Archive for October 2004

I couldn’t benefit from the Webcast since it was 100% audio and no visuals. I would’ve liked to get the answers to the cheat sheet (takes a long time to load). The link also takes you to the recorded webcast in case you missed it or could not get on. If you got the answers to the cheat sheet, please share. Here are details about the materials and bonuses.

RSS is fun and time consuming when you have too many news resources loaded in the aggregator. I don’t use it as often as I would like because I get overwhelmed by the articles, but when I can’t find anything on a topic — I run FeedDemon (demo) or NewsGator (demo) and find it there. Also, here’s an article introducing RSS.

RSS: news you choose has a glossary, how to, a video tutorial, and product reviews.

Those who attend the Webcast today at 8:00 Eastern will have the opportunity to get a bonus package. Don’t let the hype of the marketing material bug you. Joe Vitale does produce quality materials.

You use Ctrl+Alt+Del to see what’s running on your PC, to close crashed programs and processes, and to check performance. You probably avoid a few processes whose names mean nothing to you, but they’re essential to Windows. svchost.exe sure likes to appear all the time and multiple times at that. What’s taskmgr.exe? Oh yeah, it’s the window you’re looking at right now. ctfmon? Is he related to Pokemon? navapsvc.exe? Navy? Napa Valley? Navel? NOTA (none of the above).

This is not a comprehensive list as that would take days. It has the standard processes as well as process names from popular applications. If you want to know about a process, the best place to go is… ProcessLibrary.com. Just like adware and spyware, there are bad processes that come to life thanks to the bad guys like Trojans and viruses. The site has a list of the top five security threats, so watch out for those processes.

acrotray.exe

Acrobat Assistant that is used when printing documents to a PDF. The process should not be removed while converting documents to PDF.

ADService.exe

Active Disk Service is a component of the Iomega zip drive.

AppServices.exe

Also for the Iomega zip drive.

ccEvtMrg.exe

Associated with Symantec’s Internet Security Suite. Keep it and protect your PC.

ccSetMgr.exe

Also associated with Symantec’s Internet Security Suite. Keep it and protect your PC.

csrss.exe

System process that is the main executable for the Microsoft Client / Server Runtim Server Subsystem. It should not be shut down.

ctfmon.exe

non-essential system process. If you’re using only English as the language, then it is not needed. However, it’s recommended to leave it alone.

explorer.exe

This must always be running in the background. It’s a user interface process that runs the windows graphical shell for the desktop, task bar, and Start menu.

iexplore.exe

Internet Explorer browser. But why are you using it unless it’s for a site that doesn’t work in any other browser? Use Firefox instead.

lsass.exe

Local Security Authority Service is a Windows security-related system process for handling local security and login policies.

Navapsvc.exe, nvsrvc32.exe, and navapw32.exe

These are Symantec’s North AnvtiVirus processes. They or whatever virus program you use should run all the time.

realsched.exe

RealNetworks Scheduler is not an essential process. It checks for updates for RealNetworks products. It can be safely disabled.

rundll32.exe

A system process that executes DLLs and loads their libraries.

savscan.exe

Nortons AntiVirus process. Keep it.

services.exe

An essential process that manages the starting and stopping of services including the those in boot up and shut down. Do not terminate it.

smss.exe

Session Manager SubSystem is a system process that is a central part of the Windows operating system. If you try to kill it, it will be difficult… hence, the importance of leaving it be.

spoolsv.exe

Microsoft printer spooler service handles local printer processes. It’s a system file.

svchost.exe x 6

You may have more than six appearances of this process or less. It’s there multiple times to handle processes executed from DLLs. Leave it there.

System

This is a file that stores information related to local hardware settings in the registry under ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’. Kill it and kiss your PC’s stability bye bye.

System Idele Process

calculates the amount of CPU currently in use by applications. This won’t go away no matter how hard you try. Don’t try it, OK?

taskmgr.exe

Appears when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del.

wdfmgr.exe

Windows Driver Foundation Manager is part of Windows media player 10 and newer. Better not to stop the process.

winlogon.exe

Handles the login and logout processes. It’s essential.

winword.exe

The great Carnac says, “You’re running Microsoft Word.”

Don’t panic if you see something you have on the “bad guy” list. svchost.exe is important, but some are good guys and some are bad guys. Do your research before deleting anything. For instance, I have admin.exe, which has been reported as a bad guy. However, it is the admin process for one of my programs. When I closed the program, admin.exe also went away.

For a long time, we couldn’t get Paul’s laptop and my desktop to see each other. Or rather, his laptop could not see my PC, but I could see his. The desktop has been difficult about sharing and obviously didn’t learn one of the first rules in school: share with others. It took a hard drive reformatting to finally get it working. Before the reformatting, we tried all the solutions and gave up. So I shared files with my laptop by emailing them or using the thumb drive. Not too convenient. Get the story at meryl.net articles: Where Is the Other Computer?

Paul and I often work in the same room and will chat online. Hey, it makes it easier not to worry about the sun blocking his face while I try to read lips! We’ve even used webcams to see each other when we were in separate rooms. Anyhoo, I can relate to this hilarious Picture Show. [Link Molly ]

For a long time, we couldn’t get Paul’s laptop and my desktop to see each other. Or rather, his laptop could not see my PC, but I could see his. The desktop has been difficult about sharing and obviously didn’t learn one of the first rules in school: share with others. It took a hard drive reformatting to finally get it working. Before the reformatting, we tried all the solutions and gave up. So I shared files with my laptop by emailing them or using the thumb drive. Not too convenient.

The solution depends on each set up as there a lot of variables at play. One work around might work for Group A, but not for Group B. Here are a few things to try to force the computers to share and play nice.

Microsoft KB Article 308007 covers troubleshooting a home network including file and printer sharing. We love the printer sharing as we no longer have to hook a laptop to a printer. Now, if Paul would hook the color printer to the network so we can also do color printing.

HomeNetHelp has a tutorial with screen shots for those who are having trouble finding other computers. It covers the ‘search computer’ (Microsoft KB article) command and ‘manually adding a network place’ (Microsoft KB article).

If the firewall is on, it’s possible the necessary ports are not open. Microsoft’s instructions for manually opening ports.

If one computer can see others, but the others can’t see the computer… make sure the workgroup names are the same. If you’re using a router and DSL or cable with DHCP, try turning off the power to the router and modem… wait a few seconds and turn it back on. Still not working? Turn off the firewall, if it’s running (By default, Windows’ firewall blocks the ports necessary for file sharing.). You can also try uninstalling and reinstalling TCP/IP.

Cyber Tech Help and Annoyances.org have many messages related to networking covering a variety of problems and solutions.

You could have everything set correctly and still have problems. The issue could be a matter of changing the network card. If PC A has 123 network card and PC B has 456 network card, try buying a 123 network card and replacing PC B’s network card with 123. Some network cards play better with their own kind. Shameful.

Microsoft TechNet explains the changes to Windows after installing SP2. The link takes you to the network protection section.

This message popped up a lot when we were trying to network the computers: “Workgroup Name is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource.” It was almost as bad as ?reener (error message) from my first computer, an Apple II+.
If you can’t access shared files and folders or browse computers in a network group, check out Microsoft KB 318030.

If you had another problem and resolved it that’s not listed here, post it in the comments so others may have the resource. Thanks for helping.

A friend of mine is giving it a shot and I’ve told her what to do and what not to do. I’m following her experience to see if it works or not. We avoided her family members even if they live in a different home. Here’s the sign up, if you want to help.

I will report on her progress. Anyone want to bet the folks will find a way to disqualify her?

Meg Weaver of Wooden Horse Publishing writes, “What happened to naming magazines so you know what they’re about? Like Good Housekeeping? And Soap Opera Weekly.

“Is Rescue a trade magazine for emergency personnel? No, it’s a lively little publication about modern life. What’s Links about? Family links? Links to websites? Nope. It’s about golf. No Depression is not a dry medical trade journal; it’s about alternative country music.”

I’ll give Links a little leeway since it’s often associated with golf although it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the word. Maybe it is for golfers.

If I am browing the magazine stand, headlines on a Web site, or anything… my brain uses keywords to decide whether it’s worth reading or not. Companies are going to lose opportunities if they use words that mean something else different. I would’ve skipped Rescue, but knowing its real purpose – I might’ve checked it out. So the magazine loses a potential reader.

Though I dislike country music, I might’ve taken a look at No Depression expecting to find tips and news relating to dealing with depression. Imagine my reaction if I open it and find country music instead. If someone is interested in both depression and country music, then she might be turned off because the title is misleading. Another lost reader.

Judging the book by the title is important when it comes to titles of magazines and headlines. It’s disappointing to “open” it and find something entirely different behind the wrapping.

You can create catchy titles and headlines without throwing your readers completely off the trail.

Finally!!! Gmail can now save drafts. That is one feature I sorely missed when using Gmail. You can also search contacts and forward email messages to another account.

Gmail Notifier is a free app is available for downloading. It notifies you whenever you have new Gmail messages. An icon appears in the system tray, and shows the subjects, senders and snippets. It requires Win2000, XP, or a newer version. To get the program, go to New Features > Gmail Notifier .

Click on GmailInstaller.exe to install the program. At the end of the installation, it asks for your Gmail sign in information. The envelope icon appears in the system tray. Right-click it for the following options: View Inbox, Check Mail Now, Tell me Again (repeats the most recent notification or indicates no new messages), Options (set it so that when you click on mailto: link to use Gmail. Also for determing which browser to use when displaying inbox), and About.

Next — improve the filter so I can filter multiple FROM email addresses into the same folder instead of having to create a separate filter for every email address to go into the same folder. I have a folder for “Unread Newsletters” and obviously there are many email addresses that can be filtered into that folder. It doesn’t look like I can create one filter when the action is the same.