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Q: Is there any reason for my computer to be very warm?  When the power is off and the phone line is off, the case is hot, where it just warm when I am using it. I turn it on and the fans run like mad for 3 to 5 minutes.  I could be wrong, but it all tells me that someone is in my computer by remote access.  Do you have another answer?

– George E.
Mary Esther, FL

 A: Interesting questions, George.  To the unlearned, your talk of someone being in your computer by remote access may sound overly paranoid, but I commend you on your caution.  There are many documented cases of viruses or spyware that turn PCs into silent “zombies” controlled by some faceless internet hacker.  These computers are used for various bad-guy activities, such as to send SPAM e-mail (which, if investigated, will trace back to YOUR computer) or lie in wait with thousands of other zombie systems and, upon command, bombard the internet with message traffic in what is termed a “Denial of Service” attack.  They simply swamp the net with so much garbage traffic that legitimate network traffic can’t get through. 

 Based on what you said in your e-mail, George, I don’t think any of these things are happening on your system.  If the phone line is disconnected, and your computer is powered off, there’s no way someone is running anything on your computer.  The heat is probably being generated by components of your computer that remain powered on even when the rest of the system is off.  The fans do not run when the system is powered down, so they will work hard to remove any excess heat when you turn the machine on. 

 Your best defense against remote access infiltration is to make sure your firewall is enabled, and keep virus and spyware scanners installed and updated.  If it makes you feel better, install a power strip, and physically remove electricity from the computer after you shut it down.

 Q: Daily I get the following message: “The Instruction at ‘0x62304’ referenced memory of ‘0x62304390’.  The memory could not be ‘read’.  Click on OK to terminate the program.”  I ignore the message and the computer appears to run fine.  What is this all about?  Is there a S/W or H/W problem with my computer–or possibly a virus?  Should I be ignoring this message and/or similar type messages?

– Frank L.
 Niceville,FL

A: You didn’t say in your e-mail, but you’re probably getting this message when you close Internet Explorer 6, and it probably only happens when you’re on certain web pages.  This problem is caused by the interaction of certain IE add-ons (such as Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, etc) with both the browser, and the web page.  You could track down and remove the problem add-on, but then you’d lose the toolbar’s functions.  The best way to solve the problem is to switch to IE 7.  The upgrade is free, and there are some cool new features.  In your current browser, click on the “Tools” menu, and select “Windows Update.”  You will be guided through the process of bringing everything up to date.  By the way, it’s usually never safe to simply ignore program messages such as this.  Most programs won’t bother you with a lot of messages unless they need to tell you that something is wrong.