Tech Junky

Computer errors are a part-of-life for almost all computer users. Although these errors may leave us helpless at times, knowing how to resolve them can help us enjoy trouble-free computing for a long time. This article covers a few uncommon computer errors, their causes and methods to fix them.

Code 39 Error

The following message with error code 39 may be displayed on your computer screen due to the existence of a missing, corrupt, or incomplete CD-ROM driver.

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

When this problem occurs, you may not be able to view your CD drive in Windows Explorer. This error can be resolved by updating the CD-ROM driver on the system. To do this, follow the steps listed below:

1. Open the Start menu, select Run , type sysdm.cpl , and select OK .
2. In the System Properties dialog box, open the Hardware tab, and then select the Device Manager button.
3. Browse through the Device Manager window and locate the faulty CD device—or any other device that is generating the errors, and double-click on it.

Note : The faulty device is marked by a yellow triangle with black exclamation mark within it.

1. Open the Driver tab and select the Update Driver button to update the driver of your device and resolve the error.

Error 126

Error messages with error code 126 may be displayed due to one of the following reasons:

* Missing, corrupt, or damaged DLLs.
* Failure of an application to connect to a database because an essential client-side DLL, such as WinSQL Oracle Driver, Oracle ODBC Driver, and Microsoft Oracle Driver is not specified in PATH variable of your system.

Discussed here are a few error 126 messages and their resolution methods.

“ Specified driver could not be loaded due to system error 126 (SQL Server)”

Missing or corrupt client-side SQL Server ODBC driver from the computer causes this error. This driver is usually shipped with your Microsoft Windows operating system. However, if you receive the error, you can resolve it by downloading and installing the latest Microsoft Data Access Component from the Microsoft Support Website .

“Error 126: The specified module cannot be found”

This error 126 message is displayed due to a missing or corrupt Srvsvc.dll file. You can resolve the error by replacing the DLL with its original file. To do this, perform the steps listed below:

1. Insert the Windows XP installation disk in the CD-drive.
2. At Start > Run , type CMD , and press Enter .
3. At Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter .

expand E:\i386\srvsvc.dl_ C:\Windows\system32\srvsvc.dll

Note: Here E: represents your CD drive and C: represents system root.

1. At Start > Run , type Services.msc , and press Enter .
2. Locate the Server service, right-click and select Start .

Application errors such as the ones discussed above may also occur if you do not take proper care of your system and are not vigilant about how you use your computer. Some of the tasks that you can perform to maintain an error-free PC are:

* Regularly update it with service packs, security releases, and patches released by software and device driver manufacturers.
* Get your system a reliable registry cleaner tool so as to maintain a healthy and optimized registry.
* Install a good antivirus program to perform regular full system scans to make sure that your system is free from viruses and spyware.
* Use Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter tools to maintain a healthy hard disk.
* Avoid opening unsolicited e-mails and visiting dubious Websites.

This is something really big and cool from Microsoft. It seems to be a normal table. Until it’s switched on.

Actually, Microsoft Surface is a Multi-touch product which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user to control it through his hand gestures or physical objects.

At a glance, Microsoft Surface looks like a normal table. But it’s not that simple. It’s a sort of a computer that uses the tabletop as its high-resolution display, identifies objects like mobile phones, digital cameras etc. placed on it’s surface and replaces the conventional keyboard and mouse with fingers on the screen.

The device appears to be quite innovative and interesting when seen in the videos released by the company. In one example, people place their mobile phones on the table and in an instance the information relating to the device’s model, memory and much more is displayed. In another example, a girl is shown painting on the table with her fingers and even with a paint brush.

These are just a few of the possibilities of the Microsoft Surface. You can’t visualise all this in your mind. So why not give some videos a shot. You can watch videos showing the device’s functioning and get more information on this device at the Microsoft Surface’s site.

You would have seen an uncountable number of stylish and well designed phones. There’s a new cell available almost everyday, thus increasing the number of phone gadgets and the number of people buying them. But apart from these phones, there’s a newcomer in the market and that too a very different one. This one is named as Modu Mini Phone and has earned the reputation of being the world’s lightest phone.

The Modu Mini Phone weighs a mere 1.4 ounces and is just .3 inches thick. You can use it as a gaming phone, music phone, and as a smartphone. The Modu Mini is expected to be around by the year’s end or by the starting of the next year. This mini phone will be more convenient to carry and will fit into the user’s pocket easily.

You won’t believe it but it’s true that your iPod is a sort of a miniature computer. It does have a display, keys, storage capacity and also an operating system. So just like any other PC, you can customize your iPod by adding new features, making changes to the OS or updating it’s interface.

Wouldn’t it be good to have your iPod filled with content from the Internet or with some of your ripped DVD’s? You can do all this stuff with some cool iPod hacks. They’ll cost you absolutely nothing and don’t worry as these are harmless and you can reverse them back.

1. Copy music from your iPod: Did you lose your music collection on your PC due to some kind of a hard drive problem or wanna copy some MP3s to your new PC? Either way, iPod Folder can make things a lot more easier for you. This utility is available for both Windows and Mac and is compatible with all iPod versions. iPod folder can copy music directly from any iPod to any folder on your PC. If you wish to, you can even store it on your player so that it’s available to you at any moment.

2. Carry Wikepedia on the move: Want your pocket to have an encyclopedia? It’s possible now with an iPod-formatted version of Wikipedia. Just think of the huge repository of knowledge you’ll have in your hands. Thousands of facts and figures at your disposal!

To have one in your iPod, you just require the free Encyclopodia viewer and the Wikipedia e-book files. The e-book files are available in English, German and Italian.

3. Rip DVDs to your iPod: Video iPod’s are great but getting videos in the right format for your player is a problem. HandBrake is a utility to help you deal with it. Basically, it converts your DVDs into iPod-compatible MP4 video files. HandBrake is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux machines.

HandBrake will turn down on the encrypted DVD’s as it’s been made to rip only unprotected discs. But with a utility like DVD43, you can overcome this problem and decrypt DVD’s with ease.

After you are over with installing DVD43 or a similar decryption tool, open HandBrake. Click the ‘Show Presets’ button and then choose a suitable preset. Insert your DVD and wait for a few a seconds to let your system recognize it. Next click the ‘Browse’ button in the Source section. Get to the DVD’s ‘Video_TS‘ folder and then click on OK. Now, choose a destination for the output file and then click the ‘Encode Video’. You’ll have to wait for some time so be patient. After it’s over, copy that file to your iPod normally.

4. Monitor your music folders automatically: iTunes has been updated to a great extent but the program still doesn’t monitor folders for new tunes. It will update your library with songs ripped from CDs or bought from the iTunes stores but won’t do so if you manually add music from anywhere else.To fix this thing up, we have a utility called iTunes Folder Watch. It’s a free utility for PC’s running on Windows and monitors your specified folders and updates your library with all the newly found music.

Install this tool, and then run it. You’ll have to build an ‘iTFW New Tracks playlist‘. The program will put itself into the system tray. Now, right-click the System Tray and click Open. Add the folders you want to be monitored for new content. Click on the ‘Check Now’ button and iTFW will start scanning tracks that are not already present in your iTunes library. If it finds something new, you’ll see it listed under the ‘New Tracks’ tab. From here, you can add your latest songs to your library.

5. Synchronize iTunes with any non-iPod player: Moving your music library from iTunes to a non-iPod player is a headache. iTunes won’t allow it and making your playlists from scratch is a pain. iTunes Sync can do this job for you. It can synchronize your iTunes playlist to many other portable players and even to some cell phones. For now, iTunes Sync only works with players that are assigned a drive letter when plugged in.

There are many more mods available for the iPod and iTunes. These are just a few essential ones.

If you feel that the anti-virus you just installed is perfectly fine to protect your PC, then think again. Nasty new viruses, worms, malware and spyware are born about every minute. If so is the case, then they can invade your computer, beating your anti-virus away.

Now it’s time to protect yourself through online virus scanners. Yep, you heard it right - ‘online virus scanners’. These scanners use varied scanning mechanisms and possess the latest virus signature databases. The virus definitions are updated quite frequently and thus protect you from the latest threats.

Many of the big anti-virus companies nowadays provide users access to an online scanner. Here’s a look at the best free online virus scanner:

1. Microsoft Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner: The OneCare Safety Scanner is an online service from Microsoft. This easy-to-use scanner will search your PC to detect all that malware and sytem vulnerabilities. It even assists you in removing them. It might not be that effective against the latest threats but still helps. It can also help you improve upon your system performance by curing certain system issues.

2. Avast! Online Scanner: The Avast! Online scanner is a free and fast scanner. While it limits you to just scan one file at a particular time, it’s good if you want to check a few of your suspicious files. It also doesn’t scan files which are more than 512kb in size. So make sure you got the file size right.

3. F-Secure Online Virus Scanner: To proceed with F-Secure, you’ll firstly need to download it’s 22MB update database. After you get hold of the updates, you can begin with the scan and removal process. It works only with IE 6 or higher and makes use of ActiveX and JavaScript. Basically, the primary version is for Windows XP and 2000 users. Vista users can scan their systems using the recently released F-Secure Online Scanner 3.3 Beta.

4. BitDefender Online Scanner: The BitDefender Online scanner will scan your hard drive and boot sectors. Scanning with the defaults will even enable it to remove the infections automatically. If you want, you can even limit the scan to certain folders. You also have the option to save the scan reports for a later analysis. This program too works with only Internet Explorer.

5. Kaspersky, Mcaffee Free Scan & Panda ActiveScan: Wondering why I’ve categorizing these three scanners under one roof? It’s so because these programs scan your computer perfectly but when the time comes for removal of threats, they’ll not be so helpful. You may try these for getting reports on the infections your PC persists. They might even give you certain tips on how to deal with these. Maybe they’ll be useful? - LoL!

Although you can scan your computer for threats using these programs but remember that these are not an alternative for your regular anti-virus software. These can be a sort of second line for defense. You need to install a good anti-virus to stay protected.