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While working with a client system we found that the Internet Explorer or any other browser application kept having issues with accessing the Internet. Reseting the browser settings would temporarily resolve the problem but it would quickly return the moment we would leave the client.

It turns out the client was using Juno as their e-mail application. As the user would review their mail they would occasionally get a message that had a hyperlink in the message to a web site. When clicking the link Juno would automatically open by change the proxy settings to force the browsing through their system.  

We have seen that Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3038314) fails frequently when it is installed on a freshly installed system using the standard Windows Update process.

The error code 80092004 seems to indicate that the "object or property cannot be found" and in our case that would be true because the install process fails to download the update completely.

The Windows 7 update "System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 (KB947821) [May 2014]" will appear hung or stuck during the update process. It will get to about 80 to 90% and just the hard drive activity is all that will indicate that it is still working on the update process. Many have noted it to take several hours. In our own install of this for a client it took almost 6 hours to complete on a system that failed the SFC scan test.

If you are installing the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 (KB947821) besure to allow for a long period of time to install. Do not stop this install or you may corrupt the system to a point where it will not boot and you will be required to reload Windows from scratch.

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 requires that you use the http://connect in Internet Explorer on all Windows systems. After upgrading a SBS 2003 system to SBS 2011 I needed to rejoin a Windows XP system to the new server, however, when I attempt to run the utility, I received several different message indicating the I could not connect.

One thing that was not mentioned in many of the other technical articles written about this issue is that this particular system was configured with a static IP address and no default domain. After setting the default domain, the http://connect process worked. Normally this would not be an issue if the workstation had been configured with a DHCP address.

A client attempted to install an upgrade to Kaspersky Anti-virus, but the install was interrupted and so the system was left in an unstable state. Continued use of the computer frequently resulted in the following Blue Screen of Death.

One of the side effects from this issue was that the hard drive was constantly getting corrupted and several drivers would fail to load. In order to get the system to boot we had to go into safe mode, run a check disk on reboot, and then the system would finally boot and run for a short period of time, which was all we needed.

Microsoft has recently released several news and technotes regarding a vulnerability recently discovered in Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11. This vulnerability could allow a hacker to compromise a computer that is browsing a web site that has been selectively changed to take advantage of this vulnerability.

News sources have reported that Internet Explorer should not be used and the US Department of Home Land Security is also warning computer users of this issue.

What is CIR Registry?

CIR Registry is a software program developed by ITE, is considered a driver that is commonly found on Dell systems. Other technical notes report this as part of the PC DT/NB product and is a single-function PCI Express to PCI bridge, which is compliant with the PCI Express Base. This driver supports PCI-to-PCI bridge with subtractive decode for legacy devices.

One of our clients was using Microsoft Office 2010 on a trial basis but it had expired and therefore purchased a license of Office 2013 Home and Business from Microsoft's online store. After installing the software they attempted to run Outlook 2013 which would start and then display an error "Microsoft Outlook has stopped working". We noticed that all of the Microsoft applications provided the similar error messages.

• Outlook 2013 - Microsoft Outlook has stopped working
• Excel 2013 - Microsoft Excel has stopped working
• Word 2013Microsoft Word has stopped working
• PowerPoint 2013 - Microsoft PowerPoint has stopped working
  
  

Our first attempt was to run a repair on the Microsoft Office installation from the Programs and Features control panel. That made no difference. We then attempted reinstalling the software and still had the same issue. We the found a technical note indicating that ABBY-FineReader was likely the cause of the issue. Sure enough ABBY-FineReader 9.0 was installed with some Epson printer drivers. We uninstalled the ABBY-FineReader software, cleaned the registry of any remains, and then rebooted the system. All of the Microsoft Office 2013 applications worked as expected.

After upgrading several workstations for a client, who still has a Windows 2000 server, the Windows 7 workstations would no longer connect to the shares on the Win2K server. To resolve this issue we made several attempts.

System Time

The first thing we looked at was the system time on the server. It was off by about 15 minutes. Normally this is not the cause, but to be sure we updated the server time to be in sync with our workstations.

Epson seems to have discontinued support for the TM-T88ii receipt printer. The only available drivers for this printer by Epson is for 32-bit operating systems up to Windows XP. The POS58 Driver for another branded printer has been found to work both with Windows 7 x64 and the Epson TM-T88ii printer.

The printer driver might be found at the following location.

After setting up a new laptop computer with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, I found that I was unable to access any of my workgroup servers or access my Windows XP workstations. Each time I would attempt to make a connection either using the UNC name and path or using the IP address I would get an error indicating that the spelling was incorrect or that it could not find the location specified. One of the errors I receive is as follows:

Windows cannot access \\{ComputerName}

After upgrading a vSphere vCenter appliance to v5.1 Update 2 we found the the vSphere client installed on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host machine would fail to connect to the vCenter Server 5.1 due to an unknown error.

vSphere Client could not connect to {vcenter_server}.

While fixing a client computer I kept having an issue trying to update their Malwarebytes application. Each time the update would attempt to run it would just hang. The system was fairly clean with the exception of one malware application, Babylon Toolbar. The system was also installed with Norton Antivirus, which has not been an issue in the past.

After several attempts to get the update...

Upgrading to Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise 2013 seemed to be an easy task at first, even though the step by step documentation was next to impossible to find on Intuit's web site. However, it took several hours to track down what seemed to be a simple issue, getting the multi-user mode working again.

Here are some steps to follow for upgrading QuickBooks Enterprise 2013:

Client's HP Pavilion M9400t was reported as having a noisy fan and then would not boot any longer. The power supply was the primary reason for the system not powering but after replacing the power supply the system would continually reboot. Using the F8 key while booting we were able to force the system to stop on the error and not reboot. This allowed the error message STOP 0x0000007B to be displayed. This error most often is reported when there is a hardware issue.

After backing up the hard drive using Norton Ghost, we went through a series of tests by removing hardware. In this case the video card was an add-in so it was removed but the problem still persisted. Next we checked the BIOS settings and noted the default for the SATA drive was set to RAID. We changed this to IDE and rebooted the system. The system booted normally.

Recovering various HP and even some Dell system after a hard drive failure without the recovery DVD's can be frustrating. If the owner forgot to create the DVD's, there is a chance that you can still burn them later once the computer is running again. If the owner created the DVD's and lost them, you might be forced to contact the vendor and purchase a new set.

Well, if the recovery partition is still accessible on the original drive, here is a how to recover from the HP recovery partition that might help get the system recovered to the factory default installation.

The SMTP Server Connection Diagnostics Tool is a free utility will enable you to troubleshoot SMTP Server issues more easily than using telnet. It supports both open and SSL connections and contains a built-in library of commands such as EHLO, DATA, RCPT TO, etc.. Nothing to install, just run the executable and step through your commands.

When using the recovery CD for various eMachines (T2080, T2792, T3065) with Windows XP, the computer hangs or freezes at the Name My Computer stage of the process. After spending some time researching the issue, other technicians have noted that the system is stuck trying to configure the video.

The easiest way around this is to shutdown and reboot in VGA mode as follows. If your not sure how to shutdown the computer at this point, just press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds until the computer powers off.

Repair Process

In our constant battle to clean up consumer systems and get them running like new again, we often have to remove a number applications we classify as "garbageware". The number of malware and garbage applications that willl install as a result of downloading something from the Internet is growing exponentially. If you think you found a free application on the Internet, think again before you download and install it. 

There is a large varience of what this term garbageware is by various IT professionals, but here is how we define it.

While working on several home computer systems that had corrupt user profiles I needed a way to get a valid login. Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all have a default Administrator account that is disabled and hidden from normal use. This account sometimes will become available in Windows XP systems in Safemode, however you may need this available in normal mode.

We fix system regularly and so we have a recovery CD that we typically use, Hiren's Boot CD, to enable the local Administrator account. The Hiren's Boot CD has an application that will both reset the passwords and enable the Administrator's account. However at the end of the repair process we need to hide that local Administrator account again to protect it in case it is needed again later. The simple solution to this is to use the following steps.