The PC Informant » Windows XP

Windows MS10-015 security patch re-issued

Vic Laurie — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:43:41 +0000

The security patch that caused trouble in systems that had a rootkit has been updated. See the Microsoft Security Response Center post for details.

Windows XP just keeps going and going

Vic Laurie — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:12:35 +0000

According to the logs that are kept on several Web sites I run, nearly 60% of the visitors are still using Windows XP. The durability of XP was demonstrated by the news that the Winter Olympics are using Windows XP systems. Ina Fried reports at CNET:

The good news for Microsoft is that all the PCs powering the Olympics are running Windows. The bad news: it’s the older Windows XP operating system.

Windows 7, it seems, was a bit too new to be used, while Windows Vista was, well, Windows Vista. So, instead, all the PCs are running an operating system that was first released before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

Representatives for Acer confirmed that the more than 6,000 notebooks and desktops that they delivered to Olympic organizers were all running Windows XP.

Incidentally, I get more visitors using Windows 7 than using Vista, showing the unpopularity of Vista.

Check out your CPU capabilities

Vic Laurie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:13:40 +0000

Steve Gibson often comes up with free little utilities that do some useful task. With the trend to 64-bit computing, you might want to see if your CPU can handle 64-bits. Another CPU feature worth checking is to see if the security feature called hardware DEP is supported. Gibson provides a free program called SecurAble that will tell you about the features supported by your CPU.

In addition to checking if your CPU is 64-bit and if it supports DEP, the program will tell you if hardware virtualization is supported. This might be of interest to prospective Windows 7 buyers who want to know if the virtual support for running Windows XP in Windows 7 is present.

You can’t keep a good hacker down

Vic Laurie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:24:24 +0000

When it became clear that a rootkit was behind the Windows XP crashes caused by Microsoft update MS10-015, the hackers swung into action—not to remedy the rootkit but to “improve” it. The whole point of the rootkit was to sit there unknown to the owner of the infected system so that various nefarious Internet activities could be carried out. The crashing of the system gave the game away so the hackers are updating the rootkit so it will live with the Microsoft patch and remain hidden.

Via Computerworld:

Windows XP patch problem due to rootkit

Vic Laurie — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:02:59 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that the previously reported problem with Window XP update MS10-015 was caused by a rootkit called Alureon. If you are having trouble because of the update, Microsoft advises:

Customers who believe they are experiencing this reboot issue after installing MS10-015, or require support removing it or repairing their systems, are encouraged to contact their Customer Service and Support group by either going to https://consumersecuritysupport.microsoft.com or by calling 1-866-PCSafety (1-866-727-2338). International customers can find local support contact numbers here: http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx.

Install, reinstall, or uninstall Windows

Vic Laurie — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:32:29 +0000

Sometimes you have to reinstall Windows to repair corrupted files or a malware infection. Or you may want a clean, new installation to improve performance. Maybe you just got a copy of Windows 7 and want to install it or even dual-boot with it. For all these scenarios and more Microsoft has a useful site with instructions for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Disk defragmenters

Vic Laurie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:41:37 +0000

Defragmenting your hard drives is one of those computer maintenance chores that has to be done now and then. In Windows Vista and 7, defragging is pretty much automatic with a default setting that runs the built-in Windows utility once a week in the background. Thus, most home PC users with Vista/7 no longer need to concern themselves with this task.

However, in Windows XP defragging has to be run by the PC user. A schedule can be set up but it requires a script and only power users are likely to do things that way. Defragging doesn’t have to be done all that often by the average PC user but the Windows native defragger is slow and some may wish for a faster and better utility. There are both commercial and free applications available. TechSupportAlert has a list of “Gizmo” Richards’ selection of the best free defraggers. His pick is MyDefrag and this application is also the favorite of others. Also often mentioned by on the Web are Defraggler and Auslogics.

The built-in Windows defragger is sufficient for many but it is very slow and doesn’t defrag everything. If you want something faster and more thorough, any of the freeware mentioned should do a good job. How often you should defrag is a function of your particular system and usage pattern.

I discuss the details of defragging in Windows XP at this link. There is also a Flash tutorial here.

Windows Start-up & Shutdown Sounds from Windows 3.1 on up

Vic Laurie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:41:49 +0000

It seems that people will collect almost anything. Vince Bognot has put together Windows Start-up and Shutdown Sounds from Windows 3.1 to Windows 7. I am not sure who cares but here is his collection:

Via the Windows Club

Scrap files scrapped

Vic Laurie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:59:22 +0000

Windows is a complicated operating system and has many properties and features that most PC users are unaware of. One of the odder and lesser known features in Windows 98/XP was something called a scrap file. I wrote about scrap files some years ago in connection with their use by virus writers. I visit the subject again to note that, beginning with Vista, Windows no longer supports scrap files.

What were scrap files supposed to do? They were intended as a kind of handy way to copy a small part of a document onto the desktop where it could be kept and then used in another file. Only a few applications, mostly Microsoft Office, supported this function, however, and very few PC users even knew about it.

To see how a scrap file works in Windows XP, open a Word document. Then highlight some text and use the mouse to drag the highlighted material onto the desktop. A new file will appear. Double-click the file and a Word document containing the text will open. Or drag the scrap file and drop it into an open Word document and the text will appear in the Word document. With a slightly different procedure, images can also be manipulated. In that case, however, you need to use a right-click drag and make a selection from the context menu.

Because of backward compatibility considerations, Microsoft doesn’t often drop a Windows feature. But scrap files were little known or used and had some security issues so this feature was omitted from Vista and 7.

Fixing Windows update problems

Vic Laurie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:11:23 +0000

For one reason or the other, it sometimes happens that a file or a Registry entry gets corrupted in one of the never-ending Windows updates. In that case, it often becomes impossible to carry out updates without getting error messages. The problems are common enough that Microsoft has come up with a tool to fix them. Go to this Microsoft link to get instructions and to download the fix.