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Computer Blog - thebroadroom.net: More general Microsoft Hell notes...
Disclaimer: all of the following is purely from personal experience. TheBroadroom.Net urges you to use your own instincts,
common sense, and willingness to take risks when applying any of the information below.
More general Microsoft Hell notes...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
Saturday, January 28, 2006
at 12:18 PM (Pacific)
Okay...this is next to insane, but let's share. :)
When I was trying to get an intelligible error message on an ASP script in IE, one piece of advice I found was to install the IIS (Internet Information Services) Windows component. shrugs I did that. It didn't do anything, but then it didn't affect the performance of the computer either, so I left it in. (Changing a "friendly error message" setting in IE gave me the detailed error message, see post below.)
Fast forward 5 days.
The computer is now running Comcast cable internet. Again, it seemed fine at first. Then, Microsoft Hell started up...you know what I mean.
1.) The startup time for the computer jumped from about 30 seconds to 3 minutes. i.e. it took 3 minutes for the desktop icons to show.
2.) The computer could no longer use Automatic Updates (never a problem before on this computer). It showed there was 1 update to be installed. This was the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Validation Tool. As I've said, I have no problem installing this tool...I just couldn't install it. Automatic Updates downloaded it but wouldn't install it (it would just hang). I got it to install the Tool (see post below) but then it showed another update downloaded and ready to install, and likewise I couldn't install that.
3.) (Related to #2 actually) was that I could no longer create new System Restore points. Again, it would hang.
Manually downloading and trying to install Microsoft updates showed that the installation hung when it was trying to create a new restore point. Hence, fixing #3 would also most likely fix #2.
Fine....
I started out on the Microsoft site, looking for documentation regarding System Restore. There were a few articles on troubleshooting it but nothing worked. A clue was an article here:
You Cannot Create a Restore Point with a HighPoint Driver Installed
This computer didn't have this particular driver but I speculated as to whether Comcast had installed something that didn't agree with System Restore.
I then went to the Symantec site to see if there were known issues with Norton Internet Security, the specific program that this computer has installed in it. Again, some advice such as running LiveUpdate. I did this, it updated everything fine, but it didn't solve #1, #2 or #3.
They also said to have the NIS Personal Firewall re-detect its Manual Program Control listings. I did this also. It completed the re-detect process but again, did nothing re the 3 problems.
Hmmm...and I did the "msconfig" thing to stop some items from loading on startup. This was gratifying (I hate all that stuff that loads for no reason) but again did not solve the problems. i.e. it sped up the boot process only after the desktop icons showed (I still had to wait the same 3 minutes).
Don't ask me how but I suddenly wondered if the IIS service was doing something strange. Since it was useless anyway, I had the idea to uninstall it.
I couldn't uninstall it using the same Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs I'd use to install it. It hung (I had the morbid suspicion it was trying to create a system restore point and couldn't). However, of course it was still possible to go to Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services, find the IIS Admin service, and disable it.
When I restarted the computer, somehow everything just worked again. It booted up in less than one minute (comparable to how fast it booted before). I could now create a new system restore point. And, I installed the new Windows Update that was sitting there.
I have no idea if this information could be helpful to anyone else, but it is the second time that changing a specific Service has produced results. I'm wondering now if Microsoft has better documentation on the Services somewhere.Labels: microsoft
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