Q. I read in your column about the new Yahoo search engine and I took the bait. I installed it and it really works well but now it’s causing me a problem. Every time I boot up my computer, the desktop appears briefly, but then it disappears and the Yahoo Search software takes up the whole screen.
What’s up?
Kevin Flynn@stdi.org
A. Like a tiny bump of acne on a prom queen’s chin, Yahoo’s desktop search engine does indeed start off with a flaw that is about as welcome as smallpox after the glow of discovery wears off, eh, Mr. F?
Unlike competitors Microsoft and Google, which both use traditional Web browsers to display search results, Yahoo’s search product is a stand-alone program that runs like a word processor or a pinball game. The trouble is that the default settings for Yahoo’s search program are set to behave like a bull in a China shop, knocking everything else out of sight.
If you look closely at the system tray in the lower right of the Windows display you will find a tiny icon that looks like a silver dollar stuck atop a slice of toast. Give that a right-click and you’ll get a pop-up that includes a couple of commands, including an Options choice. Pick Options and you will find that you need to check a box for Start Minimized to make the software behave like other programs and quietly wait in the system tray for its owner’s summons.
For other readers, the Yahoo software is at http://desktop.yahoo.com for free downloading. It’s well worth a gander, particularly now that you know how to make it behave.
Q. After having America Online for about two years and having virus problems, freezing, etc., I decided to switch to BellSouth with a DSL broadband account.
Now every time I click on a link in a Web page, my mouse freezes up for about five minutes.
If I write a hotlink down and type it in the address window, my browser works.
How can I solve this problem?
Clarence Judkins@bellsouth.net
A. Microsoft says that this problem is very rare and that it usually happens when one of a particular group of support files called a DLL (dynamic link library) gets corrupted. One of these files, urlmon.dll, usually is the culprit.
So you need to start by repairing and reinstating the file’s link in the complex Windows XP registry.
Here’s the drill:
Click on Start and then Run. In the Open box for Run, type in regserver.32 urlmon.dll and tap the Enter key. Wait for a message informing you that the registry now has access to the correct file for recognizing Web addresses, also called URLs.
Here’s the bummer, Mr. J: The urlmon.dll file is one of many that might be messed up in the registry to cause this. The others are named mshtml.dll, actxprxy.dll, oleaut32.dll, shell32.dll and shdocvw.dll.
So if your problem continues after registering the urlmon.dll file then you need to repeat the process by going to the Run command and typing in the regserver.32 command followed by each name. Here is a technical description of the issue in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx cid=kb;EN-US;Q281679.
This page is useful, Microsoft promises, because it contains a link where you can contact somebody for any needed help beyond running the fixes I described.
Q. I am very new to computers and I had a problem that the Dell technical support staff fixed, but now I am worried about what they had me do. I was led through the steps to boot Windows from a selective startup and that set the computer so that the System Restore feature was disabled.
A number of weeks passed and I realized that everything I have done up to now–including the fixes from Dell–is not available for System Restore.
How do I restore this feature? Then please tell me if I will have trouble because it has been switched off all this time.
Millie McCabe @tds.com
A. First of all, Ms. M, relax. Since nothing seems to have gone wrong since you went back on the machine after the tech support experience, once you switch the System Restore feature back on it will make an exact copy of the state of your computer right now. If something goes wrong in the future you will be able to use the System Restore to go back to the current state or to any other restore points that will be set after you do the fix.
Here is how one restores Restore:
Find the My Computer icon, either on the desktop or in the list that comes up when one clicks the Start button.
Give My Computer a right-click and pick Properties.
In the display this brings up will be the check box to toggle System Restore.
Give it a check and then close the menu and restart the computer. It will create a restore point and go back to making these occasional copies of the computer’s state.
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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.
