Do you keep having intermittent performance issues or are worried about having such?  

I’ve been seeing lots of comments and posts on computer helps sites where users have spent hours, days, weeks and often times lost important data, while costing themselves enormous amounts of money all because they weren’t keeping their Windows Operating Systems’s  (OS’s)”up-to-date”, aren’t maintaining backups, and have forgotten all about general system maintenance.  I’m not sure why this is occurring so much but it appears that many users are fearful of losing data or messing up their current configurations.  Even though we might be computer professionals or maybe not?, everyone needs a reminder ever so often about the basic activities which keeps our systems moving.

So, lets go through how to maintain your Windows OS’s by downloading the latest high-priority updates using Windows Update tool, general maintenance / cleaning up of your system,  plus one of many ways to keep your data backed-up;  so that you don’t need to worry about data loss or configuration issues when downloading updates.  This will help keep you out of trouble – It has saved me many times!

Lets go over how you turn on and use Automatic Updates:

1.  Turn on Automatic Updates:

Click Start, click Run, then you will type sysdm.cpl, and then press ENTER.

Click the Automatic Updates tab.  Then click to select one of the following options:  

1.   Automatic (recommended) – Automatically download    recommended updates for my computer and install them option.  

2.  Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them option.

3.  Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them option.

2.          Obtain Updates from the Microsoft Web Site:

If you don’t choose the option to “Turn on Automatic Updates and install them when they become available” then you should plan on visiting the Microsoft Web Site often and check for updates. Visit the Microsoft Windows OS update Web Site at: http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

3.          Do you have any Microsoft Office software installed?  You know, you should keep those applications updated as well.  Here are some examples of the Microsoft Windows Office Applications you should keep updated:  Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint.  In addition, don’t forget to keep your Internet Explorer (IE) current.

http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=ES790020331033&Origin=HH101730061033&CTT=5

4.    While we are at it, lets also remember to keep your antivirus and spyware programs up to date.  Since there are so many of them, I’m not able to list the install, update and maintenance instructions for each of them.  If you do not have any antivirus and spyware programs installed, it is HIGHLY recommended that you do such.

5.      Just like doing regular maintenance on your car is invaluable, so it performing maintenance on your computer.

When files are created, deleted, or modified it’s almost a certainty they will become fragmented. Fragmented means that the files on the drive / disc having been divided; or the unity has been destroyed.  This means that a single file no longer stored in one place, in it entirety, on the disk.  Or, what is called contiguous in technical terms.  If the parts of the files are not located together, then they must be scattered and that is exactly the term used to described noncontiguous or fragmented data on a drive. As you can guess, the more fragmented files there are on a drive, the more performance and reliability suffers as the drive heads have to search for all the to be connected or joined pieces in different locations across the drive. What the disk defragmenter tool does for the drive is to reorganize the drive so noncontiguous files are put into contiguous files and then actually optimized for performance. 

A)  How do I get to the Windows XP Disk Defragmenter? 

There are 3 common ways to get to the disk defragmenter tool:

1)     Click Start, Click All Programs, Click Accessories, Click System Tools, Click Disk Defragmenter

2)    Click Start, Click Run, Type dfrg.msc, Click OK

3)    Click Start, Click Administrative Tools, Click Computer Management, Click Storage, Click Disk Defragmenter

B)  How do I get to the Disk Cleanup tool?

There are 2 common ways to get to the disk defragmenter tool:

1)     Click Start, Click All Programs, Click Accessories, Click System Tools, Click Disk Cleanup

2)    Click Start, Click Run, Type cleanmgr, Click OK

About:Blank is one of the most frustrating Browser Hijackers to stay around as long as it has and continue to do damage to systems. If you are hit you will totally be frustrated until you realize you have to do something.  What you see that tells you your system has been hijacked by the About:Blank Hijacker is that each time you open a new browser window, you receive a blank window with “About:Blank” on the address bar.  What causes this is that this Hijacker has corrupted Lucky users, after repeatedly entering URLs can occasionally obtain access to web sites but most often, all users see is a blank white, empty page. Trying and retrying to get a working page is typical for most techies and geeks and so this Browser Hijacker can linger before you do something about it. The intermittent good browsers that behaves normally is good enough to let us not worry about it for a while, until it responds poorly again – which, in this case will be shortly, usually in one or two window openings.

This Hijacker has been around for 5 or 6 years and infects computers by displaying a false directory webpage whenever the browser is opened and shows About: Blank in the title and address window.  One of the most frustrating things about this Hijacker is that is will not let you change your browser’s default homepage and if you do figure out a way to change it, it will change it back.  This Hijacker may also add new websites to your IE favorites, install an adware toolbar to your settings, and of course, hit you with tons and tons of pop-up ads, over-riding all of your settings.

Here is the real killer to all of this; the developers of this Hijacker earn incomes from the advertisements that are displayed on all of the infected machines. Each time you click the links on the directory or search result pages, you are earning money for the Hijacker developers. 

Then, we also have to wonder if the fixes to these aren’t also part of the whole Hijacking mess.  And, here is why: there are ways posted on the web to try to help you fix this but guess what, you cannot totally remove this problem without going out and purchasing a tool.  You can use free tools to scan and identify the infected and damaged files but in order to completely fix the problem and have a clean machine you end up forking out some bucks. I have had this particular Hijacker hit one of my machines that was protected with Norton, Avg, Avast, and a couple more.  Ended up having to add another to my protection suite.

Avg and Avast have proved to be good tools for me.  Both are free.  Both work well.  I have just added XoftSpySE and so far so good. It was the only app that cleaned up and removed the files that were infected.  The others only identified and quarantined.  Not sure why. PC Tools, SpyWare Doctor, Regcure are just a few that you may want to try.   But, don’t purchase before you run a scan and see how many infected files that tool locates. 

Here is the download link for the XoftSpySE tool:

http://www.paretologic.com/download/xoftspyse/revenuewire/?uid=pnh24

Now, there are always those sophisticated users that want to try to clean their systems without the help of a tool.  If you are one of those, you can use the REGISTRY EDITOR to attempt and I do mean attempt to remove about: blank.  First step, backup all of your files. 

If you do not have a backup program, then you can use the Windows Backup Tool:

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.  Choose which files you want to backup and where.  I would recommend making a copy that you can store “off-site” away from your machine just in case of emergency. 

Before we go over the steps to try to manually remove the About:Blank components, let me preface with a general word of advice:  manual removal of malware, adware, spyware, or viruses can damage important components of your computer. As a result of an improper removal, the computer may not function properly or it may not function at all. Consider the acquisition of an effective and safe anti-spyware program for the safety and security of your computer.

Moving on, the following steps outline the process that you can follow to attempt a removal of About:Blank from your computer:

Click Start, Click Run, Type ‘regedit’

Click ok to open the registry editor

Remove the following registry values:

06abaa2d-34ab-4902-a326-409bd9b9a7a5

b664647f-efd5-4837-a810-a807139107e5

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\ currentversion\runnetworkservice

ce6a1268-9cc9-4ba3-8657-fe1132906cc4

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\ currentversion\runnetworkservice

In addition, the following About:Blank processes also need to be removed:

phafxfa.exe

svhost.exe

smbdins.exe

sethcd.exe

tsmsetup.exe

You will also need to delete or remove any and all of the following directories and their files if they are present on your computer:

phafxfa.exe

svhost.exe

smbdins.exe

sethcd.exe

tsmsetup.exe

wdm.dll

achpjba.dll

cbme.dll

se.dll

iesp1.dll

The following DLL files will need to be unregistered:

wdm.dll

achpjba.dll

cbme.dll

se.dll

iesp1.dll

The above lists are representative of the directories, files, and folders that may be found on your computer if About:Blank has been installed. Variations can exist due to the fact that these programs are constantly making new versions in to outwit savvy computer users. About:Blank has also been known as About Blank Hijack, About Blank Trojan, About Blank Homepage Hijacker, About:Blank Search Hijacker, CWS.Aboutblank, About Blank Spyware, and About Blank Virus.

Very often About:Blank is actually seen on the Add/Remove Programs.  So, you should check and make sure that it has been completely removed from your computer. Open the Add/Remove Programs in the control panel to see if About:Blank is listed.  If it is there, you most likely have not removed it all and will need to continue your manual search for other infected files.  Or, realize that you need to use a Scan Tool from a 3^rd party vendor to locate the infected files.

It will also pop up a dialog that says “This copy of Windows is not Genuine”
“This copy of Windows is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue. This computer is no longer eligible to recieve select security upgrades from Microsoft.

To protect your copy of Windows, you must click Get Genuine now.”

Every so often a little balloon will pop up that says “You may be a victim of software counterfeiting.” Below that it will say “This copy of Windows is not genuine. Click this balloon to resolve now.” If you’re working on a system that has this running it gets annoying in a hurry. What the time interval between pop-ups is, I don’t know, but I imagine it’ll drive most people to buy a legit key after a while just to get the thing to shut up.

Fixing the popup is easy enough.

Reboot to safe mode. Open up HijackThis and scroll down to the selection that says “020 – Winlogon Nofity: Wgalogon – …” select that, and click fix checked.

You can also go and delete the actual executable that nags you. The full path to it should be (for most installs) C:\Windows\System32\wgatray.exe.

Reboot after this. No longer should you get the popups and that nagger as you log in should not show up either.

Instructions for Windows 7

The easiest way to fix the issue in Windows 7 is to use the ChewWGA tool that I’ve located. You can download it from here: http://Chew7.co.cc/ – UPDATE:  Looks like that site is down now. For the time being, you’ll just have to search for it unfortunately.

Close all the apps that you have open, run the program, and then click “Apply”. One virus scanner incorrectly identifies it as some kind of virus because of the compression that it uses, but I’ve tested it on 3 different machines (including my main Windows 7 Ultimate test machine) and it is clean.

Note: I am NOT condoning software piracy! If you have jacked your copy of Windows then it’s time to buy one!

The first step is to get the Emergency Boot CD. Download it, and then burn it to an actual CD.

Once it’s burnt, then stick it into the drive of the computer you want to reset the administrator password on, and reboot.

The first menu when the PC boots from the EBCD give a few options. Select option 5 (obviously) and press enter.

The next dialog will ask you about SCSI drives. Just press enter again. Following that it will ask you if you want to probe for SCSI-drivers; hit enter once more because it defaults to no.

Now you should see a list of partitions formatted like:

Device Boot   Start   End    Blocks    Id    System
/dev/hda1   *         1     7295 58597056  7     HPFS/NTFS

The specific numbers don’t matter. The CD will default to the drive and partition that it thinks is correct. Unless you have multiple hard drives and more than one install of Windows XP/2000 then the one it suggests is more than likely right. Press enter.

Now it will ask you what the full path to the registry directory is. A standard Windows install will put it at \Windows\System32\config. Once again, the EBCD wisely suggests that. Hit enter.

The next question is “Which hives (files) do you want to edit”. EBCD will select [sam system security] which since we’re editing the password is correct. You guessed it, press enter.

Now we’re to the interesting part. You will be shown a menu with a few options. Choose 1 to edit the user data and passwords.

Next a list of usernames is shown. You can choose from any of the names shown, but I would suggest just choosing Administrator. Once you have access to that account, you can change all of the subordinates accounts passwords right from Windows so there’s no real reason to do it from here.

Select Administrator and press enter.

On the next dialog type * and hit enter. This will erase the admin pass and just leave it blank. There may be issues with using the CD to write an actual password, and once again, we can always set the password once back in our OS anyway.

Select y to confirm the change.

The password is now changed… Almost. So far we’ve only edited a temporary copy of the hive files. Type ! and hit enter to exit the password editor.

Now we’re back to the main menu. Input q to quit.

At this point it will list the hive files that were altered during the password reset and will ask you if you want to write them. By default the selection is no. You must enter y and press enter to finalize the process.

Once the files are written you can reboot into Windows. The Admin account now has no password so log into that and change all the other passwords you need to from there.

Start HijackThis, click Scan. Scroll down through the list and make sure that everything looks kosher. The BHO section is the one that we will be spending a little time in. Be sure that everything in that section looks perfectly alright, and that you recognize it all. (Don’t know what everything is? Look it up with WinTasks.) If you run across an entry that you are suspicious of, then remove it. You can always get it back if it’s valid.

Keep in mind, the BHO does not necessarily have to be bad to prevent Internet Explorer from loading. Corrupted files or settings for the objects can wreak havoc with IE. Even the Yahoo! toolbar has caused IE to freak on me. If you don’t see anything that is bad, then start to remove the Browser Help Objects one by one, rebooting after each. Upon startup, attempt to open your browser. Once it finally does open, you’re done. More than likely, you’ll be able to reinstall the Helper that was in because it’ll get reinstalled with the correct files and settings.

Specifically, I’ve had this object prevent IE from opening:
O2 – BHO: WebBlinds – {4F92B827-1E56-4E30-A978-A17A7861A606} – C:\Program Files\Object Desktop\WebBlinds\WebBlinds.dll.
If you find that one, then be sure to remove it.

If even after removing all Browser Help Objects and the like does not allow IE to run, run sfc /scannow or try to do a repair install of IE.

Setup will now exit.

Just as with my Sound Blaster Live! I’ve now run into the issue of not being able to install the Sound Blaster web drivers. This time, it’s for a customer, and it’s an Audigy.

Not only that, but I had to use DriverGuide to get the stupid pack. Creative Labs doesn’t even offer a non-upgrade driver pack from their website!! Creative Labs, you officially suck now. I have always bought your products in the past, but now that your customer service sucks this much, I won’t be buying anything from you again.

That said, you can actually install the drivers that you download, but you’ve got to be tricky.

Here’s how to force the Creative Labs Audigy 2 downloaded drivers to install:

You will need to download WinZip or WinRar (depending on the file type you download from DriverGuide) and then open the Audigy driver pack with it. Extract its entire contents into c:\temp or somewhere similar.

Following that, go to the device manager and double click the “PCI Audio Device” item. Click on the Update Driver button, and browse to the directory where you extracted the Audigy driver pack’s contents. Go through those misc. steps, and all should be well.