have. It seems that many ship with a Driver CD. http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/advidx.htm Since there is no longer a volume control in the system tray you probably removed the AC'97 drivers for the sound card. You might also find the audio drivers here. http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=23&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false AvRack does appear to be a media player but you can just download and install the audio drivers for your sound card if you don't have an Advent driver CD. For some reason it appears that the media player and sound drivers for your card originally are installed as a bundled set. Use add/remove from the control panel to uninstall AvRack next time once you get the driver issue resolved. Good luck.

Hi daisy; This might be a classic case of spyware/adware/crapware etc. or even viruses and trojans. Software you installed might have been bundled with other software that might be causing problems. File sharing for instance. Or you could have been infected any number of ways. It's hard to say off hand. I do know that AOL in the U.S.A. offers Mcafee antivirus as a free add-on and AOL has other tools as well. I don't care for AOL and won't use them but I have to ask if you do use them. Antivirus-update and scan. You might also try housecall from trend-micro for a free scan/removal for pests. Spybot S&D and AdAware-update after installing then scan. I don't use XP but ewido /AVG might be good for a free program. If you have not already done so I suggest installing, updating, scanning and removing items with these tools. This is usually the most logical first steps. Antivirus program. Use the one of your choice. Spybot S&D http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html AdAware http://www.lavasoft.com/ ewido /AVG http://www.ewido.net/en/download/ I suggest trying these steps first. Post back and let us know. RandyL

Hi again beejay; I'm very familiar with HP Pavillion computers. I looked up the 7760. As near as I can tell their should be two restore disks. Restoring should be a simple matter of inserting the disks in order. "If needed" a boot floppy can be created on another computer using ME or sometimes 98. Or download one from http://www.bootdisk.com But normally you wouldn't need one for your computer. I'm at a loss as to why you get the message "insert F disk". If you were formatting your computer by just using the restore disks then starting with disk one should work. Later you would be prompted for disk two. On some systems reinserting disk one would be needed later. If that was not how you attempted a restore/format then a format and fdisk from a boot floppy might be needed first. This is really not hard and always works providing the hard drive and cdrom/dvd drives are functioning. I'm going to provide you with three links to HP support for your computer on using the restore functions. The last link deals with fdisk. But there are better guides on fdisk especially if all you need is one primary partition. Read these first. HP Pavilion Desktop PCs - Performing a System Recovery in Windows 98 and Me. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61574&lang=en&docname=bph07141 HP Pavilion Desktop PCs - Troubleshooting Recovery Problems in Windows 95, 98 and Me. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61574&lang=en&docname=bph07140 HP and Compaq PCs - Using the FDISK Utility. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=61574&dlc=en&docname=bph02138 Let me know; RandyL

I don't know the make/model of your computer. And I'm still not sure of the EXACT message. As such I can only guess. Some computers come with a recovery/restore CD that needs to be started first with a boot floppy. This is rare however. Most computers that have a recovery/restore CD will automatically set up the needed partitions and format them even if a brand new hard drive is installed. I did it on a Compaq computer for instance. I'm not sure if you're message is asking for a Floppy disk or a Fdisk function first or a formatC first. Typically a computer that uses more than one recovery/restore CD will ask for disk 1,2 or 3. Not A,B,C etc. Can you please supply more info on; exact message, exact make/model of computer. Boot disks can be downloaded and MADE from http://www.bootdisk.com/ I can link you up to fdisk and format C instructions if need be. Keep trying; RandyL

Hi beejay; What O/S are you using? You might need to perform an fdisk from a boot floppy disk first.

Hi powertron; I'm a little confused. If you have Office 2003 why do you also have Word Viewer 2003. Office 2003 has Word so you don't need the Word Viewer 2003. In the case of Security Update for Office 2003 (KB921566) you should have the Office 2003 Service Pack 2 installed first. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DE1CB2A7-5D4C-44B8-BC40-7E0A88CC3081&displaylang=en As for the Security Update for Word Viewer 2003 (KB917346) you must have version 11.0.6505.0 of Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003. Check your version. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6089B843-61FF-469F-A38B-BD4FFEFF0552&displaylang=en But I still don't understand why you have or need that program. Perhaps that's part of the problem; RandyL

Hi eniacap; Looks like I'm in over my head here. I'm now having trouble recreating my steps. I can't even get OE to create new dbx files after creating new folders in OE. But if I run OEBackup it picks up the new folder dbx file. Hidden files are shown. Some of my steps work sometimes but not other times. And I have been meticulous. Also it appears that identity files and registry keys also need to be exported and imported. Unfortunately I gave away all my old PC's and can't test this. Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB) is no longer offered although I still have it saved. But even then I think the steps are long and require registry changes. Long story short. OE6 is buggy. I'm now confused. Try the link http://www.oehelp.com/Default.aspx and look around. #6 maybe. Still trying; RandyL

Hi again eniacap; Sorry about my misreading of your previous post. I wrongly assumed that the only thing you had was the dbx file on an external drive. If I understand correctly you still have a working 98 system with emails intact that you can save to media (external drive). Was your 98 system using IE6/OE6? If so then you can transfer your emails and probably folders too. I've been experimenting a little but I'm not done yet. From what I gather you need to copy your entire Identities folder to your external drive. Then open OE on your new computer and use the File>Import Wizard. Navigate to your external drive and import from the Identities folder. I did the same but only from My Documents. Not from removable media. It worked fine from there. If you use a CD you will probably need to copy to your new hard drive then open properties and uncheck "read only" first. I'll try to supply more detailed info on the exact import steps but it may take a day or two. I'm working on a few other issues and my factory job has me worn down. I'll get back to you tomorrow and let you know; RandyL

Hi death2furby; I will venture that you are using Windows XP. Try the obvious first. Try using System Restore. If that doesn't work try reinstalling the original video drivers. I think XP has an option to revert to original drivers also. I don't have XP so I am going on memory. You might also try going to add/remove programs in the control panel and see if the GAME is listed then uninstall it first. Just some guesses for now; RandyL

Hi eniacap; I'm really not sure about this one. I think you might be out of luck if all you have is the inbox.dbx file. Do you have the original hard drive or computer? If you still have the old computer then there is hope. Or a simple work around. If all you have is a dead hard drive with an inbox.dbx file backup then you're probably out of luck. If you are trying to transfer OE mails from one computer to another then you have hope. But I think the dbx files are only OE folder files. Not email files per say. Can you supply more info please? RandyL

http://email.about.com/cs/oetipstricks/qt/et110402.htm http://www.mindspring.com/~oe_oh/importing_the_old_messages.htm http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/sitemap.htm#backup

Hi ICAP: Not sure what's going on here but It would help if you supply more information. What make and model of computer? What Operating system? Any new software installed lately? Could be hardware which I only have limited experience. Could be software. Could be a simple fix based on the operating system. Can you supply more details please? RandyL

Hi Eddie; The short answer is no. Your system specs can be found at this Dell page. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pmojav/specs.htm I believe you may have at most a 233 MHz processor. It probably shipped with one 32-MB memory module. The maximum RAM is 128 MB. Besides the other details XP would never run on this system. Microsoft says that you need at least 128 MB of RAM but in reality 256 should be the minimum. And the processor is not even in the ballpark. If I rememember right XP full cost about $200. Memory about $50 American. Adding memory is simple but you would still have a computer that wouldn't function. As is your computer has no real value for resale purposes. Don't throw money at it but if it works keep it as it is and use it. Keep in mind security issues on this older system. Hope this helps; RandyL

Hi olsontm; Several possibilities on the first error. But if you can't even boot to a bootable floppy the first thing I would check is the boot order in the BIOS. I think pressing F1 when starting most IBM computers shoud get you into the BIOS. Set drive a: (floppy drive) as the first boot option. Save and exit. Retry the 95 boot floppy. RandyL

I added a link to ExtremeTech.support - Free PC Help on my site. I don't get much traffic though. My mirror sites are not updated yet. http://rsl45.port5.com/

Hi Mike and PriceChild. This one has me asking a lot of questions too. Hope you don't mind an old man jumping in. Just bookmarked your old site Mike. I'll look into it more later. My primitive web site had a link to here before ExtremeTech.support - Free PC Help went off line late last year. I waited a long time to remove the link since I hadn't heard back. Should I take the time to add the links back? If this site intends to stay active and online I will. I think it would be great to be one of the first members "again". Or should I wait for a newer site? Or both? Is there anything I can do to help repay you for previous help or to promote you again? Would it help if I posted questions to get it started again? Because I have a lot of questions. So many I don't know where to start. Yes I do. Windows/Yahoo Companion Toolbar/Messenger/BHO's I'll post if anyone is up to Regestry modifications. Don't go away again and leave me hanging. It's exciting to be here at the new beginning. I check out this site everday.