HELP DESK
I like your description "blasted machines." I sometimes want to use stronger language with my Personal Contraption.
My machine frequently freezes and goes into the endless cycle of "End now," click "close", back to "End now," and so on until I get so frustrated I just disconnect and start over which then takes for ever as Windows was not shut down correctly. This occurs probably 50 per cent of every time I use the PC.
I have XP, AVG antivirus, Comodo firewall, Windows Defender, Spybot and AdAware SE, each of which is run once a week. No significant problems are ever detected, and AVG is updated daily.
Any ideas to fix this annoying problem would be very welcome. Or should I look for the nearest scrap yard then visit my bank?
CHRIS KAYE
Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: Well, there's not much to go on here. In general, such problems are covered by the word "conflict", which is as explicit as the doctor's diagnosis that "there seems to be a lot of that going around."
There are two general possibilities, and I can't be more specific from this distance. The first is that you have one program that is not getting along with Windows XP or with all your other programs. If the same program is crashing all the time, then it's time to check for updates on that program, or take other, more final steps.
The other possibility is that the conflict is in memory. This is just an example, but your anti-virus program could be trying to check a part of memory just as Windows is trying to access that exact place to put some data there.
Often, a thorough house cleaning, including cleaning out the Internet cache, temporary files folder and disk de-fragging can clear up simple conflicts. Unfortunately, there is never a guarantee.
Language problem
I'm trying to set up a Gmail account, but, when I try to do this, I find that everything is in Thai.
Would be grateful if you can advise me how to find the English version.
ROY BEEVOR
Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: There are several solutions to this highly annoying problem. This may be the easiest way: When you go to the main Gmail page, you will see a box where an account holder enters here login and password - usually on the right, near the top of the simple Gmail.com page.
Under the button (which says "Sign In"), at the bottom of that blue-background box, is a link (which says "I cannot access my account" in Thai).
Click that link. A page of help will come up. At the very top, right-hand corner, is a drop-down selection box. Click on the little arrow, choose one of the English-language choices, and this should get you properly set up to go back one page, and start setting up your account.
Movie catalogues I liked Wanda Sloan's column about organising music libraries. Thank you. But I wonder if you could help by pointing me in the right direction for programs that are good at organising movies and other video content which I keep on my hard disk?
JEREMY Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: Programmers haven't done a lot with special catalogues for video. There are some great programs that catalogue Hollywood-type movies and DVDs. But I only have seen two programs that do much for AVI and DivX type videos.
One is an amazing little 23KB to download, called DivXCataloger. It's really just a database with an emphasis on collecting videos. It is at divxcataloger.webpark.pl. Then Ant Movie Catalog, which is really meant to collect Hollywood movies, will also take care of your regular, small or family videos. It is at http://www.ant.be.tf.
Movienizer is arguably the best and most convenient organiser for your DVD collection.
Add a title or barcode and the program goes and finds all the information and enters it automatically. It will even keep track of who you lent the DVD to. It is at http://www.maniactools.com.
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