The much changed Weekend show slot finally happened on the 27^th February. The topics we covered were the latest MyDoom Virus and why second-hand computers aren’t often a good idea. We had a lot of listener questions, including the following.

Burning DVDs

Pauline called in with a call about problems burning DVDs with her software. Unfortunately DVD and CD burning problems are common. It’s a very complex area with many variables.

The first things we recommend are burning at the lowest possible speed with multisession turned off. It also pays to experiment with blank media, some burners prefer certain brands and price is no guide to what your burner likes. A visit to the software vendor’s website is a good start.

This field is a little out of our area of competence. A site with good guides for this sort of problem is Digital Director. Among other things, they have links to tools that can help with problems like this.

Msacm.dll error

Msacm is part of the windows audio compression feature. Lloyd is finding an msacm error when trying to burn music. It appears a program has corrupted the Windows file.

Reregistering the msacm.dll file is the best first point, click start, run and type regsvr32 msacm.dll, it’s a good idea to reboot afterwards. If that doesn’t work, reinstalling the msacm.dll file is the next step. Microsoft describe how to do this in their knowledge base.

Lost XP password

One of the reasons we steer people away from second hand computers is the risk of not knowing the administrator password. Rita called with exactly this problem. If your profile has administrative rights, you can change the administrator password by going into the Users applet of the Control Panel.

It is possible to reset the XP password, a number of tools are available on the web. We use the Offline NT password and registry editor. Be warned, any tool that edits the registry runs the risk of damaging your system or messing up your data, so backup important data before starting.

No foreigners please

Sam had a problem with some software for converting images off his mobile. The upgraded software is available, but won’t download for Australian users. This is a common problem with many websites.

The way around this is to use a public proxy. This diverts your web browser through someone else’s server and makes it look like that server is your computer. A list of available free proxies can be found at The Public Proxy Servers List.

It’s a matter of trial and error to find the appropriate ones to see what works best. Generally, using these sites will slow your browsing substantially. So it’s best to change the settings back to your ISPs recommendations when you are finished.

Kernel32 errors

One of the most difficult problems to fix on Windows computers are Kernel32 errors. Basically these can mean anything.

Kathy called about one happening whenever she browses the net. We would recommend using Firefox to stop the immediate problem. This does not address the underlying cause.

Fixing the problem can be complex. Scanning the system for spyware and viruses is the first step. Emptying the cache, updating Internet Explorer and reinstalling IE are other options.

The next weekend show is scheduled for April 3. But we will confirm this closer to the date. If you’d like to be kept informed of the constantly changing Weekend schedule, subscribe to our newsletter.