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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
April 23, 2006
Q.
I see a file on my computer called thumbs.db.
What is it for, and can I delete it?
A. That file is a system file that
contains a cache of all the graphics in the
folder in which it is located. Any time you
choose to view the folder using the
"thumbnail view", Windows caches the
graphics in this database file so that the
next time you visit the folder, the
thumbnails display faster. I have found that
the increase in speed is pretty
insignificant in most cases.
As
it is a system file, deleting it may not be
easy, but it can be done, and if you delete
it , you won't harm anything. It will be
created again as soon as you view the folder
in thumbnails. That is, unless you turn this
"feature?" off, which is something I almost
always do. Here's how.
Open
the folder where the file is stored. Click
Tools, then Folder Options then the View
tab. Scroll down to the line "Do not cache
thumbnails", and check the box in front of
it. OK out. Now, if you delete any thumbs.db
file, it will not be recreated. This setting
is universal, and will effect the creation
of this thumbs.db file all folders.
Q.
I started
a program to get updates, and all was OK,
but then I got an error message. I restarted
the commuter but the same thing persists. It
says "Windows encountered error 0x80004003 -
Invalid pointer. What's a pointer?
A.
In
computer code, a pointer is a memory
location that contains the location of a
routine or module, and thus is called the
pointer to it.
As an
example, assume a program needed to print
something, so it looks at the print pointer
which contains the address of the print
routine. On different computers, and in
different programs, this routine can be
located in a different places. So the
computer or program puts the address to its
print routine in a location that will always
be the same in all computers operating
system, and this location then becomes the
pointer to that routine
To offer
a comparison for clarity, compare a pointer
to a shortcut. You place shortcuts on your
desktop that "point" to the actual program
they launch when clicked. So, a shortcut is
really a pointer, although different from
the pointer described above, to the program
it will open.
In your
case, the program looked in a memory
location (the pointer) for the address of a
routine it needed to execute and the address
it contained or the address it pointed to
was not valid. The memory location involved
with the error was 0x800004003.
This
could have been caused by many things from a
hardware (memory) to software failure. I
suspect that in your case it was a problem
with the software. What can make the problem
more complicated, it could have been caused
by another program that may have written
something to a wrong address. Restarting the
computer should fix it.
While I'm
on this subject, restarting the computer,
that is, here's something to remember. On
some occasions, just using the built in
restart may not completely flush all the
memory. Although just choosing to restart
the computer is usually adequate, at times
you may have to shut the compute down
completely, wait 30 seconds or so, and
re-start it. This will completely flush the
RAM memory.
Q.
I've been told by some that when your
hard drive usage reaches 50%, you need
to get a larger hard drive. My hard
drive is 60 MB and I am at 47% usage
with 53% free space. Do you recommend a
larger drive at this point? I mainly
have MS Word documents and some
pictures.
A. NO. Whoever told you that
must have been a hard drive
salesman. On a 60 GB hard drive, I
would not become at all concerned
until I only had 10%-15% or less
available. 10% of a 60 GB had drive
is 6 GB, more than enough to allow
the drive to function properly.
When that occurs, or even before
that occurs, rather than replacing
your hard drive, I would recommend
that you just get a USB external
hard drive. Replacing your hard
drive would entail reinstalling the
operating system and all your
program, which is a lot of timely
and tedious work. External USB
drives can be had in just about any
size up to 200 GB and probably
larger.
These just plug into the USB port,
and if you are using Windows 2000 or
XP, it will be automatically found,
and be accessible just like any
other drive. Other operating systems
like Win 98 or ME will require that
a driver, usually supplied with the
external drive be installed.
However, if your hard drive is 60
GB, I suspect that you are using Win
XP. If your current drives are C and
D, then this USB drive would install
itself as your E drive.
Then, just move some of your files
from your hard drive in the computer
to the external USB drive and store
them there. The pictures are
probably the biggest files, so just
store them on the external drive.
Any program that you use will easily
find them on the external drive.
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