[How to diagnose random SVCHOST crashes]

Hi,

I'm experiencing random crashes of svchost.exe; when it happens, every command I give won't be done, like closing any window or opening task manager even shutting down windows. I can only reset the machine.

Assuming there are no spywares/viruses/malware, is there a way I can diagnose what is happening? i.e. monitoring the system until a crash happens and getting a log from somewhere, something like a MS or third party utility or something I can enable in windows itself?

My machine: e8400, mb gigabyte EP45-DS3 latest bios, 4gb corsair, 9800gtx+, windows xp sp3.

Let me know if you need more details.

Thank you in advance.

[Can't run Picsrules files]

I found the answer by myself. The file I was trying to import was not a picsrules file, but a outlook user profile. For some reason the .prf files were associated to "rundll32.exe msrating.dll,ClickedOnPRF %1". I changed it to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /PromptImportPRF "%1" and now it correctly imports the profile in outlook.

[Can't run Picsrules files]

Hi,

I'm trying to run a .prf file and I receive the error message:

An error occurred while the PICSRules file (file name...) was being loaded.

You may want to contact the author for the correct version of this file.

An unrecognized keyword was found near line 0.

The file is correct, it shows this message with any .prf file.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance.

[Windows with dark theme]

Hi,

I'm using Royale VIsta theme for XP with dark window background, because the default white background was too bright. I've setted up my browser with a custom css file to fix background color for some web pages forcing it to white, because I couldn't read them anymore. My last trouble is with messenger, where the windows background makes me difficult to read the text. Is there a way to change the default background color for text cells in msn without touching Xp theme?

Thanks in advance.

[USB mouse troubles]

I've had mouse problems in the past and these are the things I had tried.

1. See how the performance is while connected using a PS2 adapter.

2. Check your surface compared to the other places it worked. There may be a tolerance difference with the optics.

3. Try connecting that mouse and a different optical USB mouse to the computer, then try to use the other (not the one having problems) and see how it reacts.

Sorry I got called into a 3.5 hour meeting when I started writing this email, got brain dead, went home, came back to work and realised I never finished... I hope this helps anyways.

Thanks for your reply.

1. a ps2 adapter doesn't help (mouse doesn't work at all)

2. the surface is not a problem. When it freezes for that couple seconds, even the buttons doesn't work.

3. I changed 2 equal mice and I had the same problems, I didn't try a different usb mouse, though.

[USB mouse troubles]

I reinstalled the OS and the problem is still there, even if now happens a bit less frequently. I guess it's something related to my chipset (nforce2) or maybe ts drivers (5.10)...

[Troubles with IE6 after uninstalling IE7]

Hi kekk0,

You said:

First make sure you deleted the right reg key (run the attached reg file).

you can try to run the batch attached which re-registers ie dlls and if it doesn't work try this script to reinstall ie6 (you'll need xp cd) and then restart.

I ran the reg bat file and received these errors:

' Windows" is not recognized as and internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

and

The system cannot find the path specified.

Reffering to the KEY in the batch file.

I also ran the other batch file and re-registered the IE6 dlls.

Still no luck.

SteveG

It seems you renamed the reg file as bat and the bat file as reg. Rename them correctly and run them again.

[Troubles with IE6 after uninstalling IE7]

Hi All,

I've had the same issue, without any success. While troubleshooting a failed internet connection (Windows XP Home, SP 2) I installed Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 (probably a beta version) that wasn't downloaded from the windows website. I've since uninstalled it, so I am now running IE 6, but IE 7 (Beta) left something behind. Now, when I connect to the internet I get to my home page, but when I select a link I get a blank web page and the error message "Windows cannot find ‘(null)’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the start button, and then click Search.”.

Through research on the internet I've found that the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{C90250F3-4D7D-4991-9B69-A5C5BC1C2AE6}needs to be deleted to fix my problem. I've tried with no success. I've tried adding "Everyone" to the registry users, changing the permissions so all users can access the registry and tried to delete the key, downloaded Registry Fix software, I've tried deleting it using regedit and regedt32 in Safe Mode and I've run the program IE7betakey.reg with no success. I've run the paid for version of Free Registry Fix 3.9 software and I would purchase another software version If I though It would fix the problem.

I can temporarily delete the key, but it ALWAYS comes back.

Any suggestions?

SteveG297

First make sure you deleted the right reg key (run the attached reg file).

you can try to run the batch attached which re-registers ie dlls and if it doesn't work try this script to reinstall ie6 (you'll need xp cd) and then restart.

fix__add_bat_extension_.txt

fix__add_reg_extension_.txt

[Very slow windows startup]

Hi,

my pc suddenly takes a lot of time to start windows, and the disk is busy for many minutes at startup. I don't have spywares/rootkits/viruses of any kind. I monitored the disk access at startup with filemon and I noticed that services.exe reads all the files on disk c:. The only service that starts with services.exe is plug and play. I've found around that someone managed to solve this by making file system permission changes in group policy, but I never modified it...

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!!!

[USB mouse troubles]

Thanks for your replies.

Actually I already changed 2 mice, same brand/model. They all worked ok with other pcs, so it's something wrong with my pc. I'd like to avoid reinstalling xp, I guess it's something related to software/drivers because usb ports works perfectly with any other usb device I use (pen drives, cameras, printers, modems, cell phones...)

Any idea?

[Troubles with IE6 after uninstalling IE7]

I managed to resolve this by myself. I'm posting here what I did for future reference.

Actually it's quite simple; it seems you have to re-register many dlls after a downgrade from IE7 to IE6.

I registered the dlls listed in this page and now everything works again.

Moreover, I suggest to uninstall and then reinstall the flash player, and also the JRE if you need it.

[USB mouse troubles]

Hi,

some time ago I switched from a ps2 mouse to a trust MI-2540D usb mouse, but when I started using it I noticed it sometimes freezes the cursor on screen for one secont or two then it works again. It happens randomly every few seconds/minutes and while the cursor is frozen, even the buttons input is not detected by the pc. I already tried to remove the old mouse from the peripheral list and restart, no way.

My pc is an athlon xp 2600+ on nforce2 based asus a7n8x-x, os xp sp2 always updated. I don't have viruses or malware of any kind.

Can someone please help me?

Thanks in advance!

[Troubles with IE6 after uninstalling IE7]

Hi, I have another problem. When I open any site which contains activex, I get the message "Your security settings do not allow websites to use activeX..." even if I give activeX all permissions in the Security settings. That's quite strange, does anyone know what it means?

Thanks in advance!

[Troubles with IE6 after uninstalling IE7]

Thanks, it solved my problem!

[Troubles with IE6 after uninstalling IE7]

Hi,

I had to uninstall IE7 from my office pc because internally developed tools don't support it, so it wasn't "compliant". Now I have some troubles with IE6: when I open a IE window it correctly loads the default page, then when I enter an url and press enter it opens another session that freezes itself immediately, then another and another, all frozen. At this point I have to terminate them with task manager. I've read around that this is somehow a known problem when you uninstall IE7, and I tried to register some dlls again, disable all add-ons but I didn't solve my problem. then I tried to reinstall IE6 with ie6.inf, with IEfix, with ieradicator and then installed again...no way.

Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this?

Thanks in advance.

p.s. please, don't tell me to run antivirus or antispywares, I can assure it's not a malware problem.

bye!