Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Just a thought, but have you tried System Restore to see if a restore point was created before the Acrobat 7 upgrade? In my experience an upgrade or new installation may trigger a problem that has been lurking for some time though. It is sad but I have to reinstall XP ever 4-9mos. Unacceptable, but it is a notebook and Linux setup is painful. My Ubuntu desktop is a rock by comparison. Donald Greg McGahanPeter Jay Salzman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi all,At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open sourcetools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy.This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install anupdate 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted toreboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it.Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are somemanifestations:1. Some of the shortcuts in the start menu lost their bitmap and have becomethe default Windows bitmap of an unregistered file. Clicking on theshortcut doesn't "do" anything. When I view the properties of theshortcut, the target type is "This is not a valid shortcut". They havean empty "target".Only some of the shortcuts do this. Additionally, I can't delete them.2. Wierd errors. For example, when I try to install yahoo IM, it errors outwith "Could not load the DLL library C:\WINDOWS\USER32.DLL. Thespecified module could not be found." I've verified that this libraryexists in C:\windows\system32 but not c:\windows3. Other strangeness that feels like permissions problems.The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guysnoted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he actuallyused; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex,gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupportedsoftware" to "fix the machine".I've got a better idea. I'm going to try to fix whatever is wrong withoutuninstalling my "illegal" software. Hence, the post to vox-tech.First, everything points to the Acrobat upgrade, since that is the onlything that occured in between the time the system was good and not good.But this hardly matters.Any ideas? Many of the things seem to point towards permissions problems.The filesystem is NTFS. Is there a notion of permissions and file ownershipon NTFS? If so, if I didn't have access to read a *.lnk file, wouldexplorer tell me the "link is not valid" like I see in point #1 above?Many of the problems feel like permissions problems to me. Could some kindof permission problem conceivably cause problem #2 above?I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utilityon the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually*changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons.Any help appreciated. I got a good dressing down for installing Firefox,and I really do NOT want to call the help desk again.Thanks,Pete___vox-tech mailing listvox-tech@lists.lugod.orghttp://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Mark K. Kim wrote: On Tue, Feb 07, 2006 at 12:38:17PM -0800, Bill Kendrick wrote: I only recently noticed the "Startup" menu in my literally-screen-sized insanity of an "All Programs" menu in XP. (WhereTF is the categorization? I am VERY glad I don't get this kind of crap under KDE! >:^( ) I went in there and took a few items out. No idea how much of an improvement it's been, though. There's quite a few more ways a program can start besides from the Startup menu. Launch `msconfig` and disable anything you know you don't want. Doing that might have some side-effects... still looking into that myself. -Mark Everthing in the startup tab of msconfig is technically optional for windows to operate. Now looking at the system services is another story, although there are several you can safely disable and some that you can set to manual so they only turn on when you want. Example: Wireless is on be default wether or not you have a wireless card. Alex ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Peter Jay Salzman wrote: Thankfully, I have good news to report. I called IT this morning, and got someone MUCH more reasonable. He thought it was "admirable" that I only use open source tools in my day to day job (I don't think I mentioned this, but I'm a programming quant for a Wall street firm). I mentioned what the other guy said about FF, and he said the other guy was crazy (I think that's "business speak" for "moron"). ;-) Anyway, he said that developers and programmers are given admin access as a matter of policy. The problem, as we suspected, was my permissions changed. He gave me admin access again, and now everything is back to normal. Dunno what caused the change in perms to begin with. Gremlins perhaps. Almost everything. For some reason, Gaim isn't displaying its application window, but I don't think that has anything to do the previous problems. I know its running because there's an instance in the task manager, but it simply doesn't display its window. Wierd. But that's the biggest problem I have, so I'm pretty happy right now. I'm not going to worry about it ATM. I may go the VMware route anyhow. Or perhaps I'll just request a Linux workstation. I kinda don't want to ask too many questions for now. It's only my 3rd week. :) Great to hear your problems are solved! I am in nearly the same position as you: recently hired at a company with very restrictive computer policies. I've been pushing the limits even more than you, though, since I dual-booted my company issued computer with Gentoo Linux. So far IT folks have quietly ignored that I have done this, even when they took my computer to service some software in Windows. Right now I mostly work in Windows and am in the process of getting things to point where I can work mostly in Linux. Still, I have periods of paranoia where I envision Windows getting borked and having my laptop taken away to have its harddrive "re-imaged". But a little paranoia is good motivation to be careful and have a good backup strategy. Hope things are going well for you with your job. Jonathan ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Tue, Feb 07, 2006 at 12:38:17PM -0800, Bill Kendrick wrote: > I only recently noticed the "Startup" menu in my literally-screen-sized > insanity of an "All Programs" menu in XP. (WhereTF is the categorization? > I am VERY glad I don't get this kind of crap under KDE! >:^( ) > > I went in there and took a few items out. No idea how much of an improvement > it's been, though. There's quite a few more ways a program can start besides from the Startup menu. Launch `msconfig` and disable anything you know you don't want. Doing that might have some side-effects... still looking into that myself. -Mark ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:11:00PM -0800, Jeffrey J. Nonken wrote: > ...OK, I exaggerate. I have no real figures. But I've sped up > my Dad's Windows system by removing and disabling a bunch of crap like > that, and made my own systems more stable. And let's not forget the > extra memory they're tying up for no good reason. > > (It's not just the commercial stuff, either. Mozilla has one of those, > as does Open Orifice IIRC, though I believe in both cases they are up > front about it I personally like the idea of the Mozilla one (well, now its SeaMonkey), since Mozilla takes freaking FOREVER to load. My big problem with it is the fact that it's actually kind of stupid. The moment I close the last open Moz window, Mozilla actually DOES quit. Then it reloads itself. In other words, my CPU usage skyrockets for about 20 seconds while it 'figures itself out') > (unlike other programs like, say, Real Player).) I only recently noticed the "Startup" menu in my literally-screen-sized insanity of an "All Programs" menu in XP. (WhereTF is the categorization? I am VERY glad I don't get this kind of crap under KDE! >:^( ) I went in there and took a few items out. No idea how much of an improvement it's been, though. I normally turn on my computer, grab a cup of water and relax while it boots up, then type in my password and go get a cup of coffee. It's usually settled itself down to the point where I can actually run applications by the time I get back. Windows XP sucks. -bill! ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Tue 07 Feb 06, 12:00 PM, Rod Roark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > By the way, Pete, see if you can get them to allow VMware as an > "approved" application. This is well recognized as a mainstream > tool for developers. www.vmware.com. > > If they don't want to pay for it, you can get the free VMware Player > and then download their "Browser Appliance" as your virtual machine; > this is a bare-bones Ubuntu 5.10 which you can then flesh out as > much as you like with Synaptic or apt-get. > > And if you choose the NAT networking option, the VM will not even > be noticed as a separate machine on the local network. > > I just noticed there's also now a free VMware Server. I wonder how > that differs from the Player > > -- Rod Thanks for the good advice! Thankfully, I have good news to report. I called IT this morning, and got someone MUCH more reasonable. He thought it was "admirable" that I only use open source tools in my day to day job (I don't think I mentioned this, but I'm a programming quant for a Wall street firm). I mentioned what the other guy said about FF, and he said the other guy was crazy (I think that's "business speak" for "moron"). ;-) Anyway, he said that developers and programmers are given admin access as a matter of policy. The problem, as we suspected, was my permissions changed. He gave me admin access again, and now everything is back to normal. Dunno what caused the change in perms to begin with. Gremlins perhaps. Almost everything. For some reason, Gaim isn't displaying its application window, but I don't think that has anything to do the previous problems. I know its running because there's an instance in the task manager, but it simply doesn't display its window. Wierd. But that's the biggest problem I have, so I'm pretty happy right now. I'm not going to worry about it ATM. I may go the VMware route anyhow. Or perhaps I'll just request a Linux workstation. I kinda don't want to ask too many questions for now. It's only my 3rd week. :) Pete ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
By the way, Pete, see if you can get them to allow VMware as an "approved" application. This is well recognized as a mainstream tool for developers. www.vmware.com. If they don't want to pay for it, you can get the free VMware Player and then download their "Browser Appliance" as your virtual machine; this is a bare-bones Ubuntu 5.10 which you can then flesh out as much as you like with Synaptic or apt-get. And if you choose the NAT networking option, the VM will not even be noticed as a separate machine on the local network. I just noticed there's also now a free VMware Server. I wonder how that differs from the Player -- Rod ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
First, let me apologize for the formatting. Still haven't recompiled Pine to support SMTP-Authentication that is required for my ISP so using their rather subpar webmail interface which has very narrow wordwrap settings. Given the timing of the issue and the range of symptoms, are you sure you have not been infected with the MyWife worm[0]? In particular, if others at work have access to this machine, they could have been "click happy". If the tech support folks (or whomever have admin access) are known for being "click happy", it could also explain their desire to heap all the blame onto you. Nothing like shifting the blame to cover one's own mistake these days it seems. I would suggest starting with a virus scan since it could have been the reboot that caused the issue more-so than the Acrobat install. [0] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/904420.mspx ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Peter Jay Salzman wrote: Hi all, At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted to reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are some manifestations: 1. Some of the shortcuts in the start menu lost their bitmap and have become the default Windows bitmap of an unregistered file. Clicking on the shortcut doesn't "do" anything. When I view the properties of the shortcut, the target type is "This is not a valid shortcut". They have an empty "target". Only some of the shortcuts do this. Additionally, I can't delete them. 2. Wierd errors. For example, when I try to install yahoo IM, it errors out with "Could not load the DLL library C:\WINDOWS\USER32.DLL. The specified module could not be found." I've verified that this library exists in C:\windows\system32 but not c:\windows 3. Other strangeness that feels like permissions problems. The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he actually used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupported software" to "fix the machine". I've got a better idea. I'm going to try to fix whatever is wrong without uninstalling my "illegal" software. Hence, the post to vox-tech. First, everything points to the Acrobat upgrade, since that is the only thing that occured in between the time the system was good and not good. But this hardly matters. Any ideas? Many of the things seem to point towards permissions problems. The filesystem is NTFS. Is there a notion of permissions and file ownership on NTFS? If so, if I didn't have access to read a *.lnk file, would explorer tell me the "link is not valid" like I see in point #1 above? Many of the problems feel like permissions problems to me. Could some kind of permission problem conceivably cause problem #2 above? I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. Any help appreciated. I got a good dressing down for installing Firefox, and I really do NOT want to call the help desk again. Thanks, Pete ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech Do you have access to system restore (start->help look for it on the middle right side in smaller font), is it even turned on. This is one of the good things they added in winxp too bad most people forget to turn it on. Alex PS: WinXP is the 1st win box I've managed to go longer than 1 year without reinstalling, but it's day is coming soon I'm just too lazy and dual booting put it off for another long while. ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon February 6 2006 17:24, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: > On Mon 06 Feb 06, 2:11 PM, Jeffrey J. Nonken <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 14:19:39 -0500 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Jay Salzman) > > wrote: > > > > I forget if I was able to turn off Adobe's automatic upgrade crap, but > > if not, I manually ignore it when I see it. You've just given me a > > really good reason to continue that policy. > > Normally I ignore them too, but this upgrade specifically said it fixed > security vulnerabilities. > > Two crosswinds blowing in different directions... :) Where did the update originate? I don't mean ultimate origination but only the script that ran on your machine. Could it have been set up by your not-so-friendly IT dept.? A few years back I worked at HP and IT liked to do things like this. Of course, if the script came from your local IT, it could contain a lot more than just the update for adobe. Also, just because the knuckle-dragger you talk to doesn't know that IT did it, doesn't mean they didn't. Richard Harke ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon 06 Feb 06, 2:11 PM, Jeffrey J. Nonken <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 14:19:39 -0500 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Jay Salzman) wrote: > > I forget if I was able to turn off Adobe's automatic upgrade crap, but > if not, I manually ignore it when I see it. You've just given me a > really good reason to continue that policy. Normally I ignore them too, but this upgrade specifically said it fixed security vulnerabilities. Two crosswinds blowing in different directions... :) Pete ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 14:19:39 -0500 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Jay Salzman) wrote: > This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an > update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It > wanted to reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. A lot of the Windoze programs want to do things like that. 1) Put up a "start center" or something that claims to save time loading. Actually it uses 10% of your CPU time 100% of the time but only saves you 0.1 nanoseconds of loading time the two times a month you actually run the thing. ...OK, I exaggerate. I have no real figures. But I've sped up my Dad's Windows system by removing and disabling a bunch of crap like that, and made my own systems more stable. And let's not forget the extra memory they're tying up for no good reason. (It's not just the commercial stuff, either. Mozilla has one of those, as does Open Orifice IIRC, though I believe in both cases they are up front about it (unlike other programs like, say, Real Player).) 2) Leave these little "let's stay in memory and check for upgrades." I love my HP 5850 printer but it leaves memory resident programs that a) keep checking for upgrades for my drivers -- a useless task if I've ever seen one, the old drivers work fine -- and b) reset the default printer to the 5850 on every boot (and then stay resident). Swear to God. I mean, WTF are they thinking?!?! Any time I do a new install I immediately run The Ultimate Troubleshooter (www.answersthatwork.com) and disable them. Not all programs that check for upgrades leave memory resident update checks, but I'd be wary of the on-execute checks too. What did Acrobat Reader need to update that was so important? I bet you'd have happily gone on with your life without it. (The contempt is not aimed at you, it's aimed at Adobe et al.) I always turn them off when I can. Exceptions are things with live databases like antivirus. I forget if I was able to turn off Adobe's automatic upgrade crap, but if not, I manually ignore it when I see it. You've just given me a really good reason to continue that policy. I highly recommend TUT as a valuable tool for keeping Windows systems tuned. It's worth buying the full version, it really is, though I understand it may not be practical (or even possible) at work. Wish I had something of more immediate value, but it sounds like you're already doing everything I could think of. Good luck. ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Micah J. Cowan wrote: On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 01:46:30PM -0800, MB wrote: < I have hosed up many windoze boxes ;) > Are you /sure/? IME, they tend to be quite adept at doing that themselves. :-) (Disclaimer: I can't actually claim this to be true anymore; XP seems to be a quite more stable platform than its predecessors, and I can't recall actually having to reinstall it yet.) Very true. On your disclaimer though xp may be infinitely more stable than its predecessors, but you are not setting the bar very high. I have sucessfully hosed up lots of xp boxes with "updates", or installing two windoze updates without rebooting in between, and on and on. -M ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 01:46:30PM -0800, MB wrote: > < I have hosed up many windoze boxes ;) > Are you /sure/? IME, they tend to be quite adept at doing that themselves. :-) (Disclaimer: I can't actually claim this to be true anymore; XP seems to be a quite more stable platform than its predecessors, and I can't recall actually having to reinstall it yet.) -- Micah J. Cowan [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Peter Jay Salzman wrote: On Mon 06 Feb 06, 1:11 PM, Micah J. Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:19:39PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: Hi all, At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted to reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are some manifestations: It's an obvious one, but I'm obliged to ask it: have you tried /uninstalling/ Acrobat, and if so, did it make a difference? Also, is your desktop backed-up? Thanks, Micah. After the Acrobat update, I seem to have completely lost the ability to install and uninstall programs. Most of the time it says that I need admin privs. Some of the time it says it can't access a particular .dll or it can't find a particular file. Before this whole thing started, I was able to install/uninstall programs just fine. The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he actually used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupported software" to "fix the machine". IMO, this is worth making an issue of. All of these are extremely legal to have on your machine, and it is worth making the support guy understand this. Now, some of it /may/ be against company rules: but since you mentioned that you use cygwin to do development, I sincerely doubt it. Beat this into the support guy's head. Actually, a good tactic is to ask /him/ questions, and make him answer them reasonably. Most answers from these sorts of people will reveal more questions to ask. How, exactly, is Firefox (e.g.) illegal to install? How did you learn this (from the answer to previous)? What do you think about (appropriate link to strong materials denying the truthfulness of his previous answer)? I think his intent was "it's against company policy", but I'll try this tactic. I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. Actually snooping it may be a bad idea as well. You can certainly get fired for such activity, and probably jail time, depending on the judge. Woof! Yeah, I definitely don't want to lose my job. ;) If you must use this, make it a last resort. Probably the one right after attempting to reinstall your system, reinstalling cygwin, etc on top of a fresh install. Unfortunately, my hands are completely tied now; I can't install or uninstall anything. It's almost as if my user account went from 'admin' or 'power user' to 'restricted user'. Maybe tomorrow I should try calling support again and telling them that I can no longer install/uninstall software? I really don't know what else to do, and you have me too spooked to try to change my user permissions now... Pete ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech Agreed. I would be very wary of stepping on the wrong toes in the support department. Most, if not all, offices that have worked in do not generally allow employees to install random software, whether it be free, open source, or anything not on the "list". I have always been a developer, and they generally leave the developers alone (until you begin to pester the desktop support guys) It sure sounds like you have successfully hosed up a windoze installation, and I would suggest a walking over and sweet-talking the desktop guys. This approach has worked for me *several* times. < I have hosed up many windoze boxes ;) > Good Luck -Mark ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Fwd: Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Andy posted from an unsubscribed address. Fwd'ing for him... Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 12:24:11 -0800 From: Andy Wergedal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately To: lugod's technical discussion forum Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ok, 1. First uninstall acrobat 7.0 2. Reboot 3. Google for Acrobat 6.0 and install it. 4. Never install the upgrades. The most you will miss is some newer fonts, but you will not miss the extra 100Mb of the program. Also Acrobat 7 is a RAM pig. For yahoo, 1. Uninstall yahoo IM and the tool bar. 2. Check internet explorer for all other tool bar installs and uninstall them. 3. Reboot 4. Install yahoo IM. If this does not work... Are you the administrator of the winxp box? Does your account have admin rights? If not then you will be at the mercy of the HelpDesk TCO Admins. Call me if you have other issues. 916 799 4398. -- Andy PS sorry to show my windows knowledge on the linux list. On 2/6/06, Peter Jay Salzman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi all, > > At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source > tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. > > This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an > update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted > to > reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. > > Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are > some > manifestations: > > 1. Some of the shortcuts in the start menu lost their bitmap and have > become >the default Windows bitmap of an unregistered file. Clicking on the >shortcut doesn't "do" anything. When I view the properties of the >shortcut, the target type is "This is not a valid shortcut". They have >an empty "target". > >Only some of the shortcuts do this. Additionally, I can't delete them. > > 2. Wierd errors. For example, when I try to install yahoo IM, it errors > out >with "Could not load the DLL library C:\WINDOWS\USER32.DLL. The >specified module could not be found." I've verified that this library >exists in C:\windows\system32 but not c:\windows > > 3. Other strangeness that feels like permissions problems. > > > The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys > noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he > actually > used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, > gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and > unsupported > software" to "fix the machine". > > I've got a better idea. I'm going to try to fix whatever is wrong without > uninstalling my "illegal" software. Hence, the post to vox-tech. > > First, everything points to the Acrobat upgrade, since that is the only > thing that occured in between the time the system was good and not good. > But this hardly matters. > > Any ideas? Many of the things seem to point towards permissions problems. > The filesystem is NTFS. Is there a notion of permissions and file > ownership > on NTFS? If so, if I didn't have access to read a *.lnk file, would > explorer tell me the "link is not valid" like I see in point #1 above? > > Many of the problems feel like permissions problems to me. Could some > kind > of permission problem conceivably cause problem #2 above? > > I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility > on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually > *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. > > Any help appreciated. I got a good dressing down for installing Firefox, > and I really do NOT want to call the help desk again. > > Thanks, > Pete > ___ > vox-tech mailing list > vox-tech@lists.lugod.org > http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech > - End forwarded message - -- -bill!Tux Paint 2006 wall calendar, [EMAIL PROTECTED]CDROM, bumper sticker & apparel http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/ http://www.cafepress.com/newbreedsw ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 04:26:08PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: > On Mon 06 Feb 06, 1:11 PM, Micah J. Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:19:39PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > > > At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source > > > tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. > > > > > > This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an > > > update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted > > > to > > > reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. > > > > > > Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are > > > some > > > manifestations: > > > > > > > > It's an obvious one, but I'm obliged to ask it: have you tried > > /uninstalling/ Acrobat, and if so, did it make a difference? Also, is > > your desktop backed-up? > > Thanks, Micah. > > After the Acrobat update, I seem to have completely lost the ability to > install and uninstall programs. > > Most of the time it says that I need admin privs. Some of the time it says > it can't access a particular .dll or it can't find a particular file. > Before this whole thing started, I was able to install/uninstall programs > just fine. See: this is weird in and of itself: if you were able to install/uninstall programs most of the time, chances are **REALLY** good that your user /had/ Admin privs. Ask the support guy (shudder) if this has changed recently? > > > The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys > > > noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he > > > actually > > > used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, > > > gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and > > > unsupported > > > software" to "fix the machine". > > > > IMO, this is worth making an issue of. All of these are extremely legal > > to have on your machine, and it is worth making the support guy > > understand this. Now, some of it /may/ be against company rules: but > > since you mentioned that you use cygwin to do development, I sincerely > > doubt it. > > > > Beat this into the support guy's head. Actually, a good tactic is to ask > > /him/ questions, and make him answer them reasonably. Most answers from > > these sorts of people will reveal more questions to ask. > > > > How, exactly, is Firefox (e.g.) illegal to install? > > How did you learn this (from the answer to previous)? > > What do you think about (appropriate link to strong materials denying > > the truthfulness of his previous answer)? > > I think his intent was "it's against company policy", but I'll try this > tactic. Well, "against company policy is another issue entirely". You could try to get that changed, but... Thing is, your boss knows your developing with cygwin, right? So how can it be against "company policy"? Somewhat more likely: against "MIS policy"... > > > I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility > > > on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually > > > *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. > > > > Actually snooping it may be a bad idea as well. You can certainly get > > fired for such activity, and probably jail time, depending on the judge. > > Woof! Yeah, I definitely don't want to lose my job. ;) > > > If you must use this, make it a last resort. Probably the one right > > after attempting to reinstall your system, reinstalling cygwin, etc on > > top of a fresh install. > > Unfortunately, my hands are completely tied now; I can't install or > uninstall anything. It's almost as if my user account went from 'admin' or > 'power user' to 'restricted user'. > > Maybe tomorrow I should try calling support again and telling them that I > can no longer install/uninstall software? I really don't know what else to > do, and you have me too spooked to try to change my user permissions now... No, no, I meant install WinXP afresh (or the company's baseline image), and install things over that. You can do that if you have access to the machine... (but you may need MIS's permission/help). Didn't mean to spook you... figured you already guessed as much. And it really depends on the employer: some will be sympathetic, some won't. But with an IS department like that, I'm thinking it's wiser to avoid. As far as changing your own user permissions: as I previously noted, it seems very likely that you once /had/ Admin permissions. If you can ascertain that this was true, then it seems justifiable to get them back (although, again, "illicitly" gaining access to the Admin account itself may not be a good idea). As far as getting fired over stuff: just keep in mind, a guy can pretty much get fired for whatever reason the company wants--including quite illegal reasons--provided the company never tells anyone w
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon 06 Feb 06, 1:11 PM, Micah J. Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:19:39PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source > > tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. > > > > This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an > > update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted to > > reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. > > > > Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are some > > manifestations: > > > > It's an obvious one, but I'm obliged to ask it: have you tried > /uninstalling/ Acrobat, and if so, did it make a difference? Also, is > your desktop backed-up? Thanks, Micah. After the Acrobat update, I seem to have completely lost the ability to install and uninstall programs. Most of the time it says that I need admin privs. Some of the time it says it can't access a particular .dll or it can't find a particular file. Before this whole thing started, I was able to install/uninstall programs just fine. > > The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys > > noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he actually > > used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, > > gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupported > > software" to "fix the machine". > > IMO, this is worth making an issue of. All of these are extremely legal > to have on your machine, and it is worth making the support guy > understand this. Now, some of it /may/ be against company rules: but > since you mentioned that you use cygwin to do development, I sincerely > doubt it. > > Beat this into the support guy's head. Actually, a good tactic is to ask > /him/ questions, and make him answer them reasonably. Most answers from > these sorts of people will reveal more questions to ask. > > How, exactly, is Firefox (e.g.) illegal to install? > How did you learn this (from the answer to previous)? > What do you think about (appropriate link to strong materials denying > the truthfulness of his previous answer)? I think his intent was "it's against company policy", but I'll try this tactic. > > I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility > > on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually > > *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. > > Actually snooping it may be a bad idea as well. You can certainly get > fired for such activity, and probably jail time, depending on the judge. Woof! Yeah, I definitely don't want to lose my job. ;) > If you must use this, make it a last resort. Probably the one right > after attempting to reinstall your system, reinstalling cygwin, etc on > top of a fresh install. Unfortunately, my hands are completely tied now; I can't install or uninstall anything. It's almost as if my user account went from 'admin' or 'power user' to 'restricted user'. Maybe tomorrow I should try calling support again and telling them that I can no longer install/uninstall software? I really don't know what else to do, and you have me too spooked to try to change my user permissions now... Pete ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:19:39PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: > Hi all, > > At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source > tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. > > This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an > update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted to > reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. > > Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are some > manifestations: It's an obvious one, but I'm obliged to ask it: have you tried /uninstalling/ Acrobat, and if so, did it make a difference? Also, is your desktop backed-up? > The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys > noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he actually > used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, > gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupported > software" to "fix the machine". IMO, this is worth making an issue of. All of these are extremely legal to have on your machine, and it is worth making the support guy understand this. Now, some of it /may/ be against company rules: but since you mentioned that you use cygwin to do development, I sincerely doubt it. Beat this into the support guy's head. Actually, a good tactic is to ask /him/ questions, and make him answer them reasonably. Most answers from these sorts of people will reveal more questions to ask. How, exactly, is Firefox (e.g.) illegal to install? How did you learn this (from the answer to previous)? What do you think about (appropriate link to strong materials denying the truthfulness of his previous answer)? > I've got a better idea. I'm going to try to fix whatever is wrong without > uninstalling my "illegal" software. Hence, the post to vox-tech. > > First, everything points to the Acrobat upgrade, since that is the only > thing that occured in between the time the system was good and not good. > But this hardly matters. > > Any ideas? Many of the things seem to point towards permissions problems. > The filesystem is NTFS. Is there a notion of permissions and file ownership > on NTFS? If so, if I didn't have access to read a *.lnk file, would > explorer tell me the "link is not valid" like I see in point #1 above? Yes, but it's not quite like Unix. you should be able to access it under Properties or something: certainly somewhere under the right-click context menu (sorry: running Linux from work at the moment, so can't give you better details). > Many of the problems feel like permissions problems to me. Could some kind > of permission problem conceivably cause problem #2 above? I would think so. > I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility > on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually > *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. Actually snooping it may be a bad idea as well. You can certainly get fired for such activity, and probably jail time, depending on the judge. If you must use this, make it a last resort. Probably the one right after attempting to reinstall your system, reinstalling cygwin, etc on top of a fresh install. -- Micah J. Cowan [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
[vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately
Hi all, At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy. This morning a bad thing happened. Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it. It wanted to reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it. Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey. Here are some manifestations: 1. Some of the shortcuts in the start menu lost their bitmap and have become the default Windows bitmap of an unregistered file. Clicking on the shortcut doesn't "do" anything. When I view the properties of the shortcut, the target type is "This is not a valid shortcut". They have an empty "target". Only some of the shortcuts do this. Additionally, I can't delete them. 2. Wierd errors. For example, when I try to install yahoo IM, it errors out with "Could not load the DLL library C:\WINDOWS\USER32.DLL. The specified module could not be found." I've verified that this library exists in C:\windows\system32 but not c:\windows 3. Other strangeness that feels like permissions problems. The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys noted that i have a lot of "illegal software". this is the term he actually used; i'm not making that up. he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex, gvim, cygwin, etc. he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupported software" to "fix the machine". I've got a better idea. I'm going to try to fix whatever is wrong without uninstalling my "illegal" software. Hence, the post to vox-tech. First, everything points to the Acrobat upgrade, since that is the only thing that occured in between the time the system was good and not good. But this hardly matters. Any ideas? Many of the things seem to point towards permissions problems. The filesystem is NTFS. Is there a notion of permissions and file ownership on NTFS? If so, if I didn't have access to read a *.lnk file, would explorer tell me the "link is not valid" like I see in point #1 above? Many of the problems feel like permissions problems to me. Could some kind of permission problem conceivably cause problem #2 above? I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines. Actually *changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons. Any help appreciated. I got a good dressing down for installing Firefox, and I really do NOT want to call the help desk again. Thanks, Pete ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
