Friday, July 2, 2010
Happy 4th
Happy 4th of July holiday weekend everyone. I am so grateful to be an American. I look forward to a nice long weekend with family and friends. I wish the same for you.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
SafeMSI.exe – Start Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode
I have been frustrated many times over when working on a customer's machine in Safe Mode, which I do all the time, because one is not able to uninstall or install programs in Safe Mode. Basically the Microsoft Windows Installer program is not loaded in Safe Mode and is not usable.
This tiny program purports to make a registry change making the Installer program a Safe Mode program, meaning it is usable in Safe Mode, meaning one can uninstall, and presumably install, programs while in Safe Mode.
Note the part that says this program should be started up WHILE IN Safe Mode, not beforehand. That's a gotcha if you don't pay attention to this.
This is meant for those of you at a rather advanced level. For me, what I will do is carry the program on a flash dive at all times, and after having booted a customer's machine in Safe Mode, I will run the program from the flash drive.
I have not tried this yet, but I think it's worth a try if you are having issues that are better solved in Safe Mode.
The following comes from technibble.com:
SafeMSI.exe is a tiny, portable, freeware application designed to let you uninstall programs in safe mode. When the computer is in safe mode, the Windows Installer service isn’t started so most programs can’t be uninstalled. Since technicians do a lot of work in safe mode and being unable to uninstall is a huge bother. It is also not possible to start the service manually, an error message will come up saying “Could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 1084: This service cannot be started in Safe Mode”. This tool will do a registry tweak so that Windows Installer is made a safe service and it will launch the Windows Installer service. The tool is meant to be used after you are already in safe mode, it is a tiny .exe that just needs to be double-clicked or run and it runs very quickly.
The website mentions that the tool is compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP and Server 2000. Although it doesn’t mention it, it is also compatible with newer versions including Windows 7.
Screenshots:
This tiny program purports to make a registry change making the Installer program a Safe Mode program, meaning it is usable in Safe Mode, meaning one can uninstall, and presumably install, programs while in Safe Mode.
Note the part that says this program should be started up WHILE IN Safe Mode, not beforehand. That's a gotcha if you don't pay attention to this.
This is meant for those of you at a rather advanced level. For me, what I will do is carry the program on a flash dive at all times, and after having booted a customer's machine in Safe Mode, I will run the program from the flash drive.
I have not tried this yet, but I think it's worth a try if you are having issues that are better solved in Safe Mode.
The following comes from technibble.com:
SafeMSI.exe is a tiny, portable, freeware application designed to let you uninstall programs in safe mode. When the computer is in safe mode, the Windows Installer service isn’t started so most programs can’t be uninstalled. Since technicians do a lot of work in safe mode and being unable to uninstall is a huge bother. It is also not possible to start the service manually, an error message will come up saying “Could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 1084: This service cannot be started in Safe Mode”. This tool will do a registry tweak so that Windows Installer is made a safe service and it will launch the Windows Installer service. The tool is meant to be used after you are already in safe mode, it is a tiny .exe that just needs to be double-clicked or run and it runs very quickly.
The website mentions that the tool is compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP and Server 2000. Although it doesn’t mention it, it is also compatible with newer versions including Windows 7.
Screenshots:
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Leaving Jericho
My dear Vermont customers and friends,
The time has come for me to bid you and our beautiful State of Vermont farewell. Family calls. I have told many of you of our frequent trips to Boston to be with our grandkids. As things turned out, 3 of our 4 sons settled in the Boston area, and one of them is Dad to our only 2 grandkids. At my advanced age in this short life, it just makes sense for us to relocate to be near them and to leave our large home in Jericho, where we have lived for 30 years, 4 months, and one day. We moved today. We are happy to report that a young family with 2 young sons will replace us at 38.
I have come to know, admire, respect, and even call friends so many of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, not just for your business, but the quality time you spent with me, allowing this stranger to enter your lives. I sincerely appreciate that, and I will miss you all.
As for the health of your home computers, please continue to read my blog. I will do my darnedest to continue to provide quality information that will help you keep your computers running smoothly and incident-free. Remember that I can still provide remote assistance as long as you are able to connect to the internet. This can serve you in a pinch, but frankly, it's just not the same as being able to visit you in your homes or mine and to have the face-to-face encounters I have so much enjoyed.
As I have told some of you, I cannot recommend any single individual to replace me who lives in the Jericho-Underhill area, simply because I don't know my local competition at all, if there even is any. What I will do is this: if any of you has had a successful relationship with anyone else from the area who has helped you when you were in a jam with your PC, please tell me who that was, and I will compile a list and send it out to all of you. Fair enough?
Also, if any of you would like to leave me some words of farewell, I would love to hear from you, so please write.
I wish you all well, safe and secure computing, and happiness and good health, and once again,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS!
Tom
The time has come for me to bid you and our beautiful State of Vermont farewell. Family calls. I have told many of you of our frequent trips to Boston to be with our grandkids. As things turned out, 3 of our 4 sons settled in the Boston area, and one of them is Dad to our only 2 grandkids. At my advanced age in this short life, it just makes sense for us to relocate to be near them and to leave our large home in Jericho, where we have lived for 30 years, 4 months, and one day. We moved today. We are happy to report that a young family with 2 young sons will replace us at 38.
I have come to know, admire, respect, and even call friends so many of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, not just for your business, but the quality time you spent with me, allowing this stranger to enter your lives. I sincerely appreciate that, and I will miss you all.
As for the health of your home computers, please continue to read my blog. I will do my darnedest to continue to provide quality information that will help you keep your computers running smoothly and incident-free. Remember that I can still provide remote assistance as long as you are able to connect to the internet. This can serve you in a pinch, but frankly, it's just not the same as being able to visit you in your homes or mine and to have the face-to-face encounters I have so much enjoyed.
As I have told some of you, I cannot recommend any single individual to replace me who lives in the Jericho-Underhill area, simply because I don't know my local competition at all, if there even is any. What I will do is this: if any of you has had a successful relationship with anyone else from the area who has helped you when you were in a jam with your PC, please tell me who that was, and I will compile a list and send it out to all of you. Fair enough?
Also, if any of you would like to leave me some words of farewell, I would love to hear from you, so please write.
I wish you all well, safe and secure computing, and happiness and good health, and once again,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS!
Tom
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
iPhone 4 Review
There is a really good and complete, I believe, review of Apple's new iPhone 4 on Maximum PC today. I have scanned most of it (not really interested in it myself) and it appears to be a high quality review. If interested in this new much-more-than-a-phone from Apple. check out this review:
Monday, June 28, 2010
iPhone 4 antenna issue: User error or design flaw?
"After just a few days in customers' hands, the iPhone 4 has been demonstrated to show signal loss when gripped in a certain way. Apple is writing it off as easily fixable by altering the way it's held. But is it a problem with the way customers are holding it or a flaw in Apple's design?
The iPhone 4, which went on sale for the first time Thursday, has two antennas built very close to the metal band running around the exterior of the device. The one running on the left side of the phone is for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the one on the right is for cellular reception. Steve Jobs said recently this design was intended to improve reception.
But by Wednesday night, complaints began popping up among users who received early delivery, that when the phone is gripped in a way that touches the left bottom area of the phone, reception degrades or disappears in some cases. In CNET's own testing we were able to replicate the problem in the iPhone 4 in some cases, though it appeared to vary by person, place, and device. Apple acknowledged the issue Thursday night."
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