Recently in Windows Vista Category

Many times to troubleshoot a computer problem it can be much easier if the technician can see the exact error message that you are seeing. Luckily for us Windows XP comes with a way to do just that. If your computer can send email with Outlook or Outlook Express then you can very easily send a screen shot.

When you see the error message click the 'Prnt Scrn' button your keyboard, then create a new email message, address it to the person you want to see the error. Now in the message body text, just click your cursor there and hit CTRL+V to paste the picture.

That's it! The screen shot that was captured when you hit PrntScrn is now pasted in the message, you can now send. Hopefully the technician can help. 

Talk about frustration! You found the virus files using HiJack This, you remove them. Yet when you restart they reappear. When you try and manually delete the file you get an 'Access is denied' or something simliar. So what gives? Today we'll be going over some tactics on how to remove files that are in use and are  hard to delete.

Move It!

The first and easier way to remove hard to delete files is to use a program called OTMoveIt! This thing is great, you type in the file name and then most of the time it deletes the file. Another great program is killbox. A great thing about both these programs that is if the program cannot be deleted, it will try and remove it on the next reboot. Something very useful for those hard to delete files.

• Download - OTMoveIt
• Download - KillBox

Just to be safe

Sometimes even those great programs won't cut it. For extreme cases you may have to add an extra step or two. Fortunately its really easy - boot into safe mode. Yep when you are in safe mode Windows disables almost all functionality so hopefully that means these virus programs too.

Boot into Safe Mode by:

1. Restarting your PC
2. Press F8 until a menu comes up asking you to make a selection
3. Choose Safe Mode and press enter

You're in. Now try the same process as above using the removal tools and good luck. If you still have problems leave us a note in our Ask A Question section.

Today was a nightmare. I had a customer that was unable to access secure web sites. They were using Internet Explorer 7 and this happened after a very bad virus. I cleaned up the virus using HiJack This, OTMoveit, and a few other programs. (See a quick guide on how to remove spyware programs). Rebooted and everything was gone. Fantastic. However now they were unable to access secure web sites. So I did what I always do - Googled it. I found a lot of great solutions unforatunately for me none of them worked. I'm happy to say that after a few hours I did figure out what happened and I have the answer here!

I notice that in Internet Explorer I clicked on Help then About and saw the Cypher Strength was "0 Bit". This is bad and should 128 bit. This certainly explains why the secure web sites did not work. I've had this happen to me before and the fix is normally pretty easy. You just re-register a few DLL files. How? Just copy the below text.

regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 Shell32.dll
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Urlmon.dll
regsvr32 softpub.dll
regsvr32 softpub.dll
regsvr32 wintrust.dll
regsvr32 initpki.dll
regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 rsaenh.dll
regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 sccbase.dll
regsvr32 slbcsp.dll
regsvr32 cryptdlg.dll

This is all the files (and some extra) that have anything to do with Internet Explorer and your encryption. Once you copied the above list just get to a command prompt window (click Start then Run then CMD then enter).

Once you have your command prompt window just right click and hit Paste. You will see series of windows coming up and hopefully your only response is OK and the box said successful. However in my case on two of the files I got an error. So what I had to do is copy two files (dssenh.dll and mshtml.dll) from my personal computer to the clients c:\windows\system32 directory. Then re-register the files as below.

regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 mshtm.dll

That's it! Now Internet Explorer says 128 bit Encryption and the client is happy!

If you recently have been infected with a virus you may now be unable to change your desktop background. Typically the virus will replace your background with a big ugly. 'You are infected!' background. Of course it'll ask you to buy their 'cure' that will solve all of your problems. This is bad and we want to back to our World of Warcraft background. Here's how to do it.

I recently received this question.

"Thanks for providing the smitRem tool, it was great at getting rid of the installed program and pop-up.  After running it though, my display still stays with the basic blue background.  If I try to change the wallpaper in display settings, I cannot select any of the patterns and the scrollbar does not move.  I think that the "desktop" tab of the display settings has been faked somehow.  The various files like 'aquarium, ascent' aren't actually .bmp's in the Windows directory.  This is the same problem that I noticed before I ran smitRem.  I have used webshots for wallpaper and while that runs fine, it does not change the wallpaper image either.  Is there something else that I still have to remove?"

You can see in the above screen shot this user is unable to change their background. Fortunately for us this is actually pretty easy to fix and can be done with a simple registry edit. I have both of the registry files available for download here so here they are.

• Download 'Can't change background' fix

I've had this warning pop up on my laptop for about 4 days now. I hate it. I'm telling the world now I hate Window's automatic updates. The whole thing sounds so nice, your computer will be kept up to date automatically. Unfortunately its a major pain in the ass. Microsoft will update your computer automatically but then this stupid message will pop up over and over again. Worst than that the Window takes focus over everything you are doing. So you could be typing then lookup and see everything you just typed didn't make it to the screen. You could have even accidentally clicked yes on this message and begun a reboot you didn't want.

I just hate stuff like this, its annoying. I'm still running Vista so you may wonder if the problem still exist on Vista. Yep. It does and its even more annoying. Note to Microsoft - please make it so if you have automatic updates on it doesn't beg you to restart your pc. Just have it install the next time the PC is restarted.

'Updating your computer is almost complete. You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect. Do you want to restart your computer now?'

After years of development Microsoft's new operating system is here, Windows Vista. Microsoft has been under heavy fire the last few years, facing competition from Google and Apple in particular. Each time missing the bus only to try and play catch up. Google comes out of no where and redefines the way we search on the web, so years later Microsoft releases Windows Live. Microsoft defines Windows Live as a 'new' way to search, is it really? Try it for yourself. They took a great idea wanted it for their own so they took their money and made a copy. MP3 players have been around for years but Apple releases the iPod and redefines the way people carry their music. Microsoft's answer; the Zune. Nothing new here. The trend is that Microsoft has not come up with any new ideas, simply recaching what is already out there, slapping their logo onto it. So what does this have to do with Windows Vista? Well Microsoft is still the top dog when it comes to operating systems, love them or hate them they are the leader ... by far. The road to Windows Vista was not a clear and easy one, its been in beta for years and suffered many details, major features have been removed (winfs?), until was finally released this week. I've beta tested Windows Vista and did not have a great experience with it, however that is why they have beta testing, to find and work out these problems. At one point Microsoft's own MP3 player was not compatable with Vista, they've come a long way from that point. To start out there are some really neat things about Vista you should know, even if you don't plan to upgrade right away (which is recommended) its still good to learn what is coming down the line.

     If you do want to upgrade to Windows Vista your first choice will be what version to get, as of now there are currently five different versions. But wait, before you even think about any of them you need to check your current computer. Think your computer can run vista? You may need to check, the minimum requirements for Windows Vista are much higher than Windows XP. Even then the minimum requirements will not display certain features such as the Windows aero glass theme, which is absolutely incredible looking. Giving the appereance that your Windows are transcluent, a great feature but it comes at a cost; a higher process and memory requirement. That is not to say that you will need to upgrade your entire computer to enjoy Vista and the visual themes but you will want to have at least 1gb of RAM to use vista and perferably 2gb of ram with a dual core processor for optimal performance.

Ok so now your computer is good to go but what are some of the neat feautres of Windows Vista; ie, 'Why do I want it?'.

Integrated Sidebar

     Following Google's Desktop's trend, Windows Vista has a built in side bar that allows you to add an inifite amout of data right onto your desktop. If you are familiar with RSS feeds you can add them directly to your sidebar. Want to see weather or stock quotes? In a few clicks they can be added to your sidebar and updated continously. Looking for a file, a search bar is included so you can quickly find your files and work more efficiently. Great feature? Absolutely! Innovative? No way! This feature has been around for years by Google Desktop.

Enchanced Visual Look

     The new interface is very nice look and visually appealing however when compared to Apple's OS X it becomes extrememly mediorce. Apple's interface is much more fluid than that of Window's Vista. However comparing to past Windows versions this is a large much needed improvement

Programs

     Ok its obvious Microsoft Office will work with Windows Vista but what about other programs? If you use a 3rd party not-so-super-popular program you may want to see if its Vista compatible.