I’ve been trying to open .mov files in Windows Media Player, but it doesn’t seem to work. The error message states that WMP cannot play back the file. I am using Windows XP.
Ganmesh Kumar Setty
Files with the .mov extension can be handled by Apple’s QuickTime player for Windows. To download it, go to www. apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html. You can also get it from a Digit CD/DVD-we periodically distribute the latest version.
A Question Of Identity
I have a motherboard that displays as “P4M266-D”, the display adapter is an S3 Pro Savage DDR, and the motherboard chipset is VT8233A. It has one 4X AGP and five PCI slots. I can’t identify my sound card and motherboard information in detail, and I can’t find my motherboard and sound card drivers. I am therefore unable to do a fresh install of Windows XP.
Suman Thapa
Download the drivers for your motherboard from www.via.com.tw. If you need to know more about your motherboard and the components of your computer in general, you can download a utility called Everest Ultimate Edition from www.lavalys.com. This utility will also guide you to the driver updates page of each of the components of your PC.
Audio Cassette to CD
Is there any way of getting those old songs on cassettes onto CD? Can Windows XP MCE be used with any TV-Tuner card?
Akshay
Songs recorded on audio cassettes can be transferred to CDs. This requires you to connect the line-out of the audio cassette player (or the headphone jack if there is no line-out) to the line-in of your PC’s sound card. You can then use software such as Sony Sound Forge to record the songs to your PC in various formats such as MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, and more.
Windows XP Media Center Edition can only be used with the TV-Tuners that it supports. Such TV-Tuners have certain features such as hardware MPEG encoders, which are not very common on regular TV-Tuners. You can view a list of supported TV-Tuners from http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/Results.aspx?collID=98.
Go Away!
I have a Pentium 4 system, running Windows XP. I installed Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, but I now want to uninstall it. It doesn’t uninstall successfully: the message which appears is, “Setup is unable to open the data file C:program filesmicrosoft visual studio commonsetup1033Setup.stf; run setup again from where you originally ran it.”
Jayesh Gawandi
You will need to insert the original Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 CD in your CD drive to uninstall the software.
I need to convert .PFB and .PFM files (font files) to the TTF format. How can this be done?
Ravi Joshi
The Adobe Type Manager Light Interface
You can easily convert .PFB and .PFM files to .TTF using Adobe Type Manager (ATM). You can download the Light version of ATM from http://www.adobe.com/products/atmlight/ download.html.
Too Hot To Handle
I have an AMD Athlon XP 1500 system with an ASUS motherboard and 512 MB of RAM. I have an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 graphics card. When I use my system, it gets very hot, and all processes slow down. Sometimes the monitor gets into standby mode, and after a few seconds a blue screen appears saying “dumping physical memory to disk,” and suggests that I upgrade the display driver. Is this a problem with the motherboard or graphics card? When I removed the graphics card, the problem disappeared, but the system hangs for a few seconds while playing audio or video.
Azhad K
It is likely that your system is getting overheated, and there are a few things you need to do. Open your cabinet and see if all the cooling fans (processor, cabinet ventilation, power supply, and graphics card-if it has one) are running. It is always a good idea to clean the fans and also the heat sinks of the CPU and the graphics card, which are prone to accumulating heaps of dust. Using a paintbrush to clean them should suffice. Remove the memory modules from the slots and brush the slots and contact areas. If you can, remove the heat sink from the CPU, clean it, and apply a fresh thin coat of heat sink compound to it before fixing it back. Cables in your PC cabinet being cluttered may be a hindrance to proper ventilation. Tie up the cables so that air flows freely. Don’t place the cabinet close to a wall, as this could block ventilation.
Defragmenting your hard drive(s) will most likely solve your problem with the audio and video. It is good practice to defragment your drive(s) once a fortnight. Also, just in case, install the latest drivers for your sound as well as video card.
Media Madness
In Windows Media Player, I often receive an error that states “Specified module not found.” It pops up whenever I try to play any type of media file, be it MP3 or AVI or DAT. I had WMP 9 and I installed WMP 10, but the problem persists. I have DirectX 9.0c installed.
Karthik K T G
You can first try downloading and installing VLC Media Player from www.videolan.org, or from the Digit CD. This player can play most types of audio and video files without even the need for installing codecs.
To get to the root of your problem with WMP, run the DirectX diagnostic tool by typing in “DXDIAG” at a command prompt. In the dialog that appears, select the Display tab; under the “Notes” header, you should see “No problems found”, otherwise do as suggested in the message there. If you see “No problems found”, you may need to downgrade WMP to a lower version such as 7. If the problem goes away, you can later update WMP to the latest version from the Digit CD/DVD. If this fails as well, you may need to repair your Windows XP installation (assuming you’re running XP) from the XP Recovery Console (Refer Digit September 2006). You will not lose any file settings and will not need to reinstall any applications.
You’re Locked Out!
I installed Folder Lock 5.0 to hide certain important files and folders. I’ve forgotten the password I had set. Is there any way to retrieve the files?
Amlan Mohapatra
Sorry, there is no way to access files protected by Folder Lock 5.0 other than by providing the original password!
Preview Pane Problems
I am using Windows XP Professional. When I open the Display Properties to change my desktop wallpaper and click on a JPG, GIF or HTM file in the list, I am not able to view the preview of my Desktop with the image as the wallpaper.
Rahil Ahmad
Type in the following commands at a command prompt:
REGSVR32 /i SHIMGVW.DLL
REGSVR32 /i MSHTML.DLL
Close and reopen the Display Properties dialog. If the problem persists, or if the Preview Pane turns white when you select a wallpaper, then run this command:
REGSVR32 /i SHELL32.DLL
You should be able to preview the wallpaper.
If a GSM mobile phone is stolen, is there any way to block it from being used?
Nilesh Bansal
The first thing you need to do if your phone is lost or has been stolen is to contact your mobile service provider and ask them to block your number. To block your phone from being used from any network at all, you must have its IMEI number. The IMEI number is a 15-digit serial number that is unique to each wireless instrument.
To find out your IMEI number on your GSM phone, key in * # 0 6 # and the IMEI number will appear on your screen. You can give this number to the service provider and also to the police station you have contacted. This will ensure that your mobile phone cannot be used, and that it can be tracked even if the SIM card has been changed.
At Sixes And Sevens
I have an original Nero Burning ROM 6 CD, which I got free with my writer. My problem is, I cannot update my Nero 6 original with the Nero 7 you gave out on your CD/DVD.
Dilip Wakil
You can only upgrade for free when there’s a minor version upgrade. To upgrade to a major new version, you need to purchase that version of Nero. You can upgrade to Nero 7 at a discount (you have Nero 6) from http:// www.nero.com/enu/Upgrade_InfoPage.php.
Reliance Unreliable?
I use RConnect (Reliance) for connecting to the Internet. I’ve started facing a strange problem. Whenever I try to connect, RConnect says “error720:PPP control protocol not configured.” What does this mean?
Akshit Gaur
The RAS (Remote Access Services) Server to which you are dialling does not have the TCP/IP protocol installed or configured for RAS. (Remote Access Services lets you connect your computer from a remote location). To resolve this issue, edit your phone book entry to use the same protocol the RAS Server is using: in Control Panel, double-click “Network Connections”. Right-click on the icon for your ISP’s connection and select Properties. Select the Networking tab, and ensure you have the “Type of dial-up server” set to “PPP: Windows 95/98/NT4/2000, Internet”. If you do not have this option, select the one starting with “PPP:”. Click OK at the bottom of the page and attempt the connection.
I run Windows XP Pro. My system has become very slow, and I suspect it’s infected by a virus. I am not able to open the Registry Editor to disable startup programs. I have found that in my user profile folder under Local SettingsApplication Data, a new folder called “Bron.tok-24” has been created. I know this is a virus, but how do I get rid of it?
Prakash Mallik
Your system has been infected by W32.Rontokbro@mm, which is a worm. It can be removed by following these steps:
Disable System Restore.
Update your virus definitions.
Run a full system scan and delete all the files detected as infected.
Download and run Symantec’s security response tool from http://securityresponse. symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/tool.to.reset.shellopencommand.registry.keys.html to reset the changes made by the worm to the Registry. This will allow you to launch the Registry Editor.
Now, open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun, and delete the “Bron-Spizaetus” = “C:WINDOWS PIFCVT.exe” value.
Next, go to Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks. Look for an offensive Task that has been created by the worm. To check, right-click a task icon and select properties. If the contents show something like “%UserProfile% TemplatesA.kotnorB.com”, delete it!
Vista Or MCE?
Can I view TV channels after installing Windows XP Media Center Edition without a TV-Tuner card? Can Windows Vista also do that? Which of these two OSes is better for 3D games and graphics?
Rana Deep
You’ll always need a TV-Tuner for watching TV on your PC. Vista will ship with DirectX 10 and will be a better OS than Media Center Edition for 3D games and graphics. Microsoft lists rather modest minimum PC hardware requirements for Vista, which is a “modern processor” running at 800 MHz, 512 MB of RAM, and a DirectX 9 compatible graphics solution.
Die-X?
Whenever I view a DivX movie in full screen mode, it skips or hangs. The processor usage is shown as 100% at this time. What could be the problem? I have an AMD Athlon XP 1800 , GeForce FX 5200, and 512 MB of RAM.
Sabir S R
Uninstall all the codecs you may have installed (including codec packs). Download and install the latest version of the DivX codec and player from www.divx.com. You should now have no problems running DivX movies.