Posts Tagged ‘type’
In earlier versions of Windows, the Event Viewer has been a very simple program which recorded events which took place on your computer. In these versions, only significant occurrences which were determined as important by the computer would even be logged. While this was still useful, many administrators have desired a more detailed system which would allow them to troubleshoot difficult problems and errors. In Windows Vista, the Event Viewer is able to do just that, and a little more.
To start off, let’s figure out just how we can open and access the Vista Event Viewer. First, access the start menu by means of the Windows Vista orb. You must then click on control panel. After the control panel is visible, find and click the administrative tools icon. From here it’s pretty much self explanatory – click Event Viewer.
New features in Vista’s Event Viewer include:
- Ability to view events from multiple logs simultaneously. In the Windows Vista version, administrators have the ability to browse events via filters – which search for similar events across multiple logs. Within this customized view, it becomes much easier to troubleshoot for viruses, and other problems which may occur on your computer. For example, on a multiple user computer, a spyware program may open Internet Explorer at 7 in the morning without being called up by the user. Using Create Custom View…, an administrator can calibrate a filter to view the application, security, and system log during that hour. By seeing this, you could locate a spyware .dll file which was programmed to open IE at 7.
- Set tasks to act in response to certain events. This feature allows an administrator to plug in automated responses to certain events. If, for example, your computer often wakes up during the night to install updates, the Event Viewer could be used to carry out a task which turned the computer off afterwards. This feature must be used in accordance with the Task Scheduler, another one of the Administrative Tools.
- New Log Categories. In the Vista edition, the Event Viewer consists of two new categories: Setup and Forwarded Events. Both of these logs are very functional, allowing for more in-depth analysis when troubleshooting viruses, spyware, and hackers. The setup log is used to record activity which occurs during the setup of new programs and applications. This information could be useful when checking to see if an application was installed by the user, and of It has spyware or other programs attached to it. The forwarded events log records what happens during server activity. This log records the ID of of other computers, and the events which occur on these computers.
All in all, the Windows Vista Event Viewer is a vital container of everything which happens on your computer – the ins and outs. Each individual logfile contains admin, operational, analytic, and debug log sections. Using the features in this program, administrators will find it easier to troubleshoot their computer systems.
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1 or MSBA 2.1 is a must-have utility for those concerned with the safety of their computer. It’s a great tool for those with networks or small businesses, because it also allows you to scan for vulnerabilities across the computers on your network. Basically what it does is detect common security misconfigurations, missing security updates, and any options that have been set that may be of interest, which I will explain later on.
Once you download the program, it is actually really straight-forward and easy to use
But if you would like to learn about how to scan other computers in your network or how to access the security report generated, feel free to continue reading!
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Evaluating a Security Report:
The Security Report is very detailed and effective in presenting information. Let’s take a look at how to use the information to imrpove your computer’s security. The program even tells you how to fix the problems so it shouldn’t be very difficult. Below I will just list my interpretation of the issues listed:
User Accounts (Admin / Guest):
Do not overlook this detail, and make sure you are aware of the number of Admin accounts on your computer. If there are more than you know about, this may suggest somebody is accessing your computer without you knowing it. As for the Guest account, you may disable it if you are the only one using the computer. I leave it enabled so my family members can use my computer when I’m not there without accessing my files.
Automatic Updates:
If you want to be protected from the latest risks, this should be enabled. However, I do not have this enabled because I have had issues with my Sound Card and Video Card when installing the drivers recommended through Windows Update. Also, Vista insists their drivers are newer even though I am using beta video card drivers. To prevent them from automatically installing their drivers over mine, I leave automatic installation disabled and just respond immediately when I see the bubble in the right corner alerting me to update. I don’t suggest enabling auto-install if you’ve had driver issues with your hardware.
Windows Firewall:
If Windows Firewall is not enabled on all connections, click on “How to Correct This.” If the problem still persists, go to your Firewall settings, click on the Advanced Tab, and ensure all connections are checked.
As for the other categories, they are pretty straight forward. If you have any questions feel free to ask me in the forum.
How to Scan a Network of Computers:
First you need to determine the “Domain Name” or the IP Range you want to scan. If you’re a network administrator, you should already know the this type of information or have your own method of doing this, so you won’t need to read the rest of the guide.
If you do know the “Domain Name” that’s great! But if you don’t know, I’m only going to explain how to find the IP range because I’ve had a lot of problems with Windows Vista and Network Domain Names.
What’s an IP address?
In case you don’t know what an IP is, it’s an address assigned to every computer so that it can be identified.
Moving on…
First ensure that all computers are on, and logged onto their administrator account. Now before we do anything drastic, your list of IPs probably start at 192.168.1.100 and end at 192.168.1.126
First, put that in and see if it works. If it works, then you’re good to go!
If it doesn’t, you’re going to have to actually log into your router and find out.
First, open the Start Menu, type cmd in the Search bar, and press Enter. Once Command Prompt is open, type
ipconfig
Look for default gateway and write it down. Then open your internet browser, and type it in. This will take you to your router settings.
The router I’m using is a Linksys WRT54G v8. You might have a different kind of router or firmware, but the steps should be very similar.
First, look for a Status button or tab. Next, you want to click on LAN or DHCP Clients, or a button that will display all the computers connected to the network.
You should get something that looks like this:
Now you know what the IP range is. Simply take the lowest numbered IP and the largest one, and input it into the IP range boxes and you should be good to go.
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There are some programs that need to be run in Administrator Mode in order to function properly. Here are just some examples of the types of programs that would need to do this:
- Programs that access protected areas of your computer such as the System and Windows folders, and even the C Drive
- Any Spyware / Adware / Malware / Virus removal programs
- Any Disk or Performance Utilities
Aside from typing the program in the Windows Start Menu Search bar and pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter, you can have a program always run in Administrator Mode.
To do this, right click the program and choose properties. Click on the Compatibility tab near the top.
Select “Run this program as Administrator” and click Apply.
That’s it! You never have to go through the hassle of right clicking and choosing Run as Administrator each time. This is very useful if you use a program launcher such as Launchy, and are unable to right click the program icon.
What if I can’t find the Compatibility Tab?
No worries. The icon you have selected is probably a shortcut, so you would have to find the original .exe file. It shows up for most shortcuts, but sometimes it doesn’t and I have no idea why.
Anyways, if you can’t find the Compatibility tab at the top, select the Shortcut tab anyway.
Select everything except the quotation marks in the “Start in” box and copy it.
Then open your Start Menu, click on Computer, paste the information in the address bar and press Enter.
Once you are at the directory, look for the .exe file. Right click it and choose properties, and the compatibility tab should be there.
Let’s spice things up this week by changing our boring old Windows Vista boot screen to a custom one.
I can assure you that this method will work with all versions of Vista, whether you have SP1 installed or not.
If you’ve customized your Vista boot screen or logo before, you’ll remember how much of a hassle it was. This time, we will use the Vista Visual Master utility to change our boot screen. Click here to download it.
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Once you have finished installing the program, make sure you Run as Administrator. (Right click Vista Visual Master and select the appropriate option.)
The program is very straight forward. Select Boot Screen in the navigation bar on the left.
Click on Browse and select for the photo you want to replace the bootscreen with. Windows will attempt to stretch your photo to fit the entire screen, so it is best to make sure that you have a photo with a resolution of at least 1024*768. If you’re looking for some good wallpaper, there are some great ones at Socwall and Deviantart.
Once you are done browsing, your picture will show up in the box. Click on generate and VVM will generate an MUI file. Click on Apply to finsh. The program will automatically make a backup of the default MUI in the following directory:
C:\Windows\System32\en-US
The en-US part may vary depending on your language and version of Windows Vista.
For future reference, the file used to display the boot screen is called winload.exe.mui
And the backup is called winload.exe.bak.vistamaster
If you want to uninstall the program after you change the boot screen, I recommend you make a copy of the backup and put it somewhere that you can remember.
And that’s it! You should see your new boot screen the next time you start your computer. I also recommend you to explore the other features of Vista Visual Master, as it has other great customization features that allow you to declutter your Windows Vista workspace.
Using the task scheduler to wake up your computer
For various reasons, it could be quite practical to incorporate an automatic startup into your computer’s daily routine. My old Pentium IV takes about 2 minutes just to boot up and load everything altogether for the computer to become usable. (You should be using the hibernate feature anyway.) Especially since Vista is more demanding, it probably takes quite a while for those old computer to startup. It could be quite troublesome when you have to use your computer for an emergency, only to realize that it takes your computer too long to load… Even more, the setup process is simple and straightforward, involving only a few steps. Before we continue any further, this feature requires you to have a login password to your account. This is a security measure to prevent your computer from being exploited when it is turned off.
What is the Task Scheduler?
If you have worked with Windows at any level, you are most probably aware of the Task Scheduler function. Most often, Windows users fail to make use of this utility because it’s functionality is often underestimated. In the Vista and XP version, this preinstalled utility is able to regulate and initiate all tasks which run on your system. I In Vista, this program is even more advanced because it can respond to other detailed triggering actions which occur on your system. The Vista Task Scheduler can even respond to actions which occur on other computers among your network. If you have time, I recommend playing around with it.
Opening the Task Scheduler
Opening the Task Scheduler can be done in multiple ways, but the easiest way would probably be to type Task Scheduler into the start menu search bar and pressing enter.
Scheduling the Vista Start Up
To start off, you need to open the New Task window. Click on Actions at the top and then click on Create Task from the dropdown menu. Now that you have opened the window, type a name and description for your startup task. Then near the bottom, make sure Run whether user is logged on or not is selected.
In the Triggers tab, you must now choose the time at which the computer will startup. Click on the New… button, and be sure that On a schedule is selected in the dropdown. Choose the time at which you wish for startup to begin. Next, choose the frequency which will be used, whether it be daily, weekly monthly, or on one single occasion.
In the actions pane, you must choose an action which will occur at startup. This can be an opening of a file/program, or a simple welcome message display. If no particular program/file need be opened, choose the message option and specify the welcome message which should be utilized. (For GTD adapters, you can have it open your web browser so you can view your Google Calendar right away.) In the conditions tab, make sure that wake this computer to run this task is checked. If no additional settings are necessary, click OK and proceed to the main window. If you ever need to edit this task, you can view it the Active Tasks portion of the Task Scheduler.
I’ll be talking a bit more about different task scheduler tweaks you can use this month.
Many who use one of the East Asian languages would agree that the alphabet is not very convenient. In XP, there were a couple of plugins (Windows calls them Applets) that allowed handwriting recognition as well as a radical dictionary, just to name a few of the applets. These applets are very useful for those who cannot recognize characters or anyone learning one of the languages. This tutorial will bring all these applets back. (This tutorial is mainly geared towards those that do not have a handwriting pad since I’m sure your pad was bundled with software that solves these problems.)
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English is not the only input language for Windows Vista. Not to be confused with the Windows MUI (Multilingual User Interface) which transforms the entire operating system into the language of your choice and is only available for Windows Vista Ultimate.
To enable keyboards for other languages, open the Start Menu
and type Regional into the Search bar. You should get a habit of using the Search bar in the Start Menu since you can virtually access any part of your computer with it. Normally, this would be found in the Control Panel.
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According to the Microsoft support website, there are 8 causes for Service Pack 1 update problems. Don’t be disappointed. You’ll be able to find the 8 possible causes here as well as the solutions for each one. The causes are numbered in order from least complicated to most complicated. Also don’t forget that the Windows Update isn’t the only place you can download the Service Pack, although you will be downloading a 450MB standalone rather than a 65MB update. The download links are below.
Update: Seems like Microsoft is offering free support for SP1. https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=8&y=7&prid=11274&gprid=500921
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The MOST common cause for SP1 not showing up as an update is because your updates list is old.
- Open Windows Update (You can do this by opening the Start Menu and typing Windows Update in the search bar)
- Click “Check for Updates” in the sidebar
Then give the Update Manager a minute or two to refresh its contents. Once its finished, Service Pack should be available as an update.
As you can probably see, there are MANY causes for Service Pack 1 becoming unattainable. If you’re doing this solely because you cannot find it, I suggest that you only try up to Step 4 (Step 5 if you don’t mind the amount of work). After that you may choose to download the standalones:
Download Windows Service Pack 1 Standalone (32-bit based systems) 435MB
Download Windows Service Pack 1 Standalone (64-bit based systems) 727MB
Now for the other causes…
Table of Contents:
1) You’re using the wrong language pack
2) You’ve already installed SP1 before
3) You see a bunch of updates but no Service Pack update
4) You’ve tried step 3 but there are no important updates
5) You’ve previously or recently encountered Windows Update errors
6) A hardware or device driver caused problems after installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1
7) You used vLite to accidentally remove something you weren’t supposed to
1) The language pack you are using does not support Windows Vista
Windows Vista SP1 currently supports only one of the five following language packs:
- English
- French
- Spanish
- Japanese
- German
If you’re not using one of these language packs, it’s possible for you to switch to these language packs. I’m not too sure whether the service pack will still be in effect if you switch back to the unsupported language - I doubt it will. You can switch by going to Start > Control Panel > Regional and Language Settings. Get to the third tab that says Keyboard and Languages, and choose one of the support languages in the drop down Menu.
If you don’t have one of these language packs, you’ll have to wait until Microsoft makes a second release later in 2008.
2) You already have a version of Windows Vista SP1 installed
How do you check? Simply press Start, right click Computer, and choose Properties. Look under Windows Edition.
If you don’t have any mention of Service Pack under Windows Edition, then you don’t have the Service Pack. If you do, then make sure that it is the final release of SP1, and not an RTM or Beta. If it is, you’ll have to uninstall it first.
Uninstalling previous versions of Service Pack 1:
To do this, open your Start Menu and type in Windows Update. Click on Installed Updates in the bottom left corner. Then look for the Service Pack under M.
Right click it and choose Uninstall. It will take some time but after you Uninstall, open Windows Update. Make sure to click Check for Updates and you should be able to install the Service Pack.
3) You see one or more updates when you run Windows Update, but there is no sign of the service pack
If this is the case, you will have to install all the updates indicated as “Important.” Check these updates, download them and install them. Once that is complete, the Service Pack update should be listed. Make sure to press Check for Updates to refresh the Updates list.
4) There are no updates listed as Important
Press “Check for Updates” in the sidebar and wait for a minute for Windows Update to refresh update its list of updates.
5) Window Service Pack Blocker Tool is blocking the delivery of Windows Vistas SP1 from Windows Update
When Windows Update fails to update properly, it blocks the user from updating and installing service packs. CheckSUR will fix these problems. If you are or have encountered numerous update errors in the past, you should follow these instructions to fix the problem. If you think this may be, simply download this file
CheckSUR Registry Fix
You then need to open it as administrator. You can do this by right clicking and choosing Run as Administrator. When you run it, it will make two registry changes that allow your computer to run CheckSUR. Once applied, you will need to download CheckSUR from the Microsoft website:
Download CheckSUR for 32-bit Windows Vista
Download CheckSUR for 64-bit Windows Vista
When you’re done downloading the file, install and run CheckSUR.
6) A hardware or device driver caused problems when attempting to install SP1
In order to ensure a smooth update, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 won’t be made available to you if you use one of the drivers listed below. What you need to do is to make sure that you update these drivers to their latest versions. My first recommendation would be to just run Windows Update to ensure you’ve updated all your drivers from there. If the problem still persists, you’ll need a way of finding out if you are using these conflicting drivers. First, open the Start menu and type in system information then push enter. Once you push enter, you’ll be able to view the driver information of your components by selecting the appropriate category in the sidebar. For this example, I’ll use audio.
I’m using hdaudio.sys so I’m OK since it is not a conflicting driver. Use this window to check for any drivers that may match the ones indicated below.
Audio drivers
Realtek AC’97
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For x86-based computers: Alcxwdm.sys - version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier |
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For x64-based computers: Alcwdm64.sys - version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier |
SigmaTel
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For x86-based computers: Sthda.sys - version 5.10.5762.0 or earlier |
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For x64-based computers: Sthda64.sys - version 5.10.5762.0 or earlier |
SigmaTel
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For x86-based computers: Stwrt.sys - version 6.10.5511.0 or earlier |
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For x64-based computers: Stwrt64.sys - version 6.10.5511.0 or earlier |
Creative Audigy
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For x86-based and x64-based computers: Ctaud2k.sys - version 6.0.1.1242 or earlier |
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For x86-based computers: P17.sys – all versions (This was originally a Windows XP-based driver.) |
Conexant HD Audio
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For x86-based computers: Chdart.sys - version 4.32.0.0 or earlier |
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For x64-based computers: Chdart64.sys - version 4.32.0.0 or earlier |
Biometric (Fingerprint) Sensors
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AuthenTec Fingerprint Sensor with the Atswpdrv.sys driver file – version 7.7.1.7 or earlier |
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UPEK Fingerprint Sensor with the Tcusb.sys driver file – version 1.9.2.99 or earlier |
Display drivers
Intel Display
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For x86-based computers: Igdkmd32.sys – versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403 |
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For x64-based computers: Igdkmd64.sys – versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403 |
Other drivers
Texas Instruments Smart Card Controller with the GTIPCI21.sys driver file – version 1.0.1.19 or earlier
Sierra Wireless AirCard 580 with the Watcher.exe application – version 3.4.0.9 or earlier (This application is located in the AirCard 580 Program Files folder.)
Symantec software driver for Symantec Endpoint Protection and for Symantec Network Access Control clients
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For x86-based computers: Wgx.sys – versions 11.0.1000.1091 or earlier |
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For x64-based computers: Wgx64.sys – versions 11.0.1000.1091 or earlier |
Note Apparently Symantec is aware of this problem and is working on it. Visit this link for more information on how to configure your software to receive the latest updates. http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index.jsp
Once you are done checking, it’s time to update those drivers. Open Start Menu and type Device Manager, then press Enter. Once at the device manager, open up the appropriate device tree, right click the device, and choose Update Driver software.
Sometimes this does not always work. So you’ll have to manually update the driver by visiting the vendor or manufacturer’s website and updating it from there.
7) You’ve used vLite and accidentally removed the required components for a Service Pack Upgrade
Vlite seems to have a full section dedicated to this problem here.
Hopefully you’ve been able to get Service Pack 1 by now. You can check out this article for a list of the most important changes made with SP1, or a full list by Microsoft here.
After the release of Firefox 2.0, the memory leak has become an even more notorious problem than before. On average, Firefox should take up no more than 80MB of RAM. Any more than that and you can consider yourself a victim of Firefox’s memory leak. I’m sure you’ve probably already seen a ton of guides on how to fix the memory leak problem in Firefox already. The reason why I’m writing another one on Vista Rewired is because none of those have worked very well for me. This one will be a little different because I’ve added a few of my ingredients in.
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For the many out there that are running Windows Vista with 512MB RAM and are left helpless without video card driver support, optimizing your computer’s appearance can mean the difference between a slow and a fast computer. I have just recently switched to Windows Classic and it cut down loading certain windows from 3-8 seconds to 1-3 (Yes my PC is really slow.)
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