He's tangled up in Windows partitions

Q: After building a computer with a 500-gigabyte hard drive, I loaded Windows XP Professional. Dur- ing the installation, Windows asks if you want to partition your 500-GB hard drive into two 250-GB drives and I clicked "yes," and Windows started to format the drive.

After formatting, it went back to the same screen (asking if I wanted to partition my drive), and this time I clicked "no," and Windows continued installing. After Windows was done installing, I went to My Computer and noticed Windows was showing the C: drive as only a 250-GB drive, and there were no other hard drives listed.

So my question is, how can I get Windows XP Pro to format the other half of my 500-GB hard drive; or remove the partition Windows installed during the installation process and make it one single 500 GB drive?

Finally, how can I do all this without losing any of my saved data? Is this possible?

— Ken Bradley, Redmond

A: First the bad news. Unfortunately, while Windows allows you to reformat and partition hard drives during the installation process, it doesn't allow you to change those partitions without reinstalling.

Now the good news. There are programs that allow you to add, delete and resize partitions without reinstalling everything. The best-known is Partition Magic, recently bought by Symantec.

You can find the software at http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic. It costs $69.95.

A number of freeware options are available on the Internet, though I can't vouch for them. Just search for "free partition software."

Q: Microsoft is offering anti-virus protection as part of its free Microsoft Security Essentials package. It also recommends uninstalling all other free programs. What do you recommend? Also, which would you recommend: MSE or AVG anti-virus?

— Jack Johnson

A: Actually, Microsoft recommends uninstalling any other anti-virus program — whether free or not — before installing Microsoft Security Essentials. That's the same advice any anti-virus program gives.

When you install two anti-virus programs on a computer they tend to conflict with each other.

As for AVG anti-virus or MSE, I'd have to do a full review to make a specific recommendation.

Generally, I can say both programs come from reputable manufacturers.

Q: Every once in a while the following message suddenly pops up on my screen: "Rundll. Error loading C:\ProgramFiles\commonfiles\paretologic\uus.dll The specified module could not be found."

I once downloaded ParetoLogic, but deleted it via the Add/Remove tool in Windows. I realize this probably means the above file somehow was not deleted with the other files. Is there any way I can delete this file?

— Burton Foreman

A: When some programs are installed, they make changes in a number of Windows system files so that they can be launched at boot-up. Apparently, ParetoLogic has done this.

Just as apparently, one or more of the references to the program in Windows boot files were not removed when you uninstalled the program. So Windows goes looking for the ParetoLogic driver at boot time and delivers that error message when it doesn't find it.

If you're lucky, you can fix the program by calling up the Msconfig program and checking the Windows boot files to see if there is a command calling up ParetoLogic.

To do so, go to the command prompt, which you'll find by going to the Start button, selecting All Programs and then opening the Accessories folder. Once you've launched the command prompt, type in msconfig.exe.

When Msconfic loads click on the Startup tab. Then see if you can find any references to ParetoLogic or uus.dll. If so, uncheck the box next to it, reboot and see what happens.

If this doesn't solve the problem, you may need to edit the Windows registry. To do so, launch RegEdit, which you'll find in the Windows folder.

The first thing you'll want to do is to export a copy of the file, since you'll want to restore it if you make any mistakes in editing the file.

Next, go to the Edit menu and select Find. You can then enter ParetoLogic and uus.dll" When you find entries in the registry file delete them. Exit RegEdit, reboot and keep your fingers crossed.

Questions for Patrick Marshall may be sent by e-mail to pmarshall@seattletimes.com or pgmarshall@pgmarshall.net, or by mail at Q&A/Technology, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/

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