Thirty PC problems solved

1) Vista won’t hibernate
Q I ran the Disk Cleanup Wizard on my Windows Vista computer and chose the option to remove the files used by hibernation. Since doing this I have been unable to put the computer into hibernate mode. How can I get hibernation to work again?

A To re-enable hibernation click the Start menu and type cmd. Right-click on the cmd entry in the search results, choose Run as Administrator, then click Continue when the User Account Control (UAC) window appears. Type powercfg.exe/hibernate on and press Enter, then type exit and press Enter. Hibernation will now reappear in the power options windows.

2) Vista won’t play DVDs
Q I used to be able to play DVD movies in my Windows XP computer, but when I put them in my new PC it says “Windows Media Player cannot play DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on the computer”. What’s wrong?

A Vista Home Premium and Ultimate can play DVDs without any extra software, but Vista Basic cannot. To play DVDs you’ll need to pay for a decoding program: Roxio sells one designed for Vista for just £10.

3) Returning to Windows XP?
Q I’ve purchased a Windows Vista computer, but I want to install Windows XP on it as well. I’ve read that to use both systems at once Windows XP must be installed first ­ is that true?

A Sadly, it is true. If you have a Vista PC and install Windows XP, this will simply overwrite the whole disk, ruining Vista. To run the two side by side it’s vital to install XP first. If you have purchased a PC with Vista installed, a simple alternative is to run Windows XP as a virtual computer using our free download of Microsoft’s Virtual PC.

4) Where’s Autoplay gone?
Q Windows XP used to automatically run programs when I put the CD in my disc drive but now it does nothing. How can I make this work again?

A To get the Autoplay feature back, download Microsoft’s free TweakUI tools from our site. Install the program, then choose Powertoys for Windows XP from the Start menu. When the program runs, choose My Computer on the left of the window, then choose Autoplay, click Types and tick ‘Enable Autoplay for all CD and DVD drives’. Now click Drives and make sure that your optical drives are ticked in the list. Click OK, then restart your computer.