Q. I am new to computers and I have big problems. I’ve messed up my computer’s monitor display settings until the box you use to change properties is huge and disappears off the bottom of the screen. It happened after I clicked on a choice called 3-D by mistake.
The box where I need to repair this is so large that I cannot see the OK button at the bottom after I make the fix.
Doris Lindsey @att.net
A. You’re facing one of the nightmares of the Windows operating system that is very scary but also easy to fix.
Many folks get in trouble when they put the mouse arrow on the desktop and give a right-click to bring up the link to the Properties tool panel that handles stuff like screen resolution, colors displayed, speed of the video card, size of icons and much else.
Usually the problem hits when the user goes to the tab called Settings and changes the resolution so it is far smaller than the monitor can display. The result is that all of the windows become too large to show on the monitor screen.
You need to know that since you can see the top of the Properties box, you can fix it by giving a right-click at the top and then selecting the Move command this summons. With this selected, you can move the window up and down and back and forth using the cursor arrow keys. Punch the up arrow until that OK button appears and give it a click. If you cannot see the top of the display you can still activate the Move command by tapping Shift + Control + M (as in Move).
Now you can fix the problem by changing the settings your miscue ordered in the first place. Look for the slider bar in the center of the Settings tab in Properties. Use the mouse to drag it to the right until the resolution is at least 1,024 by 768. That will return the display to where everything fits the monitor.
Q. You’re my last hope. I have a Dell Windows 98 machine and run SBC Yahoo DSL.
As soon as I connect to the Internet, I start getting an error message “Iexplore–This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.” If I click on the details button it further states “IEXPLORE caused an invalid page fault in module
unknown …”
This message will pop up every few minutes. Additionally, if I do a Ctrl + Alt + Delete, the program box will show that this program is listed multiple times (up to 10 times). It slows the machine down terribly, and eventually I reboot.
I’ve been on the phone with Microsoft three times and SBC once. I’ve reloaded Internet Explorer 6.0 and have run SpyBot and Ad-aware software. Nothing seems to work.
Tom Woods, Frankfort
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A. You surely talked to the wrong person at Microsoft, Mr. W.
Microsoft’s Knowledge Base of fixes for various “issues” deals directly with this problem that afflicts Windows 98 and 95 only. It stems from a virus called Matrix that does its nasty stuff by corrupting the Windows Sockets, or Winsock, which is the essential file that Windows uses to link with the Web.
The fix is to restore that Winsock file (wsock32.dll) to its pristine state using the Windows System File Checker and then extracting an unsullied copy from your Windows 98 CD-ROM.
Put the CD in the drive tray, click Start and Run, type in sfc and tap Enter. Pick the Extract file choice that appears, then point the Browse box that appears to the CD drive and press Enter.
If you are asked to create a new folder for the operation, say Yes and the operating system will restore your Winsock and stop those nasty floods of Internet Explorer error messages.
Q. At my sign-on screen, how can I hide my own user name if I have a guest come and ask to sign on under “Guest” to check their mail? I like to have a place to hide from the world. Sometimes I play games there and do research.
And guess what? Since I never communicate with anyone there, I have yet to get any mail there. Isn’t that neat?
Orfin Hoover @aol.com
A. Computer users everywhere, from the worst of seasoned hackers right down to first-timers, share your wish for invisibility while logged on to Windows XP, Mr. H.
First I’ll show you an easy way to do this by downloading software from Microsoft called TweakUI. Then I’ll describe how to do what you want by changing the Windows registry.
TweakUI is intended for slightly advanced users and includes dozens of ways to change various aspects of Windows. One is to set up the computer so that it boots up without displaying the Welcome screen where a Guest logs on. With this Auto login tweak running you still can tap the L key plus the Windows logo key (lower left between Ctrl and Alt) to call up the Guest account.
To download TweakUI point your browsertowww.microsoft.com/windowsxp/dow nloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx.
Microsoft has strict rules about TweakUI and other “Power Toys” and warns users that the company does not support this software.
Another way to hide a user’s name is to do a tweak of your own to the sensitive Windows registry files–but first you’ve got to make a registry backup. Click on Start and then select Run and type in regedit followed by Enter. In the registry editor this opens, click on File and then pick Export. You can later restore the registry by clicking the exported file’s icon.
Now you need to dig into the registry to the following spot:
HKEY(underscore)LOCAL(underscore)MACHINE
Software
Microsoft
WindowsNT
CurrentVersion
Winlogon
SpecialAccounts
UserList
.
Put the cursor at the end of the list and give a right-click and pick New and then Dword from the pop-up menu this summons. In the blank line this creates at the end of the list you need to type in your exact user name. Click the new entry and put a 0 in for a value. This tells the computer not to display your user name.
When set up this way, with just one user account and a guest account, you can let a visitor press Windows logo plus Shift to get the Guest link. When the guest logs off, your computer will return to your invisible account.
Keep in mind that this works only if you have one user and a Guest account. If you have more than one user name, the only way to restore your hidden account is to backtrack and redo the regedit and change the value to 1.
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I’ll bet you’ll agree with me that even invisibility isn’t worth that kind of bother.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or via snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.