On-Site Tech Support » XP http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com IT Support for your Business Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:04:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 OnePlan Managed Services – How To Submit a Trouble Ticket. http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/oneplan-managed-services-how-to-submit-a-trouble-ticket/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/oneplan-managed-services-how-to-submit-a-trouble-ticket/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:47:20 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=740 On-site Tech Support provides OnePlan Managed services for all of our clients. This includes a trouble ticketing system. The instructions and video below will explain how to submit a trouble ticket if your computer is misbehaving.

  1. Check your email for your login information.
  2. Double click the OTS logo in the corner by the clock. This will open a web browser to the login page.
  3. In the top menu click the New Service Ticket button.
    • Please put something relevant and informative in the Summary field. “Computer Problem” is not relevant and informative. “Outlook is not sending email” is a relevant and informative Summary.
    • Enter as much as you can in the notes field that will help us diagnose and fix the issue. Poor or few notes delays the process by us having to call you for more information that you could have put in the notes field to begin with.
    • If you have any questions about what information to put in the ticket, click the link in the yellow bar at the top of the screen. There are very detailed instructions there.

If you need to add more information to the ticket, please click on the “View Tickets” tab at the top and add the information to the correct ticket. DO NOT SUBMIT A SECOND TICKET TO UPDATE AN EXISTING TICKET.

]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/oneplan-managed-services-how-to-submit-a-trouble-ticket/feed/ 0 Get Rid of Unwanted Startup Items with Kaseya http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/get-rid-of-unwanted-startup-items-with-kaseya/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/get-rid-of-unwanted-startup-items-with-kaseya/#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:36:49 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=659 Why do software companies think their software is the sole reason your computer exists? No matter how often you clean out your start-up tasks, software companies always put their stuff back in there.

It’s even worse with client machines. Most clients don’t have any idea how many items run at start-up, all they know is that their computer is slow. The following script is one that I created to clean all that up.

This is part 1 of my 12 step “Monthly Cleanup/Tuneup” script that I run on all client machines. Over the nex few weeks (sooner if I get positive feedback from you all) I will be posting each step of the script and at the end I will post the master “Monthly Cleanup/Tuneup” script that will put all of these little gems together for an automated cleaning. I run this monthly for all of my clients but you can run it as often as you wish.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<ScriptExport xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xmlns:xsd=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema” xmlns=”http://www.kaseya.com/vsa/2008/12/Scripting”>
  <Procedure name=”Cleanup Startup Tasks” treePres=”3″>
    <Body description=”Removes all BS items from start up.&#xD;&#xA;”>
      <If description=”">
        <Condition name=”True” />
        <Then>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\iTunesHelper” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Quicktime Task” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\GrooveMonitor” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Adobe Reader Speed Launcher” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\RoxWatchTray” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\SunJavaUpdateSched” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\TkBellExe” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Adobe ARM” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\BCSSync” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Acrobat Assistant 8.0″ />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\SearchSettings” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\NeroFilterCheck” />
          </Statement>
          <Statement description=”Delete the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”DeleteRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”true” osType=”Windows”>
            <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\AppleSyncNotifier” />
          </Statement>
        </Then>
      </If>
    </Body>
  </Procedure>
</ScriptExport>

You can also download the XML file here. (Right click and “Save As”)

]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/get-rid-of-unwanted-startup-items-with-kaseya/feed/ 0 Disable or Uninstall Business Contact Manager with Kaseya http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/disable-or-uninstall-business-contact-manager-with-kaseya/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/disable-or-uninstall-business-contact-manager-with-kaseya/#comments Sat, 25 Sep 2010 03:01:30 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=565 Business contact manager is a huge pain in the butt and I have yet to meet anyone who uses it.  Recently we had a client that needed to roll out 23 new computers but they all had Business Contact Manager installed on them.  We used this Kaseya script to uninstall it. 

This will only remove the application not all the associated applications (ie SQL Express).

 
  <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″ ?>
- <ScriptExport xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xmlns:xsd=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema” xmlns=”http://www.kaseya.com/vsa/2008/12/Scripting“>
- <Procedure name=”Uninstall BCM for Outlook 2007” treePres=”3“>
- <Body description=”Remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007. This will only remove the application not all the associated applications (ie SQL Express).“>
- <If description=”Remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007. This will only remove the application not all the associated applications (ie SQL Express).“>
- <Condition name=”TestRegistryKey“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{B32C4059-6E7A-41EF-AD20-56DF1872B923}” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”EnumParameter” name=”Condition” value=”Exists” />
  </Condition>
- <Then>
  <Statement description=” ” name=”UseCredential” continueOnFail=”false” />
- <Statement description=” ” name=”ExecuteFile” continueOnFail=”false“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”msiexec.exe” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Arguments” value=”/x{B32C4059-6E7A-41EF-AD20-56DF1872B923} /qn” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”EnumParameter” name=”ExecuteAccount” value=”User” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”BooleanParameter” name=”WaitComplete” value=”True” />
  </Statement>
- <Statement description=”” name=”WriteScriptLogEntry” continueOnFail=”false“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Comment” value=”Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 has been removed” />
  </Statement>
  </Then>
- <Else>
- <Statement description=”” name=”WriteScriptLogEntry“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Comment” value=”Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 not installed on this system” />
  </Statement>
  </Else>
  </If>
  </Body>
  </Procedure>
 
  </ScriptExport>
 
If you would prefer to disable it instead of uninstall it you can use this script instead. 
 
  <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″ ?>
- <ScriptExport xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xmlns:xsd=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema” xmlns=”http://www.kaseya.com/vsa/2008/12/Scripting“>
- <Procedure name=”Disable BCM for Outlook 2007” treePres=”3“>
- <Body description=”Disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007. This will only disable the application not all the associated applications (ie SQL Express).“>
- <If description=”Disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007. This will only disable the application not all the associated applications (ie SQL Express).“>
- <Condition name=”TestRegistryKey“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Path” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.OutlookAddIn.Connect.1” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”EnumParameter” name=”Condition” value=”Exists” />
  </Condition>
+ <Then>
  <Statement description=”” name=”UseCredential” continueOnFail=”false” />
- <Statement description=”Set the specified registry value – Regedit displays keys as folders and values as documents.” name=”SetRegistryValue” continueOnFail=”false“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”RegistryPath” value=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.OutlookAddIn.Connect.1\LoadBehavior” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Value” value=”1” />
  <Parameter xsi:type=”EnumParameter” name=”DataType” value=”Integer” />
  </Statement>
- <Statement description=”” name=”WriteScriptLogEntry” continueOnFail=”false“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Comment” value=”Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 has been disabled” />
  </Statement>
  </Then>
- <Else>
- <Statement description=”” name=”WriteScriptLogEntry“>
  <Parameter xsi:type=”StringParameter” name=”Comment” value=”Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 not installed on this system” />
  </Statement>
  </Else>
  </If>
  </Body>
  </Procedure>
  </ScriptExport>
]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/disable-or-uninstall-business-contact-manager-with-kaseya/feed/ 0 How OnePlan Saved my customer $30,000 http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/how-kaseya-saved-my-customer-30000/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/how-kaseya-saved-my-customer-30000/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:34:15 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=547 It was a typical Monday, working in the office when I got a call from a contract customer.  She said that one of their high level employees was going to be termintated that afternoon and wanted me to come into the office the next day to change the passwords and lock the computers.  She said he wasn’t in the office so it wasn’t a rush.  I knew this employee had a company laptop so using the Live Connect function of Kaseya2 I clicked on the laptop to see what he was doing.  At first he was trying to access his 401K, then he started researching how to transfer his 401K, so at that point I had a good idea that he knew he was going to be fired.   The next thing he did was open his email and then open the company customer database. 

I knew this wasn’t going to be good.   There were over 75,000 customers in that database and he was trying to email them to his hotmail account.  Since i was a bit late to the game, I watched and waited until the email came in to the hotmail account and then went to work.  I already had the VNC window open, so when I saw a lull in activity I deleted the email, emptied the recycle bin and logged out of the hotmail account. 

Next I used one of the great features of K2 Live Connect – Remote Command Shell.  It gives a remote command shell without the user being aware of anything.  I changed all the passwords on the laptop and used the remote shutdown script in the Agent Procedures. 

Of course he tried to log back in, but since I changed thepasswords, his efforts were foiled! (it seems like an appropriate word) 

As of now we still do not have the laptop back, but the email has been deleted and as an added measure, I scheduled an automatic reboot every 7 minutes when the machine is on.

]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/how-kaseya-saved-my-customer-30000/feed/ 0 Missing Hard Drive Space on IBM Lenovo Laptop or Desktop?? http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/missing-hd-lenovo/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/missing-hd-lenovo/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:44:08 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=527 Today I had a new issue with an IBM Lenovo laptop that I had not seen before. I got a monitoring alert that there was only 1% free space on the c: drive. When I opened My Computer it showed the C: drive as 48GB total space. I had just installed a new 250GB hard drive less than a year ago so I knew this wasn’t right. I downloaded Treesize from JAM Software to see where the space had gone. It too showed the total size of the hard drive as 48GB, but down at the bottom it showed a folder called RRbackup on the root that was locked!

I assumed this was where my “lost” space had gone so I ran c:RRbackup and it said it wasn’t available. Not to worry, that’s why we have Knoppix and Hirens.

Once booted off the CD I was able to navigate to c:RRbackup and delete it. I booted back into Windows and Viola! c: was showing the correct size and free space.

The problem is a program called “Rescue and Recovery” on IBM Lenovo laptops. You can also start the program from the start menu and delete old restore points but sometimes that doesn’t work. I have also heard that booting into safe mode (F8) will also allow you to find and delete the folder and data but I have not tested this.

If you need more help, please contact me via the contact info on this website.

]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/missing-hd-lenovo/feed/ 0 Change DNS and WINS via Kaseya Script http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/change-dns-and-wins-via-kaseya-script/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/change-dns-and-wins-via-kaseya-script/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 02:03:09 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=515 Today we phased out an older server and promoted a newer one to DC. Typically this is no problem. Once it’s complete, reboot all the workstations and they will find the new DHCP/DNS server automatically. In our case, all o f the workstations were statically assigned. Since I didn’t want to have to touch 60+ workstations, I wrote this Kaseya Script to take care of it for me.

Script Name: Change DNS
Script Description: Sets primary DNS on Local Area Connection to X.X.X.X
Sets secondary DNS on Local Area Connection to X.X.X.X
Sets WINS on Local Area Connection to X.X.X.X

IF True
THEN
   Execute Shell Command
     Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.242 index=1
     Parameter 2 : 1
         OS Type : 0
   Execute Shell Command
     Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.240 index=2
     Parameter 2 : 1
         OS Type : 0
   Execute Shell Command
     Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set wins “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.242
     Parameter 2 : 1
         OS Type : 0
ELSE

All we needed to do was change the DNS and WINS servers, but if you need to either change them from static to DHCP, or change the static IP (one machine at a time please), here are 2 more scripts.

Script Name: Enable DHCP
Script Description: Enables DHCP on the local area connection

IF True
THEN
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns name = “Local Area Connection” source = dhcp
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set address name = “Local Area Connection” source = dhcp
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set wins name = “Local Area Connection” source = dhcp
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
ELSE

Here is one to set static IP, subnet, gateway, DNS and WINS.

Script Name: Set Static IP
Script Description: Sets static IP, subnet and gateway on the local area connection.  The first address is your IP, the second is the subnet and the third is the gateway.
In this script it sets

IP=192.168.1.23
Subnet=255.255.255.0
Gateway=192.168.1.1
DNS=192.168.1.242
WINS=192.168.1.242

IF True
THEN
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set address “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.1.23 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.1.242 primary
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set wins “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.240
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
ELSE

Hope that helps.  Thanks for reading.

]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/change-dns-and-wins-via-kaseya-script/feed/ 0 The item cannot be displayed in the reading pane. . . http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/the-item-cannot-be-displayed-in-the-reading-pane/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/the-item-cannot-be-displayed-in-the-reading-pane/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:07:16 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=507 Let me start by saying this is the strangest issue I have ever seen. 

I guessing the reason you are here is because your Outlook won’t display your email messages and you searched for “The item cannot be displayed in the reading pane” and you want to know how to fix it. 

Specs:
IBM Lenovo Laptop
XP Pro
Outlook 2003
Exchange through Cisco VPN 

A new client has just signed a Managed Service contract for their servers, workstations and laptops. We installed our agents on all of their machines on a Friday. We installed our Managed Antivirus and Managed Backup solution (including offsite replication) and rebooted the machines, all but one, the Lenovo Laptop. We scheduled a script to prompt the user to reboot every 5 minutes, unfortunately it took them 3 days to reboot. It was then that the problem started. 

The agent for our Managed Services uses VNC so because of the time and location of the laptop we remoted in.  We could send/receive/reply to email messages however they would not open or display in the reading pane. Email messages would either not display at all or would show “The item cannot be displayed in the reading pane” error. If we double clicked the message to open it, it would be blank or would give an error message.  Our issue wasn’t limited to email or the reading pane. We couldn’t add contacts either. We could edit existing contacts, but not add new. The task list and calendar seemed to be unaffected.  OWA works perfectly fine.  

To fix this issue, we tried EVERYTHING listed below.  

FIX 1 – Clear/Delete the Forms Cache 

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Other tab, and then click Advanced Options.
  3. Click Custom Forms.
  4. Click Manage Forms.
  5. Click Clear Cache.
  6. Close all open windows, and then restart Outlook.

If the above does not work, try the following.

Deleting the Forms Cache File:
The Frmcache.dat file is the primary file to delete. The Frmcache.dat file serves as an index of the individual forms that have been cached on the computer. Use the following steps to manually delete the
Frmcache.dat file. In addition, these steps delete all of the cached forms on your computer, which are stored in subfolders of the Forms folder. 

  1. Quit Outlook.
  2. Search the Hard drive (<F3>) to locate the Frmcache.dat file.  (Be sure to check in HIDDEN files on W2K or WXP.)
  3. Delete all that are found from the FIND window.
  4. Open Outlook.

When you restart Outlook, and use a form, the forms cache
is re-created.
 

FIX 2 – Check Add-Ins 

Start Outlook in safe mode to disable add-ins to see if they are causing the issues. 

  • Start>Run – Type “outlook.exe /safe” and hit enter. 

FIX 3 – Corrupted Mailbox 

Since this was Exchange, we were dealing with an OST, not a PST, but the fix is the same.  

  1. Open Control Panel and double click the Mail icon. 
  2. Click Data Files
  3. Rename or delete the ost or pst.
  4. Start Outlook.  If you are using Exchange the ost will be recreated.  
  5. If you are using POP/PST,  Outlook will not be able to find the pst file so you will need to recreate it yourself.

FIX 4 – Rebuild Profile 

An Outlook profile contains specific information about your email account.  Since the profile is a container holding data, it’s always possible that data got corrupted in one way or another.  Profiles aren’t controlled from within Outlook. Instead, they’re set and changed from within the Mail control panel. 

  1. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel (or Start>Control Panel)
  2. Double-click the Mail control panel icon
  3. Click the Show Profiles button. You’ll see a windowlike below.

The window is straightforward. Before you delete your old profile, I recommend creating a new one by clicking the Add button and then following the wizard.  

FIX 5+ Other Things we tried 

  1. Disabling the Antivirus
  2. Uninstalling the Antivirus
  3. Updating Office
  4. Re-installed Office Service Pack 2
  5. Setting I.E. as the default browser
  6. Uninstalled and re-installed Outlook
  7. Updating the Video drivers

Our Last Hurrah 

You may think #6 above is a strange thing to try, however VNC hooks into the video card so we tried one more thing.  

We created and installed a logmein account and logged in with that.  Since Logmein uses the video card/display adapter differently we uninstalled our agent and rebooted the computer and . . . 

SAME PROBLEM!  

Ok, so it was a stretch but we had to try something.  After about 6 hours of remote work we managed to go onsite with the laptop.  

THE FIX (at least it worked for us, for now)

What we didn’t realise until we got onsite is that the laptop was in a docking station connected to a 24 inch monitor.  For some reason, the docking station/video card/display adapter had intermittent issues with the resolution for the large monitor.  

Since we didn’t need Logmein anymore, we uninstalled it and noticed that when our agent was uninstalled, it left VNC behind.  VNC now implements a video hook driver to get the screen refresh changes (as opposed to polling).   The video hook driver makes a direct link between the video driver frammebuffer memory and VNCserver.  Using the framebuffer directly eliminates the use of the CPU for intensive screen blitting, resulting in a big speed boost and very low CPU load.  In effect you can only have one device (software or hardware based) to control the video output. VNC emulates the desktop and if so desired can take control.  Disabling the video hook allows the video card to have exclusive control.  We already had an unstable video card and the VNC video hook driver it pushed it over the edge.   

I still have no idea why this affected Outlook and displaying email messages.  Even stranger, we couldn’t add contacts.  

Once we uninstalled VNC, Outlook worked perfectly fine again.

]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/the-item-cannot-be-displayed-in-the-reading-pane/feed/ 0 How to Remove the “Unread Messages” Notification From the Login Screen http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/how-to-remove-the-unread-messages-notification-from-the-login-screen/ http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/how-to-remove-the-unread-messages-notification-from-the-login-screen/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:20:47 +0000 Scott Smeltzer http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/?p=481 The Welcome screen is displayed by default on Windows XP Home Edition-based computers and on Windows XP Professional-based computers that are not members of a domain. Under your name on the Welcome screen, there is a hyperlink that indicates the number of unread e-mail messages. The hyperlink is displayed only if you have an e-mail client that is capable of updating the Welcome screen running on your computer. Currently, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Microsoft Windows Messenger support this feature.

This e-mail hyperlink is only displayed if the e-mail client that your computer is running populates the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

You cannot disable this feature in the user interface, nor can you configure the Welcome screen to populate the unread message count from only a particular e-mail program. For example, you might not want your e-mail messages from UserID@hotmail.com displayed on the Welcome screen. To work around this behavior, you can set the permissions on the following registry key to read-only for the System account:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

When the program tries to update the registry key as new mail arrives, it will not have sufficient permission to do so and the Welcome screen will not be updated. To do this:

  1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit).
  2. Navigate to the following folder in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

  1. Right-click the UnreadMail folder, and then click Permissions.
  2. Click the System account, and then click to select the Deny check box for Full Control.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Quit Registry Editor.
]]> http://www.on-sitetechsupport.com/news/how-to-remove-the-unread-messages-notification-from-the-login-screen/feed/ 0