Tech Salsa

Steps to Do at Logon Error: Command Length is Incorrect

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:49:21 +0000

An unusual problem faced by one (or may be some) of our visitors that the

Windows Logon displays the following Logon Message in a box:
“The system cannot log you on due to the following error:
The program issued a command but the command length is incorrect.
Please try again or consult your administrator”.

What I found is that the problem is caused after you have downloaded some Windows Update that may be also a malware or a spyware. So you just need to uninstall the update.

• For some it was the update like KB885835 or KB914882 (might differ for you). Uninstall updates in the reverse order of which you installed and for that check the date/time stamp, not the number.

• But for that you need to login to the system (that is what is the problem, right?)

• For that, you can either boot the system with the Windows CD or connect the drive to another machine as a secondary drive.

• Now go to \windows\$NtUninstallKB914882$ (hidden by default) or whatever number you are trying to remove. Delete the folder. If the same update is present in Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel then uninstall it from there as well.

• Let’s hope the error is removed after reboot.

The RSS Feed Experiment – Join In Now!

admin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:20:19 +0000

I like experimenting a lot after all it is the best way to learn. So I am starting a new experiment right here on the blog. The sole purpose of the experiment is to remind all you visitors who haven’t subscribed to Tech Salsa, that you should do it now. The subscription is easy and free, and this will keep all of you informed about the small but handy info that we provide regularly.

I will check the result of this experiment after few days to see how many visitors we encouraged to join us. (For more info about RSS, check subscribe page).

So, who all are with me?

Steps to Do at Logon Error: Command Length is Incorrect

Missing Features in Gtalk

admin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:18:31 +0000

We all like chatting, don’t we and there are many clients available for use. We have whole lot of options to choose from like Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk, and Skype to name a few. Our choice of the messenger depends on our liking of the chat tool.

Every chat tool has its own advantage and disadvantage. While usually there are more advantages than their disadvantages, there are several areas in which our favorite Gtalk, also known as Gchat, is lagging behind the others.

Following are the bugs that Gtalk is missing:

1. The first and the most important bug in Gtalk is its Display Name bug. Almost everyone of is facing this problem that our display name in the Gtalk displays to some old name of our, to our friends whom we are talking to. These are the names that we once put in our Orkut account.

2. The other important bug is that we can only be invisible in Gtalk through the Gmail integrated Gtalk. There is no option of getting invisible by using Gtalk client.

3. We can, even, not be invisible to an individual contact. Either we can be invisible or not but there is no option that enables us to be invisible to a single contact.

4. Unlike Yahoo Messenger, where we can directly login as invisible there is no option in Gtalk using which we can get invisible even before signing in the Gtalk.

Surely Google should do something about these bugs else we will notice the rise of other Messengers soon.
If it is there any bug that you know, then do tell me.

Steps to Create U.S. iTunes Store Account Completely Free

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:52:50 +0000

As you people know I just bought a new iPhone 3G for myself so I need to make a new iTunes store account for it as well. Creating the account is necessary as to get any application we need to have an account. Now it depends upon you people that which account you want to create.

I prefer the U.S. account as it gives the users more options to choose from and also the content is updated on a regular basis. Usually iTunes checks for the details of the person but using following steps you can create your own iTunes store account for anywhere in the world. Of Course, no credit card is required.

There is another method available on the net that require you enter a “redeem code”. It has become redundant and the steps below do not require any gift coupon. Following is the step by step procedure to create a new account.

Steps:

1. First things first, download the latest iTunes software.

2. Now start the iTunes, click on the iTunes store in left pane.

3. Choose your country from the list given at the bottom of the page, I chose U.S. To create an account other than U.S. one, choose a different country at this step only.

4. Now click on any free application that you see in the Top Free Applications list. Click on “get app” button. In the box that opened, click on “Create new Account” button.

5. Click “continue” on the welcome screen that opened.

6. Now enter the details that are required in the form.

7. Now choose the option of “None” from the listed Payment Methods and fill the required details. If you do not know any valid US address then check this link. Search for any apple store from the search box and just enter the details in the form.

8. Congratulations!! Your new account has been created.

Note:
Do not create the account from clicking Sign in button first as in this case “none” option will not appear. The “None” option will appear if you click on any app first to create an account.

Steps to Delete Files Used by another Program

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:07:32 +0000

Unable to delete a file and annoyed by Windows giving this message “Cannot Delete Folder: It is being used by another person or program”? Don’t know which process to kill?

It happens many times that we want to delete a file or a folder but can’t do so and get an error message that the file is in use. It also happens that we can’t even rename or move the file.

Well the solution is quite simple and in fact there are many of those:

1. You can download this utility called Unlocker and easily close the applications

using the file before deleting the file.

2. You can also try this option:

Run cmd and go to the directory where the file is using cd command. Then just type the following command

del xxx

where xxx is the full name of the file.

3. But if you don’t like installing any software then this solution is the best for you (I also use this method most of the time).

Reboot the PC and as soon as the system boots up just delete the file, it will be deleted easily. The only thing is that you should delete the file before it is used by the actual program.

There may be more solutions to this problem so just let me know.

Steps to Block or Disable Ads and Images for a Website

admin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:45:41 +0000

Well there are several reasons for disabling or blocking the images or advertisements on a specific Web Page. Common of them are:

•    If you are annoyed seeing a large number if ads on the page.
•    If you have a slow internet connection that takes a long time to load the images.
•    To block objectionable ads or images.
•    Or just that you want to block the ads.

The solution is quite simple and you can block ads/images in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Steps to block ads in Firefox:

1. Click on Tools -> Options -> Content tab.
2. Now if you want to block ads for all websites then simply uncheck the option of “Load Images Automatically” but to block images for specific website add the URL in “Exceptions” button.

3. You could also use this to block the images for specific website. Tools -> Page Info -> click block images under Media Tab.

4. Close Firefox and star again.

Steps to block images in Internet Explorer:

1. Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced tab.
2. Traverse to Multimedia section and uncheck the “Show pictures” checkbox.

So block those unwanted images.

Solution to Svchost.exe not found Problem

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:50:19 +0000

This is a problem that happened to one of our viewers. His system got infected with a virus but his Anti Virus cleaned it successfully. But what was strange is that during the next startup his system showed an error message “C:\recycled\SVCHOST.exe not found”.

I came to know that this problem is mostly caused when scanned with either McAfee or AVG Anti Virus (I don’t discourage the use of them). The problem is caused when either the virus or the Anti Virus does some changes in the registry. To know more about the Svchost.exe process, read this.

Well the solution is not at all difficult:

• Open registry editor (typing regedit in the Run box).

• Navigate to both of the following keys:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon

• Now if you will see a shell Explorer.exe with the value “C:\recycled\SVCHOST.exe” in any one of them, just delete the whole key of explorer.exe

Rebooting will solve the problem.

Steps to Clean Infected Computer

admin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:56:59 +0000

So let me guess you have infected your system and tried many solutions to clean it. There are many ways to clean the system and of course the final step is to Format the PC which no one of us wants to do.

After receiving a problem from a user, I think I should discuss what I would have done to clean the system.

Steps to clean the system:

1. The first and the foremost step, is to prevent the system from getting infected. So scan the media like CD, Pen Drive etc before connecting it to the computer with a good and updated Anti Virus.

2. The above step will take out most of the threats but if it doesn’t then follow this post.

3. But if your computer gets infected any how, then again scan the computer though it will be not effective as earlier.

4. So if you know the name of the virus that is spreading then it would be easier to remove from the system. Say the virus is “newfolder.exe” then first kill the virus from the task manager.

5. Now type “msconfig” in cmd and remove the “newfolder.exe” from the startup list (if any).

6. Now in the cmd, type the following commands:
cd\ (to go in the root drive)
cd windows\system32 (hit enter)
attrib -s -h –r newfolder.exe (hit enter)
del newfolder.exe (hit enter)

7. This would have deleted the virus though there are different steps to manually remove the different viruses.

8. But even after trying the above steps the system is infected then resort to Formatting only. To format the PC properly read this post.

Any thoughts?

Solution to Virtual Memory Too Low Problem

admin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:31:43 +0000

This problem was reported by one of our readers that in spite of having a sufficient amount of RAM, he is running out of Virtual Memory and his Windows PC gives the following error:

Your system is low on virtual memory. To ensure that Windows runs properly, increase the size of your virtual memory paging file. For more information, see Help.

This is a common problem and you may have seen it if you are trying to open many heavy applications at the same time like Microsoft Office.

Let’s see what the causes are and what can be done at this stage.

Windows XP or Vista uses the concept of Virtual Memory that aims at providing the additional memory from the Hard Disk if most of the RAM of the computer is already occupied. This memory used from the Hard Disks is called Paging File. Windows reserve some part of the memory for this purpose only (this is one of the reasons why we see less memory than specified on the hard disk).

Virtual Memory also known as Page File or Swap File can be located at C:\pagefile.sys (it is system hidden and can be viewed if you Uncheck the option of “Hide Protected Operating System Files” inside Folder Options).

Solution:

1. If culprit is known:

Just end the task that is consuming the maximum Virtual Memory.
To know the culprit, open Task Manager -> View -> Select Columns.

Now tick on the “Virtual Memory Size” option, this will display a new column in the task manager.

This column lists the Virtual Memory consumed by the different processes. So just close the task that is using the maximum Virtual Memory.

2. For general solution (better):

• First thing is to upgrade your RAM. These days anything above 2 GB RAM is great and will stay for a long time. Go for 4 GB if your pocket supports.

• Now as suggested by Windows, the size of VM should be at least 1.5 times the size of RAM example, 768 MB of Virtual Memory for 512 MB RAM. But I would suggest you to keep it twice (to avoid the problem anytime in future).

•    To set the VM size manually, right-click My Computer and then click Properties.
•    In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
•    In the Performance pane, click Settings, now click the Advanced tab.
•    In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.
•    Change the Initial size value and the Maximum size value to a higher value, click Set, and then click OK.
•    Click OK and restart the system.

Problem Solved!! By the way, what RAM size are you using?

Set Your Default Web Brower for Your User Profile

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:49:50 +0000

How many times it has happened to you that wish you to use Firefox as your favorite and default web browser but your brother or sister wish to use Internet Explorer as his/her default web browser? This is a common conflict in case of a single computer shared by many users with different user profiles or accounts.

On running the Internet Explorer which is not a default browser (say), we get a message “Internet Explorer is not currently your default browser. Would you like to make it your default browser?” If we click yes, IE will be our next default explorer which will again pose a conflict for the other user.

So it is not a problem anymore with DefaultBrowser, which allows us to set the default web browser for a user profile in Windows XP, without affecting the other users. Know more about it by following the link.

This is a clean and a free software, download it from here.

The only requirements are:
• Admin or limited accounts (doesn’t work in guest account).
• Click “No” when your Web browser prompts to make itself the default.