Q. I am having a major problem with the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser. Every time I do a search on Yahoo.com or on a Web site that contains a search box, I get an error saying that there was a problem with Internet Explorer, and that it will be shut down, sorry for the inconvenience and that IE will restart … but it is not the illegal error message.
I have tried to repair IE through add/remove programs and reinstalled IE altogether, but I still get the message. Can you help? — Lisa Spadea @yahoo.com
A. With Microsoft’s stunning and, I think, arrogant decision starting with Windows XP and its latest Web browser software not to support the Java code owned by rival Sun Microsystems Inc., problems like yours are going to become way too common, Ms. S.
Your problem is with what is called a browser plug-in, software designed to let your copy of Internet Explorer use the Java code incorporated in many Web sites instead of Microsoft’s own software for doing that kind of stuff. If you reinstall the Java plug-in, the problem will vanish quicker than you can say double decaf latte with a twist of ozone. Here is the Internet address you need to download the needed plug-in: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/jre/.
You may need the actual URL because there is a chance that your computer won’t let you perform a search when you log on to the main page for Sun Microsystems at www.sun.com.
Q. What does this mean: illegal operation? How does it come about? –Howard Simon @nac.net
A. In the end, all computer crashes, lockups, freezes and meltdowns related to software happen because the same thing happens inside the machine’s central processing unit or main chip. A disruption occurs in the process of moving bits of data back and forth among the thousands of transistors dedicated to manipulating the zeros and ones that are the only numbers that a chip understands.
When one of these registers gets corrupted, it essentially remains as part of the system, but its value is zero no matter what other stuff goes on–including the majority of times when it should convey a value other than zero.
Eventually, one of the commands will be to divide some other number by the corrupted register. And that means dividing a number by zero, which, as any high school algebra teacher will be delighted to tell you, is an illegal operation. So when you get an illegal operation notification, you can assume that nobody knows why your machine crashed, but that the people who designed it had at least one class in algebra.
While we’re on the topic, let’s deal with the other error message that drives people nuts but means nothing. Error messages that say “kernal32.dll is responsible for the problem” sound helpful but actually convey no more helpful information than do illegal operation messages. “Kernel32” is nothing more or less than the entire operating system running the computer.
Of course, when there is a kernal32 error, the machine is frozen.
Q. I have an extensive music collection (more than 750 files) in the MP3 format. I would like to make a copy of these files to protect against a hard-drive crash, virus, etc. My PC is a Gateway 133 mHz with 32 mb of RAM. What is the easiest (and most cost-effective) way of accomplishing this?
I borrowed a friend’s CD burner, but I was unable to use it because my PC does not have USB connectivity (it’s an old PC). The collection is roughly 3 gb in size. I would hate to have to download these files again if something should happen to my collection. — Rich Rind @yahoo.com.
A. You’re in luck, Mr. R., because DeKalb-based MicroSolutions Inc. has stuck to its guns and continues to make CD-RW drives that work through the parallel or printer port on clunkers like that Gateway you’ve kept while the world moved to far faster machines based on the superior USB standard.
Check out www.micro-solutions.com for the backpack Triple Play CD rewriter, built by a company that became famous in technology circles for squeezing every last inch of power out of the parallel ports on PCs. The gadget costs in the sub-$300 range, and I mention it because it has USB powers, which you will want when you finally move up to a badly needed new computer.
You also can find parallel-port-only CD drives from MicroSolutions. But take it from me, after performing the amazing feat of collecting 750 music files on that Gateway workhorse, you will be amazed at how much easier it will get to collect music on one of today’s CD-RW-equipped Pentium III or 4 machines with 128 mb of memory or more.
Q. My problem boils down to the fact that my computer tells me that it cannot use certain files I need because they are “read only.” Here’s the background: I have a year-old Gateway computer that runs Windows ME. I manage a database of about 4,000 names with three relational files using Lotus Approach.
Because I often need to work at home, I have the same computer setup there. The person who set up my first computer six years ago wrote a customized Backup/Restore program that allowed me to Zip the database files onto a floppy disk and then restore the files to my home computer and vice versa.
Problem: Today, my Zip files were too large for a floppy disk. Using Adaptec Creator CD, I copied the database files onto a CD-RW (without Zipping) and then transferred the files to my home computer. When I tried to work in my database at home, I received a message that all the files I had just copied from the CD-RW are Read-only, and I could not do anything. — Sister Lois Darold, Community of St. John the Baptist.
A. All you need to do is change the so-called attributes of those Approach files from read only to read/write, but because you’re using a CD-R disc, you first must move the database files onto your home computer’s desktop to perform the operation.
This is because CD-R discs cannot be altered on one machine after they have been burned on another. This makes CD-Rs far less useful for swapping data than are humble 1.4 mb floppies, even though CDs hold vastly more information (up to 700 mb).
So open the icon for the CD-R and drag the needed files to your desktop. Once they are on the desktop, right-click on the file and select Properties in the pop-up menu that appears. You will find a box marked Read-write with a check mark in it. Remove the check mark, and the files will be ready to use as you always had before.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoates@tribune.com or via snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, 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.
