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 that it includes its own clean-up utility.

Continue reading Post SP1 Cleanup, Part 3 →

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 company has created a free, fabulous, and small (2 MB) process lookup tool. It integrates right into Windows Task Manager and links any entry that shows up in the Processes tab view to its corresponding Process Library coverage.

Continue reading Quick ‘n’ Dandy Windows Process Lookup →

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 Monitor to report errors and related problems on those machines, and have watched their reliability scores plummet accordingly.

Continue reading Shaking Down Windows Vista Proves Too Interesting →

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 Windows operating systems, applications, and so forth. Yesterday was the second Tuesday in September, and Windows Update proffered 10 items, most of which are described in the Security Bulletin for that month.Here, I’m going to focus in on one non-security update entitled “Update for Windows Vista (KB955302)“.

Continue reading Stealthy, Interesting “Patch Tuesday” Item →

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 appearance of something called the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. As I write this blog on 8/05/2008, it’s only the first Tuesday of the month, so the latest version is dated 7/8/2008, as documented in KB article 890830 (there’s also a download).

Continue reading The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool →

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 everything I can think of to bring this problem under control. My failure to find a convincing resolution is forcing me to plan for the unthinkable last ditch for Vista system repair: back everything up, blow away the system drive, then reinstall Vista and all my applications. Ouch!

Continue reading The Trouble with Explorer.exe →

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 require me to fax contracts back to them to get paid, so I’m quite naturally eager to retain fax capability. Alas, however, Vista sent me a “Print Filter Pipeline Host” error every time I tried to use this device, and despite uninstalling and reinstalling the driver, I was not able to make it go away. Each time I re-tried my print job, however, the output would be produced, despite this initial error. Now that I know what the cause was, I’m pretty impressed that anything worked at all.

Continue reading Yikes! A Positive Encounter with Dell Tech Support →

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 PC enthusiast publication, built around a glossy, high-concept monthly magazine and a Web site to match, with coverage of all kinds of high-end PC hardware, systems, peripherals, toys, tools, and more. I almost got lucky about four years ago when one of my publishers decided to go after some of this company’s related book business, but alas the project never came to fruition. I provide all this by way of explaining why this little blurb grabbed my eye and my undivided attention.

Continue reading Windows Vista: Trials, Troubles, and Triumphs? →

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 replace the drives I also popped the front cover off and installed a ThermalTake 120mm TurboFan in front of the drive cage at the bottom of the case.

Continue reading What a difference a fan makes! →

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 (I’ve also taught online courses for Symantec, IBM, Forbes and Business Week, and others). One topic that I’ve built courses for and teach regularly has to do with Windows Firewalls, not to be confused or conflated with the Windows Firewall Program introduced with SP1 on Windows XP, and now included with both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Continue reading Vista-compatible firewalls →