Wipe out error messages in XP and Vista

The Blue Screen of Death
The so-called ‘Blue Screen of Death’ (BSOD) ­ a blue screen with white text ­ occurs when there has been a serious problem with the computer. Once it appears, there’s no way back into Windows without restarting the computer. Each BSOD will be accompanied by an error code, of which there are far too many to list here.

Since Windows automatically restarts the PC when it experiences a BSOD this code is easy to miss. To change this, right-click the My Computer icon, select Properties and from the Advanced tab click Settings under Startup and Recovery (in Vista, click Advanced System Settings link to reach this screen).

Remove the tick from the Automatically Restart box and any BSODs will remain on screen, allowing you to jot down the error code. Entering this code into an internet search engine will usually provide information on what is causing the error and how to fix it.

‘Buffer overrun detected’
This error message usually means that a program has tried to use more memory than Windows was expecting it to. Clicking OK will close the error message and terminate the offending program.

Such errors can result from badly written software, but they can also be a sign of something more dangerous: buffer overruns can sometimes be used by malicious programs. If you see this message on a regular basis, make sure your security software is up-to-date and perform full anti-virus and anti-spyware scans.

‘There is an IP address conflict’
You will see this error in a pop-up box when there’s a problem with your home network. Each computer on a network has a unique identifier known as an IP address. This error message appears whenever two computers (or other network devices ­ everything connected to the network has an address) are trying to use the same IP address.

If you’ve just added a new device to the network, check its settings. In most cases all devices should be set to get an address from the router using a system called DHCP. If you haven’t added anything new then restart the router first and then restart every network device so each is given a new IP address.

‘Missing shortcut’
This message appears if you try to open a shortcut icon (identified by a small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the icon) but Windows can’t find the file or program that it refers to. This could be because it has been deleted, uninstalled, moved or renamed.

To find out which file the shortcut is linked to, right-click the icon and select Properties. The file it’s trying to run will be listed under Target. The easiest way to resolve this problem is to locate the file you want the shortcut to be linked to, right-click it and choose Create Shortcut from the Send To menu. In Vista, this error message reads ‘Problem with shortcut’.

‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file’
This error message occurs when Windows Media Player doesn’t know how to play the type of video or audio file you’ve just opened. In order to fix it, you will need to install the correct codec ­ a tiny bit of software that explains how a particular type of multimedia file works.

The error message can be removed simply by clicking Close, but the Web Help button will take you to a Microsoft support site. If you find many media files won’t play you should consider installing a codec pack such as K-Lite.

‘The following programs are still running:’ (Vista)
When a PC is shut down, Windows will attempt to close all running applications. However, some programs won’t allow themselves to be closed ­ if Word has an unsaved document open, for example ­ it will wait for you to save or discard it. Close the program yourself and you should be able to shut down.

This error message will also display if an application has frozen or crashed ­ in this case, close it using the Task Manager.

‘The disk is write-protected’
Many forms of removable storage, such as USB memory keys and memory cards, have write-protect switches, and these can be easy to activate by accident. When the switch is activated you won’t be able to copy files to the device or delete any files on it. To remove the write protection, you will usually need to flick a switch or move a slider on the storage device.

‘You are running out of disk space on C:’
You don’t need us to tell you what this message means, but simply ignoring it will only cause problems. Although the majority of disk space is used for storing programs and their related files, it’s also used by Windows to store vital temporary files.

When the computer’s memory is full, clicking on the notification will launch Disk Cleanup, which will attempt to remove non-essential files, but you should also consider archiving old files to CD or DVD, uninstalling applications you no longer use and possibly investing in an external USB hard disk for extra storage.