Application changes and viruses can lead to DLL file issues. This article goes through some DLL fix options worth considering before attempting downloading healthy versions of DLL files.

A dynamic link library (DLL) is really just an application file that encapsulates a number of other method calls. It can become corrupted or appear to go missing as result of virus damage on a computer to the file itself or the Windows registry file configuration settings.

The first DLL fix to consider is to try running your anti-virus software. If a virus did cause the issue then most applications can attempt to repair any damage made to files or the registry. Anti-virus applications are standard laptop computer repair utility that everybody should have installed, kept up to date and scanning your hard drives regularly.

The next approach is to simply try restarting the computer. This is jokingly recommended for Windows fixes, but in this case it may actually work. It gives the operating system a chance to reload the DLL and/or registry settings which would resolve any temporary files that have been caused.

If the DLL relates to an individual application then you can try updating the program. Many patch updates include DLLs as part of their standard installations. In extreme cases, you could try reinstalling the application, although this may also result in loss of configuration settings for this program.

If the DLL relates to a more general operating system level file they can try doing a Windows update in order to pull down the latest security patches and DLLs for your operating system version. This is a long shot however as each OS contains hundreds of DLL files and the Windows OS patches will not always include updates to these programs.

Finally, you can try using a registry cleaner to try and repair any faults cause to the registry (the key setting pointing to the DLL may just have developed an error). As a last resort DLL fix, you could also try using the System Restore utility to rollback operating system changes to programs and the registry.