Ray Shaw's  Questions  &  Answers  ---  Page 41 11-12-09: Question: I often have a problem of high latency while playing online games, especially on the 3G networks. I have been told about using programs such as Faster Ping and Smoother Ping. How do these work and are there any risks or complications? Answer: The problem is related to the 3G/NextG networks which suffer longer ping times than ADSL or cable. Faster Ping and similar programs don't really reduce the physical lag time - they alter the way packets are sent and received and this gives the appearance of faster ping times. Gamers do use them to some advantage but they are not for mission critical tasks and are reputed to slow download times. Question: Have taken your advice and ran CCleaner. It fixed 20 problems but to fix the remaining 800 it says I have to register Reg Cleaner and pay $30. Do you recommend this? Answer: CCleaner is free and you may have downloaded a ransomware product that looks like it but demands money to use it. Uninstall this product and install CCleaner free from www.ccleaner.com Question: I have Windows XP and Office 2003. I noticed emails I had sent were being filed in the Outbox rather than the Sent box. I was connected to the internet at the time. Now every time I create a new email my computer attempts to send all other messages in the Outbox as well. I have been deleting the contents of the Outbox after each email so friends do not get multiple copies. Is there a default setting I am missing? Answer: This can be caused by antivirus checking of the outgoing emails. Disable this (this is safe) in the AV options. Question: I have Office 2003 without Publisher and Office Professional 2000 with Publisher. Is there a way to import Publisher from the 2000 disc into my 2003 set-up? My present operating system is XP Pro. Answer: MS does not recommend mixing programs from different versions because keystrokes and other shared resources may not be compatible. There is an article on this at http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahos.html. You will have issues with Outlook and Clip Art so be careful.  Question: I use BigPond Mobile as my internet provider on an Acer Aspire laptop, using Windows Vista Basic. Often when I log on to the net I get a message stating that there is a conflict with the IP address and that another user has this IP number. If I see this in time, I log off, log back on and all seems good. If I have already started my email program, can this other user also get into my email lists? Answer: I suspect the message is from Big Pond as it allocates IP addresses as you log on. You could check that the network adaptor (Network and Sharing Centre, Connection, View Status, Properties, TCP Ipv4) and check that the IP and DNS settings are set to automatic. You should contact Big Pond help desk if this persists. I doubt that this would lead to a security issue. Question: We own a 2005 Packard Bell Easynote C3-246DW notebook and have been trying to replace the battery, which has reached the end of its life. We are unable to find a replacement unit (NEC Ni-MH with an output of 9.6V 4500mAh. Number PC-VP-WP59/OP-570-76702). Could you also advise us on the correct usage and maintenance of this type of battery to extend its life? Answer: A company called Battery Repackers can rebuild most notebook batteries for a reasonable price (less than a new one). Ni-MH batteries have about a 4 year life and can build up a memory effect (thinks its full but its not). It is best to use them fully before recharging to avoid this. Question: I wish to put my 35mm coloured slides onto a CD or DVD and view them on my PC or on the TV. With my previous Dell computer and printer I was able to scan them in groups of four straight on to my PC and view them accordingly.  But last year I updated my computer and printer and it is no longer possible to do that. Do I need any extra hardware or software to resolve the problem? Answer: It is a long process unless you have a scanner and software that accepts multiple slides. First it must have both a scanner and the top lid must have a backlight. Canon make a 5600F and CS8800F that will do 4 and 12 slides respectively. Other brands will have similar models. Question: You recently answered a question about not being able to get an English spellcheck for Outlook Expresss if you have Office 2007 installed. Your suggested solution did not work as it only provided an Australian dictionary for Word 2007. After paying  the $9.95 to download a program I find you need to pay extra to get answers as to why it doesn't work on Outlook Express. Any other suggestions? Answer: It should have worked. Please read http://www.tech-pro.net/howto_010.html which describes what to do if it does not. Question: I have been trying to upgrade from AVG 8.5 to 9.0. At the end of the installation process this message appears: "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\Windows:creating registry key. Access is denied." I also use Avast so I installed this and tried again with the same result. Any ideas? Answer: I have experienced this myself. The registry key is locked so it can't finish the installation. It is usually caused by old spyware and its not AVG or Avast's fault. There are some potential cures at http://forums.avg.com/cz-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=3161 . If you are using the paid version of AVG they provide free support www.avg.com.au. Worst case - a clean install of Windows will fix it (for all programs) and remove any left over damage caused by spyware. Question: I am confused by some internet service provider offerings on internet speed. Apparently the internet cable/telephone exchange has been upgraded in my area (Aspley). I've had sales people from two of the bigger ISPs (Optus and Telstra) come to my door offering me an internet service of up to 20Mb/s which is quite attractive. I am currently with another smaller ISP who provide me with ADSL2+ with a speed of 1500Kb/s (1.5Mb/s). Both the bigger ISPs claimed they alone could offer the quicker speeds, but my smaller ISP also said they could offer me faster access. Who can I believe? Answer: Speeds are limited by the ISP to whatever you pay for and the distance you are from the exchange. 20Mb/s (Megabits - not MegaBytes) is the maximum and you may get considerably less if the line is not up to it. If you are happy with your current ISP and want to retain your current email address talk to them about upgrading to a faster plan. You may need a new modem if yours does not support ADSL2+. PS: Avoid door to door internet sales people like the plague - they very often don't work for Optus or Telstra and will cause you major issues. Question: I have just installed a second-hand ASUS K8V SE motherboard but it is does not detect my two IDE hard drives. The error message is "BIOS not installed". The previous owner had installed an IDE hard drive that was working fine. I have also changed the CMOS settings for the Raid drive to the operating IDE settings but this has made no difference. Do I need to re-install the BIOS and, if so, what is the correct procedure? Answer: I would attempt to flash the BIOS with a newer version. In doing this it will update the motherboard to get over any known software glitches it may have. It is not hard to do but follow the instructions carefully. You get the BIOS and the BIOS flash tool from ASUS's web site - make sure you download the BIOS for your specific model of motherboard. You may also need a bootable floppy disk to load the BIOS - many updates do not work via Windows. Question: We recently had viruses removed from the computer and now we cannot play CDs or read camera chip in drive. Is there anything we can do to fix this? Answer: The virus may have damaged the registry causing these issues. It could take a professional many hours to find and fix. The usual cure is to do a clean install of Windows. Search for "Clean install of Windows and (what ever version you have)". Back up all valuable data first because the clean install formats the hard disk. Most PC stores will do it for you but the cost can be a few hundred dollars (and well worth it for a full clean install as this can take a few hours). Question: I have a Toshiba Notebook with 4GB RAM running Windows Vista. I have just started receiving a pop-up window message regarding PWDBANK.exe and abstract errors. It requires me to restart the computer each time. Can I get rid of it and why is it happening? Answer: Pwdbank.exe is an annoying little Toshiba feature that maps finger prints to passwords - biometrics. You could try downloading the program again from Toshiba and reinstalling it. Search for "pwdbank.exe Toshiba" and you will find a number of suggestions on how to fix it but I suspect its best to contact Toshiba support (even if it is out of warranty they should be able to offer advice as it's a well known issue). Question: I have a Microsoft Windows XP Pro. My system keeps telling me I don't have enough or any IBM_preload (C:) drive memory. I keep removing programs, cleaning the disk and defragging but shortly after the memory is freed up it comes back and tells me there is no more memory again. Can you help? Answer: This is an issue on IBM and some Lenovo PC's and notebooks when the hidden re-install partition is corrupted or removed. I am not sure of the cure so it would be best to contact the computer manufacturer's support to see if there is a cure.  There is more information if you search "IBM_preload (C:) drive memory" Question: When I click on a web link in email I get a message saying "Windows cannot find (website). Make sure you typed the name correctly then try again." This only recently started. I have tried resetting defaults but it is still doing it. Can you help? Answer: It means that the links embedded in the email will not work. There is more on this at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=177054. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to: HOME      Back to: Computers     Back to: Ray Shaw (40)     Forward to: Ray Shaw (42)