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Accessing scanning software updates poses no threat

By JOHN TORRO
Published January 23, 2006

Q. When I log on to my computer, a window comes up with this message: "HP/Digital Imaging/bin/hpqtra08.exe is attempting to change or view this computer's Internet Connection Protection Settings." It asks me to click on Yes or No. Is this dangerous? I always click no.

A. Hpqtra08.exe is the System Tray access to the HP Director program used to access the all-in-one buttons to manually scan documents or transfer photos from your HP camera. It is a safe process, but is not essential to the system. I'm guessing that it is requesting Internet access to check on updates to the HP software. I would allow it.

Q. We often receive donated computers with software already installed. Many times we wish to retrieve driver software from the hard drive such as for modem, sound, display and LAN card. We can view the drivers in Device Manager under driver files details. Is there a way to retrieve these files and be able to install them after formatting the hard drive and installing Windows?

A. All the driver files used by a system are contained in the driver.cab file in the C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386 folder. If you have added any service packs, there would be another file such as SP2.cab with updated drivers. If you save these two files and then copy them back to the same directory after reformatting and installing the operating system, any specific drivers that would not be found in the initial driver.cab then could be found upon hardware discovery. There is also an inexpensive product that does this with some added features and automation. It can be found at www.driverguidetoolkit.com/

Q. The CD-ROM has been going in and out at will. I had a tech come and he could not correct it. It's checked for viruses every which way, but the problem persists.

A. For an intermittent problem such as this, I would first check the data ribbon connection to make sure it is secure. Dirty or smudged CDs also can cause this problem. The CD-ROM itself may need a cleaning. You can get a CD-ROM cleaner from any computer store, which should sufficiently clean the CD-ROM laser from dust and dirt. CD-ROM drives do go bad sometimes. If none of the above corrects the problem, you may need to replace it.

Q. I would like to use the feature of Internet Explorer that remembers log-in names and passwords. How do I get it to work?

A. Within Internet Explorer, click Tools, Options. Select the Advanced tab and check the box labeled "Use inline AutoComplete in Windows Explorer." Next, select the Content tab and press the AutoComplete button. Check the options you wish to enable.

Q. Do you think it is necessary to have both Norton and Microsoft AntiSpyware? I also have a firewall on the DSL modem.

A. As of now, I would say yes. Norton's new version (06) of its antivirus software does include a spyware/adware protector, but I have not yet been able to assess how much of the Microsoft AntiSpyware functionality this provides. However, I've been saying for a few years that the antivirus and spyware protection need to be incorporated into one product to lessen the complications of installation and application for home PC users.

NOTE: We have answered several questions from our readers about making digital recordings/copies from vinyl records. I came across a new product at a reasonable price that will make this process significantly easier: a USB-enabled Turntable from Ion. It comes with everything you need to accomplish the vinyl-to-digital transfers of your old records. Just do a Google search on "Ion USB Turntable" for more information.

[Last modified January 20, 2006, 09:54:04]