The other day while trying to get onto the Internet with Internet Explorer 7 (while using Windows XP Professional), IE would start to come up and then a gray box would appear that says “Internet Explorer needs to shut down.”  It would give me the option of reporting this to Microsoft or not but did not tell me what was the problem.
The other computer in the room was able to get on the Internet with the same connection with no problem so I figured it was my machine and not the Internet provider.  After a few times of this, I tried to make a “new connection” which did not work either.  I did some investigating in the help section of the Internet Options (found in the Control panel) and found that sometimes when this happens, it is because of “add-ons” which are usually ActiveX add ons that you may or may not have allowed to be put on to your machine.
The suggestion (in the help file) was to try to bring up Internet Explores without the add-ons.  If this worked then you had a place to start to find the problem.

To be able to do this I needed to right click on the desktop Icon for Internet Explorer and find the option to start Internet Explorer with out the add-ons.  (This option was not on my quick launch bar icon, only on the icon on my desktop, which was put there when I first installed the program.)

I decided to try this and it worked.  It came up with a bar across the top under the links bar, that stated it was running without the add-ons.

So I invested further and found that I could go to Tools > Options > Programs tab, and click on the “manage add-ons” button.

This brings up a long list of things that have been added on to my machine, most were for ActiveX.

The list tells you what it is called and who put it there.  I had some from Microsoft and Lenovo, which is the maker of my machine.  There were also a few names I didn’t recognized.  I had the option to disable them also.  There is also the option in enable them if you decide you want them to work again.  After experimenting with the ones that were not labeled from MS or Lenovo, I found the one that would let me bring up the Internet with it disabled.  It was used by an old program (Pricechecker) I had downloaded some time ago and rarely used so I uninstalled the old program.  I checked back then and the add-on had been removed also. Internet Explorer has worked fine since.

Written by a guest writer…

Getting Puppy Linux and Windows 2000 to play nice on an IBM Thinkpad

Written by a guest writer…

Editors Introduction: The Thinkpad (Win2K era) was running Windows 2000 so slowly that the time had come to reload it. We needed to run a dual boot of Windows 2000 and Linux to get an old program from the Windows 95 era to be able to run. We really wanted to be in Linux (only) but absolutely needed this old favorite program. After trying to load Ubuntu and failing because of a bios error we found Puppy Linux. We wanted Windows 2000 and Puppy Linux to play nice on the old laptop, so here is what we did, in a brief step by step format, to get them to behave…

Puppy Linux: http://www.puppylinux.org/

…And by the way, the notebook ran A LOT faster when we were done!

Jan 2009 – Rebuilding the computer (again)…

Before wiping the disk: get Firefox bookmarks; graphics drivers; Word templates, dictionary, and auto-correct; downloads folder; data!
Leave Ethernet and wi-fi cards plugged in.
1. Boot with Puppy Linux CD and use Gparted to make a 10 GB NTFS partition (for the OS) and a 30 GB Fat32 partition (for my data).
2. Boot with Win2k system disk and install OS to first partition. (Tried the IBM recovery disk but it wouldn’t work – maybe because I replaced the original 20 GB disk with a 40 GB.)
3. Install graphics drivers.
4. Install SP4.
5. Install Mike Lin’s Startup Monitor.
6. Install all programs that won’t do anything funny to the system (Concord, Streets and Trips, Word, Excel, boncenc, Total Recorder, syncback, infrarecorder, firefox with bookmarks)
7. Boot with System Rescue CD and make a compressed image of the first partition (save it in the second partition). (Whoops – it says NTFS support is experimental, so also…)
8. Boot with Puppy Linux CD and use Gparted to make a new NTFS partition 3 (same size as partition 1, with space made by shrinking partition 2) and copy the first partition there. Now the new install is backed up two ways.
9. Change my user folder to D: instead of C: with the instructions at the end of this doc.
10. Use IBM Software CD to install DVD Express and Configsafe.
11. Install drivers for wi-fi card. [Ethernet got installed automatically]
12. Install anti-virus and firewall (Avira and Comodo).
13. Copy my data and music files from backup disk to D drive.
14. Connect to Internet and make sure everything works.
15. Total Recorder will not work. Tried the suggestions in Help (at end of this doc), but before messing with the registry…
16. Use partimage to make another image of the partition since everything else seems to be working.
17. TR Help suggestions didn’t work. Finally solved TR issue by downloading an executable that installed the Fraunhofer codec from this site: http://www.free-codecs.com/MPEG_Layer_3_Codec_download.htm
and that solved the problem. Set options for TR.
18. Everything done so far works fine. Make a Configsafe snapshot. (I think this was done before I let any of the Automatic Updates from Microsoft start installing.)

Appendix
I. Changing User Directory (not just My Documents folder) from C: to D:
Step 1
1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
2. Under this key, there will be some number of profiles (usually 6), each of these which represents a user name that you will find under C:\Documents and Settings.
3. Click on each PROFILE key entry and look at the value ProfileImagePath to identify which one represents your username.
4. Inside the registry editor, using RegEdit or a clone registry editing program (I use Registrar Lite), edit this ProfileImagePath value that represents your username and CHANGE the path to where you want to move your settings to. In my case, I wanted to move my settings from C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME to “D:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME”.
5. Save this new path value in the registry editing program.
6. Now export the whole profile key that contains this value. You will be prompted for a file name to save the exported information to. Pick a location on your hard disk (not on the C drive) and export the key. When you finish the export and look at the output file, it should look something like this (note that exported filename locations inside the registry always represent a single “\” character with two “\\” characters)

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-21-220523388-484763869-725345543-1003]
“ProfileImagePath”=”D:\\Documents and Settings\\USERNAME”
“Sid”=hex01,05,00,00,00,00,00,05,15,00,00,00,7c,eb,24,0d,dd,e8,e4,1c,07,e5,3b,\2b,eb,03,00,00
“Flags”=dword00000000
“State”=dword00000100
“CentralProfile”=”"
“ProfileLoadTimeLow”=dword68b90756
“ProfileLoadTimeHigh”=dword01c5b12b
“RefCount”=dword00000001
“RunLogonScriptSync”=dword00000030
“OptimizedLogonStatus”=dword0000000b

7. Delete everything below your new path name. It should now look like this:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-21-220523388-484763869-725345543-1003]
“ProfileImagePath”=”D:\\Documents and Settings\\USERNAME”

Step 2
1. Now do a full reboot (don’t just logoff/on) and sign into the ADMINISTRATOR account
2. Copy C:\Documents and Settings\Username folder (including all sub-folders) to the new path location where the target users personal settings are to be saved (D:\Documents and Settings\XYZ in this example). [Actually, I think the system will do this later when you reboot after running the registry file]
3. Logoff the Administrator account and back onto the User account
4. Run the registry file you previously exported to and edited with the .REG extension (right-click it and choose merge)
5. Reboot the computer again and logon to the USER account
6. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\Username and try to delete the complete folder structure
8. If Windows allows you to do this, then you have successfully transferred your settings to the new path location and all is well. Voila!

9. If Windows says that you can’t delete it because it or something in it is required by the system, then you’ve done something wrong. Open Regedit and make sure that you have modified the correct location for the user account and that it has been correctly updated.
10. If you have the right location and it hasn’t been updated, figure out why.
11. You might have to do a system restore if you’ve messed something up badly, so take a backup before and be prepared to do this if necessary.
12. Generally, an imaging program that can be initiated from DOS is the best way to restore everything if you run into problems.

II. Total Recorder Help instructions (this is what it said to do. Even though it didn’t work, I’m listing it here since I did it)
You should reinstall the codec from the Windows XP distribution.

1. Insert the CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive. This example assumes the drive letter is “F”.
2. Go to the system folder (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32), and try to find the l3codeca.acm file. If the file is found, then make a backup copy and delete the original file.
3. Go to “Start”-”Run”.
4. Type the following:
expand F:\I386\l3codeca.ac_ C:\Windows\System32\l3codeca.acm
and press “Enter”.
5. Make sure that after running this command, the file
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\l3codeca.acm is present.
6. Go to “Start”-”Run”, type regsvr32.exe l3codeca.acm, and press “Enter”.

To add a little extra fun to this post, VitalBodies created an Inkscape Puppy Linux License Plate!

The Problem: When trying to get on the Internet, a message would pop up saying “Buffer Overrun. Intermute/AdSubtract needs to shut down”.

Using Microsoft XP Pro we could not access the Internet with Microsoft Internet Explorer but were able to get email.
The problem just suddenly started, when trying to get on the Internet (with Internet Explorer) with a message popping up that said “Buffer Overrun problem and Intermute/AdSubtract needs to shut down”. The AdSubtract Program would shut down and at that point we were not able to get on the Internet.
The Weatherbug Program, was also was not working, as it goes out on the Internet to receive temp updates and alerts.

The Solution:
It appears that AdSubtract was telling Internet Explorer to use AdSubtract as a proxy to go on the Internet, but that program was no longer working so Microsoft Internet Explorer could not access the Internet. (The company that offered the program, Inertmute, was sold to another company, Trend Micro, and they no longer serviced this program and suddenly AdSubtract stopped working)
After thinking that AdSubtract was the problem, we ended up going into the setting within Microsoft Internet Explorer:
Internet Explorer Tools >Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings. In LAN Settings “Use a proxy server for your LAN” was checked, so we unchecked “Use a proxy server for your LAN” and were able to get on the Internet.
Apparently, each time AdSubtract was loaded (if it is in the start up file or you clicked to start it) it would reset the LAN settings to “use a proxy” until the program (AdSubtract) was removed from the computer. Once the “Use a proxy server for your LAN” was unchecked and the AdSubtract program was removed, everything worked fine. We were able to get on the Internet with Internet Explorer and Weatherbug worked.

We had used the AdSubtract program for several years. AdSubtract would stop pop ups, and moving ads, etc and you could use it to remove cookies, history etc. AdSubtract would also let you keep the cookies that you wanted to keep so that you didn’t have to keep signing in on the web site that required cookies. AdSubtract was a handy program, but the company quit upgrading it some time ago but it was still working until Oct 11th 2008.
This was really a simple fix, but we had a very difficult time finding the problem, but that is computers!!

The Other Solution:

In a comment Clifton Miller suggested a solution that allows one to keep AdSubtract.
On October 12, 2008 at 5:05 pm Clifton Miller Said:

adsubtract was disabled by trendmicro. adsubtract phones home to store.trendmicro.com everytime you start the program. you can block the website and restore functionality by editing your hosts file. It is located at C:\%sysdir%\drivers\etc if you have xp or vista the directory is C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
The file is named “hosts” open with notepad and add the following line:
127.0.0.1 store.trendmicro.com

this will force the dns “store.trendmicro.com” to resolve to 127.0.0.1 which is your own computer.

This comment was also helpful:
Here is a link for anyone wishing to try AdSubtract after following Clifton Miller’s instructions above:

http://www.download.com/AdSubtract-Pro/3000-7786_4-10252042.html

Using the Recovery Console is sometimes the only thing between getting your system going and reformatting the drive and starting over. Having easy F8 access BEFORE you have a problem is a great way to save yourself some stress when you need to actually use the Recovery Console.

F8 is one of the FUNCTION keys on the keyboard.

There are certain types of viruses, that you have to Repair the MBR in order to get rid of the viruses.

“Master boot record is the first sector of a partitioned data storage device, used for booting You can do that from the Recovery Console.”

To install the Recovery Console as a startup option

1. With Windows running, insert the Setup CD into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start and select Run.
3. Type the following where D: is the CD-ROM drive letter:

D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
4. Follow the instructions on the screen.

Notes

• To run the Recovery Console, restart your computer and select the Recovery Console option from the list of available operating systems.
• You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
• To see the commands available on the Recovery Console, type help at the at the console prompt.
• If your computer will not start, you can run the Recovery Console from the Setup CD. See Related Topics for information on running the Recovery Console when your computer will not start.
• On the Thinkpad (or possibly your system) you would not need to use a CD but replace the “D:” with C:.
• This worked for VitalBodies but backup first and use at your own risk.

Generally they say that you do not need to worry about viruses in Ubuntu unless you are connected with Windows machines or drives some how. If you want to scan your files in Ubuntu here is the program you need.

ClamTk Anti-Virus Scanner

If you are concerned about viruses, Trojans and the like, what can you do?

You can install ClamTk Anti-Virus Scanner.

ClamTk is a graphical (GUI) front-end for ClamAV

Installing Anti-Virus in Ubuntu:

Applications > Add/remove… >

Set SHOW to All Open Source Applications then just type in ClamTk to find it.

Next click the check box to Enable ClamTk then push the Apply Changes Button and add your password when requested to do so…

How to update the ClamTk (Clamwin) virus signatures in Ubuntu:

sudo freshclam -v

Using the command above in the terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) updates the signatures providing you have an active internet connection.

Once installed you can find ClamTk in Applications > System Tools > Virus Scanner…

Vitalbodies suggests you go into OPTIONS and click No Maximum Size if you are on a relatively fast computer for a more complete scan.

Using chkdsk at the Command Prompt

VIRUS ANOMALY:

Unless one made a backup with the program called Windows Backup…

START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > BACKUP

…there appeared to be no virus???

If one scanned the file that the backup software creates, (VitalBodies used Clamwin (CLAMWIN.ORG a really nice free virus checker)) the virus could tell there was a virus in the backup file but did not tell which file within the 1000s of files in the backup had the virus.

THE RESOLVE:

To help resolve this VitalBodies used the recovery console to do a low level scan and recover bad sectors.

chkdsk C: /F /R

Chkdsk only checks the disk IF AND ONLY IF the drive i

s flagged, unless you set the right switches

/ F /R.

When the scan was complete the virus was gone.

NOTICE: This worked for VitalBodies but backup first and use at your own risk.

So what if you do not have a “color calibrator” to set your colors?
Often you can go to your computer monitors manufacturers web site and download the color profile for your monitor rather than using an entirely generic COLOR PROFILE.

The COLOR PROFILE is what Windows uses to set/adjust the colors you see.
In Windows you can find and change color profiles by right clicking on the desktop and choosing PROPERTIES:
In the DISPLAY PROPERTIES dialog box choose:
SETTINGS > ADVANCED > COLOR MANAGEMENT.

If color profile you downloaded does not show up, click ADD… and then add the profile and SET TO DEFAULT and then APPLY.
If color profile you downloaded does show up, click SET TO DEFAULT and then APPLY.

This is not as accurate as using a calibrator but can often make for much more accurate color.

Did you find this helpful?

In Ubuntu, we do not have to worry about viruses. This article was written to help anyone still in Windows to stay a bit more virus free…

Documents are not the only thing that can have a virus…

PAGEILE.SYS Is Also Called The Swap File:

The pagefile.sys file is a huge file that is often referred to as the swap file.
When Windows runs out of RAM (Random Access Memory) it uses the Pagefile.sys file to swap data in and out of RAM.
This is VERY common if you multi-task or edit photos, do 3D etc.
Usually, if nothing is happening on your computer (if you just booted up for example) there are still at least 40-70+ processes running…
Because the page file is a system file it is protected by Windows.
This means that you can not delete it or change it while it is in use.
If the file becomes infected by a virus the anti-virus programs can not scan it either thus a virus can be in the swap file for quite some time.

REMOVE THE SWAP FILE:

Every now and then, go into here

CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM > ADVANCED > PERFORMANCE > ADVANCED > VIRTUAL MEMORY > CHANGE > and click NO PAGE FILE > SET > OK > OK to turn off the page/swap file.

Reboot.

Check the root of your boot drive (usually C) and if you find the file delete it.

NOTE: You will most likely have to change in MY COMPUTER your TOOLS > FOLDER OPTIONS > VIEW settings so you can see the pagefile.sys file.

Uncheck HIDE PROTECTED OPERATING SYSTEM FILES > OK.

Delete pagefile.sys.

Re-check HIDE PROTECTED OPERATING SYSTEM FILES > OK.

Empty the recycle bin.

This will remove any viruses in the pagefile.sys file.

RE-CREATE THE SWAP FILE:

Go back into the CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM > ADVANCED > PERFORMANCE > ADVANCED > VIRTUAL MEMORY > CHANGE > and click “System Managed” SET > OK > OK to turn the pagefile.sys back on again…

You have now removed any potential viruses hiding there and made a new swap file.

Worked for VitalBodies and an number of others, but use at your own risk like all computer advice.