TechDev - A Digital Playground

Archive for the 'Microsoft' Category

McAfee deleted svchost.exe

Wednesday afternoon I had at least two reports of workstations that were suddenly rebooting on their own. No networking and no taskbar were also symptoms. I thought it may be a virus, so I did a few scans with some of the well known Windows malware scanning tools, all the while thinking… why didn’t McAfee catch this? After two hours of scanning and no positives on the scans, I decided to rebuild the machine, but declared that I would begin on it the next day.

Well… turns out, McAfee was the issue. I got an email from them that read in part like this: “Our initial investigation indicates that the error can result in moderate to significant performance issues on systems running Windows XP Service Pack 3.” Moderate to significant? One person affected couldn’t get on the network, had no taskbar, and their computer was auto rebooting… That sounds more like extreme systemic failure!

For verification of the issue, see the following screenshot:

Here are some steps I took to fix it (taken mostly from the following website: http://brianseekford.com/index.php/2010/04/21/how-to-fix-the-mcafee-svchost-crash-from-the-virus-definition-update/)

Boot workstation in safe mode and login as an administrative user
Press the following keys: CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Click the “File>Run” menu item, type in “cmd”, and press the “Enter” key
Run the command: del “C:\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee\Engine\avvscan.dat”
Next, we have to copy a replacement svchost.exe from the system if available. Some have found it in “c:\windows\system32\dllcache” and I found it in “C:\Windows\$NtServicePackUninstall$” so I will go with the instructions for what I had on this particular system…

within the “cmd” window type the following below:
cd C:\Windows\$NtServicePackUninstall$”
copy svchost.exe c:\Windows\System32

Next, restart the workstation, login, and update McAfee to the latest dat file. As of this writing they have replaced the broken 5958 dat with 5959.
Once McAfee has been updated, I had to restarted the workstation again to get McAfee to report as being updated.

And more reading regarding the issue:

http://www.cnet.com.au/how-to-fix-your-mcafee-crippled-computer-339302608.htm

http://www.switched.com/2010/04/21/mcafee-update-sends-windows-xp-machines-into-endless-reboot/

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/04/21/1735211/McAfee-Kills-SVCHostexe-Sets-Off-Reboot-Loops-For-Win-XP-Win-2000

Posted by Karl Herrick on April 22nd, 2010 in Microsoft, Windows | Comments Off

Office Compatibility

OpenOffice or Microsoft Office. Use either. It’s like OS X vs. Linux… whatever tool that is best for the job right?

Here’s how you can make the two play a little nicer…

OpenOffice

Already reads and writes .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx (admittedly the .pptx support isn’t near as developed as the previous two formats mentioned, from my experiences at least)
Download and install the following: Excel Viewer, Word Viewer, and PowerPoint Viewer 2007
Download and install the following: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Users with older versions of Microsoft Office Products, including Word 2000/2002/2003, Excel 2000/2002/2003, PowerPoint 2000/2002/2003)

Make sure your office products are updated with the latest service packs if any are available (check Microsoft Update)
Download and install the following: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats
Download and install the following: Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office

Users of Microsoft Office 2007

Download and install the following: Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office

Posted by Karl Herrick on November 20th, 2009 in Apple, OpenOffice, Microsoft, Linux | No Comments »

The network config

My network setup is going through a transitory phase as I swap parts and move things around. Here’s what I have to work with:

Desktops:
- Pentium III-800 MHz with 256 MB RAM and two 300 GB PATA hard disks (currently running Apache/WebDAV as well as network backups)
- Pentium III-850 MHz with 256 MB RAM and one 100 GB PATA hard disk (currently running a MythTV backend on the basic cable TV channels)
- Pentium IV-2.4 GHz with 2 GB RAM and two 80 GB SATA hard disks (currently running Ubuntu 8.04, MythTV frontend, development station, etc)
- Intel Core 2 Quad - 2.33 GHz and one 600 GB SATA hard disk (currently running Kubuntu 9.04, MythTV frontend, VirtualBox w/Windows XP, taking the place of the previous MythTV frontend and the XP install on the Compaq Presario)
Laptops:
- Compaq Presario X1000 - Pentium M - 1.4 GHz with 1.5 GB RAM (this has been mainly used for presentations, wireless development, web development and our cordless Linksys/Skype phone)
- MacBook Pro - Intel Core 2 Duo - 2.53 GHz with 4 GB RAM (this will be the successor to the Compaq laptop)

I also have some other miscellaneous parts/systems that can be used as needed. My thought was to have one MythTV backend, that will also serve as a file share, and backups. This may present some problems with the bandwidth and disk speeds on the Pentium IV box, but that remains to be seen. I am hoping the newest desktop will continue to run some form of Linux, and XP Home virtualized to provide the cordless telephone service. And then finally the two laptops, for all their mobility as well as using XBMC for additional MythTV frontends.

Posted by Karl Herrick on August 20th, 2009 in Microsoft, Windows, Linux | 2 Comments »

Windows 7 - XP Mode

So I downloaded the Windows 7 beta, but never installed it (had to keep Ubuntu and MythTV going strong). To be honest, I have heard it is fantastic… what Vista should have been, yada, yada, etc. Anyhow, I just read that some of the editions of 7 will have “XP Mode”, sort of like Apple had “Classic Environment” when they moved to OS X from OS 9. XP Mode will in fact be XP running in a virtual environment. How cool is that? Maybe business IT will be more easily persuaded to move on.

Windows 7 gets virtual ‘XP mode’

Windows 7 Release Candidate 1’s Best Surprise New Features

Google News

Posted by Karl Herrick on April 25th, 2009 in Microsoft, Windows | No Comments »

XP License Availability Roadmap

Here’s what Microsoft has to say about when they will stop selling various Window XP flavors: (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx)

Under the Support Lifecycle policy, Windows desktop licenses are available for four years after general availability in all standard product distribution channels (e.g. direct OEM, System Builders, retail, and Volume Licensing programs via licenses or via downgrade rights). Licenses will continue to be available through downgrade rights available in Volume Licensing programs after end of general availability.

Windows XP Professional
Date of General Availability
December 31, 2001

Direct OEM and Retail License Availability (end date)
June 30, 2008