Use Google to find solutions to your error messages

Q: Should the following be popping up on my computer and do I need to do something about it? Every time I turn on my computer I get this message “The procedure entry point Get Process Image File NameW could not be located in the dynamic link library PSAPI.DLL.”

A: A wise techie once told me, “Give a noobie an answer, make him happy for a day. Teach a noobie to find the answer on his own, make him happy for life.”

Given that nugget of wisdom, I am going to answer your question by first telling you what I think the problem is and then by teaching you how you can find answers like this on your own in the future.

The error you described seems to be a common error with people using SBC Yahoo and Internet Explorer 7. If you are up for the challenge, here is the proposed solution. Search for “PSAPI.DLL” on your computer. When the search is complete, you will most likely have multiple instances of the file in the search results. You will need to rename each copy of PSAPI.DLL to something else like PSAPI.OLD, except for the instance that resides in your Windows\System32 folder. Reboot your computer and the issue should go away.

Now for the teaching part. Whenever you get a specific error message like the one you described, the easiest thing to do is to go to the Google web site and enter the exact error message text in the search box. This is what I did to answer your question and I found tons of articles from people experiencing the same exact problem along with other people’s proposed solutions.

You may not always want to try everything someone suggests but when you see the same solution over and over, like I did with your issue, it’s usually a good bet that the solution will work.

This post was originally broadcast Friday, April 27, 2007 on Tech Talk with Noobie, a weekly radio show on WCBK 102.3 FM in Martinsville, Indiana. Tech Talk with Noobie airs every Friday between 11:30 a.m. and noon. If you have a question you would like Noobie to answer on the air, simply e-mail your question to .