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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 25, 2002
Q. When I bought an HP Pavilion 7955, I was assured that tech support would be available by phone. When I called the number, support had been discontinued, and the only tech support that is available is through the Internet. I have tried to contact them. Whenever I am advised that there are messages waiting to be picked up, I go to the support inbox and get the message, "Exception in Display Incident List: null is null or not an object." I have sent my e-mail address to the tech support (messages seem to be sent correctly), but it will not answer through my normal e-mail address. I hope this is not the start of a trend of companies stopping telephone support.
A. I can't tell if the "null or not an object" error message is a true programming problem in HP's script or a result of you needing to update your Microsoft VM (for Java). If you haven't already installed XP Service Pack 1, do so (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/default.asp).
It is very expensive for companies to offer live technical support. For users trying to solve problems, it can be very frustrating when they can't talk to an expert. I don't see this trend changing. Until the self-help technology that companies provide becomes much better, we're in for some tough times when it comes to troubleshooting our software and hardware problems.
Twenty years ago, they were saying how easy it would be to run computers in the future and how there would be no expertise required. I think we can all agree that this is not the case.
Q. When I start up Windows XP ), I get a message telling me the computer cannot run a 16-bit program. I looked in my programs for one that is 16 bit, but found none. I go to the toolbar to close the message. Then, automatically my document file opens up on the screen and I do the same to get rid of this. What could be causing this?
A. There is a known problem in XP that may be causing this error message. It has to do with a corrupt registry key. Microsoft recommends this work-around: Start Registry Editor (click Start, Run, type REGEDIT, press return). Navigate to the following key value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers\VDD
On the Edit menu, click Delete.
On the Edit menu, point to New, then click Multi-string Value.
Type VDD in the Value Name box, then press ENTER. Quit Registry Editor.
To identify 16-bit programs that are actively running on your system, start Task Manager (right-click a blank spot on the taskbar, and click Task Manager). On the Processes tab, check the contents of the Image Name column. The 16-bit programs are identified by the entry Ntvdm.exe, for virtual DOS machine. You also see wowexec.exe, for Windows on Windows subsystem, and the executable name of each 16-bit program that is running in that WOW virtual machine.
Q. While doing some mindless Web surfing, I found a reference to a Windows 98 utility named mkcompat.exe. It seems to be something that is used to tweak Windows 3.1 programs so they will run better on Windows 98. There is no Help file with it. I can find no documentation other than "Here it is, play with it." Can you tell us more?
A. Microsoft developed the mkcompat.exe tool to help fool Windows 3.1 programs into thinking that they are running on that Windows version. This may be an oversimplistic explanation, but basically that is what it is doing.
It has many options, such as: Don't spool to enhanced meta files; give application more stack space; lie about printer device mode size; lie about Window's version number; Win 3.1 style controls.
If your older 3.1 programs are already running successfully, leave them alone. Otherwise you can try mkcompat to see if it will correct any problems. To run it: Click Start, click Run, type mkcompat.exe in the Open box, then click OK. On the File menu, click Choose Program, the program you want to use, then Open. Click the options that apply (you may have to guess), then click Save on the File menu.