• PC World
• » Software
• » Browsers & Add-Ons

Windows Demystified

What frightens psychic investigators and makes UFO experts tremble? The disturbances that Windows is known to cause: Things disappear, make strange noises, and start acting abnormally. Here are the mysteries I've encountered and solved.

File Association Snatchers

Mystery: The MP3 player you installed has taken over all your media files--video, photos, music, and even .wav files.

Solved: Pod people are bad enough--but pod files? >>TIP Open the application you don't want to associate with the files, check its Options menu, and look for a setting to disassociate the files. Repeat with the app you do want associated with the files. Or try this: In Windows Explorer, select View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options. Choose File Types, scroll to the type whose association you want to change, and select it. In Windows 98, click Edit twice, and enter the path of the program that should open the file (or browse to it, if you prefer). Then click OK. In Windows Me, 2000, or XP, use the Change button.

Need to look up an extension? Do it at File Extension Search Engine. >>TIP Make associations permanent by right-clicking a file in Explorer and selecting Open With ( Open With, Choose Program in XP). Select the desired program and check the Always...box.

Uninstall Headaches

Mystery: You try to uninstall a program with Windows' Add/Remove Programs, and get this error message: "The log file DEISL1.ISU is not valid or the data has been corrupted." Or the Add/Remove applet lists programs no longer on your PC. Maybe your HAL 9000 just doesn't want you uninstalling anything.

Solved: >>TIP Find the program's folder (it should be nested in the Program Files folder), and delete the DEISL1.ISU (or UNINST.ISU) file (it may be in a subfolder). Reinstall and then uninstall the program using Add/Remove Programs. If that doesn't work, use brute force: Delete the program's folder, click Start, Run, type RegEdit, select File, Export to save a copy, and then delete the program's keys in both HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

An easier way? You could purchase the $20 Ashampoo UnInstaller 2000 , a utility that guides you through the process. Ashampoo UnInstaller also eliminates the names of long-gone programs in Add/Remove. So does Tweak UI, a freebie available at PC World.com downloads area; download the one for your version of Windows.

If your system crashes midway through a Microsoft Office 2000 installation, you may not be able to uninstall (or reinstall) Office. To do that you'll need Eraser2k.exe, a Microsoft utility that removes Office files and Registry settings. Visit Microsoft Product Support Services for instructions on using it.

Not So Normal.dot

Mystery: You click the Word icon, but it doesn't load. Instead, an error appears. After trying again and scanning for alien life-forms, you get a blue screen. Reinstalling Word doesn't help, nor does uninstalling and then reinstalling it.

Solved: Somehow the mother ship corrupted Word's normal.dot template file. >>TIP Use Windows' Find function to locate Normal.dot; then delete the file. Once the file is gone, Word will create a new Normal.dot file, and your PC will be fine.

• See more like this:
• troubleshooting,
• harware,
• software,
• Windows,
• tips,
• CD-RW,
• Web,
• Internet,
• BIOS,
• graphics,
• compatibility,
• dead PC,
• utilities