Q: Recently, I've started seeing an annoying information box every time I start
my PC. Although it's clearly in Spanish or similar, my system and its contents are as English as I am. I assume it's probably to do with some download that has been removed, but can you let me know how to stop it appearing or track down what it's associated with? I've scanned several times for viruses and malware, but found nothing. Derek Cooper, mas...@blueyonder.co.uk A: Languages other than English aren't a strong point at Shopper, but Google Translate suggests that this is a Portuguese message along the lines of 'Invalid object name: 'verification''. You're probably right that it relates to a corrupt or failed installation, or from an uninstallation that didn't complete successfully. However, you clearly didn't choose to install something in Portuguese; we assume you've checked that your anti-virus software is up to date. Unfortunately, we can't find any mention of that exact error message. We suggest that you download and install CCleaner from www.piriform. com/ccleaner/download; the free version will do for our purposes. Run the software once it's installed, then click the Registry icon at the left and click the 'Scan for Issues' button. Once that completes, leave the discovered issues ticked and click the 'Fix selected issues ' button, then answer Yes when prompted to back up the Registry changes. Save the .reg file on the Desktop, or somewhere else you'll be able to find it if needed. With this done, click Fix All Selected Issues in the Fix dialog box and wait for CCleaner to make the necessary changes. This should remove the kind of problems left by a failed install or uninstall, such as Registry entries that no longer point to files, so in theory there's a good chance it should fix the problem. If not, run CCleaner again but this time click the Tools icon on the left, then Startup, and examine the list of non-Windows services set to start when your computer boots. Use caution here, as it's likely that these are all legitimate services that you do want. If you see one that's in Portuguese, or that looks like it could be the culprit, select it, click Disable and see if the problem recurs when you restart. Repeat the steps above to re-enable services; any you have disabled will appear in grey. Remember that you need to restart before any changes made can take effect. Do I need Win 8 for an SSD? Q: I am looking to build my own PC and would like to include an SSD as the boot device with a mechanical disc for data storage. I have read your reviews of SSDs, but have a fairly basic question: What if I want to use Windows 7 rather than Windows 8? I understand Windows 8 is more 'aware' of SSDs, but will it still be easy and straightforward to install Windows 7 on an SSD-based PC? Sig Kasatkin, s...@sigkasatkin.com A: Windows 7 will work very well on an SSD, and many of our PCs are still configured as you're planning to build yours. Windows should detect the SSD during the installation and configure itself appropriately. Microsoft updated SSD housekeeping with Windows 8, introducing an Optimize feature to the scheduled drive management, which now states the media type of all the disks in the system to reassure users that the drive has been identified correctly. We're not aware that SSD performance or endurance is significantly higher under Windows 8. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth won't play together Q: For quite a while, I'd been experiencing conflicts between my Bluetooth keyboard and wireless network. Most of the time it was fine, but whenever one of my computers was sending and receiving lots of network data - when backing up, for example - the mouse movements from the built-in trackpad would become increasingly laggy, and sometimes the Bluetooth connection would break down altogether. I realised that a 5GHz network wouldn't have this problem, so I recently upgraded to a dual-band router. All but one of my four PCs have dual-band WiFi cards, and the one which doesn't is rarely used. Two of the three that do are automatically connecting to the 5GHz network, but one remains stubbornly on the 2.4GHz network, so the Bluetooth clash remains. Is there a simple way to force the third laptop to use the 5GHz network? I can't turn the 2.4GHz network off, as that would leave the fourth computer unable to connect at all. Ted Lewis A: You don't say, but from your description it sounds as though you've configured your router's two wireless networks with the same SSID (name) and password. In theory, this should allow client wireless adaptors to choose the band with the best signal, which may vary as you move the PCs around your home. It may be that the third PC is sticking with 2.4GHz as this is actually offering better performance; it's less affected by distance and obstacles than 5GHz signals. In your case this isn't ideal, however, due to competition with the Bluetooth keyboard. Depending on the adaptor, you may be able to set its preferred frequency band; use the Start menu or screen to search for Network Connections and click View Network Connections in the results; you'll need to apply the Settings filter in Windows 8. Right-click your wireless connection, choose Properties and click the Configure button under your wireless interface. In the Adaptor Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab and look for 'Preferred Band' or a similar option, then set its value to 5.2GHz and click OK to save the change. You can then try rebooting the computer and seeing if it connects to the higher frequency network. If this doesn't work, or if the band option isn't available, you'll need to access your router and change the 5.2GHz network to have a different SSID, then manually join each of the dual-band PCs to the new network. This should place the 5.2GHz network above the 2.4GHz network in Windows' order of preference, causing the computer to connect to it if it's available, or fall back to the 2.4GHz network if it's not. Blu-ray swap shop Q: I am thinking of buying a new Blu-ray drive for my computer, but the one I am thinking of requires that the motherboard must be hot-swap compatible; I've got an Asus P8H61-M LE motherboard, and I'm not sure whether it is. Does this also mean that I have to change the SATA settings in the BIOS from IDE to AHCI, and that I must use RegEdit on the Windows Registry before Windows 8 will work with the Blu-ray drive? Alec Neville, alecnevill...@gmail.com A: We've never encountered a Blu-ray drive which demands that the motherboard must support hotswapping for regular use. However, some drives are hot-swappable, and if you plan to use this feature you would need a motherboard or a third-party SATA interface that supports it. It's likely that this is the case with the drive you're considering, but we can't double-check without knowing the exact model. You shouldn't usually need to change your BIOS settings to get an optical drive to work, although to use hot-swapping you would have to ensure that the SATA mode was set to AHCI. Similarly, you shouldn't need to edit the Registry, although if you're hot-swapping you need to click the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon in the Notification Area and eject the drive before unplugging it. Unless you're building a server, though, it's unlikely that you'll need to hot-swap any of your drives. For an everyday PC, we'd recommend simply powering the computer down before making any hardware changes. Missing DLL is causing me pain Q: I have a PC running Windows 7 64-bit, which I keep up to date. A while ago, a strange error message began to pop up on the screen. It was something to the effect that a program could not be run because MSCTF.DLL was missing. I've tried everything to get rid of this, but to no avail. Reinstalling the file from the Windows disc doesn't work, the system refuses to go back to any previous restore point, and cleaning the Registry doesn't help, either. A lot of programs now won't install or uninstall and many services don't update any more, including the all-important Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Much of the advice I've found on the internet about this subject seems silly, or hasn't solved the problem when I've tried it. I consider myself reasonably computer-savvy, but I'm stuck here and I really don't want to have to reformat and reinstall everything. Please help! Ayman SD, ayma...@outlook.com A: We're not sure how the file got deleted on your computer, but when we recreated the problem we couldn't boot into Windows at all. It sounds from your description as though you're able to get into Windows, which could make it quite easy to fix the problem. Search for CMD in the Start menu, right-click CMD in the results and select Run as Administrator, providing permission if prompted. At the command prompt, type 'SFC /SCANNOW' (without the quotes) and hit Enter. This utility should check the integrity of your system files, restoring any that are missing or corrupted - once finished, it should confirm if it detected and fixed the problem. If that doesn't work, or if you can't run the command prompt, you'll need to run System File Checker from the Windows installation disc instead. Put your Windows DVD in your optical drive and restart your computer so that it boots from the DVD; you may need to change the boot order in the BIOS. When the install program loads, select the appropriate language and keyboard options and click Next. On the next screen, click 'Repair your computer', then wait for the installer to detect your Windows installation. Click Next, and on the following screen click Command Prompt. The command prompt will start with the path 'X:\Sources>'. Your system disk will probably be allocated to D: within the recovery environment. Verify this by typing 'd:', hitting Enter and checking that the prompt changes to D:\>. Then type 'cd Windows\ system32' and hit Enter. You should see the prompt D:\Windows\system32>, which is the folder in which MSCTF.DLL would normally be located. Type 'sfc /scanfile=d:\windows\ system32\msctf.dll /OFFBOOTDIR=d:\ / OFFWINDIR=d:\windows' and hit Enter. After a second or so, you should see the message that corrupt files were detected and successfully repaired. At this stage, you can verify that the file has been restored by typing 'dir msctf.dll' and hitting Enter. You should see a single instance of MSCTF.DLL listed. Type 'Exit' and hit Enter to quit the command prompt, then click the Restart button and reboot into Windows as normal. Hopefully, the problem will now be fixed. Why is Nexus 4 a prude? Q: I'm very happy with my Nexus 4 Android phone, but it's an awful prude when it comes to letting me express myself properly. Sometimes I'm in the mood to channel my inner Gordon Ramsay and let rip, but swear words never appear among Google Keyboard's suggestions. I can tap them in manually, though, and when I do they don't appear with a red underline, so I know that they're already in the dictionary. Is there any way to stop the phone cleaning up my act? A: Swearing isn't big or clever, but even a four-letter word is slow to type if you have to do it manually each time. The option you need was introduced with Android 4.2, and your phone should have updated to 4.3 by now. Drag the Android status bar down and tap the settings icon at the top right. Tap Settings, scroll down and tap Language & input, then tap the settings icon to the right of Google Keyboard. Scroll down again, tap Block offensive words, make sure the tick disappears, then tap 'Back to the home page'. You're now uncensored: just don't type anything you'll regret. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
