If you’re greeted with the Windows Installer setup screen for an existing product everytime when you try to install a new program, you usually repair the existing application, or use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to remove the installer information of the existing application before reinstalling it. The problem is the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility Setup itself uses Windows Installer and hence it may not run in the above scenario. Here is an option which can be used to launch the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility without installing it. (more…)
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
How to Install and Run the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility if Windows Installer Fails to Work
How to Update Microsoft Security Essentials Definitions Offline
Microsoft Security Essentials uses Microsoft Update to check for, and download definition updates every 24 hours. If you have a number of computers in your home or office without (or having limited) internet access, you may have to install the definition updates offline. To download the Microsoft Security Essentials virus and spyware definition update file, click the appropriate link below: (more…)
Office 2007 File Types DOCX, PPTX, XLSX Downloading as ZIP
When you try downloading one of the Office 2007 file types such as .DOCX, .PPTX, .XLSX, the file may download as a .Zip (Compressed Folder). This happens if the Office 2007 file format MIME types are not registered in the Web server you’re downloading the file from.
There is nothing much the user can do, apart from saving / renaming the file with the correct extension and then opening it using Office 2007.
If you had already downloaded the file (as .zip), simply rename (change) the extension accordingly. To do that, you’ll have to clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box in Folder Options. (REF Show or hide file name extensions)
Note to Webmasters
If you’re a Webmaster and want to register Office 2007 Open XML File Formats in your server, visit these links for detailed information:
Office Resource Kit Blog : Register Office 2007 file format MIME types on servers (Windows / IIS)
Serving Office 2007 documents from a Linux PLESK web site (non-Windows)
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) Update Utility
Just came across this interesting tool from the AddictiveTips Blog.
MSE Update Utility is a simple app that updates Microsoft Security Essentials when Windows Update is disabled. Windows Update service is responsible for frequently updating MSE. But once it is disabled via Group Policy Editor, MSE won’t update anymore.
You can download the MSE Update Utility from AddictiveTips.com.
[Related Tip] Updating Microsoft Security Essentials Using Command-Line
WordPress Automatic Upgrade Error “Could Not Create Temporary File”
This is probably the first time I’m trying to upgrade WordPress using the automatic upgrade option available in the WordPress Admin Dashboard. And doing so showed this error message:
Downloading update from http://wordpress.org/wordpress-2.8.6.zip.
Download failed.: Could not create Temporary file
Installation Failed
Searching the Web lead me to the following thread at WordPress Forums:
WordPress › Support » Download failed.: Could not create Temporary file
What did actually work was setting the permissions (CHMOD) for wp-content folder to 777, using the FTP client (FileZilla) I use. Once WordPress was upgraded successfully, I changed the permissions back to 755.
This issue seems to occur only in Apache servers where Safe_Mode is On. You can read about that at Download failed – Could not create Temporary file | shantopagla.
How to Uninstall Winter Fun Pack 2004 After Upgrading to Windows 7 or Vista
Did you install the Microsoft® Winter Fun Pack 2004 in your Windows XP system earlier, and then upgraded the system to Windows 7 or Windows Vista? In that case, the uninstaller for Winter Fun Pack 2004 may not work correctly under Windows 7/Vista, throwing out error code 1713. If the uninstaller does not work, you can remove the related files and registry entries manually.
The list of registry entries and files added by Microsoft® Winter Fun Pack 2004 for Windows® XP is available at the following link:
Browser Defender™ – Download Analysis for winterfunpack2004forwindowsxp.msi
Important: Before proceeding, take a complete registry backup either using System Restore or using a program like ERUNT. This article is targeted towards intermediate and advanced users.
Registry Fix
To make things easier, I’ve made available a .REG file which removes the Winter Fun Pack 2004 related registry keys. Download winterfunpack-remove.zip (partly based on BrowserDefender.com’s installation track data), unzip and double-click the .REG file to run it.
Things to Remove Manually
1. Registry Values
After running the REG file, you may have to remove some registry values manually:
1. Start Regedit.exe and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Installer \ Folders
2. In the right-pane, delete the values relating to Winter Fun Pack 2004 (Refer the URL above)
3. Exit the Registry Editor.
2. Files & Folders
Use the information at BrowserDefender.com and delete the files and folders added by Winter Fun Pack 2004.
3. Outlook Express Signature
1. Start Outlook Express
2. In the Tools menu, click Options
3. Click Signatures
4. Select MP Song Signature and click Remove
Note: In Microsoft Outlook, you can remove the MP Song Signature via the Tools menu, Options, Mail Format, Signatures.
5. Click OK.
Edison Helps Reduce Your PC’s Power Consumption
Edison is an excellent power management tool made for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista systems. Edison optimizes Windows Power Management settings for maximum power savings and provides a friendly user interface to configure the power settings.
Download Edison from Verdiem’s Website. (See also Verdiem :: Edison FAQ.)
Alter the Work Time Power Settings by moving the slider. To input custom values (hours: minutes) click the Custom button. And, click the Schedule tab and set your Work Time.
Edison creates a custom power plan, which can be viewed using Power Options (Windows Vista).
Edison changes the power plan options automatically, based on Work Time and Non-Work Time settings.
Microsoft Newsgroup Setup Instructions for Windows Live Mail
Earlier we saw how to access Microsoft Newsgroup using Windows Mail. If you’re using Windows Live Mail, it’s even more easier, as Microsoft Communities Newsgroup account is already built-in to Windows Live Mail. You just need to customize it and pick the necessary groups from the listing.
1. Start Windows Live Mail
2. From the Tools menu (press ALT + T to show the Tools menu), click Accounts.
3. Select the Microsoft Communities news server and click Properties
4. Type in your name (this name will be displayed in your newsgroup posts), and the email address. Never use your primary email address in the newsgroups as it invites spam. Use an obfuscated ID instead. Click OK to close the dialog.
5. Click the Newsgroups tab on the left.
6. You’ll be prompted to set Windows Live Mail as the default news client. Click Yes if you want to set Windows Live Mail as the default news handler.
7. Click the View Newsgroups button on the right pane. Alternately, click the Newsgroups button at the top.
8. Select the Newsgroups from the list and click OK.
Selecting a newsgroup downloads last 300 message headers from the group. You can increase the number of headers to download, via the Windows Live Mail Options dialog, which can be accessed from the Tools menu.
RegASSASSIN Resets ACL Permissions and Deletes Stubborn Registry Keys Easily
When dealing with a Malware infested PC, you may have to prune several registry entries manually in case the cleanup tool you use does not remove all of them. In most cases, you would get an error ("Error Deleting Key") stating that you don’t have permissions to delete the specified branch. So, additional steps are required to reset the registry ACL Permissions first, before deleting the key. RegASSASSIN from MalwareBytes makes it very easy to reset the ACLs and delete the keys. Whew! You don’t have to perform half a dozen steps to reset the permissions for each key.
RegASSASSIN is a portable application which makes difficult to remove registry keys placed on your system by Malware a thing of the past. The program allows you to remove registry keys by resetting the keys permissions and then deleting it. Please use with caution as deleting critical registry keys may cause system errors.
Let’s assume that a Malware has added a Service to the registry and protected the key using ACL Permissions. Deleting the key using the Registry Editor causes the following error.
Caution: It’s prudent to backup the registry completely before modifying it. For more information, read articles Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT & How to backup the Windows Registry?
Deleting a Stubborn Registry Key
1. Copy the Registry key in question. This can be done by right-clicking on the key and choosing Copy Key Name.
2. Download RegASSASSIN from MalwareBytes Website.
3. Run RegASSASIN and paste the registry key that was copied in Step 1.
4. Select the following checkboxes:
- Reset registry key permissions
- Delete registry key and all subkeys
5. Click the Delete button. Click Yes when you see the following dialog:
6. Click Yes when you’re prompted for confirmation:
The registry key is deleted!
RegASSASSIN to Just Reset the Registry Key Permissions?
In case a software installation in your PC fails due to lack of permissions to write to a specified registry key, you can simply reset the corresponding registry key (without deleting the key) using RegASSASSIN. To just reset the ACLs and preserve the registry key, uncheck the Delete registry key and all subkeys checkbox in RegASSASIN.
Editor’s Note
- This tool does not substitute for anti-malware / anti-virus software. All this tool does is to reset the permissions for the specified registry key and delete it.
- This tool needs to be run as administrator (elevated) in Windows Vista & Windows 7. To do so, right-click on the RegASSASSIN executable, and choose Run as Administrator option in the context menu.
- Complex Malware removal is to be performed by trained personnel, as they’re capable of doing a surgical cleanup without affecting other components of the Operating System. The above article is for informational purposes only.
Disk2vhd Utility Creates VHD Images of Physical Disks
Here is another useful software from Windows Sysinternals. Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell have written a tool named Disk2vhd which is capable of creating Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) image of a PC which is currently running. The VHD image can be used with Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs).
Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion.
For more information about this tool, visit the Disk2vhd page at the Windows Sysinternals Website.
(via SoftPedia News)
