nasty little fellow stuck some shortcuts on the desktop and hijacked the homepage. boot to safe mode to remove the c:\winnt\inetm folder and it's contents. Then use HiJack This! to remove the startup info.

Home page had been redirected to www.search-paga.com/10040

suspicious entry in startup listed xp_system and c:\winnt\inetm\winlogon.exe

this system is Windows 2000 and it was SP3 .. now is SP4 !

have a good one !

 

 

( Paga winlogon.exe )

Log in with appropriate permissions. Type the following on the command line and press the F4 key. (don't type "f4" ! )

PWRDWNSYS *IMMED [F4]

( IBM AS/400 AS400 )

Modify the values right there in the registry:

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop

ScreenSaveActive set to 1 for screensaver and 0 for no screensaver
ScreenSaveTimeOut is number of seconds before activating screensaver
SCRNSAVE.EXE is full path and file name of screensaver to use

group policies can override these settings (duh!) but at least it's easy to check the current values

Microsoft's info
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Update: the presence of this key means the screen saver tab is disabled (probably from a group policy)

=== === === === === === ===
Restrict the Screen Saver (Windows 2000/XP) This restriction can be used to specify the screen saver or to stop screen savers from running. Also, the Screen Saver settings page is disabled, so users cannot change the screen saver options.

Create a new DWORD value called "ScreenSaveActive" and set it to "0" to disable all screen savers.

Alternatively create a new string value called "SCRNSAVE.EXE" and set it to the executable name of a valid Windows screen saver file, including the .scr extension. This will only be used if "ScreenSaveActive" is set to "1" or deleted from the registry.

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

more info
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( Windows Win2K )

these are ISO images

IBM ServerGuide is a good tool for installing new servers. Older servers and operating systems aren't supported.

2 Update Express CDs will update most firmware and drivers on your IBM server.

( Server Guide )

I fixed an exchange server a while back and just wanted to keep these links close by:

272570 - How to recover from information store corruption

810190 - XADM The Information Store Terminated Abnormally Error Message and Event ID 447 Is Logged

822676 - XADM How to Manually Move the Exchange 2000 Server Database File Location

Backing Up an Exchange Server

AVG free version updates

 

 

( Microsoft 2003 )

Customer wasn't able to access secure website using Internet Explorer. Appeared as though cookies from the site were being rejected. Nothing I tried would allow cookies from this area (and yes, I did try every setting). Remembering an adware fix, I scanned the registry for the domain name. Under the domain name (registry key) was a sub-key with the host name of the rejected server. Hightlight the sub-key and double click the http DWORD item on the left. Change value from 4 (restricted) to 2 (trusted). Everything is beautiful ! By the way, reinstalling Internet Explorer did not fix this.

 

 

( Windows XP WinXP IE6 Internet Explorer )

Windows XP Pro SP1 failed to display user's desktop or start explorer.exe at all. Found several "fixes" advertised online. Ran FileMon and saw UxTheme.dll was indeed not being found. Located the compressed version in C:\I386 and expanded it into the Windows directory (eg. cmd prompt .. cd \i386 .. expand uxtheme.dl_ c:\windows\uxtheme.dll .. explorer [enter])

The system also had spyware, but no detected viruses.

 

 

( Professional )

The locations below should be stored under a user's "My Documents" to help with easy backups and profile migrations, but since they are not, I've included them for your convenience.

Outlook Express
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{EF95...0DD}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Windows Address Book
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book

Microsoft Outlook
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
-or-
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

( Win2K WinXP Windows 2000 XP )

Brand new HP Pavilion a749c failed to upgrade from Windows XP Home to Professional version. Customer tried second XP CD before calling. After a bit of research, decided to try the second CD drive (one is burner, one is reader only). Disconnected the suspicious CD drive and ran same install, but it failed (probably because of corrupted files already copied to hard drive. Instruct setup to format the hard drive before installing and system works just fine. Audio driver had to be downloaded (40MB!) from HP website, but other hardware recognized just fine. Open Media Player by itself before opening your favorite web-radio station (FYI).

Error:
Installation Failed
E:\I386\asms
Error Message:  Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

STOP:  0x0000006F (0xC0000020, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED Win XP

( bad CD drive 0x6F )

A simple way to keep the firewall enabled, and still allow access to your local network is to add it as a Trusted Zone.

• open Norton Internet Security
• select Personal Firewall and click the Configure button
• pick the Networking tab and click add
• select Using a Network Address and fill in your network numbers
• click OK twice and exit

Caution! opening up this configuration reduces the overall security of your firewall.

( Symantec NIS )