Excel 2003 Workbooks Open Slowly Over Network

Been trying to open an Excel file over a network and noticed that it would take several minutes to open.

Adding this registry tweak solved the problem by disabling the Office File Validation (OFV) add-in.

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\

Add this key entry: Excel > Security > FileValidation > EnableOnLoad

Set the key value for EnableOnLoad as a 32-bit DWORD with the value of 0.

For more details see Method 4 on this page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2570623

And the exact steps to follow can be found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2570623#LetMeFixItMyselfAlways

Unable To Print To PDF From Windows 7

If you are using the AdobePDF print driver to create PDFs, you may run into problems when trying to create a PDF from a webpage.

This is because of the wonderful Windows 7 security. 🙂

You can create the PDFs if you run Internet Explorer as the Administrator. However, right-clicking to do the Run As Administrator can be a pain, especially for a commonly used application like Internet Explorer.

So to always run IE as the Adminstrator do this:

1) Create a shortcut to IE on your desktop.
2) Right click on the shortcut and select properties.
3) Click on Advanced.
4) Check the Run as Administrator box.

Now you will still get the mildly annoying UAC warning when you click on the shortcut. However, it’s just once for each time you run IE so it might not be too obtrusive.

The other option would be to turn lower your UAC rights entirely although you then open yourself up to potential viruses.

Free PC Tools To Analyze Your Hard Drive Space

A nice list of free utilities that can show where all your hard disk space is getting used up.

http://www.howtogeek.com/113012/10-best-free-tools-to-analyze-hard-drive-space-on-your-windows-pc/

Personall, I like SpaceSniffer and WinDirStat.

Windows 7 Alternate Task Scheduler

If you are having problems with automatically running DOS batch files from the Windows 7 Task Scheduler, then one alternative is to use a third party task scheduler like the free System Scheduler from SplinterWare.

I’ve found this to be a quick and easy solution to getting around some of the perplexing issues with running batch files from the normal Win 7 task scheduler. I’ve tried changing permissions, using fully qualified paths, and every permuation within the Windows Task Scheduler. Nothing seems to work consistenty over different Windows 7 systems.

The free version of System Scheduler seems to work fine other than it doesn’t automatically run as a service. If you want to always run System Scheduler on bootup, then you can actually run that program from the Windows 7 Task Scheduler. Just be sure to configure it to run when the user logs in. Or you can purchase their Professional version for $30.

For more info: http://www.splinterware.com/download/index.htm

Cannot Open PDF From Secure HTTPS Site

If you are unable to open a PDF from a site that is using a secure https: then it may be caused by your browser wanting to save an encrypted page.

Open your IE browser and go to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced and under the Security section uncheck (clear) the Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to disk option.

For more information visit:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254324

Installing Network Printer On Windows 7 Error

Printer connnected to XP on a network. When trying to install the XP network printer on a Windows 7 machine, the following error comes up:

Cannot install printer 0x0000046a

The solution is to increase the IRPStacksize parameter on the XP that is connected to the printer.

Using regedit navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters and right click on the IRPStackSize value. Default value is 15 so increase by 3 or 6 and then reboot the system.

For more info visit this link:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-hardware/network-printing-cannot-install-printer-0x0000046a/2e66a7e5-dc2e-4135-bd7d-5f90d623592b

How To Get The Motorola 2210-02 To Work With A Linksys Router

Here’s another situation of a modem manufacturer making life much more complicated than it needs to be in order to interface it with a router.

Usually it’s a fairly simple process to interface the two devices: Connect the modem’s internet port to the router’s WAN port and then connect one of the router’s ports to the PC.

If the modem is DSL, then you may have to put the username and password in the router and set it to PPPoe.

That’s about it.

However, with the Motorola 2210-02 you need to do one more step. In the modem you need to set it for “PPP On Computer” so that the username and password information is retrieved from the router rather than the modem.

Also, depending upon your router you may have to change it’s IP address if it has a conflict with the modem’s IP which is 192.168.1.254. Using 192.168.0.x or 192.168.2.x for the router should work fine.

How To Get The Zytel P600 Modem To Work With The Linksys Router

This problem was quite tricky: A client’s PC was able to get onto the internet using their Zytel P600 modem. However, when I connected a Linksys router to provide for wireless access, their internet access failed.

I tried swapping out a different router thinking that the router might be bad. Same results.

I then cloned the MAC address just in case the modem was looking for the specific ethernet card on the PC. Still no internet.

I finally figured out that the Zytel P600 was using the same 192.168.1.1 address as the Linksys router. So the first step was to change the Linksys DHCP to start at a different address. I used 192.168.1.254.

Second, the Zytel *really* wanted to be responsible for the DHCP so I disabled DHCP on the Linksys router.

Finally, instead of connecting the Zytel to the internet port on the Linksys I just connected it to port 1. So in a way, the Linksys was acting just as passthrough hub.

After that both hardwired and wireless internet access worked.

How To Remove AXWin Frame Error

A deep rooted virus has been floating about lately. The symptoms are one or more of the following:

• You sometimes get an AXWin Frame Error window.
• Shutdown window opens and you cannot close it. PC eventually shuts down.
• Browser is hijacked.
• SVCHost errors.

Running Malwarebytes on full scan does not clean it up. Also, you see no problems in MSConfig, Regedit Run keys, and HijackThis.

If this is the case, then you may have a rootkit virus. These types of viruses can hide deep in your system and are often able to avoid detection from the standard virus and malware scanners.

One way to clean up a rootkit virus is to use Combofix. In one PC I was examining the atapi.sys file was infected. Combofix was able to clean it up and the system was able to function normally.

You can find ComboFix at this link:

http://www.combofix.org/download.php

Internet Security 2010 Malware Virus Removal

The Internet Security 2010 (IS2010) malware virus is getting a head start on the new year.

Like many malware programs of this ilk, this program tries to present itself as antivirus software, hoping that people will think it’s legitimate and actually pay money to install it.

The software looks very official, using a Microsoft-esque shield logo and kind of copying the colors used by AVG. It even shows a screen of supposed virus infections on your system. All fake, of course.

One symptom of the software is that it will disable the task manager and also redefines the DOS command prompt. When you try to run the DOS prompt, will actually invoke the IS 2010 software.

Here’s what I did to get rid of Internet Security 2010:

1) First, I made sure I had a current backup of any important files. Pictures, documents, music, etc.

2) Boot into Safe mode. You can do this by pressing the F8 during power up. You may have to press F8 a few times to get this just right. When you do, you’ll see a black screen with various options. Pick Safe Mode with Networking which is usually the second from the top.

3) Open your browser and get these two programs. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Hijackthis.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

4) Install and run Malwarebytes. Go to the update tab and get the lateste update. Go to the scan tab and do a Quick Scan. This will usually remove most of the malware.

5) Next, install and Run Hijackthis. Look for references to windowsupdate86 and IS2010 and remove them. Be careful of what you remove here since you can actually cripple your system if you remove the wrong items.

6) Reboot into Safe Mode.

7) Run msconfig and remove any items that look like IS2010 or Internet Security 2010.

8) Open Windows Explorer and remove the folder c:\program files\internet security 2010 or c:\program files\IS2010.

9) Go to Start > Run and type in regedit. Do a search for Internet Security 2010. Remove any references.

10) Reboot to Safe Mode.

11) Run Malwarebytes once more, doing a FULL scan.

This should clean out Internet Security 2010.

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