What is a .Dll Error and How Do I Fix It?
In this article I'll Explain...
- What a .dll is and how it effects your computer
- What a .dll error is
- How to easily and safely fix a .dll error message
The Low down on what a .Dll is?
The .dll is a library of shared files that allow multiple programs to run at once on your Windows computer and stands for Dynamic Link Library. When Bill Gates and Microsoft originally created the first Windows programs, it was a way for users to have a much more visually friendly interface with the DOS operating system. When a single program would run in the Windows Environment such as a word processing application, it was not able to share resources with other programs, which meant that if you tried to run three or four programs at once, the computer became bogged down.
To solve the problem, the engineers at Microsoft came up with a way for multiple programs to share files and resources instead of each one being a single operation. To do this, they came up with a shared library of links that would allow a running program to access the same data and files at once, and the concept of the Dynamic Link Library ( .dll ) was born.
Understanding .DLL Errors and How they Effect Your Computer
As you can imagine, the .dll library is rather important to the smooth operation of your computer as it is basically the freeway system for all of the programs running on it to share information and resources.
Now if along the way one of those "roads" gets shut down, or in this case, has an error in its function, the running program attempting to access the required files or data isn't able to get the information it needs to keep running, and subsequently, a pop up message appears that tells you that you have a .dll error and will also accompany it with a numerical reference value which tells you what the error is about.
It would be outside of the scope of this article to get too deep into what each .dll error can mean, so lets move on to how to fix a .dll error message.
Fixing a .dll Error Problem...
The first step to fixing any .Dll error is to run a diagnostic scan on your computer using a registry repair program. I prefer to use a program called RegSweep (http://www.regsweep.com) as it is stable and I trust it not to screw up an extremely testy and important part of your computer. What we want to do is have the program run a check on your file structure and your registry key settings to look for problems in the code as well as any missing files. This is a completely automated process and is simple enough for even the most novice computer user to undertake.
How to Use RegSweep to Fix the .dll Error Problem...
To get started, go to the RegSweep website and click on the green " start registry scan now " button. This will take you to their free download page where you can try out the program at no charge as well as run a full scan of your system to check for what is causing the error.
Depending on how many files your computer has on it, the scan will take anywhere from a few minutes to as long as 20 minutes to complete. Once the program is finished, it will report back to you about any errors it has found that are causing your computer to act funky.
RegSweep will check the entire file structure of your computer including file integrity, application extension problems (how your programs interact with Windows when they run) shared files, short cut issues and a host of other file sections that the average person could care less about just as long as their computer runs properly.
Once the program is done, you can then have it fix any problems it has found by simply clicking " Fix the Problems "
There is a high degree of chance that this will fix and eliminate that .dll issue you have been experiencing, and companies such as RegSweep offer guarantees with their programs to ensure that their program works or you don't have to pay anything.
Editors Note
Asknerd is not an affiliate of Registry Patrol and receives no commission for referring users to their website.
Note: If you are wanting to perform a complete diagnostic and trouble shooting test on your computer, I've put together a full step by step guide on how to tune up the seven key components of your computer that covers everything from disk defragmenting to cleaning up your registry. It will take you about two to three hours to go through all the steps to performing a full diagnostic and repair check on your system and is pretty comprehensive. You can see the full step by step guide by clicking here.
