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System Crash

DISASTER: Microsoft crows about the reliability of Windows XP, but that doesn't mean programs have stopped crashing altogether. In fact, over the last 48 hours we've watched Microsoft Outlook, the Opera Web browser, and ATI's TV applet crash so hard that they simply refused to start up again. The next time you repeatedly double-click a program icon without results, the first thing you should suspect is a hung application, regardless of which version of the Windows operating system you use.

SOLUTION: In Windows XP and 2000, right-click the Windows taskbar and click Task Manager on the context menu. Select the Processes tab in the application window, and click the list box column head labeled Image Name to sort the list of running applications by name. Find the application you want to run. In many cases two, three, or more instances will appear, as shown in FIGURE 1. Right-click the offending application and choose End Process. Make sure to click OK to confirm your choice. Repeat these steps until all instances of the program are shut down. Close Task Manager and start the application again.

Unfortunately, Windows 98 and Me don't offer control over running processes. To clear a frozen application, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up the Close Program dialog box. Highlight the application and click the End Task button; you may have to wait several seconds before it takes effect.

Background App Sneak Attack

DISASTER: You install a media player and notice a new icon in your system tray, but then your PC slows down and an application even crashes.

SOLUTION: Background utilities loading themselves at start-up can sometimes do a lot more harm than good. This is where the Windows System Configuration Utility (in 98, Me, and XP) comes in handy. The program lets you zero in on self-starting applets such as media players. (Unless an IT administrator controls certain aspects of the PC, you should be able to access this utility.)

Select Start, Run, type msconfig in the Run dialog box, and press Enter. Click the Startup tab, and in XP, click the border that appears between the Command and Location column headers and drag it to the right until you can read the contents in that column. Look through the list of start-up items for ones you don't recognize, as shown in FIGURE 2 (and while you're at it, uncheck boxes for duplicated items or commands). Examine the command for each unknown item for clues to its identity (for example, though 'qttask' may seem cryptic, QuickTime users will recognize a command that includes '\QuickTime\qttask.exe').

Still can't figure out some of them? Track down these sneaky apps by clicking Start, Search or Start, Find to locate the .exe file referenced in the command (remember to search system folders and hidden folders, too). Right-click the file and select Properties. Click the Version tab, if it exists, to see if the data there helps. For DLLs, search for the name (up to the comma) that follows the RUNDLL command and use the same steps as for the .exe files to find clues to what each DLL does. Finally, it couldn't hurt to search the Internet for an item that won't identify itself. Uncheck the items that you want Windows to pass over the next time it starts, and then click OK.

For more-severe start-up problems, use the System Configuration Utility to load only the basic services and devices that Windows needs to run (in XP), or choose which items to load at start-up (in 98 and Me). On the General tab, click the Diagnostic Startup radio button and click OK.

Windows 2000 doesn't include this utility. Download it, extract the two msconfig files from the zipped folder, and place them in your system's winnt\system32 folder.

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