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Brian's Buzz on Windows has changed its name to the Windows
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JULY 10, 2003 - Issue 9
Get a book of Windows tips
With this issue, I've licensed the rights to a book of Windows tips that I'm
sure you'll enjoy. All subscribers to the free version of Brian's Buzz on
Windows who upgrade to the paid version by July 16 will be sent a secret code
via e-mail on July 17. This will entitle you to download the book at no
additional cost. For details, see the section below entitled "Here's a Tip" -
or simply click this link to upgrade:
WindowsSecrets.com/upgrade.
--Brian Livingston
TOP STORY - info you need to make Windows work
Known issues afflict Windows 2000 SP4
By Brian Livingston
For those of you running installations of W2K, Microsoft released
Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000 Professional, Server,
and Advanced Server on June 26. It's too soon to tell whether this upgrade
will exhibit the kind of serious problems that've plagued Service Pack 1
for Windows XP. (For the latest on SP1, see "Solve your XP network headaches"
in the June 19
issue of Brian's Buzz.)
But for those brave souls who decide to (or are ordered to) apply SP4
to an installed base of Windows 2000 machines, there are already some
pointers from Microsoft on which "gotchas" will hit you:
.Net Framework 1.0 programs won't run. Programs written with
Microsoft's .Net Framework 1.0 (or Visual Studio .Net itself) unceremoniously
crash under SP4. This occurs if you log on without
administrative rights to a Terminal Server running Windows 2000 with
SP4 installed. Microsoft Product Support Services has a hotfix - or you
can eliminate the problem by upgrading to .Net Framework 1.1.
More info
Norton Internet Security 2001 is incompatible. Internet Explorer
fails to load Web pages and Microsoft NetMeeting notifications (which are
usually immediate) are delayed for several minutes if Norton
Internet Security 2001 is installed on Windows 2000 and SP4 is applied.
The fix is to upgrade NIS. (The same problem and fix also applies to
Norton Personal Firewall 2001.)
More info
Exchange Server can't start its Key Management Service.
Installing SP4 on Windows 2000 causes Exchange Server 2000 with SP3
to lose the ability to load its key database. Microsoft has a
workaround, which involves defragmenting the database.
More info
For details on how to obtain SP4 for Windows 2000 (as well as Service Packs
3, 2, and 1, for that matter), see Microsoft's Knowledge Base article
260910. For more details on other known issues with SP4, see
813432.
Bruce Kratofil, the editor of BugBlog (and a co-author with me of
Windows 2000 Secrets), has interesting cautions about SP4 at his
blog, and
he promises to tell all as additional problems surface.
To send me more information about this, or to send me a tip on any other
subject, visit
WindowsSecrets.com/contact.
THIS WEEK'S HOT TIPS - news of the world of Windows
You can fix XP's slow discovery of other computers
In the June 19
issue of Brian's Buzz, I reported on Alan Chattaway's success
in solving Windows XP's extreme slowness in copying files to
(and printing to printers attached to) non-XP computers.
The cure involved replacing a network hub with a switch.
Reader John Meyer was also quoted in that same issue, describing
XP's slow-file problem in his own words. After I printed Alan's comments on
his cure, John sent me a deeper analysis of the difficulty, which the
hub-to-switch switcheroo merely hides:
-
"As your reader, Alan Chattaway, pointed
out, the problem did not exist until he upgraded to
XP. The change from hub to switch is probably simply
causing some threshold to be reached that masks the
underlying problem.
"In a similar vein, a few people
have reported that changing the NIC [network interface card] also cures the
problem, even though there was no problem using the
same computer/NIC combination prior to upgrading to XP.
"Thus, the packet fragmentation is being caused by
something in the way that XP interacts with a 98
machine, and he hasn't really gotten to the bottom of
why this happens only between XP and 98/Me, nor has he
provided a real solution, if indeed there is one. This
is not meant to be a knock, but simply to point out
that we don't really know yet what is going on, or how
to fix it in software.
"I'm not a Microsoft conspiracy kind of guy, but
several people who have posted online comments about
this problem take the position that Microsoft
intentionally slows down interaction with older
Windows computers to force everyone to upgrade to XP."
Conspiracy theories aside, an enormous amount of interest was generated
among my readers by a different comment by John that I'd printed in
the June 19 issue. Describing the XP file slowdown that Alan had
managed to solve, John said in passing:
-
"This is a different problem from the slow browsing problem,
where it takes XP a long time to 'discover' computers on the network.
That problem can be fixed with a Registry change."
I received scores of messages from readers who were plagued with XP's
slow-discovery problem and were desperate for the Registry change,
which they'd never managed to find on their own. Here's John's description of
the fix:
-
"The problem itself [as it affects Windows 2000 discovery] is documented
in Microsoft Knowledge Base article
245800 (although MS provides no solution).
"Slow discovery of other computers is just as
widespread as the more serious performance issue [of XP's file slowness], but
is easily fixed. The fix is well documented in many
different forums. It involves going to the following
section of the XP registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / Current
Version / Explorer / RemoteComputer / NameSpace
and then deleting the key
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
"This solution is described in many places, including
Earth Village,
Experts-Exchange, and
Practically Networked."
Deleting the registry key that John describes has the effect of disabling
Scheduled Tasks. This is a process that Windows 2000 and XP use to search
remote computers to see if they have any pre-scheduled events. That's a
nice idea, but few people use it and the search slows down Windows Explorer
by up to 30 seconds. Deleting the key eliminates this delay and also
speeds up both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer in general.
My thanks to both Alan and John for their advice on these subjects.
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Price Watch
Powered by Amazon.com. Prices fluctuate daily.
Top 10 Bestselling Computer Books This Week
1.
The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers,
Mar 2003, List: $39.99, Price: $27.99
2.
Starting an eBay Business for Dummies,
Dec 2001, List: $24.99, Price: $16.18
3.
Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition,
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4.
Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker, Second Edition,
Feb 2003, List: $49.99, Price: $34.99
5.
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX Hands-On Training,
Nov 2002, List: $44.99, Price: $30.70
6.
Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book,
Jun 2002, List: $45.00, Price: $31.50
7.
Newton's Telecom Dictionary, 19th Edition: Covering Telecommunications,
Networking, Information Technology, Computing and the Internet,
Mar 2003, List: $34.95, Price: $24.47
8.
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Second Edition (All-in-One),
Jun 2003, List: $79.99, Price: $55.99
9.
Red Hat Linux 9 Bible,
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Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire: Prima's Official Strategy Guide,
Mar 2003, List: $14.99, Price: $10.49
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RECOMMENDED READING - my book reviews of tech topics
The Unusually Useful Web Book: let's see how your site rates
June Cohen has finally put a book together that isn't just about the
technical details of making a Web site. Instead, her effort focuses on
how to make your corporate or small-business site perform a beneficial
function: making people want to visit and interact with it. Reading this
won't make you a genius, but it just might wake you up to some unusual aspects
of presenting yourself on the Web.
More info
How to Do Everything with Paint Shop Pro 8: first you need a link
I wrote last issue about Dave Huss's book on the new version of Paint
Shop Pro that's just come out, release 8. But my link to further information
about the book was broken. Here's the correct link:
More info
FORWARDING INSTRUCTIONS - news gains value when it's shared
Please share this information with your colleagues
You're encouraged to refer your friends and colleagues to this free
newsletter. Because most e-mail programs don't correctly display a formatted
message that's been forwarded, simply call people's attention to
the permanent Web address of this issue:
BriansBuzz.com/w/030710.
HERE'S A TIP - you'll get a better newsletter if you choose the paid version
You're reading the free version of Brian's Buzz on Windows
If you upgrade to the paid version by July 16, you'll receive a secret
code by e-mail on July 17 that entitles you to download
a special book of Windows tips. The book is entitled "Lockergnome's Windows XP
Training Manual" - an e-book in PDF and plain-text formats
containing the 50 top tips from Lockergnome.com,
a site full of high-tech advice. Thousands of people have already purchased
this book, but paid subscribers to Brian's Buzz will get
it at no additional cost.
Paid subscribers to the newsletter receive the opportunity to download valuable
books or software once each calendar quarter. I pay to license the rights
to these things so my supporters can get them at no additional cost.
Besides these quarterly bonuses, paid subscribers also receive
a longer version of Brian's Buzz with premium information.
Some of the extras this week are:
- Fix XP slowdowns. I cover three little-known
ways to eliminate XP's file sluggishness and slow network discovery, in
addition to the methods described in the Hot Tips section, above.
- Three new Microsoft holes and patches. The most critical of these
can affect users who merely receive a crafty e-mail message.
- Free preview of a breakthrough app. If you don't like slogging
through the same Web sites every day, an innovative creation can do it for you.
PayPal is no longer required if you wish to contribute by credit
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page that accepts credit cards. You can also contribute by sending a
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You select the amount of your monetary contribution. I trust you
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To upgrade to the paid version, please visit
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Thanks in advance for your support.
WACKY WEB WEEK - playing for you the Internet's greatest bits
Sean Connery looks great on Iranian money
There's talk of printing new currency for the shell-shocked nation of Iraq.
Perhaps the new design that's floating around the Internet for Iran's
cash will show the way. The wags at Aref-adib.com, a blog on Iranian
politics, have published a picture of
Sean Connery,
left, gracing a new-style Iranian bill, enscribed in Arabic, of course.
With his white beard, the actor looks just like an ayatollah. The site also
shows what Iranian money would look like if its revered leader was
George W. Bush.
But that's a bit too close to the heart of the matter for some tastes.
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