Question:  I have a Compaq Presario 920ea laptop, with an Athlon 2000 processor, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD. I am using Windows Vista for a few days and suddenly I get an error message saying 'Internet Explorer cannot download / from help ... ". I have used Help and Support previously. Why does this happen?

Answer:  This issue arises if you install DreamWeaver on Vista. To resolve the situation, open the Windows Registry editor (from the "Start" menu, select "run", then type "regedit".) Browse for this key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml, then click on Edit, New, "Chain Value". Name the new value "Content Type". Double click on "Content type", and then enter in the dialog box that appears before you the value "text/xml". Click on "OK", and quit Registry Editor. Restart the computer if necessary.

Question: I have an ACER Aspire 380. When I try to open "Computer", I get an error message indicating that Windows Explorer has stopped responding and the window is closed.

Answer: This may happen if you have too many resources used up, or if you have been using your computer continuously for a long period. To resolve this issue, simply restart your current session, or restart the computer.

Question: I have a Pentium 4 2.8GHz using 512MB RAM and 200 MB Maxtor Hard Disk. I installed Windows Vista a couple of weeks ago. Lately, the Recycle Bin disappeared from my desktop. When I try to reactivate the icon through "Personalize" => "Change Desktop Icons", the Recycle Bin checkbox is grayed and thus the operation is to no avail. Do you have any ideas?

Answer: This is due to a Group Policy configuration error. To reactivate your Recycle Bin, Click on the "Start" Menu, then select "Run". In the dialog box before you, type "gpedit.msc" to start the Group Policy Editor. Then, in "User Configuration", under "Administration Models", "Desktop", Right Click with your mouse on "Delete Recycle Bin Icon from Desktop" and select "Properties". Click on "Deactivate". This will restore the Recycle Bin icon on your Desktop.

Question: I have a small home Network using two PCs. On one of my computers, I use Windows VISTA, with Pentium IV 1.7 MHz processor, 1 GB RAM, and 100 GB Hard Disk. When I launch Windows Update, I obtain the Error Code: 8024420C. How can I fix this issue?

Answer: After the migration from XP to Vista, your registry most probably has updates still configured through an Enterprise Server for Windows XP. To resolve this issue, simply delete the corresponding registry entries:

Launch the registry editor from the "Start" menu, "Run", and by typing "regedit" in the dialog box that appears then click on "OK".

Browse for and locate the following entries, then perform the prescribed actions for each entry:

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU: delete the entry named : "UseWUServer"
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate: delete the chain named: WUServer
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate: delete the chain named: WUStatusServer

Afterwards, reboot your PC. This will remove the update server entries that were incorrectly configured.

Of course, should you desire to use windows updates through an update server, you should use a server that is compatible with Windows Vista.

Question: I own an ASUS A6J laptop, with 2GB RAM, 100GB HDD, Duo Core T2400, running Windows Vista Business. I use FLASHGET for my downloads. Lately, I downloaded a PDF file. Since then, I cannot access, delete, rename, or move the file. How can I get rid of this file?

Answer: To resolve this issue, you should first verify if you have the respective control rights on the file you want to delete, by clicking on the file with your right mouse button, selecting "Properties", then modifying the access rights for the file under the "Security" Tab. The next thing to try would be to run a command prompt using the administrator account, and simply running the old "del" command (by typing "del [filename]" at the command prompt and validating with the [return] key. ). Should your problem persist, try using "Unlocker" or "Killbox", two utilities you might find useful in your case:

http://killbox.net
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Unlocker.shtml

Question: I am using HP's Pavilion A610e with an AMD 2500+ Processor, 512 RAM, and two 100 GB HDDs using Windows Vista. I partitioned my second and new Hard Disk, and started moving my files to the new hard disk, freeing space on my system partition. At this point, [c:\] had 17 GB used space. I then started installing my programs in the new partition, at which point free disk space in my [c:\] drive started to decrease dramatically. After verification, 39 GB was used by invisible files because the total size of visible files was still around 18 GB. After thorough verification, the folder 'Volume System Information" contained many files of sizes up to 5 GB. These correspond to system restoration points (varying between 1 to 5 GB in size). How can I free up disk space by getting rid of the unnecessary restoration points only without damaging my installation?

Answer: You can verify the restoration points available by using the command RSTRUI from the "Start" menu, then selecting "Run", and typing "RSTRUI" in the dialog box and confirming with OK. This utility will give you a list of restoration points available for you to use. Otherwise, you can use "Disk Cleanup" to free up disk space by deleting old restoration points and conserving only the last one(s). You can also remove all restoration points and recreate a new one by using RSTRUI as indicated above, and then selecting "Create a new restoration point". You can also modify System Restoration settings through the "System Properties" window (you can launch it using [winkey]+[pause] or by right clicking on "Computer" with your mouse then selecting "Properties". ). From the 'System Properties' window, you can activate / deactivate System Restoration for each drive by selecting it from the list of drives and then selecting "Parameters". You can also deactivate System Restoration on All drivers by checking the respective box in the System Restoration Tag. Please note that System Restoration remains useful in the event of problems after installation of new Hardware / Software, or simple use of your computer, as risks are quite common through the internet, file exchange, and user manipulation for programs / PC configuration. It is therefore highly advisable for you to maintain the use of System Restoration of at least your system drive.

Question: I have an Acer computer with a Pentium IV 1.7 GHz processor, 512 MB of memory, and a 100 GB Maxtor hard disk. I use Windows XP on this computer since I purchased it. Last week, I bought a Windows Vista CD, which I would like to try first before getting rid of my old Windows XP. How can I install Windows Vista while keeping my old OS intact?

Answer: To install Windows Vista parallel to Windows XP, you need to have a separate partition (you can use Partition Magic or other partition management software to perform the operation). Make sure the second partition is an NTFS partition. Once the partition is created, you can go ahead with the installation of Windows Vista. You will be asked along the process the type of installation you would like to perform. Select "Custom (Advanced)". You will also be presented with a choice of partitions to use. Make sure you select the newly created partition, and then follow through the installation process. Once the installation is complete, when you boot your computer, you will be presented with a choice of Operating Systems, either your classic Windows XP installation, or your new Windows Vista Installation. To modify the booting options you can do so from Windows Vista (preferably) by right clicking on "Computer", selecting Properties, selecting "Advanced System Settings" from the links presented, and confirming through the User Account Control ( UAC ) prompt. Then, select the "Startup and Recovery" panel in which you can modify the options.

Question: I am using a EMachines T2824 desktop with 2.53-GHz Intel Celeron D 325 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 300GB hard drive. I installed Windows Vista Ultimate. When I try to run one of my Windows XP Programs, the "Run as Administrator" checkbox is grayed out, thus I cannot run the program. When I right click on the program and select "Run as administrator", nothing happens. Do you have an idea why this happens?

Answer: This happens if you have deactivated User Account Control under windows Vista. To reactivate it, Click on the "Start" Menu, then open "Control Panel". In the Control Panel, select "User Accounts and Family Safety". Click on "User Accounts", and then click on "Turn User Account Control on or off". Clear the tick mark on the box beside "use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer", then validate with the "OK" button. When prompted, choose to restart the computer for the changes to take effect. The changes will affect all users on your computer.

Question: I am using an Acer P4 1.7 GHz Processor with 512 MB RAM and a 200 GB hard disk. I installed Windows Vista Lately. To my surprise, if I leave my computer unattended for half an hour for example, I find it in a hibernation-like state. That is when I move the mouse, or press a key on the keyboard, nothing happens, the computer is simply off. To reuse the computer I have to push the reset button. Is there anything I am doing wrong?

Answer: In fact, Windows Vista is configured to act this way. To change this configuration, go to the 'Start' Menu, and then click on 'Control Panel'. Double Click on 'Power Options', then, on the left hand side pane, click on 'Change When the Computer Sleeps', and then modify the options according to your desire. Windows Vista's sleep mode is more advanced than that of Windows XP, which sums up to: you have to push the power button to resume normal operation. You can set the computer to return to normal operation from sleep mode using the mouse / keyboard, but this will require modifying these settings through your BIOS setup. Note: if you use password protection in BIOS (for wake up, boot up ...), you need to disable it as this may obstruct resuming normal operation of Windows Vista.