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Forced into Vista reinstall

OK, so I’ve been forced to bite the bullet earlier than planned, and am now starting into reinstallation of Vista on my primary production machine. Here’s what propelled me into an emergency rebuild: I...

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Help! Windows Update Won’t Work After Vista Install

Having installed and reinstalled Windows Vista half a dozen times or so in the last month, it’s finally dawned on me that there’s a clean-up, post-installation step that Microsoft has not documented as...

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Configuring Windows Vista Services

One of my favorite long-time haunts on the Web is http://www.blackviper.com/. It’s the work of computer enthusiast Charles M. Sparks of Yreka, California, USA. Its main attractions are a series of...

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Network Discovery Doesn’t Always Confer Network Access

In the last week, I’ve reinstalled Vista on my primary production PC. Over time, this has led me back over ground that I’ve crossed many times before. It’s also helped me to recognize some differences...

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Recent Vista Fixes: Windows Search and WMI

After a new Vista install, you’ll find there are numerous clean-up tasks that must sometimes (or always) be performed in its wake. Two weeks later,  I’ve gotten far enough past major post-install...

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Tools: A Lightning Tour of msconfig.exe

The Windows system configuration tool, msconfig.exe has been around for some time. The easiest way to launch this utility is simply to type msconfig in the Start menu’s search box, but you can also...

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Should Software Makers Clean Up After Themselves?

In case you don’t already know, I make my living by writing articles, white papers, books, video scripts, help files, technical documentation, and other forms of information about computer software,...

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Thermaltake Vi-ON 3.5″ External HD Enclosure

Thermaltake makes some terrific products for PC enthusiasts and professionals inclined to pick up tools and computer components and indulge in a little do-it-yourself activity. In another recent...

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Driver Troubleshooting Calls For Serious Tools

I spent some time poking around at techsupportforum.com in their Windows Vista Support area. For those not already in the habit, let me observe that it’s amazing how much you can learn from reading...

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Mystery Solved: This web site!

A number of users have encountered and commented on a flaky “flooding” error on ViztaView.com over the last couple of weeks. They’ve also complained about issues registering for the community, long...

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Time for a new motherboard?

My production Vista machine is still acting screwy. When I leave it running all night, as I usually do, to let it run automatic updates for Windows itself, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and to...

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More on the latest BSOD

In digging further into my BSOD from Thursday, August 7, using the Windows Debugger I observed that the ultimate cause was a module named pctsSvc.exe (see attached screenshot below). A quick process...

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Yikes! A Positive Encounter with Dell Tech Support

I bought a Dell All-in-one (AIO) 968 printer a little over a month ago, to replace the aging Brother fax/printer I purchased almost 10 years ago for my business. Some of the vendors for whom I work...

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Lesson Learned: More on Post-Uninstall Clean-up

Last week, my blog “Should Software Makers Clean Up After Themselves?” expressed my consternation that responsible software vendors could create uninstall utilities that don’t completely clean up after...

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Windows Vista: Trials, Troubles, and Triumphs?

In reading over Chris Pirillo’s daily newsletter this morning, I tripped over an interesting item entitled “Is Maximum PC right about Vista?” For those not already in the know, Maximum PC is a serious...

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Post SP1 Cleanup, Part 1

In the wake of installing Vista SP1, I’ve been noticing various little “gotchas” that have popped up and require my attention as time goes by. It’s been about 4 to 5 months since SP1 hit, and I’ve been...

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Best-of-Breed Apps Aren’t Always Best for Vista

OK, I have to start this blog with a confession: I’m an inveterate system tinkerer, and am always looking for something better for my system (if not for something rated as the best of its kind). For...

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Shaking Down Windows Vista Proves Too Interesting

In the past two weeks, I’ve built a new Windows Vista system and upgraded the CPU on my primary production machine. In each case, I’ve seen problems pop up afterward that caused the Windows Reliability...

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The Trouble with Explorer.exe

If you’ve been reading my blogs lately, you’ll know I’ve been battling mightily with some vexing and puzzling stability problems on my primary production PC. In the past two weeks, I’ve tried nearly...

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Following the Breadcrumbs in Event Viewer

OK, so I’m finally starting to relax a little bit. After six weeks of intermittent crashes and daily blue-screens, I’ve now gone four days on my production Vista machine without a major hiccup. I’ve...

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What a difference a fan makes!

In putting my production machine back together, I noticed that my disk drives and my passively cooled graphics card were running a bit warmer than I might like. So as I took the machine apart to...

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Back to Work, More or Less

This morning, I posted the news that circumstances beyond my control–a crashed member of the mirrored disk pair that makes up the system drive on my production PC–forced me to reinstall Vista on that...

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The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

If you’ve ever looked over the regular updates that get delivered the second Tuesday of every month (so-called “Patch Tuesday”) to your Vista machine, you can’t help but have noticed the regular...

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Vista-compatible firewalls

Part of my daily routine consists of visiting online message boards for IT and technical classes for instructing online courses for companies that currently include HP, Sony, Radio Shack, and Motorola...

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Another BSOD in the wall

If you’re been following my travails with my primary production system lately, you already know that I’ve been struggling to fix mysterious hangs and occasional bluescreens since the third week of...

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Interesting Event Viewer Error Message

In keeping with my ongoing Vista troubleshooting exercise, I’ve gotten into the habit of dropping in on my Event Viewer every couple of days to see what kinds of errors and warnings are popping up. By...

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Stealthy, Interesting “Patch Tuesday” Item

The second Tuesday of every month is also known as “Patch Tuesday,” because that’s the day when Microsoft normally releases its security updates, along with other patches and fixes for its various...

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Mystery Solved — 103 Devices, 5 Volumes

This looked just plain weird to me. When I checked Reliability Monitor and the installation of the generic volume shadow copy devices I couldn’t make out a pattern even though it was there to be found....

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98 Bottles of Beer…No, Wait! 98 Generic volume Shadow Copy Devices

This morning, I began my day with some modest self-congratulation, or perhaps just a small sigh of relief that my recent Vista crises have abated. It’s now been 9 days since my last bluescreen and my...

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Hot outside, hot inside too

It’s hot, hot, hot here in Round Rock, TX. And alas, when I say it’s hot here, I mean in the house! Our inside cooling stack for the main A/C apparently iced up yesterday, and quit working. I’ve had to...

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Quick ‘n’ Dandy Windows Process Lookup

I’ve used lots of online sources to look up Windows processes and DLLs by name in the past, but one that keeps coming up on Google over the years is Uniblue’s site at www.processlibrary.com. Now, that...

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Cool, calm, and corrected: Temps back to normal

In a recent blog of mine “Hot outside, hot inside too”, I reported on the effects of a failed air conditioner on the temperatures inside my PC. Now that repairs on complete and things are back to what...

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Post SP1 Cleanup, Part 3

Whenever you install a service pack on a Windows machine, it’s not unusual for it to leave plenty of files strewn about your system disk in its wake. What’s unusual about Windows Vista SP1, however, is...

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Fixing Vista Mouse and Audio Nits

Now that my production system has been stable for nearly two weeks, I’m finally getting around to dealing with other aspects of its behavior that aren’t quite right. This morning, I resolved to address...

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Restart Manager Surfaces In Event Monitor

Any time something surfaces in Event Monitor that I’ve never seen before, it always piques my interest. My usual practice is to scan the Event Monitor’s Windows Application and System logs every Monday...

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Shadow Copy Puzzle Partly Deciphered

In yesterday’s blog, I reported on the appearance of reports for numerous (9 one day, 10 the next) “corrupt and unusable” VolumeShadowCopyXX entries in the System Log in Event Viewer. All of these...

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New Graphics Drivers, New Shadow Copy Puzzles to Ponder

In the past couple of months, I ‘ve been grappling with graphics stability issues. Mostly, this has meant driver restarts where you get a message that reads something like “Display driver stopped...

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Sysinternals TCPView Reveals Port Activities

One of the many things I do for a living is to develop and revise courseware for a local Austin company that provides “Learning Centers” for all kinds of Fortune 500 companies. This includes some...

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Is It Really “Game Over” for Vista Already?

Given the focus of this Web site, I hope it makes sense that I also follow industry news about Windows Vista as well as its technical ins and outs. Recently, I”ve noticed a growing swell of...

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Out-of-cycle Security Patch Posts to Fix Huge, Gaping RPC Hole

Normally, Microsoft reserves its security patches, fixes, updates, and other software tweaks and maneuvers for the second Tuesday in each month, aka “Patch Tuesday.” Yesterday afternoon I was somewhat...

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Snapshot: PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus

I”ve been using Spyware Doctor to handle spyware on my machine for over two years now, with great success in handling spyware. In the past three months, I have switched to PC Tools Spyware Doctor with...

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More out-of-cycle MS Updates post

Last night when I was quitting for the day, after 11 PM, I noticed that the autoupdate function in Windows Update had posted two more items to my primary production PC. Both look interesting, but so...

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Begone! Dratted (Old) System Files: Begone!

When one member of my mirrored pair of system drives failed earlier this year, I replaced that pair of Seagate 7200.10 320 GB drives with a pair of Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ SATA II 3.5″ drives with...

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A Change of Memory Makes a Difference?

In writing about my trials and tribulations with Windows Vista on my production PC over the summer, I summarized my situation in a blog entitled “Time for a new motherboard?” on September 20. By the...

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Secunia Personal Software Inspector Does a Bang-up Job

As somebody who”s been researching and writing about malware since 2003, I”ve come to recognize Danish information security firm Secunia as a reliable source of good intelligence about what”s happening...

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Grab this great, free rootkit detector if you need it!

A rootkit is a particularly stealthy and nasty form of malware designed to take over complete control of a system (root level access in UNIX terms means “access to everything, no holds barred”)....

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Thermaltake NBcool T3000 Notebook Cooler

Because of their cramped cases and modest ventilation, most notebook PCs tend to run significantly hotter than desktop PCs. Recently, case and cooling specialist ThermalTake sent us one of their...

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Patch Tuesday For December 2008

The second Tuesday in each month is when Microsoft schedules its patches, fixes, and security updates. Recently, Microsoft has begun to offer Advance Notification for its Security Bulletins, which...

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Hallelujah! Production Vista System Finally Behaves Like One

All I can say when it comes to finally getting my production Vista desktop working as I think it should be is “It”s about (expletive deleted) time!” After building this system over the summer and...

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Getting Laptops Ready for Classroom Use Teaches Some Good Lessons

This year, school is getting serious for my 8-year-old son, Gregory: he’s in the third grade. For the first time, he’s having to deal with real grades for his homework, plus regular quizzes and tests....

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