SP2 provides the latest updates to Windows XP

q+a I could set up Bengali in my computer by following your instructions. I am 81 years old and am finding it very difficult to get some help on the keyboard layout. I have another Bengali software — developed possibly by Bangladeshi software engineers — which I downloaded from the Internet. So far I have had no difficulty in typing in Bengali and English concurrently. Can you please help me in using the Windows XP Bengali? Moreover, will it be possible to read text typed in Windows 98 on Windows XP?

P. SenSarma

The problem with these Bangladeshi Bengali software is that they are not made to a standard. This means you cannot share your documents with others unless you send them the font too. The Microsoft Bengali software works across all platforms that support Unicode. Unicode is a character set that encompasses all the languages of the world. Unicode is the basis of internationalising most modern software. If you typed your text in Windows 98, it is highly unlikely you used a Unicode font. So just load the font into your XP machine and you will be able to read the text.

From your question it seems you are having a problem with the keyboard. Fortunately, Windows provides you with an On Screen Keyboard. Open it by going to Start—Programs—Accessories—Accessibility and click on On Screen Keyboard. Open Notepad. Change to Bengali by pressing Left, Alt and Shift. You will see EN change to BN on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.

Type something and then click on the On Screen Keyboard. All the character placements will show up. Pressing Shift will show you the other characters. More characters can be got by pressing Control and Alt together. You can change your keyboard back to English by pressing Left, Alt and Shift.

Bad sector

q+a My hard disk has a lot of bad sectors. How can I recover data from it?

Nilutpal Hazarika

There is a very good free program on the Internet called HDD Scan and Restoration Program 3.0. It has a very user-friendly interface. There is an option called Restorer which will help you get back your data from the bad sectors of your hard drive. This program is available at www.majorgeeks.com/download 4330.html. There is another thing you could try. Get hold of Partition Magic. Although this program is used to partition your hard disk in an uncomplicated way, it has certain options like “Recover data from a bad sector” and “Repair a bad sector”.

Soundless startup

q+a I have Win XP Professional SP2 loaded in my computer. I have two user logins, one with administrative rights and another with limited rights. When I log in with admin rights, the Windows startup sound does not play. However, the startup sound plays with the other login. Please help.

Nilanjan Das

There is a problem in the registry of your account. To fix it go to http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/valuenotset.reg and download this file. Double click on it and it your registry should get updated. Make sure you log into Windows with administrative rights.

IE error

q+a I am facing a problem while accessing Internet Explorer. It shows a message saying: “an error occurred in the script on this page”. How do I solve this?

Ashok Banerjee

To resolve this go to Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type Regsvr32 urlmon.dll, and then click OK. When you are prompted with the "DllRegisterServer in urlmon.dll succeeded" message, click OK. This should solve your problem. If it does not, open Internet Explorer and go to Tools—Internet Options. Click on the Advanced tab. Under Browsing, select the Disable Script Debugging checkbox. Click OK, close all windows and restart your computer.

Check for SP2

q+a How do I know I have Service Pack 2 in my computer? I have original Microsoft Windows XP Home edition 2002.

Dipali Dutta

To find out whether you have Service Pack 2 or not, right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Next, go to Properties. It will display the information there. It should say: “System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Version 2002 Service Pack 2”.

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