Posts Tagged ‘windows 7’

« Older Entries

Black Screen Update

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Recently, I discussed a problem some people have been experiencing with black screens.  I had reported that a company, Prevx, had identified that Microsoft’s recent patches were responsible for black screens.  Prevx and Microsoft both have further examined the condition and determined that the black screens were not caused by Microsoft’s security updates as previous believed, but by malware, such as Daonol.  Once again, Microsoft’s patches are safe and are not the cause of these black screens.

The fix that Prevx had provided, and I had included on my previous entry, didn’t fix the problem in all cases.  The fix apparently works if the black screen began within the past couple of weeks, after running security software.  Some users had to resort to reloading Windows to repair the issue. 

Prevx identified  ten different scenarios that could trigger the black screens, and most have been available for years.  All Windows Operating Systems from NT to 7 can be affected by the problem, which is potentially million of computers world wide. 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Technology News | 48 Comments »

Recent Activity & Thanksgivings

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Over the last week or two, I’ve provided two customers and both of my brothers with Windows 7 Home Premium.  My parents’ copy will be arriving today.  I had a few appointments, one involving a vague Internet problem that turned out to be a failing wireless adapter, and another regarding a slow desktop PC in desperate need of an upgrade.  My grandmother was sent to the hospital Wednesday, where she stayed until Saturday afternoon due to dehydration.  She is doing much better now. 

The four installs of Windows 7 gave me an opportunity to learn something new. Windows 7 comes as a DVD disc.  Two of the systems that received Windows 7 were using Intel Pentium 4 socket 478 processors.  The motherboards were from different manufacturers but produced around the same time about four or five years ago.  However, whenever I tried to boot to the DVD disc, I would receive a CD error.  After swapping in and out several test DVD drives, and successfully booting from a Windows XP CD disc, I came to the realization that booting to DVD isn’t supported on older systems. 

In these cases, the best solution that I’ve found is to use Windows XP Home, Professional, and early versions of Media Center Edition (since they’re available on CD) as the launch pad for the installation. After installation, a clean (unformatted) installation can complete successfully.  I suspect that the problem also affects Vista DVD discs, but since very few people upgraded to Vista, I never encountered this short-coming.

The appointments that I had since my last blog involved a notebook PC with a vague Internet problem and a desktop in need of a memory upgrade.  I brought the notebook home after backing up customer data onsite to the customer’s external hard drive.  After connecting it to my KVM and wired network, I proceeded to check the system out for the usual causes of Internet issues.  After cleaning up and configuring the system for optimal performance, I returned the system to the customer.  I connected to their network and browsed a few pages.  The pages loaded quickly. A couple of hours later, I received a call that the system was unable to connect to their wireless network.  I returned and reexamined the patient in regard to its wireless connectivity.  I examined their wireless network environment and ultimately, came to the realization that the notebook’s wireless adapter was beginning to fail.  They wanted to obtain the needed component themselves, I recommended a replacement. 

For the desktop customer, I gave the machine a full work up and removed several pieces of malware, optimized settings for performance, and ordered 2 GB of RAM and a Linksys Wireless PCI adapter for the system.  The parts arrive today.  When I return the system tomorrow, I will examine their network environment and optimize it for best performance, including relocating their wireless router to a more central location.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Finally, my grandmother was sent to the hospital over Thanksgiving with dehydration.  She went to the ER on Wednesday.  They ran tests and immediately began to give her fluids.  She began to improve immediately.  There had been talk that she would be coming home, however, her doctors wanted to keep her in the hospital under observation.  On Saturday, she came home.  Last night we had our delayed Thanksgiving dinner, thankful that my grandmother was home where she belonged.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in PC Dr.'s Blog, Tips & Tricks | 14 Comments »

A Desktop, A Notebook, and my PC were in the shop today

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

It started last night around midnight.  My personal computer started running in slow motion after a reboot. I knew what it was.  After all, it wasn’t the first time its happened.  The last time it took most of the day to work out.  To say the least, it was not a good time for it to happen, because I had work to do.  I was working on two other computers a fresh install of a Windows XP onto a Windows ME era notebook with only 188MB of RAM (yikes) and an upgrade to Windows 7 from XP on a desktop PC.  My computer would have to wait.

The Notebook needed RAM and permission for it came that afternoon.  RAM wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow morning.  The owners were leaving town and wouldn’t be back until Tuesday.  The notebook tested my patience in that it took two days of periodic monitoring to install Windows XP SP1a and fully update it to SP3.  Windows XP SP1 only needed 128MB of RAM to run, but SP3 needs more than 256 MB.  So, as you can imagine, the system ran painfully slow.  The system was to be used for basic web browsing, music, DVD and Video playback.  I configured the system  with the software required to meet their needs and provided security protection to ensure a safe Internet experience. Once the memory arrives, the system will be ready to go.  I may choose to install additional software such as a word processor or photo editor, depending on how the RAM improves the system.

The desktop, on the other hand, defied logic. I had already backed up the customer’s data and installed 2GB of DDR333 RAM, the system’s maximum, and a 256 MB AGP video card.  However, when I attempted to install Windows 7, the system refused to boot up from the DVD.  I booted back into Windows, and started the installation from Windows.  The installation completed successfully, but during the first boot the system crashed. Every attempt to boot to the DVD, where repair utilities would help me get the system operational again, failed.  I spent several hours swapping DVD drives in and out of the system, cleaning them, and trying to get the Windows 7 DVD to boot.  I wasn’t going anywhere with Windows 7, so I pulled out a Windows XP Home disc and it booted up immediately.  I performed chkdsk on the system, but it didn’t resolve the problem preventing Windows 7 from installing.  I booted up again and dumped the entire volume.  I reinstalled Windows XP and upgraded to Windows 7 from there. The installation was good.  I suspect that various aspects of the system were damaged, corrupt, or infected with something that prevented Windows 7 from booting up normally, after the system was wiped clean, did the installation complete successfully. 

The DVD issue, I suspect was a result of an older motherboard that didn’t support the boot to DVD option, since a Windows XP CD was able to boot every time it was tried.  After that, the installation went very smoothly. I provided security, Internet, and productivity software.  Then, I installed all of the software the customer provided to me except the printer, since the hardware is required for installation.  I updated Windows and restored the data I had backed up. Finally, I optimized system performance.  The system is now ready to deliver first thing tomorrow morning.

Once that was finished, I turned my attention to my own PC.  After uninstalling my video driver software and restarting the system several times, the proper video driver was installed.  The system began to run better.  I continued on with my work when it happened again.  I had been using Office 2010 each time, I experienced the problem today.  I will be reporting this bug to Microsoft with the hopes of making Office 2010 a better product.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in PC Dr.'s Blog | No Comments »

Hackers have done it again

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Ever since Windows XP, Microsoft has included an anti-piracy feature that requires a new installation to be activated within a specific time period.  With Windows 7, Microsoft increased this grace period to 30 days.  Well, it appears that hackers have found a way to circumvent this feature by turning off these notifications, keeping the system running indefinitely. 

Microsoft is aware of the problem and is currently devising a technique to re-secure their software. 

With the new hack, the OS may be operational, but it isn’t genuine, which automatically disqualifies it from accessing some updates and newer Microsoft software, such as Microsoft’s Security Essentials and Windows Live software.  A non-genuine system is at risk to a variety of security issues that can have an impact on the user, on their friends and neighbors and everyone on the Internet.  For instance, the hacker may have included malicious code into these compromised systems that allows them to take control of the system or that can steal private data such as passwords, credit card information, or identities. 

I only provide, use, and recommend genuine software, because the risk is too high for the benefit of a “free” copy of Windows 7. 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Technology News | No Comments »

First Windows 7 Bug Confirmed

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Late Friday night, Microsoft confirmed a bug with Windows 7, the first security issue since the operating system’s release on October 22.  Windows Server 2008 is also vulnerable to this bug.   The bug attacks SMBv1 and SMBv2, which are used by Windows for file and printer sharing is able to fully crash a Windows 7 computer requiring a hard reboot of the system.  The exploit could also be used to download malicious software to a computer from any browser just by visiting a site issuing malformed SMB packets. 

The exploit was identified by a Canadian security researcher, Laurrent Gaffie, on Wednesday.  In addition to revealing the bug, he posted publicly the proof-of-concept attack code that illustrates how the exploit could be used to crash Windows 7. 

Microsoft has begun work on a patch, but offers no time table as to when it will be released.  In the mean time, to avoid the issue from being exploited, Microsoft suggests users block TCP ports 139 and 445 on their firewalls.  However, it should be noted that by turning off these ports, browsers and several critical system services including Group Policies and Network File-Sharing will be affected. 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Technology News | No Comments »

« Older Entries