THE LIST
A low-tech but ingeniously distributed E-letter by Mr. E
Vol. I, No. 15 — August 26, 2001
(last updated May 8, 2004)
To read previous issues of The E-List, click here.
Send comments about The E-List to: elist@aumha.org
Please see Legal Notice.

This newsletter tracks new information, and improvements in existing information, on The Windows Support Center, 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, and anything else I feel like writing!

Click here to subscribe. If you subscribe, you will receive email notification when there is a new issue 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. TIPS
  3. WINDOWS SUPPORT SITES
  4. WINDOWS SUPPORT & “HOW TO” ARTICLES
  5. MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLES (General)

    MS KNOWLEDGE BASE Articles:
  6. Commands & Utilities
  7. Error Messages
  8. Fonts
  9. Hardware
  10. Internet Explorer
  11. Windows 2000 & XP

NEWS & VIEWS

Today, August 24, Microsoft declared that Windows XP is complete. Windows version 5.10.2600 was shipped off to manufacturing. This gold code will be making its way to OEMs, software manufacturers, and hardware manufacturers in the next couple of weeks, as everyone prepares for its official release to the public on October 25.

For this Windows Support Center, my goal is to provide quality support to all consumer versions of 32-bit Windows operating systems. This now will include Windows XP. I have been using these months not only to strengthen the existing material on the site, but also to begin adding support information that will be helpful to those who will begin migrating to Windows XP in only a few weeks. I’m hoping that MS-MVP Gary Woodruff, who has been so generous in the past with his articles on Upgrading to Windows 98 SE and Upgrading to Windows ME, will provide a similar guide to the installation of Windows XP in the near future. Additionally, several existing articles are in the process of being updated to incorporate information about the new OS as well. (Some of these are mentioned later in this newsletter.)

In short, I want this site to be as “WinXP-ready” as possible for all of you come October 25 (which, come to think of it, is my first wife’s next mid-decade birthday, though I doubt very much that this figured into Microsoft’s scheduling in the least). If I’m missing something important, let me know — maybe I’ll be able to find or produce it.

At the same time, this site will continue to be as strong on Windows 95, 98, and ME as it ever has been. Though Microsoft is formally ending all support of Win95 at the end of this year, and primary support of Win98 next summer, this site is continuing with it. After all of these years, I’m still adding new Win95 information, for example. But I also will be adding a great deal more that reaches into new territory (and, along the way, thinking about how I eventually will restructure the site to accommodate all of this and still make it all easy to find).

Anyway, Happy Late August to all of you, whether you are in the mood to celebrate XP’s ripening, the fact that the kids are once again about to be gone days for the next nine months, or anything else you have to celebrate! I hope you enjoy this issue of The E-List.

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TIPS

CIRCUMVENTING PRODUCT ACTIVATION PROBLEMS
ON HARDWARE CHANGES IN WIN XP

In the spirit of this “Windows XP is Finished!” issue of The E-List, I thought it would be appropriate to pass along a work-around tip on a possible problem in Win XP’s Product Activation system. This problem isn’t expected to occur very often, but it could occur — so here’s the fix.

By the way, this isn’t a hack or a crack to beat WPA. It’s a tip distributed in public newsgroups by Gerald Maffeo of Microsoft, and will be the topic of a forthcoming Knowledge Base article. However, at present, it hasn’t seen much “air play,” so I’m doing my part to circulate it a bit more.

If you don’t know much about Windows Product Activation, the following could be confusing. I recommend everyone considering installing Windows XP educate themselves on exactly what this anti-piracy feature is, and what it is not. Rather than recap, or attempt to summarize, the whole thing myself, I’ll simply reproduce the links that are already on my Windows ME, 2000 & XP article page, under the “Windows XP Product Activation” heading. Collectively, these articles provide a comprehensive view of WPA:

Here’s the specific problem which is the topic of this week’s tip — a problem that has been much on the minds of many of WPA’s critics: You have Windows XP installed and activated on your computer. You either have, or have not, previously made hardware changes since installing XP. You then make one or more new hardware changes that “tip the scales” and cause WPA to question whether this copy of XP now is installed on a different computer. (It does this when so much hardware has changed that it reasonably could suspect that it might be on a different computer than that on which it originally was installed.) On reboot, Windows informs you that you need to reactivate. For some reason, you are unable to do this. Your computer will not boot into Windows, and you are locked out!

That’s the problem scenario. Before giving the solution, let me first say that planning for this eventuality is almost unnecessary, because it is extremely unlikely this situation ever would appear. Microsoft believes that the activation process is solid, and will work in this situation so that you will not be left stranded at all. But, suppose (for goodness knows what reason) you don’t have a working phone line where you are, so that both telephone and modem contact are unavailable to you, and you really need to get your computer up and running now! Do you have to accept that WPA has locked you out (expletives deleted), and wait until Monday when you can get a repairman out to fix the phone lines?

No, you don’t. There’s a fix you can do on the spot. It involves backing out of the last hardware change, as a way of working around the immediate situation. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Back out of the hardware change that you just made, which triggered the need to reactivate. (Or, as Gerald Maffeo put it, “Restore the hardware configuration to the way it was when you activated (or close enough to that).”)
  2. Boot Windows XP into non-networked Safe Mode. This requires pressing and holding the F8 key right after the POST is finished, and selecting the correct option from a menu.
  3. At the command prompt, navigate to the System32 folder: cd \windows\system32
  4. Backup the file WPA.DBL (rename it something like OLDWPA.DBL; do not name it WPA.BAK).
  5. Copy the file WPA.BAK to WPA.DBL. (I say copy, rather than merely rename, because you may want that handy WPA.BAK file another time, as well.)
  6. Reboot the computer. It should load Windows XP in normal mode, and you’re back in business.

Tedious? Sure, a little. But remember, this is intended for what will be a rare, even unlikely situation. It’s good to know about this trick, simply for the peace of mind it gives. And, if you need it, it’s there.

In his same public posting, Mr. Maffeo addressed another concern some people have had concerning WPA: What happens in a few years when Microsoft fades out formal support for Windows XP (as it eventually does for all of its products)? People still will be using the OS at that time — What if they need to reactivate? Saith Microsoft through its representative:

We have stated often in the tech beta newsgroup that if we ever decide that it is no longer productive for us to continue to support activation for Windows XP in the clearinghouse and call centers, we will provide an alternative mechanism, for example a patch in a service pack, to bypass activation altogether. Your EULA says you have a right to use the product in perpetuity, and so it shall be.

(NOTE: As thanks for anonymous research assistance, I owe somebody a Pepsi one of these days.)

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WINDOWS SUPPORT SITES

SITE OF THE WEEK:
BUGS, GLITCHES & STUFF-UPS by Sandi Hardmeier

Come feel the flame!

Sandi Hardmeier No, not the flames. The flame! The HEAT! Sandi Hardmeier’s blowtorch leaves no falsehood unsinged and no problem unattacked. (She also has more experience with utterly wrecked ISPs than any person I know!) And this terrific IE/OE page is still warming up.

Still warming up because it’s relatively new, and its author has a great deal she wishes to add to it. Already, though, it is loaded with scintillating assistance on the world’s most-used Internet programs. Specifically, this is probably the best site around for how NOT to screw up Internet Explorer and Outlook Express on your computer! — and how to fix them if you do!

I have given the link (above) to the entry point of Sandi’s “FAQ’s & Fixes” page, so that you’ll be able to find the front door. What you really need to do, though, is to scroll down to the bottom (just look for the dancing flames) and click on the “Bugs, Glitches & Stuff-Ups” link. (If you don’t speak ’Strine, the official language of Australia, and don’t know what a “stuff-up” is, don’t guess. Native ’Merkin speakers, such as myself, are more likely than not to get the inference subtly wrong. Instead, go check it out on the ’Strine Decoded page.) Anyway (to wander back to the topic on which, ostensibly, I am writing), what you will find on Sandi’s site is information about various programs known to cause problems for IE and OE, and many other points of interest. This page of her site, alone, is worth an afternoon’s relaxed browse and meander.

In short, if your IE or OE is a toerag, and you really need the Saucey, Arsey, Nobby, Dinkum In a tick — why, that spells ‘Sandi!’ Click her up.


THE NEW WIN XP NEWSGROUPS ARE HERE!

This week, Microsoft also launched the permanent Windows XP peer-support newsgroups on the msnews.microsoft.com server. These gradually will replace the public Beta newsgroups that have been active for a while. On the Windows Support Sites page, I’ve added direct links to those XP newsgroups I think will be most useful to most people:

Although there are many routes to these newsgroups, I like the format of the links above because they automatically launch Outlook Express and setup the news server account and newsgroup subscription for you — a process which, done manually, is much more tedious. I hang out in most of these newsgroups on a more-or-less daily basis. See you there!


NEW DOWNLOAD: STAND-ALONE HTML COLOR TOOL

I am fortunate to have such a wonderful group of readers! Tahir Belenli is one of these, who came up with a really clever enhancement to one of my pages, a stand-alone tool for dynamically viewing and trying HTML color combinations. With his permission, I’ve added it to the site, to sharing it with each of you.

Sometime back, I introduced you to my Named Colors in HTML page — 140 colors that most browsers recognize by color-name, as well as by RGB number. Tahir has made two primary revisions in the page. First, each color name and RGB number (now displayed against the face of the color field itself) can be displayed in any of the colors you like by clicking on the color name — giving you access to nearly 20 thousand combinations of color-on-color for your page designs. Secondly, he has made the page self-contained so that you can download it and use it as a stand-alone HTML application — there is no longer any need to go online to access it.

I tweaked the text a bit, and made a white backdrop variation (which many of you have said you also like to have), then loaded both copies into a zip file. You can download this ColorsDL.zip file here, or from the online Named Colors in HTML page.

On behalf of all of the readers of The E-List: Thanks, Tahir!

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WINDOWS SUPPORT &
“HOW TO” ARTICLES

Several articles have been generally “freshened up” this week, and updated to address later versions of operating systems. If you haven’t visited these pages in a while, and you have an interest, now might be a good time to click on over.

Clean Reinstall of Windows 98 has been rewritten to incorporate the clean reinstallation of Windows ME as well. Also, the page has been restructured a bit, with a sidebar linking to related matter on and off of my site.

These articles have been updated to include Windows XP information. These are:

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MS KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLES

REVAMP OF KB ARTICLE PORTAL PAGE

I haven’t been happy with my KB Article Portal page for quite a while. You know, the page you get when you click the main “Microsoft Knowledge Base” header on the front page of the site? I didn’t like the layout. It wasn’t easy to read at a glance. I suppose I let it go so long because I rarely use it myself. I usually directly access the specialized pages for individual KB article topics.

But the KB Article Portal page has its place, I think. It’s a good jumping off place when you are trying to troubleshoot a problem that might reach across several different topics. It also has general resources, such as a link to the full KB search engine on Microsoft’s site, an input field for my own site search engine, and links to a couple of articles on making the best use of the KB. So, this week I decided to redesign it to be more consistent with the new style toward which the other KB pages have been migrating. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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KB ARTICLES: Specific Commands

“System Restore Was Unable to Create a Restore Point” WinME
When trying to create a manual Restore Point, you may get the following error message: “System Restore was unable to create a restore point. Please restart your computer and run System Restore again.”

So, you reboot your computer and try it again. No luck. It won’t work. Worse yet, when you click on “Restore my computer to an earlier time,” you find that all of your previously saved restore points are gone. There are none at all.

A damaged Registry key causes this error. The article describes the simple correction needed to fix it. Even simpler than what the article suggests, most people find that they can fix this problem with SCANREG /FIX executed from a Start | Run box. But, in case the simplest fix doesn’t work, the more thorough approach in this article will do the job for you.


System Restore Checkpoints created after 8 September 2001 do not restore your computer WinME
This isn’t a new article. But 8 September 2001 is almost upon us, so I thought I would mention it again. If you are running Windows ME, you will have this problem. MS has a patch for it. MS confuses the issue a bit by stating that you shouldn’t apply the patch unless you have the problem, and you won’t really be able to see the problem until after September 8. Draw your own conclusions as to whether to install this before or after the affected date. (I’m going to wait until September 9, since there’s really nothing to lose by doing so, IMHO.)

Mainly, I just wanted everyone to have a reminder — and to be aware of the issue. Read this. Apply this. If you rely on System Restore, you will be very glad for having done it.

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KB ARTICLES: Error Messages

Fatal Exception 0E at 0157:BFF9A25B Win95
If you have both RealJukebox and AOL 6 on your Win95 computer, you’ll get this error message at Windows startup. The solution is a Registry edit, given in the article, which keeps RealJukebox from starting when Windows does.

ONZ or XWIN32 caused an Invalid Page Fault in module XWIN32.EXE at 0177:address Win95, Win98, Win98 SE, Win ME
Either variation of the above error message on Windows 9x indicates a virus based on Visual Basic Script (VBS), or a Trojan created with the GodMessage Creator IV Creator v0.2. (Another, variant symptom is that, on Windows shutdown, you may get a message about shutting down a DOS session — even though none is running!) Get rid of the virus.

VFAT Device Initialization Failed Win95, Win98
There’s a whole list of possible causes for this error message occurring at Windows startup, including any of the following:

The article gives specific resolution paths for each of these possibilities.

While Initializing Device MSMINI: Windows Protection Error Win98, Win98 SE
During the reboot which follows the installation (“setup”) of Win98, you may get the following error message: “While Initializing device MSMINI: Windows Protection Error. You need to restart your computer.” After that, you also may find that you cannot start Windows except in Safe Mode. The probable cause is a damaged MSMOUSE.VXD driver. To solve the problem, extract a fresh copy of this file from your Windows CD. Place it in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.

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KB Articles: Fonts

How to Install or Remove a Font in Windows 95/98 Win95, Win98, Win98 SE
You will find nothing exciting about this article — unless you’re the type of person who gets excited over a well-crafted tool suited to a particular job. This article is no more than its title suggests: Specific instructions in font installation and removal. Newcomers to Windows can definitely benefit from this; and many people who have been using Windows for years still don’t know how to do it right. Read this for solid instruction in the basics.

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KB ARTICLES: Hardware, Drivers & RAM

How to Troubleshoot Windows 2000 Printing Problems Win 2000
I’ve had printing (and printer) troubleshooting articles on the site for a long time, but none specifically written from a Windows 2000 angle. This article fills that gap by addressing several common Windows 2000 printing problems, and providing links to additional articles on related topics. As it is likely also to have much value to Windows XP users, I added it this week, in the Printers section of the Hardware, Drivers & RAM page.

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KB ARTICLES: Internet Explorer

Netscape-Style Plug-ins Do Not Work After Upgrading Internet Explorer IE 5.5 or 6.0
Netscape-style plug-ins — such as Apple’s QuickTime, or Finale MusicViewer — don’t work in Internet Explorer 5.5. (Service Pack 2) or IE 6.0. This is by design. Support for these has been dropped.

What, you say? I can’t use QuickTime in IE anymore? Not quite true. In response to this change, Apple got moving and came up with a new version, before almost anybody knew of the change. You can download QuickTime 5.0.2 here.

Oh, and before the rumors start flying that this is “one more Microsoft conspiracy” to hurt Netscape or Apple or somebody else, let me quickly add: The word in the street from private sources say that Netscape is dropping support for Netscape plug-ins as well. In fact, quite a few people in the information loop were taken by surprise that Netscape 6.1 actually retained this support. My hit on this course of events is that AOL really wanted as few complaints about 6.1 as possible, wanting very much to move it into the successor spot they had hoped 6.0 would have claimed. Plug-in support isn’t expected to survive into the next major Netscape version.

IEXPLORE caused an invalid page fault in module Unknown at 0000:00000000 IE 5.x
If you have installed any program that includes the webHancer Internet monitor, and you are using any 5.x version of Internet Explorer, you can expect to see this error message. The solution is to uninstall webHancer. If you want to be proactive on this matter, rather than sit around waiting for an error message, look in the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel and see if WebHancer Agent is listed. If so, my advice would be to uninstall it.

How to Install the Windows Desktop Update with Internet Explorer 5.x Win95, Win NT 4
This is the next in a series of articles to show that my Windows Support Center site will continue supporting Windows 95, even as Microsoft drops their support officially at the end of 2001. If you have Windows 95 or NT 4.0, and you install Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5, you will not get the Windows Desktop Update that comes with IE 4. If you already have the Desktop Update installed, then you’re in good shape; but, if not, it’s a little tedious to get it. This article tells how.

As far as I’m concerned, the shell enhancement component of IE 4 was its single greatest feature. These improvements took the Windows operating system a very big step forward. But, without the Desktop Update, you don’t get features such as the QuickLaunch bar and other tool bar improvements, just to name a couple. This classic article tells how to correct that.

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KB ARTICLES: Windows 2000 & XP

WINDOWS XP

Windows XP Prompts You to Re-activate After You Restore Your Computer
This is one of the very first full-fledged Windows XP Knowledge Base articles. Not surprisingly, it addresses a hardware issue in Windows Product Activation, a component of the new operating system that is getting an unusual amount of pre-release attention.

The problem described here is one in which you restore your Windows XP system from a backup. Prior to making the backup, you either had not yet “activated” Win XP, or you did activate it but, in the intervening time, have made very substantial hardware changes. (See the technical articles above for a precise description of what “very substantial hardware changes” means in this case.) As a result of the above scenario, Windows instructs you to reactivate the OS.

The whole purpose of this KB article is to describe this situation, and to explain that this behavior is by design. It’s what WPA was created to do. The article also gives some constructive pointers to help you keep from backing yourself into that particular corner.


Kernel Enhancements for Windows XP
For most purposes, it is fair to say that Windows XP is “Windows 2000, Second Edition (Consumer Version).” That kinda sums it up, so far as most people will be able to see it. Actually, though, there have been quite a few “under the hood” improvements. This article is a technical discussion of differences between the Windows 2000 and Windows XP kernels. Learn about changes in such areas as Win XP Registry, memory management, and power management. So far, this is the single best portal for technical information on Win XP’s “under the hood” functioning. Here are a few excerpts on what are, for me, some of the most interesting topics:

THE REGISTRY: “The registry code is redesigned for Windows XP, providing enhanced performance while remaining transparent to applications by using existing registry programming interfaces.” Various performance improvements are itemized. Technically savvy readers will want to read the sections titled Larger Registries. The Faster Queries section explains that some new smarts were given to the Registry management tools in the area of positioning related keys close to each other, rather than scattered all over the Registry as in the past. (Please remember, these and other changes listed are not just improvements over Windows 9x, but also performance improvements over Windows 2000.) System Restore has been dramatically improved over its often-troublesome Win ME incarnation. FAT32 is now possible on DVD-RAM drives.

I/O (Input-Output) SUBSYSTEM: “The I/O subsystem consists of kernel components that provide an interface to hardware devices for applications and other mandatory system components. Windows XP enhances the I/O subsystem while retaining complete compatibility with drivers written for Windows 2000... Enhancements were made by adding new routines, available to drivers written to take advantage of the new Windows XP functionality. For this reason, while existing Windows 2000 drivers will work with Windows XP, they must be rewritten to take advantage of the new I/O improvements.” The new I/O improvements mostly seem to be taking some of the work-load off of commonly strained system functions, thereby improving system efficiency overall. These features include a new Cancel Queue so that device drivers, for the first time, don’t have to handle IRP cancellations along with their other functions; new “file system filter driver” routines co-developed with hardware manufacturers, which claim much improved driver stability; and several implemented techniques to improve memory stability in crash-vulnerable situations.

One of the sharpest sounding I/O subsystem innovations is called the WebDAV redirector. It allows applications to connect to the Internet, and to natively read and write data on the Internet. “The WebDAV protocol is an extension to Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that allows data to be written to HTTP targets... The WebDAV redirector provides file system-level access to these servers in the same that the existing redirector provides access to SMB/CIFS servers.” (Let’s hope they find something more useful to apply this to than MSN Web Communities!)

A long section discusses new defrag APIs in NTFS — I recommend you read it in full, if you are interested, rather than that I try to condense it. And there are still at least a couple of dozen other I/O subsystem enhancements I haven’t mentioned.

MEMORY MANAGEMENT: I’ll let Microsoft speak for itself on this one: “When a Windows XP system is booted, data is saved about all logical disk read operations. On later boots, this information is used to prefetch these files in parallel with other boot operations. During boot and application launch, a Windows system demands and pages a sizable amount of data in small chunks (4 KB to 64 KB), seeking between files, directories, and metadata. The Logical Prefetcher, which is new for Windows XP, brings much of this data into the system cache with efficient asynchronous disk I/Os that minimize seeks. During boot, the Logical Prefetcher finishes most of the disk I/Os that need to be done for starting the system in parallel to device initialization delays, providing faster boot and logon performance.” Furthermore, “Logical prefetching is accomplished by tracing frequently accessed pages in supported scenarios and efficiently bringing them into memory when the scenario is launched again. When a supported scenario is started, the transition page faults from mapped files are traced, recording which page of a file is accessed. When the scenario has completed (either the machine has booted or the application started), the trace is picked up by a user-mode maintenance service, the Task Scheduler. The information in the trace is used to update or create a prefetch-instructions file that specifies which pages from which files should be prefetched at the next launch.” Once a scenario has been identified, when it is run again, “the kernel opens the prefetch instructions file and asynchronously queues paging I/O for all of the frequently accessed pages. The actual disk I/Os are sorted by the disk drivers to go up the disk once to load all pages that are not already in memory. This minimizes seeks, cuts down on disk time, and increases performance.”


WINDOWS 2000

Description of the Windows 2000 Windows File Protection Feature
This information applies to all versions of Windows 2000 Professional and Server editions. It describes the Windows File Protection (WFP) system, which protects shared system files (especially .EXE and .DLL files) from being overwritten when other programs are installed. Other versions of Windows, which came out later than Windows 2000, have their own file protection systems — Microsoft has been working heavily on this problem in recent years — but this article especially describes the form in which it is incarnated in Win 2K.

How to Create Windows 2000 Active Directory Server
How to install and configure a new Active Directory in a lab environment that includes Windows 2000 and Active Directory. Step-by-step instructions.

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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 Windows Support Center 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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