I tried to delete these files both manually and with the help of anti-virus software (AVG 7.0, Norton 2005 and McAfee), but they weren’t able to clean the virus. They report a memory virus named “NewWin32 – Memory Virus.” I know it’s a virus, but what do I do?
Smita Verma
Your computer is infected by W32.Mytob.EF@mm, which is a mass-mailing worm that uses its own SMTP engine to send an e-mail to addresses it gathers from the compromised computer. To completely disable and remove this virus, you need to do the following:
1. Disable System Restore (Windows Me/XP). To do this, open the Control Panel and double-click the System icon. Then click the System Restore tab and check the box next to “Turn off System Restore on all drives”. Click OK.
2. Remove all the entries that the worm added to the ‘hosts’ file. To do this, open Notepad. Go to File > Open, type in “%Windir%System32 driversetchosts”, and hit [Enter]. In the file that comes up, remove all the entries blocking access to security-related Web sites such as 127.0.0.1 www.symantec.com, 127.0.0.1 www.mcafee.com, etc. For the complete list, refer to www.sarc.com/avcenter/ venc/data/w32.mytob.ef@mm.html.
3. Update your virus definitions either by downloading the latest virus definitions file from the anti-virus Web site or by using the update feature in your anti-virus program.
4. Run a full system scan and delete all the files detected.
5. Delete any values added to the registry: launch the Registry Editor. Navigate to the following keys and in each case, delete the value “WINTASK” = “taskfile.exe” in the right pane:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE MicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE MicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion RunServices
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWARE MicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftware MicrosoftOLE
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSYSTEM CurrentControlSetControlLsa
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftware MicrosoftOLE
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM CurrentControlSetControl
Exit the registry editor.
If you are unable to launch the Registry Editor, go to http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/tool.to.reset.shellopencommand.registry.keys.html, download the file UnHookExec.inf, right-click on it and click “Install”, after which you will be able to launch the Registry Editor and continue with the removal process.
Visually Impaired
Q. I have an AMD Athlon XP 2200 , 256 MB of RAM, and a GeForce FX 5700LE AGP card with Windows XP installed. My system used to run smoothly until one fine day the monitor went off though the system was still on. I unplugged the AGP card and started the system on the onboard display (Integrated UniChrome graphics). The system booted properly. On re-plugging the AGP card in, the system display had big coloured blocks here and there. Windows loaded and the system went blank.
When I tried to run games such as Colin McRae 2.0, COD, and CZ Counter Strike (on the onboard AGP), after running for some time, the system would lock up. The display would stay and the system would remain on, but there would be no response. What could be the problem?
Arjun Raj
The only possible problem here is that your display card has gone kaput. That’s the reason for the garbled display in DOS and no display in Windows. You’ll need to replace your display card.
The UniChrome graphics is not good enough to support the games you’ve mentioned, so the system locks up after some time. You could try updating the display drivers, but don’t expect too much-this graphics chip is not powerful enough for good 3D gaming.
Getting It All Back
Q. My 120 GB hard drive recently crashed. My PC has another, 20 GB hard drive. Is there any software that can help me recover the data on the old drive?
Saurabh Sindhav
There are many software that can help you recover data from crashed hard drives. Some of these are EasyRecovery Professional from www.ontrack.com, Stellar Phoenix FAT & NTFS from www.stellarinfo .com, Recover My Files from www.recovermyfiles.com, and R-Studio Products from www.r-tt.com to name a few.
Before starting the data recovery process, make sure the drive on which you intend to dump the recovered data is larger than the one from which you are recovering data!
You have a setting enabled in the BIOS which you don’t want. Switch off “Wake on Modem” and “Wake on LAN”, both of which you’ll find under the Power Management section of the BIOS.
If your PC shows such behaviour in Sleep/Standby mode, click on Start > Run, type “devmgmt.msc” and hit [Enter]. Right-click on the installed modem and click Properties. Click the Power Management tab and uncheck the box next to “Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby”, and click OK.
Memory Muddles
Q. I want to buy the best RAM for my server/graphics workstation. I have to choose between DDR2 667 and DDR PC 3200. Which is superior and how? Is any other kind of RAM superior?
Satyajit Patnaik
DDR2 667 MHz is definitely better than DDR PC 3200 from an upgradeability point of view. The frequency of the RAM can be calculated by dividing the value after the “PC” by 8. Thus PC 3200 is 400 MHz, and has a slower clock speed than the 667 MHz DDR2.
But there are other factors that need to be considered. DDR2 memory, which operates at a higher frequency, also has higher latency than DDR, so the performance gain over DDR is not as great as you might expect taking the price into consideration.
In any case, before you buy any RAM at all, you must check whether your motherboard supports it. At present, DDR2 667 MHz memory is a better choice for you, but these are not readily available in the Indian market, whereas 533 MHz DDR2 is easily available.
Questions Galore
Q. I have a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, an Intel 915GV motherboard, 512 MB of DDR2 400 MHz RAM, and NEC ND-3530A and LG GSA-4163B DVD-Writers. I have 12x CD-RW media, to which I am able to write at only 10x using either drive. Why? Both the drives support writing to CD-RWs at much higher speeds.
Also, is it possible to add 533 MHz DDR2 RAM to my PC? What is the maximum hard drive capacity and the “highest” processor my motherboard supports?
S Sudhakar
That’s a lot of questions! Well, the speed at which a CD/DVD-Writer writes to a CD-RW depends not only on the media and the drive, but also on the table of media types that is built into the firmware of the writer. The drive tries to recognise the blank media inserted, and matches it with the list in its table to decide the speed. It also reads the speed certified by the media manufacturer, and if these don’t match, the writer decides to use a safer, lower speed.
Another reason could be that the writer does not support the intermediate speed of 12x-for example, it may support 10x, with the next supported speed being 16x.
Your motherboard supports IDE as well as SATA hard drives of the highest capacities available. You cannot add more RAM running at a different frequency, but you can certainly replace your present RAM with 533 MHz DDR2. It supports any Intel processor with the LGA775 socket interface barring dual-core processors.
Clean That Jukebox
Q. I have a 20 GB MP3 player called a “Jukebox.” It has a problem: when I switch on the Jukebox, I get this error: “Hard disk error. No valid FAT 16/32 found. Please format the hard disk.” I tried to format it, but when the format was about to complete, a message popped up: “Windows was unable to complete the format.”
Mandeep Singh Vaseer
Download the format utility for your MP3 player from the manufacturer’s Web site. This will let you format the hard drive.
Leave My Office Alone
Q. I have Microsoft Office 2003 installed on my Windows XP PC. I also have Norton Antivirus 2004 installed. The problem is that whenever I try to open any Office file, it pauses to scan the file using the anti-virus program, and then proceeds to open the file. I am only using Office files that I created, so there’s no need for a virus scan. The virus scan takes place even when I disable the anti-virus in the system tray. Is there a way to disable the scan?
Anuj Malhotra
To disable the virus scan on opening any Office document, launch Norton AntiVirus. Click on Options. On the left-hand side at the bottom, you will see a section called “Miscellaneous” under “Other.” Click it. Now on the right-hand side, uncheck the box against “Enable Office Plug-in,” and click OK. Office documents will no longer be scanned for viruses when they’re opened.
The problem you’re experiencing seems to be due to the display driver not properly supporting the power management features of Windows XP. A possible solution is to download an updated driver for your display adapter from the manufacturer’s Web site.
Cards That Crawl
Q. My system configuration is a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 384 MB of RAM, and a GeForce FX 5200 128 MB card. The problem is that most of my games run slowly, and even my 3DMark05 score is very low. I’ve installed the latest drivers for my graphics card but in vain.
Naju R
The nVidia GeForce FX 5200 is a low-end graphics card, and you should not expect it to perform as a high-end card. You might be able to play most games on this card at the lowest settings. Don’t be fooled by the 128 MB that comes with the card-it simply does not have the bandwidth and power to make full use of that much memory.
| Windows Is CONning Me Q. Why can’t I create a folder named “CON” or “PRN” in Windows XP? Preetham Shenoy Interesting question! You aren’t allowed to create folders with names that are the same as the ones that have been used for various devices on a PC since the DOS era. “CON” refers to “console” in DOS. Similarly, “PRN” refers to “printer,” as also “LPT1,” “LPT2,” etc., and “COM1,” “COM2,” etc. refer to the communication ports. There happens to be a workaround for this. To create a folder called “con” in the C: drive, open a command prompt. Type in the following commands: mkdir .c:con (This will create a folder named “con”) dir C:con (This will list the contents of the directory, so you know the directory was indeed created!) You may also be able to view the folder using Windows Explorer, but you will not be able to enter or delete it. In order to delete the folder, type in “rmdir .c:con” at the command prompt. |
Upgrade Or Else
Q. I have an Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz, 256 MB of RAM, and an nVidia GeForce4 MX 440 32 MB graphics card. Dungeon Siege Demo II, King Kong Demo, and X-Men Legend 2 Demo don’t run on my PC.
I get a message: “Sync out of range.” I’ve tried almost all possible methods to improve the performance of PC: I’ve altered the graphics card settings, the size of the page file, etc.
The problem seems to be with the graphics card: when I try King Kong Demo, the system gives a message: “Out of video memory, try to run at a lower resolution.”
Jitendra Barate
The “Sync out of range” message means that the game, when loaded, forces the screen refresh rate to a value not supported by your monitor.
You will either need to set the refresh rate in the game, or you will have to use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to force the game to use a refresh rate supported by your monitor.
To do this, click on Start > Run, type “DXDiag” and hit [Enter]. Click the “More Help” tab, click the “Override” button, click “Override value”, and enter a refresh rate such as 60 Hz, which should be comfortable for any monitor. Click OK. You could experiment by gradually increasing this value.
The games you’ve mentioned are the latest games, and require a system with a higher configuration than yours in order to run without any issues.
That’s not to say they won’t run on your system, but that you will have to reduce the graphics details in-game. Download and install the latest display drivers from www.nvidia.com.
If you really want to enjoy the game and turn up the details, you’ll need to upgrade your graphics card!