Feb
24
Dial-a-fix v0.57.4 released!
Filed Under Dial-a-fix, Software | Leave a Comment
I found a few issues I had to take care of. The wiki is still the current project; I will switch back to making Dial-a-fix v0.58 in a little while.
* Added "dispex.dll" registration
* New option: Unregister objects first (performs "regsvr32 /u file.ext" before performing "regsvr32 file.ext" – for the paranoid)
* Added OLE registration section, with 23 new DLLs: msdadc.dll, msdaenum.dll, msdaer.dll, msdaipp.dll, msdaora.dll, msdaosp.dll, msdaps.dll, msdasc.dll, msdasql.dll, msdatt.dll, msdaurl.dll, msdmeng.dll, msdmine.dll, msjtor35.dll, msmdcb80.dll, msmdgd80.dll, msolap80.dll, msolui80.dll, msxactps.dll, oledb32.dll, oledb32r.dll, sqloledb.dll, and sqlxmlx.dll
* Properly disables "Flush SoftwareDistribution" in Windows 98/Me now
* No longer tries to register DLLs that aren't registerable in Windows 98/Me
* Checkmarking "Fix Windows Update" now checkmarks "Programming cores/runtimes" in box #5 because Windows Update is dependant upon those DLLs
Feb
22
Affinity issues
Filed Under Fixes, Software, Technical | Leave a Comment
Help! Firefox is [stalling/displaying images extremely fast/won't open at all/takes 100% CPU usage]. Help! Thunderbird is [stalling/not opening/locking up/taking 100% CPU usage/displaying time-out errors instantly without checking my email account]. Help! [other app] is acting weird.
Most issues arise when these programs are run in multi-core processing environments (such as AMD X2 processors, Intel Core Duo, and even Pentium 4 Hyperthreading). To fix this problem permanently, make a backup copy of the .exe in question, and then use ImageCFG to set the affinity to a single processor/core. This should work on nearly every application. I'm sure there are plenty of other applications that aren't multi-core aware, and this will help you fix them, or at least assign them to other cores!
- Download ImageCFG from the ImageCFG page. Save ImageCFG.exe to the root of your system drive (%systemdrive%), for readability/compatibility purposes. Alternatively, you could permanently install it as a system command by putting it in \Windows\System32.
- Open a command prompt window: Start > Run > cmd.exe
- Type all of the following, pressing enter after each line (substituting any paths that may be incorrect on your system):
- Now detects another common registry problem when starting up
- Policy scanner now checks HKEY_USERS hives S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19, and S-1-5-20.
- Changed Dial-a-fix tips link to point to the new wiki article
- Doesn't register qmgr.dll unless Service Pack 2 is detected
%systemdrive%
cd \
copy "%programfiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" "%programfiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird-old.exe"
copy "%programfiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "%programfiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox-old.exe"
ImageCFG -a 0x1 "%programfiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe"
ImageCFG -a 0x1 "%programfiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
You will need to make sure that "%programfiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird-old.exe" goes on the same line as copy "%programfiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" as the line(s) may get split or wrapped in your browser. If there is any confusion, click here for a plain text file that will probably not wrap in your browser. If it does wrap, screw your browser!
Feb
21
Dial-a-fix v0.57.3 released
Filed Under Dial-a-fix, Software | 2 Comments
Changes:
Feb
17
Symantec Norton 2006 permission problems
Filed Under Fixes, Software, Technical | Leave a Comment
Reports are pouring in about Norton 2006 products and permissions problems. It seems that it is sometimes difficult to install, uninstall, or simply use Norton 2006 products without using my permissions repair tool first. Our tech shop has already fixed several dozen computers using the just the permissions repair tool, and more seem to be coming in. After using the tool, we were able to finally install, uninstall, or use Norton 2006 products.
Tell everyone you know who has Norton 2006 to use the tool – even if they don't have any problems yet. There are many other issues that are completely unrelated to Norton 2006 that are actually caused by it. One customer was unable to install Macromedia Flash/Shockwave. Several others were unable to double-click on shortcuts (.lnk files) or run .exe files at all. Dial-a-fix (full version only) comes with its own version of the standalone repair tool, which can also solve some of these issues.
Feb
16
The DjLizard.net wiki
Filed Under General, Technical | Leave a Comment
All current and future technical articles are being reconstructed into the new DjLizard.net wiki. We hope that the collaborative efforts possible in a wiki environment (not to mention the readability) will help us produce technical articles of a much higher quality. We've already managed to create numerous new articles for it. Check it out!
Feb
14
KB 913446 won't download
Filed Under Fixes | 3 Comments
A lot of people are having issues downloading the Microsoft KB 913446 update from Windows Update. This can be currently remedied by downloading the standalone installer for it and restart your computer. See also MSKB 913446 (the standalone download is found in the IT professional section of that article).
Feb
14
Dial-a-fix 0.57.2 released
Filed Under Dial-a-fix, Software | Leave a Comment
For some dumb reason, I disabled the check all and uncheck all buttons after you push GO.
I have now modified this behavior so that you can check or uncheck all even when Dial-a-fix is processing, in case you wish to remove or add additional procedures. Dial-a-fix will run the new checkmarks it comes across (but will not go backwards and run sections it has already passed by). This is useful if you chose all of the checkmarks at first, but changed your mind and want Dial-a-fix to stop processing after the current task (without pressing Cancel, which works differently).
The Policies dialog button was also being disabled at certain points, which isn't really necessary since it doesn't interact with the main window at all (it can be used simultaneously to the main dialog or tools dialog), so that has been changed as well.
So here it is, Dial-a-fix 0.57.2.