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

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.

John Mandia threw down a cool challenge idea...how to make Google search multiple sites at one time for a specific term.  I messed around with it for a while, and came up with this: 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=bowen+john+%7Bsite%3Agobowen.com+OR+rainbowportal.net%7D

Basically, from the Google interface, use the following format:

bowen john {site:gobowen.com OR rainbowportal.net}

...Where 'bowen' and 'john' are the terms to search for, and 'gobowen.com' and 'rainbowportal.net' are the two sites I want searched.  Neato! (though admittedly, this example is a bit conceited)

[edit]After posting this, I went back and read the comment from Clint S. on John's site - it looks like the curly brackets aren't needed for single-term searches, but for multiple terms, you have to have them[/edit]

[edit2]6/27/2004 - Wrong again...Clint S. had the right answer from the start.  Still a cool trick, though.[/edit2]

With Rainbow installations, occasionally I'll end up with some (or all) objects in the database being owned by my local ASPNET account (computername\ASPNET).  This results from building the database with a trustedconnection, and while I know this, I always forget and do it anyway. 

The problem is that when I try to upload the existing database to a 'live' one somewhere, now that local ASPNET account owns everything and things go very sideways. 

Anyway, I found this SQL script a while ago that (in two steps) changes the ownership of all the objects in a database to 'dbo'.  I didn't write it, and it's been so long now, I don't even know where I got it...if it was yours, thank you very much.  If not, here it is:

SELECT 'EXEC(''sp_changeobjectowner @objname = '''''+   ltrim(u.name) + '.' + ltrim(s.name) + ''''''   + ', @newowner = dbo'')'
FROM  sysobjects s,       sysusers u
WHERE s.uid = u.uid
AND   u.name <> 'dbo'
AND   xtype in ('V', 'P', 'U')
AND   u.name not like 'INFORMATION%'
order by s.name

Run this in Query Analyzer (with 'Results to Text' option set), then copy those results into a new QA window and run them. 

Plagued by yet another weird error...

Unable to create the web project “myProject”.  Unable to validate that the file path ‘c:\inetpub\wwwroot\myProject’ matches the URL path ‘http://localhost/myProject’.  A connection with the server could not be established.

I started getting this error any time I tried to open a web project in Visual Studio .NET...even projects I had opened successfully before.  In searching around, someone suggested a firewall may be to blame.  I turned off McAfee Firewall, and presto, it works fine.  Who needs protection, anyway?

Since I started using Visual Studio .NET, I've noticed that occasionally the 'Properties' window will not appear (when it is set to 'auto-hide') , even when you click 'Properties' for a control or hover over the collapsed Properties window icon on the right side (default location, anyway). 

I finally broke down and looked for a solution...and found it in Knowledge Base Article 313899.