A system infected with malware loses its performance drastically and ends up causing a lot of errors, such as:

• The smss.exe error, which is otherwise a normal system process for session management, but can be used by a virus to hide itself
• The csrss.exe error, which is again caused by the hijacking of a system process
• The iexplore.exe application error, which happens when Internet Explorer crashes, mostly due to corrupt and missing DLLs or when a malicious iexplore.exe file is planted on your system.

The good thing is that you can deal with all these errors on your own, and it is possible to avoid them in the future as well, by following the steps listed below:

• Registry cleanup – The registry is the most important component of your Windows system, and houses all the possible settings for every type of program and process. But if the information inside the registry is not indexed correctly, it can open door for malware to exploit it. In the worst of cases, the registry might itself get infected, and there is no solution but to go for a complete system reinstall.To save yourself from such situations, you should invest in a good-quality registry cleaner, making sure that you purchase it only from a trusted vendor. This will pay off in the long run, because such software will take only a few minutes to fix everything related to the registry. You will be surprised at how easy all this actually is, and what huge gains you achieve in terms of improved PC performance.

• Anti-malware – You need to have a gamut of protective programs installed on your system to effectively deal with the different types of malware. For instance, it is no longer enough to have just an antivirus on your PC; you need to also have a good anti-spyware, anti-adware, and an email-scanner program, as well other tools to ensure maximum protection.A single program that deals with all these is usually recommended. However, you may also opt for separate tools for a much better and focused protection. Do not forget, however, to regularly update these programs by connecting to the internet.

• Firewall – A firewall is a protective software that safeguards your computer against network attacks, and can save you from many hacking and phishing attempts. It is recommended that for more robust protection, you go for a popular third-party firewall, rather than the default Windows firewall. It might turn out to be a little difficult to set up a firewall, but the rewards are worth it.

It is true that malware programs have become a very serious threat, but it is also true that it is actually quite easy to deal with them, provided you have the right tools and the right guidance. Now that you know what needs to be done, we urge to go ahead and try it out.

With a little help, a vast majority of computer errors can be solved by users . This help includes information and tools that are easily available on the internet today. Once you have the knowledge and necessary software tools, you can easily resolve many such errors.

The objective of this article is to help you resolve a common PC problem known as DLL errors.

The first step in resolving the problem is to understand the nature and function of DLL files. DLL is a short name for Dynamic Link Library. These are important files in your operating system and programs to save codes that can be dynamically called loaded on the system by multiple programs when they need to use them. So, instead of all programs using different files to perform the same task, they can share one DLL file that can perform the task for each of them. This helps your computer achieve optimal performance and puts minimal burden on system resources.

Some of the common DLL files that are known to generate errors for various reasons on your PC are msvcr80.dll, ntdll.dll and xvidcore.dll. The main reasons why these DLL errors occur include:

1. You accidentally remove a DLL file that is critical for other applications.
2. You install a program that includes an invalid DLL file.
3. Your hard disk has problems that may corrupt one or more DLL files.
4. You unknowingly overwrite a good DLL file with another file that is either incompatible with existing computer applications or is corrupt.
5. Your computer is infected with a virus and other malware that are known to make changes in registry and program files to generate DLL and other computer errors.

While you can try to prevent DLL errors from happening by installing anti-malware and taking care of above mentioned reasons, sometimes these errors can be simply unavoidable. So, you must also be aware of the ways to resolve them.

The first method is to search for the file that has developed the error on the web. When you locate the correct file, you must replace the file on your system with this new file. Most of the time, this action should solve your problems.

The second method is to use the utility provided in your operating system – System Restore. This will restore your system to the time prior to when the error occurred. This can be performed in Safe mode in case the DLL error is serious and does not let you start your system.

Lastly, in case the DLL error happens during an installation of a new program, you must immediately uninstall that program and observe if the error vanishes. If it does, you must seek support from the program manufacturer.

The downside of these EXE files is that they are present in large numbers on all PCs. This large quantity of files on a single system increases the chances of one or more of them becoming corrupt, infected, or generating conflict with other files. All these issues then manifest in the form of errors with different symptoms. Out of these, EXE startup issues and errors are quite common.

Before learning how to troubleshoot, let’s see why startup errors occur. Some of the common causes of startup errors are hardware failure, bad driver files, problems with hard disk volumes, incorrect system configuration, and virus infections. You may also encounter slow startup problems if you have a large number of unwanted files running on your computer.

If your computer encounters a hardware failure, bad hard disk volumes, and bad files and drivers, it may fail to even load your operating system. At times, your system may halt, perform a physical memory dump and display a stop error message on a blue screen. This error message may display a code that you can use to search for a solution. However, as your PC may fail to boot, you may need to do this on another computer.

Virus infections may also cause startup issues. Depending on the type of infections, some viruses may enable you to start your PC and load the operating system, and some may prevent it from booting. In this case, you must first try to start your PC in Safe mode. If it starts, you may use an antivirus utility that works in Safe mode and then scan and clean viruses from it. If your PC fails to boot even in Safe mode, then you may start your PC in DOS mode. On Windows XP and above with NTFS partitions, you may need to start the Recovery Console. From here, you may run a DOS-based antivirus tool to scan and clean your PC.

You may encounter slow startup problems by unwanted files, such as osa.exe. These processes load at system startup but are rarely used. To disable osa.exe on startup, you may use the System Configuration Utility that comes built-in with Windows. You may use this utility to disable all programs that you don’t want to load at startup. However, you need to be careful while doing these tasks because some of the processes that load at startup are essential Windows processes and must not be disabled.

Bad drivers may also result in startup problems. For example, a spoolsv.exe problem may occur if your printer driver is corrupt or outdated. To resolve bad driver problems, you may use the Device Manager utility to identify the hardware that is generating the error, uninstall its driver and then reinstall it to replace the damaged files. If the error is caused due to outdated driver files, you may download the latest updates from the driver manufacturer’s website and then install them to repair the error. To prevent driver problems and to ensure that your drivers are always up-to-date, you may use a good driver scanner tool that can do these tasks for you automatically.

In the end, to prevent startup issues, it is imperative for you to manage a compact and error-free registry. These tasks become quite easy with the help of a handy registry cleaner tool.

The Windows registry is similar to the central nervous system of your body. It contains important information related to the settings and configuration of your operating system, software, hardware and user profiles and must be referred to each and every time an action occurs on your Windows PC. This is the reason why, all Windows computers are totally dependent on the registry to perform their normal functions. Extensive data is added and deleted from the registry while your computer is working. This extensive use of the registry causes it to become easily cluttered and vulnerable to computer errors.

Most of the clutter in the registry is caused by outdated, no-longer-required, empty, and invalid registry entries that cause the registry to increase in size at an unwarranted rate. Some of the common causes of unwanted entries in the registry are:

• Installation of buggy programs that may even add malicious spyware and adware related entries.
• System crashes.
• Incorrect program removal or a failed installation/uninstallation.
• Faulty hardware devices and their drivers.
• Virus infections.

Many computer errors, such as the svchost.exe error, werfault.exe error, and hkcmd.exe error are generated when one or more of the required registry entries are damaged or corrupt. To repair these errors, you may need to resolve the issues with related registry entries. For example, you can disable werfault.exe by making changes to the registry entries related to it.

Your Windows PC comes with a built-in Registry Editor (regedit) tool that you can use to perform some amount of registry maintenance. However, this tool is difficult to use and many novice and even expert users try to avoid using the Registry Editor to perform registry maintenance on a regular basis.

However, because it is essential to keep your registry clean in order to prevent computer errors, you need to search for a solution. One of the most commonly used solutions for registry errors is to use a reliable third-party registry cleaner tool.

There are several advantages to using a registry tool to perform registry maintenance. Some of the top ones are listed below.

• Registry cleaners have a simple-to-understand user interface that even novice users can use to perform registry maintenance.
• These tools use complex algorithms to perform a thorough scan and clean up of the registry.
• You can use these tools to remove left-over orphan entries when you uninstall programs to ensure complete removal.
• Registry cleaners can scan and remove manually irremovable embedded spyware entries to ensure complete removal of spyware from your computer.
• With the help of an advanced registry tool, you can defrag the registry database to make it contiguous and compact.
• Registry tools make it easy to maintain registry backups that are quite useful in restoring your PC if the current registry crashes due to some problem.

The software on your computer is stored in a hierarchal structure. On the top is your operating system, for example, Windows or Linux. Under the operating system we have our individual application suits, such as Microsoft Office and Norton Security center. Below these suits we have individual programs, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint or Antivirus, Antispam and Antispyware, respectively. Finally, each of these individual programs comprises one or more EXE or Executable files that are used to perform various tasks. For example, winword.exe is used to launch Microsoft Word and Excel.exe is used to launch the Microsoft Excel application.

This is the reason why from installing a new application to working on that application and using various program features, exe files are required to perform all of these tasks. This is the reason why, you have hundreds of exe files on a single system.

An exe error can occur due to wide variety of reasons. Some of these are listed below:

• If you have downloaded your program, there is a good chance that there are some problems with the downloaded files. This usually happens when you download files over a bad or slow Internet connection.
• Also, if the CD or DVD from which you installed a program is scratchy or damaged, there may be a problem with the installed software and exe and other errors may occur.
• At times, you may find exe errors, such as the hidserve.exe error or the ipssvcexe.exe error, occurring in programs that are already running on your computer. This usually happens if the exe files being used are infected with a virus.
• There is a problem with the file associations of the exe files in the Windows registry. This problem may occur when you install a buggy software or your system is infected with a virus or Trojan.

Methods to Fix EXE Errors

As there can be several causes of EXE errors, you may resolve them accordingly. Some of these methods require a little vigilance on your side and some require you to perform tasks to resolve an error already occurring on your computer.

• The first thing that you need to do as soon as you receive an exe error message is to check the Internet to see if a specific solution is available for your error. If you find one, then you may resolve the error by using the provided solution.
• Next, to repair hidserve.exe error, ipssvcexe error and problems with other exe files that belong to programs already running on your computer, you need to ensure that the programs these files belong to have not encountered any problem. If they have, then, you may do two things: First, if you don’t actually use these programs, uninstall or disable them. Second, if you need to use them, then either reinstall or update them.
• Virus infections are a common cause of several exe errors. This is the reason why it is essential for you to have a reliable antivirus tool on your computer. If exe errors start occurring suddenly, update your antivirus tool, disconnect your PC from the Internet/network and then run a thorough full system scan. If you have a virus problem, your tool will be able to detect and remove it. If a specific file shows in the error message or a particular type of error message is shown, then you may search for this information on the Internet. At times, you may be able to locate a tool that is designed to remove the particular virus that has infected your computer. However, ensure that you download the virus remove tool from a legitimate web site.
• Last, to fix and also prevent exe errors from occurring due to registry problems, you must ensure that you maintain a clean and compact Windows registry. To do this, you may use an efficient and dependable third-party registry tool.

Stop errors may occur either at system startup or when your system has been operational for sometime. Stop errors often happen due to problems caused by faulty or missing device drivers, a hardware malfunction, third-party software problems, incompatible BIOS or damage to system files.

One of the first steps towards understanding these fatal errors is to know the error code being displayed. Often these errors cause your PC to restart immediately, giving you very little time to write down the error type. This problem can be surpassed by disabling the automatic restart option. To achieve this, follow these steps:

Start >> Control Panel >> System >> Advanced Settings >> Start Up and Recovery >> Settings >> clear Automatic Restart checkbox.

Some examples of Stop errors that many users may come across are:

Stop: c0000221 error
The stop: c0000221 error occurs when there is either a corruption of a file or disk, or there is damage to a page file or fault in any hardware.

Stop: c000021a error
The stop: c000021a error indicates that the security of the Windows system has been compromised and is often caused by the third-party applications.

Resolving Stop Errors

• 1. The first thing a user should do after encountering a Stop Error is to try and do a System Restore and see if this is able to resolve the error.To do a System Restore select Start>> Program >> Accessories >> SystemTools >> SystemRestore

• 2. Secondly, the user can get the stop error analyzed through an online application provided by the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Tool by uploading your error report. This tool will analyze and try to identify the potential cause of your Stop Error.

• 3. Scan your system thoroughly by running a reliable Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware software to rule out the possibility of an external malware.

• 4. Inadequate system resources can also lead to stop errors. The two main causes for this are lack of free space on your hard disk and insufficient RAM. The Disk cleanup utility will help you clean your disk of unwanted files. You may also choose to uninstall unwanted programs and utilities. If you suspect that RAM is causing the problem, you may consider upgrading it.

• 5. Clean your Windows Registry, as a corrupt or bloated Windows registry can be causing this fatal error.

• 6. If you notice the name of a device driver in the details of the stop error, chances are that that if you reinstall, disable, delete or downgrade back to the earlier version of the driver, the problem may be resolved.

• 7. Hardware problems that are often overlooked can be the cause of these stop errors. Common among these are: a malfunction in RAM chip, overheated CPU, or hard disk damage. If the error you encounter is occurring frequently and comes up while working on different applications, the reason behind these could be a hardware problem. You should try removing any new device that you may have recently installed to see if problem gets resolved.

• 8. Stop errors that happen at the time of system start-up can be due to problems related to system BIOS. To ensure that this is not the case, try and see if any updates to the BIOS are available by its manufacturer. Alternatively, you can also revert back to default BIOS settings and see if it helps.

If your computer is slow, you can perform simple PC maintenance activities to speed it up and improve its performance. Generally, your computer faces problems if the registry is corrupt, it is infected with virus or malware, or if your hard-disk is fragmented and cluttered.

The following are some of the tasks that you can perform on your PC to maintain a healthy and error-free computer.

• Regular Registry cleanups: The registry is one of the most important parts of a computer system, and it is important to keep it uncluttered and malware free. To keep your registry free from errors you need to perform regular registry cleaning. There are several third-party registry tools that can make the task of cleaning up your registry easier and problem free. However, if you are familiar with registry files then you can try and remove the unwanted files from the registry manually using the Windows Registry Editor tool.

• Regular Checks against Viruses and Malware: Keeping your PC free and protected from virus and malware is an essential step towards maintaining the performance of your computer. There are many reliable Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware and Anti-Spyware software available today that you can use to protect your system from these threatening software.

• Regular Disk Cleanups: In the same way that it is necessary to keep your registry clean and uncluttered, it is also essential that you perform regular hard disk cleanup activities to maintain your PC’s performance. All Windows operating systems come with built-in tools such as Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter tools, which help in removing the unwanted files from your system and help in defragmenting your hard-disk.

• Regularly updating System files: Software companies regularly release updated versions of their software. To maintain a high level of performance for your system and to keep it secure from the latest threats, you must regularly update your software with these updates.

• Use the System Restore Tool: Windows XP and Vista computers come with a tool called System Restore. If your computer encounters a problem, you can use this tool to restore your system configuration to the time when your system was functioning without any errors. When you use the system restore on your Vista or XP computer, your personal files and data are not affected. The tool only restores system configurations and settings to a specified restore point by removing the software and system settings that were made after the restore point was created.

• Check the System Hardware: Many computer errors are generated if the hardware of your system is malfunctioning. To prevent these problems, you may use a good system diagnostic utility to run tests on your system hardware. If the diagnostic tool detects problems with your hardware, then depending on the detected problem, you may have to do one of the following tasks to repair the error:

• • Update and fix problems with device drivers.
  • Replace the malfunctioning hardware.
  • Clean the hardware components to remove any dust and other deposits on them to prevent overheating.
  • Ensure that all hardware components are properly seated in their slots.

As vigilant computer users, you must remember that by performing a few simple and precautionary tasks, you can ensure optimized and error-free performance of your computer for a long time.