Resources

I am getting an error message when I boot to Windows and I can’t get past it. Help?

Boot to Safe Mode

If you can’t get your computer to boot, starting it in Safe Mode will launch only the vital processes, reducing the chance of error. Once in Safe Mode you can troubleshoot the error, then when you reboot it will automatically reset in Normal Mode.

1. Turn your computer off - wait a minute
2. Turn it back on, as soon as it starts to power up, start pressing F8
3. This will open the Advanced Options menu
4. Use the keyboard arrows to choose Safe Mode

Remove a Problem Installation

Sometimes startup errors are related to recently installed software. If you downloaded a flawed program or if there was a problem during the install process, it might be interrupting startup. You can use Windows Add/Remove to delete the program and then try to reinstall.

1. Click Start then Control Panel, then Add or Remove Programs
2. Find the recent installation that you think could be responsible, then click Remove
3. Click Yes to confirm

Repair your Operating System Installation

The easiest thing to do in your situation is repair your operating system installation. You need to have your Windows installation CD to do this, but it will fix any problems in the program that might be preventing it from booting properly.

1. Put the Windows disk in the drive and turn the computer off
2. Wait for a minute, then turn it back in and the computer should boot from the disk and open the Setup Screen - press Enter
3. Press F8 to accept the license
4. Now, highlight your operating system using your keyboard arrows and press R to repair the installation
5. After the process is finished, you need to use Windows Updates to re-install your operating system updates as well as those for your security software

Repair Hard Drive Errors

There is an included Windows utility that scans and fixes error on the hard disk. If there is a flawed volume on the hard drive, this scan can resolve it.

1. Click twice to open My Computer, then choose the C: drive
2. Choose Properties, then Tools
3. Under Error Checking, choose Check Now
4. From the Check Disk Options menu, choose Scan For and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors
5. When you get a message to schedule the scan, choose Yes, then reboot your computer

I hope these tips get your computer up and running. If not, write us again with more information about your operating system and the specific error message that you are getting. Good luck!

I am dual booting Windows 7 and Vista. Now, after a few botched installs, my computer boots up offering three Windows 7 choices; they are not all real. How can I edit these choices?

Windows Vista Boot Menu File

When you are building dual boot systems with Windows XP, it is the boot.ini file that needs to be edited but in Vista things change, and the new boot option tool is called BCDEdit - or BCDEdit.exe, which can be a tricky adjustment for a lot of loyal Windows users. The new BCD program improves upon the earlier BOOT.INI option and includes three different boot components; the boot manager, then operating system loader and the resume loader, and it is the boot manager that loads the different operating system listings on the boot menu. Once you get the hang of BCDEDIT, where to find it and how to use it, you will probably come to appreciate the improvements.

Log on as an Administrator

To edit the boot menu you first need to log on to the computer as an administrator, and then you can find the BCDEdit utility in the Help and Support section of your Windows operating system.

Use BCDEDIT to Remove Invalid Entries from Boot Manager

Here’s how to use BCDEdit to remove the invalid entries from your boot manager.

1. First, you need to open an elevated command prompt

1. Click the Start button
2. In the Search bar, type cmd
3. Press CTRL, SHIFT and ENTER at the same time
4. A User Account Control screen will open and prompt you to accept
5. Now, an elevated command prompt should open, allowing you special administrative abilities

1. In the command field, type bcdedit > c:\users\yourusername\desktop\bcd.txt

***substitute your Windows account user name for yourusername***

1. This will open a file called bcd.txt to your desktop
2. Double click to open the bcd.txt file - here you will see the identifier values assigned to the different operating system listings. Make a note of the values for the listings that you want to remove
3. Now, at your command prompt, type bcdedit / delete [identifier value number]
4. Repeat the steps for the other two listings, reboot the computer and your boot menu should be good to go with only one Vista entry and one Windows 7 entry

I hope this does it and takes care of your problem. If not, write us again and let us know what you have tried and we can take it from there. Good luck!

I cannot remember the steps to get into Startup and change it. Help?

Okay, so you want to change your startup programs I take it? There are a couple of different ways to do this, so I’ll take you through my favorite techniques.

Managing Startup with MSCONFIG

Despite its odd name, the System Configuration utility (msconfig) is easy to use. However, it’s hard to remember the name. Think of it as “Microsoft Configuration” and it might help. If you have Windows XP, go to the Start button and click on Run. Type in msconfig and press the Enter key. If you have Windows Vista, type msconfig into the Start button’s Search bar and wait for the msconfig.exe icon to appear. Click the icon.

This opens the System Configuration utility. Now, click the Startup tab. Here, you’ll see a list of all programs that have been enabled to startup automatically with Windows and their current status (enabled or disabled). Remove tick marks to disable any item that you do not want to load when you turn on your computer. Pay attention to details as you disable items. For example, you wouldn’t necessarily want to disable your antivirus program unless you had two such programs installed and use one as a secondary service only. Likewise, research any unfamiliar programs to be sure that they are not essential for your computer.

Managing Startup with Windows Defender

If you have Windows Vista or have downloaded Windows Defender on your XP machine, you can use Windows Defender to manage your startup programs. Go to Tools > Software Explorer. Choose Startup Programs in the Category dropdown. Each program is listed and grouped by manufacturer. In addition, each startup program shows a classification which gives you clues about its relative safety and current setting. I like this tool because if you click an item that you’re unsure about, details appear in another pane. Among the details are:

• File name
• Display name
• Description
• Publisher
• Digitally signed by
• Classification
• SpyNet voting
• And other details

Startup choices for individual startup items include: Remove, Disable, and Enable.

Managing Startup with Windows Explorer

Finally, you can use Windows Explorer to manage startup programs, too. Right-click the Start button and choose Explore. Windows Explorer will launch. It should launch directly to the Start Menu folder, but if it doesn’t navigate to: Users\User Name\App Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu. Once in the Start Menu, click on Programs > Startup. You can drag and drop shortcuts into and out of this folder. This is a much more basic choice than msconfig.exe or Windows Defender and it is limited in its use. It’s fine for quickly dragging a shortcut to your favorite program though.

After a day of accepting my passwords, Vista stopped accepting my passwords. I’ve already spent over $200 on this system. Therefore, is there a way to get Vista to recognize my passwords without buying yet another program? After shutting down and starting back up, something happened, but what? I’ve noticed that this is a serious problem with many people. Please help. 

I think you’re saying that the computer no longer remembers passwords that you use to log into different Web pages - if this isn’t the case, please let us know.

You’re not alone with this problem - many users have complained about not being able to save usernames and passwords. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that anyone has come up with a surefire solution - not even Microsoft. The best advice I can give you is to troubleshoot the problem with the following solutions and see if one of these works for you.

Troubleshooting Password Problems

Do you have your Microsoft Windows Firewall working along with a third party antivirus/firewall program? If so, you should disable your Microsoft Windows Firewall because the two firewalls could be causing a conflict. To do this, go to Start and then Control Panel. Go to Security and then to Firewall and choose the option to turn it off. Only do this if you have another firewall installed on your system.

One user said that Administrators in Vista can’t save passwords, but I have not been able to verify this. Try getting in as a regular user rather than as an administrator and see if that makes a difference.

Go to C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Protect. Delete the Protect folder and this oftentimes will solve the password problem.

Utilize Vista’s User Account Control feature. Go to Start and type in: user accounts. Click Enter. Choose “Manage Network Passwords” on the side menu. Select Add and fill out the ‘Stored Credential Properties’. You will need to enter the server name - you don’t need a domain name if you have a single domain environment - and the domain\\username’s password.

If you are using Firefox, you can check the file that stores the cookies, which are the pieces that enable the website to remember your password. Go to Start and in the Start Search box, type in: %APPDATA\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles . You will see a list of profiles. Rename cookies.sqlite to cookies.tmp. Restart Firefox and see if it will remember the passwords. If you can’t find the files, they may be hidden. Go to Control Panel and choose Folder Options and then View. Under “Hidden Files and Folders”, select “Show hidden files and folders”. This will let you see everything that is hidden.

Internet Explorer Security Settings

In addition, your Internet Options may be responsible. Go into Internet Explorer and click Tools > Internet Options. Click the Security tab. Click Custom Level and scroll down to User Authentication. Does it say “Prompt for user name and password”? If so, change it to Automatic logon with current user name and password. Deleting Web histories and cookies can also remove your stored user name and password combinations. If you frequently clear your history, this could be part of the problem. Internet Explorer 8.0 now has an option for preserving the cookies and temporary files of Web sites that you have in your Favorites folder.

I wish I had a surefire solution for you, but hopefully one of these things will put you on the right track.

Disk Defragmenter could not start.

Since there’s more than one way to start up the Disk Defragmenter, we are going to start there as this will sometimes resolve the problem.

Troubleshooting Disk Defragmenter: Free Up Space

The Disk Defragmenter requires a certain amount of resources in order for it to run. You should have at least 15% of your memory available for use. If you don’t have this much available memory, then the Disk Defragmenter will not run. Check to see how much available space you have on the drive that you are using (most likely the C drive) and free up some space if you don’t have enough room. You can uninstall unwanted programs and delete old word documents, photos, games, and other files to do so.

Troubleshooting Disk Defragmenter: Alternative Methods of Opening

There’s no guarantee that this will work, but it is worth a try. There is more than one way to open the Disk Defragmenter and sometimes getting it to run with an alternative strategy will fix it so that it will open with each of the available strategies.

Simply attempt to open Disk Defragmenter using each of the following one at a time:

Strategy 1: Start>Select Programs> Select Accessories> Select System Tools> Select Disk Defragmenter.

Strategy 2: Right click on “My Computer”> Select Properties> Select Tools> Select Defragment.

Strategy 3: Start> Select Run>Type in dfrg.msc

Strategy 4: Start> Select All Programs>Select Accessories>Select Command Prompt>Type in cd\windows\system 32 (to enter your windows\system 32 directory)>Reregister the DLLs for defrag by typing in as follows:

Regsvr32 dfrgsnap.dll

Regsvr32 dfrgui.dll

If any of the above strategies work for you, you should make a note of it in case you need to go through this again.

Troubleshooting Disk Defragmenter: Run chkdsk

Since it is possible that you might have a disk error or two, you should run the chkdsk utility. As you run chkdsk, it will repair bad sectors, directory errors, lost clusters, and cross-linked files. This might help to put your Disk Defragmenter back in working order.

To run chkdsk, follow this path: Click on Start> Select Run>Type cmd>Press Enter>Type chkdsk volume:/r. This process should recover all restorable information.

I’m having problems loading software. Windows Installer says I’m in Safe Mode, or not installed properly, can you help? I’ve recently gotten a virus, and I’m trying to clear the system.

What is Windows Installer?

Windows Installer comes with your Windows Operating System. This is the application that allows you to install programs onto your computer.

Windows Installer Error Messages

Sometimes the Windows Installer Service generates an error message such as the one above when trying to install a program. The problem is most likely not because you are in Safe Mode but an error with the Windows Installer utility. If you are in Safe Mode, you will see those two words on the monitor screen in all four corners. If this is the case, you simply need to reboot and the computer should load up in Normal Mode. The error could be related to broken or missing files. We’ll need to do a bit of troubleshooting in order to locate the right fix.

Checking Windows Installer

First, you’ll need to make sure that Windows Installer is enabled on the computer. Follow these directions to do so:

1)      Navigate to Start.

2)      Select Run.

3)      Type “services.msc” in the open box.

4)      Select Enter.

5)      Double click on Windows Installer to open its dialog box.

6)      Search for the “Startup Type.”

7)      If it is listed as Disabled, change it to Manual using the drop down menu.

8)      Try to install whatever software you were working with. If it works, then you should be okay. If the problem persists, continue to the next set of suggestions.

Register Windows Installer

Since you are having problems with the Windows Installer, it might be beneficial to reregister it. This is a two-step process as follows:

1)      Navigate to Start and select Run. Type “msiexec/unreg” in the open box. Press enter.

2)      Navigate to Start and select Run. Type “msiexec/regserver” in the open box and press enter.

Windows Installer Clean Up

At this point, if you still cannot install any software, then it is time to uninstall your Windows Installer and start with a fresh installation. The best way to remove or uninstall Windows Installer is to use the Windows Installer Cleanup utility. At the same time, you will be able to remove any partial installations of other software from the computer.

After you have uninstalled Windows Installer, you’ll need to go to Microsoft’s website and install the latest version of it. Before you do so, free up some memory/space by deleting unnecessary files, photos, temporary cache, etc from the computer. Hopefully, this strategy fixes the problem for you.