Xerces Panic Error .... help ...

[Carol Haynes]

I am having a problem using AdobePDF (part of Acrobat Pro 7) to 'print' to PDF files. The print process starts and then I get an error (see subject). Reinstalling Adobe software doesn't make any difference.

There are loads of references to this when I Google the error message but not many of them seem to make any sense. A lot seem to be to do with Dreamweaver but that can't be the issue here.

I have found one solution (which works) on Adobe forums and wondered if someone could enlighten me why it might work and what the potential implications for the solution might be. Also anyone got an easy explanation of how to rebuild the registry key with non corrupt but essential info.

The solution involves deleting this registry key:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset]

and all its subkeys and values.

I backed it up and deleted the key and AdobePDF worked fine. It was reported that simply importing the key back again solved the problem but having imported the key back it worked fine until I restarted my system and then the error is back.

Sorry I am a complete dunce when it comes to things like MIME settings - can someone give me some cluse how to troubleshoot this issue.

Here are the registry entries I removed - can anyone see anything that looks wrong here?

Click to see Registry key info

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\85xIfTB5OuN4y]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ANSI_X3.4-1968]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ANSI_X3.4-1986]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\arabic]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-6"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ascii]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ASMO-708]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e8
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000002c4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\Big5]
"Codepage"=dword:000003b6
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000003b6

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\chinese]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\CN-GB]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\cp1256]
"AliasForCharset"="windows-1256"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\cp367]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\cp819]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\cp852]
"AliasForCharset"="ibm852"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\cp866]
"AliasForCharset"="ibm866"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csASCII]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csbig5]
"AliasForCharset"="big5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csEUCKR]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csEUCPkdFmtJapanese]
"AliasForCharset"="euc-jp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csGB2312]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISO2022JP]
"AliasForCharset"="_iso-2022-jp$ESC"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISO2022KR]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-2022-kr"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISO58GB231280]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatin1]
"AliasForCharset"="windows-1252"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatin2]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatin4]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatin5]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatinArabic]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-6"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatinCyrillic]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatinGreek]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csISOLatinHebrew]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csKOI8R]
"AliasForCharset"="koi8-r"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csKSC56011987]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csShiftJIS]
"AliasForCharset"="shift_jis"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csUnicode11UTF7]
"AliasForCharset"="utf-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\csWindows31J]
"AliasForCharset"="shift_jis"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\cyrillic]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\DOS-720]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e8
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000002d0

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\DOS-862]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e7
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000035e

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\DOS-874]
"Codepage"=dword:0000036a
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000036a

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ECMA-114]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-6"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ECMA-118]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ELOT_928]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\euc-jp]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000cadc

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\euc-kr]
"Codepage"=dword:000003b5
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000003b5

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\Extended_UNIX_Code_Packed_Format_for_Japanese]
"AliasForCharset"="euc-jp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\GB2312]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a8
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000003a8

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\GBK]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\GB_2312-80]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\greek]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\greek8]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\hebrew]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\hz-gb-2312]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a8
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000cec8

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\IBM367]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ibm819]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ibm852]
"Codepage"=dword:00000354
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00000354

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ibm866]
"Codepage"=dword:00000362
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00000362

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-2022-jp]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c42c

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-2022-kr]
"Codepage"=dword:000003b5
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c431

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-1]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-11]
"AliasForCharset"="windows-874"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-2]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e2
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb0

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-3]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e6
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb1

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-4]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e9
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb2

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-5]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e3
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb3

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-6]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e8
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-7]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e5
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb5

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-8]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e7
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00006fb6

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO-8859-8 Visual]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-8-i]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e7
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000096c6

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-8859-9]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e6
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e6

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-100]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-101]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-110]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-111]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-126]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-127]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-6"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-138]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-144]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-148]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-149]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-58]
"AliasForCharset"="gb2312"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso-ir-6]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO646-US]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso8859-1]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso8859-2]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_646.irv:1991]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso_8859-1]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso_8859-1:1987]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso_8859-2]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\iso_8859-2:1987]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-4]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-4:1988]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-5]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-5:1988]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-6]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-6"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-6:1987]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-6"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-7]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-7:1987]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-8]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-8:1988]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-9]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ISO_8859-9:1989]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\koi]
"AliasForCharset"="koi8-r"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\koi8-r]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e3
"InternetEncoding"=dword:00005182

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\koi8-ru]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e3
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000556a

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\korean]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\KSC5601]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\KSC_5601]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ks_c_5601]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ks_c_5601-1987]
"Codepage"=dword:000003b5
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000003b5

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ks_c_5601-1989]
"AliasForCharset"="ks_c_5601-1987"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\l1]
"AliasForCharset"="windows-1252"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\l2]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\l4]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\l5]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\latin1]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\latin2]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\latin4]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\latin5]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\logical]
"AliasForCharset"="windows-1255"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\ms_Kanji]
"AliasForCharset"="shift_jis"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\shift-jis]
"AliasForCharset"="shift_jis"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\shift_jis]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000003a4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\unicode]
"Codepage"=dword:000004b0
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004b0

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\unicode-1-1-utf-7]
"AliasForCharset"="utf-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\unicode-1-1-utf-8]
"AliasForCharset"="utf-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\unicode-2-0-utf-8]
"AliasForCharset"="utf-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\unicodeFFFE]
"Codepage"=dword:000004b0
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004b1

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\us]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\us-ascii]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\utf-7]
"Codepage"=dword:000004b0
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000fde8

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\utf-8]
"Codepage"=dword:000004b0
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000fde9

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\visual]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1250]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e2
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e2

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1251]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e3
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e3

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1252]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1253]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e5
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e5

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\Windows-1254]
"AliasForCharset"="iso-8859-9"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1255]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e7
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e7

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1256]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e8
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e8

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1257]
"Codepage"=dword:000004e9
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004e9

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-1258]
"Codepage"=dword:000004ea
"InternetEncoding"=dword:000004ea

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\windows-874]
"Codepage"=dword:0000036a
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000036a

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-ansi]
"AliasForCharset"="windows-1252"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-cp1250]
"AliasForCharset"="Windows-1250"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-cp1251]
"AliasForCharset"="Windows-1251"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-euc]
"AliasForCharset"="euc-jp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-euc-jp]
"AliasForCharset"="euc-jp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-ms-cp932]
"AliasForCharset"="shift_jis"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-sjis]
"AliasForCharset"="shift_jis"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-unicode-2-0-utf-7]
"AliasForCharset"="utf-7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-unicode-2-0-utf-8]
"AliasForCharset"="utf-8"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-user-defined]
"Codepage"=dword:0000c350
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c350

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\x-x-big5]
"AliasForCharset"="big5"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\_autodetect]
"Codepage"=dword:0000c6f4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c6f4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\_autodetect_all]
"Codepage"=dword:0000c351
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c351

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\_autodetect_kr]
"Codepage"=dword:0000c705
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c705

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\_iso-2022-jp$ESC]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c42d

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\_iso-2022-jp$SIO]
"Codepage"=dword:000003a4
"InternetEncoding"=dword:0000c42e

[Carol Haynes]

Problem solved ...

I exported another copy of the key from a second installation of Windows XP Pro SP2 and used Beyond compare to compare the two sets of contents.

There was only one difference ... in the problem version there was one extra entry:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\85xIfTB5OuN4y]

Deleting that single subkey solved the problem.

Anyone know what this subkey was about? I did a Google search on the charset value "85xIfTB5OuN4y" and it came up with nothing.

[mouser]

how strange. i'm curious to know what the explanation ends up being.
adobe isn't the best behaved cokmpany so i can't say i'm all that surprised at their programs exhibiting mystery behaviors..

[Carol Haynes]

It isn't an Adobe specific thing - if you look at http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Xerces%20panic%20error you will see it affects a range of unrelated applications (the most common seems to be Macromedia Dreamweaver - the version predating Adobe involvement). It's all very strange. Apart from deleting the whole 'Charset' key I haven't seen any other solutions on the internet that work !

[Carol Haynes]

Problem not solved - a key with a similar format seems to be created after I reboot - so I have to delete the key again on each reboot.

Anyone any idea how to track down which application is creating this key?

[Carol Haynes]

Hmmm --- seems to be AdMuncher generating that key each time it starts. If I use MSCONFIG to disable all startup items and all non-MS services then reboot and restart AdMucher and nothing else the key appears (it has an apparently random set of letters and numbers in the subkey name). Don't know why this happens and have emailed AdMuncher.

[mouser]

the plot thickens!!!
i'm watching this thread with great interest.. it's better than a soap opera.. i only wonder how it will end..

[Carol Haynes]

I uninstalled the version of AdMuncher completely I had and installed a fresh new version from the website. Seems to have done the trick. I wonder if something had corrupted the previous installation.

Very odd though, but a relief as I used AdobePDF a lot. I know there are alternatives (I even have some of them) but the nice thing about AdobePDF is that the PDF files are searchable, whereas a lot of the alternatives produce graphical versions of printout.

[cranioscopical]

the nice thing about AdobePDF is that the PDF files are searchable

Sorry to see you've been having some hassle!
I couldn't agree more about the value of searchable PDFs.
I've noted the solution you found (rather you than I) and filed it away against the day...