OT: Windows Disaster Time

[Jim Thompson]

I've got a blue screen issue...

All of a sudden I acquired a "Search results" icon on my desktop.

Where it came from I have no idea, sometimes my sloppy mouse movements
get things on the desktop that don't belong.

I right-clicked in an attempt to delete it... no dice, no delete
option.

So, like a dummy, I drug it onto the toolbar, figuring it to be a copy
of Explorer.

No dice.

So I re-booted.

So I get an error message, "Explorer (no surprise) has committed an
illegal" something or other, then I get a blue screen.

Turns out the machine still "talks", I'm running this message right
now by loading Agent using Task Manager.

OS is Win2K.

Any ideas on how to fix?

No smart-ass remarks about Linux, PLEASE ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Roger Hamlett]

"Jim Thompson" <thegreatone@example.com> wrote in message
news:9g40e11ogm9u6vkg8rrhu9u7lspkavc2bu@4ax.com...

I've got a blue screen issue...

All of a sudden I acquired a "Search results" icon on my desktop.

Where it came from I have no idea, sometimes my sloppy mouse movements
get things on the desktop that don't belong.

I right-clicked in an attempt to delete it... no dice, no delete
option.

So, like a dummy, I drug it onto the toolbar, figuring it to be a copy
of Explorer.

No dice.

So I re-booted.

So I get an error message, "Explorer (no surprise) has committed an
illegal" something or other, then I get a blue screen.

Turns out the machine still "talks", I'm running this message right
now by loading Agent using Task Manager.

OS is Win2K.

Any ideas on how to fix?

No smart-ass remarks about Linux, PLEASE ;-)
Have you loaded the new Msn 'toolbar'?.

In this, under 'search', there is an option 'desktop', which puts a search
icon on the desktop.
Now if this is what has generated it, you may be able to get rid of it by
going to Msn search on the web, and selecting 'restore defaults'. It is
normally removable using the options in the toolbar. However I can't see
why an icon on the desktop, should cause an explorer crash on boot, so I'd
be incined to look in the 'startup' folder (or use regedit to look here
manually), and see if it is actually launching something.
Have you rebooted more than once?. Otherwise 'last known good' from F8 at
bootup, might get you back to a working machine.

Best Wishes

 

[Joerg]

Hello Jim,

Did you (or rather, can you still) run a newer virus checker program on
that PC? If it's too shot to do that I am afraid you might be looking at
a complete Windows re-install :-(

Hopefully you don't have to...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Martin Riddle]

Hey Linux isnt much better you can easily screw that up too. And it'll take longer to repair unless you know a guru.

I would try to run a chkdsk /f and see what comes up. Since you can run TaskMgr, run 'cmd'

You might have a corrupted file.

Can you run Explorer from TaskMgr?

Record the Dll name that caused the crash, sometimes replacing the DLL (delete and copy a fresh one) solves the problem.

Cheers


"Jim Thompson" <thegreatone@example.com> wrote in message news:9g40e11ogm9u6vkg8rrhu9u7lspkavc2bu@4ax.com...

I've got a blue screen issue...

All of a sudden I acquired a "Search results" icon on my desktop.

Where it came from I have no idea, sometimes my sloppy mouse movements
get things on the desktop that don't belong.

I right-clicked in an attempt to delete it... no dice, no delete
option.

So, like a dummy, I drug it onto the toolbar, figuring it to be a copy
of Explorer.

No dice.

So I re-booted.

So I get an error message, "Explorer (no surprise) has committed an
illegal" something or other, then I get a blue screen.

Turns out the machine still "talks", I'm running this message right
now by loading Agent using Task Manager.

OS is Win2K.

Any ideas on how to fix?

No smart-ass remarks about Linux, PLEASE ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:11:49 GMT, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

Did you (or rather, can you still) run a newer virus checker program on
that PC? If it's too shot to do that I am afraid you might be looking at
a complete Windows re-install :-(

Hopefully you don't have to...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Joerg]

Hello Jim,

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

That should be a pretty good protection. It depends on the settings, IOW
what you are allowing Norton to bless WRT downloads etc. I also have a
HW firewall between the biz network and anything outside.

The reason I am thinking a re-install may be in the cards is that you
mentioned that Explorer crashes the system. Assuming that is Windows
Explorer and not IE that can be serious because it is a fairly integral
part of Windows. A SW engineer at a client once told me that a broken
Windows Explorer is like driving around with a frayed timing belt.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:49:00 GMT, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

That should be a pretty good protection. It depends on the settings, IOW
what you are allowing Norton to bless WRT downloads etc. I also have a
HW firewall between the biz network and anything outside.

I also have a HW firewall (Barricade). I have Norton configured with
NO "blessings", all downloads must ask for my OK.

The reason I am thinking a re-install may be in the cards is that you
mentioned that Explorer crashes the system.

I've verified that Windows Explorer is indeed the culprit.

Assuming that is Windows
Explorer and not IE that can be serious because it is a fairly integral
part of Windows. A SW engineer at a client once told me that a broken
Windows Explorer is like driving around with a frayed timing belt.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I'm really not OS-savvy, so here goes the dumb question: Does an OS
re-install destroy all my installed programs? :-(

I can easily back-up everything, the network is working, and I have
ample drive space on other machines.

But I'd rather not have to re-install all the programs I own :-(

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Joerg]

Hello Jim,

I also have a HW firewall (Barricade). I have Norton configured with
NO "blessings", all downloads must ask for my OK.

That's the way to go. I am also running with the SMC Barricade. Nice
solid design.

I've verified that Windows Explorer is indeed the culprit.

Not a good sign :-(

I'm really not OS-savvy, so here goes the dumb question: Does an OS
re-install destroy all my installed programs? :-(

I am not either. Have to leave that to the OS gurus. AFAIK it works like
this: While the OS re-install may not destroy the actual folders and
subdirectories of your applications you could end up with a blank
registry and other blank settings. So most likely they need to be
re-installed. But I am not an expert on that. I had just seen an IT guy
do exactly that when it happened on a machine at a client. Next to the
OS CD he brought all the others that were registered as being on the system.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:30:31 -0700, Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com>
wroth:

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

...Jim Thompson

With an operating system like Windows, who needs virii?

When confronted with problems like that, I usually wipe and format the
boot drive, re-install the OS, and re-install applications I've recently used
along with saved data files from my latest backup.

Jim

 

[Pooh Bear]

Joerg wrote:

Hello Jim,

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

That should be a pretty good protection. It depends on the settings, IOW
what you are allowing Norton to bless WRT downloads etc. I also have a
HW firewall between the biz network and anything outside.

The reason I am thinking a re-install may be in the cards is that you
mentioned that Explorer crashes the system. Assuming that is Windows
Explorer and not IE that can be serious because it is a fairly integral
part of Windows. A SW engineer at a client once told me that a broken
Windows Explorer is like driving around with a frayed timing belt.

Can't you simply get a good copy of explorer.exe and write it over the
damaged copy.

Graham

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 00:16:47 +0100, Pooh Bear
<rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote:

Joerg wrote:

Hello Jim,

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

That should be a pretty good protection. It depends on the settings, IOW
what you are allowing Norton to bless WRT downloads etc. I also have a
HW firewall between the biz network and anything outside.

The reason I am thinking a re-install may be in the cards is that you
mentioned that Explorer crashes the system. Assuming that is Windows
Explorer and not IE that can be serious because it is a fairly integral
part of Windows. A SW engineer at a client once told me that a broken
Windows Explorer is like driving around with a frayed timing belt.

Can't you simply get a good copy of explorer.exe and write it over the
damaged copy.

Graham

That's a good idea, all 4 of my machines run Win2K.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 19:23:25 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
<speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:30:31 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:11:49 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

Did you (or rather, can you still) run a newer virus checker program on
that PC? If it's too shot to do that I am afraid you might be looking at
a complete Windows re-install :-(

Hopefully you don't have to...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

...Jim Thompson

Can you start in safe mode (F8 on boot)? There's also last known good
in that menu, but IIRC, you might trash some recent installations with
that choice.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Yep, I can boot into safe mode, but what will that buy me?

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:30:31 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
<thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:11:49 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

Did you (or rather, can you still) run a newer virus checker program on
that PC? If it's too shot to do that I am afraid you might be looking at
a complete Windows re-install :-(

Hopefully you don't have to...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

...Jim Thompson

Can you start in safe mode (F8 on boot)? There's also last known good
in that menu, but IIRC, you might trash some recent installations with
that choice.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 23:14:36 GMT, the renowned Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

I also have a HW firewall (Barricade). I have Norton configured with
NO "blessings", all downloads must ask for my OK.

That's the way to go. I am also running with the SMC Barricade. Nice
solid design.

I've verified that Windows Explorer is indeed the culprit.

Not a good sign :-(

I'm really not OS-savvy, so here goes the dumb question: Does an OS
re-install destroy all my installed programs? :-(

I am not either. Have to leave that to the OS gurus. AFAIK it works like
this: While the OS re-install may not destroy the actual folders and
subdirectories of your applications you could end up with a blank
registry and other blank settings. So most likely they need to be
re-installed. But I am not an expert on that. I had just seen an IT guy
do exactly that when it happened on a machine at a client. Next to the
OS CD he brought all the others that were registered as being on the system.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

IME, an install over the previous version wipes out nothing (but may
not fix your problem). An install in a new Win directory wipes out all
the installations of all programs (but generally leaves all your data
intact).



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

 

[JeffM]

I'm really not OS-savvy, so here goes the dumb question:
Does an OS re-install destroy all my installed programs? :-(
Jim Thompson

While they are installing, (except for very tiny apps)
Windoze-compatible software makes changes to the Registry.
This is why you can't just drag & drop an application directory
from a backup disk onto a HDD and get the app to work.

In short the answer is:
After an OS reinstall, you have to reinstall apps.

Larkin was talking about this a while back.
When his installs are still quite young,
he uses something like Norton Ghost to "clone" the drive
by making an image of the HDD onto another HDD.

At a time when you have a stable system, CLONE IT.
Hard drives are so cheap now
that clone backups for mission-critical stuff
(even rotating backups) seems like a no-brainer.

WARNING: Here comes the Linux crack.

Saying "mission-critical" while talking about Windoze
just seems absurd.

 

[Martin Riddle]

From Safe mode you can selectivly turn off services and other drivers that load during the boot phase.
Possible remove the software you wanted to.

"Jim Thompson" <thegreatone@example.com> wrote in message news:tab0e15kh44n8dgo2qkm7jqtitb7vt9p87@4ax.com...

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 19:23:25 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:30:31 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:11:49 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

Did you (or rather, can you still) run a newer virus checker program on
that PC? If it's too shot to do that I am afraid you might be looking at
a complete Windows re-install :-(

Hopefully you don't have to...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

...Jim Thompson

Can you start in safe mode (F8 on boot)? There's also last known good
in that menu, but IIRC, you might trash some recent installations with
that choice.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Yep, I can boot into safe mode, but what will that buy me?

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 01:42:55 GMT, "Martin Riddle"
<martinriddle@hotmail.com> wrote:

From Safe mode you can selectivly turn off services and other drivers that load during the boot phase.
Possible remove the software you wanted to.

"Jim Thompson" <thegreatone@example.com> wrote in message news:tab0e15kh44n8dgo2qkm7jqtitb7vt9p87@4ax.com...
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 19:23:25 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:30:31 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:11:49 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Jim,

Did you (or rather, can you still) run a newer virus checker program on
that PC? If it's too shot to do that I am afraid you might be looking at
a complete Windows re-install :-(

Hopefully you don't have to...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I run a scan weekly, and Norton sits there scanning anything inbound,
so I don't _think_ it's a virus.

...Jim Thompson

Can you start in safe mode (F8 on boot)? There's also last known good
in that menu, but IIRC, you might trash some recent installations with
that choice.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Yep, I can boot into safe mode, but what will that buy me?

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

In Safe Mode I'm getting the same blank screen as in normal mode. yet
I can load any program via Task Manager.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Joel Kolstad]

"JeffM" <jeffm_@email.com> wrote in message
news:1121993931.544100.255220@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

In short the answer is:
After an OS reinstall, you have to reinstall apps.

This is really a misleading statement. When you go to install Windows, it'll
ask you if you want to perform a "fresh" installation or just "re-install" it.
In the later case, it attempts to keep all your old programs working.
Unfortunately, what this effectively means is that it doesn't completely
"clean" the registry, and there are plenty of scenarios where re-installing
the OS doesn't help and you end up having to do a "clean" install anyway (and
re-install all your apps).

At a time when you have a stable system, CLONE IT.

Yeah, not a bad idea!

Saying "mission-critical" while talking about Windoze
just seems absurd.

Windows isn't, at its core, any less stable or usable than Linux. The kernel
is actually somewhat more sophisticated that Linux's, which I suspect is why
Microsoft's IIS typically beats Linux's Apache for throughput.

---Joel

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:34:21 -0500, "James T. White"
<SPAMjtwhiteGUARD@hal-pc.org> wrote:

"Jim Thompson" <thegreatone@example.com> wrote in message
news:i1a0e1d7ri2q0h54k5k7gf0kr7o2nqnooa@4ax.com...
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:49:00 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

I'm really not OS-savvy, so here goes the dumb question: Does an OS
re-install destroy all my installed programs? :-(

I can easily back-up everything, the network is working, and I have
ample drive space on other machines.

But I'd rather not have to re-install all the programs I own :-(


Jim,

Have you tried booting from the W2K distribution CD and selecting the Repair
option? Repair has two options - one takes you to a command prompt and the
other is an automatic mode that should reinstall all the critical OS executable
files but leaves the registry intact. Take the automatic repair mode.

Good luck.

Thanks! I'll try that.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Joel Kolstad]

"JeffM" <jeffm_@email.com> wrote in message
news:1122003470.554722.192500@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

WRT Internet Information Server, 70% of webmasters agree with me:
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html

Tell me if I'm inferring the wrong thing here, but you take the fact that 70%
of webmasters are running Apache means that they thing IIS is insecure or
fragile!?

I'd say it reflects the fact that IIS is free whereas Apache isn't, and there
are a lot of people out there running low-end web servers where saving the
price of Windows Server 2003 (far from free) and IIS is more important than
getting the fastest, most secure web server out there.

OK, ok, I don't REALLY know that IIS is inherently more secure than Apache,
but I know there are enough ultra-high volume web sites out there using IIS
that, in general, IIS is secure. And again, keep in mind that IIS is a much
more alluring target than Apache -- the warped motivation of being able to
"get back at THE MAN" (Bill Gates) warps statistics on the number of attacks
on Windows vs. *NIX platforms so severely that it's pretty much impossible to
definitively say one OS is truer "more secure" than another.

---Joel