Flight Simulator 4 Crashes: System Requirements

One of the first steps to take before even purchasing a game is to look at the minimum system requirements for it. I imagine that you probably did so, but just in case, look at them now. If your system barely meets the system requirements for the game, this could contribute to the problems that you are having with the game. If your system does not meet the requirements, then this is definitely the problem. This type of game is a real hog when it comes to computer resources, you might want to consider adding some RAM.

Flight Simulator 4 Crashes: Manufacturer Tips

Read through the documentation for the game to see if you can pick up any tips. You can also visit the website for the manufacturer of the game and check the support section for tips on how to handle this particular problem. If a forum exists, see if any other players are having the same issue. Many gamers will offer help on how to fix game related problems simply because they have been through the same thing themselves.

Flight Simulator 4 Crashes: Heat Related Issues

Although I rarely play computer games, my sons are frequent fliers when it comes to flight simulators. One of the biggest problems with this type of game is overheating the computer. The fastest way to check this out is to open up the tower carefully by removing one of the sides. Do this when the computer is turned off to avoid shocking yourself or damaging the computer. You might as well check out the dust situation while you are at it because this can also contribute to overheating. Carefully remove the dust from the computer.

Turn the computer back on and see how the game plays while the panel is still off. Removing the tower panels allows the air to circulate and the computer to cool. If the game does not freeze and crash, you have a heat related problem. The fan for your computer might need to be replaced. This is one of the cheaper options that you have open.

Flight Simulator 4 Crashes: Graphics Card

The possibility also exists that your graphics card is not up to speed and is leading to a lot of the problem including heat. While this could also be caused by overworking the processor, replacing the graphics card is much less bothersome and expensive. Consider this one of your troubleshooting options.

Flight Simulator 4 Crashes: Overworking the Processor

If the game is overworking the processor, this will also lead to a freeze in gameplay and resultant crashes. Replacing the processor should be your last resort, since this is also the most expensive option you have.

What you’re seeing is a registry error that is associated with Windows Installer, so it makes sense that it is happening when you are trying to load a game. It is caused when there is an invalid file key in the installation that has no reference in the file table. This will cause an installation to fail until the registry problem is fixed.

Manually Fixing the Registry

There are ways to find the problem in the registry and delete it, but I’m not going to outline it for you here. The registry can be a tricky thing and changing anything in it should only be handled by someone who is very tech savvy. An incorrect modification of the registry can lead to much bigger and more permanent problems.

Download a Registry Cleaner

The best way to fix registry errors is by using a reliable registry cleaner. Two of the best areRegCure and Max Registry Cleaner. These programs will analyze and fix your registry either automatically, or with manual controls, scan for invalid shortcuts and check for invalid path or files. Most programs come with a free scan and a trial program so that you can see what they can do for you.

Run Antivirus Software

The best way to avoid registry errors is to regularly update your operating system and run antivirus software. We have a good review of antivirus software on our site here if you are looking to get additional protection. I always recommend running more than one program to increase your chances of catching any bad stuff that comes your way.

Follow the steps above, fix your registry, and then make sure you keep your computer free of malware and you shouldn’t have any more problems with your downloads. Even if you don’t want to continue to try and download this particular game, I would suggest taking these actions, as a registry error indicates that there may be other problems with your system.

Check for Trojans

You may have a problem with malware. Make sure that you are running good malware programs such as Spybot Search and Destroy, Antivirus Plus and Ad-Aware. If you are looking for a review of antivirus software, there is a good article on our site. It is always a good idea to run more than one program to increase your chances of catching everything that comes through.

Clear Your Cache

If your cache is full, it will sometimes stop you from playing Yahoo games. In Windows Explorer go to Tools Settings and delete the browsing history, the cookies and site visits. Once the cache is empty, you may be able to play games.

Adjust Your Privacy Settings

The problem may be coming from your Java download. If you have Java, you can make sure that your computer is allowing it by checking your privacy settings. Go to Start and then Control Panel. Choose Internet Options and then click on Privacy. Choose Add Sun Microsystems to the list. Click Ok.

Reinstall Java

If Yahoo games aren’t working right, chances are there is something wrong with the Java program you are using. If you need to check which version you are running, click on the link to Java test . This will automatically analyze which version you are running and give you information about it on your system. If you need to upgrade, go to Java download and install it on your machine. If it is showing that you have Java downloaded but you are still having problems, you might want to uninstall Java and then go to the website and do a clean download. Do this by going to Start and then Control Panel. Click on Add/Remove Programs. Find the Java program, delete it and then download a new version.

If you’ve reinstalled Java and it still isn’t working, we may need more information. Are you getting any error messages when you try to play? Are you seeing the website or are the games refusing to load? Hopefully, these fixes will have you up and playing. If not, let us know and we can try to help you further.

System Restore

The easiest way to get to System Restore is through your All Programs. If this is how you are already doing it, bear with me just in case something is missing.

1. Go to Start, then click on All Programs.
2. Click on Accessories and choose System Tools.
3. Click on System Restore. You will see the Welcome screen. Click on ‘Restore my computer to an earlier time.’ Click Next.
4. You will see a Select a Restore Point page where you will select a date. Click Next.
5. You will confirm the date and click Next. The system will shut down and reboot where you should get a ‘Restoration Complete’ message.

This is the standard way to get into System Restore. If you can’t find System Restore using these steps, let us know which part is missing and we should be able to help you.

You can also get into System Restore by going to Start and then clicking on Run. At the prompt, type in: scanreg /restore (there is a space between scanreg and /). Click OK and then pick an earlier date.

One more way to find System Restore is to go to Start and then Run and typing in regedit at the prompt. Click Enter. Navigate to: HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\System Restore. Look for Value DisableSR. If it is set to ‘1′, double click on it to set it to ‘0′.

Missing Restore Points

Can you find System Restore, but not your restore points? The Restore Point you want may be hidden. When in the Select a Restore Point page, make sure you have a check mark in the box that says, “Show restore points older than five days.”

Newer machines set restore points by default, but they will disappear if you run out of space on the system drive. It will delete all restore points in an attempt to free up space. You would have received a disk-space warning before the restore points were deleted. Once disk space is freed up, System Restore will start setting restore points again.

Likewise, depending on the storage limits set aside for specifically for restore points, once the space fills up, older restore points are deleted and replaced with new ones. You won’t receive a warning in this scenario.

Did you upgrade or install a new operating system? If you did, the restore points on the old system are automatically deleted and you can’t return to the old system to get them back.

If for some reason System Restore is completely missing on your computer, it is likely caused by a virus or .dll error. Are you getting any .dll error messages? That is another fix entirely, so let us know if you are.

After all of this, if your System Restore is still missing, you may need to manually adjust the problem, or if the problem is severe enough, reinstall your Windows operating system and start over.

Like most you have followed the unwritten code of industry in upgrading your computer every year or two. What this has left you with are three or four computers, useless parts, and several monitors lying around your house. You keep meaning to do something about them, but figuring out just what to do with them can be a source of stress.

Why Would you Pay?

If you’ve done any research on the subject, you’ll find that most computer recycling companies charge money. It’s even worse if any of those old computers work. You can’t bring yourself to throw out something which still works.

No Thank you Ma’am

Getting the trash collectors to pick up the old cases can be even trickier. Most won’t take anything which isn’t bagged, and you have to triple-bag cases because their sharp corners will cut the bags. They also don’t take old monitors. You can’t just bag them up because they could cause an explosion when they’re crushed. Many states also have laws against putting monitors in the trash.

So, what do you do with all these old things?

There are several options available to you. You can haul them to the dump yourself, pay to recycle them, donate the working parts to charity, or just leave them where they are. All have their advantages and disadvantages, but the decision is completely up to you.

Donating: Should the computers or monitors still work, your best option is to donate them to charity. Your local Salvation Army thrift store would more than likely love to have them. There are plenty of people out there who don’t own a computer, or can’t afford to buy one. Even with the relatively low prices of modern PC’s, some people just can’t justify the expense of a new computer in their budget.

Here are a few things to remember when donating a computer. Go through the hard drive. Delete, uninstall and remove everything but the operating system. Most people remove everything by formatting the hard drive, but this presents a problem for the organization. How does this private charity show a prospective buyer that the system or monitor actually works? They don’t usually have a few dozen copies of an operating system lying around.

It’s also a good idea to include the CD’s, manuals, and cable which came with the computer. Most of the people buying or receiving these old computers have little to no knowledge or experience with them. They wouldn’t know how to download a device driver, and how would they find out if this is their first and only computer?

If you won’t donate out of a sense of giving, then do it for greed aspect. You can use the donation as a tax write-off. Just be sure to get a receipt from the organization you donate the items to.

Selling: Trying to sell that old computer or monitor is usually simple, but many people make a huge mistake when trying to do so. They price the items too high. Just because the computer was bought for 600.00 four years ago doesn’t mean it’ll get that much now, or even two thirds of that price.

First, during those four years, several more generations of the computer may have some out. Second, prices of computers and monitors have come down. You can buy a brand new computer with an operating system for 399.00, and that’s with a monitor included. Third, you have to consider depreciation. Just like your car depreciates several thousand dollars the second you drive it off the lot, a two to four year old computer just isn’t worth what it was when you bought it.

Set a realistic goal when selling. A Pentium 3 with a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, a 20GB hard drive, Windows 98, and a 17 inch SVGA monitor might net you 100.00 on a good day.

Throwing Out: When choosing this option, keep in mind that you’ll have to take those old monitors to the dump yourself. Older analog monitors present an environmental danger when crushed or broken. Most state laws put them in the same category as old lead paint canisters, and asbestos insulation. There will almost certainly be a separate bin or drop-off point for them. Still, it’s better to donate them if they still work.

My Favourite Dust Collectors are my old Intellivision and My just as old Commodore 64

Regardless of what you decide, anything is better than leaving them sitting around in your home collecting dust.

There is one more option available to you however. You don’t need any specialized knowledge to repair those old computers to get them working again. Most computers need nothing more than a new hard drive, a new processor, or some other peripheral to make them work. It will basically be a “learn-as-you-go” scenario, but that knowledge will help you in the future. Almost everything on the computer is plug and play.

The Race to be Number One

When Apple began using Intel processors in their Mac computers, the race was on to be the first to run Microsoft Windows on the Apple hardware. Hackers took to the challenge, as they tend to do, with enthusiasm. Since Windows is designed specifically to run on Intel and other “x86-compatible” chips, the only roadblock preventing Windows from running on the new Macs was the system’s boot firmware.

Traditional Intel-based PCs use BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) for their boot environment

This is the code, almost like a mini operating system, that tells the various computer components how to start and work together. It also acts as an intermediary between the operating system (e.g., Windows) and the hardware (e.g., the disk drive). That way, the operating system just needs to know how to talk to BIOS, not necessarily every piece of hardware in existence (this is a different issue than device drivers and happens on a lower level).

Apple Uses EFI

Instead of BIOS, Apple computers use EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), a newer alternative to the older BIOS standard. Accordingly, Apple OS X is designed to talk to EFI for hardware access.

The Difference is Vast

Because of the EFI/BIOS difference, running Windows on a Mac is like fitting a square peg in a round hole, even though they are now using the same x86-based CPUs. There’s nothing like a challenge to get the creative juices flowing in the hacker community, and in January 2006 enthusiast Colin Nederkoorn established a contest with a cash award to the first person who was able to boot Windows XP on a Mac. The contest was won by the team of Jesus Lopez Amaro (aka “Blanka”) and Eric Wasserman (aka “narf2006″) in March of the same year. The next month Apple released the first version of its Boot Camp software. It was as if the company, itself started by hackers in a garage, was waiting for the community to solve the problem before they stepped up with the official solution.

About BootCamp

Boot Camp is software offered by Apple that allows users to install and run Microsoft Windows operating systems on the Mac hardware in a painless and seamless manner. Boot Camp walks the user through the entire process of adding Windows to a Mac, from creating a partition on the hard disk to burning a drivers disc to actually installing Windows.

Full-Speed Ahead, None of that Virtualization Gibberish

Running Windows with Boot Camp is not an emulation like Virtual PC, it is a full-speed implementation of Windows on a Mac. Boot Camp simply takes all the guesswork out of the process and makes installing Windows as easy on a Mac as on any other computer. Boot Camp differs from modern full-speed virtualization programs like Parallels in that it provides an environment for dual-boot computing; resources are dedicated exclusively to the running operating system, not shared between a host and a guest OS.

In Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), Boot Camp was an optional download. In OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Boot Camp is included with the OS. Since the release of Leopard, Apple has stopped offering Boot Camp as a download for Tiger. You can get Boot Camp only by upgrading to Leopard.

Using Boot Camp is a three-step process:

1. Use the Boot Camp Assistant to prepare your Mac for a Windows installation;

2. Install Windows

3. Install Boot Camp drivers in the new Windows installation.

Backup First of Course

Since Boot Camp changes the configuration of your hard drive, be sure to back up all your important data before using Boot Camp to install Windows. When you’re ready to use Boot Camp, you can launch the Boot Camp Assistant from the Applications/Utilities folder.

The Boot Camp Assistant will assist in preparing your Mac for a Windows installation. Its primary purpose is to create a hard disk partition for Windows to use. A partition is a chunk of hard disk space an operating system can use for its files. The Boot Camp Assistant will ask you how much space you want to give to Windows. While you have to allow at least 5GB for a Windows partition, Boot Camp’s suggestion of 32GB is a good amount; it is the partition size limit for FAT filesystems. You can also select to divide your disk equally between OS X and Windows or enter a custom size for your Windows partition, but you cannot elect to give more space to Windows than you have free on the disk. If you have more than one disk, you can select it and use it in its entirety; you cannot eliminate your OS X partition from your startup disk using Boot Camp.

Partitioning is Done Automatically

Boot Camp will partition your hard disk as directed, and most of the time it will do so seamlessly and without destroying any of your data, but if something does go wrong, you’ll be glad you made a backup before you started.

This Good Assistant Does it all for you

After Boot Camp creates a partition for Windows, it is ready to do the installation for you. The Boot Camp Assistant will instruct you to insert your Windows XP or Vista disc. It has to be a 32-bit full-install disc, not an upgrade disk. For Windows XP, it must be a SP2 disc. No earlier editions of Windows are supported, though both Home and Professional versions of Windows XP are supported, as are the Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista.

After you’ve inserted your Windows disc, press the “Start Installation” button in the Boot Camp Assistant to proceed. Your computer will restart and the Windows installation will begin. One of the first questions posed by the Windows installer is which disk partition to use for Windows. Boot Camp helpfully labels the partition as “<BOOTCAMP>” so be sure to select this one; do not attempt to create or delete any partitions during this phase. Once you select the partition, you must select the filesystem to use. If you use the FAT filesystem you will be able to read and write files from the Windows volume while in OS X, but if you select NTFS you will not be able to save files from OS X. If sharing data between OS X and Windows is important, select FAT. Otherwise, select NTFS for better security and performance.

From this point, Windows installation proceeds as it would on any other computer. When it is complete, you need to install the special hardware drivers for your Mac hardware, including Bluetooth, networking, audio, the iSight camera, etc. In previous versions of Boot Camp, you had to burn a Windows drivers CD during the Boot Camp Assistant phase of the installation, but in Leopard the Windows drivers are included on the Leopard install disc, so if you insert this disc while running Windows the Boot Camp drivers installation should start immediately; otherwise you can double-click the setup.exe on the optical drive (usually D:) to start the installation. The driver installation proceeds like most Windows installations do: automated with a reboot at the end.

That’s it

Windows is now running at full speed on your Mac, courtesy of Apple’s Boot Camp software.

You can choose to boot either OS X or Windows when you restart your Mac, and you get the best of both worlds.

You’ve spent lots of money downloading legal copies of your favorite songs. You’ve also invested plenty of time ripping your CDs to your computer’s hard drive. The thought of losing all those songs - those many, many gigabytes of music - is unbearable. If you had to start over, you would have countless hours of work ahead of you all over again.

The good news, though, is that you can create secure backups of your digital music collection before any horrible things happen to your hard drive. Just a little effort and a small monetary investment can preserve your massive collection of files for years to come.

The Dual-Drive Method

This one is simple: store your music files on two hard drives. If you don’t have dual hard drives in your computer, you can buy an external hard drive for 100 bucks or less. The advantage of the external hard drive is that, if you use it just for backup purposes, you can disconnect it from your computer and store it in a safe place. That way, if there’s a fire or flood, all of your precious data will be safe.

The Flash Drive Method

For smaller music collections, a few USB flash drives can back up all of the important files. Flash drives are good solutions because they’re very small. You can easily store them in even the tiniest data safes.

The CD-R Method

If you burn your music collection as a data CD (not as an MP3 CD or audio CD) you can get more music on each burned disc. Several CD-Rs should be sufficient to hold most, if not all, of your music.

The DVD-R Method

This is identical to the CD-R method except that you use your DVD burner and blank DVDs.

When you’re going to burn backup files to a disc, check your computer’s media player. There might be an option within the software that allows you to quickly and easily burn the data discs. You might find an option that will allow you to easily burn only newly added music, which is a great way to save time and space.

The MP3 Player Method

Send your entire music collection to your super-sized MP3 player and you’re finished! The added benefit of this method is that you have all of your music with you no matter where you go.

The Off-Site Storage Method

If you’re fortunate enough to have access to a computer network with enough hard drive space to accommodate your digital collection, you can store backups of the files on the shared hard drive. This is a very fast way to backup your music. The other big advantage is that you don’t have to work very hard to retrieve the backup copies if something goes wrong on your hard drive.

These are the most popular backup methods. One of them is sure to work for you. Be sure to back up your music collection on a regular basis so that you won’t have much, if any, to replace if you experience a computer problem.

You can also search the Internet for third-party software to make your media backup chore a little easier and neater. With the right program, you can avoid backing up duplicate copies of files; automatically schedule backup of new files and more.

While every computer user understands the importance of keeping his or her PC secure, many people are simply unsure about the best ways to keep the bad guys out of their systems.

Fortunately there are some simple steps computer users can take to keep their PCs safe from harm.  If you want to stay safe while online you should:

• 1) Always make sure your virus scanning software is up and running, and up to date. Be sure to check the system tray icon to make sure that your virus scanner is running. It is also a good idea to review your virus scanning logs at least once per week.
• 2) Install anti-spyware and anti-adware software and keep it up to date. Spyware and adware can be used to track your movements on the internet and even install malicious programs on your PC.
• 3) Never click on links in emails from unknown sources. If you receive a suspect email just delete it. Even if the email appears to be legitimate it is a good idea to avoid clicking any links. Instead type the web address directly into your browser.
• 4) Do not download programs from suspect sources. These programs can have embedded code that can damage your PC or even record all your keystrokes to steal your passwords.
• 5) Make your passwords complicated and difficult to guess. Do not use the names of your children, your pets or other easily obtainable information. And try to use a combination of capital letters, lower case letters and special characters in your passwords. This will help foil many password guessing programs.

Getting some registry repair software is a great idea if you need to speed up your machine. You want to get a program that is easy to use, offers good customer support, has error reporting, and offers a registry optimizer and deep scanning. 

A highly rated choice is RegCure. Downloading and running a registry cleaner like this should speed up a sluggish machine.

Defrag the Computer

Another thing to try once you’ve run your registry program is to defrag your hard drive. Over time and use, the files on your computer get scattered in pieces throughout your machine. Defragging your machine will put the data back in order which makes them easier to find and should help speed up your machine. To defrag your computer:

1. Click on Start, then Programs and Accessories.
2. Click on System Tools and then Disk Defragmenter. You will be asked to click on the drive that you want to defrag. The computer will show a progress bar as it defrags your drive - this may take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour so make sure you give yourself time.

PCtools has a great product suite that includes disk defrag, check out the PCtools Disk Suite here.

Uninstall Unused Programs

Keeping programs on your computer can take up space and make your computer run more slowly. You need to actually uninstall the programs rather than simply delete them in order to get them completely off your machine. Follow these steps to delete programs properly:

1. Go to Start and then click on Control Panel.
2. Select Add or Remove Programs.
3. You will see a list of programs that are installed. Click on one you want to uninstall and click Remove (or Change/Remove).
4. You will then see instructions and confirmation about uninstalling that program.

If uninstalls hang or for some unknown reason aren’t able to complete an uninstall- then try this uninstaller with its forced uninstall feature.

Antivirus Programs

Viruses, Trojans and spyware can slow down your computer. Make sure that you are running programs to protect your computer and are downloading updates regularly. Keep your system as clean as you can to avoid problems and optimize performance. Heres a good antivirus and check out our 2009 review of 20 antivirus programs here

Running a good registry cleaner as well as taking some basic steps to keep your files in order and unwanted programs off of your machine should make it run much faster.

The hal.dll is an error with the technology and drivers that let the Windows operating system communicate with the notebook’s hardware. Hal stands for hardware abstraction layer, and this error usually occurs when you are upgrading Windows or you install Windows XP on a hard disk that doesn’t have an operating system on it.

The general solution to this dll error is to uninstall Windows XP and then reinstall it from the disk. But wait, that’s where you have your problem - there is no restore disk with your Aspire notebook. If you’d had this notebook for awhile, I’d tell you to try to get another install disk, either by borrowing one from somebody or buying a third party install disk from a site such as Bootdisk. The fact that this is a new notebook changes things a little bit.

It’s possible that you have an inherent problem with this notebook that you need to address before the warranty runs out. Hal.dll errors are usually easily fixed, but they can indicate an improper installation of the operating system or a problem with the partitions. If you are still under warranty, I would contact Acer and demand that they either fix the issues or replace the laptop. They will sell you a recovery disk from their website here. Click on the link for eRecovery CD Purchase and they will ask for the serial number for your machine. At the very least, they should send you a free copy of the recovery disk.

The last thing you want to do is start your relationship with your notebook on a sour note. You can get an install disk and reinstall Windows Xp, but if it were me and I’d just purchased this notebook, I’d get Acer to fix it rather than do it myself.