DLL Error

What is a DLL Error?

If you are a regular user of a PC that is driven by Windows, then DLL files are extremely important to you.  Undoubtedly, however, you have never given this a moment’s thought before now!

When Microsoft engineers were working to create the first version of Windows, they obviously faced many difficult situations and had many questions to answer.  However, without doubt, the biggest problem they had was that the initial Windows operating system was just too big to run on the computers of the time.

Effectively, Windows as originally conceived needed more processing power and memory than the machines of the time actually possessed.  The engineers therefore had to reduce the size of Windows before it could be released and gainfully used.

The invention of the DLL files was one of the ways that they did this.  They realized that many of the individual programs making up the Windows operating system performed some tasks where others did exactly the same.  For example, all programs needed to do such basic things as switching on and off.

The idea behind DLL files was and still is that one small file could do the same job for many different programs. This obviously allowed the Microsoft engineers to make the original Windows operating system a lot smaller, and it therefore became a viable commercial proposition.

These DLL files are therefore at the very heart of your Windows system.  And from the preceding description, it is obvious that when one of these files becomes damaged or malfunctions, then several programs are likely to be affected and perform slowly or not at all.

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Why do DLL Errors occur?

The most common cause of DLL errors is the installation and uninstallation of new programs. In this situation, the new program will almost certainly load its own DLL files onto your PC and in many cases these will overwrite existing files that other programs are using.

Unfortunately, the new DLL may not be usable by the program that was using the old ones and hence it will not run.

Then, when you decide that the new program is not something that you want to use and uninstall it it takes all of the DLL files with it, so now you will almost certainly find that other programs will cease to function as well!

Alternatively, the new DLL does not overwrite the existing file properly, and so what you now have is a corrupted or damaged DLL application that cannot be used by any programs.

Basically, DLL files are in use every moment that your PC is switched on, and almost any action that you take whilst using your computer can cause damage to a DLL file somewhere.

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How to repair DLL Errors

Sometimes when a DLL error occurs you will get a warning message that will carry an error code. If this happens, then run a search for the code reference on the net to see what information you might be able to find out about it.

Indeed, there are many sites where it is possible to download new DLL files to replace any that have been damaged or perhaps even completely removed.

Be aware, however, that installing a new DLL is not nearly as easy as it might sound, and you really should be absolutely certain that you know what you are doing before you attempt it!

Do it wrong and you will almost certainly cause far bigger problems than the one that you are trying to resolve.

DLL files are an extremely important component of the registry of your machine and it is this registry that makes Windows run. From this it follows that if you make a mess of installing a new DLL, you could effectively destroy your the operating system of your PC!

Another thing that you need to be aware of is the fact that error messages are not always accurate. If therefore you see an error code that suggests that a particular DLL file is defective, it may not, in fact, be anything of the sort.

In this scenario, it is possible that you may very well end up replacing a DLL that had nothing wrong with it and be no closer to finding the solution to your problem.

So, unless you are very sure that you do know what you are doing, I would really recommend that you scan your PC registry first to see if you can isolate what the problem really is before taking any form of attempted corrective action.

By far the simplest way of doing this is to use the appropriate software as this will enable you to make certain that you know what the real problem is before deciding what to do next.

If you already have software that will do this job for you, then run a complete scan as soon as thee is any hint of trouble (and this would apply at any time, incidentally!). If you do not, then you can take advantage of the free scan facility at SpeedyPC before making up your mind what to do next.