[vista win explorer very slow to open cd / dvd]

I am personally on winxp pro sp2 and have started testing win7 x64 so my vista exposure is limited.

So far whenever I find myself working on a vista computer and having to read a cd or dvd of cdrw or cdr material

upon opening windows explorer to read the media is very slow.

There is a green highlight that appears to be a percentage indicator whose progress

is agonizingly slow or at times hangs completely. Even backup disks burned on the same computer

exhibit the same behavior when I go back to read them.

While testing win7 I have not seen the same problem and of course winxp doesn't have this problem

I would hack away at the computers, which are not mine, if I knew there was a fix.

Thanks in advance, Peace on Earth.

[prog starts from cmd shell but not shortcut]

I changed to cmd /c and although it still opens two cmd shell windows both close when i exist the application (mutt) which is better

thanks - also here is the screen error if I just click on the mutt.exe (doesnt matter if run as admin is used) from google i get the impression this is an access violation

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

Application Name: mutt.exe

Application Version: 1.5.19.0

Application Timestamp: 49c8dd75

Fault Module Name: mutt.exe

Fault Module Version: 1.5.19.0

Fault Module Timestamp: 49c8dd75

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Offset: 0015a89a

OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: 0a9e

Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Additional Information 3: 0a9e

Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Read our privacy statement online:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104...mp;clcid=0x0409

[prog starts from cmd shell but not shortcut]

greetings,

I am coming from win xp and trying out win7

there are a couple of cmd shell programs I use regularly in particular mutt (email) and mcabber (im)

if I setup the the shortcut to point directly to the executable I get an error

if I setup the shortcut like this cmd /k path to executable the program runs opening two cmd shells

and when closed leaves a cmd shell open on the desktop.

if possible I would like to explore some other options to run these programs

thank you

[question - \start menu\programs\]

Thanks to -x- for the dir path for program shortcuts (all users and username)

as to why, i rearrange have never liked longs lists when I select all programs

so I put everything into 3 or 4 folders with subdirs under that, just a

preference.

I was browsing another forum and learned about right clicking on a driver

properties -> compatibility -> run in compatibility mode

then install driver

so now my oem sb live card is working I dont use the creative drivers

rather the kxproject drivers kxdrv3541-full.exe The tray icon doesn't

show up but the windows controls work.

[question - \start menu\programs\]

I am coming from winxp (skipped vista). In xp I could rearrange

the layout of programs from start button -> all programs by

going to \Documents and Settings\Start Menu\Programs and

moving things around there. I would have thought \Users but

it doesn't seem to be there.

I have my display settings at 1280 x 1024 and the icons are

rather large is there a setting to change the default desktop icon size?

Oh and the MB sound card (intel something) and the SB live don't work

I am thinking of going with the turtle beach montegro and wonder if

anyone can confirm if win7 has drivers for it. Otherwise any pci

cards that definitely work with win7?

thanks

[cygwin sshd service installed]

I am rather surprised that I was able to install cygwin and the sshd

service. it is win 7 build 7201. I did have to open the cygwin

shell with run as administrator and not specific to win7

the scripts to setup sshd fail unless some specific file permissions

are in place.

For the service to run a priviledged user has to be created and

after rebooting I noticed an icon for that username on the login

screen so I will have to look into how to hide that user icon.

I decided to update this topic as several changes have been

made to get sshd working. Initially when I thought it was

working I only tried to logon from a cygwin shell on the same

machine and I was able to connect. After I posted though

I realized to my embarassment that I was not able to logon

from another machine on the same subnet. It now seems!

that by stopping the windows firewall and software protection

I can logon remotely.

this error is from the software protection service

sshd: PID 944: fatal: fork of unprivileged child failed

this error is from the firewall

sshd: PID 1384: error: fork: Resource temporarily unavailable

I also noticed that if I start either or both services that something

gets screwed up and I have to reboot with both services not

started.

Now my mea culpa is that I don't know anything about win7 yet

having come from winxp. So I will be reading anything I can find

to correct the problem with the firewall and software protection.

Additionally I cant be sure sshd is stable without some more

reboots and further testing.

7 july 2009 I had some time this morning to continue testing win7

and was still having connect problems to sshd, I found this tip

http://www.heikkitoivonen.net/blog/2008/11...-and-rebaseall/

After running rebaseall, sshd seems to be working consistently, yay...

actually this was a showstopper as I use it for client support, along

with vnc which I will be testing soon.

[trying to install applications folder permissions question]

Thanks your suggestion works am now working on installing some applications

for testing.

[trying to install applications folder permissions question]

I just started testing a beta of window7. The hardware I am using is quite old

but at least the ethernet card 3com945cx is working.

I am not fond of the windows \program files\ default so I normally setup two

directories \prog\ and \tool\ with several subdirs.

The directories were created without any obvious problems on win7

However when I try to install an application like firefox into

\prog\network\firefox3 there is some kind of permissions message

that blocks the install.

I think this maybe something new because my userid does have

administrator rights.

I would appreciate knowing where to read up on whatever the new

policies are or a clue where to start looking to change this behavior

Thanks

[further lockdown of limited account on winxp]

Thanks, I downloaded the documentation pdf for steady state and

appreciate the suggestion as had not heard of the product.

easiest method is to just freeze the machine state using steadystate(free) or deep freeze(paid)

it wont prevent someone from making changes but itll save you from having to undo them if they do.

[further lockdown of limited account on winxp]

greetings,

I am supporting a small business with 3 winxp computers on copper dsl behind

a linksys router. One computer runs the primary business application a

database of sales, inventory and reporting. Another computer can access

the database via vnc. Although the database unit has had its problems, the

main issue is with the other two computers. After reinstalling winxp on both

units, I have set up limited user accounts on the machines. From my testing

it seems that the limited accounts can still download and install files, applications

etc. I would like to change the security on the limited accounts to block

any downloads via firefox or internet explorer. What information I have

been able to locate so far hasn't really worked (gpedit.msc) so I am

looking for detailed documentation if it is available.

Thanks for any help

[home network with ethernet printers]

greetings,

my sister recently changed her dsl service and her ethernet printers no longer work.

I will be going over there to troubleshoot but am fairly certain that some ip addresses

have changed and she replaced the dsl modem with some kind of combined modem/router

In the past I have always just hard coded the ip addresses of the printers (hp jet direct menus)

and then put a name and ip address in the host file for each pc which for small home networks

seems fine to me. I know at my last employer all the hp printers had hard coded ip addresses

and I "assume" that the name association was centralized somewhere presumably the dhcp server.

Anyway, if there is a better or simpler way to setup printers on small dhcp nets, I would like

a pointer to some documentation.

Thanks

[question - use wget on rmt comp from ssh session?]

Home connection is dial up (old amd 500 mhz system) running xp pro and the sourceforge package setupssh.exe which runs the sshd service on both computers.

The other computer is on dsl running xp-pro with linksys router (wireless also but comp are hardwired ethernet).

I take note of the ip address on the target computer and after making my dialup connection logon via ssh to the target computer. The intended purpose was to use the target computer to download iso's and other large files and then I would go over there to burn the cd's. The problem is the terminal session hangs when I start the wget command. I noticed it did the same thing with command line vim.

I am guessing this is not supported but next thing I will try is setting up a batch file of wget

commands.

I gave up on this configuration - and decided to try cygwin with all the needed applications,

sshd, vim, wget, curl, bash approx 37 MB. On the target computer I have zonealarm

so it was part of the problem but doesnt explain vim hanging. I am using putty on my

home machine which is working. I noticed that the vendor verizon puts only a single

ip address on the dsl so if I decide to run another sshd server on another internal machine

will have to setup different port address.

[Windows XP "Windows Cannot Change Password"]

I have a similar problem with a pc that has winxp and sp2 installed as a slipstream

the admin user not the administrator account is unable to change its own password.

I have tried removing the password but after some time interval the account is

inaccesbile with a pop up message password must be changed but upon trying to

change the password, it say that the user is not authorized.

To get around it I have to reboot in safe mode and remove the password or change it

there. Although I havent tried it yet, I am guessing that the problem is related to the

pc not have dotnet installed so once I get a chance will give that a try.

[approx license costs for pc connect to fileserver]

Greets,

I have a small client and think that they should setup a file server mostly for centralized backups.

Of course cost will be an issue. I was thinking of installing a linux samba server but was not aware

that MS charges on a pc basis for connections to a file server, until now.

This customer gets their pc's from dell so they are running xp home and I have them networked so they can share files. So far I see no reason to for microsoft to get involved in any licensing issues since each pc is properly licensed via dell for the duration of its operation.

What sort of costs will kick in for a file server whether linux with samba or winserver?

Or is there a site where I can configure a cost estimate?

[wxp zonealarm firewall admin user]

I have a small client ( 2 pc's) both are dells with home version xp. The client uses

compuserve to connect to the internet. I installed zone alarm free version on both pcs and it seems ok as no problems so far with hackers( yet!) Not using the sp2 firewall

as havent read up on it and been using zone alarm a few years without problems.

Also since aol/compuserve email is web hosted. Also I have disabled or changed to

manual a lot of services which dont seem to be needed.

Anyway the client is going to get dsl and am worrying about their security. The userids they logon with are all admin capable, which is an easy change if they will go for it.

Looking for suggestions on other stuff to check.

Thanks

[unattended install without floppy drive ?]

Thanks for the help

Havent done the cd thing so am downloading

the pdf of the unattended xp cd guide.

[unattended install without floppy drive ?]

Having been using unattended installs with winxp and win2k for some time now

and would never want to go back. Recently got a free athlon motherboard

and fiddled for some time until I determined the floppy controller was bad.

I installed winxp manually but decided to ask on this forum if there are

any alternate methods to using a floppy?

I would prefer a method that doesnt require network access but

if that is the only way so be it.

Thanks

[? CDPATH env variable]

I recently installed a science program called delta on win2k. My system

has c:\drdos and d:\win2k. The program inserted some variables

in win2k including CDPATH c:\delta I deleted the string as it was

causing problems so can only include part of the original string.

The first symptom something was wrong was when I tried to compile

a program using mingw in d:\tmp and I couldnt cd to a subdir

unless I gave it the full path. Also make failed as it had some cd

commands. At first I thought it was the registry parseauto but

after checking it found it ok. So then I started looking at the

system variables and found the stuff from the delta install.

My question is this:

How should this variable be set and not have unintended consequences?

[Au3 Script To Conf Messenger]

Greetings Nologic,

I looked around a bit but only saw the pinned autoit thread here under Application Installs. Not sure how to post to that thread. Also I must have fouled up the code tag or tags as my post got left justified and yours looks nice.

Anyway, liked your post and will analyze it for future reference.

Thanks

[Au3 To Conf Xp Start Menu Properties]

au3 script for winxp start menu properties

customize start menu, general and advanced

Since my personal preferences, you will have to edit this script

I havent figured out how to deal with toggle radio buttons to guarantee

that they are either on or off yet, so I just toggle them for now.

; ---------------------------------------------------

; Post XP install Set up Start Menu properties

; May toggle some advanced sm options incorrectly

; in particular help and support, printers and faxes

; May toggle some general sm option incorrectly

; in particular uncheck outlook express

; ---------------------------------------------------

;AutoItSetOption("WinTitleMatchMode", 4)

; ---------------------------------------------------

; Activate start menu properties

; ---------------------------------------------------

Send ("^{ESC}")

Send ("{ESC}")

Send ("+{F10}")

Sleep (100)

Send ("r")

; ---------------------------------------------------

; Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window should now be open

; ---------------------------------------------------

$title01="Taskbar and Start Menu Properties"

$title05="Customize Start Menu"

$wintext01="Start Menu"

$wintext02="Taskbar"

$wintext05="General"

$wintext07="Advanced"

$msgtitle05="General"

$msg07="Problem setting General start menu options"

$msgtitle07="Advanced"

$msg07="Problem setting Advanced start menu options"

$msgtitle09="Start Menu"

$msg09="Error: Problem closing start menu options"

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(1000)

If WinWaitActive ( $title01 ) Then

If WinWaitActive ( $title01, $wintext01 ) Then

Send ("!C")

Else

MsgBox (0, $title01, "Problem on Start Menu Pass1"

EndIf

Else

Send ("{RIGHT}")

Send ("!C")

EndIf

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(1000)

If WinWaitActive ( $title05, $wintext05 ) Then

ControlClick( $title05, $wintext05, "SysTabControl321")

Send ("{RIGHT}")

If WinWaitActive ( $title05, $wintext07 ) Then

Sleep(1000)

Send ("!m")

Send ("{DOWN 2}") ; make control panel a menu

Send ("{SPACE}")

Send ("{DOWN 4}") ; toggle help and suppport

Send ("{SPACE}")

Send ("{DOWN 3}") ; make my computer a menu

Send ("{SPACE}")

Send ("{DOWN 4}") ; make my documents a menu

Send ("{SPACE}")

Send ("{DOWN 5}") ; rem my music

Send ("{SPACE}")

Send ("{DOWN 5}") ; rem my picture

Send ("{SPACE}")

Send ("{DOWN 5}") ; toggle printers and faxes

Send ("{SPACE}")

Sleep(1000)

Send ("{TAB}") ; move to OK button

Send ("{ENTER}") ; press OK button

EndIf

Else

MsgBox (0, $msgtitle07, $msg07)

EndIf

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(1000)

If WinWaitActive ( $title01, $wintext01 ) Then

Send ("!C")

Else

MsgBox (0, $title01, "Problem on Start Menu Pass 2")

EndIf

If WinWaitActive ( $title05, $wintext05 ) Then

Send ("!S") ; select small icons

Send ("!C") ; clear list

Send ("!E") ; rem outlook

ControlClick( $title05, $wintext05, "Button9")

Else

MsgBox (0, $msgtitle05, $msg05)

EndIf

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(1000)

If WinWaitActive ( $title01, $wintext01 ) Then

ControlClick( $title01, $wintext01, "Button5")

Else

MsgBox (0, $msgtitle09, $msg09)

EndIf

[code]

[Au3 Script To Conf Messenger]

AutoIt script to configure messenger after xp install.

As this is my first script being posted if I have not

followed certain forum conventions, let me know.

; ---------------------------------------------------

; Set Messenger Options Preferences to

; not run when win starts, not allow to run background

; ---------------------------------------------------

;AutoItSetOption("WinTitleMatchMode", 4)

; ---------------------------------------------------

$bslash="\"

$DRV=@HomeDrive

$PGD=@ProgramFilesDir

$MSGDIR="\Messenger"

$MEXE="msmsgs.exe"

$messenger=$PGD&$MSGDIR&$bslash&$MEXE

$title01="Windows Messenger"

$wintext01="LogonWindow"

$title05="Options"

$wintext05="Personal"

$wintext07="Preferences"

; ---------------------------------------------------

If NOT FileExists( $messenger ) Then

MsgBox (0, $messenger, "Messenger program not found, Exiting")

Exit

Else

Run( $messenger )

EndIf

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(100)

If WinWaitActive ( $title01, $wintext01 ) Then

Send ("+{F10}")

Send ("!TO")

Else

MsgBox (0, $title01, "waited for Messenger -- TIMEOUT")

EndIf

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(100)

If WinWaitActive ( $title05, $wintext05 ) Then

ControlClick( $title05, $wintext05, "SysTabControl321")

Send ("{RIGHT 2}")

Sleep(100)

; notice we change to wintext07

ControlCommand( $title05, $wintext07, "Button1", "UnCheck", "" )

ControlCommand( $title05, $wintext07, "Button2", "UnCheck", "" )

ControlClick( $title05, $wintext07, "Button10")

Else

MsgBox (0, $title05, "waited for Options -- TIMEOUT")

EndIf

; ---------------------------------------------------

Sleep(100)

If WinWaitActive ( $title01, $wintext01 ) Then

Send ("+{F10}")

Send ("!FC")

Else

MsgBox (0, $title01, "waited for Messenger final pass -- TIMEOUT")

EndIf

[Right Click Context Menu -- Remove Extract All?]

Thanks , just tried it and it worked

Seems minor but it still managed to bug me

[Batch Script Env Variables]

Thanks for the information about SetLocal and EndLocal.

Wont be able to try it right away but looks good.

Also went through all the scripts with vim and cleaned up the

at signs. dont remember where I learned that one.

:%s/^@//g

[Batch Script Env Variables]

Have a short batch script to install stand alone programs that are zipped.

Install directorys, program name, creation of shortcut to exe are all variables

so I can reuse the script by changing just a few lines at the top.

Problem comes in when I try to run another script like this, it seems like the

cmd shell environment needs to be cleaned up after each call because it

looks to me like the variables are lingering from running the previous

script causing the variables to have incorrect values. I think if I am right

about the problem I need the call to start a new cmd shell each time.

Any suggestions are appreciated. If I run the scripts one at a time no problems.

@set TCLK=tclock2-inst.bat

@set WROL=winroll-inst.bat

@set GV63=gvim63-inst.bat

@set GVRI=gvim63-reg-import.bat

@set CVRC=copy-vimrc-home.bat

@call %TCLK% 2>&1 >> %TEMP%\%TCLK%

@call %WROL% 2>&1 >> %TEMP%\%WROL%

@call %GV63% 2>&1 >> %TEMP%\%GV63%

@call %GVRI% 2>&1 >> %TEMP%\%GVRI%

@call %CVRC% 2>&1 >> %TEMP%\%CVRC%

Here is a sample script --

@cls

@echo ----------------------------------------

@set SCRIPTNAME=tclock2-inst.bat

@rem echo %SCRIPTNAME%

@set DRV=%HOMEDRIVE%

@set INFILE1=tclock2_120.zip

@set TARGDIR=\tclock2_120

@set TARGEXE=tclock2.exe

@set SCLNK=tclock2.lnk

@set M1PTH=\tool

@set M1SD1PTH=%M1PTH%\system

@set DRVM1SD1PTH=%DRV%%M1SD1PTH%

@rem set INSTPTH=%DRVM1SD1PTH%

@set INSTPTH=%DRVM1SD1PTH%%TARGDIR%

@set TARGPTH=%DRVM1SD1PTH%%TARGDIR%

@echo %M1SD1PTH%

@echo %DRVM1SD1PTH%

@echo %TARGPTH%

@rem -- should not have to change anything below this line --

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

@set smdir=%DRV%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu

@set smpdir=%DRV%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs

@set smpsudir=%smpdir%\Startup

@rem echo %smdir%

@rem echo %smpdir%

@rem echo %smpsudir%

@set M1SD1SCPTH=%smpdir%%M1SD1PTH%

@set SUSCPTH=%smpsudir%

@echo %M1SD1SCPTH%

@echo %SUSCPTH%

@set LCLSC=shortcut.exe

@set LCLUNZIP=unzip.exe

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

@echo ----------------------------------------

@rem to test only shortcuts, use the next statement

@rem goto :SHORTCUT

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

@if not exist %LCLSC% (

echo Error: missing file -- %LCLSC%

goto :DOSEXIT )

@if not exist %LCLUNZIP% (

echo Error: missing file -- %LCLUNZIP%

goto :DOSEXIT )

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

@if not exist %INFILE1% (

echo Error: missing file -- %INFILE1%

goto :DOSEXIT )

@if not exist %INSTPTH% (

mkdir %INSTPTH%

@if ERRORLEVEL 1 (

echo Error: mkdir %INSTPTH% failed

goto :DOSEXIT ) )

@echo copy %INFILE1% %INSTPTH%

@ copy %INFILE1% %INSTPTH%

@if ERRORLEVEL 1 (

echo Error: copy %INFILE1% to %INSTPTH% failed

goto :DOSEXIT )

@echo ----------------------------------------

@echo %LCLUNZIP% -o -d %INSTPTH% %INSTPTH%\%INFILE1%

@ %LCLUNZIP% -o -d %INSTPTH% %INSTPTH%\%INFILE1%

@if ERRORLEVEL 1 (

echo Error: unzip %INFILE1% to %INSTPTH% failed

goto :DOSEXIT )

@rem to test all but shortcuts, use the next statement

@rem goto :DOSEXIT

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

:SHORTCUT

@echo ----------------------------------------

@echo %LCLSC% /F:"%M1SD1SCPTH%\%SCLNK%" /A:C /T:"%TARGPTH%\%TARGEXE%"

@ %LCLSC% /F:"%M1SD1SCPTH%\%SCLNK%" /A:C /T:"%TARGPTH%\%TARGEXE%"

@if ERRORLEVEL 1 (

echo Error: Shortcut failed %M1SD1SCPTH%\%SCLNK%

goto :DOSEXIT )

@echo ----------------------------------------

@echo %LCLSC% /F:"%SUSCPTH%\%SCLNK%" /A:C /T:"%TARGPTH%\%TARGEXE%"

@ %LCLSC% /F:"%SUSCPTH%\%SCLNK%" /A:C /T:"%TARGPTH%\%TARGEXE%"

@if ERRORLEVEL 1 (

echo Error: Shortcut failed %SUSCPTH%\%SCLNK%

goto :DOSEXIT )

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

@del %INSTPTH%\%INFILE1%

@if exist %INSTPTH%\%INFILE1% (

echo Error: %INSTPTH\INFILE1% del cmd failed )

@rem ------------------------------------------------------------

@echo off

@rem these must be the final lines in the script

:DOSEXIT

@echo ----------------------------------------

@echo if Error: recheck -- %SCRIPTNAME%

[Right Click Context Menu -- Remove Extract All?]

winxp

using explorer and right clicking on a zip file the context menu has extract all which goes to a wizard. Been using 7zip and would like to remove extract all from the context menu. Appreciate any information on how to do this if possible.