Sometimes, it’s not programs in your PC that’s the problem, it’s the devices either attached to it, or inside it. When it comes to a driver error, you can often resolve the problem by updating or downloading new drivers rather than installing or removing software. If a printer suddenly stops working correctly – it’s not communicating with your computer anymore despite being turned on, for example – the drivers may be faulty. Drivers are the small software programs that “speak” to other devices to ensure everything works together correctly.

If your drivers decide they can’t speak to each other anymore, you have a computing disconnect. This not only stops big components like printers, keyboards and monitors, but it can affect smaller, internal items like USB drives, ports, and buses on your motherboard.

First Try: Update a Driver through Windows

To resolve the problem, you can update drivers through Windows. Go to Start and then type “Device Manager” in the search box. Drill down in the menu that appears to find the component of your computer that doesn’t seem to be working correctly. This is where specific error messages can actually help. Did you get a message telling you that …

• “The Computer Cannot Find the ___”?
• Or it is "Unable to connect to ___"?

Then that’s the thing you look for in the device manager. This dialog is nested, so you can click on the action keys (the plus sign) to see the number and type of that device category that your computer has installed.

It should come as no surprise that your computer has an underground element. The Window’s Database is that place – it holds instructions for your computer and, among them, includes details that manage thousands of small tasks on a PC.

Annoyingly, this database (also called the Windows Registry) can make an environment for errors – including traces of programs you’ve already uninstalled. But like many behind-the-scenes elements, it’s dangerous to play with the registry unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

What to Know Before Editing the Registry

There are many solutions to errors that involve making changes to the registry. And so long as you’re following step-by-step instructions and picking your way through the database carefully, you should be just fine. The concern about modifying the Registry is that there is always a chance something will go wrong. You’re working in the most fundamental layer of the computer, so if you delete the wrong thing, as one computer expert explained, “you've got an expensive doorstop.”

You have the power to put it back, but you must do so with exactness. Perhaps this is why Microsoft makes editing the registry sound downright sinister:

“Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.”

What is the Windows Registry?

So all of this gloom and doom is a bit hard to swallow without knowing exactly what it is that we’re talking about: the registry is the central database that is used to store communications information. The data stored in the Registry is necessary to configure, or make the system work, for the users, for applications and for the various hardware devices.

Inside the registry you’ll find . . .

Errors seem to be a way of life in the age of technology, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating when you’re faced with an error as you try to download a new program or update something online. Errors can be caused by many things, but among the many causes .dll files tend to have more than their fair share of problems. Dll files aren’t bad – you actually need them to make your computer work correctly, but they can be challenging simply because there are so many of them to deal with.

A dynamic-link library, or .dll file, is an executable that provides supporting resources for a given program.  Not only that, but one .dll can provide resources for multiple applications.  Since the .dll can hold special commands and processes, it frees up the program to run only its essential functions, calling on the .dll whenever it needs to do a special task.  This drastically reduces the size and processing power needed to run most modern applications.

So it's no wonder that if a program becomes "unlinked" from one or more of its resource libraries, you've got a problem.  Now we can make sense of that once enigmatic error message:

What to do?

Like most PC fixes, resolving a .dll error isn't an exact science.  There are lots of applications and lots of .dlls - big ones, small ones, DLLs from unknown startups and those from major software players like Microsoft.  The key is re-establishing the link between the library and the application that relies on it.  The essential checklist for this process is based on re-installing.

We all know they are out there – the bad guys. The computer programs that spy on your activities, that bog down your searches, and that steal your personal information. You know it’s there and you may feel reasonably safe, but do you really know how to fight malware?

Types of Malware

The first step to eliminating the threat of malware is to identify it. There are several types of rotten computer programs and files that can wreak havoc on your computer. 

Worms

Spreading quickly through the various programs on the hard drive, worms work within the operating system to cause harm. Often this harm is establishing spyware.  Most worms spread through email or file-shares on a network (the connections between networked computers).  Moving from one PC to another is a worm's M.O. Once effectively established it can copy itself into an email and then send itself to your contact list . . . with your name attached.

Viruses

The most commonly discussed malware, viruses have a special code that embeds them into other programs. The viruses add their own code to the original program when the file is opened and the results can vary, but are never good.  Unlike spyware or adware which are designed to seal info or advertise, viruses are almost always programmed to damage something by erasing it or corrupting it.