Common PC Problems & Solutions Guide

Common PC Problems & Solutions Guide

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1.How to Fix Dr.Watson Postmortem Debugger has encountered a Problem and needs to Close
If you are using Internet Explorer, Outlook or any Application, you can get Dr .Watson Postmortem Debugger error. You can also observe drwtsn32.exe process running in the task manager.Dr.Watson crashes when other applications crashed. Whats Dr.Watson? Is this a Virus? Dr.Watson for Windows is a debugger that will be useful to debug and creates log files when a error occurs with in a program. Technical support people will analyze these log files and fix the errors. It is not a virus or a malware program.Dr.Watson creates log files at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson.

It actually crashes some times frequently and gives the error as given below. Dr.Watson Postmortem Debugger has encountered a problems and needs to close Why Dr.Watson crashes and give error? Unfortunately, when you are browsing through Internet Explorer or working with any other program if that program crashes, then Dr.Watson program it self crashes and gives that error. Does I really need this Dr.Watson program? No not really in fact Windows Error Reporting service also do the same as Dr.Watson, as you know you can send error reports to Microsoft through Windows Error Reporting also. Whats the Fix? Fix to this problem is disabling Dr.Watson as we have alternative Windows Error Reporting available, we dont require Dr.Watson.

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Disabling Dr.Watson 1.Click Start>Run>type Regedit and click ok. 2.Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version 3.Select AeDebug in the right pane ,double click it and enter value 0.

4.Close registry editor, restart your computer. You wont get this error again in future. If you have problem with access to registry, download the registry file released by Microsoft, run that registry file.

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2.7 Ways to Fix Registry editing has been disabled by Your administrator
Whenever your Computer is infected with Virus ,Registry Editor is the one which is going to be disabled. I already posted an article on how to access to disabled registry editor.But I am not satisfied as if the threat level of Virus is high, these two methods will not suffice to fix access to registry problem. So here I am giving all possible ways you can get access to registry editor including two methods mentioned in that post. 1.Access Registry editor with Symantecs Tool: When your computer is infected with virus ,these viruses makes changes in shell/command/open keys in registry such a way that Whenever you try to open registry editor these viruses will run .Hence they prevent access to registry by showing registry editor has been disabled by your administrator. Fix:download UnHookexec.inf developed by Symantec and install . 2.Access Registry Editor with VB script file:Download VB script file from doug Knox Website who is Microsofts MVP and run it .If you get any warning click ok to continue.After VB Script file enables registry editor ,restart your computer and access registry. 3.Access Registry With Registry Fix Tool: Download Registry Fix Tool ,run it click Fix Registry to get access to registry.

4.Access Registry with RRT:Download RRT and run it select RRT personal edition and fix registry editor problem. 5.Access Registry with Disk heal:Download Disk Heal and in Fix tab click Fix opposite to Registry Editor Inaccessibility . 6.Access Registry with Group Policy Editor: Start>Run>type gpedit.msc

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Select User Configuration >Administrative Templates>System in the right pane select Prevent access to registry editing Tools and set it to Not configured or Disabled.

7.Access registry with renaming regedit file :Since Virus are not human beings they predict that registry editor file is regedit.exe ,so renaming regedit.exe to edit_reg .exe and see you can access the registry ,this may not work but worth a try :).

3.7 Ways to Fix Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator
When your Computer is infected with Trojans and viruses, they modify the registry in such a way that when you try to access or open Task Manger ,you get a warning Task Manger has been disabled by your administrator . There could be case where administrator of your office has set restrictions to access Task Manger ,but there are most of cases where viruses disables access to the Task Manager. 1.Enable Task Manger Through Registry:We can modify registry entry related to Task Manager and by that way we can enable Task Manager ,for that we should have access to registry ,if your registry editing has been disabled ,see this article to enable access to regsitry editor . Click Start>Run>type regedit Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System In the right pane select DisableTaskMgr ,double click it and set its value to 0

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Restart your computer

2. Enable Task Manager through Run command: Click Start>Run and Paste the following as it is and press Enter REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d /0 /f 3.Enable Task Manager through VB Script file :Just download the VB script file from Paulxp and run it even you get any warning proceed. 4.Enable Task Manager with Task Manager Fix:download Task Manager Fix , run it and click Fix Task Manager to enable Task Manger.

5.Create a Registry file to enable Task Manager:Just copy the following lines as it is and paste them in Notepad save it as enable _taskmgr.reg and run that file. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\currentVersion\Policies\Syste m] DisableTaskMgr =dword:00000000 6.Enable Task Manager Through Group Policy: Click Start>Run and type gpedit.msc Navigate to User Configuration>Administrative Templates\System\Ctrl+Alt+Del Options in the Right pane select Remove Task Manager ,double click it and set i to Not Configured or Disabled.

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7.Enable Task Manager with Disk Heal:Download Disk Heal and run it .select Fix tab in Disk heal and in opposite to Fix Task Manager Accessibility click Fix.

4.How to Fix This Copy of Windows is not Genuine

On one day a window will appear in Windows XP you may be victim of software Counterfeiting ,This copy of Windows not passed the Genuine Validation.It will be irritating to users to see this type of warning ,lot of users are familiar to this. Why this Warning showing in my Computer? Well you are using Pirated version of Windows XP and you updated the Windows through Internet connection as Windows run Windows Validation process to download their updates to your computer and your windows not passed the windows Validation test ,hence you are getting this warning in your computer.

I have not tried to updated my Windows ,how it will Auto update? You need not to do update manually Windows, default when windows installed in your computer automatic updates are turned on in security center.

So What I have to do now to get this warning Out?

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So if you planned to buy Windows in future, for temporarily the fix download WGA removal tool and run it ,you wont get this type of warning again ,mind you this wont make your windows Genuine it prevents this warning from appearing in your computer. Well I am planning to Buy Windows, till then how can I not update my computer from not getting this warning? When you next time installed windows, turn off automatic updates so that Windows does not connect to internet and update and Runs windows Validation, resulting The warning showed above.

5.How to Fix Folder Options missing

When your system is infected with virus,first one to be get effected is Folder options,this folder options entry will not appear in Windows Explorer from Tools menu to see hidden files and folders. The other main system programs to get effected are registry editor and task manager. 1. So if you are not able to access Folder options ,we have to use registry editor to fix this problem ,so if you can not access registry editor follow the procedure here to get access to the registry editor. 2. Open registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer and look for the registry entry NoFolderOptions in the right pane and delete it. Similarly navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer and look for NoFolderOption entry in the right pane and delete it. 3. Restart Your computer, now you can see Folder options in Tools menu in Windows Explorer Are there any Tools available that enable access to Folder options? There are so many tools available ,enabling these folder options,registry editor and Task manager using these tools may depends on the threat level of virus in your computer ,you can use Disk Heal to access to Folder options.

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6.How to Fix Unable to Open C Drive or USB Drive from My Computer

The main problem any one going to face when computer is infected by virus is unable to open drives with double click ,when you double click one of your hard drives or USB drive you will get open with message to select program to open the file. The drive may open by right clicking and selecting open, but the drive will not open when you double click it which gives open with warning. Why am I getting this open with message? You are getting this message because antivirus in your computer has deleted the virus ,but the auto run entry for that virus had been left behind,which giving the open with message. How do I fix this Open with error? Though we can manually solve this, I suggest you to consider automatic fix with a Tool called Disk Heal ,this tool will help many ways to solve the problems arises due to viruses. 1.Download the Disk heal and run it. 2.Select the Fix tab in Disk Heal and Enter the drive letter which you are facing difficulties to open. and click Fix .

3.Restart your computer after Disk Heal asks you to do so ,thats it after restart you can open hard drives or USB drive normally.You have to repeat this procedure for every drive as problem you face.

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7.Pri Master Hard Disk :S.M.A.R.T Status BAD,Backup and Replace

It is very easy to predict out one computer item going to fail that is no doubt your Hard disk.The one that reminds you about this is S.M.A.R.T(Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) technology that is included in the hard drive by their manufacturers. So when you start your computer,all of a sudden you see a message Pri Master Hard Disk :S.M.A.R.T Status is bad Backup and Replace press F1 to resume.If you got this warning your hard disk is going to fail sooner or later .Its time to backup your important data from your hard drive and replace with a new one. Hard drives manufacturers are including S.M.A.R.T technology in their hard drives which predicts upcoming failures of hard drive. What I have to do now? Backup all your data and buy a new hard drive.If your hard drive has warranty ask your computer shop owner to give new one. How can I confirm that my hard disk is going to fail are there any hard drive diagnostic programs available ? There are plenty of hard drive diagnostic programs available from hard drive manufacturers,there are free and paid third party hard drive diagnostic programs also available .They will tell you whether your hard drive is reliable or not .

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8.An exception Occured While trying to runshell32,dll Control_ RunDll Hotplug.dll

When I try to remove pen drive by click safely remove hardware icon and I got the above error.Let us see how to fix this error.This happens to be on the system that have installed backup softwares like Acronis ,Norton Ghost and Acronis that came with Seagate disk wizard . Solution: The solution is just follow the steps below as I mentioned exactly and your problem will be solved. 1. Click start menu and settings and go to control panel and double click system icon .you can also do this by right click on My computer and click properties. 2. Double click Device Manager and click View menu and click Show hidden devices.

3.Now expand storage volumes by double clicking on storage volumes or just click + sign to expand.

4.Now you will find Generic volumes and now right click the generic volume that having letter here Generic VolumeG and click update driver and let it connect to Internet and restart your computer after update finishes.

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5.Do this procedure as it is for all Generic volumes as updating . 6.Do restart your PC every time it asks . 7.Now do the test by plugging your USB device and click safely remove hardware icon and click stop and remove the USB device you wont get this error again.

Note:Please make system restore point before doing all these if anything goes wrong we can go back to original state of windows.

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9.How to Fix Quick Launch bar missing during Startup

When you start your computer you observe that Quick Launch bar missing in the taskbar,What you do is right click on the taskbar select quick Launch bar and access all your favorite programs quickly from it. If you observe that quick launch bar does not appears in the taskbar when ever you start your Computer,do you have to do the same thing every time to access Quick launch bar ,is there a Fix for this? Where is actually Quick launch bar located ? Quick Launch bar is located in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch. Whats need of Quick Launch bar? Whenever we installed a program a shortcut to that program is added to Quick Launch bar ,so that we can access those programs quickly from the Quick launch bar . Have you find the Quick launch bar in above said path ,still Quick launch bar disappears during startup.Follow the below Fix. Whats the Fix? 1.Start>Run >CMD>and type cd\ 2.Type sfc /scannow and press Enter 3.Enter your Windows XP CD service Pack2 CD so that Windows verifies all files are with original versions if any files changed windows replaces them with their original version.

4.Thats it your Quick launch bar appears in taskbar and not disappear again during startup of your computer. If you not find the Quick launch in the above said path?

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Create a folder with name Quick launch and drag shortcuts of your desired programs to appear on the Quick Launch bar to the Quick Launch folder and close that folder . Now right click on the taskbar >toolbars>check Quick Launch bar voila ! there appears your quick launch bar . If you observe Quick launch bar missing during startup follow the above fix.

10.How to FixMy Computer Icon Corrupted or Showing blank

This can happen to any one while one of your friends may changed your computer Icon intentionally ,or the My computer icon corrupted due to virus these are little things that gives long time to you fix. Reasons for My computer Icon to get Corrupted or to show blank icon 1.This can happen due to virus. 2.While you played with icons in the Desktop, this can happen. 3.Your friend wants to scare you by changing the My computer to blank Icon. 4.The My computer icon got corrupted. Fix. 1.Right click on the Desktop >select properties 2.Desktop>Customize Desktop>General 3.Select My Computer icon and click Change icon select original My Computer Icon , click ok or you can click Restore Default to make all desktop icons restore original icons.

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11.How to Fix The System has recovered from a serious error

When you are browsing the Web or doing some work in your Computer ,all of a sudden your computer gets restarted and the next time you turn on your computer you will get The system has recovered from a serious error warning on startup. The error also shows some dump files details when you click click here message .Windows error reporting tool may prompt you to send this report to Microsoft if error reporting is not disabled in your Computer.

Why this error is showing in my Computer? Whenever your computer stops responding ,small memory dump files are created containing details about error in a folder in Windows Directory called Minidump.These will be useful to analyze the problem. So whenever your computer stopped ,after you restart your computer there is flag set for Page file that will indicate that Memory dump file should be written. How to Fix this error? This problem can resolved by re-creating new page file. 1.Log into your Computer with administrative privileges and Right click on My Computer >Properties 2.Select Advanced > under Performance>click Settings and again select Advanced in the Performance options 3.(Before modifying the Virtual memory note down the Paging file size value of custom size you set ) then click Change in the virtual Memory . 4.Select No Page file> click Set >click OK and restart your computer choose to continue to proceed to restart when you get any warning.

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5.Now after restarting your computer, you can see the paging file size as 0 in Virtual Memory options.

6.Now open My computer >Tools>Folder Options>View>uncheck Hide protected Operating System files . 7.Now open Root drive that is C and you will find Pagefile.sys file, delete it permanently and restart your computer. 8.Now Under Virtual Memory set paging file size to Custom or System Managed Size.

12.How to Fix some files and folders names in my Drives are appearing with Blue Color
When you open your My Documents or any other folder in any drive in My Computer ,if you have those file and folder names appearing with blue color,then you dont need to be worry thinking that a virus is caused that to happen. Why some files and folders names in my Computer are appearing with blue color? This is default behavior of Windows to show compressed or encrypted files with blue color.This behavior is applied to all compressed and encrypted files and folders in your computer.By default Windows compresses the files and folders that are generally not in use. Generally you find names of service packs ,ie7 and ie8 folders with blue color in Windows directory . http://computersservicing.blogspot.com/ 16

Your friend or you unknowingly compressed your files to save disk space,thats why those names are appearing with blue color. Whats the Fix? 1.Right click the folder whose name appearing with blue color and select Properties >advanced and 2. Under Compressed or Encrypt attributes uncheck or clear compress contents to save disk space.click ok and apply to save the changes. 3.Now you can see My Documents with normal black color. Even we can make Windows not to show these compressed and encrypted files with blue color by

1.Open My Computer >Tools>Folder options>uncheck show encrypted or compressed files in color On ,apply and ok now even service packs in Windows folder will show in normal black color.

13.How to FixThe device Generic volume cannot be stopped right now

If you try to unplug your USB drive,you may have a chance of getting The device Generic volume cannot be stopped right now .Try stopping the device again later warning.This warning can be irritating. Why am I getting this waning or error? You are getting this error because the programs you open from your USB drive still running in background or Antivirus in your computer still monitoring your USB drive .

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What I have to do now to avoid this warning ? 1.Try to close all the programs you open from your USB drive and then try stopping your USB drive. 2.The best way to fix this warning is to use Unlocker . Right click in USB drive in My Computer and select Unlocker ,unlokcer can show you which files or programs still using the memory ,kill those processes and unplug your USB drive.

3. Another fix to this is shut down your Computer and remove your USB drive

14.How to Fix The Virus Vault has reached the maximum file count limit
If you are using AVG, when you are moving infected item to the virus vault you can get the Virus vault has reached maximum file count limit warning from AVGs resident shield. AVG is very effective against viruses. AVG detects latest viruses in real time through its resident shield. When AVG unable to remove the file, then it prompts user to move the file to Virus vault . User gets the virus vault warning message in doing so.

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Why this warning shown by The AVG resident shield? This warning caused by corrupted vvfolder.idx file in AVG vault folder which is hidden. Whats the Fix? Fix is to remove the AVG vault folder , follow the below steps 1.Since this folder is hidden to view it in Windows Explorer , open My computer >Tools>Folder options>view>show hidden files and folders . 2.Find $AVG8.Vault$ folder in all hard drives and delete it. Thats it, problem is solved you wont face this error from AVG in future.

15.How to Fix AVGs Update Error Invalid Update Control CTF File
When AVG unable to Update Virus definitions or When you try to Update AVG you may get Invalid Update Control CTF File resulting updates will not be installed in your computer. Why AVG showing Such error? AVG showing such error because Update control files of AVG in your computer may be corrupted, thats why you are getting this error.

Whats the Fix? We need to manually delete the files named avginfoavi.ctf and avginfowin.ctf files in the Directory location here http://computersservicing.blogspot.com/ 19

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\avg8\update\download

Once these files are deleted ,in next update AVG automatically downloads these control files and you will have no problems in future in updating AVG.

16.How to Fix USB Drive not Shown in My Computer

This can happen to you,as you plugged-in your USB drive to your computer and Windows detects the USB drive but it does not shows the drive icon for it in My Computer.The culprit here is Windows which is unable to allocate Drive letter for your USB drive. Why USB drive not shown in My Computer? Windows detected the USB drive ,but unable to allocate the drive letter for it ,this behavior can happen to new USB drives you just brought. Whats the fix? The Fix is we have to change the drive letter of USB Drive that is already shown in disk management service. 1.Click Start>Run>type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. 2. Select USB Drive >right click on it click Change Drive Letter and paths 3.Now a window comes up to add ,change and remove drive letters to the USB drive.

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4.Click change and from drive letters drop down menu select a letter that is not allocated to other drives in My Computer and click OK and click Yes to confirm to continue from the warning message 5.Now new drive letter is allocated to your USB Drive and will be shown in My Computer. 6.Now you can access the USB drive without any problems.

17.How to Fix VLC media player has encountered a problem and needs to close
When you try to open a video file in VLC media player you can get an error message saying that VLC media player has encountered a problem and needs to close .We are sorry for the inconvenience and the VLC player closes. If you uninstall and reinstall VLC player, still you can get this error.

Why am I getting this error when I try to open video file with VLC player? VLC media player is behaving like this because configuration file of it got corrupted. Whats the Fix? Cleaning the cache and configuration file of VLC media player does fix this problem as new configuration file will be created when you next play VLC media player. Where configuration file and cache of VLC player located? For Windows 2000/XP they are located here in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\vlc . 1.Just go to the above path and delete vlcrc file.

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2.Open cache folder and delete all the files . 3.Now open VLC player and play a video file it will play normally.

18.How to Fix Color Patches are appearing on the Screen

When you turn on Your Computer ,if you observe color patches on the screen that is due to magnetic fields around monitor like Speakers,Surge protectors developed the color distortion on the monitor display. Why Color Patches are appearing on the Screen ? You have to know that Earth is it self natural magnetic field and magnetic objects around monitor ,Speakers ,surged protectors can build magnetization in your monitor which causes color distortion . what type of Monitors affect due to Magnetic Fields? Only CRT monitors get magnetized, latest LCD, Plasma monitors dont get magnetized because they dont have CRT in them.. Whats the Fix? There is degauss button available on the main screen which looks like Horseshoe, select it once will clear the color patches on the Screen. The latest CRT monitors have inbuilt Degauss. when ever you power on your Monitor it will automatically degausses. Make sure speakers, magnetic objects should be away from Monitor.

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19.How to Fix RUNDLL- Error in InetCpl.cpl Missing entry:ClearMyTracksByProcess

While running CCleaner you can get an RUNDLL-Error in InetCpl.cplerror message ,this InetCpl.cpl error message can occur due to Inetcpl.cpl file got corrupted. The Complete error is given below RUNDLL Error in InetCpl.cpl Missing Entry :ClearMyTracksBY Process Why this InetCPl.cpl error occurs? This error can occur due to Inetcpl.cpl file got corrupted. Fix ? Since Inetcpl.cpl file got corrupted, this file belongs to Explorer, Uninstall and reinstalls Internet Explorer that will fix the problem. And you wont get any error while running CCleaner again. If you got any error like Inetcpl.cpl from accessing Internet Explorer, just reinstall the Internet Explorer that will fix the problem

20.How to Fix CCleaner.exe Corrupt File error

While you are running ccleaner you can get CCleaner.exe -corrupt file in the notification area error. .

Here is the total text of the error CCleaner .exe -Corrupt File The file or directory \Documents and Setting\username \Local Setting\Temporary Internet File\Content.IE5\VITR 0FUB \audreyelson_ trail[1].flv is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility. Reason:You will get this due to corruption of files.

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Solution: 1. Open My computer and right click the operating system partition here C drive and right click on it and select Tools and in Error-checking tab click Check Now. and select Automatically fix file system errors., click start to begin the error checking. 2. Since its the main booting partition it requires reboot for exclusive scan of files and click yes to schedule to reboot and restart your computer . 3. Chkdsk will run automatically giving the message it is recommended to continue and you can stop it by clicking a key ,let it continue chkdsk scans files in 3 stages in stage1 it scans files ,in stage2 it scan indexing entries and in final stage 3 it scans security descriptors and fixes any errors are there. 4. After chkdsk scan your system will loads windows and check to run ccleaner you wont get CCleaner .exe-corrupt file error again.

Generic Host Process Win32 error

Generic Host Process Win32 error Once in a morning at a time you wake up and started your computer and getting this error ""Generic Host Process for Win 32 services encountered a problem and needed to close" causing windows to shutdown your computer. The solution is you have to download security update that fixes the problem you can download from

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894391

You have to download 32 bit version of windows xp package if you are using Windows XP. The changes to take effect you have to restart your computer

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