Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

66 11-26December 2019

INTERNET

Solveaninternet

connection problem

Q

My Dell desktopPChas

startedrepeatedly

displaying themessage“HTTP

Error400.The request is badly

formed”and it’s drivingme

crazy. It happenswhenIsimply

trytoviewwebsites, regardless

of which browserI’m using,

andwhen Iuse links in emails.

Ifollowedadvic efromthe

internetto clearthebrowser

cache and DNS, but it didn’t

makeany difference. I’m not

awareof anysoftwareaddedjustbefore

this startedafew weeksago,but Ihave

upgradedmy NortonsoftwaretoNorton

360 (uk.norton.com). Iwelcome any

ideas on wheretolook or someway

of testingthe PC to find thecause –

I’m surethatitisaproblem withmy PC

rather than the internet.

TerryPinchin,via email

A

Thefirst thingtodowhenan error

like this occurs is to tryadifferent

webbrowser,but you’ve alreadytried

that andit madenodifference. This

impliesitisnot abrowser problem. You

also clearedthe DNS cache, which is the

second thing we would suggestbecause

this convertsdomain names into IP

addresses.For anyone whodoesn’t

knowhow to do this,press Windows+R

Q

Forthepastmonth,I’vebeen

unabletomakeasystemrestore

point.Allmypreviouspointshave

disappeared,too.WhenItryrunning

SystemRestore,itshowsSearching

forages,then‘Can’treverttoprevious

systemrestorepoint,SystemRestore

encounteredanerrorOx8 100020 3’.

Asearchforthiserror

recommendedIdownloadTuneUp

UtilitiesfromAVG(bit.ly/avgtu 490 ),

whichIdid,butIstillgetthesame

errormessage.

KevinO’Brien,viaemail

A

SomepeoplewiththisSystem

RestoreerrorfoundthatTuneUp

Utilitieswasactuallythecauserather

thanthesolution,butitmaynotbe

theonlytoolthatdoesthis,so

uninstallitandanysimilartune-up

softwareyoumayhaveonyourPC,

thenseeiftheproblemgoesaway.

Theerrorcanalsobecausedby

disablingaWindowsservice,which

TuneUpUtilitiesorothersoftware

mayhavedoneforsomeunknown

reason.PressWindows+Randenter

deletethewholeSystemRestorekey

becauseitisn’tnormallyneeded.

ClosetheRegistryEditor,restart

Windows,returntoControlPanel,

System,‘Systemprotection’andclick

theCreatebutton.Itshouldnow

createarestorepoint.

FixaSystemRestore error

GENERALPC

Make sure System Restore is swit chedon forthe

C: drive–your otherdrivesdon’t need it

Ask theExpert

RolandWaddilove,computerprogrammerandPC

journalistsince 198 1,answersallyourtechnicalquestions.

Emailusforhelpat [email protected]

services.mscto open the

config urationtool. Double-

click theMicrosoftSoftware

ShadowCopyProviderand

setthe ‘Startup type’ to

Automatic.

Nowopenthe ControlPanel,

choose System andclick

‘Systemprotection’ to open

theSystemProperties

window. Select theC:drive

andclick Config ure, then turn

on System Protection and

dragtheslidertogiveSystem

Restor eatleastacouple of

gigabytesofhard-drivespace.

Click OK to close thewindows.

Finally,press Windows+R

and enterregeditto open the

Registry Editor andgo to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\

SOFTWARE\Policie s\Microsoft\

Windows NT

Expand it andcheckifthereisa

sub-key called SystemRestore. If there

is,selectitand seeifitcontainsavalue

namedDisableConfig. Double-click this

andsetthe value to 0. Youcan actually

AlternativeDNS server addresses

like 1.1. 1.1or8.8.8.8 maysolve

internetproblems