AnnieMS

One webpage [the software patch] said Windows Installer 4.5 '"fixes numerous bugs, so it may be worthwhile downloading if you are experiencing installation problems". [http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/wininstallnt.html] I have 3.1, so I googled for 4.5 info. The only 4.5 downloads provided by MS I found are "redistributable" downloads. I couldn't find a definition or an explanation for redistributable downloads, but from the info on MS it sounds like a download for administrators who are updating multiple computers. It does say 'These download packages will update the version of Windows Installer on your system to version 4.5" I installed WinXP SP3 a year ago and SP3 includes 3.1. 4.5 has been around since 2007. Automatic updates hasn't updated windows installer and I didn't see an update for installer when I did a Windows Update to check for less important updates that might fix some of my WinXP problems. So, is this an update I should install or one I should leave alone?

sorry Mr. Jinje. I am way too verbose for forums - trying to write more concisely. For the circumstances MSFinOKC describes a template.dot in personal docs is probably all that is needed as well as the only way to solve the problem w/out special dispensation from IT. If MSFinOKC only uses one template, then making the template holding the customization changes "globally available" isn't necessary.

Warning: I am a newbie - well more of a newbie/oldie but not anywhere near an expert. I was searching the forum looking for help regarding global templates/normal.dot/organizer 'cause Word help isn't much help and was disappointed there were no replies to your post. Well, this is a busy time of year. If I understand your situation [i don't know what a Citrix connection is] the Word exe runs on the server and not your computer and you save your documents to a server? So I'm guessing a Citrix connection works similar to a terminal session [only read about it, never used one]. Some Word customization is saved in normal.dot, some in folders [like the templates you create] and some in registry keys [changes to toolbars]. I've never read about or found on my computer any Word configuration ini-type files, so as far as I know it's normal.dot & registry. I don't have any idea how Word would be configured to be used by multiple users on a server. If users can't set up Word to fit their work habits most of the advantages of using Word would be nullified, so one would expect configuration to allow some customization. Word may also have been configured to prevent some customizations for security reasons - like only approved macros being allowed. [that would kill me, my toolbars are full of macros I recorded and I use them constantly] Does your personal space on the server only have folders for documents created? No Folders for User Templates\Auto Recovery Files\Startup? If you had a Templates folder in your personal space I'd expect your normal.dot would be saved there and it wouldn't be resetting to default. You could create a Template folder in your space but to modify the path for User Templates in Tools > Options > File Locations you'd have to have traverse permission [i think] to go through the directory from wherever the folder is that normal.dot is in to your personal space folder [if they are even on the same server] and you'd have to know where your personal space was. I don't know where Word's path settings are saved. I wouldn't think the path to normal.dot would be saved in normal.dot so I'm thinking it's saved in the registry. If each user of Word have their own registry key in the server's registry and that's where path settings are saved then an IT person should be able to set it up so that when you opened Word it would load normal.dot from your personal space. If that were so, I'd expect you to already have your own Templates folder somewhere and your normal.dot to be in it, but you may have your own registry key which could be configured from a current common default path to your personal space if an IT would be so kind. If the path settings are saved in a common users registry key, then that wouldn't work. And if everyone has to use the same normal.dot and there are no individual user Word registry settings - well I take the 5th on my opinion on that. I put a copy of normal.dot in My Documents and opened Word by opening the normal.dot - to see if you could save a normal. dot in your space and open it & Word from there. I had double some toolbar buttons, so Word didn't approve of that method. When I opened Word by opening normal.dot in its template folder my toolbars looked normal. Then I changed the User Template path to My Documents and it opened normally from there, so having the User Template path set to where normal.dot is seems necessary, even if you open normal.dot "manually". I don't know if you can open a doc or dot from your personal space on the server or if you have to open Word and open your docs thru Word, but anyway it didn't work. Have you tried creating a new template and did Word allow you to save it? File > New > New Document Pane opens > General Templates > Templates box opens > Select Blank Document > Select Template in Create New area >OK. Then Save and see what folder you're in. If the template folder is common to all users I would expect users would only have read and not write permissions, so access to save your template would probably be denied. If you are allowed to save personal templates w/ a .dot extension to a folder to which Word directs you, then you can save your customizations in a template based on the default normal.dot. You should be able to load your personal template as a global template using Tools > Templates & Add Ins when you first open Word for the day. Supposedly, once a template is loaded as a global template it remains available globally until Word shuts down. It won't be as efficient as a customized normal.dot, but it would be better than re-customizing Word everyday. You just have to be sure when you use the Customize box that the Save In box at the bottom has your template chosen and not normal.dot. I'm not exactly sure how it works to have normal.dot + a template both available globally, but [again supposedly] changes made are saved in the template as well as normal.dot. For this to work, only the creator of the template file can have permission to modify it - or just no one else can load it globally. I think it's all moot anyway. If you can save a template based on normal.dot, then I'd expect you to have a personal Templates folder and your own personal normal.dot. If the "purge" they are doing is directed at all users' normal.dots in their personal Templates folders [rather than a common Templates folder] to prevent maintenance calls from corrupted normal.dots w/ inability to open Word, then you should be able to "save" your customization by creating that template based on the default normal.dot. If you can actually access your Templates folder - if it's in your personal space- then you can keep a copy of your normal.dot under another name and when normal.dot defaults you delete it, copy your copy and rename it normal.dot.

I have Word XP [v10.0.6626.0] installed on a Thinkpad X41 running WinXP tab ed SP3. I get frequent messages that Word is trying to install the speech recognition component - that I cancel - and then the message that it can't find the files. I haven't figured out what triggers the message but it seems to happen when I alt+tab from Word to another application and I find it trying to install when I return. There is no association with my using the handwriting functions of the tablet in Journal, but I wondered if there was some conflict between Word XP, Office's "alternate user input" and the tablet's ink functions [because speech recognition would be an alternate user input, I think]. I do have ctfmon checked in msconfig's startup tab. MS's Experience Pack for Tablet PC came installed, but I've never found any of the applications included useful and I unchecked them from msconfig. There's an Ink Art program from Ambient Design program and an Alias Sketchbook Pro program installed that I've never had time to try out so they're never in memory. I haven't found any lenovo/IBM services/programs related to the ink function, so I think the tablet's ink function is part of the tablet OS. I've tried to keep Word updated, but the MS Office Update site has been confusing rather than helpful and I don't know if Word is sufficiently up to date or not. Word also crashes frequently despite 1.49 GB RAM, but not in relation to the "installing speech component". Are there any known problems w/ Word XP and WinXP tab ed?

Thanks Netman66 I now know that "NetBIOS over TCP/IP" is the current term for windows broadcast intranetworking method and I can [theoretically] use both an LMHosts file and broadcasting for file sharing. If LMHosts gets checked after broadcasting, then I wouldn't think that making and importing one would speed up file sharing connections on a 2-3 computer workgroup . Win2K was supposed to have a more secure way of utilizing TCP/IP for intranetwork connecting than Win98 that was termed NetBIOS on TC/IP by some writers [the ones I read] to distinguish it from however Win98 did it, which was called NetBIOS over TCP/IP. The "on" vs "over" had something to do w/ the technical details down at the packets/segments/sessions layers that I either don't remember or didn't have the know-how to understand. NetBEUI came into it also. It may be that "NetBIOS over TCP/IP" was used by the authors to refer to using both NetBEUI & TCP/IP in these articles and "NetBIOS on TCP/IP" was having TCP/IP as the only protocol installed. If I remember correctly, Win98 had to use NetBEUI for file sharing, so you had to have both TCP/IP & NetBEUI installed and that caused the "over" problem. With home routers now common making that distinction is probably moot even for networks that still have a Win98 computer. Back when I was reading those articles Win2K was new and there were a lot of Win98 computers in business as well as home networks connecting to the internet and there were lots of security problems being discovered the hard way. Then both my life and computers crashed. When I finally rebooted I was doing so w/ WinXP computers and some things are the same and some things are very, very different - like the Everyone group in WinXP Prof does not have the anonymous logon group so I don't have to go into every share & ntfs permissions tab and remove Everyone immediately.

Thanks Netman66 for replying. OK, I know now to enable netbios over tcp/ip but I'm still confused about why/what I'm doing. Is the WINS tab giving me the choice between lmhosts or netbios over tcp/ip for file&printer sharing? Can one add an lmhosts file and enable netbios over tcp/ip? Will the client service check the lmhost file first and if it fails to connect thru lmhosts will it then query the master browser? I understand that windows networking [file&printer sharing] in a peer-to-peer workstation setup relies on each computer broadcasting its netbios name and the master browser on one of the computer's server service setting up its table, etc. unless you configure a look-up table on each computer. My understanding was that windows computers had two ways for using the tcp/ip protocol for its broadcasting-type networking.[Vista & 7 are not in my KB] The difference between netbios on tcp/ip vs netbios over tcp/ip was in how the SMBs were attached to the ip protocol. Win95/98 used "over" and win2k/wnxp used "on". At one point there were numerous articles stating that "over" represented a security risk that "on" didn't. [Later there were articles that "on" wasn't as secure as previously thought but "over" was still considered the bigger risk] Supposedly, if you had an all win2k/winxp workgroup you could disable or not enable "over" and your win2k/winxp computers would attach their SMBs in a more secure manner. The context was a workgroup w/ file&print sharing and an internet connection and no mention was made of lmhosts files. Since the manner in which the SMBs attach is too technical for me to understand, I don't understand the nature of the security risk. In my previous Win2k workgroup I made sure there were no unnecessary configuration settings to accommodate nonexistent win95/98 computers. Now I'm trying to ID where win2k & winxp are different and I'm still trying to nail down what does what in a win2k or winxp peer to peer workgroup where you have client/server services rather than client/server computers. What I'd like to know is if the "enable netbios over tcp/ip" checkbox simply enables broadcast name resolution rather than actually enabling netbios over tcp/ip or does win2k/winxp use "over" for broadcasting and "on" for something else? The on/over terminology was usually restricted to articles making the distinction between win95/98's & win2k/winxp's use of tcp/ip for intranet connecting. The "enable netbios over tcip/ip" may be generic rather than specific and without the presence of win95/98 netbios on tcp/ip may be used. Or maybe it is specific and in order to utilize the more secure "on" one may need to use lmhosts rather than broadcast. Another possibility is that the on/over distinction is now considered moot and I missed those articles.

When I run the Networking Wizard on my network consisting of two winxp computers it unchecks the Disabled NetBios over TCP/IP box on both computers. On one computer it checks Enable NetBios over TCP/IP and on the other it chooses the default of letting the DHCP server [my router] decide. According to my understanding I should be able to disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP since I only have winxp computers on my network and winxp attaches its SMBs to TCP/IP differently [i think it's called NetBios on TCP/IP] than Win98 which used NetBios over TCP/IP. I thought NetBios over TCP/IP was necessary only if you were networking w/ earlier Win OS's but I've read a lot of conflicting info on the NetBIOS on or over TCP/IP over the years. Supposedly NetBios over TCP/IP constituted a significant security risk at one point - I don't know if it's still considered a risk currently. I'd like to know if I should/can disable NetBios over TCP/IP but I don't want to experiment because I just got two-way access after months of troubleshooting and I am very tired of running that Network Wizard and running between 2 computers checking and changing settings. During that troubleshooting I tried enabling NetBios over TCP/IP on both computers for awhile. It didn't help so I disabled it again but apparently the Wizard thinks I need it.

Hey Sp0iLeDBrAt, Edit: Your suggestion WORKED!!! Thanks. I turned off SFS and added the same authenticated user to Share Permissions and NTFS Permissions on both computers and rebooted. After reboot I couldn't connect either way [altho F&PS was still excepted in Windows Firewall on both computers and the proper protocols were bound to the adapters, etc] but once I ran the Networking Wizard on both computers I had access both ways. Sorry for the delay in replying. When I checked my posts my name was the last listed [because I was checking posts thinking I was checking threads] so I didn't check for a reply . I just wish I knew why SFS wouldn't work - what setting changed where when I turned it off and re-ran the wizard. I had CTL+ALT+DEL logon enabled on both computers and I logged into accounts w/ the same UN & PW on both computers. I had "obtain IP address automatically" checked on both computers and IP Settings [advanced button] showed DHCP enabled [from the router]. I pinged successfully both ways using the IP addresses from ipconfig /all and using ping -a from the desktop to the problem thinkpad displayed the thinkpad's netbios name. [i don't know how the -a parameter works w/ the TCP/IP ping command, but at some level the thinkpad's IP address was associated w/ its netbios name.] I was using Simple File Sharing in order to use Windows' synch program between the desktop & my external HD, but fortunately I'm not using Windows synching anymore so I can keep SFS turned off. I expected that if access was denied under SFS, it was going to be denied w/ advanced file sharing since one reason I prefer AFS is so security can be tighter - well supposedly or theoretically anyway - but I guess "Simple" file sharing isn't as simple as I thought.

Hey Fish Have you tried pinging the Loopback address - 127.0.0.1 - from the laptop? You also can "ping localhost". ping the laptop's IP address that you get from ipconfig /all and ping the laptop's NetBIOS name "ping computername" - all done from the command prompt on the laptop. All those ping commands tell you if the laptop's tcp/ip installation is OK or corrupted. Pinging per the NetBIOS name isn't part of tcp/ip protocols and may tell us something that pinging xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx doesn't - but I don't know what. I also don't know if the tcp/ip stack can be corrupted one way - you can ping out but no pings in. The fact that you can ping the other computers might tell an expert your tcp/ip stack is not the problem. But since there are no experts around at the moment you might as well see if you can ping to the laptop from the laptop. Maybe the problem is w/ one of those "WAN miniports" I can't find any info about. WINS is a program run by a server to convert a computer's NetBIOS name to an IP address. Windows computers that are not in a domain network using their NetBIOS broadcasts/requests and NetBIOS can't communicate across a router. If I understand what I've read, the client computers have to be "WINS-enabled" to utilize the WINS server, which is reached by its IP address rather than a NetBIOS name [and thus can communicate w/ computers on the other side of a router]. So a WINS client [somehow] uses an IP address when its seeking name/address resolution or name/address resolution under some circumstances. A WINS proxy is a computer used on a network whose clients are NOT "WINS-enabled"and they seek name/address resolution thru their NetBIOS broadcasts & requests. The WINS proxy listens to the NetBIOS broadcasts and communicates to a WINS server on behalf on the non-WINS enabled computers. So my understanding is that a computer w/ WINS proxy enabled would continue to network via basic NetBIOS broadcasting and I would think your other computers would find it - your laptop is finding them. Pinging your laptop w/ its IP address bypasses NetBIOS name resolution and that failed in your network. Do you have a software firewall on your laptop configured differently than on the other computers? I found a check box to block incoming pings on some tab on some software firewall on one of my computers at some point in time. There's a place in Windows firewall, if you're using that, to check to allow an incoming echo request [ping]. When you open windows firewall in Control Panel it's on the advanced tab > ICMP area > settings button - first one on the list. I think that check enables incoming pings for all adapters/connections - there's also an ICMP tab for each connection in the network connections settings of the advanced tab. You highlight the adapter/connection and click the settings button. Pinging works whether its checked or unchecked if ts checked in the other place. Does your laptop go into a work environment and connect to a network there where there are computers running server OS's and server programs like WINS Proxy? If it does that may be where the Wins proxy enabled came from and maybe there's some other configuration setting that's causing a problem. I don't know what "IP routing" is in the context of the ipconfig command. As far as I know your router does the IP routing . Did you ever use the laptop to connect another computer to the internet and enable ICS [internet connections sharing]? I've never used ICS, but maybe there are some settings that get left over when you discontinue using ICS. That's all I think I know about that. Please post if you figure something out and good luck.

I have a Dell 380 [WinXP Pro SP2] & a Thinkpad X41 tablet [WinXP tab ed SP3] workgrouped using a 2Wiregateway wireless/ethernet router. Both connect wirelessly. I am currently using simple file sharing on both computers. I can access the shared files on the Dell from the Thinkpad but I can't access the shared files on the Thinkpad from the Dell. I get the message "logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer". I can successfully ping the Thinkpad from the Dell using its IP address and using the -a option the thinkpad's computer name is displayed. I have run the network wizard from CP on one and saved the netsetup.exe to disk and then run that on the other [done this several times both ways]. I am using Windows firewall on both computers and both have file sharing as an exception. Both computers have the same workgroup name & SSID. The accounts I'm logged into have the same UN & PW and group type on both computers. The Shared Documents folder on both computers has 'Share this folder on the network' checked. The adapters on both computers have Client for MS, File&Print Sharing and TCP/IP installed. The Thinkpad also has QoS Packet Scheduler and AEGIS protocol v3.2.0.3 installed. I have been troubleshooting this off and on for months and have checked registry values for restrictanonymous, hidden & RestrictNullSessAccess per various articles on the thinkpad. I have checked local security policy network access entries on both computers per different articles and am now thoroughly confused. I have never been able to get from the Dell to the Thinkpad thru My Network Places but at one time I could get from the Dell to the Thinkpad using Run > \\computername\ShareName. However, if I opened a file the connection crashed. I once got the message "not enough server space is available" when trying to connect thru Run. I increased the IPRStackSize in the registry, but shortly after that I had to reformat/reinstall the thinkpad and I don't know if it made any difference. After reformat/reinstall the IPRStackSize DWORD wasn't present in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters so I added it w/ a value of 15 - no change. [Thinkpad RAM =1.49GB; Dell RAM=256MB] Can anyone spot what I've overlooked or have any suggestions what I can try next? Also, does anyone know why the Run command opened the share on the thinkpad at one point while going thru My Network Places I consistently got the 'logon failure' message?

Thanks dencorso. Thanks jcarle for your POV.

Addendum: After doing more reading - the Duration Value in System Monitor is determined by the sampling interval you select in Properties > General Tab. 1 sec - 1.4 min; 15 sec - 25 min; 36 sec - 1 hr. The Source Tab has a Time Range Area where some instruction said to enter a duration, but it's grayed out on my computer. I'm still trying to open a .blg file in System Monitor. I hit the View Log Data button on the toolbar that opens the Source Tab in Properties, chose Log Files in Data Source Area, hit the Add Button. Before it was taking me to Administrative Tools [Doc&Settings\User\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools] where nothing showed. I found the counter logs by browsing to C\PerfLogs, selected a .blg, clicked Open, clicked Apply. At that point the Time Range Area in the Source Tab shows two sets of start & stop times [not identical for some reason, altho only one log is selected]. But when I click OK I get a Details Pane w/ no counters, no graph, no values except for Duration of 11:30. I've tried running the System_Overview log for about 15 minutes and then trying to open it and a log I've created - both 128 KB in size - with the same results. Below are links to two articles with instructions on how to set up memory and page file monitoring mmc consoles based on System Monitor. They are a good place to start learning how to create your own consoles. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...11-5073570.html http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...tml?tag=btxcsim ******* Yeah, I agree w/ the trialware, etc. I wrote Lenovo pointing out that trialware should not be installed since software installs change the registry and uninstall under Windows does not necessarily remove those changes. I'm not at the point that I can do a reformat/reinstall on my own, but I've always insisted on a licensed copy of an OS install disc - except for the tablet - with the intention of being able to do so. The tablet was bought for mobility - not speed - and a special need and I had to make some concessions. Only it couldn't even do its limited and specialized functions in a reasonably timely manner and without crashing. Lenovo support has been somewhat helpful and might be more helpful if I can figure out exactly what questions to ask. I had to reread my performance monitor notes when I went to set up some counter logs on the Dell and discovered I couldn't remember how to create a counter log. So I now realize you can create a log as a comma or tab delimited text file as well as a .blg file. [Don't know how I missed or forgot that] And you have to set all the counters in System Monitor or a counter log for the same collection interval which makes sense if one [namely me] actually thinks about what is going on. One of my references suggests a 15 sec interval for logs < 4 hrs, so that's what I'm going with. So I'm going to set my first logs up as text logs so I can access the data and plug the numbers into the few ranges and formula I've collected so far. My first log is going to check for excessive paging by measuring Logical disk\% Disk Time; Physical Disc\ Avg. Disk Queue Length; Memory\Page Reads/sec. I want to run the same counters a few times and see if the values are consistent. With System Monitor a couple of counters have had values all over the place. Once I can actually set up a log and access the results I hope that the learning process will go faster. I'll do a search for "USB boot" here and check out your blog. I've been trying to set up Emergency!!!/troubleshooting/repair protocols for when I suddenly can't boot into Windows or get a bad viral/malware infection for years, done extensive reading, and other than having my data and registry backed up am totally unprepared. Thanks again for your help.

Well, that's interesting. So if you have a computer w/ an "OEM preload" you can't use perfom + perfiz to create and analyze performance logs? I'm troubleshooting two computers- one w/ its WinXP OS disc and one without. The Dell380 workstation did come with its WinXP OS disc and a computer tech I hired helped me re-format and re-install awhile back. It solved some problems but I still didn't really say wow. The trouble w/ the Dell is that I can't sit up at it for long - disability problems. So I end up doing most of my work on the Thinkpad X41 tablet - which does not have a WinXP Tablet ed CD. It doesn't have a CD drive - can one even install from an external USB CD drive?. I started troubleshooting the tablet pc first since I can work at it longer. It does install from a hidden partition on the HD and now I know why the C drive is named IBM_Preload. I hadn't heard the term "OEM preload" before and none of what I read said perfmon didn't work on an OEM preload WinXP installation. So I'll switch over to the Dell to start using/learning perfmon. I'm still not clear if perfiz is necessary to open the .blg files in perfmon or if it just makes it easier to set up and use the logs, but I'll set up some counter logs on the Dell and see what I can do just with perfom and then with perfiz. Can you recommend any performance utilities that do work on OEM Preloads? Thanks for your help.

Well, that's the question - is it bad hardware, improperly configured hardware, hardware that's not compatible w/ the OS or the computer’s other hardware, bad software, poorly configured software or some combination of problems. And I’m working on two problems – slow performance and program instability – which may or may not arise from the same cause. Whatever the problems are, they were present in the two very different computers - the desktop and the tablet - before I installed programs or printer or scanner drivers or AV or firewalls. The Thinkpad X41 tablet demonstrated dramatically slow performance and repeated crashes truly “right out of the box” when I tried using the computer's Help, Explorer and Wordpad to start gathering info on the hardware and already installed software. After being shipped back to Lenovo and returned it had improved, but its performance is still not what I’d expect from its specs and MS Word [updated thru MS Update site when MS says so] should not be repeatedly crashing. As for the Dell, I certainly didn’t say “Wow” when I first booted it up and opened the pre-installed Word – and considering how much the technology had changed since my last desktop I should have. I know the GHz of a processor, the amount of memory and the size & rpm of the HD aren’t adequate guides to the performance of a computer. Whether the speed of the processor results in faster performance depends on the architecture of the processor, the performance of its caches, the performance of memory, the performance of the MB, the performance of the HD, the system and I/O buses and how well the OS and hardware work together. So I'm trying to establish counter logs to run at different times and under different conditions to start checking for a paging problem or a HD queuing problem, etc. MS made it sound like Performance Monitor had that ability. Help tells you how to set up and configure logs, turn them on and off, etc. But unless I missed it [i do do that sometimes], there are no instructions on how to access that data. The log is IDed as a binary file, so there must be some Performance Monitor plug-in or other application to output the log’s data. I followed the link to the Performance Monitor Wizard. The Overview talks about “gathering the logs” and configuring the counters and creating logs. It sounds like it makes the job of setting up a log to measure a certain function easier but it doesn’t mention accessing the information in the logs. I’ve created and run .blg logs through Performance Monitor. The links on the Wizard page are to server and IT tools which makes me think you still need another tool to access the log info and there are hundreds of them [exaggeration], none of which say “Performance Log Reader’. Have you used the Wizard? Will it open the logs it configure

I'm trying to use the Performance Console and counter logs to figure out why my computers w/ the GHz processors, RAM in MB, giant HD's, faster bus speeds, etc. ran just as slow out of the box as my old computers and are only getting worse with time despite my efforts to optimize. I've read thru the console's help, the chapter in the MCDST training kit book and googled and I still can't do much with the console. I have a lot of questions but I'll start w/ a few. First, setting the sampling interval. The default interval for the default counters and any I've added thus far is 1 sec. Are all counters best sampled at the same rate? I get an error message when I go to add a counter to System Monitor “At least one data sample is missing. Data collection is taking longer than expected. You might avoid this message by increasing the sample interval.” I don't understand why I get that message when I go to add a counter rather than when I highlight a counter already running. I have no idea which counter - if any - the message refers to. The result boxes in System Monitor seem self-explanatory. I don't know what the Duration box is measuring tho. It doesn't change if you add a new counter and highlight that counter. It doesn't measure the time since you opened System Monitor. Currently it's reading "5:00" for all counters and has been for way more than 5 minutes. Counter logs I figured out how to set up logs but not how to access the information they collect. Do you need another program to actually use counter logs? Acceptable Values I've found some articles here and there that provided a few values to which to compare my computer's counters. Is there someplace that lists bad/acceptable/good/excellent values for performance counters?

OK, think I understand better. If I post a new question and later think of something I've left out, the polite way to add it to my post is to edit rather than to reply. Glad I asked and you expounded. I'm exactly the type to forget there's an edit option and head for the quick reply button. Re the need or not-need to bump one's post - since people get busy, sick, take vacations etc and attendance at the forum must vary, with people w/ different expertise available at different times, is there some ballpark figure where one can assume one's post has gotten lost? Re-posting the same question seems to be no-no, so bumping would be better? All my posts have been replied to promptly so I may be asking about a non-problem.

Thanks to all. From the info Nolo gathered it sounds like the service is necessary for computers in a domain setting - where the networked computers are managed by a computer running a Windows server OS. In a workgroup you can't manage computers over the network - you have to do it locally on the computer. So I'll turn it off and it's nice to know others have done it without any problems. Security-wise the threats currently [that I know of] -viruses and malware - act locally even if you get them over the net. But you never know what the bad guys are gonna try next. Someday I may read up on and try out remote desktop again. I was using it so I could use my later version of Word on the other computer or run PaperPort. I don't know if you could install software or access network connections and make changes - that could come in handy. I think you'd still be seen by the computer as acting locally, but I don't know what services Remote Desktop uses.

Thanks. From the link you provided it sounds like it's not on my Thinkpad because I have later versions of .net framework on it and the ASP.net account is now in the hidden accounts Windows uses.

I have this same problem on my Dell380 workstation running WinXP Pro. It's supposed to be common on Dells w/ a Sound Blaster Audigy2 OEM card. There's a script on a site [http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm] recommended by one of the forums I've recently visited [tom's hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/86892-45...pearing-startup] that's supposed to fix the problem on Dells. I haven't tried it or any scripts from this site. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know which sites are safe, but someone else may be familiar with the site and have used some of the scripts. The MS Knowledge Base Article on the problem is "System32 Folder Opens When Logging on to Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=170086 Keywords: kbenv kbprb kbui KB170086 I haven't tried that either. When I get around to modifying the registry I want to also modify it so the computer boots into my documents folder. And that's all I know about that.

My WinXP Pro and WinXP Tablet computers are on a home workgroup using a wireless/ethernet router. According to the description given, it sounds like Remote Registry Service is a service that would be used in domains or for remote assistance or maybe remote desktop. I gave up using remote desktop to access my desktop from my tablet because programs [even MS Word] frequently freeze in every Windows OS I've had regardless of how much memory or disk space I have and you need that CTL+ALT+DEL to end the "not responding" program and it doesn't work remotely. Does anyone know what Remote Registry Service is necessary for and if it represents a security risk? It depends of Remote Procedure Call but no components were listed as depending on it.

I found an account named "ASP.net Machine Account" that I didn't set up in User Accounts on my Dell 380 running XP Pro and connected to a home network through a wireless router. Was this an account set up by a computer tech to enable remote troubleshooting? If so does having Remote Assistance unchecked prevent that account from being used remotely? If not, where did it come from? It's not on my WinXp Tablet.

This problem has been solved but I'm not sure what was solved and I'd like some clarification if that's within forum etiquette. [i'm new]. Both "workgroup" and "server" were mentioned. Is this problem/solution for a workgroup or for a domain w/ a computer running a win server OS? If it's workgroup I'll add the problem and link to PChuck to my networking-understand-it-later folder. Just a comment on Win2K vs WinXP - I tried hard to stick w/ Win2K Prof, even paid extra to get Win2k on my lemon VAIO Sony notebook. I did not find Win2K workgroup networking easy or consistent, however, back in 2002-2003. We had 4-5 computers workgrouped, all w/ Win2K Prof as sole OS, all w/ the same version of Norton IS, all w/ the same protocols and I spent hours and hours troubleshooting. I finally got a stable connection between my laptop and desktop but going from desktop to laptop I'd have to login /w username & PW and going the other way I just had to click on the icon in Network Places [or whatever Win2K called it]. I never figured out what caused the difference before I got snowed under all those security updates of 2003, some of which caused extensive troubleshooting. Then MS's webpage said they were no longer supporting Win2K [but apparently they still are] so when I had to buy a new computer because my desktop got hit by lightning I ended up w/ WinXP Prof, which is no joy. I see Win2K Prof has a SP4 now. I'm wondering if MS finally made Win2K Prof work.

Thanks for the welcome and the answer. I think I understand. If I'd posted a question and wanted to "bump" it to the head of the line I'd add a reply to the post that didn't add any new thoughts or info to my question. This should not be done frequently or without reason but it would be ok etiquette-wise if I had a post that no one replied to within the usual reply time for this forum and I wanted to retry getting a response. I also should have posted my question on forum rules under Miscellaneous>Site & Forum Issues> Forum Rules I see.

What is "bumping" a topic?