ideaCollab up! Get your invite here!

As you can tell, we have not posted much on here in a good while, its because we have been working diligently on a new site, ideacollab.com. Currently, the site is in private beta and is only accepting accounts via an invite. We have 500 to give and the first 100 get a free Pro account for a year! Comment here or visit the site if you want an invite.

ideaCollab is a site where users can post their ideas and collaborate and share them with other users. They can share their ideas with their twitter followers, with a set group of individuals on a project or with everyone on the ideaCollab site. If they prefer to talk in private and share that way, we support that too! Just send another user a message and viola! Upcoming features include, project management, tracks, fetching ideas from twitter, and many more!
We are working hard to get all the features out asap! We're currently averaging 4 new features every 2 days and were planning to keep that streak alive throughout the beta stage :)
Comment here for an invite and enjoy!

Keeping you "in the loop",
James Hartig

Firefox Download Day June 17, 2008

Firefox Download Day is June 17, 2008
Mark Your Calendars! The link to the site is above (the banner).

On this date you will be able to download Firefox 3, the newest and best browser on the planet. I will be looking forward to testing Firefox 4 soon!

June 17, 2008 is also the day I can get my temp. drivers license.

In unrelated news...
Firefox 3 RC3 was just released.
Download Here


Just keeping you updated.
James Hartig

GoogleDesktop.exe Virus?? Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Bandlord.nrd

I just received the following from ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite.



I don't know if its a problem with ZoneAlarm or with Google Desktop. I have emailed Google about the problem and will post the response once it is received.
I received this right after updating Google Desktop to the latest version. It seems that they have vastly modified the executable process because GoogleDesktop.exe has shrunk from almost 2mb to around 29kb.

Response received,

Hi James,

Thank you for your note. Although we can't comment on the accuracy of
results in specific anti-virus programs, please rest assured that Google
Desktop doesn't install malicious or unknown software onto your computer.
When you download and install Google Desktop, you're getting just Google
Desktop. If you'd like further information regarding the results of your
anti-virus scan, we recommend directly contacting your anti-virus
program's online support center.

That said, if Google Desktop is being flagged by your anti-virus software,
we'd appreciate if you could tell us more about your system by running the
simple diagnostic program at [URL]. When you run this
program, it will automatically copy the output into your computer's
clipboard. To send us the diagnostic, paste the output into a word
processing document (right-click > "Paste") and attach the file to your response.


We appreciate your assistance.

Regards,
The Google Team

I have sent back the required file and have also contacted ZoneAlarm about this situation.

ZoneAlarm Response,

Hello James,
Thank you for contacting ZoneAlarm technical support.

I understand that you are receiving a scanning status message about Google Desktop.

Since this product indexes your hard drive, this is an appropriate warning from ZoneAlarm.

If you would like to stop receiving this warning, please click the option to have this always ignored, and then click the
apply button.

If my answer did not resolve your issue, or you would like further assistance on this issue, please reply to this email.
By replying, and leaving the subject line intact, your response will come directly to me. If you have a separate issue you
would like assistance with, please submit a new request using the website at:
[URL].

Thank you for choosing ZoneAlarm Security!

Jeremy
Technical Support
ZoneAlarm, A Division of Check Point Software

Sent response to Google. Awaiting Email...


-James Hartig

Windows Service Pack Install Error (Q327101): Core System File (Kernel) Files Modified

Note: This will not work on Windows Vista and/or Windows Server 2008 as they do not have a boot.ini and I am working on a fix via the command line.

When trying to install a Windows Service Pack, you may receive a error resembling the following...

"Windows has detected that a core system file (kernel) used to start this computer is not a Microsoft Windows file. Due to this modification, the Service Pack will not be installed."

This may seem like a big deal, however it isn't! The problem is that you most likely have a Windows modification program that changes your theme or boot screen. Microsoft says that you need to uninstall any software to fix this problem, but that isn't necessary.

Simple and Only Solution

1) Goto System Properties
a) Press (Windows Key + Pause/Break)
b) Right-click on My Computer and select 'Properties'
c) Control Panel -> System (or if not classic, Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> System)
2) Goto "Advanced" tab
3) Under the "Startup and Recovery" section, click Advanced

Windows XP

4) Click "Edit" next to 'To edit the startup options file manually, click Edit.'
5) In the notepad window that opened, remove the option /Kernel= and the file
Example (if you have Tuneup Utilities):

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /fastdetect /kernel=TUKernel.exe /NoExecute=OptIn

--would change to--

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

6) Save the file and restart
(NOTE: IF YOU ARE UNSURE, COMMENT OR EMAIL ME!!!, IF YOU EDIT THE FILE INCORRECTLY, THE SYSTEM WILL FAIL TO BOOT!!)

7) Try installing Service Pack again.

That's All!

Hope That Helps!
-James Hartig

Remember: If you are unsure, email me or comment!!

Something Gone Wrong? Something Not Working?

Have a Windows Problem that you cannot seem to fix?
Have a look in the Event Viewer!

To Access The Event Viewer

1) Goto Start -> Run
(if there is no Run command... do the following)
1a) Right-Click on the Start and select 'Properties'
1b) Next to the "Start Menu" selection click "Customize"
1c) Scroll Down and find "Run Command" and select the check box
1d) OK then Goto Start -> Run

2) Type in the Run Box, "eventvwr.msc" (no quotes)
2a) If Windows responds with a "Windows Needs Permission To Continue." and it is for "Microsoft Management Console", click 'Continue'
3) Typically you will find all of the major incidents in "System"
4) If you see a problem (indicated by a red X), Right-click and choose 'Properties'

Windows XP

Windows Vista

5) Take Note of the "Event ID:"
6) Copy some of the information in the description and then execute a Google search
note: be sure to include information like "windows xp event [event id goes here]" also, paste some of your information like the following example!

I will be showing a problem that I recently had and have produced a fix for...

With that information I would search on Google for
"windows xp event 4321 The name could not be registered on the Interface with IP address not allow the name to be claimed"
then looking through the results I would click on

Windows Fixes: Cannot connect to Windows network? Event 4321

Thats all!

Hope that helps
-James Hartig

If you couldn't find anything, email me the whole description, ID and maybe

Before Installing Windows XP SP3, "Access Denied", "SP3 Failed To Install"

Before Post: Note: If you install SP3, you cannot uninstall IE7 or IE8, so if you are planning on uninstalling either in the future or at all, do it before installing Windows XP SP3!

Note2: Please stop all spyware/anti-virus software (if you feel insecure, disconnect your internet), as these might prohibit the install to save/create files and/or registry entries!

Try to install Windows XP SP3 and receive a "Access Denied" error or an "SP3 Failed To Install" error?
Similar Errors: "The Installation can not continue please click ok to undo the changes." "Windows has been partly updated and may not work properly."
This fix will fix errors in other installations/programs also, running the "reset.cmd" regularly will prevent other problems and is beneficial.
Thinking about installing Windows XP SP3 and want to not receive this error?

Here's a poorly Photoshop example... (note: your error may look different)

Preventing Access Error Problems With SP3

1) Download SubInACL
2) Install it to 'Program Files\Windows Resource Kits'
3) Make Sure subinacl.exe is in the folder 'Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools', if not move it
4) Download reset.cmd (right-click 'save link as...')
or follow the following steps

How to make your own reset.cmd

1) Open Notepad
2) Paste the following...

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

3) Save as reset.cmd (check the picture below)

-------Done------


5) Double-click the reset.cmd on your desktop and wait for it to finish (this may take several minutes)
6) Install Windows XP SP3!!

Congrats! Your Done!

Hope this helps,
James Hartig

Something unusual not listing? How to take a screenshot.

Can't seem to find an answer for your unusual problem with a Windows XP/Vista computer?

Send an email (including computer specs, all possible information, steps to produce problem, and if possible, screenshots) to



Don't Know How to Make A Screenshot??

Follow These Easy Steps...

1) Click on the window you want to take a screenshot of (make sure its focused on)
2) Press Alt+Print Screen (also can be Alt+SysRq)
3) Open up an image editor, like paint, and then paste
4) Save (jpg/png) and your done!

Thanks!
Hope that helps!
-James Hartig

Latest Computer Tips (May 2008)

Hate having to always check to see if your software is up to date?
Want an easy way to download all of those various updates?

Visit
http://filehippo.com/updatechecker/

You can download an installer or just a plain executable.
It scans your computer and then displays a browser with a page displaying all available updates and their download links.

Computer running slow??
Can't seem to figure out whats wrong?
Have a USB stick laying around?

Try eBoostr!
http://www.eboostr.com/download/

I have been using this software since the first beta and it is amazing!!

If you are having problems with these, please comment or look at the next post.

Windows XP zip Problem: "Your current security settings do not allow this action"

Note: This is not the fix for drag-drop of networked files....
Windows XP Fix For Networked Files

This should also work for any other type of file.

This is a page to fix the problem where you get a dialog "Your current security settings do not allow this action" when drag-dropping a folder/file from a .zip (ZIP Archive) to another open folder/window.

This is caused by how Windows XP SP3 (Only pre-RC2) treats downloaded files and their restrictions....

----Fix For This Problem!----
1) Right-click on the offending .zip file
2) Choose Properties
3) Click Unblock

5) Then Click Apply
6) Click OK and then you are done!

Congrats Your File Is Now Able To Be Drag-Drop Exported

Hope That Helps!
-James Hartig