MSN 7.5 , Can't sign in, Delay when typing

Found the solution to a funky problem related to MSN messenger 7.5.

I think it was originally related to a Beta install of MSN 8.

I had to re-register the dll called MSXML3.dll.
regsvr32 MSXML3.dll

It also fixed a strange problem on windows update.

Network Connections Empty

I amk working on a computer where the network connections in the control panel, is blank.

This the scenario that led to this:
Computer Wouldn't shutdown.
Removed SP2.
Reinstalled Windows XP Sp1 (install never completed)
Reinstalled Windows XP w Sp2
Computer shuts down. But there are other issues.
Had to run the subinacl utility to resolve Registry permission issues.
Installed XP SP2 again, just for fun :)
Now, Network Connections is empty (Also, I can't get into Windows Update)
Found this article Trying it now....... :)

Hello HAL

So I have this computer I am fixing for a neighbor. Dang thing won't shut down when I tell it. No other issues that I can see.

So I figure out that the computer is showing as "standard PC" in the Device manager. Looking around I discover that it should probably be "ACPI enabled PC" or something along those lines.

This is the MS Support doc I found about it.

It seemed to work :)

UPDATE: I ran into a few problems
This is related

Spybot Search & Destroy

My friends and I have talked about this in the past. On some installs of Spybot 1.4, when checking for problems it just does a quick search...counts to about 40 and stops.

I never figured out how to fix this until now.

My fix: I had to manually download the detection updates from the Spybot Downloads Page

Once I downloaded that, VOILA! It worked perfectly.

IBM Linux Cartoons

Ok this is just stupid IMO.
Here we have the company who is considered by Bill Gates to be Microsoft's biggest competitor? http://tinyurl.com/e2tff

PUHHLEEEEASE. I wonder if the engineers' children wrote those?

read more | digg story

Viiv is DRM!

Technology is frightening me lately. How is it that companies can screw or try to screw us so badly?

Intel & MS are going to potentially put other companies outta business in the home entertainment space because of new DRM techniques they will likely employ..... So where does that leave us? One stereo receiver choice? one DVR choice? Sounds just like PC operating systems.....

AMD for me....... but I still used windows @ home. /me is ashamed :)

read more | digg story

Got a Gmail Account? You may not be the only one receiving your mail...

UPDATE:
The guy was mistaken. No big deal. I think he handled it ok :)

--This is just crazy.

--I haven't used my 6 or so gmail accounts much but this is just lame as hell.

--Worth a read

read more | digg story

The Best Ghost Photos Ever Taken

Here is a collection of the most famous and most convincing ghost photos ever taken. Some of these pics are absolutely amazing.

read more | digg story

Nail.exe

My thoughts on tech.....
Once I found a file on a computer called nail.exe. It was loaded along with explorer.exe as the shell. This was an XP machine.

My search on google resulted in ZERO hits. I was perplexed and eventually discovered it was part of a rootkit. Thankfully it was not my own computer.

What I learned from that is that I should blog my findings. A search today *Jan 2006* results in 35,700 English results on Google.

I am not a complete computer nerd. I can't always read binary without help. I don't understand hex completely. But I have a good eye for spyware hunting.... fun stuff.

I hope to post interesting things I find in the course of fixing computers all over town :)