Replies

If you go to your profile and the edit signature setting:
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/profile.php?do=editsignature
I think you will find something like this, under Signature Permissions:
27180-2011-01-24_X
For quite obvious reasons there usually are some restrictions, such as length, size of images etc. As you can see it’s possible to use basic BB Code for colour and font etc. and also smilies. So I think you can remove that link; it’s not going to work with present permissions. I think this is a question for the administrators; you have to ask them, and I don’t think they monitor Scuttlebutt for questions.

[snip]
I know how to make the text larger on the current on screen web page but can settings be changed so the size remains at the desired size every time I log on please?
[snip]

As far as I know, and you are asking this in “Third-Party Browsers” and I have reason to believe that you are asking about Firefox (Fx), since some versions (3?) Fx now remembers the zoom setting for every site. (Something that can create the opposite problem: if you temporarily change the zoom setting for a page, you will have to remember to reset it, otherwise it will be in a zoomed state when you return).

So, some questions:

[*]Which browser and version?
[*]Do you use any add-ons etc. that may alter the default behaviour?
[*]What is your problem; doesn’t the browser remember your changed setting for some site?

I know that you have posted about this before; for example there was a suggestion about NoSquint, which I assume can alter the default text size globally etc.

Your question can be interpreted in some different ways, so, some more information would help.

If you are talking about OS updates, SPs etc., the Package Installer will look for the largest partition/drive available and use that partition to extract the package. The folder should, under normal circumstances, be removed by the installer.

Or extract the packages yourself, mentioned in some post [post=’654925′]here[/post].

If you mean something else, come back with more information.

Ah, returning to the old and beautiful Europe.

The Greek islands are host to half the population of Sweden during their holidays etc.

Some years ago, yes, that is true, indeed. Nowadays, a lot travel to Woody’s regions.

Perhaps I can do some research if you want to avoid Swedes.

You will find your search results below the Recycle Bin in Explorer; but that would only be in that window where the search was done. I agree that a screen shot would help.

Thanks for your reply, Bob.

Do you perhaps know of a software program that can remove them all with one shot? Deleting all, one at a time, will take me forever and a day.

Gloria

You don’t need any extra software for that; just search for all files with the extension you want to delete; such as *.tmp etc. In this case .zip.

But I would NOT do that.

BTW: note that Bob mentioned the requisite: if you have them unzipped and no further use of them, “selectively delete them”. I would look at the software that creates these zip files, check the settings and see if possible to disable the creation of these archive files. For example ZoneAlarm creates one (1) zip file with a backup of the settings, which can be very useful. Other zip files on a drive can be downloaded software, personal archives (created by the user) etc. So I would NOT delete zip files en masse. Rather check the software that create log files and zip files, if I for some reason didn’t want them.

There is definitely no need to add any partitions, as mentioned above.

Sometimes, depending on the motherboard, one can use external SATA drives. There usually is a setting for this in BIOS, if possible, and if this setting is enabled but no eSATA drive is connected at start there can be a short message about “no hard disk is detected” often in combination with some short information about the adapter on the motherboard. But I don’t think this is the case, but that depends on the exact message.

Could you post the contents of your boot.ini file?

[*]Open System in Control Panel (or press winkey+Pause/Break; or right-click My Computer and select Properties; or run sysdm.cpl).
[*]On the Advanced tab, in the Startup and Recovery section, click the Settings button.
[*]In the Startup and Recovery dialogue box, in the System startup section, click the Edit button. This should open the file in Notepad.
[*]Just copy the content and close the file without doing any changes or saving the file. (Since this file is very important when starting the OS, we don’t want change anything.)

Since early, it could be related to hardware or BIOS settings, but it could be good to check the boot.ini, since we don’t have the exact message and timing.

Is this going to cause any trouble during Validation?

Are you thinking about the activation?

The short answer is: no.

You are allowed to reinstall it and to change some hardware. After installation it will monitor some hardware for changes, but it is possible to change quite a lot. And in this case you are changing one device (between two installs).

As I think you know, you have 30 days from the first start before activation is required, so take your time and check that everything is as you want, update drivers and test them etc, before you activate the OS copy.

However, if there are less than some 120 days since the last activation you may have to call MS Customer service, to be able to activate, instead of doing it via Internet.

For some more, general, information see:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/products/WindowsXP.aspx?displaylang=en

I did that on one machine the other week. I recommend the same as Joe; if you can, download the full SP.

On that particular PC there had been some 60+ updates installed for SP2, or SP2 and SP3 both, since the SP3 was released, i.e. not included in SP3 but installed as updates to SP2 (I have not checked the exact date and number).

At the end of the SP3 installation it installed several updates, previously installed, 51 I think, all now with the same installation date. It also left some older updates. The above 60+ something was without including cumulative IE updates etc.

So, in this case it worked very well, I had not more updates to install after the SP than before, in fact one less, the SP.

And the information at MS, which Mike linked to, is also a good, quick reading before installation.

[snip]
I know one of my sign- in sites that said I had to enable ActiveX Controls said I might have to disable the firewall and/or antivirus to load the ActiveX controls. Did not do that. May try it unless you have other suggestions. Thanks again.

I would not encourage disabling the firewall or the anti-virus. If they can’t get their ActiveX working without doing that, well, then it isn’t worth it.

And since the abovementioned thread doesn’t mention these links, you can also see:

Ed Bott, January 3rd, 2010:
That “God mode” Explorer trick does less than you think
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=2724

And a follow up at ZDNet by Ed Bott, January 8th, 2010 :
The ultimate ‘God Mode’ list: 39 secret Windows 7 shortcuts
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1615&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zdnet%2FBott+%28ZDNet+Ed+Bott%27s+Microsoft+Report%29

Not directly new, and it’s not offering something that isn’t already there.

Adobe Flash player is a plug-in or ActiveX control to a browser, so there shouldn’t be anything to find in the Start menu, you will find it in your browser settings.

I am not using IE on a daily basis anymore, so I am bit “rusty”, out of practice; in general you don’t want to download or run ActiveX controls, apart from on sites you trust, and sometimes not even from sites you trust. Thus, since IE works with zones, you can put some of the sites you trust in the trusted zone (such as a bank site, or Microsoft etc.) (See for example http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-Internet-Explorer-Security-settings ) and then adjust the security level, for the Trusted Zone, to Prompt for “Download signed ActiveX controls” and Enable for “Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins”. For the Internet Zone, OTOH, you can set it to Disable. I have locked up the settings for my Internet Zone in IE. I may have to come back on this.

Notice also that Adobe has a Flash uninstall software (updated every now and then, so one should use the latest; if I use it, I download it at the same time as a new Flash Player version). You will find a link under “1. Uninstall previous versions of Flash Player” on the page you linked to.

Any idea’s?

JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash Player?

I agree with Doc’s and Joe’s questions, also if you can tell us something about the other hardware, the PC itself.

The file, hpfud50.dll, is included in the full Windows XP SP3; un-extracted in i386 (hpfud50.dl_), and a backup copy in the sp3.cab, as can be seen if one extracts the content of the full SP3 update file (WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-###.exe); and present as a backup after SP installation.

As an alternative to Doc’s link above, if you don’t use IE, see the full installation package for Windows XP SP3, also available here at the Microsoft Download Center: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers.

Also see this MSKB article, if you have not already looked at it, for some general information: Steps to take before you install Windows XP Service Pack 3.

HP also has a lot of good information, related to SP updates etc. depending on what kind of PC you have of course.

So, if you used Windows Update or MU, download the full SP as suggested by Doc. Restart the PC before installation, and close all open programs; it’s not always necessary to disable antivirus or antispyware programs, but if you do, disconnect from the net and remember to enable them when finished before connecting the PC again.

If this doesn’t work we perhaps will need the exact error message and/or part of the svcpack.log file.

Any suggestions on how to stop the flow?

You have my sympathy. For this I had to dig a bit among the old bookmarks.

I have no direct help to give at the moment, or done any research on this topic; deleting mails is of course one way.

I don’t visit snopes so often, every second year or so, so I don’t know, but I think they gather everything, in its broadest sense.

But I know that we have seen different pages around the world myth busting computer hoaxes (virus or similar); one among them was the “HOAXBUSTERS at CIAC” (Computer Incident Advisory Capability; it was the first computer incident response team I think, at the Department of Energy in the USA; apparently it was formed in 1989, and known by many who followed the security/virus area during the ’90s). However it has been renamed and transformed I think (DOE-CIRC). Their old pages have been shut down. Nowadays it is a much more serious business.

However, there is page “Hoax Busters”, not associated with CIAC or anyone else, that still show examples, have some good advices etc. Since this is old things for me (last time I got some “Please help this poor dog” was around 1999-2000. ), I have not looked at all the “information” there, at the new site. There are some general advices, then a large list of topics, and several examples, I think. It is very clear about the whole issue, easy to understand. The above (long time ago) also means that I’m not up to date on the hoax front; Poor dog etc. so I can’t tell if the page is covering the latest that now trawls the email addresses around the net. But it is perhaps a good start, to get the idea what it is all about for someone like that to read.

http://www.hoaxbusters.org

If that doesn’t work, perhaps some diplomatic discourse about not forwarding unsolicited mails could help? Save energy, save the, what do I know, the bandwidth.

Or perhaps set up some mail rules, perhaps with a nice automatic reply…