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We have all gone through the computer error messages ordeal. You know the one where you get all nervous, and your heart almost stops because you see this fatal error, or illegal error message. Who ever decided to call these messages “fatal” or “illegal?” Is someone going to die? Is the computer going to up and die because you turned it on? Some people are so afraid of these messages, the only thing they can think of to do is to turn the machine off and call the tech, and unbeknownst to them, this is probably what fixes the problem. There are over 20,000 different computer error messages on windows systems, and its virtually impossible to understand what all of them mean.

After all what do error messages like the following mean: “Cannot delete tmp164_5.tmp: There is not enough free disk space.” This error message doesn’t even make sense. If the machine is telling you that you need to delete files, and when you want to do that, it won’t let you. Hmmm! Interesting situation!

There is a message “An illegal operation has been performed by the program which will now shut down. Contact the program provider, if it continues”. I don’t even remember the exact number of time I have encountered this message. This one message tests the nerves of the user. You may be wondering if the people call the program provider in such a case. The answer is a simple “NO”. The program vendors are not helpful in these cases. Letting the vendor know about the error message is just the same as letting Santa know about your wish list.

What can be done?

One fact is that these errors could be resolved by restarting the computer, or turning it off and then turning it on again. So, if you are not a computer programmer or computer engineer, then these error messages do not mean much importance to you.

There is nothing to worry about each and every error messages that you get, but there are a few messages which you should not sideline and get immediate help when you encounter them.

Windows Protection Error- This error appears when there is a VxD or a virtual device driver problem. The best thing you can do is boot your computer in safe mode and uninstall and then reinstall the device driver that has the problem. This error message can also be caused by other problems like, memory, or a registry error. In case of a registry error, you can run a registry utilities program, which can be found on the internet to clean up your registry.

KERNAL32.DLL - The KERNAL32 receives a lot of processing requests and get entangled in it. It has to deal with a number of programs and their processing. Whenever there is a problem with KERNAL32, it means that either the files have corrupted, microprocessor problem, software gone wrong, corrupt drivers, virus in the computer, or reduced space in hard disc. It could mean a lot of things if you get a KERNAL32 error message. Even some problem with hardware also causes this message to appear. If there is not proper power supply, or overheated microprocessor, then these things are also responsible for KERNAL32 message. In such a case, you must use a registry utility cleaner and see if it solves the problem.

Blue Screen Errors - These are major computer errors and usually the computer doesn’t bother sending you a cute error message here. You just get this big blue screen which is telling you to take immediate action. In some cases the blue screen will say “Wait for program or press ctl+Alt+Delete to reboot. In most cases you are just better off rebooting, because most of the time you cant get your program back. Once you reboot your computer should be fine. Sometimes the blue screen only informs you that you have unplugged some device and need to plug it back in. If Windows doesn’t come back, then you need to reboot. The only time you ever need to worry about the blue screen is when it keeps recurring and won’t go away, and then you probably have a hardware problem and should call a repair service provider.

In the End

Rebooting the computer only helps in most of the cases. There are always exceptions and there are cases when there have been problems in registry files and a registry utility cleaner solves the problem. It is important for you to get used to the meaning of error messages and summon a service technician to see what the problem actually is.