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While cleaning up a client computer I found an issue with Internet Explorer where the proxy seeting could not be changed with out it automatically reverting back to its original setting. This persistant issue seemed related to a typical group policy setting but this was not possible because the system was running Windows 7 Home. Many others on the Internet had reported the issue with only one resolution, editing the registry.

The registry changes didn't seem to be long lasting until I found an article by Philip Turner that provided some additional registry keys that I was missing in my search.

Gateway One GZ7108

If you are experiencing issues with your wireless keyboard and mouse not working properly, perform the following steps to troubleshoot the wireless keyboard and mouse.

The Windows 7 update "System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 (KB947821) [May 2014]" will appear hung or stuck during the update process. It will get to about 80 to 90% and just the hard drive activity is all that will indicate that it is still working on the update process. Many have noted it to take several hours. In our own install of this for a client it took almost 6 hours to complete on a system that failed the SFC scan test.

If you are installing the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 (KB947821) besure to allow for a long period of time to install. Do not stop this install or you may corrupt the system to a point where it will not boot and you will be required to reload Windows from scratch.

Epson seems to have discontinued support for the TM-T88ii receipt printer. The only available drivers for this printer by Epson is for 32-bit operating systems up to Windows XP. The POS58 Driver for another branded printer has been found to work both with Windows 7 x64 and the Epson TM-T88ii printer.

The printer driver might be found at the following location.

After upgrading a vSphere vCenter appliance to v5.1 Update 2 we found the the vSphere client installed on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host machine would fail to connect to the vCenter Server 5.1 due to an unknown error.

vSphere Client could not connect to {vcenter_server}.

After upgrading to QuickBooks 2014 Enterprise one of the workstations started having issues saving estimate reports as a PDF or e-mailing the reports. The user would see this error from QuickBooks:

Intuit Printer Library Message: The form you are about to print does not fit on the page. You may wish to modify your print settings such as portrait/landscape. Click OK to print anyways, or Cancel to skip printing this form.

We have seen that Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3038314) fails frequently when it is installed on a freshly installed system using the standard Windows Update process.

The error code 80092004 seems to indicate that the "object or property cannot be found" and in our case that would be true because the install process fails to download the update completely.

After upgrading a Windows 2003 Server to Windows 2012 Server for a client, the Canon iR C2550 would not scan to the new folder which was configured in the same way as the original server. Now the server name was different and so that should have been the only change needed. So why didn't it work. So this is what we did to troubleshoot the issue.

1. DNS - In this case we had to go back to the original DNS configuration and update the DNS to point to the new server since its IP address had changed.

One of our users mistakenly installed Google Chrome when installing an Adobe update and then uninstalled it. However the uninstall did not restore all of the Internet Explorer setting causing multiple problems. One issue was that the user could not use Windows Explorer to view an ftp site.

When the user logged into an ftp site and went to "View" and then "Open ftp site in Windows Explorer" nothing would happen. After searching for this issue we found others had a similar problem and were able to export the registry key [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp] and then import it into the computer that was having issues. In our case the [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp] registry key was missing entirely from the user's computer and needed to be recreated.

On day the Send To option lost the Mail Recipient option from a clients Windows 7 system. The client was using Outlook 2010 and the typical solutions posted that suggested creating a new Mail Recipient didn't work.

The following solution did work for our client.

The following error message appears when opening a company file on a Windows computer that is hosted on a Windows Server:

QuickBooks was unable to open the file [path\filename] on the host computer [host name]. Try opening the file with QuickBooks on the host computer or run the QuickBooks Database Server Manager on the host computer and then try opening the file on your computer.

I our case the server was inadvertently rebooted while one or more client systems had their QuickBooks open and connected to the server causing the database to be disconnect improperly. The client was using QuickBooks Enterprise 2013 installed on a Windows Small Business Server 2011. We followed these steps and were able to get the database to open.

The .NET Framework cleanup tool is designed to automatically perform a set of steps to remove selected versions of the .NET Framework from a computer.  It will remove files, directories, registry keys and values and Windows Installer product registration information for the .NET Framework.  The tool is intended primarily to return your system to a known (relatively clean) state in case you are encountering .NET Framework installation, uninstallation, repair or patching errors so that you can try to install again.

There are a couple of very important caveats that you should review before using this tool to remove any version of the .NET Framework from your system:

After setting up a new laptop computer with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, I found that I was unable to access any of my workgroup servers or access my Windows XP workstations. Each time I would attempt to make a connection either using the UNC name and path or using the IP address I would get an error indicating that the spelling was incorrect or that it could not find the location specified. One of the errors I receive is as follows:

Windows cannot access \\{ComputerName}

What is CIR Registry?

CIR Registry is a software program developed by ITE, is considered a driver that is commonly found on Dell systems. Other technical notes report this as part of the PC DT/NB product and is a single-function PCI Express to PCI bridge, which is compliant with the PCI Express Base. This driver supports PCI-to-PCI bridge with subtractive decode for legacy devices.

After upgrading several workstations for a client, who still has a Windows 2000 server, the Windows 7 workstations would no longer connect to the shares on the Win2K server. To resolve this issue we made several attempts.

System Time

The first thing we looked at was the system time on the server. It was off by about 15 minutes. Normally this is not the cause, but to be sure we updated the server time to be in sync with our workstations.

The Microsoft Surface RT runs a special version of Windows called Windows RT. The Surface RT has an ARM based microprocessor instead of the traditional Intel/x86 compatible processor used with most other Windows based systems. This different processor requires an operating system that is compatible, hence the Windows RT operating system.

One unique aspect to the Windows RT operating system is that malware written for the standard versions of Windows will not run and therfore won't infect a Surface RT device. In addtion, all apps that are capable of being installed on the Surface RT must be downloaded from the Microsoft App store and contain a digital signature that allows them to run. This is another way in which viruses and malware are prevented from running on the Surface RT. This doesn't mean that the Surface RT is immune to viruses, it just means that a virus would have to be crafted specifically for use with Windows RT.

I use to be a frequent visitor to CNET for downloads of trial software and in some cases updates to software which I purchased previously. After my last encounter with CNET I have to recommend to all my clients to stay away from any download from CNET for risk of downloading any number of malware and garbageware onto their computers.

There are allot of good free applications that many of us in the IT field like to use. CNET has been in the past one of the great locations to easily find the utility application you need when you don't have it readily available. We make it a habit to discourage most end users from using any Windows or Mac based tool that can be downloaded from the Internet unless they have extensive experience and intimate knowledge of the system the are using it on. A backup is always a best practice before installing any software.

The SMTP Server Connection Diagnostics Tool is a free utility will enable you to troubleshoot SMTP Server issues more easily than using telnet. It supports both open and SSL connections and contains a built-in library of commands such as EHLO, DATA, RCPT TO, etc.. Nothing to install, just run the executable and step through your commands.

Recovering various HP and even some Dell system after a hard drive failure without the recovery DVD's can be frustrating. If the owner forgot to create the DVD's, there is a chance that you can still burn them later once the computer is running again. If the owner created the DVD's and lost them, you might be forced to contact the vendor and purchase a new set.

Well, if the recovery partition is still accessible on the original drive, here is a how to recover from the HP recovery partition that might help get the system recovered to the factory default installation.

A client had an HP P2-1394 model H3Z88AA desktop system that would turn on briefly, the drives would power up, the fans would spin, and then the system would shut down. After about 5 seconds the process would repeat. This would continue until either the power was removed or the power button was pressed for several seconds forcing the system to the off mode.

Some technical notes found on similar issues suggested the following: