Q. My Gateway computer was purchased in February 2000. My problem: A few weeks ago, it would not let me into MS Word (new or existing documents) without putting in the installation disc. After a couple of weeks of this, I decided to uninstall and re-install MS Word. So far so good, except I have no idea where the gold sticker with the 25 numbers that I now need to re-enter in order to write new or gain access to my docs. Is there any way for me to get these numbers? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Alberta Bell @sbcglobal.net
A. Microsoft’s support department offers instructions, and a phone number, that let users of Microsoft Office and other productivity software explain their situation and obtain a duplicate copy of programs.
To get details, go Support.Microsoft.com and then type in the article number 823570 in the search box for the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
You will find instructions there of how to check the inner settings of your computer to find the details that will prove that you actually own the software and that it was installed on your computer. It takes a bit of doing, but the company pledges to let customers make their case to a human being once the information is collected.
Cynic that I am, let me add that another way to get around this problem is to go shopping on eBay to find somebody who has put their Microsoft software up for sale, which is legal as long as the seller has a proper license. These sales include the original CDs and packaging along with the CD keys needed to activate the programs.
Q. I booted my 8-year-old Dell running fully updated Windows XP one morning to find that all Microsoft-related text had been replaced by what looked like a kind of hieroglyphics: circles and squares of various sizes, empty or all black, squiggly lines, bars, etc. I inquired of several “experts” who either sent me on wild goose chases or gave me the easy answer: “You have a virus; you must scour the hard drive and re-install Windows.” I was sure I did not have a virus because the system booted OK and stayed up, and all my files were intact. My first impulse was to do a System Restore, but there was only one restore point there–the day I had found the mess. Finally, after ordering a new computer, I did a safe boot and restored all settings to default, then tried the Restore again, and this time there were restore points well ahead of the debacle. Holding my breath I did a Restore, and lo and behold, my computer was its old self again. Oh well, it was time I had a new computer anyway. The only thing I had done out of the ordinary the day before was to run McAfee’s Quick Clean and defrag my hard drive. The next time I booted, the mess was there.
Tom Wilson, San Jose, Calif.
A. Hats off to you, Mr. W. You solved the problem on your own and taught me and readers of these columns something in the process. It’s a shame that you bought a new computer before finding the fix, but you sound kind of happy to have a new machine anyway. I hope so.
Anyway, whatever made your computer burp changed some settings in the Windows system registry that specify which of the dozens of fonts loaded onto a computer will serve as the “system font,” the one used for file and folder names, prompt boxes and so on. It sounds like a font called Wingdings became your system font.
You can find the system fonts by using the system registry editor. Click on Start and then Run and type in regedit and click OK to call it up. Now click on File and then Export to save a copy of the registry before making any changes so you can go back if you make an error.
Now drill down to this address in the registry editor:
HKEY(underscore)LOCAL(underscore)MACHINE SOFTWARE
Microsoft
Windows NT
CurrentVersion
GRE(underscore)Initialize.
When you select this line there will be a value displayed showing a font name on the order of fontname.fon. Whatever font name is added there will take over, sometimes with nasty side effects as you experienced.
Q. I am a senior, and when it gets too technical I get lost. My problem is that every time I boot up my Windows XP computer I get an error that says “nwiz.exe AppVer 6.13.10.3190 ModVer 6.13.10.3190 offset 0000 2429 Tech info C:DOCUMC(tilde)1 Owner
LOCAL(tilde)
temp
will be included in error report.” By now the file (when I click More Info) is a mile long. Can you help me?
Jolanda [email protected]
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A. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Ms. S., but that problem you’ve got has two fixes and both are on the technical side. I’ll cover both of them, but I wonder if you’d be better off just ignoring the error messages and going on with the day’s activity.
The nwiz.exe program is part of the drivers for some of the Nvidia video cards that go into many PCs. Specifically it handles a feature that would let a single PC display to be sent to 30-plus monitors at the same time, something that hardly anybody needs. The formal fix is to go to the Nvidia Web site, download a fresh set of driver programs and install them. The drivers can be found at www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp.
It is even more daunting to stop the computer from attempting to load nwiz.exe at each bootup because that requires editing the system registry, a huge file of all of the settings on a Windows computer.
To do that you click on Start and then select Run and type in regedit and click OK. Now click on File and then Export in the registry editor to make a backup copy of this important file before any changes are made.
Now you need to go through the listings to find the lines that run nwiz.exe. These are kept at this address:
HKEY(underscore)LOCAL(underscore)MACHINE SOFTWARE
MICROSOFT
WINDOWS
CURRENTVERSION
RUN.
The remedy is to go to that spot and then delete every line that includes the expression “nwiz.exe” to stop the computer from running this software.
As I said, because these fixes are so daunting and the only problem is a nagging error message, it might be better just to put up with this problem than to undertake a fix campaign.
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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.