Maybe you’ve received a message like the following:

“Run a DLL as an App has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

Well you don’t have to worry, the world’s not going to end.  A rundll error is often easier to fix than many other types of errors–but it can still be seriously inconvenient to have.

What causes problems with rundll?

These errors are fairly common if you have had to replace your hard drive.  Usually in this situation, the problems happen when you’ve used software from the hard drive vendor, instead of from Microsoft.

It can happen as well for various other non-malicious reasons.  Read below to find out how you can fix this error.  Also, read below to find out if your errors have occurred for reasons that are more malicious.

This isn’t the only reason for problems with this file.  Since Windows uses rundll to load applications, programs, and files, it is an absolutely essential part of Windows.

Unfortunately, that means that creators of spyware, viruses, Trojan horses, and other malicious programs can use this as a vulnerability to get into your computer.  They will target this file because they know you cannot safely get rid of it.  They may even give some of their own malicious software files this name, so as to fool system processes and infiltrate your computer.

Sometimes, all you need to do is reboot.

While this won’t work 100% of the time or even most of the time, it’s worth a try: simply turn your computer off and then restart it.  It won’t help in every case, but it will clear things up when the problem is just that rundll is over-extended.

Anti-virus and anti-spyware scans may help.

Or, they may not.  While a good anti-virus or anti-spyware program will take care of the original threat, it may not take care of directory files such as dll files.  This means that you should certainly run anti-malware programs on your computer, you also need to make sure your directory is in tip-top working order.

A good registry cleaner will heal files that have been damaged by viruses, spyware, adware, and other harmful programs.  It will also clean the “junk” on your registry–files left over from bad uninstalls and product updates–so that you have a cleaner, faster, more optimized computer.  Do yourself a favor and get a free scan for rundll error and other registry problems.

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