Our list of Frequently Asked Questions has grown too long to be easily read in this format. To make it easier to find the questions and answers you're looking for, we've split them into the following categories:

1. I have Windows 98, 2nd Edition installed on my computer. What part of the Internet Explorer can be removed from Windows 98?

2. How do you put pictures on the background on the computer screen? I would like to see these every time I start my computer and I would rather not reload the pictures.

3. Sometimes when going to properties of my C: or D: drive, the pie chart showing free/used space doesn’t work.

4. What is MAPI initialize error indicate?

5. How do I view the contents on an autostart CD?

6. I have an error message on startup. Shell Windows interface is not available or data corrupt please reinstall or update from ... ?

7. Any ideas on what is missing upon right clicking on a file and getting an error message “Language Resource DLL messing”?

8. How do you set a computer to empty the temp folder?

9. Free Cell and Solitaire stopped working.

10. Is there an appreciable difference or improvement in XP over Win98 or ME? I startup and have lots of resources, but then they drop below 50% and stay there. But come back after a reboot

11. Is Windows XP DOS-compatible?

12. What does MFC42.DLL do? I get this error a lot when opening Word Pad.

13. My Windows computer doesn't shut down.

14. Occasionally I get 'illegal operation - will be shut down' message with the following as sources: kernel32.dll, wsock32.dll.

15. I read an article about scanning and defrag in safe mode.

16. Some files in WinME are corrupt. Can WinME be installed over the corrupt one? Or do you have to un-install then re-install it? I got the upgrade disk of WinME. Win98 came with the Quick Restore disk from Compaq. Or should the hard drive be formatted? In that case (with the Quick Restore disc), I would have to make a few changes (very time-consuming) back to the original settings and then reverse the changes again.

17. What are recycled files? Should they be saved?

18. On XP, how do you get pictures from one place to another?

19. I was defragmenting my drive. In the process, it stopped and showed the message "Driver contents changed. Restarting. Reading driver information." Why doesn't it maintain a continuous process?

20. Win98 - Taskbar appears with tray icons, but no program icons?

21. Win98 - My computer icon is not default. How do I change it back?

22. WinME - I type letters in either MSWorks, WordPad and Notepad. It's not easy to use color in MSWorks, but it has a spell-checker. I can't find a spell-checker in WordPad or Notepad.

23. WinME - I had a lot of problems and tried to re-install Windows over Windows. This did not help. I had to reformat and start. But now I have a huge problem again. How do I backup and get back to a stable Windows again? I was also trying to pick out individual programs and files from the restore CD that came from my system and keep getting password protection errors.

24. I have lots of files in My Documents and want to create folders there to file them away. Do I have to remove the files first?

25. What are ISO files referred to on the Linux sites?

26. Opening Add/Remove programs from the Control Panel takes several minutes to open.

27. I recently purchased a new computer with Microsoft 2000 OS and MS OfficeXP Pro. I formerly had Win 95 and Win 98 office on another computer. On this new computer, I am having problems saving my files to the A drive. I try to keep two diskettes for much of my back up off the system. When I try to copy the second one, the system develops the perpetual “hour glass”. It never stops saving (to the second disk). Then I try to shut it off by Ctrl Alt Del. It does not work. The computer must be shut down by holding the button in. I never had this problem with my older and “more primitive” computer. Sometimes if I have saved a file on the new computer and I try to open it upon the old one, I experienced problems. Has anyone else had this problem? Can you give me suggestions on what to do?

28. Win98: Something keeps using all the resources and eventually nothing will run. How do I find out what is doing this to my computer?

29. My Win98SE boots up to an illegal operation some of the time. Usually it involves ‘spool32’.

30. Why don’t you like WinXP?

31. On a previous PC, I had a quick restore disk. How do I make one for a white box PC?

32. The System Restore of WinXP has Restore Points. Will System Restore restore errors in the registry?

33. I’m using WinXP and get this message: “Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime library runtime error. Abnormal termination.”

34. Is Microsoft update on line now?

35. When I boot my W98se system I get an error: Registry Error - Cannot import c:\windows\system\radOCB83.tmp.

36.My winXP computer wont shut down.

37. Under winXP, all files appear as large icons how can I change it system wide to details?

38. Win98SE, when booting, it always asks for user name and password. How do I bypass that?

39. Having problems with blue screens while printing. I have deleted all printers drivers, rebooted and the printer drivers are still there!

40. On Windows Update,"You can't create network connection after you restore Windows XP" if not needed , how do you get rid of it ?

41. When I open IE the window is small and right above the task bar

42. When deleting programs I get a message about a file being shared. What should I do?

1. You are asking the single question that has caused Microsoft and the US Government so much time and attention. Microsoft has deliberately intertwined Internet Explorer so tightly with the operating system, that it is almost impossible to separate them. My suggestion is to leave it alone and use a different browser for the Internet, like Netscape 4.75 or later.

2. Do the following. Right click on the Windows desktop screen (you do not want to click on any of the icons), then click on Properties, then click on Background, and you can then click on the drawing that you want to show up on the screen. Another way is to have the image loaded on the screen, then right click on the picture. When the menu comes up, select Save as Wallpaper. This will then save the image and you will usually see this image when you restart Windows.

3. We don't know of an answer to that question. However, in each case where users have experienced this problem, the number of bytes free and used are always correct.

4.MAPI is Messaging Application Programming Interface. Inside Windows, you will find many API's. It's the standard way for one program to talk to another. Faxing, email, telephony, and dialup networking fall within the MAPI realm. So if you are install- ing a new fax modem and you get this error, it's expecting a newer version (probably) of MAPI than you have installed or your MAPI interface is damaged (missing or corrupt .dll's).
This is not an easy problem to fix. Sometimes, installing a newer version of Internet Explorer helps, but always check for a newer version of what you are trying to install or check with their tech support for better answer that are tailored to what you are doing.

5. When inserting an Autostart CD, push the left Shift key down until the activity led on the front of your CD-ROM drive stops flashing. Then open My Computer, and right click on your CD-ROM drive and select Explore. Or Start --> Programs --> Windows Explorer.

6. You installed a program that hooks into Windows startup and your program without uninstalling it. The registry is still asking for that program when starting up even though it's gone. Reload the program and use Add/Remove programs to uninstall that program.

7. The associated program with that file is corrupt or missing. Many programs are multi-language capable and depend on those language specific available. I would uninstall the associated program and re-install and also check for a newer version of that program..

8. In newer versions of Windows, there is a feature called Disk Cleanup that will do it for you. It is found in the Start menu under Programs -->Accessories --> System Tools. If you don't have that, you can program that function into your Autoexec.bat. Otherwise, use Window Explorer.

9. Go to the control panel, add/remove programs, add/remove Windows components. Remove the games and then put them back. That should fix them

10. You have a program that is taking resources and not returning them until a reboot. Upgrading the OS will not stop this. You need to figure out what program is doing that and get it fixed (new version, corrupted install, patch from software company, etc.).

XP is probably a good OS. Too early to tell; wait a while. Is it worth upgrading from 98 or ME? Probably not. Is it worth upgrading from Win95, probably yes. We are starting to see programs and hardware that won't work in 95 and requires 98 or better. My advice is if you are running Win98SE or ME, stay there for about 6 months and ask again.

11. As much as NT or 2000 was, yes. But not as much as Win9x. And even then, there are several places I can think of that DOS won't like. For instance, many DOS programs can't handle more than 16 meg of memory or 2 gig or more of free hard drive space

12. MFC42.DLL is used by many, many functions in Windows. Microsoft has licensed this file to many vendors. It's hard to tell what is wrong. And it might be that somewhere a bad version was placed on your computer.

13. That is a very common problem and possibly the hardest to fix. What was the last piece of software that you installed? Try uninstalling that. Try disabling your virus scanner. Check to see if Windows has selected a shutdown sound. Sometimes the sound card shuts down before the sound is played, hanging the computer. Other than that, this is a wide-open question that I have not had much success in fixing other than start removing applications until it goes away.

14. Sounds like something in the network stack is broken. The easiest way to fix it is to remove TCP/IP and Dialup Networking and put them back in. Go to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Windows Setup -> Communications. Uncheck Dialup Networking. Close up Add/Remove Programs, and in Control Panel, click on Network and remove all mentions of TCP/IP there. Now restart your computer and reverse this process. This does not delete your dialup settings for your ISP. It only works within the network stack and fixes many of the problems therein. But make sure you know your login ID and password and the number you dial to get online before starting this procedure.

15. In Win95, you need to hit the F8 key while the computer displays 'Loading Windows 95' (this is a 2-second opportunity). Or in Win98 or ME, push and hold the left Control key on the keyboard. Then you can select safe mode from the black & white startup menu. Otherwise, use MSCONFIG to not load all the optional stuff. Using MSCONFIG will be quicker than safe mode to scan disk and defrag.

16. As long as the registry is not corrupt, reinstalling ME should be OK. If the registry is corrupt, then you really need to start from scratch by reformatting.

17. These are files that have been deleted. They are kept in a special area just in case you really did not want to delete them.

18. You can use cut and paste or drag and drop.

19. Windows has many programs running in the background and if one of them writes to the hard drive, defrag or scandisk have to restart. You need to stop those background processes. Using MSCONFIG is the method that the club 'experts' prefer. In MSCONFIG, under Startup Tasks, uncheck all except System Tray. Starting your computer in 'Safe mode' works also, but the defrag and scandisk process will take longer. The other method is to use task manager to stop all tasks, except Explorer and Systray before starting Scandisk or defrag.

20. The area for single click icons is adjustable and if you make it the entire width of the taskbar, it will hide all program icons. In this case there should be a slider near the Systray icons (next to the clock) and you should be able to slide it to the left.

21. Right click on the desktop to bring up Display properties. Select Effects and you can change the system icons there.

22. Yep, that's the way it is. Notepad was developed as a programmers/batch/script writers tool. Wordpad is a heavily stripped down version of Word that comes free with Windows. If a document is too large to fit in Notepad, WordPad is automatically brought up and WordPad understands RTF formatting common in e-mail. You might want to consider buying Microsoft Office or finding a copy of Star Office from Sun.

23. GoBack or Ghost used along the way of restoring the system would have helped take your system to the point just before it broke, but it's too late for that now. The restore CD given to you by the manufacturer was intended to take the system back to its original configuration as it came from the factory and nothing else. The password errors is their way of telling you that you can't do that.

24. No, just use Windows Explorer or My Computer to go to the My Documents folder and createthe new folders you want and then just drag and drop the files into the new folders.

25. ISO files are CD-ROM images. Use them to create CD’s to install the software with

26. Format C: and reinstall Windows. The registry has gotten large and the only way to really fix this is to reinstall Windows.

27. Have you tried different diskettes or does this problem only occur with one diskette? Have you installed any updates from Microsoft for both windows 2000or Office XP? Windows 2000 is at SP2 and there is a SR out for Office XP. Many strange problems can be corrected by installing them. My first impression is that this diskette is defective and needs to be replaced, but your answer to my first question would answer that. It’s also possible to have a marginal floppy disk drive. It’s not good to shut down Windows via powering off. This should really only be done as a last resort. Please use the disk cleanup tool to delete any unneeded leftovers from doing this and then run defrag. These are found from Start —> Programs —> Accessories —> System Tools. If the disk or the disk drive are going bad they can cause the last problem (not opening up on the other computers.). Also Office XP is a newer release and it’s possible to create Office documents that won’t open in previous versions. This has always been a problem when using newer software.

28. It’s not that easy or hard, it’s just a process of elimination. Stop using one application at a time until it stops doing it. Yes, it can be tedious to do, but this is the only way and it may be a program starting automatically and you have to use MSCONFIG to shut them off one at a time.

29. Knowing what module is causing the problem is half the battle to resolving this type of a problem. In this case, my guess is that one of the printers installed is corrupt. The best course of action is to delete all printers and re-install them. Spool32 is part of the Windows printing system.

30. That’s a loaded question! Microsoft seems to go out of its way to change user interfaces with each new OS they release. It was most dramatic with WinXP. The difference between WinNT & Win2k was relatively minor. The differences between Win95, Win98, & ME were also minor, and the changes made in WinNT from 3.5 to 4.0 to Win2k were closely related in regards to the user interface.
But in going to XP and the XP related products like Office, they moved EVERYTHING. What once was a direct link from the control panel or the start menu, now means starting the MMC (Microsoft Management Console) and trudging through multiple layers to get where you need, and MMC is very slow.
And that is aside from the security problems they can never seem to quite fix and they seem to just get better at making worse mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, XP has lots of neat features, but you do need to stay on top of the patches and updates for security reasons.

31. A white box PC is an industry term for a generic PC that is put together from the separate parts by the owner or a builder. They usually are in a white or cream colored case. But to answer the question, use Ghost. Ghost makes a complete image of a hard drive and is the quickest way to get the computer back after a catastrophic event.

32. The system restore feature of WinXP is a means of saving a snapshot of key OS files, including the registry. If there is a corruption of the registry, you can choose which system restore point to use. They are shown with the date & time they were taken. If there are errors in the registry in those snapshots, yes, those errors would be imported.

33. Without more information, it’s hard to tell. But you have a program that was written in this language and it has a problem. It could be in the program itself or it is expecting an add on file that your computer doesn’t have or you don’t have the right version of. Usually there is more information available that would assist in pointing to the program that is malfunctions.

34. Yes. You can find it at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

35. A program you started to install wants to import a registry entry from a file. That file is gone.You can search the registry and find where it's trying to do that,but unless you really know what you are doing ,I don't recommend it. Besides annoying, That error message doesn't hurt anything.

36. A program you ran our is running in the backround is not shutting down properly and hangs during system shutdown. Boot your computer and shutdown immediately after fully booted. If it shuts down properly, then a program that you run is causing this problem. If it does not, then a program that automatically starts on system boot is causing this problem. This is not an easy problem to pinpoint.

37. From My computer,select the Tools pulldown and select Folder Options. Select the View tab. Change the Options here to your liking. Be sure to uncheck "Remember each folders settings " Click on Reset All Folders. Now change to details and it should be sticky for all folders

38. Right click on Network Neighborhood and select properties.Select Windows logon for Primary Network Logon.

39. Disconnect the printers from your computer, delet them from the printer window, reboot your computer. This un-installs the printers from the computer. Now download new drivers for each printer. Do not merely re-install from the CD. Printer drivers change frequently and you must download the latest drivers from the manufacturer. Now re-attach the printers and re-install them. The method to accomplish this varies from printer to printer depending on how the manufacturer packages the printer drivers.

40.Install it. It won't hurt to install that patch and it's small and it will quit bothering you. Microsoft has a one size fits all mentality in Windows Update and there is not much you can do about it .

41. Windows remembers where the window was when you last closed it. Thus, the previous time IE was used, the window was resized and that is where it was closed from. Use the maximize button at the top right side of the window next to the close button and it will be full screen; or, move your cursor to one of the corners of the window and use your left mouse button to drag the window to a larger size.

42. Most of the time you can delete the files without any problems. The nice thing about using Windows XP is that it will not let you delete system files, so one really can't mess the OS. Windows makes heavy use of temporary files. If you have any programs open (including those in the SysTray [next to the time]), you can have temp files open and, of course, this is the error you get.