Recent Posts

6826

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Acronis 40% Christmas Discount

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 08, 2005, 07:27 AM »

I am using Acronis products these days (TrueImage and DiskDirector). They have released new versions of both recently, and TrueImage in particular came in for a caning over poor debugging.

It still isn't perfect. I have images that verify happily when examined from windows but won't verify from the recovery disc - a serious issue if you OS partition goes down and needs to be recovered since it won't restore anything if it thinks the archive is corrupt.

6827

Best Firewall / Re: agnitum outpost v3 - the horror?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2005, 09:44 PM »

it's like a gossip mill trying to figure out what is new in each version - BAD SHOW 

-mouser (December 07, 2005, 09:40 PM)

Maybe they don't know what's new in each release - they obviously don't seem to try it out before each release otherwise errors like the IP bug would have been spotted on day 1.

6828

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2005, 08:42 PM »

My thinking re. wiki was that if a KB starts to build of useful fixes and these pages are indexed in Google etc. it might draw more people into the main site proper. It was just a thought but I don't want to start cluttering things unnecessarily.

PS I have tracked down the extremely annoying beep problem too ...

Basically I had a problem unistalling Logitech webcam drivers/software and it has left some entries in the registry (as well as some files in the Windows\... folders). One of these loads a file from Windows\... at startup. If I disable that the beeping stops.

I thought I would try and fix the problem with new Logitech drivers. Having installed them the startup items have all changed to new files, but I still get the annoying beep. Again if I disable the Logitech startup ites in HKLM\...\Run the beeps stop.

I have emailed Logitech to see if I can find out what is required to do a complete manual unistall of the original driver set.

At least it is nothing more serious!

6829

Official Announcements / Re: CarolHaynes and BrotherS have been made moderators on the forum

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2005, 07:24 PM »

Thanks Mouser, and others for your kind comments ...

I'll do my best not to say or do anything at all in the role.

Now where is that big stick ?

6830

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2005, 05:08 PM »

Mouser would you like me to start a general windows annoyances and fix the little buggers section in the Wiki with the following?

Interesting bit of info ...

I have tracked down the cause of the DCOM errors - and this may be of interest to others using Creative SoundBlaster equipment. This seems to be a generic common problem in Creative's drivers, but is more often experienced with Audigy Cards. Here is my summary of the problem and solution:

Event Viewer Alert:

Event ID = 7000, PfModNT service failure due to 'missing file'
Also a number of DCOM alerts in the same log referring to various processes that would not startup properly because the service database was locked. These services varied, but "netman" and "iPodService" (installed with iTunes) were a common services to suffer in this way.


Background Info:

The process PCI/ISA Device Info. Service belongs to the software PfModNT by Creative Technology Ltd (www.creative.com).
PfModNT.sys is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32.
The driver can is started during system startup.

Important: Some malware is hidden as PfModNT.sys, possibly in c:\windows or c:\windows\system32.

The version I have on WindowsXP is straight from the CreativeAudigy driver site, and has the following properties:

Location\filename:  C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\PFModNT.sys
File size: 15,840 bytes
MD5: C8A2D6FF660AC601B7BB9A9B16A5C25E

Fix:

This is a typical bug of Creative Audigy 2 drivers (and others in the SB family).

Solution: Open Control Panel > System > Device Manager and select View > All hidden devices.

Scroll down the device list to Non-PnP-Drivers.

Find "PfDetNT" and "PfModNT".

With the right mouse button select "properties" and change
the startup type of PfModNT to "System" and the startup type of PFDetNT to "Demand".

If you are asked to restart you system do it after you have changed both.

You should now find the mysterious PfMonNt error no longer appears amd the service starts properly. I found all the DCOM errors disappeared too so obviously the system was fighting to start PfMonNT when the other processes were asked to start and they couldn't because the PfMonNt problem was blocking access to the service start mechanism. This also explains why the problem DCOM services varied from boot to boot.

6831

Living Room / Re: Van Zant CD taking a beating for containing this Sony Rootkit thing.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2005, 11:55 AM »

Even more hilarious - their uninstaller had a security issue too ...

#4.  If I have previously uninstalled the SunnComm MediaMax software from my computer, is my computer at risk?
We have been alerted that the tools provided to uninstall the SunnComm MediaMax content protection software provided prior to October 5th, 2005, can result in a potential security risk. If you have uninstalled your SunnComm MediaMax software prior to that date, we recommend that you run the new uninstaller software available here or follow the instructions below.

(see FAQ page on link quoted above)

6832

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 12:36 PM »

Trouble is I was getting random errors relating to DCOM starting up services. iPosService was a common factor but there were also problems with starting NetMan, which is a bit more important.

I had myself auto logging in without a password - it has been suggested that slowing down the boot up process by waiting for the user to login can cure this ... I'll give it a go.

6833

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 12:13 PM »

Thanks m_s, useful looking site. It is a shame that BlackViper is down (under construction at the mo) as it is the main link for service related optimization but I did manage to download the PDF summary.

Does anyone know what the effects are of changing the DCOM service from Automatic to Manual ? My system seems to work fine, everything still loads and obviously the DCOM errors have disappeared and no new ones have popped up. Strange thing is that although DCOM is set to manual it doesn't actually start - so I am just curious to know why it is normall used tostart services, and what other uses are likely to be affected?

6834

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 09:29 AM »

Lateral thinking is the more upmarket way of thinking about it

6835

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 08:23 AM »

Tracked down the main issue ... (blush) ...

Good bit of trouble shooting this ... you'll like it

I got out my camcorder and recorded the screen then played it back a frame at a time.

The 'error' window actually says "Logging off" <blush> but it disappears so fast to be replaced with saving settings that you can't see it, plus it is accompanied by a system sound "Default Beep" - which is not what I remember from before. Is this beep usual? I used to have all windows sounds switched off so I can't remember???

One other issue is during startup I often get the following:

Event Type:   Error
Event Source:   DCOM
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   10005
Date:      06/12/2005
Time:      14:16:54
User:      LAIRDSWOOD\Carol
Computer:   LAIRDSWOOD
Description:
DCOM got error "The service database is locked. " attempting to start the service iPodService with arguments "-Service" in order to run the server:
{7A7FB085-6068-4898-8CCA-480A9187277C}

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....om/fwlink/events.asp.

The troubleshooting references from the Support link doesn't solve the issue.

The odd thing is that I have now set iPodService to start automatically, but DCOM still reports this error even though it is running (it also does it when iPodService is set to manual. Since I haven't got an iPod (the service is part of iTunes which I do use) I presume I can simply ignore this error and disable iPodService???

6836

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 07:18 AM »

Hmmm ... that was interesting ...

Closing all services under my session also killed RPC - and that forced a shutdown. It all happened so quickly I caould tell what was going on, but there wasn't a beep (but then I don't hink it logged me off either - and I thing the beep comes during logoff since it occurs if I logoff without a restart).

Looking in the event logs there was nothing surprising - just a usual list of Info entires plus a list of "Service xxxx unexpectedly terminated" from the TSKILL call.

6837

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 07:08 AM »

It's only what has been installed by Windows, Microsoft Office, Visual Basic 2005 Express and drivers (plus a few utilities)

Actually quite a lot are disabled - or manual start (and haven't been started)

I'll have a look at TSKILL and see what happens ...

6838

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 06:47 AM »

carol - nod32 sometimes crashes my computer on shutdown.
can i suggest you try uninstalling antivirus and firewall, and reboot a couple times see if error goes away.

-mouser (December 06, 2005, 06:37 AM)

Currently I haven't installed a virus scanner (too much of a pain when you are spending most of your time installing software). I am only using the built in Windows XP Firewall at the moment too.

How about PrtScr'ing your TaskManager and Services.msc setup?

-PhilKC (December 06, 2005, 06:36 AM)

See below:

6839

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 06:35 AM »

Errr, it is actually possible the full format went... Wrong (Bad copy of files, etc)... Take 2?

(Would a 'How to format and recover' acticle be of any interest to anyone here? *opens notepad*)

-PhilKC (December 06, 2005, 06:26 AM)

I suppose it is possible that there were duff files copied from the CD - but how does that explain that it is running flawlessly (and fast) until I shutdown? There are no problems starting up and the services used are the same for shutdown so if the files are corrupted I would expect to see other odd behaviours.

Windows XP also has a file check system running in the background on Windows files, which should pick up a bad checksum (though I know this isn't infallable)

6840

Living Room / Re: Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 06:31 AM »

i was going to say it sounds like a tray program screaming out as its being shut down, but you say you tried shutting down all tray tools.

you could try stopping all non-critical processes from services control

-mouser (December 06, 2005, 06:18 AM)

Yes I have done that - it must be either a driver complaining or a core element of Windows.

I have tried shutting down everything possible (even to the point on one attempt that I could no longer get the machine to restart)!

Ideally it would be good to really slow down the shutdown process so that the error remains displayed for a while.

It is probably something totally trivial but you know how frustrating this sort of thing gets.

I think the quickest solution is going to be to stop installing software and start again from scratch - even though that will now mean phoning MS for activation again!

Before that I may try a Windows Repair Install over the top and then run Windows update again. Not a lot to lose, and if it works it is quicker than starting from scratch.

6841

Living Room / Unpredictable Windows ... Can someone HELP !! (Slowly going mad)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2005, 05:57 AM »

I have spent the last day and a half backing up odds and sods on my system, reformatting and reinstalling Windows from scratch.

It has been long overdue, and a screwed up NTFS partition was the final straw (lots of crosslinked files all of a sudden for no apparent reason).

Great I think - blank partition - full format (so I map any bad spots on the disk) and away we go - it will be really nice to have a clean install ...

That's what I thought.

I installed the latest Catalyst Drivers from ATI (the recommended download for my card). Having installed and rebooted twice to complete it my even viewer had loads of errors (including things like stuff not found, bad parameters etc). So much for the recommended drivers. I rollwed back to the MS supplied versions from Windows Update and no errors now.

Lots of things like this. For example, trying to install my Audigy 2 sound card from downloads at the Creative website ended up with an incomplete install, and I had to uninstall and start from the CDROM supplied and then update from the website, my Creative Zen Micro had to be installed from the CD as there didn't seem anyway to do this from the website. Trouble is the firmware is at a completely different version to the that expected by the disc so it doesn't work - OK update from the website and then manually unistall the rubbish that is left behind.

After going on like this for some time my installation was looking less than clean.

MS Office shouldn't be a problem .... oh yeah ... lots of events recorded (mostly about permissions set incorrectly and assuming defaults that may or may not work) ...

Anyway I have fianlly got an installation that is running with no extraneous event log entries (well usually - it seems to vary a bit from boot to boot).

One final annoyance - which is where I really need help:

When I logoff/restart/shutdown the system instead of simply hearing the usual annoying tune there is an error beep first and an error window flashes up for a split second befor disappearing. I can't figure out what is causing the error (it leaves no log entry to tell me) as I can't see the error window message (it really is just a blur) ...

Anyone got any ideas how to track this down?

What I have done so far is to close all tray icons, all processes that I can and all services that look stoppable before shutting down, and it still happens.

It really is very frustrating ... am I going to have to put the last day and half down to experience and start again?

6842

Living Room / Re: The Great Firewall Hunt ... frustrating ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 04, 2005, 08:52 PM »

Interesting news here:

Breaking News: Sunbelt To Acquire The Kerio Personal Firewall
Here are some of the highlights:
The acquisition is expected to be finalized by the end of this month.
The Kerio Personal Firewall will be re-branded on an interim basis as the "Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall".
All existing customers of the Kerio Personal Firewall will be able to receive support through Sunbelt once the acquisition is completed.
Upon the close of the deal, Sunbelt will also announce new reduced pricing for the full version of the product and a variety of special offers for both Kerio and Sunbelt customers.
Additionally, Sunbelt will continue Kerio's tradition of providing a basic free version for home users.
During the transition period, Kerio will continue to support the product and users are encouraged to download the Kerio Personal Firewall from the Kerio website at www.kerio.com until the acquisition is completed.
We are thrilled with this acquisition, it's our personal favorite. We just really like how it operates. It's straightforward, very effective and also has cool features like ad blocking and intrusion prevention.

The deal will be closing at the end of the month and at that point we'll reduce the price. Sunbelt customers will also get the opportunity to buy the Kerio Firewall at a discount and we'll also be offering Sunbelt products to Kerio users at a discount. Such a deal.

From a technical standpoint, this product is pretty amazing. We were blown away during our technical due diligence with the quality of the coding and the many security features built into the product. This product is hot. This should all be wrapped up in a couple of weeks. If you want to check it out now, scroll down to the Product Of the Week section. We have a link there. (Tip 'o the hat to Alex.)

6843

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: WhyReboot?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 07:21 PM »

Wouldn't a shortcut to:

C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE C:\WINDOWS\wininit.ini

do the job ??

(Sorry noticed it does more than the window shows)

6844

Living Room / Re: The Great Firewall Hunt ... frustrating ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 06:58 PM »

In addition, if you have a malicious software running that's trying to "phone home", you are already in bad waters.

-Mark0 (December 03, 2005, 06:51 PM)

You stand more chance of noticing it though if you have outbound blocking software - and it saves you from being investigated by you ISP and/or legal action for spamming/virus spreading. If you have a firewall active on your system I think you would have some defense if not you could potentially be held liable.

6845

Living Room / Re: The Great Firewall Hunt ... frustrating ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 04:56 PM »

If anyone is interested I had a look at this offer. It doesn't say anywhere that the Sygate/Kerio product has to be a bought version (both did free versions) and it looks like the key supplied works with version 2 and 3 (according to their letter). Hence I have decided to give version 3 a go, and if I get problems ask some kind version 2 user for a copy of he installer and try that.

At no point in the order process are you asked any questions about previous Sygate/Kerio products.

6846

Living Room / Re: Want to wet my beak with Linux,need suggestions on distro.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 11:49 AM »

In short, udev replaces the current devfs.  It will create drivers on the fly... even for the above mentioned cards and USB equipment.

I'm not sure I understand this. I went to the udev site and as usual with any Linux documentation it is totally unitelligible geekspeak ...

Why does every piece of documentation about Linux assume that you already understand everything else about Linux and use such inpenetrable language. This is one of the things that has really put me off over the years.

I'm sorry, maybe I am expecting too much but I expect an OS to install by putting in a CD and clicking go. I tehn expect to be able to at least connect to the internet without having to try and configure everything manually with 1001 obscurely named shell commands - each with about 400 options of ever increasing complexity.

I am willing to learn - but you don't expect a brain surgeon to learn by cutting open someone's head and having a quick tinker to see what happens.

The distros I have tried in the past are:

Corel (Debian) - never got past booting up, and after months of wranglingw ith Corel they eventually gave me a refund.

Red Hat, Mandrake, SUSE - I have at least got these up and running when I had a normal modem dial up (after I realised I had to buy an external V90 modem). Most things worked OK but there was always some hardware that wouldn't and there are no drivers available. Now I am using wireless I haven't got any of them working at all.

I spent hours trying to work out how to get wireless networking to work (one computer + router for now) and have yet to find a reasonable solution. Lots of manufacturers simply aren't interested in making drivers for Linux or MacOS (smae thing now anyway).

I love the idea that "udev will create drivers on the fly" but how is this possible. Even it is possible surely any piece of kit you own is only going to function in its most basic mode as there isn't an automatic way possible than can hook up to advanced features.

Honestly, I am willing to be convinced, but you aren't quite there yet for me ...

6847

General Software Discussion / State of Spyware Report

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 07:46 AM »

Intereseting report form Webroot (Spy Sweeper).

http://www.webroot.c.../pdf/2005-q3-sos.pdf

6848

General Software Discussion / Re: New Mozilla Firefox user

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 06:48 AM »

Interesting as I am using NOD32 as well ???

Actually the BISS manager looks quite neat.

6849

General Software Discussion / Re: New Mozilla Firefox user

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 05:23 AM »

The strange thing is why is GSS doing anything to HOSTS at all? There is nothing in the configuration that mentions HOSTS - it all seems to be purely registry based (which is what I thought).

Having said that HostsMan works fine for me despite GSS being involved ???

Have you got any other antispyware or antivirus apps that might be locking and managing the HOSTS file ?

6850

General Software Discussion / Re: New Mozilla Firefox user

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 03, 2005, 05:18 AM »

I did the same - this is what I get: