Today's post is related to a product that I came across while troubleshooting my own PC. I usually do not use registry repair tools because I would rather go into the registry myself and attempt to fix the issue. But the majority of my readers probably would rather use a trusted software tool to handle these types of issues.
I recommend using XP Repair Pro for the following reasons:
1) XP Repair Pro has had over 2.71 million downloads in less than three years, and has quickly become one of the most popular system utilities on the market today.
2) It has no spyware, adware or viruses. (You would be surprised about this fact, there are products out there that claim to help you get rid of problems but only create more)
3) It fully supports Windows Vista, Windows XP and Office 2007
You can more information about this product Here
Programs with .exe file extension do not open
Recently, one of our work PCs was unable to execute any program ending in .exe. This can be very frustrating and immediately the client thought that the PC was infected with a virus. While this can happen, in this case, the program responsible for virus protection actually failed.
During the day, our office was in the middle of receiving some SMS packages related to the new Symantec EndPoint Protection. While 99% of the PCs were upgraded successfully, the PC in question failed to upgrade properly.
This then caused no application ending in .exe to open. I have never experienced this before! I was about to re-image the PC but that is the easy way out. If anyone knows me, I will troubleshoot an issue for hours if I have to. (In my opinion, that is the best way to learn).
So began my troubleshooting of this .exe issue. First, I was shocked that I could not even get to the Internet, but then I thought, oh yeah, Internet Explorer is an application so of course it will not open either! I went to another computer and began searching online for solutions. I found a website that already had the answer to my problem: exefix_xp.com
All I had to do was download this file and it fixed the registry entries for the .exe file association automatically.
Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk, even though its done automatically, your PC could crash and become unbootable. If you are able to, back up all important data before continuing.
You can find more information about this on Winhelponline.com
During the day, our office was in the middle of receiving some SMS packages related to the new Symantec EndPoint Protection. While 99% of the PCs were upgraded successfully, the PC in question failed to upgrade properly.
This then caused no application ending in .exe to open. I have never experienced this before! I was about to re-image the PC but that is the easy way out. If anyone knows me, I will troubleshoot an issue for hours if I have to. (In my opinion, that is the best way to learn).
So began my troubleshooting of this .exe issue. First, I was shocked that I could not even get to the Internet, but then I thought, oh yeah, Internet Explorer is an application so of course it will not open either! I went to another computer and began searching online for solutions. I found a website that already had the answer to my problem: exefix_xp.com
All I had to do was download this file and it fixed the registry entries for the .exe file association automatically.
Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk, even though its done automatically, your PC could crash and become unbootable. If you are able to, back up all important data before continuing.
You can find more information about this on Winhelponline.com
PC vs Mac: The Fight is On!
As most of you know, I am a big fan of Microsoft products. This includes Windows Vista and Virtual PC. Now granted, I do not know too much about Apple and its Macs but I am learning. (Watch for a future post on how I got a Mac on a Windows domain). Seeing these "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials, you think that Microsoft would retaliate with ads of their own......well, the wait is over!
Check out this article on Channel Web. From what I've read, Windows Vista is clearly better than any OS Microsoft has designed so far. Not to mention more secure. Think about it, when Window XP first came out, everyone complained about it as well. I'd really like to see someone that knows nothing about Windows XP start using Vista and see if they don't love it. It all depends on what one is familiar with. People hate change....but most of the time, change is needed.
In my opinion, Windows Vista is just what we need to have a better PC experience. But, I do give credit to my graphic design friends out there, so stick with your Mac! What are your thoughts?
Check out this article on Channel Web. From what I've read, Windows Vista is clearly better than any OS Microsoft has designed so far. Not to mention more secure. Think about it, when Window XP first came out, everyone complained about it as well. I'd really like to see someone that knows nothing about Windows XP start using Vista and see if they don't love it. It all depends on what one is familiar with. People hate change....but most of the time, change is needed.
In my opinion, Windows Vista is just what we need to have a better PC experience. But, I do give credit to my graphic design friends out there, so stick with your Mac! What are your thoughts?
Error Code 0x80072F8F Windows Update
The other day, a client of mine had a Windows XP machine that could not get its Windows Updates from Microsoft. The following error appeared:
Error Code 0x80072F8F
Not sure how it happens but apparently, the date and time on the PC is so different from the Windows Update site that the error appears.
The solution is quite simple and is listed on Microsoft's website. Apparently, this must be a normal issue if there is an entire support page for it. It even happens on Windows Vista.
I will be posting more of these type of problems/solutions in the next few days. It has been a busy few days at work and there have been lots of issues that I have not seen before.
Stay tuned for some more Windows XP troubleshooting tips.
Error Code 0x80072F8F
Not sure how it happens but apparently, the date and time on the PC is so different from the Windows Update site that the error appears.
The solution is quite simple and is listed on Microsoft's website. Apparently, this must be a normal issue if there is an entire support page for it. It even happens on Windows Vista.
I will be posting more of these type of problems/solutions in the next few days. It has been a busy few days at work and there have been lots of issues that I have not seen before.
Stay tuned for some more Windows XP troubleshooting tips.
Shell32.DLL error in Windows XP
Yesterday, I came across a PC at work that had a faulting application error related to shell32.dll. This happened while the person was using the Windows XP Search Companion to search for a file. About half way through the search, the following error appeared:
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.3156, faulting module shell32.dll, version 6.0.2900.3241, fault address 0x00103537.
I've looked through some Google searches and really can not find an answer to my problem so I guess its time to reimage the PC. The PC has only been running for about 3 weeks anyway but just not sure what caused this problem.
I've tried all of the so called "Registry fix" programs out there including Regcure but nothing worked. I am assuming something got corrupt and sometimes reimaging a PC is much quicker than attempting to pull out our hair trying to solve an issue that seems to be unsolvable. I've even tested for possible spyware. I've also tried upgrading the PC to Windows XP SP3 but the error still appears while searching.
If anyone has an answer....please comment below.
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.3156, faulting module shell32.dll, version 6.0.2900.3241, fault address 0x00103537.
I've looked through some Google searches and really can not find an answer to my problem so I guess its time to reimage the PC. The PC has only been running for about 3 weeks anyway but just not sure what caused this problem.
I've tried all of the so called "Registry fix" programs out there including Regcure but nothing worked. I am assuming something got corrupt and sometimes reimaging a PC is much quicker than attempting to pull out our hair trying to solve an issue that seems to be unsolvable. I've even tested for possible spyware. I've also tried upgrading the PC to Windows XP SP3 but the error still appears while searching.
If anyone has an answer....please comment below.
Free Image Editor for Windows Vista
Many Windows users complain that unlike its Linux and Mac competitors, Vista doesn't have a very good "out of the box" image editor. Paint has been around for many years, with only small improvements. Windows Photo Gallery lets you do some basic image editing (adjusting brightness and color saturation, cropping, etc.) but it's pretty limited. Neither supports layers, lets you sharpen photos or contains much in the way of special effects. Sure, you can get PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro but that will cost you from one to several hundred dollars. If you need more than you get with the built-in tools but not the complexity and sophistication of the expensive commercial ones, check out getPaint.net, a free image editor that works great on Vista.
You can read about it here: http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
You can read about it here: http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
Symantec Endpoint causes BSOD in XP/Vista
Apparently, the new Symantec product called Symantec Endpoint Protection may cause Blue screen errors in both Windows XP and Vista. Our Windows department at work recently begin upgrading individual workstations to this new version and Blue screen errors began almost immediately. Here is an example of the error message some of our PCs are getting:
Faulting application Smc.exe, version 11.x.x.x time stamp XXXXXX, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 6.0.6000.16386, timestamp XXXXXXX, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x00061635, process id 0x694, application start time XXXXXXXXX
Basically, the solution is to turn off some of the protection included in the software package....if you ask me, what's the point? If its going to cause errors, why even release the software.
Just another case of a vendor not testing software 100% before releasing it. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of PC security, but if a product does not do what it should, don't release it until fully tested.
Symantec support is available here
Faulting application Smc.exe, version 11.x.x.x time stamp XXXXXX, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 6.0.6000.16386, timestamp XXXXXXX, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x00061635, process id 0x694, application start time XXXXXXXXX
Basically, the solution is to turn off some of the protection included in the software package....if you ask me, what's the point? If its going to cause errors, why even release the software.
Just another case of a vendor not testing software 100% before releasing it. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of PC security, but if a product does not do what it should, don't release it until fully tested.
Symantec support is available here
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