The Little Geeni

Another excellent tool that’s freely available to Windows Vista administrators (or anyone else, for that matter) is the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA). This tool scans a system and quickly identifies security holes such as missing software patches or accounts with a blank or weak password.

Better yet, it recommends corrective action. The only bad news of sorts is that it’s not built into Windows Vista. You have to download this one from the Microsoft web site. The newest version of this tool at the time of this writing was released in May of 2008, Version 2.1. This updated version provides additional features which are detailed at the Microsoft website.

However, legacy Microsoft products are not supported by MBSA 2.1. Because of this, Microsoft has teamed-up with Shavlik Technologies to offer a free companion tool for MBSA 2.1. This will allow users of MBSA 2.01 to still receive security updates.

For the MBSA 2.01, the install steps are straightforward; just follow the steps in the wizard. During installation, the MBSA places a shortcut on the desktop by default. To launch the tool and perform a scan, follow these steps:

Double-click the desktop icon, and then, from the MBSA home page, choose Scan a Computer. Note here that admins can also use the MBSA to scan multiple computers in a network from a central location. In the Computer to Scan page, you should see the local machine listed if you’ve chosen the “Scan a computer” option. (The other selection produces a page from which you can select a range of machines.) Furthermore, the options in this screen let you specify exactly what components get checked during the scan. Once you verify the machine to scan, click the “Start scan” link. You’ll now see a Scanning page with a progress bar that can take several minutes to complete. When the scan finishes, you’ll see a report screen.

As you can see, this provides extremely valuable information to administrators who are interested in doing everything they can to stop problems before they start. For example, the administrator of this machine has been very diligent about installing necessary software updates, it seems, and has gotten passing grades in most areas of computer security. But the MBSA scan generates a failing grade…how is this possible? The MBSA makes it easy to investigate the exact nature of the failing grade by clicking the “Result details” link, revealing the dialog box. In this case it reveales a very significant (yet usually hidden) threat: local user account passwords are weak, thus generating the failing grade.

If you’d like to get my book “Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Culp, (or any of my other books and tutorials), you can pick it up at my website, www.TheAnswerHub.com or at most major book chains. In addition, I’m always happy to provide additional assistance for free (within reason, mind you…don’t go thinking this is some sort of a free ride). Visit me at my website and submit your questions to me. I’ll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Up Next: in the conclusion of this 5-part series, we’ll be discussing the removal of malicious software using the Malicious Software Removal Tool within Windows Vista.

Troubleshooting Analyzer, Baseline, Microsoft, Part, Security, Troubleshooting, Using, Vista, Windows

Each time you encounter a significant error using Windows Vista, you’ll be asked whether you want to send the information to Microsoft. You might think this is just a one-way street, where you’re providing information that will help Microsoft write software in the future that will prevent whatever problem you’re having.

If you think about it for a moment, that must be one huge store of information being generated by the planet’s users of Windows computers. So, why should one entity be the only beneficiary? Surely there must be a way for ordinary users to leverage this information as well, right? Surely some other user in another corner of the computing globe is – or has had – the same difficulty as you. Right? The answer is yes, and yes. Users can use the information gathered from other users to try to troubleshoot issues, using a utility called Problem Reports and Solutions. If there’s a known solution to a known problem, you can use Problem Reports and Solutions to easily retrieve the fix. Here’s how to put it all to work:

Open the Control Panel, and then open Problem Reports and Solutions. As always, you can type problem from the Start menu. You’ll see the Problem Reports and Solutions window. In this window are several tasks on the left pane and a status area on the right. To see a list of problems that Vista has detected, click the View Problem History link. You’ll see a dialog box. You can view further details about each problem using the links herein. After visiting the Problem History page, you can run a check for solutions by navigating back to the Problem Reports and Solutions home page and clicking the Check Now button. Vista then checks online for any available solutions. If it finds one, you’ll see a dialog box. From there, simply follow the “Solution found” link for instructions on how to resolve the detected issue. Most times, it will involve a software download and install.

Note that much of this problem-checking behavior is completely automated by default. Administrators can govern this, however, by following the “Change settings” link on the left. After clicking this link, you will be able to toggle automatic reporting either on or off, and you will be able to configure a few other options.

Administrators can set exceptions if they have a program that they want Vista to ignore when it reports a problem. It should also be noted here that one user’s setting doesn’t necessarily have to be the setting for other users. If you’re changing the reporting settings for all users, you will be asked for administrative confirmation if User Account Control is turned on.

If you’d like to get my entire book “Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Culp, Publisher: O’Reilly, ISBN-13: 978-0-59-652959-8 (or any of my 20+ other books and tutorials), you can pick it up at my website, www.TheAnswerHub.com or at most major book chains. In addition, I’m always happy to provide additional assistance for free (within reason, mind you…don’t go thinking this is some sort of a free ride). Visit me at my website and submit your questions to me. I’ll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Up Next: in part 4 of this 5-part series, we’ll be discussing the new Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer in Windows Vista.

Troubleshooting Automatic, Essentials, Part, Problem, Resolution, Troubleshooting, Vista, Windows

You should probably view Vista’s Automatic Updates the same way you view a yearly physical checkup. It’s just something that you should do to prevent as many issues as possible before they become issues in the first place. The Windows Update engine handles two kinds of updates:

Critical updates: Can help speed up your system, secure it, and keep it from crashing Recommended updates: Will address noncritical problems and help enhance your computing experience

A third kind of update, the optional update, is not downloaded automatically. You must get these updates manually by running the “Check for updates” task in the Windows Update Control Panel application.

By default, Windows Updates turns on the Automatic Updates feature, so it’s very likely that this is something you’ll never have to do in your administrative career. It’s still a good idea to know where to look, though. Here’s what to do:

Open the Windows Update Control Panel application by typing update at the Start menu. It’s under the System and Maintenance grouping if you’re going through the Control Panel. In the list of tasks on the left, click “Change settings.” From the dialog box, choose the desired update options. Click OK to commit your changes. You may be asked for administrative confirmation by User Account Control.

Additionally, if the Automatic Updates feature is ever turned off, the Vista Security Center will yell at you (assuming that the Security Center notifications about Automatic Updates defaults haven’t been changed). Once you’re in the Security Center, you’ll see a “Change settings” button, that will take you right back to the Automatic Updates settings dialog box.

The Windows Updates are applied to the computer, and therefore affect all users of a particular system.

Sometimes during troubleshooting, you will want to double-check to confirm that a particular update has been installed. If this is the case, you can choose the “View update history” link on the right side of the Windows Updates dialog box.

If you’d like to get my entire book “Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Culp, Publisher: O’Reilly, ISBN-13: 978-0-59-652959-8 (or any of my 20+ other books and tutorials), you can pick it up at my website, www.TheAnswerHub.com or at most major book chains. In addition, I’m always happy to provide additional assistance for free (within reason, mind you…don’t go thinking this is some sort of a free ride). Visit me at my website and submit your questions to me. I’ll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Up Next: in part 3 of this 5-part series, we’ll be discussing the process of automatically checking for solutions to problems encountered by Windows Vista with Problem Reports and Solutions.

Troubleshooting Automatically, Part, Troubleshooting, Updating, Vista, Windows

Outlook Express Load Very Slowly

Among the other causes of this problem can be association of Outlook Express with Windows Messenger. To prevent the operating system to launch the Windows Messenger automatically go to Outlook Express > Tools > Options > Uncheck “Automatically log on to Windows Messenger.

Troubleshooting Outlook Express Error 0x800420CB

Message could not be open in Outlook Express is mostly like due to the corruption of .dbx files. To solve this problem click Tools > Accounts > Mail Tab > Click a duplicate mail account and then click remove. Keep doing this until all the duplicates have been removed. If you still face the same problem then try to rename the Outbox.dbx file. You can find this file through the Windows search utility.

Emails can be sent but not receiving

The cause of this problem is your domain is likely to out of space or you need to increase the disk space of your email accounts so that you can receive the emails again.

Hyperlinks are not working in Outlook Express

If hyperlinks are not working in the Outlook Express then perform the following actions.

Go to Start>> Run, type in: regsvr32 urlmon.dll and press Enter

Then open Internet Explorer and go to Tools>> Internet Options>> Programs and click on Reset Web Settings.

How to Send Emails via Yahoo Account

Yahoo SMTP and POP3 are the paid services and when you pay for these services you can send and receive emails from your Yahoo Accounts.

Emails Won’t Delete

This problem occurs due to the corruption of the “deleted items folder”. When user try to delete the emails the copy of it goes to the “deleted items folder”. Move all the messages from the “deleted Items folder” to another mail folder. Close Outlook Express and delete “Deleted Items.dbx” in your Identity’s store folder.

Deleted Items.dbx is a hidden file in Windows XP operating system and In order to find this file you will need to be able to see hidden files.

Outlook Express Won’t Allow Attachments

Go to the Tools menu> Options> Security tab and remove the checkmark beside “Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus”.

Next Click apply and OK.

Quit Outlook Express and then re-launch it.

By Apply the above settings you will be able to see the email attachments to your hard disk.

Troubleshooting Express, Outlook, Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting IP networks has never been simple. Various LAN adaptor settings, router and firewall configurations, DNS and TCP/IP settings are just a few things to mention. UNIX administrators enjoy a variety of command-line tools such as netstat, arp, ipconfig, ping, and traceroute providing basic information about network configuration and performance.

Windows administrators have access to the same command-line tools. However, they fuss about them instead of enjoying these legacy command-line utilities. Network information is only scarcely available in the Windows graphical user interface, but is never assembled in a single place.

NetStat Agent (http://netstatagent.com/) makes diagnosing network connections and troubleshooting connection problems a snap. Combining and enhancing a number of functions provided by the command-line utilities, NetStat Agent gathers all information about the network and connection configuration in one place. You will never need to go back to using netstat, arp, ipconfig, ping, traceroute, nslookup or whois tools from the command line!

NetStat Agent allows network administrators to monitor TCP and UDP connections, diagnose connection settings, troubleshoot network configuration, and obtain information about network resources such as remote hosts and domain names. The built-in Whois tool queries domain names for exact information about their owner, and allows checking whether a domain name is taken or still available without visiting any domain registrar’s Web sites.

Not limited to displaying just network configuration and current settings, NetStat Agent also provides dynamic statistics and logs TCP and UDP connections with full information about each applications opening a connection. Suspecting a virus or Trojan? It’s easy to figure out exactly what process maintains a particular connection, obtain the path to its executable and DLL files on the hard disk and determine where in the world the connection terminates. NetStat Agent collects and displays network and TCP/IP statistics, logging and aggregating data such as sent and received TCP and UDP packets, the number of ICMP messages, sent and received IP datagrams, and more.

Network administrators can change many network settings without leaving the NetStat Agent interface. A unique feature of NetStat Agent is the ability to change MAC addresses of network adaptors, or restore their original physical MAC addresses if they were changed from somewhere else.

If you need an all-in-one tool to monitor and troubleshoot a network, NetStat Agent is the ideal solution. Featuring comprehensive functionality combined with a full graphical user interface, NetStat Agent will be appreciated by new and experienced Windows network administrators. Download a free trial version at: http://netstatagent.com/

Keywords: netstat, arp, ipconfig, ping, traceroute, nslookup, whois, mac address, tcp ip, network configuration, network monitor, network troubleshooting, log connections, network administrator, network statistics, bind, dns

Summary: NetStat Agent is an all-in-one Windows tool to monitor and troubleshoot networks, diagnose connection problems and access network statistics.

Troubleshooting Easy, Made, Network, Troubleshooting

Most of us have had the problem before. You start up your Windows machine and are greeted with a cryptic error message or “blue screen of death” before your system boots. It’s a sinking feeling. You cannot access the operating system and troubleshooting the problem can be difficult. In most cases, people end up resorting to drastic measures, such as reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system. It’s not always a lost cause. Windows Server 2003 includes a number of alternative boot options to help you troubleshoot and resolve these issues.

When attempting to recover from a Windows boot failure, the first step is to get to the boot options menu. You can do this by hitting the F8 key on your keyboard immediately after the Windows boot loader screen is displayed. Once you have accessed the boot options menu, you will have a number of options which are outlined below:

Safe Mode

This option starts the operating system with a bare minimum of system drivers. Safe Mode will help you when troubleshooting boot failures caused by device drivers and registry problems. This mode does not provide networking support and most system services are disabled.

Safe Mode with Networking

The same exact thing as Safe Mode, only with Networking support.

Safe Mode with Command Prompt

This is a command line interface. It can be useful for renaming files and doing other basic command line routines. The windows explorer shell is not loaded and it’s basically just a dos prompt.

Enable Boot Logging

Boot logging starts the system normally, but it creates a detailed log of all the services and drivers that are trying to load at boot time. This can help you determine what is causing the system to crash. The default location for the log file is C:Windows
tbtlog.txt.

Enable VGA Mode

This actually loads the currently installed video driver, but uses the lowest resolution and color depth available. This is a useful option if you are troubleshooting an issue with your video card or monitor driver.

Last Known Good Configuration

You can use this option to revert to a copy of the registry that was saved during the last successful login to Windows. Although it sounds great, I can’t remember a single instance that this has ever worked for me in the past, and believe me, I’ve tried it several times.

Directory Services Restore Mode

This is only applicable for Active Directory Domain Controllers. It allows you to perform maintenance and backup recovery tasks on Active Directory.

Debugging Mode

This will allow you to hook up a working server via a serial cable to send debugging messages for analysis. This requires a great deal of configuration on the receiving end and may not be a realistic option for most people.

Finally, you can use the Recovery Console to perform more advanced troubleshooting. The Recovery Console is not installed by default. If it is not installed, you can still use it by booting to the Operating System CD and choosing the “Repair with Recovery Console” option. The Recovery Console allows you to change service startup options, create or extend volumes and or select alternative boot options.

In this article we’ve covered the multiple boot options provided by Windows Server 2003. If you are not dealing with a hardware failure you can often narrow down and correct most boot problems in Windows Server 2003 using these tools.

Troubleshooting 2003, Boot, Failures, Server, Troubleshooting, Windows

Computer troubleshooting is in many ways more art than science; it’s more of a marriage between your basic computer understanding and all the peculiarities of your specific environment. Truth be told, this series of articles actually possesses very little capability in terms of helping you troubleshoot your network. What it can do, however, is get you pointed in the right direction so that you have a better idea of the troubleshooting resources that are at your fingertips within Vista.

Of course, there’s no way any computer article can possibly foresee every possible computer troubleshooting scenario. If you want to really know whether a particular troubleshooting approach will work, my best advice is to give it a try. It’s just a machine, after all, and you aren’t going to break it with a few clicks of the mouse.

OK, you might break it, but if you follow some of the advice laid out in this article, you shouldn’t be able to do anything that you can’t undo. Here, we focus mainly on some of the troubleshooting tools that Windows Vista places in the hands of the administrator. As always, the focus is mainly on what’s new: we will examine a new utility called Problem Reports and Solutions, and I’ll bet you don’t need to read much further to guess what the nature of that one is. Also, we’ll explore some tools that an administrator might already know from previous operating systems like the System Restore utility, and we’ll look at situations in which System Restore just might save the day.

In this 5-part series of articles, we will discuss the various tools available for troubleshooting within Windows Vista. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If you’d like to get my entire book “Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Culp, Publisher: O’Reilly, ISBN-13: 978-0-59-652959-8 (or any of my 20+ other books and tutorials), you can pick it up at my website, www.TheAnswerHub.com or at most major book chains. In addition, I’m always happy to provide additional assistance for free (within reason, mind you…don’t go thinking this is some sort of a free ride). Visit me at my website and submit your questions to me. I’ll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Up next: we start with a look at a troubleshooting task that is meant to prevent many problems from happening in the first place. It’s the Vista Automatic Updates, which Vista admins should absolutely use to enforce good preventive health.

Troubleshooting Introduction, Microsoft, Part, Series, Troubleshooting, Vista, Windows

This vista problem troubleshooting article guide you how to troubleshoot various windows vista error problem and in detail windows vista troubleshooting solution.

There are lots of problems with windows vista and those are vary difficult to troubleshoot for a layman user. Here are the list of windows vista problems and troubleshooting guide for those vista problems.

Vista problem kernel data inpage error status no such device

During re-enumeration of a previously enumerated ide controller, a race condition exists between atapisys and pciidexsys or between Ataportsys and Pciidex.sys. In this race condition, the following conditions are true:

Atapi.sys and Ataport.sys use the stm method to select a transfer mode on a channel. The stm method is in the advanced configuration and power Interface bios. pciidex.sys verifies whether that channel exists by checking for the ide decode enable bit.

If the bios implementation of the stm method has cleared the ide decode enable bit, pciidex.sys determines that the channel does not exist. When this behavior occurs, pciidexsys does not enumerate the channel.

vista troubleshooting guide for this error

Because atapisys and ataportsys never run the stm method as long as there is i o on the channel, the stm method does not have to clear the ide decode enable bit. Therefore, BIOS manufacturers should not clear the ide decode enable bit in the stm method.

Path maximum transmission unit black hole router detection.The following is a list of black hole router detection changes that are included in windows server 2003 sp2.

By default, black hole detection is turned on.

Black hole probing is performed only for connections in established or advanced states.

Black hole probing is performed only for connections on which there is no full-size segment acknowledgement.

If black hole probing fails, the tcp maximum segment size of the connection is restored to what it used to be before probing.

• With black hole router detection turned off in versions of Windows that are earlier than windows server 2003 sp2, a connection times out approximately after 63 rtt. In windows server 2003 sp2, connections time out after 71 * rtt.

Remove Hibernation in Windows Vista troubleshooting

Hibernation is not made unavailable when you set the value of the hibernate after setting to never by using the power options item in windows vista control panel.

To make hibernation unavailable on windows vista, follow these steps:

1. Click start, and then type cmd in the start search box.

2. In the search results list, right-click command prompt, and then click run as administrator.

3. When you are prompted by user account control, click continue.

4. At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe hibernate off, and then press enter.

5. Type exit, and then press enter.

To make hibernation available, follow these steps for vista troubleshooting:

1. Click start on windows vista, and then type cmd in the start search box.

2. In the search results list, right-click command prompt, and then click run as administrator.

3. When you are prompted by user account control, clicks continue.

4. At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe hibernates on, and then press enter.

5. Type exit, and then press enter to close the command prompt window.

Troubleshooting Problems, Troubleshooting, Vista, Windows

Indeed, using the best email client is also not far from foolproof. You may also get error messages like “Invalid Page Fault,” “Mail Undeliverable,” and other nasty popup windows every day. The most irritating of all is send and receive problems, but no error message will tell you the exact story to help you figure out what has gone wrong with your email client. If you are facing email problems, then take them seriously and get online email support as soon as possible. Well! Email support services can be of great help to you. Resources offering such services have got highly trained email specialists who can help you with any email problem you may have, from installation of email client to troubleshoot any pesky email errors.

Email errors can occur out of nowhere and can be highly irksome. They can arise within your email account or with the configuration of your email client. Diagnosing email errors support and then troubleshooting them requires expertise which is easily available with email support technicians.

Computer support resources offering email support for email errors generally include email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora Mail, and other similar email programs. Their scope of service may include fixing email errors, installation, configuration, setting up free email accounts with your Internet Service Provider (ISP), setting up personalized email accounts on the net (web mail), Activate spam blockers in your email program so you can stop receiving adult spam in your inbox, setting up email rules, troubleshooting email errors.

There are several advantages of buying email support services from computer support resources with saving on time and money. Other benefits are quality service, expertise, and 24×7 availability. Specialists can set up the whole program for you in less turnaround time.

Tech support companies like iYogi technical services offer a complete array of support services under a single package for one low price.

Troubleshooting Easy, email, Made, Services, Support, Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting computer network is among the most important job descriptions of the network administrators, system administrators, network technicians and the IT consultants. A computer network can have different kinds of problems such as it can be infected with virus and spyware, attacked by hackers, accessed by unauthorized users and may face connectivity failure issues due to the faulty network devices or configurations. Following is a list of the basic network troubleshooting commands that are built-in the Windows based operating systems and UNIX etc. The right use of these troubleshooting commands can helps a lot in diagnosing and resolving the issues with your computer network.

PING

Ping is the most important troubleshooting command and it checks the connectivity with the other computers. For example your system’s IP address is 10.10.10.10 and your network servers’ IP address is 10.10.10.1 and you can check the connectivity with the server by using the Ping command in following format.

At DOS prompt type Ping 10.10.10.1 and press enter

If you get the reply from the server then the connectivity is ok and if you get the error message like this “Request time out” this means the there is some problem in the connectivity with the server.

IPCONFIG

IPconfig is another important command in Windows. It shows the IP address of the computer and also it shows the DNS, DHCP, Gateway addresses of the network and subnet mask.

At DOS prompt type ipconfig and press enter to see the IP address of your computer.

At DOS prompt type inconfig/all and press enter to see the detailed information.

NSLOOKUP

NSLOOKUP is a TCP/IP based command and it checks domain name aliases, DNS records, operating system information by sending query to the Internet Domain Name Servers. You can resolve the errors with the DNS of your network server

HOSTNAME

Hostname command shows you the computer name.

At DOS prompt type Hostname and press enter

NETSTAT

NETSTAT utility shows the protocols statistics and the current established TCP/IP connections in the computer.

NBTSTAT

NBTSTAT helps to troubleshoot the NETBIOS name resolutions problems.

ARP

ARP displays and modifies IP to Physical address translation table that is used by the ARP protocols.

FINGER

Finger command is used to retrieve the information about a user on a network.

TRACERT

Tracert command is used to determine the path of the remote system. This tool also provides the number of hops and the IP address of each hop. For example if you want to see that how many hops (routers) are involved to reach www.yahoo.com and what’s the IP address of each hop then use the following command.

At command prompt type tracert www.yahoo.com you will see a list of all the hops and their IP addresses.

TRACEROUTE

Traceroute is a very useful network debugging command and it is used in locating the server that is slowing down the transmission on the internet and it also shows the route between the two systems.

ROUTE

Route command allows you to make manual entries in the routing table.

Hopefully the above mentioned commands will help you to diagnose the troubleshooting your computer networking problems.

Troubleshooting Commands, Network, Troubleshooting