Smart Fixes for Gnarly PC Problems

By Steve Bass, PC World

Boot from a USB drive, replace system files, check your RAM, and other remedies.

I hate it when a critical file goes missing and I can't boot my system. But I have answers for that and other annoying PC hassles. Keep reading ...

Hassle: Can I use a flash device as an emergency boot drive? I tried to format the flash drive as a system drive, just as I would a floppy, but that didn't work.

The Fix: Flash drives make terrific emergency boot devices. Here's how to set it up. First, format the drive by using the free HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. Be aware that formatting will delete everything on the flash drive. Next copy three boot files from the root of your hard drive--boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect--to the flash drive. Then set your BIOS to allow booting from the flash drive. If you're a novice tweaker, follow the instructions at Tom's Hardware Guide. You'll learn how to get system boot files onto the flash drive and how to configure your system board's BIOS to see the flash drive. You can read about how to access your particular BIOS at "Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS."

The Hassle: My XP system boots normally. But if I ever try to restart after, say, installing a Windows Update, Windows flashes me a "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error message.

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Sound Off: What's your worst PC disaster?

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The Fix: That's because you have a missing or corrupt Hal.dll file (but you knew that). Tiny Empire's fixntldr should do the trick. This free tool creates a bootable floppy drive and reinstates the necessary files (the site also has instructions for using a CD-ROM). It's near the top of the page under the heading "How to fix: NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart."

If that expedient doesn't work, you'll have to do the deed manually. Read Kelly Theriot's "Missing HAL.DLL" tutorial. If you have to start over (I hope not), read Lincoln Spector's "How to Reinstall Windows XP."

Quick Tip: If your system crashes frequently and you get blue screens loaded with error messages, your problem may be bad system memory. For a quick checkup, Use Microsoft's Windows Memory Diagnostic tool.

The Hassle: I switched to a new ISP, and now Internet Explorer and Outlook Express have white buttons, highlights, and shadows. Can you return my interface back to its default appearance?

The Fix: If you're an advanced user, you can run rundll32 iedkcs32.dll, Clear from a Command box to restore IE. Or try downloading Ramesh Srinivasan's ISPUnbrand, a small utility that will reinstate the applications' normal appearance.

The Hassle: I just found MSOCACHE, a 300MB folder, on my drive. Can I delete it?

The Fix: MSOCACHE is a hidden folder with Office 2003 installation files. Windows puts it on your drive so you won't need Office CDs to add features. To reclaim the space, uninstall it with Windows' Disk Cleanup tool (click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and choose Disk Cleanup; then choose Office Setup Files from the 'Files to Delete' list). If you want to save the folder elsewhere, use Microsoft's Local Installation Source Tool.

Two Ways to Get More From XP

Hidden Utilities XP allows you to run dozens of tools in XP's applets grab bag. It's super for occasional-use XP tools like Component or Windows Services, or for one of the dozens of command-line tools such as IPConfig or the ever-popular Logman.

Taskbar Shuffle lets you rearrange the order of applications on your Windows taskbar. Drag an item to another spot on the taskbar and drop it. I use this utility to keep items in the exact order I want. Way cool. Both tools are free.

Contributing Editor Steve Bass writes the Tips & Tweaks blog and is the author of PC Annoyances, published by O'Reilly. Contact him at hasslefreepc@pcworld.com.

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