what is DLL on a computer?

Question

my computer is saying that some file was illegal or somthing called DLL. ummm when i came home the computer restarted on its own and wne i loged on it said a warning. what is going on? and what do i do?

Answer 1

lol I had to comment because the answers were too cute.

DLL stands for Dynamic Link Library. What they are are communication files.

What they do is show how one program works with another program. For example, yahoo says you MUST have internet explorer in order to run yahoo. And once you do, there is a DLL files that communicates between the two programs.

This happens with ALL programs that work together.

All DLL files are located in C:/windows/system folder

if you think that your system could be infected, then you should scan it.

Answer 2

Your computer is probably infected with a virus, which has removed one or more of the operating system files (a lot of them are files with the extension .dll). To solve the problem, you should first use System Restore to see if it solves the problem. You can google "System Restore" and select a microsoft link to find out how. This makes sure that System Restore doesn't back up the virus. Next, shut down and start the computer in Safe Mode (When the computer starts up, look out for the line "press [key] to enter boot menu" or "[key] - boot menu". Make sure you don't press the key beside setup. Press the key stated repeatedly (usually F8) until a different screen comes up. Once you have done this, look out for the option Start in Safe Mode. (you will see other options like boot from CD, etc).

Use the arrow keys to highlight the Safe Mode option and hit . It may come up with a message like "press any key to continue". If this happens, press any key on the keyboard. The spacebar is usually best. Once Windows starts, you will probably notice little things in the corners of the screen saying "Safe Mode". Run your antivirus program scan.

Once you have done that and the viruses are turned up by your antivirus program, you can shut down and restart.
Everything should be back to normal.

Answer 3

Dynamically Linked Library - In Microsoft Windows, linking to dynamic libraries is usually handled by linking to an import library when building or linking to create an executable file. The created executable then contains an import address table (IAT) to which all dll function calls are referenced to (each referenced dll function contains its own entry in the IAT). At run-time, the IAT is filled with appropriate addresses that point directly to a function in the separately-loaded dll.
These files often get corrupted from a virus or other malicious code or even just data corruption, when damaged whatever software they are part of needs to be reinstalled.

Answer 4

I think some of your program has corrupted or change illegally by some virus. DLL is a file that needed for some application to run correctly.
When look at your case, then the application that run at comouter start is the culprit. Try to find what is it. The easiest way is use msconfig. (startmenu -> run, type: msconfig) go to startup tab then uncheck one by one or all of them.
To test it uncheck one of the list then restart if the message show again try uncheck another item. If you found it and application are unistallable then unistall it.

Answer 5

I had a similar msg when I turned on my computer. It said something about the DLL location being used by another entity. Computers are the devil.

Answer 6

I got the same thing and called my puter friend. Go to admin if you have this, and log in, then find restore and restore your puter to say April 1st, Then shut down and open and run virus scan. took care of mine, DLL means someone else is trying to get in. sort of.

Answer 7

Windows just recently released a security patch, like today maybe. The patch forces a reboot and after logging in you will get this error, there is a hotfix for it. Ill see if I can find it and edit my post.