Steve the IT Tech Guy

PhotoGallery msi error on Startup

I have seen this on a few PCs that come in that when you start up Windows it tries to install PhotoGallery and asks for a disk. Its related to an HP driver install. To remove this do the following:

Download and install the Windows Installer Cleanup utility from this link

http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=18442&t=4&i=1

Then find it in your programs menu open it and scroll down to the Photo Gallery file and delete it .

Then restart your computer

Windows Vista vs Windows XP

Started in watching some videos on chris.pirillo.com He has been a Windows user for along time. He just moved to Apple. Here is an earlier video he created before he made the switch. I found it very informatively and very similar to issues I have been playing around with. I can’t afford to get an Apple yet but sure would like to try it. Playing around with Ubuntu to fill my void but I don’t think its polished as OSX is.

Silent Banker Trojan

Another new Trojan thats really scary. Here is an article about it.

Security pros: Kill ActiveX

Nice article about killing ActiveX. My recommendation, Run Firefox. Better yet run Linux!

Computer Errors We All Understand

Continue reading Computer Errors We All Understand

Stop svchost.exe from stealing CPU cycles

Nice article regarding the svchost.exe problem from CNET.

Vista SP1 “When It’s Ready”

So Much For “When It’s Ready:” Vista SP1 Finalized with Windows Server 2008

Article criticizing Vista’s SP1

Restore Windows XP registry if you can’t boot

This came from the Internet. Here is the Link I copied it from. Thanks Ray!

I have used the Microsoft way a few times and it has saved a ton of time!
If you can’t boot into Windows XP at all because you have one of the following errors, reading this page might help you!

In working with many Windows XP computers over the past couple of years in my shop, I’ve run across a few systems with corrupted registry files. Most of the time, I will get an error similar to the following:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing

or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

Other times I won’t get an error and the system will just reboot continuously without a blue screen error message. One thing is for certain in all of these problems: I can’t boot into safe mode to fix it!!!!

It is cases like this when we want to manually roll back the registry. Basically, this restores your system’s registry files to a point where they might have actually been stable, or at least less destructive than they are now. This process is not the same as system restore, mainly because we’re only replacing the registry files, where system restore also replaces other system files.

Continue reading Restore Windows XP registry if you can’t boot

Start the System Restore tool at a command prompt XP

From MS Knowledge base 304449

Start the System Restore tool at a command prompt

1.	Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 315222 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/) A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP
2.	Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.
3.	Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER: %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
4.	Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Steve the IT Tech Guy

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