In Windows XP Pro, I recently ran into a problem where Windows Update wouldn't install any updates.  It would load and show that it wanted to install 'Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1' and 'Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)', but would always fail when it tried to do the update. 

A Google search found this post, where the writer recommends re-registering the DLL's needed by Windows Update.  It worked perfectly for me! 

Here are the instructions, shamelessly copy/pasted from the original post:

To repair this problem the dll files associated with the windows update program have to be registered.  To do this you'll need to run regsvr32.  Go start then run:

• regsvr32 wuapi.dll
• regsvr32 wuaueng.dll
• regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll
• regsvr32 wucltui.dll
• regsvr32 wups.dll
• regsvr32 wups2.dll
• regsvr32 wuweb.dll

When you are entering dates in an Excel spreadsheet, you might want to enter just the numeric part (i.e. without any dashes or slashes), hoping Excel would figure out what you were doing and turn it into a 'real' date automatically.  You might think Excel has a built-in cell format you can apply that would handle this for you...it apparently does not. 

You can, however, build your own 'custom formatting' rule for a cell to accomplish this.  So, for example, if you want to type in '112507' but have Excel transform that into '11/25/07', you would set up your custom format (using Excel 2003) like this:

1. Right click the cell, choose 'Format Cells...'
2. In the 'Category' list (on the left side), scroll down and click on 'Custom'
3. In the 'Type' textbox, type in your new rule (in this case '0#"/"##"/"##', with out the single quotes)

Now, when you type in that cell, your date will be reformatted according to your new rule. 

To apply this custom format to an entire column of cells: 

1. Right-click your custom-formatted cell, then click Copy.
2. Highlight the cells you want to apply the format to, then right-click one of them
3. Choose 'Paste Special' from the context menu
4. Click 'Formats' from the 'Paste' group

My Confluence installation requires a JAVA_HOME envronment variable, but ever since I installed Confluence, I've been manually setting JAVA_HOME after every system restart**.  I just ran across this blog entry which suggests setting JAVA_HOME in Ubuntu's /etc/environment settings file. 

I haven't rebooted yet, but this looks like a good solution to my problem.


** ok, there really have only been a handful of system restarts in several months, and always due to my own negligence.  Kubuntu has been solid as a rock. 

Early this summer, I had a customer who bought a notebook PC (an HP) which happened to come pre-installed with Windows Vista on it.  Business requirements demanded that it should have Windows XP Professional instead, so I offered to 'downgrade' (ha ha) to XP Pro for him. 

As I learned (after hours scouring the Internet and chatting with HP technical support), this particular notebook _can't_ have XP Professional installed, because you can't disable 'Native Mode' for SATA in the system BIOS, and you can't install XP while the SATA drive is in native mode. 

That was the third strike for me.  I've had two other bad experiences with Vista 'upgrades', and have lost a good deal of time and money trying to work through it.  I've been a Microsoft Partner for several years, but I just can't support (pun intended) a system that is _so_ broken.  I refuse to recommend Windows Vista to any customers who rely on their computers for more than very casual use. 

Maybe Vista Service Pack 1 will be more useable. 

The AutoCorrect feature in Microsoft Office 2003 is a handy feature, replacing common spelling errors for you as you happily peck away at the keyboard.  It can also be used to speed up the typing of common, complicated, or lengthy terms.  Essentially, you can use it to create macros that will be replaced with longer, more cumbersome phrases automatically (and without errors). 

For example, you could create an autocorrect for the letters 'hspb', setting it to correct to 'heat sealed plastic bag'.  If you have to type this several times a day, it's easy to see the speed benefit. 

That same set of autocorrect macros is shared by the whole Office suite.  So, if you create autocorrect entries for yourself in Word, they'll be available in Excel, Access, Infopath, etc. 

A coworker of mine recently wondered why her just-added autocorrect entries weren't working in Infopath forms.  They worked great in Word, but Infopath just ignored them. 

The solution I found is that any autocorrect entries stored (in Word) as 'formatted text' will not work in Infopath.  Entries stored as 'plain text' work great.  So, even though Word will turn two-hyphens-and-a-greater-than (-->) into a pretty arrow, if you store that in an autocorrect, Infopath will ignore the whole entry.  Here are a couple screenshots of what I mean:

Formatted text entry

Plain text entry

For this example, I stored an autocorrect entry (shop) that will replace with 'shopping bag'.  I stored 'shopping bag' as formatted text and tested it in Infopath...only to find out it won't work.  Changing the entry (in Word's autocorrect list) to plain text ('shop1' for this example) makes the entry work in Infopath as well. 

Notes:

• It looks like you can tell the 'formatted text' entries in the autocorrect list by the asterisk (*) at the end of their text (aside from selecting each one and noting the 'Formatted text' radio button is selected). 
• Access the autocorrect feature by clicking Tools>Autocorrect Options in Microsoft Word.

In the process of cleaning up a Windows XP (Home) PC, I ended up with a situation where it would get to the 'Windows is starting up...' screen, and just stay there for 20+ minutes.  Doing a hard reset didn't help; it would boot back to that same spot and just hang there. 

I found this forum post, where they've suggested to plug the PC's power cord directly into the wall instead of a power strip.  Since I had just purchased a new power strip, and then plugged that PC (and another one) into it, I thought I'd give it a try. 

Yeah, it worked.  The PC booted up as fast as XP ever could.  I'm assuming the two PC's together must be drawing too much current for the power strip/surge protector, and so the troubled computer wasn't getting enough juice to boot properly...? 

I have a UT Starcom PPC-6700 SmartPhone, through Alltel, that I use essentially for running my small business.  Alltel's data service add-on (~$40/month) gives me unlimited Internet access with the device, so I can Google search, watch the weather radar from the boat, check email, and get notifications of messages left on the company voice mail system. 

On the email side of things, I have the device synchronized with an Exchange server running in my office.  I can 'force' the device to sync with the server whenever I feel like reading email, just by clicking send/receive in the phone.  With Exchange Server 2003, I can also enable Microsoft's 'Direct Push', which keeps the phone synchronized with Exchange in real-time.  There are plenty of articles out there on how Direct Push works, so I won't regurgitate that here, but essentially as messages come in, they're 'pushed' directly to the phone, so I always have the most recent message list in my hand. 

One significant problem I've noticed is that with Direct Push enabled, the battery life on the PPC-6700 is slashed severely.  I can expect that if I take the phone off charger at 7am, it will be dead (powered off dead) before 5pm.  By contrast, with Direct Push turned off and me synchronizing manually 3 or 4 times during the day, the battery will last 3 days pretty easily. 

It's weird, because Direct Push is touted as a technology that should save battery life.  Instead of the device connecting on a schedule – say, every half hour – and downloading '0' messages while wasting battery juice, it's supposed to be 'smarter' and only connect when there are messages to download. 

I can't find the article now, but one writer suggested that if you don't want your device connecting a hundred times a day and downloading messages, don't receive so many emails!  I would agree, but I think the problem is bigger than that.  I think the problem is with spam, and here's why:

Most of the time, when I 'force' a download with the phone, it will say something like “Email: 0/8” in the phone's Messaging status bar.  When it completes the download, though, I might actually only see 1 or 2 of those messages in my inbox.  I'm left to assume that the other 6 or 7 were spam...and that the Exchange spam filtering rules don't get applied until the download is requested.   

If that's true, then something similar is probably happening with Direct Push enabled.  The difference, though, is that Direct Push is causing as many as 8 connections to (downloads from) Exchange to accomplish the same thing.  Essentially, it's connecting 8 times, and each time it's just running the rules and putting messages in the spam folder...it's a wasted connection. 

[EDIT 2007-05-23]

I almost forgot.  One other problem with enabling Direct Push is that people who call me often get sent directly to voice mail.  The phone never even rings, because the line is tied up with the data connection.  Since the phone spends so much of it's day connected to Exchange, this becomes a problem - think 'teenager tying up the phone all day'.  

Some people never learn, I guess.  After my first horrible experience trying to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista Business, I said I wouldn't do it again.  A few weeks later, here I am trying to upgrade my main computer - the desktop machine on which I do most of the 'important' things. 

After a solid half hour, the upgrade let me know it wouldn't continue, because it doesn't like 'Nero Burning ROM'.  Then it exited.  I removed Nero (even though it's my favorite CD/DVD burning tool), and started the upgrade process again.  You don't get to fast-forward to the point you left...you have to re-do that half hour. 

This time, it keeps going.  It was taking forever (3 hours and we were still 'Expanding' files), but it did warn that it would take 'several hours' to complete, so whatever.  I check back after three hours, and all I see is a mouse arrow on an all-blue screen...nothing else.  The mouse moves the cursor, but after 20 minutes, it's still just stuck there.

I hard-reset the machine (reset button), and watch anxiously.  The BIOS screen just stays up for 4-5 minutes...hard reset again.  This time, it gets past the BIOS post and continues setup.  Whew. 

As I write this, the Windows Vista Business Upgrade has been stuck at 'Expanding Files... 21%' for over an hour.  When I click the little red 'X' to close the setup window, it tells me the setup process cannot be canceled at this point, because it could leave my system in a potentially unstable state.  That would be funny if it weren't so pathetic...the system is already unusable...since it's stuck in this stupid upgrade. 

I'll update this entry when I have some kind of resolution...

I recently tried to upgrade a Toshiba Satellite laptop (Model A35-S159, running Windows XP Pro SP2, fully patched, with BIOS flashed to the latest - September 2004) to Windows Vista Business Edition.  Apparently, I'm one of the many people lucky enough to have a computer that, while being ACPI compliant, isn't quite ACPI compliant enough for Windows Vista.  I'm not even sure what that means. 

I ran Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor, and the machine passed with no problems.  I ran the upgrade, and that seemed to go great too (though it took a long time).  On the first boot (which should have been into Vista), I got the popular Blue Screen of Death telling me my system's 'BIOS isn't fully ACPI compliant'.  Great. 

The only bright spot (if you can call it that) is that, if I'm quick, I can catch the boot screen as the laptop powers up and choose 'Earlier Version of Windows', which will take me back to Windows XP.

But that just gets me back to where I was before I ever tried Vista.  I can't find any hope on the web, except Microsoft saying the vendors will have to update the BIOS...that's apparently not likely in Toshiba's case, as they say right on their web site they won't support Vista except on PC's with the Vista Capable logo.  From their support web site:

Q: If my Toshiba computer does not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, does Toshiba offer drivers and BIOS upgrades for Windows Vista?

A: No. Toshiba offers Windows Vista drivers and Windows Vista-compatible BIOS upgrades for computer models that have a valid Windows Vista Capable sticker. It may be possible to upgrade to Windows Vista on some Toshiba computer models that do not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, but Toshiba cannot guarantee that all features of the computer will function correctly after the upgrade. Microsoft’s Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor may be able to indicate whether or not your computer has the minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista, but a positive report from the Upgrade Advisor is not a clear indication that the specific features of the computer will function correctly after an upgrade to Windows Vista.

I'm not much for conspiracies, but this stinks of 'plot to make people buy new hardware'...

After installing ISA server on an internal network, I noticed that file upload via FTP no longer worked.  It took way too much Googling to find this link, which explains the simple solution:

• Right-click the 'SBS FTP Outbound Access Rule' (in a default installation)
• Choose 'Configure FTP' from the bottom of the context menu. 
• Deselect the 'Read Only' box on the dialog
• Restart your FTP client application, and voila!

OK, so I get a fair number of requests from clients to rescue, copy, and/or move files that are located on an old, damaged, decrepit, and/or broken Windows machine.  Usually the hard drive is fine, sometimes the machine might even be able to boot up.  Most of the time, we're talking about hundreds (thousands) of files; documents, QuickBooks records, and most importantly, family pictures. 

My usual (and pretty successful) approach has been dependent on whether the machine will boot into Windows.  If it won't boot, then I'll slave the machine's hard drive into one of my own machines and copy away.  If it will boot, the process depends on what version of Windows they have (or had, as the case may be).  Newer versions of Windows (98SE, 2000 Pro, ME, and all flavors of XP) support USB, so I can just plug in my handy external drive and copy away. 

If the old machine has Windows NT, 98 (First Edition), BackOffice Server, or something older, I'm back to slaving their hard drive into my PC for some copying. 

Here's the problem.  I don't like having someone else's old hard drive (full of who-knows-what) in my computer.  Also, I don't like messing around inside a computer that's close to a decade old...I find that the dust has settled just right, and to mess with any components could cause an oily-dust-shift (I just totally made up that term) that can kill a processor fan or short out a mobo circuit. 

Enter my new plan: a Knoppix Live CD.  As long as the motherboard can boot from the CD drive, I'm in business.  Boot to Linux, and I have read access to the entire hard drive (or drives).  Attach an external USB drive, Knoppix recognizes it, and I'm off to the races.  Copy, copy, copy, unplug the drive, take out the CD, and reboot the machine.  It's like I was never there. 

You gotta love Linux, if only for that kind of simplicity. 

I've found the Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard (FAST) to be a great tool...you just run it on your 'old' computer, run it again on your 'new' computer, and voila!...your old desktop, files and network connection settings all appear like magic. 

I just had a problem, though, that caused a little panic.  The situation was that the 'old' computer and the 'new' computer are the same machine.  I ran the wizard to an external (USB) drive, formatted drive C: and reinstalled Windows.  When I re-ran the wizard, I got a message that apparently means the FAST backup is corrupted:

"The location that you specified does not contain any stored information."

The solution (for me, at least) was to run Windows Update until there were no more updates to be had...install everything.  After that, I re-ran the wizard, and the files restored beautifully.  Bottom line...the data wasn't corrupted at all, but for some reason Windows couldn't see it. 

A few extra minutes of preparation would have prevented the panic.  One good suggestion is to run the wizard on the 'old' computer right after you do the FAST backup.  If it starts to restore your data, you're in good shape.  If you get the above error, delete the backup and try again.  Thanks to aumha.org for the tip (though I didn't find it until after I was dead in the water). 

Finally, a solution.  I must have right-clicked an de-selected the language toolbar 50 times.  You'd think I'd lose patience waaaay before this and look for an actual answer. 

http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/144689.html

In case that link becomes unavailable, the answer is in Control Panel>Languages and Regional Settings.  Look around in there for the 'load language bar on startup' checkbox (that's paraphrased)...

For some reason, my Windows Mobile 5 device (a Dell Axim x51v) recently stopped sunchronizing completely with Windows XP.  I started seeing the following error whenever I'd try to sync:

"Synchronization cannot be started because you are not able to log on to the network and access information. Restart your desktop computer and synchronize again. If the problem persists, contact your network administrator."

It appeared that everything synchronized except for Notes, which would be left with the 'Attention Required' comment next to it.  On closer inspection, though, there were a number of tasks that I'd created on the device that weren't making it back to the PC's task list. 

I found a suggestion on the Internet that I should use 'scanpst.exe' to repair the Personal Folders file.  That didn't really apply to me, since my Outlook 2003 installation is synchronized with an Exchange Server, but I thought I'd try it anyway.  Once I got to the folder where 'scanpst.exe' is located, I saw that there is a 'scanost.exe' program too.  It turns out that an OST file is the local cache of the Exchange Server data. 

I ran 'scanost.exe' and let it repair all folders...and it worked! 

By the way, both scanpst.exe and scanost.exe can be found here by default:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

After updating Small Business Accounting to SP2, I found that I could no longer export an invoice to my custom template as I did before.  I would just get this error message in a dialog:

OLE received a packet with an invalid extension

To resolve the problem, I (eventually) opened my custom invoice template for editing, then closed it without making any real changes.  When the dialog asked if I wanted to save changes, I clicked 'Yes'.  After that, exporting to my template works just like before. 

I'm assuming the template had to be updated with the new fields that SP2 allows in templates...the memo field is the only one I can recall reading about at the moment. 

Aagh!  I bought a Dell Axim x51v (with Windows Mobile 2005), and only THEN did I see the fine print on this page..."NOTE: This version does not currently support Windows Mobile 5.0 devices."

Apparently, you can safely extend that message to mean "there is no version that currently supports Windows Mobile 5.0 devices". 

Great.

I haven't bothered to look, but I bet this is documented somewhere in a 'worst practices' list...

I recently logged in to my PC (on a SBS domain) and found that I was not connected to the server (or anything else, for that matter).  I tried troubleshooting the PC's connections, rebooting, etc., but got nowhere. 

I ended up logging on to the server itself to see what was up, and found the old "Invalid System disk or disk error..." message on the screen.  It turns out that Windows (SBS 2003) had updated itself and forced a reboot, but couldn't finish the process because a floppy disk was in the server's drive.  Removing the disk was all that had to be done to fix the problem. 

I've been struggling with a seemingly simple problem in Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006...how to document a refund from a vendor where the money went from the vendor straight back into a checking account.  I can't find documentation of it anywhere...everything stops just after explaining how to create the 'vendor credit memo'. 

After a brutal stretch of trial-and-error (that will probably make my accountant stroke out), I think I have finally figured it out. 

1. Create the 'vendor credit memo' following the normal procedure
2. Go to 'Banking'
3. Choose 'Make Deposit'
4. Change the deposit date to match the original refund date
5. Select the financial account (i.e. checking) where the money was refunded
6. Enter something useful in the 'Memo' field (i.e. 'Refund from return of XYZ product')
7. Click 'New Deposit Line' in the title bar
8. Change the date to match the refund date
9. Under 'Deposit money from', choose, 'Vendor', then select your vendor from the list
10. Enter the amount of the refund (deposit) in the 'amount' field
11. Click 'Record'
12. Click 'Save and Close'

I hope this helps someone else out. 

I recently had to move a Windows XP pc to a new domain, taking the user's settings with him to the new setup.  I found some great instructions here (Google Groups is becoming a fast favorite of mine for troubleshooting-type issues) for migrating the user account to the new domain...I would just make one extra suggestion.  Make sure, when you copy all the files from the old profile to the new one, that you have selected all the hidden and system files as well. 

The problem I ran into was in trying to get a Business Contact Manager database migrated to the new domain.  You can't just open the database with the new profile, because it's 'owned' by the first profile. 

It turns out you can just backup the database as the 'old' user, then log in as the same user in the new domain, and 'restore' the database with BCM. 

I couldn't find documentation that said this was a preferred method, butit worked for me! 

I thought I might put my home-grown 'accounting' system to rest and give Microsoft's new Small Business Accounting 2006 a try.  I'll try to post back here with an opinion when I've had a chance to try it out. 

I ordered the free trial CD from Microsoft and installed it tonight.  If anyone else tries this, make sure you turn off your firewall software.  In my case, ZoneAlarm didn't allow the installation to finish correctly, even though I 'Allow'ed everything it asked about.  With ZoneAlarm shut down, the installation went smoothly. 

A recent upgrade of the ZoneAlarm firewall software on a desktop PC knocked me off my Windows (2003) Domain.  I was (suddenly) unable to connect to File and Printer shares on the server, where before they had worked perfectly. 

After too much headache, it seems my server's IP somehow disappeared from ZoneAlarm's 'trusted' sites list when the update occurred...thus, ZoneAlarm was blocking File/Printer sharing with that machine.  Adding the server's IP as a trusted site (and clicking that obscure little 'Apply' button) did the trick.  If you use ZoneAlarm (or any other software firewall?) and suddenly lose access to network resources, you might consider checking for a 'trusted sites' or 'trusted zone' setting in the software...

Several weeks ago, my Windows XP installation started 'studdering' almost any time it played any audio; Windows start-up sounds, mouse clicks, pretty much any sound...would drag on for a second or two too long.  Playing media files was impossible because videos would pause while the audio studdered, then try to continue, then pause, etc. 

I just ran across this post where Matt Warren recommended to another guy that he reinstall the codecs from the Microsoft site.  It works!  Thanks Matt!

[edit date="2005 Sep 19"]

OK, the above solution only temporarily resolved the problem.  After several weeks of living with this, it finally seems to have resolved with, of all things, new drivers for the sound card, NIC, and flash for the motherboard.  The MoBo in this system is a Abit Duramax AA8, and it turns out the audio (chipset?) is "Realtek High Defnition Audio".  Somehow, a very recent Google search found this page, where the solution was waiting

[/edit]

Sheesh.  I'm getting HUNDREDS of 'trackbacks' on this blog from spammers....Cialis, Viagra, and Texas Hold'em peddlers, mostly.  When the trackback service is enabled, my inbox dings every minute or two with a 'trackback notification' from some jerk-wad spammer. 

I just read through the comments on Anil John's blog entry on the same topic, and there's a note there from Scott Hanselman (one of the dasBlog programmers) that implies they may have solved this problem with a recent software update. 

I can't wait to get the new version up and running....Thanks Guys!!!

I've had a number of clients complain that they just want their computers to 'work', without having to worry about new virus definitions, Windows updates, updated anti-spyware software, and firewall patches.  "Just fix it so I can use it and not worry about it", is the common theme. 

Those days of carefree Internet use are GONE.  To some degree, these things can be automated, but for the most part, you will have to learn to watch over them (or you'll be taking your PC in for 'cleaning' frequently).  Here's a good article at PCWorld that helps explain why. 

Hopefully, this will save someone else a little time...

While visiting the Windows Update web site with a Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) machine, the error “Software Update Incomplete” kept popping up.  I followed the instructions in Microsoft's KB 39585, but that didn't help. 

I finally found this article, which describes a similar problem with MSN Messenger..you have to re-register a set of DLL's to reset Windows Update's information:

“regsvr32 softpub.dll Wintrust.dll Initpki.dll Rsaenh.dll Mssip32.dll Cryptdlg.dll”

Given the popularity of my first post in this area, here is a second list of Windows processes that recently needed killing to bring a client's PC back to life...First, here's the obligatory disclaimer: Your results may vary...killing processes may screw up your system...you've been warned. 

• CxtPls.exe – In a folder (C:\program files\CxtPls) along with CxtPls.dll and CxtPls.htm files.  Also found CXTPLS.EXE-254B7FF2.pf.  This one had an ‘Uninstall’ file that removed everything but the dll and another file called ProxyStub.dll
• Xdo26uwL.exe – found only XFO26UWL.EXE-2EBD47A6.pf in C:\windows\prefetch
• KagQn.exe -
• Sain.exe – located in C:\windows\system32 – likely a ‘Search Assistant’ from 180solutions.  Related Links: here and here.
• TBPS.exe and TBPSSvc.exe – In the C:\Program Files\Toolbar folder…also found TBPS.EXE-2EE5A9EB.pf in C:\windows\prefetch.  Related Link: here
• Support.exe - support.exe is a process which is registered as the W32.Akosw@mm virus. This virus comes with it's own SMTP engine which means it has the ability to send e-mails regardless of user interaction, and does so. It is a registered security risk and should be removed immediately
• PIB.exe - PIB.exe is an advertising program. This process monitors your browsing habits and distributes the data back to the author's servers for analysis. This also prompts advertising popups. This program is a registered security risk and should be removed immediately.
• dxmprxy.exe – located in C:\windows\system32
• fauutils.exe – located in C:\windows\system32
• EbatesMoeMoneyMaker1.exe
• dhbrwsr – located in C:\windows – probably adware  - Related Links: here and here

Definitions for Support.exe and PIB.exe are taken directly from www.processlibrary.com, an excellent online (and free!) resource. 

Many of the above processes couldn't be killed directly in Task Manager (because they'd pop right back as soon as I killed them).  I use SysInternals Process Explorer to delete the entire process tree, and it worked great!  Another warning, don't muck around with Process Explorer if you don't know what you're doing, bad things can happen.

Whenever I minimize my Visual Studio.Net 2003 window (the IDE window itself), I lose the ability to restore it...when I try, I get this view:

I can close it by hitting the close button in the control box (the red X).  I can then re-open it immediately, and it will work fine until it gets minimized the next time.

I know there are at least two people that read this blog :)...have either of you seen this before?

[edit 2005 Jan 17]After installing a new monitor (at a much higher resolution), this problem has gone away.  Maybe the resolution settings on my old monitor were messing up Windows' ability to repaint the VS window?[/edit]

In cleaning out clients' PC's, I frequently use the excellent list of known Windows processes located at ProcessLibrary.com.  Tonight, though, I ran across a whole slew of processes that ProcessLibrary's search tool apparently hadn't been exposed to yet.  I certainly don't have time to submit them all as possible 'new' processes, but hopefully someone will read this and gain confidence from the fact that I removed all of these (killed them, actually, with the 'End Process' button) without problems. 

In no particular order, they are WebRebates1.exe, WebRebates0.exe, WinTaskAd.exe, paint.exe, uptime.exe, msie.exe, updatemgr.exe, McVSEscn.exe, svcshost.exe (NOT svchost!  Leave svchost alone!  I tried to warn you!), WinSched.exe, libsysmgr.exe (this one was BRUTAL...kept coming back after being killed...only a 'Safe Mode' reboot, manual deletion, and Hijack This! cleaning could get it), orro.exe, chkdsk.exe, and svphost.exe.  Please note, these were running processes...found by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and selecting the processes tab.  No guarantees expressed or implied...stopping processes can be a dangerous thing.  Good Luck, Spyware hunters.

I think many people don't realize...the 'from' part of any email you receive can be faked...almost as easily as faking the return address on a regular letter. 

The email's header information has details about where it really came from, but to expand on the analogy above, it's roughly the same as seeing that the postmark on the envelope doesn't match the city of origin...and in reality, even that information can be forged in an email. 

Even if you receive an email from someone you might normally expect, if their name/address don't look right in the 'From' field, be suspicious.  Be wary of extra quotation marks, spaces, or other punctuation in their details, because it might not really be from your friend. 

After installing Windows XP's Service Pack 2, now none of my running/open applications appear in the taskbar.  I still have the Start Menu and the Quicklaunch and systray icons, but nothing else.  I can still use Alt-Tab switching, but that's it. 

Maybe I shouldn't have installed SP2 yet...I'm assuming that's the cause of the problem...the timing is too much to ignore. 

[edit date='2004-09-21']

So I 'restored' this machine to a previous point, ran and re-ran “sfc /scannow“, and scoured the Internet (and my registry) for a solution, but none of them worked....until I found this link, item 240 on Kelly's Korner's XP tweaks.

Thank you very much to Kelly!

[/edit]

For quite a while now, I've tolerated this issue on both a Windows 2000 Professional and an XP machine...whenever I select and 'delete' files, it can take up to two minutes to complete the action.  Those machines weren't always like that, but over time the delete process just seemed to slow way down. 

Worse, the whole system is pretty well locked up while we wait for the files to go away. 

Brian Cryer has a neat little article with an obvious solution...empty your damn Recycle Bin once or twice a year!  It worked for me...I only had about 1.2GB of crap in there...go figure.  Thanks Brian (for pointing out what probably should have been obvious)!

I'm not sure what started it, but one day I fired up my trusty old Windows 2000 Professional box and instead of hopping on the Internet after it's usual 4 minute boot, I got the following error:

“Mobile Devices Properties, The TCP/IP Network Transport is not installed.” 

Surprisingly, I didn't find many Internet sources that could help.  The best one was at TechExams.net (http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=17654), as it seemed to have many of the same issues...Windows 2000 Pro, High speed connection via DSL/LAN, McAfee VirusScan, and synchronization with a Windows CE Palm-Size device. 

After many attempts, here's the sequence that (I think) fixed it:

• In Control Panel>Network and Dial-Up connections, open the 'Local Area Connection' Properties dialog and uninstall all of it's components (including TCP/IP), but don't reboot. 
• In Control Panel>Add/Remove Hardware, remove/uninstall the network card
• Now, reboot.
• When it comes back up, reinstall the drivers for the network card (Windows recognized the NIC as 'new' hardare and asked for the drivers.
• Go back into the 'Local Area Network' properties and install the TCP/IP protocol. 
• Reboot and cross your fingers

Like many owners of private domain names, all email sent to any addresses at bowenweb.com are eventually forwarded to my email account (except those that fall victim to spam filters and filtering rules).  I was a little surprised to see the following text in a message this afternoon, though: 

---

Dear user of Bowenweb.com e-mail server gateway,

Your e-mail account has been temporary disabled because of unauthorized access.

Further details can be obtained from attached file.

For security purposes the attached file is password protected. Password is "10571".

Sincerely,

The Bowenweb.com team http://www.bowenweb.com

---

Of course, the attached .zip file has the Bagle.gen worm in it as you might expect.  I can just imagine plenty of people falling for this one, though. 

By the way, this was sent to a valid email address, so I have to guess the address was harvested from the Internet...probably the Rainbow forums. 

[edit]

8-18-2004, Another variation of the email-virus trick. 

I got an email that appeared to be from an acquaintance of mine (I recognized the sender's address).  It was a very brief message, complaining about sending messages using plain text, and giving quick instructions on how to open the attached .zip file.  Of course, the .zip file contains a virus. 

On further inspection, the email isn't from anyone I know at all...the sender's address is spoofed.  Since we both share a common interest (and, thus, our addresses can be found in the same place), these guys must have harvested both our addresses, then used his to try to get me to 'trust' the message enough to open the attachment. 

DO NOT OPEN WEIRD ATTACHMENTS, even if they appear to be from someone you know. 

Here's a screenshot of the email (I blocked out the “sender's” address with a yellow box).

[/edit]

I was trying to map a network drive on PC A to PC B on a small network...with poor results.  The Map Network Drive wizard kept complaining that it couldn't find the share I had set up on B...even though I'd used that share successfully dozens of times before with other machines. 

I made sure that both machines were in the same workgroup, but that didn't do it.  I finally disabled the Window XP Internet Connection Firewall on PC A and that did the trick.  I thought that firewall was supposed to prevent traffic in only one direction (in), but apparently it prevents network activity in the out direction too. 

Every time I restart my XP Pro laptop, it downloads the same update (KB835732) and asks to install it.