XP Service Pack 2

q+a Though I am able to read and write in Bengali as per the instructions given in your article (No language problem, May 8), it appears garbled on other computers. I created a .txt file in Notepad in Bengali and sent it over to another person, but he can only see boxes in place of the text. Also, when I try and copy the text from Notepad to Yahoo Messenger, it appears all right in my computer but to the other person it again appears as boxes. Will I be able to send messages through Yahoo Messenger using Bengali this way. If not, then how?

Chandan Seal

For Bengali to work in another person’s computer, support for Indic characters must be enabled in that PC. For Bengali this is possible in Windows XP Service Pack 2. Windows 2000 supports only Hindi, Konkani, Marathi and Tamil. Here too Indic has to be enabled to get these languages.

You could try sending the Bengali file with a .html extension to your friend. He will be able to read it in Internet Explorer even if Indic support is not enabled on his Windows XP computer.

Unfortunately, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk only display Hindi and Tamil properly. This is a known problem with these applications and is likely to get fixed in future releases.

Adware trouble

q+a Whenever I open Internet Explorer I get an error message saying something like “Iexplore.exe has caused an invalid page fault in mfc42.dll...” No web page ever opens. Is there a virus in my PC?

Biraj Bora

This problem occurs due to a program called Xupiter installed in your computer. It is a direct marketing adware program that generates pop-ups when you are browsing. You have to get rid of it. First go to Tools-->Internet Options in Internet Explorer. Click on the Advanced tab and remove the check mark from “enable third-party browser extensions”. Restart the computer and launch Internet Explorer. Next use an anti-spyware program like Ad-aware to detect it and remove it. You can download this from www.lavasoft.de.

Low virtual memory

q+a I frequently get a message saying, “Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file”. Why is this happening?

Sidhartha Sinha and Srikant Shankar

Virtual memory, which is also known as a page file, is a file that programs use as and when needed in addition to the physical memory or RAM.

If Windows wants to change the settings to meet the current memory needs you should let it. Do not attempt to adjust it by yourself. Adding more RAM reduces the need for virtual memory. I recommend at least 512 MB if you are running Windows XP.

Fake Windows XP

q+a I have a IBM ThinkCentre machine. At one point the hard disk crashed and the man responsible for maintenance formatted the disk wiping out the section from where the branded PCs usually reinstall the OS. Subsequently, I installed another copy of XP (original), but now the problem is every time I start the machine it says update ready and when I press the button it says “Installing Service Pack 2...Checking Inventory”. It then says “Product key used to install Microsoft Windows may not be valid”. How do I update to Service Pack 2?

R.N. Ghosh

Most probably, the Windows XP that has been loaded on to your PC is not genuine. You can check this out by going to www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx. Here click on the ‘Validate Windows’ button to check whether your Windows is really authentic. Also, you need to check whether you installed Windows with the right product key. This number comes with your Windows CD. Also, did you register your original copy of Windows after installation. If not, someone might have stolen your product key.

Missing .vxd file

q+a Whenever I boot my PC, I get an error message in Windows 98 that says there is a missing .vxd file. I have to press Enter twice before I can get to the Desktop.

Dipankar Banerjee

Restart your computer with the Windows startup disk. At the command prompt type ‘C’ (without the quotes) and press Enter . Next type ‘cd windows’ and press Enter again. Then write ‘edit system.ini’. Press Enter. This will invoke the MS-Dos Editor. Here search for ‘umaxis11.386’. Place a semi-colon (;) in the beginning of the line that contains ‘umaxis11.386’. Save the file and exit. Remove the startup disk and restart your computer.

Registering dll

q+a My computer says that the winhttp.dll file missing. I have downloaded it but don’t know where to put it.

Rehman Khan

You must place it in your windows\system32 folder. After that go Start?>Run and type ‘cmd’. At the command prompt type in regsvr32 winhttp.dll. This will register the dll.

Sound card problem

q+a My computer’s sound system is working, but the sound is coming out of only one speaker. I have checked the cable and all other connections. They seem to be okay.

G. Rajesh

Most probably your sound card has been placed in a defective PCI slot. Try putting the card in a spare slot and it should work fine. Before that you should check that your speakers are, in fact, really all right. Connect them to a portable CD player that has the same type of connection to verify this.

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