Tech Tips

Common Problems/Solutions

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Account wizard problems
Saving the Login Password
Getting past the Windows Password
Dial Icon Auto Dials

The account wizard problems

Symptoms: The account wizard stalls or comes up when the mail icon is clicked
Problem: Netscape has a corrupt file
Solution: Edit the acctset.ini file as follows
Close Netscape or this won't work
Click on the Start button
Click on Find
Click on Files or Folders
The file name is ACCTSET.INI and start from C:\, searching all subdirectories
Click Find Now to search
Double click on the file name and it should open up in Notepad
The third section (they are seperated by a blank line) is Existing Acct Mode
Set the following information (you may have to change some lines from No to Yes)
ShowNoneAbove=yes
ShowExistingPathInfo=yes
ShowPhones=yes
AskName=yes
AskPhone=yes
AskLogin=yes
AskTTY=yes
AskEmail=yes
AskHosts=yes
AskDNS=yes
AskPublishing=yes
RegPodURL=any web site
Close Notepad and save the changes
The next time you open Netscape, the problem should be gone

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Saving the Login Password

Symptoms: The password is blank every time the user tries to dial in and the Save password option is greyed out
Problem: The user is either bypassing the Windows Log on, or Client for MSN is not available
Solution:

Adding Client for MSN

Double click on My Computer
Double click on Control Panel
Double click on Network
Make sure that Client for Microsoft Networks is included and set to the Primary Network Log on
If it is not, Click Add You will need the Windows CD for this
Select Client and click Add again
Select Microsoft on the manufacturers (left) side
Select Client for Microsoft Networks on the right
Click OK
Select the Identification tab
Type in a Computer name and a Workgroup name These are unimportant for a home computer, but the names must be different. For a networked computer, the names must match the network settings.
Click on OK
The computer will copy some files from the CD, then ask to restart
Click Yes to restart

When the computer restarts, it should ask for a Windows log in and password.
Enter anything in for the username, but leave the password field blank.
Click OK.
Click OK to confirm the blank password.
Now when you get into the dialer, it should have the Save Password option available.

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Getting past the Windows password

The computer may ask for a password every time the user restarts. If they are hitting Cancel, they are eliminating the option to save their internet password. Restart the computer and try clicking OK instead of Cancel. If it doesn't accept it, and the user doesn't know the password, click Cancel.
Click on the Start button
Click Find and Files or Folders
Type *.pwl for the file name and be sure that you search the entire C: drive
Click the Find Now button
For a home computer, you can delete all those files
Close the Find window
Restart the computer
When the computer restarts, it should ask for a Windows log in and password.
Enter anything in for the username, but leave the password field blank.
Click OK.
Click OK to confirm the blank password.
Now when you get into the dialer, it should have the Save Password option available.
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Dialer Icon Auto-Dials

Auto Dialer Windows
Symptoms: When the Dialer icon is double clicked, it dials without asking for the user name and password.
Problem: An autodialer program may be installed. It must be turned off to get the user info.
Windows may also be set not to show the user info.
Solution:

Auto Dialer

Click on the Start button.
Click on Programs.
Click on Startup.
Any programs listed here automatically start with Windows. Remove any dialer programs.
Also, check the icons in the lower right corner.
Close any dialer programs listed there.

Windows

Double click on the My Computer

icon.

Double click on the Dial Up Networking

icon.

Click on Connections.

Click on Settings.

Set the following options.

Click on

Double click the Dialer icon and the user info should be available.

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