THE

LIST

This newsletter tracks new information, and improvements in existing information, on www.aumha.org, my website supporting Windows desktop systems and leading application software. I also include small, useful items that might not find a permanent place on the site, but that I would like to pass along.

Click here to subscribe. If you subscribe, you will receive email notification when there is a new edition of the newsletter. (You will not receive the newsletter itself by email. That’s why I call it low-tech.) My intention is to provide a new and further way to serve the 50,000 people per month who visit my site. Previous newsletters are available online, and their content searchable through this site’s search engine. Enjoy! — Jim Eshelman

CONTENTS of this Issue

1. NEWS & VIEWS
2. WINDOWS SUPPORT SITES
3. REGISTRY PATCHES
   
   MS KNOWLEDGE BASE Articles:
4. Error Messages
5. Hardware
6. Outlook Express
7. Shutdown Issues — Windows XP
8. Windows ME
9. Windows Setup

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NEWS & VIEWS

I was wrong last week. Windows XP Release Candidate 1 hasn’t yet made it to the streets. We’ll see it soon enough, though. The latest rumors tend toward June 29 as the ship date for this latest Beta incarnation, with July 4, according to Paul Thurrott, being the “drop-dead date” by which it will ship no matter what.

INSECURE INFORMATION SERVICE (IIS)

This was not a good week for Microsoft’s credibility on security issues. It was, however, a great week for them in terms of responsiveness.

Last Monday, June 18, Microsoft issued MS Security Bulletin MS01-033, announcing their confirmation of one of the most serious security vulnerabilities ever to appear in a Microsoft product. The vulnerability, discovered by eEye Digital Security, is in Microsoft’s Internet Information Service (IIS), a default component of many web servers running Windows NT, 2000, or any Beta version to date of Windows XP; that is, roughly one-fifth of all web servers on the planet (between 6 and 7 million servers).

I strongly encourage you to read the bulletin in full if you have any interest in the subject and, especially, if you are a system administrator of a Windows NT or 2000 web server running IIS.

How serious is the problem? “Clearly,” Microsoft wrote, “this is a serious vulnerability, and Microsoft urges all customers to take action immediately.” The software manufacturer explained further:

“This is a buffer overrun vulnerability. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain complete control over an affected Web server. This would give the attacker the ability to take any desired action on the server, including changing Web pages, reformatting the hard drive or adding new users to the local administrators group.” [Emphasis added.]

How did Microsoft respond? Rapidly and, by all accounts, with amazing effectiveness. They prepared a patch and began distributing the word through their developers’ network, TechNet, the media, and other channels. Once the news hit the streets, there was, of course, almost overnight response by hackers who, well, did what hackers do — and capitalized on the vulnerability. But these were proportionately few and, by any account I’ve read, rapidly addressed. The extent of the potential damage was also offset (ameliorated) by the configurations of the systems in question.

Microsoft followed its security bulletin, two days later, with Knowledge Base article Q300972, Unchecked Buffer in Index Server ISAPI Extension Can Enable Web Server Compromise. Definitely “must see HTTP” for those who may be affected by this problem.

Want some simple tests to see if your server may be compromised? 8wire gives some, along with a further analysis of the problem, in a June 21 article by Mark Maiffret.

I am exceedingly impressed with Microsoft’s speed and thoroughness of response to this issue when it was reported to them and confirmed. Since human error is part of the human condition, no matter how thorough we may be, there always will be glitches uncaught. To think otherwise is just plain foolishness. Microsoft came out way on top on this one, in my book. The problem is — that truism about human fallibility swings both ways. This is the same Microsoft that less than a month ago told the world that Steve Gibson’s “alarmism” about serious security vulnerabilities in the forthcoming Windows XP were foolish and unfounded (see here and there). After all, they said with understandable pride, they’ve made Windows XP much more secure than any previous version of Windows. Fine. Better is always better. But better isn’t good enough. There’s no such thing as a totally secure system. Anyone who tries to say otherwise, in order to alleviate our insecurity about, well, insecurity, is simply trying to fool us. When it comes to system security, there is probably no such thing as excessive paranoia.

THINGS ON MY MIND...

My fellow MS-MVP Frank Saunders shares a web site with his wife, Mary Saunders. Frank’s portion of it includes some excellent Internet Explorer and Outlook Express information. But it is Mary’s part of the page that inspires me at the moment. She has a section called My Opinions. That’s exactly what it’s about! In the best personal tradition of the World Wide Web, Mary simply says what she thinks. I love that page. It doesn’t matter whether I agree with her or not (sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t). It’s one of the best examples I know of someone fulfilling the promise of the Web, of universal access of all people to the world, and of the world to all people.

I have a few things that have been on my mind this last week. I doubt that they will be as interesting as Mary’s, but I might as well write them down here as long as they’re on my mind.

Web mail, MSN, and newsgroups. I hate web-based email. Sure, it has its place. Hotmail and Yahoo give vast numbers of people Internet access. They wouldn’t have it otherwise. But it is so inferior to POP3 or (my favorite) IMAP mail handling through a good email client that there’s just no comparison IMHO. Why do I worry about it at all? Because MSN is on the track of going 100% web-based for their email. That’s a really bad sign. I very much hope they do not become trendsetters in this. If they do, then five years from now we’ll all be hanging out heads in vain recollection of the golden age of email communication that came and went. Webmail as an alternative is great! Power of choice is great! But webmail as the only choice will just plain suck! If you agree, tell someone before it’s too late.

On a similar topic, Microsoft’s introduction of web-based newsgroups is probably a good commercial move for them, but is a bad sign — if it becomes a trend. Of course, the underlying concern is that it eventually will replace NNTP newsgroups. As an alternative, or additional option, it’s a nice development. As a total replacement it would suck badly enough that I would end, that very week, my many years’ practice of providing online assistance through peer-support newsgroups. That would be my signal to go find something new to do with my time! Outlook Express (for example) is so much more powerful and easy to use than the web-based tools. The gap is painful.

Don’t get a Pentium 4. Really! At least, not now. Maybe not before Christmas. A couple of weeks before the P4 was released, Intel started a barrage of colorful, high-profile TV ads for... the Pentium 3! Bells went off in my head, and I prophesied then that Intel had, just before the P4’s release, discovered something was wrong, but the company was committed to a release date. With each month that passes, this increasingly appears to be true. There are now a lot of rumors that the P4, as it presently exists, will be off the market by October, and a new P4 replace it. The current P4s will be technological dead-ends. Stick with the P3 for now — it’s really a superb CPU! — or go for one of AMD’s excellent products. Or just hold off until January.

And on a separate but related topic: The jury is still really out on RDRAM. I personally would not back myself into the RDRAM corner right now unless someone else was footing all of the current bills, and my later replacement costs when it all collapses under itself (if it does). This is either going to be really big, or it’s going to cave in. I don’t know which. I don’t know if anyone does.

So there — my opinions for the week!

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WINDOWS SUPPORT SITES

NOT A CROC — JUST PURE ’GATOR

Kelly’s Korner by Kelly Theriot
A few weeks ago I promised a forthcoming surprise from newsgroup diva Kelly Theriot. (Or is she a maven? No, I think I’ll stick with ‘diva.’) Semantics aside, Kelly’s new web site was what I meant. It’s shaping up to be one loaded site! With the “Under Construction” sign barely off of its masthead, and most of the paint still wet, it’s already one of the best resources on the web for Windows troubleshooting tips and Cajun humor — two things that obviously belong together!!

If you’re one of those people who don’t mix well with black backdrops, scroll down Kelly’s page just a bit to the “Kill the Frills” link. This utility, by MS-MVP Bill James, gives you more control over how your browser displays pages with color and other design choices you don’t like. You might want to give it a try.

Otherwise, just click on something (such as the various troubleshooting links) and see what she’s gathered. Also, try her site search (she uses the same search system that I offer on my own site). And don’t forget the humor links.

WinMac BRIDGES THE GULF

Windows, DOS & Mac Help by MS-MVP Mark D. Stotzer
Mark Stotzer’s computer help-site is hardly new. It’s been around for over four years, which, in WWW terms, makes it an institution! It’s partly a list of troubleshooting tips, partly a collection of helpful links, a number of pointers to articles and editorials that Mark apparently enjoys and thinks we might, too — in short, a good ol’ fashioned home page in the best tradition of the Web.

Also — unlike nearly all links on my site — this one includes some significant support for the Mac as well. It also bridges the gulf between the multiple generations of Microsoft operating systems — including not only information on all versions of 32-bit Window to date (plus one that hasn’t come out yet), but also MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows 3.x.

I’m not sure how I missed it all these years, especially since I bump into Mark online a fair bit; but I’m happy to know about it now. You can bet I’ll be spending more than a little time wandering around his online computer universe.

COLOR BY THE NUMBERS

Last issue, I mentioned my new Named Colors in HTML page. This week, I’ve expanded it a bit, by adding displays of each color coded with RGB codes immediately opposite the color identified by its name. This makes it easier to determine whether a particular browser will display both the same way.

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REGISTRY PATCHES

RESTORE A DISABLED CONTROL PANEL

Control Panel Restore. Microsoft’s wonderful TweakUI utility has a default option (a box on the IE tab of the most recent version) to show the Control Panel on the Start Menu’s “Settings” menu. If you uncheck this box, it does exactly what you would expect: it makes the Control Panel entry vanish. Unfortunately, the user making this choice might not understand it’s full repercussions — since it removes all routes to accessing the Control Panel and its applets. Because TweakUI is also on the Control Panel, you can’t use the same utility to reverse your selection and get it all back!

All is not lost, though. This Registry patch switches things back by reversing the Registry setting that removed the Control Panel menu item in the first place. (Thanks to MS-MVP Alex Nichol for the code.)

YOU CAN NO LONGER TAKE A CAB

The votes are in — and .CABs are out. I’m speaking of the .CAB file download option of all Registry patches on my Registry Patches page. Until this week, I gave three download options for each: the .REG file, and .ZIP and .CAB versions, both of which compress the download a bit, allow some security against accidental execution, and allow me to bundle some extra files with the download. But, in the last issue of The E-List, I asked readers if anyone “took a .CAB anymore.” Those who responded were unanimous that the .CABs could go.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, though: If you want the .CAB version of these downloads for some reason — for example, if you are one of the three people on planet Earth using Win95/98 who neither wants to pay for a copy of WinZip nor use it without paying — you can still download the .CABs. I’m leaving the files in place. For any of the Registry patch downloads, right-click on the link for the .ZIP download and select Properties. The .CAB file download, if it exists, is exactly the same URL, except that it ends in “.cab” instead of “.zip.”

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KB ARTICLES: Error Messages

EXPLORER caused an Invalid Page Fault in PDM.DLL Win98 SE
This is a problem with Visual Studio 6.0. The solution is to install Service Pack 3.

Fatal Exception 0E at 0028:xxxxxxxx in VXD IOS (01) Win95
Occurs when starting Windows 95, with a SCSI printer installed and online. You may not be able to start Windows at all without first turning the printer off, or even disconnecting it physically from the computer. The problem is in the IOS.VXD file. The solution is to download an updated file from here.

Fatal Exception 0E or 06 at 0028:xxxxxxxx in VXD VMM (06) Win95
As is usually the case, this VMM error message has nothing really to do with the important VMM32.VXD file. Rather, this problem — either a 0E or 06 fatal exception error, occurring when you attempt to suspend Win95 using power management features on a system using the MS 32-bit Data Link Control protocol (MSDLC32) — results from a reinitialization failure by MSDLC32 during suspend and resume. The solution is to download an updated copy of DLC.VXD from here.

HELPCTR has caused an error in MSHTML.DLL Win ME
This problem occurs when you try to quit the Win ME “Help & Support” tool while you are using a Microsoft Active Accessibility client. Microsoft has a supported fix for this problem. The article tells you how to obtain the fix.

Windows Media Player Error Code Page
Are you tired of not understanding those strange 8-digit hexadecimal error codes that Windows Media Player uses? Fret no more. Here’s a list of what the most common ones mean, and what to do about them.

Explorer has caused an error in NAVSHELL.DLL Win ME
If you have Norton AntiVirus installed on Win ME, and you use the “Scan with Norton AntiVirus” context-menu command, this error condition can result. Symantec recommends removing that command from the context (right-click) menu, following these instructions. Symantec has a more detailed discussion of the problem here.

Receive WIN32SYS.EXE Error Messages When You Start Your Computer Win95, Win 98, Win98 SE, WinNT 4.0
When starting Windows, you may get any of several WIN32SYS.EXE error messages, or one that says that WAOL has caused an Invalid Page Fault in module KERNEL32.DLL, or in WSOCK32.DLL while trying to connect to AOL. One of two things is wrong:

1. The WIN32SYS.EXE file is referenced in WIN.INI but does not actual exist on your computer; or,
2. you have a computer virus or Trojan disguised as the WIN32SYS.EXE file.

To fix the problem, first do a thorough virus scan and, if that doesn’t solve the problem, check WIN.INI. (Details for these steps are given in the KB article.)

SUWIN caused a General Protection Fault in KRNL386.EXE or SETUPX.DLL Win95, Win98, Win98 SE
This problem occurs when you try to install Win95 or Win98 to a new folder or on a clean hard disk. (SUWIN is the SetUp WINdows component.) The error message may, instead, say: “SUWIN. An error has occurred in your application. If you choose ignore you should save your work in a new file. If you choose close, your application will terminate.” This is a hardware problem. Any of the following might be the cause:

• Incorrect BIOS settings for a peripheral device built into your motherboard (for example, cache settings, CPU timing, hard disks, etc.).
• Bad or mismatched RAM or cache (for example, mixing different RAM speeds).
• A motherboard malfunction.

The KB article gives steps for identifying and resolving these problems.

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KB ARTICLES: Hardware

Missing Drives in My Computer & Windows Explorer Win 95, Win98, Win ME, Win 2000 Professional
This seems to be my week for pointing out how you can shoot yourself in the foot with TweakUI if you point the muzzle in the wrong direction before pulling the trigger. The current issue may seem a little obvious to most of my readers — but, enough people have needed assistance with this problem that Microsoft has written a whole Knowledge Base article to explain its solution.

Here’s the problem: TweakUI, on its My Computer tab, lists all possible drive letters A: through Z:. At the top of the tab, it displays the following instruction: “Remove the check-mark from a drive to prevent the drive from being displayed in My Computer.” In other words, this option is used to hide one or more drives so that they don’t display. Got it?

The problem is, when you remove the check-mark from the box next to a drive letter on the My Computer tab, it prevents that drive from being displayed in My Computer. (Huh? Doh!) Therefore, users can’t see the drive. Sometimes, they wonder what happened to it. This article explains that it doesn’t show because they intentionally hid it to keep it from showing.

Isn’t it nice that not all technical repairs of your operating system’s user interface are all that technical?

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KB ARTICLES: Outlook Express

Here are three KB articles on a similar topic. However, the similarity is only on the surface. They deal with quite different situations and solutions. One of these articles has been on the site for a while; the other two are new this week.

“Outlook Express could not be started because MSOE.DLL could not be initialized” OE 4.x/5.x
While upgrading Outlook Express to a later version, you may get the above error message, or another indicating that “Outlook Express could not be started.” (Depending on the version of OE, there may be other non-starting problems as detailed in the article.) These problems may be caused by missing or corrupted information in the OE Identities key in the Windows Registry. The article explains how to edit the Registry to correct the problem.

“Outlook Express could not be started because MSOE.DLL could not be loaded” OE 5 for Win98
If you uninstall Internet Explorer 5, then reinstall Win98 to restore IE 4, you can run into a problem because those steps don’t remove Outlook Express 5. OE 5 won’t run without IE 5 installed. As with the above issue, the solution starts with a Registry edit, followed by uninstalling OE 5 and installing OE 4.

“Outlook Express could not be started because MSOE.DLL could not be loaded” OE 6 Public Preview for Win ME
Without the Windows Address Book, Outlook Express won’t run. Therefore, if you remove the Windows Address Book from a Win ME computer on which you have installed the IE 6 Public Preview (remember, IE 6 is still unfinished — it’s Beta software), you will get the above error message. The solution is to reinstall the Windows Address Book.

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KB ARTICLES: Shutdown & Restart

EARLY THOUGHTS ON WINDOWS XP SHUTDOWN ISSUES

“Oh, no!” they cried. “Not a shutdown problem on Windows XP, too!” Let me assure you that there’s no need to get too excited about this. In the worst case, it is way premature; in the best case, there is no major problem. We do, however, have a few things to learn, and the learning has already begun.

It is premature to be worried about a shutdown issue in Win XP because the operating system isn’t finished yet. This means two things. First, issues existing now may not exist by the time Windows XP is released. Second, we don’t have the hardware drivers that will be needed for the OS — for the primary reason that the OS isn’t finished yet! — and I do expect hardware driver issues to be at the root of a high percentage of shutdown problems on Win XP. I do not expect a very large volume of shutdown problems with Windows XP.

Every version of Windows from Win95 forward has had shutdown problems, of greater or lesser magnitude. It was only with Win98 Second Edition that a very widespread shutdown issue arose. A quite different shutdown problem set emerged in Windows Millennium Edition. In all four main generations of the 9x family tree — Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, and ME — there have been shutdown problems based on a common set of issues. These are summarized on my Windows Shutdown Troubleshooting: 15 Steps page. Other issues, unique either to Win98 SE or Win ME, are covered on more specialized companion pages; but the main “15 Steps” page applies to all of them.

A few people are reporting XP shutdown problems in the various builds of Beta 2. These problems may go away before October 25 when the operating system will be commercially released; or they may arise from problems we can recognize and someone can address, such as driver problems. At the encouragement of newsgroup regulars, I’ve already started building a Windows XP shutdown troubleshooting page, but it is barely in roughed-out form, and I seriously doubt I will launch it until the OS is fully released — if at all. In the meantime, though, I want to start collecting information that may be relevant, and perhaps stir some discussion and feedback on the matter.

Here is part of what has emerged thus far:

1. One of my MVP colleagues, who likes her anonymity, found that XP wouldn’t shutdown properly if she used unsigned device drivers. Since all necessary device drivers have not yet been created for Win XP, this will be a problem for the next few months. It also resembles the pattern for Win ME shutdown problems, because even today, many hardware manufacturers have not prepared suitable drivers for use with ME. (The other most common ME-specific issue is networking-related shutdown problems. It will be interesting to see if this emerges with XP also. Thus far, there isn’t any indication that it will.)
   
   
2. The majority of shutdown problems reported with XP thus far have been that it reboots when shutdown is attempted. This may be a global symptom that emerges from several possible distinct causes, because XP executes an automatic restart in the event of a system failure. I’m guessing that this means that more or less anything compromising the operating system during the shutdown process could force this reboot. If this is true, then our job will be to prepare a series of steps suitable to isolate the most likely cause. Disabling the “restart on system failure” feature may permit the exact cause to be isolated. Some of the general troubleshooting features from the generic Windows Shutdown Troubleshooter mentioned above will apply to this, though many will not. Some things that have produced this reboot-instead-of-shutdown symptom are:
   • According to Michael Solomon, Direct CD causes this behavior. He reports that Microsoft and Roxio/Adaptec are working on the known problem.
   • Newsgroup correspondent “Gaz” reported the same reboot behavior until he uninstalled EZCD5. (Hmm, do we see a pattern here?)
   • Whether or not APM is enabled makes a difference — but the effect could go two ways. Some users report that XP reboots on shutdown if APM is enabled, but shuts Windows down just fine if APM is disabled. Other users report exactly the opposite behavior. According to Jack Dunne, this is similar to what has been observed sometimes in Windows 2000, which has much in common with Windows XP. The issue seems related to the computer’s specific hardware or BIOS — so, as with all NT operating systems, we are again reminded to stick to the Hardware Compatibility List where possible.

I thought it might be worthwhile to research known causes of shutdown problems in earlier versions of NT-family operating systems, since I have no real experience with them in relationship to this problem. Most of what I found referred to problems in earlier versions of NT that were resolved in later versions. There is no reason to suspect their recurrence. For example, there were quite a few shutdown issues identified in NT 3.x that didn’t survive to NT 4.0. Very predictable causes were involved most often: Difficulty with some 16-bit applications, or specific hardware incompatibilities. Though there are a some shutdown failure scenarios documented in Windows 2000, these are few. All that I found were conflicts with specific software, with specific hardware, or with drivers. While these three form quite a wide set of possibilities, they are sufficiently narrow to be very encouraging about what we are likely to see in Win XP. If approved compatible hardware and software are used, we likely will see very few shutdown problems indeed. If other hardware or software is used, we will have a place to focus our investigations.

These are my preliminary thoughts. I invite your response, and especially actually discoveries and experiences on this issue. I also invite you to try those troubleshooting steps that have worked for Windows 9x operating systems to help us establish a track record of exactly what does and does not apply, from that protocol, when we begin to deal with Windows XP.

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KB ARTICLES: Windows ME

Frequently Asked Questions About AOL in Windows ME
I admit it. I’m prejudiced. I almost didn’t include this article on the page. My knee-jerk reaction is to place it in the same category as a FAQ file on how to flush a toilet. I know that isn’t fair to the truly intelligent and technically sophisticated computer users who also happen to have an AOL account. I console myself that if anti-AOL bigotry is the worst flaw in my character, I can live with myself.

Besides, AOL really is the largest provider of end-user services employing the Internet in some fashion. There really is a need to be able to address questions about problems AOL users will encounter. Microsoft prepared this nice list of articles on the topic for Windows ME systems. I’ve added it to the site.

By the way, I assume you’ve all heard the story circulating through Internet arteries for several years about the AOL user who called Microsoft technical support furious that she couldn’t get her new AOL account working? She had been on the phone to AOL support for quite some time, and they’d finally told her it was a Windows problem and she should call Microsoft. The Microsoft support professional took only a couple of minutes to determine that the woman didn’t have a modem! The caller was furious at the Microsoft employee, because the AOL disk she had received in the mail said that it included “Everything you need to get on the Internet.” How dare Microsoft suggest she go out and buy some new expensive hardware for her computer! — Besides being pretty funny, doesn’t this sound like an urban legend someone wrote for your amusement? Well, it turns out that it’s a true story. A good friend of mine was the support supervisor at Microsoft when the call came in several years ago. One of her crew took the call. She was quite surprised to find the story was circling the Internet!

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KB ARTICLES: Windows Setup

“Windows Setup Was Unable to Update Your System Files” Win95, Win98, Win98 SE, Win ME
In addition to the above error message, this article describes other undesirable behavior during Windows setup, including:

• Windows stops responding (hangs) during setup, either when attempting to load, or at the End User License Agreement (EULA) screen.
• The Win98 Setup Wizard may appear as a black square on the screen when the computer hangs.
• You are asked if you want to overwrite the boot sector. Choosing Yes may allow you to complete the Setup procedure, but Windows hangs when it attempts to load.
• Screen images on the screen become distorted.

What causes such a string of complaints? Some computers have an anti-virus feature built into the hardware, or some other feature that prevents applications from writing to the hard drive’s boot sector. These features are controlled by the computer’s CMOS settings. If protection is enabled, Windows can’t write to the boot sector either, and therefore can’t complete its installation. Or, if setup does manage to finish, Windows still may not load properly.

This KB article discusses disabling this CMOS-controlled feature, and gives detailed instructions for the Acma Pentium 120 and some NCR 3150 laptops. These computers, in particular, have been known to have this problem.

You will find all of the above Knowledge Base articles added to the respective KB Articles pages on the site. The articles can also be accessed through my site search engine as well, or, of course, by clicking on their links above.

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Happy computing, everyone!

Jim Eshelman

THE NECESSARY LEGAL STUFF
DISCLAIMER: Any information given in this newsletter, or on any other part of the www.aumha.org website, is researched by me and believed to be accurate. However, I cannot guarantee, and do not guarantee, that all the information provided will work on all computer systems, for all users, all the time. Also, I sometimes make mistakes (that’s life!), and it is possible I made one or more of them here. All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind. In other words, I rely on the best information sources I can, and do my best to get it to you accurately; and, thereafter, you take your life in your own hands if you trust me on it. Neither James Eshelman, this site, outside contributors to this site, people quoted on this site, nor my cat is/are responsible for any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application of any information presented here.

The E-List. Copyright © 2001 by James A. Eshelman. All Rights Reserved.

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