Technical Solutions

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David W Solomons’
Music Site

My Technical solutions page

Disclaimer:

These are personal solutions that have worked for me over the years.

I thought it would be useful to record them here for future reference. They are not necessarily going to work on your system - they happen to work on mine :-)

Tip 1 Search and ask

If “F1” on your desktop doesn’t help, there are many helpful forums out there, mostly accessible directly or through Google searches. I particularly recommend

D-A-L Computer Help

for their friendly advice on all levels of expertise.

Tip 2 Uninstall and reinstall those pesky drivers...

My Zen Vision M (30 MB) mp3 player suddenly stopped being recognised by Windows Vista (home premium 64 bit).

I went to start - control panel - device manager - portable devices and right-clicked the link for the player (which had an exclamation mark by it - i.e. Vista knew something was there but couldn’t connect with it).

I tried to update the driver but Vista kept telling me that the drivers were indeed up to date. Not very helpful!

So, on a hunch, I right-clicked again and instructed Vista to uninstall the driver. Then I unplugged the player's usb connection, plugged it back in again and Vista re-installed the driver automatically. It now works and the Zen is merrily recharging.

Note: This problem seems likely to recur, whenever certain updates are applied to the operating system or to Windows Media Player, but the solution is neat and simple, so no worries :-).

Tip 2 contact MS helpdesk

The most intransigent problem I had recently was the failure of Windows Updater (error 80070424).

It turned out that the cause in my case was a sudden (and unexplained) deletion or corruption of TrustedInstaller.exe.

It wasn’t simply a question of obtaining a new exe file: the registry needed to be edited and the servicing folder needed to be given a “change of ownership”.

Now, I could copy the whole of the instructions and provide a link to the fix.zip file that Windows Helpdesk emailed me, but, for copyright reasons and also taking account of possible changes in their methodology, I recommend contacting the Microsoft helpdesk yourself, since there could be a whole host of causes for this problem.

Tip 3 Recommended software

Now of course, there is so much out there that a list of recommendations can only be “personal”, but these are the system and security software products that I currently use and appreciate:

Antivirus and antimalware

On my laptop I currently use the recently released and relatively untested Microsoft Security Essentials, since I rarely go online on that computer and security is not of too much concern.

However, for my main computer I currently use VIPRE, mainly because it is (apparently) all inclusive and has a small memory footprint.

I did use PC Guard for a while, but there was no way to report false positives and it crippled an important piece of software. The software worked again after uninstalling that malformed programme suite.

Boo to PC Guard!

Encryption

I use TrueCrypt to ensure that any thieves who manage to get their mitts on my hardware cannot go on to get my passwords and other sensitive data.

The encryption process is clean, transparent and very flexible.

Backing up

I now use Easeus ToDo for occasional disk image backups. Acronis is simply too complicated and subject to failure, and it so often claims files are corrupted.

As regards regular data backup I now use Karen’s Replicator - also much simpler and (therefore) less prone to failure than Acronis.

Uninstaller

Well now, the programme you wanted to uninstall is not on the list in Control Panel?

Maybe it is included in the “View installed updates” link on the top left of the “add remove programmes” window.... But be careful! Some installed updates are best left as they are - eg mediaplayer in Vista ....

Or else it is on the list but it cannot be uninstalled because the previous install became corrupted (and Vista says it cannot find the msi file)?

Again, be very careful, but it’s worth considering Microsoft’s own “install cleanup”

It worked for me....in Vista....

Update - well it didn’t work on my new Windows 7 computer after I had confused the poor thing by uninstalling a trial version of Office 2007 that came bundle with it and installed Office 2003....

(Uninstalling Office 2007 does not remove the registry entries so Office 2003’s entries made everything go haywire)

When all else fails, backup your data, serial numbers and passwords and reinstall Windows!

Various other recent solutions found

For webmakers:

If embedded videos cover links or text (links or text go behind embedded videos)

Assuming you are using a YouTube, Vimeo or similar embed code add the following:

1. After the opening object tag add <param name=”wmode” value=”opaque” />

2. Inside the embed tag add <wmode=”opaque”>

Failure to update virus definitions

If you are using Vipre antivirus and antimalware and the risk definitions fail to be updated, you can do it manually (with the latest definitions) directly from their site, on this page:

http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/VIPRE/Definitions/

Purging the cache

Wiki pages including CPDL may require you to purge your cache to see the latest version. Although F5 (or control-F5) clears the cache, this doesn't always do the trick on wiki pages.

So, to get the most up to date version of any page simple type “?action=purge” at the end of the URL.

For example, to get a fresh copy of the CPDL Main Page without using the cache, direct your browser to

http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page?action=purge

Search this site
(opens new tab)

General solutions -

Some of these may come in handy - they did for me over the past year or so so I’m storing them here in case I need to refer to them again - take your pick.....

for malware emergencies:

http://live.sunbeltsoftware.com/

and

http://vipre.malwarebytes.org/

Wiki pages including CPDL may require you to purge you cache to see the latest version. Although F5 (or control-F5) clears the cache, this doesn't always do the trick on wiki pages.

So, to get the most up to date version of any page simple type “?action=purge” at the end of the URL.

For example, to get a fresh copy of the CPDL Main Page without using the cache, direct your browser to

http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page?action=purge

How to scan to pdf

Install a free pdf printer (DoPDF6 (from www.dopdf.com) will work well) - set it as the default printer (at least for the time being)

Install the free programme iCopy from http://icopy.sourceforge.net/

You can choose multiple pages, preview and various colour settings and you can also specify a default folder to save the pdf file (from within the dopdf software).

It should automatically find any scanner (or printer/scanner) that is attached to your computer.

If you wish to edit a pdf, the online facility www.pdfescape.com will do it free of charge.

If you wish to convert media files (eg rm to mp3) use the online facility media-convert.com

(http://www.youconvertit.com/ConvertFiles.aspx

and www.mediaconverter.org

might also work)

Note the above appear to be offline now - try www.zamzar.com

Yahoo Technical chat

http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/forms_index.html;_ylt=AjZAOULhwWF3YynYg CJFXHNumndG?last_url=http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/vsp.html

How to Remove Old Device Drivers from Vista & Windows 7

http://www.petri.co.il/removing-old-drivers-from-vista-and-windows7.htm

some solutions to SidebySide errors - in this for moviemaker (part of Windows Live)

UsingResourceTUner

I downloaded the trial of Resource Tuner from http://www.restuner.com/ (because I didn't have Visual Basic), saved a copy of Moviemaker.exe as Moviemaker.old.exe, then opened the original Moviemaker.exe file in it, used the editor to remove

from the manifest, saved it, and no more event errors. I'm assuming the "*" wildcard is what's causing the error.

(see http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/2800-63-sidebyside

and http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/itprovistaapps/thread/a4c36078-6419-4424-8a43-ff3832786b59

for more details

Youtube inbox count (unread messages) is wrong?

simply tick all messages (in the first page of the inbox) and paste the following line in the address bar

javascript:for (var m in inbox.get_checked_message_ids()) {inbox.yt_inbox.mark_as_read(inbox.get_checked_message_ids()[m])};

press enter and the count resets

Secunia - if old Adobe Flash fails to be removed entirely, search for the folder with its ocx file (Flash [letter]ocx) and delete the older version

COnversion of file types - useful freeware: http://sector-seven.net/page/fileblender-info

Driver Tip: Problems After Upgrading Hardware

If you are experiencing weird issues after upgrading your hardware, or you've just upgraded to the latest hardware device and aren't seeing the performance you'd like? You may want to remove the old drivers, which are still installed for the old hardware, even though you can't readily see them in device manager.

What you have to do is set a less-known flag to allow you to see non-present devices, and then launch device manager. You'll then see the old devices in the list, and can uninstall the drivers for them.

In Windows 7 or Vista, the first thing you'll need to do is open a command prompt in administrator mode. Type cmd into the start menu search box, and then use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open in administrator mode. (You can also right-click on the command prompt and choose Run as Administrator)

Paste in the following line:

SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

Open Device Manager. Once you are in Device Manager, go to the View menu and choose Show Hidden Devices, which will show all the device drivers including things that aren't currently installed in your computer.

You can right-click on the driver and then choose Uninstall from the menu to remove the drivers for that old hardware.

We've found that this can resolve a lot of weird issues, and even increase performance on some machines where you've upgraded a bunch of times. This isn't necessarily going to increase performance, but it's nice to have a tidy computer nonetheless.

If a folder loads slowly (slow green progress bar) after its contents has been changed this may be solved in one of two ways.

The simplest is to right click the folder, go to properties, go to customize tab, and select a different file type for "Optimize this folder for" (I used Documents but others have reported success with other choices, eg Videos)

If this doesn't have the desired effect, a more drastic and complex method is to prevent Win 7 from deleting the thumbnail cache -

see http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/stopprevent-windows-7-from-deleting-thumbnail-cache/

R's laptop

Just for information (please keep but not necessarily digest!), so you have a record of it on your emails in case anyone else wants to know the procedure that I used (eg a techie at your end or a shop

and also so I have a record for my own information (in case I forget!):

I switched off system restore so that any malware didn't get stored in system backups

I initially used Kasperky rescue disk (free download kav_rescue_ao.iso from the Kaspersky site). It wasn't able to get online in order to update its definitions using the dongle (probably because the dongle requires software which only runs in Windows) but I was able to get online by plugging directly into my cable-based online connection. It picked up and deleted some of the infection but not all.

I then printed the info from (and downloaded where necessary) from http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-system-tool

I then went into safe mode (pressing F8 during reboot) and copied the following software and files via USB memory stick (having downloaded it on the same day on my main computer to ensure it was as up to date as possible) -

RKill, Vipre, Malwarebytes, Superantispyware, hosts, hosts_perm.bat

RKill was used in order to prevent known malware from running, but wasn't made to delete it.. it just enables the other softwares to do their job without the malware getting in their way.

Vipre was used for an initial scan but, to my surprise, found nothing this time

Superantispyware merely found some cookies, which I deleted anyway since they weren't really necessary although not too problematical for your system.

Malwarebytes, after updating its definitions online, found the villain of the piece (the scareware) and deleted it.

I ran hosts_per.bat to enable me to place the proper hosts file in the "system32/etc" folder (this was necessary because the scareware changes the hosts file apparently)

I then rebooted into the normal Windows session (ie reboot without pressing any keys)

I then turned system restore back on and crossed everything that could be crossed (fingers, eyes....!)

The settings that I had created on Saturday night are still in place and include the following:

WOT (Web of Trust) as a Firefox plugin (this will show a green circle in Google and on Yahoo mail (but not AOL mail unfortunately) after links that are deemed OK and amber or red circles for sites deemed to be suspect. It will also post a warning page if you click a link deemed to be suspect - in most cases the best thing to do is to use the "back button" and just avoid the problem. In some cases you may have reason to believe the site is OK, in which case click the necessary link on the WOT warning page and give your views. You have a WOT ID - under which you can make such comments.

ClearCloud DNS. This puts all your clicks through a website which is monitored continuously and blocks known bad sites (ie sites with viruses or hacker vulnerabilities on them). SImilarly to WOT, if you have reason to believe that the blocking is in error, you can report it to the makers of ClearCloud. But, if you urgently wish to get to a site blocked by ClearCloud you can disable the ClearCloud function by left clicking the little blue cloud in the system tray (bottom right of screen) and selecting "Exit ClearCloud". Should you need it, you have a page of instructions for re-enabling ClearCloud in WIndows XP, which is also saved in your "My Documents" as a text file.

The scanning function for your HP printer scanner is now set to prompt you for a file name.

JV16 has been installed (free 60 day trial). You can use this to ensure your registry is clean and doesn't contain stuff you no longer need. After the 60 days, either uninstall it or purchase it. I purchased my version and use it all the time.

CCleaner has been updated (it's freeware) and has been used a couple of times to remove temporary files etc.

Microsoft Security Essentials has been updated and found the system to be clean (that being said, it has not yet received an update that finds the scareware which caused this problem!). It has also been set to update itself and scan every day in the background. Given that it didn't pick up your scareware, I suggest you run Malwarebytes occasionally as well, allowing it to update itself first. I checked that the free version of Malwarebytes does not conflict with Microsoft Security Essentials. (However, the paid version does, because it duplicates its functions, so don't buy it!)

Any finally:

Before backing up, we should install Secunia PS which will advise whether any programmes need updating for security reasons (eg old Adobe and WIndow products, among others, are particularly prone to being hacked and updates usually plug the holes through which hackers work) (it's a free programme).

Drivers (including those for sound which you can see on the desktop (the"Via" icon) and which may well improve your sound and for the HP printer/scanner were updated using SlimDrivers. I uninstalled Slimdrivers afterwards because it kept reappearing unnecessarily after its job as done, but we can always reinstall it later in the year in case more updates are needed.

msconfig was activated (Start-Run-type msconfig) in order to exclude unnecessary programmes from startup. We can always tune that, eg programmes you want to include in startup and others you may wish to exclude. I suggest not doing that yourselves without first checking the relevance of the programme on Google, some are essential others are not.

Facebook "like" buttons:

http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/

Force facebook to refresh its cache

http://developers.facebook.com/tools/lint/

To make YouTube videos work in lightbox add _popup after watch and &vq=medium at the end of the normal youtube URL

Updated definitions for Microsoft Security Essentials

http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Definitions/ADL.aspx

If an imported midi file mutes a soft synth in Sonar, view the midi track in Event editor and delete all non-note commands. Alternatively, use

the MFS freeware on http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3933967 to strip all midi files of non-note data.

View source in Firefox 6 and 7 - control-U

Getting Canon scanner to work in 64 bit

http://support-sg.canon-asia.com/contents/SG/EN/0900344801.html