FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  585 (16/10/07)

Q. My query concerns Internet Explorer 6 History. The problem is that all the pages listed are greyed out and cannot be read offline. The headings are there and also the page titles but that is as far as I can go.  Looking at the Temporary Internet file Folder it would appear that all the pages are stored but for some reason they are inaccessible. Trying to open Web pages directly from this folder produces warning messages.

Keith Shipley, via email

A. The Internet Explorer History function was always a bit flaky as it depends on complete web pages being stored in the Temporary Internet files folder. If this is full, or set to empty automatically, either by IE or by an external security program then the pages listed in History simply won’t be there.

I suggest that you go to Tools > Internet Options, select the General tab and make sure that ‘Days to keep pages in History’ is set to a reasonable amount of time (7 – 10 days or whatever suits your needs). Next click the Settings button under Temporary Internet Files and make sure there is plenty of space available by moving the slider to the right and click OK. You should also empty the Temporary Internet Files and History folders, (assuming that you have bookmarked the pages you want to view), click the Delete Files and Clear History buttons.

Q. I recently bought a new laptop and its been working fine, however I cannot get the Task Manager to come up. If I press Ctrl+Alt+Del nothing happens. I found the Task Manager .exe file and have a shortcut to it on my desktop. If I click on that it comes up no problem.

I've done quite a bit of research into this on the web. I've seen suggestions such as a missing registry value but the relevant settings are okay and it hasn't been disabled. Do you have any thoughts on the matter that can help restore both the Task Manager and my sanity?

Jim Thompson, via email

A. You have saved me a lot a of time by confirming that the Task Manager utility (Taskmgr.exe) is working properly, and for the record there are at least two other ways of opening it, by pressing Shift +Ctrl + Esc, or by going to Run on the Start menu and typing ‘taskmgr’ (without the quotes). 

Blocking Task Manager (and other diagnostic utilities like msconfig) is a fairly common trait amongst viruses and worms. They do to protect themselves, making it harder to detect and remove the offending files.

Unfortunately there are rather a lot of them that do this – W32.Spybot, Win32 Alcan. Irofgfer.F, to name just a few -- so it is difficult to give specific removal instruction, but the free on-line scanner Trend Housecall, has proved to be very effective at tracking down and eliminating nasties of this type, so give that a try. However, in a few cases the damage caused is so extensive that it’s impossible to repair and the only way to fully restore this function is to re-install Windows.

Q. Several years ago you wrote a series of Boot Camp articles on building your own PC. I put one together and have been using it for 3 years now and excellent service it has given me! However, last weekend the motherboard finally packed up (it won't even load the BIOS). My question is a simple one. What would you recommend to replace the Asus P4R800VM motherboard, for it to be compatible with the components originally specified?

Richard and Sue Nicol, via email

A. That was the DT Mk 1 project from Boot Camp 321 published in early 2004; very successful it was too and many were built. The prototype is still going strong and was in daily use for several years, though it is now leading a fairly sedate life as a backup and test bed machine.

Motherboards with ‘478’ type CPU sockets used are now becoming a little thin on the ground but the original Asus model can still be found. At the time of writing there were half a dozen on ebay, all apparently in good working order, and typically selling for under £20.00. Ebay also had scores of other makes of 478 motherboard, many of which would be suitable, the key features being ATX form factor, 184-pin DDR DIMM memory sockets, on-board video and audio and at least two IDE drive channels. The suggested alternative to the Asus board, the Asrock P4165G, is also available from several on-line sellers like aria.co.uk for less than £30, though as I pointed out at the time this one lacks an AGP socket, which may be useful if you want to fit a more advanced graphics card.

If you are still stuck there’s nothing to stop you upgrading to a more up to date motherboard and CPU, in which case there are many more choices available to you. Just make sure the new motherboard has same form factor and suitable IDE hard drive and memory module sockets.   

Q. Every so often, when visiting certain (entirely respectable) websites, when I click to move to another page or download something I get the following error message: ‘iexplore has caused an error in yt.dll and will now close’. It then tells me that I must restart my computer. I am worried this may be a virus or something dangerous. I always exit Internet Explorer, close Windows, reboot and run a virus scan but it never finds anything. Do you know what might be causing it!

Ken Peters, via email

A. The dll (dynamic link library) file belongs to the Yahoo! Companion Browser Toolbar and my guess is that it has been damaged so I would get rid of it by clicking the pencil icon and select Uninstall or Remove Yahoo! Companion! If the Toolbar has stopped working then you should also be able to eradicate it from Add/Remove Program in Control Panel.

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© R. Maybury 2007 2509