bug.gd
Unfortunately, computers don’t always work perfectly, and I’m sure that you’ve seen your fair share of error
messages before. There are occasions when they actually make sense, but it seems like the messages are cryptic
most of the time, and while they indicate that something is wrong, they don’t always tell you what you need
to do to resolve the issue.
This resource provides a way for you to get some help with the errors that you’re experiencing. All you have
to do is paste in an error message to see if anyone else has experienced a similar problem, and if they have,
then you could find a solution.
DLL Unloader
When you close a door, the door is closed. Makes sense. But when you close a program in Windows some of its
DLLs love to stick around. Some components just never know when to leave, eh? Kick 'em out of memory
immediately if you have better things to do with the space. This tweak should benefit those of you who run
different programs on a daily basis. Fire up REGEDIT.EXE and navigate to
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer" - create a new String
Value in the right pane and name it: "AlwaysUnloadDll" (sans quotes). Give this new string a value
of 1, close the Registry Editor, and reboot Windows. This will eliminate DLL caching; programs won't re-launch
as quickly as before, but it'll bring closure to every close. Perfect for low memory systems or programming
environments.
Password protect your documents
Do you have documents that you'd rather keep secret? Short of attribing them 'hidden' (and telling Windows to
keep them hidden), you should give yourself another layer of protection. Right-click on empty space in a
folder and select CUSTOMIZE THIS FOLDER, then choose CREATE HTML DOCUMENT FOR THIS FOLDER. Once the document
is opened in Notepad, scroll down until you see [script language="JavaScript"] -- hit [ENTER] to insert a
blank line after this string. Now, insert the following text (with hard carriage returns where noted): var
pass = prompt("Enter the password") [ENTER] if(pass != "YOURPASSWORD") [ENTER] {window.location="C:"} [ENTER].
Put a password in the place of YOURPASSWORD but leave the quotes. Save the document, exit Notepad, refresh the
folder (hit F5), enter your new password, and the next time you try to enter that folder, you'll be prompted
for your password.
Dr. Watson
A program error debugger that detects and diagnoses program errors and creates User.dmp and DrWtsn32.log files
to contain the diagnostic data. In Windows NT these files are stored in the %systemroot% folder. In Windows
2000, these files are stored in the %systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DrWatson folder.
For Windows XP, these files are stored in the %systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\ All Users\ Application Data\
Microsoft\ Dr Watson folder. The DrWtsn32.log file is appended each time a program error occurs; the User.dmp
file is overwritten each time. To turn off the Dr Watson debugger, apply the following Windows NT / Windows
2000 / Windows XP registry hack:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug
Name: Auto
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0 disable
Value: 1 enable
To re-enable Dr Watson, you can change Auto back to 1 or from the command line type drwtsn -i
Password Saving
When you change or reinstall protocols windows will sometimes default to disabling it's password saving.
Press Start-->Run-->and type in regedit then find the following key: HKEY_LOCAL-MACHINE\ Software\
Microsoft\ Windows\ Current Version\ Policies\ Network - Set the DisablePwdCashing value to 0x0000000 (0)
and then the system will remember your password. Then go back and enter your password, connect to your ISP,
(you must get a completed connection) and then disconnect from your ISP. The next time you connect your
password will be remembered.
Disabling the Windows startup password utility
There are a few ways to get around this; first, you'll need to open the Passwords icon sitting inside your
Control Panel. You'll see the "User Profiles" tab; flip to it and select the "All users of
this computer use the same preferences and desktop settings" option. Did that do the trick? Okay, if you
still have an active account, change its password. On the "Change Passwords" tab, click the
"Change Windows Password" button. Enter your old password and leave the fields for your new password
completely blank. If that STILL didn't do the trick (and you'll find out when you reboot), consider taking it
up a notch by removing the "PWL" file in your default Windows folder to start fresh; make a backup
copy for permanently erasing it. The PWL stores more than the Login account; if you can't remember your screen
saver password, this is the culprit. There's yet another way to rid yourself of that Login dialog. Right-click
on the Network Neighborhood icon and pull up its properties. For "Primary Network Logon," select
"Windows Logon." Reboot... and hope you don't see that sucker again.
How much junk e-mail do you receive on a daily basis?
More importantly, do you know how those dirty rotten scoundrels attained your e-mail address? Chances are,
you've signed up for a service in the past and given that company "permission" to use (or sell) your
contact info. Ugh! "I didn't ask for this stuff." Of course not, but you're getting it now
(regardless). Your e-mail server may support an interesting address addition which would allow you to track
incoming mail with ease. Next time you sign up for a service, try adding a plus sign (+) to your existing
address, followed by the reference. For instance, if you were ben@pirillo.com signing up for a car tips
newsletter, you may be able to sign up as ben+cartips@pirillo.com. The mail will still come to the 'ben'
account (again, if your mail server supports this feature). Try mailing a +test message to yourself to see if
it works.
An outstanding registry hack to avoid homepage hijacking in IE:
The bad news is that windows has a built in bit that allows outsiders (any site) to read, write, and edit
(in other words, to "hack") your Windows registry. This can cause many problems for you, such as
making your browser behave strangely, causing programs to hang up or not function, and launching programs you
don't want to run. The Windows program that allows the hacking is called REGWIZC.DLL (registry wizard control
module).
The good news is that you can disable it so that it does not allow scripts on web sites you visit to hack your
registry. Here is how to disable it:
1. Click on - taskbar/start menu/run
2. Copy and paste the following line into the run field:
regsvr32.exe -u c:\windows\system32\regwizc.dll
3. Click OK. You should get a popup message confirming the successful disabling of regwizc.dll.
It is also possible to re-enable regwizc.dll, if you should later decide to allow outsiders to get into your
registry. I can't think of any reason why you should, but this is how to do it:
1. Click on - taskbar/start menu/run
2. Copy and paste the following line into the run field:
regsvr32.exe -c c:\windows\system32\regwizc.dll
3. Click OK. You should get a popup message confirming the successful enabling of regwizc.dll. |
