General Windows Errors Explained

Q. Why do the icons on my task bar spontaneously turn black whilst using Getright?

A. This problem is caused by running more applications than your system resources will allow. If you do nothing your PC becomes unstable and is likely to crash. To avoid this just close down one or two memory hogging programs. If the colour doesn't flood back into your icons you can drag your task bar out of view and then bring it back on screen again. If you're still experiencing a blackout keep closing windows until you see the light!

Q. I have entered a pirated serial number into Getright and now the "enter Code" field is greyed out. How do I bring it back?

A. Simply download this registry fix and double click on it. The box should magically reappear allowing you to enter a different code and register successfully.

Q. I've downloaded an MP3 file, but it has a strange file extension which Media Player refuses to accept. What can I do to make it play?

A. To avoid suspicion when uploading MP3s some people choose to rename the files so that they appear more like legitimate web site content. Typical extensions used are .js, .class, .htm and so on, but no matter what extension you choose to give an MP3 file it still remains an MP3 file. Hmmm, that reminds me of a line from Romeo and Juliet about sweet smelling roses, but I digress. The only problem is that with a different extension it will not be processed by Media Player in the usual way. So to fix the problem you can either drag these files into Media Player every time you want to play them or you can rename them so they will be recognised automatically the next time you double click on them.

This can either be done from the DOS prompt or from within your Windows folder. More than likely the extensions of the most common file formats will be hidden from view in Windows by default. To make them visible again you will need to make the following changes - from within your folder click on the "tools" menu and select "folder options". Choose the "view" tab and de-select the "hide file extensions for known file types" options by unticking the check box next to it. Press OK and return to your folder. The file extensions of all your files should have been revealed. If you right click on one of them and select the rename option from the popup menu you will be able to change them back to mp3 by deleting and replacing the characters after the dot.

Alternatively to do this from the DOS prompt, click on the "start" button followed by "programs" and "accessories" and select "command prompt". Now browse to the directory where your music files are stored using the cd (change directory) command and type ren musicfile.class musicfile.mp3 (where "musicfile" stands for the filename of your mp3 file and .class stands for its fake extension) to force the file to revert back to its former extension. If you have a large group of these fake files you can convert them all in one go by typing ren *.class *.mp3.

If when you try to play your newly renamed files they still don't work it could be that they have first been compressed using Winzip before being uploaded, in which case repeat the above procedure to rename the files to .zip, open them in Winzip and see if the MP3 file is contained within the archive. If your luck's in you can just extract and double click on the file to play it.

Q. I'm trying to update my copy of ......................... I've uninstalled the old version of the program, but when I try to install the new one I am told to completely uninstall the old one first. I thought I'd already done this. What's it talking about?

A. When you uninstall a program, despite what you are led to believe lots of junk is left behind which can conflict with later installations of the same program. The main problem is that the program's now redundant registry entries are left untouched and first need to be swept out before you can re-install the program. This can be done manually using using regedit.exe, but will take a very long time to flush out every last useless entry and even if you are very thorough you can't be sure that you've got rid of everything. Instead you could get Microsoft's Reg Clean (the same one I mention in the more tips section) to do the job for you. If that still hasn't done the trick you might want to try a heavy duty alternative such as Reg Cleaner. This will allow you to identify all the entries associated with a particular program so that they can be removed. This simple involves putting a tick in the relevant box and running through the whole suite of clean up options.