Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Dilsia M. writes: " Dear Dennis, Something happened to my Search companion in Windows XP that allows me to search for files and folders in My Computer. When I try to use the Search function, Windows tells me that a file necessary ... to run the search function cannot be found and that I have to run setup to fix it. Rover the doggie doesn't appear, either. Do you know how I can resolve this issue? " My response: I get asked this question from time to time, so it's worth answering once more. RE: When I try to use the Search function, Windows tells me that a file ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frances D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a problem getting my home page as well as other web pages to pull up. My email pulls up, and sends fine. Sometimes, when I access Internet explorer, it tries to connect, but then reports an ... error message. Other times it will slowly pull up and stop at the half way mark. It tells me it is connecting to site 127.0.0.1. What the heck is site 127.0.0.1? I have contacted my Internet Service Provider and they have told me a number of things to try, but nothing has worked. Is this my computer or is it an Internet problem? " My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sandie 'littleone' writes: " Dear Dennis, Lately I've been having problems with my CD writer drive whenever I try to burn a disc. I get strange error messages which tell me that my computer wasn't able to fill the data quickly ... enough during the burn. I have tried to reinstall the software for the CD burner, but it hasn't helped. Do you have any suggestions for me, other than buy a new CD ROM? Thanks for your input. " My response: The problem you are experiencing sounds like a CD buffer underrun error . All CD burn sessions must be uninterrupted or the resulting ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ed C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I look forward to read your newsletter each week. When I insert a disc in my CD ROM drive, it won't start automatic like it once did. In order to get it to work, I have to right click 'My Computer', ... then select 'CD-ROM' to get it to play. I'm running Windows XP. Is there any way around this?" My response: The feature you are referring to is called AutoStart, and can be enabled or disabled using Microsoft's free utility, called PowerToys (or 'TweakUI'). Take a look at this picture here which shows you exactly where the feature is ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken A. writes: " Dear Dennis, Whenever I try to run Scandisk (and Defrag), Scandisk gets 2/3 through the operation and reports an error message which reads: 'Not enough memory to continue. Close all programs to try again.' Even ... with all programs closed down still cannot run Scandisk. I have Windows 98SE (second edition). I hope you can help! PS: Love all newsletters -- they're great! " My response: Microsoft Knowledge Base article # 229154 states that this error may occur if your hard drive's cluster size is less than 8k. To correct this error, you will need to ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week, I wrote a review on WinGuides Registry Mechanic . Since then, a number of users have contacted me with Kudos and Questions in regard to the article. Infopackets Reader 'Marv MnM' writes: " Hi Dennis, I have been a subscriber to ... your newsletter for quite some time and have learned a lot from it. This time, I feel compelled to comment on your latest recommendation, Registry Mechanic . First, let me say that I'm not a techie nor a very advanced user, just a 73 year old who enjoys his computer and tries to keep it squeaky clean from viruses, spam, Spyware, and the like. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ed M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I can't seem to run Disk Defrag, ScanDisk, or Norton Disk Doctor on my system because other programs are actively running in the background and keep interrupting the process. How can I find out what is ... running in the background and stop it? I have asked this question numerous times to Microsoft and they don't seem to know the answer. I have tried 'CTRL + ALT + DEL' on my keyboard to bring up the Windows Task Manager, I get a list of programs -- but I do not know which ones are safe to delete? Can you help? " My response: Many users ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Nancy E. writes: " Dear Dennis, I bought a router to make my computer less vulnerable to hackers, but now cannot receive files from my ICQ contacts. I can send files, but cannot receive. I talked with D-Link tech support and they ... helped me to change a few settings, but to no avail. They said that ICQ had to be changed in order to get this to work. I cannot get any help from ICQ except a 'form' reply from their site which doesn't help at all. I am using ICQ Pro, and the router is a D-Link DI-704P, and am running Windows 2000. As far as I understand it, one of the ' ... (view more)

Continuing on with our Feature Article on Registry Mechanic, here are some top Frequently Asked Questions about the Windows Registry, courtesy of WinGuides.com: Q: Do I really need to fix registry problems? A: In short, yes. If you don't fix ... registry problems when they arise or try and prevent them from even happening at all, then you may soon find yourself faced with sudden crashes, system stalls, or a severe degradation in operating speed. Working to fix registry issues and prevent system crashes should be a top priority whether you use your computer for business or pleasure, and you'll ... (view more)