A reader's alternative to speeding up ScanDisk, defrag
By JOHN TORRO
Published July 28, 2003
Q. I saw a question that I think I can answer better than you. It was the one about speeding up ScanDisk and defrag. Instead of depressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and exiting programs, you gave the reader another way, through Safe Mode. I found a free program that can be downloaded and does everything automatically. It is called EndItAll. It puts an icon on your desktop, then you click on it and click EndItAll. Everything shuts down except Explorer and SysTray. It's simple and fast. Other good things can be downloaded at www.pcmedixwebs.com/enditall.htm
A. I'm familiar with this program, but I'm usually hesitant about recommending these types of applications to readers. With so many versions of Windows and combinations of hardware and software configurations, it is almost impossible to find a one-size-fits-all solution with many freeware-shareware programs. I wouldn't want EndItAll to literally end it all for any of our readers. However, this particular problem is a very common one among our readers. I'm passing it on, but I'm still more comfortable with the Safe Mode method of booting to run defrag.
Spyware problems
Q. I moved my computer to another room. Upon turning on my computer, I have a message that reads: "Unhandled exception c0000005 at address 100016b8." After I click OK, up comes another message that reads: "Ppgmonitr.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created." For four days the monitor would just turn off at random times. I could do nothing but reboot again. Then, for some reason, it just stopped doing it. I was able to reboot with no problem and keep the computer on all the time. I still get the two messages but it doesn't seem to affect anything.
A. You have spyware on your system programs and other tracking methods used to send information about your Internet browsing to third-party target marketers. This is a common side effect of Kazaa. Download Ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download The free version should clean most of this up.
For our other readers: If you have a teenager and do not run an application such as Ad-aware, you can be sure you have spyware on your PC. It slows down your PC, causes all kinds of problems and, of course, is an invasion of your privacy. However, it is all legal. Write your representative and ask him to work on legislation to outlaw this practice.
CD burning
Q. I burned CDs with my Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 when I had Windows 98. I installed Windows XP. Since then, every time I try to create a CD I get the message "No supported CD recorders available." What do I need to do?
A. Check Roxio's Web site to see if it is offering any updates to version 5 that will correct this for Windows XP. Of course, Windows XP now has builtin capabilities to create and write CDs without third-party software. You can simply drag-and-drop data to your CD-R drive. Windows XP will ask when you're ready to burn it, which you can do by clicking the "Write these files to CD" button. The better third-party CD burners (and Roxio is one of them) definitely make burning CDs easier and less confusing then the builtin Windows XP feature, especially when it comes to making music CDs. But they are no longer an absolute necessity.
Dialing in XP
Q. I am having a problem finding the phone dialer on Windows XP. It was easy on Windows 98, but I cannot seem to find the equivalent on XP.
A. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Communications and the Hyper Terminal.
