nathanson1947
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Posts posted by nathanson1947
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Thanks for the info about the POS Ready registry hack. I tried it on XP Professional SP3, and suddenly Microsoft Update had a dozen more updates available.
Registry hack enables Windows XP security updates until 2019 - Software - News - HEXUS.net.pdf
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I remember that, back in 2006, when Microsoft discontinued support for Windows 98SE, there was an Autopatcher program created to deal with problems in Windows 98SE. It was a really elegant program that even created extra features for the OS never dreamed of by Microsoft.
I was wondering if anyone was planning to do the same thing for XP?
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I purchased a computer tower last summer for $100.00. With a 2.66 Celeron processor, 512 MB RAM, and a 40 GB hard drive, it seemed like a good deal. While I have no trouble seeing anything printed in English or Hebrew, Chinese characters usually come out as gibberish.
. When I tried to use the regional language settings in the control panel, I kept getting prompted for a Windows XP Home Edition CD, which I of course don't have, since XP was already installed in the computer when I purchased it. I can't seem to find a place on Microsoft to download the needed files, and Microsoft now charges $49.00 for a technical support question.Does anyone here have any solutions???
Jack
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Disable Active Desktop (use normal background picture)
I converted my background image from a JPEG to a 32-bit bitmap. I then disabled Active Desktop. Except for the "1-Click Maintenance" icon, everything looks a lot better. Thank you.
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I just installed Windows 200 Revolutions Pack. This is what part of my desktop looks like:
Perhaps the paragraph below gives a solution to this, but I can't understand it. Is there a solution to my problem posted anywhere that I may actually be able to understand?
How to force application to display 32-bit image lists:This workaround cures black shadows or discolored images in programs which were written unaware of 32-bit icons with Windows 2000.
Create "your program.exe.32bitimgl" file for your program.exe in the folder this exe resides. Viola!
You can also use this trick instead of "256-color tray patch" for explorer.exe, however, this isn't the right way. I think.
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Prior to Autopatcher I had never installed any browser other than Firefox, but I allowed it to install MS IE6 SP1 in order to fully patch my system. FireFox itself is still working fine, but other programs seem to have forgotten FireFox was my primary browser. Since running Autopatcher, whenever I click on links in Eudora and Thunderbird, they now open Internet Connection Wizard instead of opening FireFox. I assume MSIE must have taken over as my default browser when it was installed. Could someone remind me how to make FireFox my default again? Do I have to change settings in Eudora AND Thunderbird individually? Or is there a master setting somewhere that resets all other programs at once? Also, should I setup a connection for MSIE first, for windows update or other apps, even though my intent is to continue using FireFox as my primary browser?
Open Firefox. On the Menubar at the top of the screen, go to "Tools > Options". Click on the "Main" tab. The Options Screen should then look something like this:
At the bottom of the screen, in the "System Defaults" section, there is a place which says "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup". Make sure that the box before this is checked in. There should also be a button to the right saying "Check now". Click on this button. You should then see a window allowing you to set Firefox as your default browser. If there is no "Check now" button, then restart Firefox and you will get the same window. Once you set Firefox as your default browser, most programs should work properly.
And, at least in my opinion, it's a good idea to have IE working as well. Believe it or not, there are still some web pages that won't work in Firefox. Some websites seem to have never heard of it. And some even still refer to "Netscape" instead!
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Not sure, given the shape of my computer, how valid this report is, but posting it just in case others had the same problem. The Autopatcher August 2007 got stuck at the following point. The report and log are also attached.
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NO i'm pretty sure you won't be able to do that. In your situation, i would probably consider a re-install of the OS but keeping the existing programs already installed (if there's nothing wrong with them) ... the OS will need updating but just run AP.
To do this do the following:
1) make a backup of WIN.COM (which is normally in C:\Windows) and then delete this file (or rename it to something else)
2) Use your Installation CD to start Windows setup. Because you have deleted or renamed WIN.COM the setup program will allow you to continue.
3) After the OS has re-installed, you will need to run AP to get your system up to date.
It took me several days to get the installation disk from Totonto. I am in Montreal. I deleted WIN.COM and then tried to run the installation disk. The computer fiirst kept trying to boot from the hard drive, but I managed to set the bios to boot from the installation disk. It got as far as copying the files to the disk. Then there was a need to reboot, and afterthereboot, I got the following error message:
A device has been specified more than once in the SYSTEM.INI file, ora device specified in SYSTEM.INI conflicts with a device which is being loaded by an MS-DOS driver or application or a device loaded from the registry file. Remove theduplicate entry from the SYSTEM.INI file, and then restart Windows.
Duplicated device: vcd
Press a key to continue
At that point, pressing a key still worked, and I may have succeeded in replacing the old OS. However, the screen resolution was now only 640 by 480 with 16 colours. I got a message saying that an NVidia driver was missing.
I made the mistake of tryinto runAutopatcher to see if it would help, and things just screwed up more.
At this point, if I try to boot from the hard drive, I just get the above error message, and pressing a key does not allow me to go on. Even pressing f8 does not bring up the customary menu.
If I try to do the reinstall, the farthest it will go is thefirst reboot. If pressing a key has an effect at all, I only get the the messge:
Windows 98is now setting up your hardware and any plug and play devices you may have. Then there is another reboot, followed by the above error message. The most pressing a key then does is causing another reboot, until the computer becomes completely unresponsive.
I noticed that two of the options on the installation disk result in DOs prompts, so maybe the problem can besolved from there, but I have no idea how to do it.
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I seem to have made a mess of things. I was trying to install some NVidia 3d drivers, and somehow managed to destabilize my whole system. I am wondering if the kernel ex update may have anything to do with it, but am not sure. In any case, among other things, any attempt at sending or receiving e-mail, whether yahoo, gmail, thunderbird, outlook express, etc., seems to cause my computer to freeze/crash. I may still be able to post on this forum, though.
My primary drive is Drive C. I also, have a Drive D, which still has the OS on it the way it was before it was ghosted onto the present Drive C. What I was wondering is, is there any way to access the WINDOWS on Drive D, perhaps through DOS, and run the computer through it, at least until I can figure out a more permanent solution? I tried things like : RUN "D:\WINDOWS\" , but it seems to be a Bad Command.
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Thanks for that info MDGx! ... Jack, how'd you go with that file?
I managed to find the file.Strangely enough, it only existed on Drive D.
When I received my brother's old computer in 2005, the hard drive on it was only 6GB. In December 2006, I had a 29 GB hard drive put in, with all the contents of the 6 GB drive ghosted onto the 29 GB one. The 6 GB drive remained in the computer as Drive D, while the 29 GB one became Drive C. When I did a search, the file was nowhere to be found on Drive C, which is the one the computer uses now. However, it was on drive D.
I copied the file and put the copy in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM. Hopefully, this will solve the problem.
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1. kb918144: Unofficial Hotfix for various issues in the Jet 4.0 data engine
This particular update has ALWAYS looped through right from the beginning.
DO us a favour can you and do a search of the program folder for the following file:
kb918144.exe
and run it. If everything is OK you can back out of the installation, but my guess is you will get to see what the error message is telling you. Please let me know what happens!
I ran kb918144.exe, and got the following error message:
I then ran the update mentioned in the error message, followed by kb918144.exe .
I was then instructed to restart the computer, which I did.
On restarting, I received the following error message from the Windows System:
According to the attached report, the update is installed, but the error message seems to contradict this.
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I've looked at your log file -- very useful as it goes back quite a few versions, do you have any older ones by any chance? Has it always said it was looping thru for those 2 updates? Did any version of AP work properly ie without looping thru?I decided to try the part of the Autopatcher that searches for any missing updates. The following two were listed:1. kb918144: Unofficial Hotfix for various issues in the Jet 4.0 data engine
2. TOOLS9X: Unofficial Improved Replacement Tools
1. kb918144: Unofficial Hotfix for various issues in the Jet 4.0 data engine
This particular update has ALWAYS looped through right from the beginning.
The other update was not included in the Autopatcher until very recently, so it wasn't there to loop through until very recently.
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I decided to try the part of the Autopatcher that searches for any missing updates. The following two were listed:
1. kb918144: Unofficial Hotfix for various issues in the Jet 4.0 data engine
2. TOOLS9X: Unofficial Improved Replacement Tools
What has been happening is that when I run the Autopatcher, it seems to loop through these very same updates. So the question arises;
Have these updates actually been installed, but the Autopatcher can't detect them and keeps trying to re-install them?
OR
Is something in my system preventing the Autopatcher from successfully installing these updates, and they are still not installed?
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Greetings.
Firstly, thank you, Soporific, for the new AUTOEXEC.BAT text . The "too many parameters" message has been around for at least a year. The gtk was installed so that I could run the Gimp, and somehow it got installed incorrectly. I don't know if there is a connection, but I have noticed that my computer has had a tendency to crash any time I tried to view three dimensional images. Of course, that particular problem could also be due to the fact that I only have 224 MB of RAM.
In any case, after fixing AUTOEXEC.BAT, I installed and tried version 1.96.55. It worked for a while until it eventually aborted. I have attached the log file.
Jack
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Three lines in Autoexec.bat were REMmed, AP was tested, and then the three lines were unREMmed. AP appeared to work properly, and the log file is an attachment to this message.
Excellent! We have worked out what was wrong and I suspect others are in the same boat. So, it looks like i'm upping the space allocation. nathanson, we haven't finished yet. We want to get it working without you REMming stuff out but i think i know what is going to work. Back soon ...
EDIT: Ok the next version will have 2 changes:
* the space allocation has been doubled in 2 places
- START_ME.bat and RUN-MOD.bat which are the 2 files that dole out the memory.
With the latest update, Autopatcher aborted shortly after the following screen:
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But if you needed to make a backup of your autoexec.bat file i would have said. REMming out your PATH statements simply means you can't use those programs until you put them back in. Just use SYSEDIT to adjust your file. Reboot. Test AP. Use SYSEDIT again to unREM the lines. and reboot. Your computer is back to normal.
Three lines in Autoexec.bat were REMmed, AP was tested, and then the three lines were unREMmed. AP appeared to work properly, and the log file is an attachment to this message.
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I just ran version v1.96.53. It passed the environment space test, and the keys all worked. However, it only remained on for a second before everything disappeared.
no the report text is normal for a session that exits out ungracefully. ... Nathan my son, the fix was always only a stop gap, it doesn't help us explain what's going on with your system. If you could do that REMming out in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as i described in the previous post that would actually help us determine one way or they other. This stabbing in the dark is quite time consuming for us both. Although. i should have just lashed out and given you an extra 2048 bytes of space instead of a measly 1024 and the taking out of the breakpoints was a bit premature! So i'll do another one but only after you report back how you went with the REM stuff. Ask if you need more clarification ...
Edit: 'Senior' sooooooo gives the wrong impression about me
Actually, I do need some clarification. I need to know how to convert the AUTOEXEC.BAT file into a form that I can edit and replace. If it needs to be done in DOS, I need to know the DOS commands to do so, and if going into DOS is not necessary, I still need instructions on how to access and replace the code. Presumably. the REMming of the appropriate lines is the same as editing text or HTML, but I have to know how to get there before doing it. I took some courses in BASIC in the mid 1980's, but even if I remembered it all, even the DOS commands may have changed completely between 1986 and 1999 (when Windows 98SE came out).
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Regarding the point where no keys would work, this is probably due to the ES problem but i must admit i've never come across that particular issue.
New version:
changes from v1.96.52 to v1.96.53:
* the ES test is slightly harder to pass - its now back to the test version inside v196.51.
* the breakpoints have been removed
* the space allocation has been increased by 1024 --- this should solve the problems.
EDIT 3: can someone say something so i can reply ... i want to post my 500th message! ..... not that i'm counting or anything ...
and it's not because i want to "level up" which is what's going to happen at 500. Really, truly!edit 4: i suppose i could just cheat ...
I just ran version v1.96.53. It passed the environment space test, and the keys all worked. However, it only remained on for a second before everything disappeared. I managed to find a couple of logs. The question: Did my computer not need any updates, or did the program abort for some reason???
This log file for Auto-Patcher 1.96.53
was generated on Monday, 28 May 2007 at 12:07pm.
- the most recent log is at the end of this log file.
- only titles that installed or were blocked from installing will be logged.
Report for Auto-Patcher 1.96.53 generated on Monday, 28 May 2007
- the time is now: 12:09pm
- the most recent report is at the end of this log file.
The following list of updates were not found on this computer:
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3) here's a custom version with breakpoints all the way thru the code. You will have to press the spacebar a few times and watch a few messages go by but at least we will know the exact point it goes dead. Please let me know the order of the messages as well as the last one you saw.
I had a particular problem with both v1.96.51 and v1.96.52. Whenever I got a DOS window, and tried to press a key to continue, all the keys were deactivated, and pressing them had no effect. I finally got around the problem by the following method:
1. I tried to close the window by clicking on the x in the upper right hand corner. This caused a second window to appear:
2. I then clicked on "NO" on the second window, and the second window would disappear. But I then found that the keys were now active and I could continue on to the next window.
In any case, here are all the windows I got, in the order in which I received them. After the last window, everything disappeared from the screen.
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1) OK, with SYSEDIT, this brings up all your configuration files --- the one you want is CONFIG.SYS --- it probably doesn't have much inside it. The ones you posted sshots of isn't the one you want. If you can, please post the text or the sshots of the contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS -- they both should come up with SYSEDIT.
Here are the screenshots:
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PS - nathanson1947, when you saw the above message, what happened after that? If its not clear, try adding the break points above and then try again. Be sure to tell me everything you see.
I don't know how to access and change the code, but I tried to run autopatcher again. This time, when I "pressed any key to continue", as instructed by the first error message, I actually got a second window which appeared as follows:
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6769/en...nt2finalun2.jpg
Following the instructions on this second window, I ran SYSEDIT. A whole bunch of windows appeared on the screen. Here are the two which mentioned the SHELL variable:
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OK, v1.96.51 is out now!! ...... don't get too excited, all this is for is for people who are experiencing problems with Auto-Patcher even starting. Everyone can install it, but you won't notice much if everything is OK. I have included a newer version of START_DEBUG.bat but that was only because i forgot to update it for the earlier release. Doh. The release is an installer that does all the work for you, just run it and choose the install directory for AP.
you MUST have v1.96.50 already installed.
I tried v1.96.51, and the only result was the following pretty picture:
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As I had not checked the windows update site for ages, I decided to try it today. I got the "You must have a MacIntosh" message. I re-ran Autopatcher v1.95, and then I went to the manual installs folder and ran the WU-FIX (both methods). Although the hotfix worked previously, I now still seem to be getting the "MacIntosh" message. Has Microsoft managed to outmanouver the hotfix?
Jack
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Soporific, et al:
DID have a problem with WU (using the Start Menu/Windows Update), and went to folder WINDOWS, created a shortcut to WUPDMGR.EXE and placed it on the Desktop. The difference in the two shortcuts is the "generated" one has "Start In C:\WINDOWS". THAT one worked (beats me
)!This seems to work with the WUPDMGR.EXE at the following location on my computer:
C:\WINDOWS\VCM
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and it's not because i want to "level up" which is what's going to happen at 500. Really, truly!
)!
POSReady 2009 updates ported to Windows XP SP3 ENU
in Windows XP
Posted · Edited by nathanson1947
Thanks for the help. The yellow shield kept staying there, but I finally figured out how hide the miscreant update KB3013455, and the shield went away..