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I repaired some virus damage last week on a client's network. All was working well when I left, but today the report reached me that the dialup networking status box is reporting three times as much outgoing traffic as incoming. That's a new one on me! This cutsomer is reluctant to spend actual money to renew his subscription for NAV, despite the low cost, and I am unwilling to spend any more time on this problem until he does, but I'm still curious to discover what might cause this symptom. The only suspicious thing I found on the system was Napster. I know that they're defunct, but could his network still be sharing files over that link? What else could cause this inversion of incoming/outgoing packets?
I've gone to find myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.
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I have a file, which I know is there, but I have no way of seeing it.
Like the man on the stair 
As I was using Windoze XP
I met a file which wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish it'd go away!
Well, I know it is there, because reading the MFT in a binary disk editor reveals it (I'm using Runtime's DiskExplorer for NTFS - a brilliant package I can't recommend highly enough). I also know it's there because if I try to create a file with the same name, I get the following errors:
"A file with the name you specified already exists" if I use Windows explorer to
rename a file. 
"Access is denied" if I try and copy a file to this name in the command prompt window
or in the recovery console. 
So, it exists. I see it on disk, and Explorer, Command prompt and Recovery console
all agree. The file is there.
But I can't see it in Explorer, or in the command prompt window or in the recovery console! It just plain isn't there!
Yes, I have set the options as follows in the explorer:
"Show hidden files and folders" is set
"Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" is not set
As a consequence I can see everything on my disk! Everything that is, except this one file!
What could cause this? How can I patch the MFT and/or root index entries (it's in the root directory) to make it visible? What deep dark mysteries of the NTFS are are work here.
It has only 3 MFT attributes. They are:
$10 = $STANDARD_INFORMATION<br />
$30 = $FILE_NAME<br />
$80 = $DATA
according to DiskExplorer (I've not attempted a manual decode of the MFT entry yet - DiskExplorer does it for one). It data is non-resident, it has but 1 run. More info gladly provided. What I'm fishing for is an understanding of what can possibly make a file so invisible.
Oh, "CHKDSK /R" is finds no problems with it. It's a healthy file. Just an invisible one.
Any clues? Any further tools useful in learning or diagnosing? 
For anyone eager to understand the possible origins of such a bizarre file, it is the logical offshoot of the problem described in this thread:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/n1040090780[^]
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whats 'that' file name??
I was born intelligent
Education ruined me!.
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Hi All,
I'm running windows ME and I've been trying a few things and I have a couple of questions:
1) how much ram will windows ME recognize? I put a gig of ram in my machine, but it really bogs down. Seems like it doesn't know how to deal with that much RAM. Any ideas? It's a dell dimension machine. I'm pretty sure the mother board should have no problems with handling 1gig ram. It's a P3 933.
2) What's the largest size HD partition that Windows ME will recognize? I just bought a 120 gig drive and don't know how large the partitions I can make. The bigger the better though.
Thank you in advance! 
Dan Willis
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1) IIRC, Windows 95 OSR2/98/Me support only 512Mb RAM. But that's not saying it's efficient using this memory. Win9x product line use algorithms good for low memory conditions, but sucks with more than 256Mb RAM.
2) Windows ME supports FAT32, which can format up to 2TB (terabyte) of data. But, again, it's not efficient. For a FAT32 system be speed-eficient with large files, you'll need a large cluster size, but this can lose a lot of slack space and space if you have lots of small files. If you have both small and large files, the most common situation, FAT32 sucks. With more space, NTFS can be much faster, specially for deep directory structures or directories with a large number of files.
I strongly recommend you to upgrade to Windows XP (since it can safely upgrade from Windows ME, I've done it before), or a fresh Windows 2000 installation for better use of your hardware.
I see dumb people
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I have to agree with Daniel. I'd strongly recommend an upgrade.
Regards,
Brian Dela
Run naked in the snow until you're sweating like a stuck pig and can't seem to catch your breath. When the flu becomes pneumonia, they can cure that with a shot. - Roger Wright
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Everyone say it together now...
Windows ME sucks!
Since Windows95, Microsoft was not bale to get a decent OS again until Windows 2000. Windows XP is good (getting to like it more as I use it more) and seems to handle large amounts of RAM very well (I have 2gig and it is quite happy with it).
Paul Watson wrote:
"At the end of the day it is what you produce that counts, not how many doctorates you have on the wall."
George Carlin wrote:
"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things."
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I'd agree. Having tried every version of Windows since rev 2, my first impression was that Win95 was the first usable Windows version. Since then I've had to revise that, in that Win2K is the first functional OS that Microsoft has produced. WinME was only a patch to Win98, which was a buggy patch to Win95. My experience with WinXP has been a great disappointment, though - it's a giant step backwards from Win2K, and full of bugs in need of a good exterminator.
I've gone to find myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.
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Roger Wright wrote:
with WinXP has been a great disappointment
I do agree.... I prefer win 2000. It really rocks!!
Hmmm win ME... it really sucks 
I was born intelligent
Education ruined me!.
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Have you got lots of free disk space?
Windows needs at least the same amount of swap space as physical ram, if not twice as much.
If you haven't got enough swap space, then your machine will crawl, even though you have lots of physical memory
--
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!
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Hello,
Our application produces sometimes popup windows like this
application.exe - Application Error
The instruction at "0x4003e98c" referenced memory at "0x00000224".
The memory could not be "read".
or access violation and other things are reported.
Our applikation is a console application and we don't want the popup because we can't restart the application automatically before the popup window button is clicked.
Is there a similar way like '_set_error_mode' in the VC runtime library. With this function you can put VC runtime library error (i.e. asserts) into a Message Box or to stderr.
Frank
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Use the __try/__except statements, it's more flexible this way. Here's a sample from MSDN:
#include "stdio.h"
void main()
{
int* p = 0x00000000;
puts("hello");
__try{
puts("in try");
__try{
puts("in try");
*p = 13;
}__finally{
puts("in finally");
}
}__except(puts("in filter"), 1){
puts("in except");
}
puts("world");
}
I see dumb people
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Went over to a clients place yesterday to pick up his faulty monitor and put in a spare one of mine so he could still use his computer while I get his monitor fixed/replaced.
Of course I turned on his computer so I could adjust the monitor to get the picture to display correctly.
Big Mistake!
At this point he mentions a couple of popups he had received from NAV and Windows Update. He didn't know what they meant even though I had explained it all when I installed everything a few months ago.
So I show him how to do it and mention he has to be connected to the internet to do this. Naturally he had been having a problem connecting to the internet due to the choices he is presented with. This is caused by Telstra (our BT or AT&T) and their dial-up setup program.
When I go Start -> Setup -> Dialup and Network Connections -> (Pick any connection) it shows the dialog where I can enter user and password just fine. As he had a few spurios entries which was adding to his confusion I decided to remove them. So instead of going into IE properties and doing it there I decided to use Dial-up Networking from Accessories. Even though it is probably there I couldn't see how to remove entries in the list so I clicked on the x to close the dialog.
Bang! explorer.exe has crashed and is creating a log file, though it doesn't tell what or where.
I cannot get into Dial-up Networking or Windows Explorer so I reboot the machine expecting Windows to play nice now. It doesn't, their still causing explorer.exe crashes and when I try to get into Internet Explorer it crashes, wants to restart and send an error report to Microsoft. Not on the internet so error report is not an option, restart gets me into a loop so all I can do is end without restarting. I also find that I can't get into Control Panel.
I go into Add/Remove Programs (Start -> Run -> 'control appwiz.cpl') and repair Internet Explorer. It doesn't fix it. I can't read the log file as I don't know what it is and when I used Notepad to open Dr Watson's log file I couldn't find it.
I go back to fix it tomorrow evening though the only fix I have is to install Internet Explorer 6 SP1 and apply Windows 2000 SP3.
Anyone got any better ideas?
I believe he is running IE 6 (not SP1) and I think I installed all this before SP3 came out so he is only running SP2.
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end."
- Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
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Larry Antram wrote:
Don't do that.
If you meant, don't turn on the compuetr and everything after that then too late.
If you mean don't install IE6 SP1 and Win2k SP3, why?
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end."
- Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
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Me: Doctor, it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Don't do that.
I'm being a smart *ss. Unfortunately I don't have a solution to your problem. Sorry. 
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Larry Antram wrote:
I'm being a smart *ss. Unfortunately I don't have a solution to your problem. Sorry.
I thought as much but wasn't positive. Reinstalling IE may have screwed it up worse though I don't see how.
Good to see another sh*t stirrer lurking on CP. 
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end."
- Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
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It sounds to me as if the problem is in the DUN area, not IE or Explorer.exe, but I also have to mention that as of the last Windows Update, Explorer.exe has become seriously unstable and prone to BSODs (never before seen) on this machine. It also damaged my primary network connection by replacing without asking the driver file that works with its own, which doesn't.
In any case, there's little you can do about damage caused by Microsoft update "services." I don't know a way to roll them back in Win2K, and after my experiences with the Update , I wouldn't trust them to do it right anyway.
You can, however, R&R the dialup networking components, then reapply any outstanding service packs and rebuild his ISP connection. From there, if there are still problems with IE, you can attempt a reinstall of IE6 (not a repair installation). Before you do, it would be thoughtful to backup his email folders (.dbx extensions) and address book (.wab extension) for later recovery, as a reinstall will wipe the existing ones in Outlook Express. You can import from backups later.
Good luck, Michael...
I've gone to find myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.
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Roger Wright wrote:
It sounds to me as if the problem is in the DUN area, not IE or Explorer.exe, but I also have to mention that as of the last Windows Update, Explorer.exe has become seriously unstable and prone to BSODs (never before seen) on this machine.
I was almost going to title this post Hey Roger, how about a bit of help but decided against as I have done similar in the past and people not named in the title don't want to answer.
It could be the DUN as I was in this when it first died but strangely enough I can still get into DUN if I use Start -> Settings -> Dial-up and Network Connections. I will look into it though.
I have applied all the newest Windows Updates to my and my wifes Windows 2000 boxes with no problems yet. This particular machine hasn't had anything done to it for at least 2 months. Except for the 60 something year old owner actually using it.
I think I wil apply Windows 2000 SP3 and hope that works. If not I will uninstall and reinstall DUN apply SP3 and hope all works. If not I will install Internet Explorer 6.
If all that don't work I will throw it in the f***ing pool. It was working perfectly when I finished installing it. I think it's time all Joe Somebody's where banned from using computers. I blame Microsoft for being greedy and allowing these brain dead bastards to use them in the first place.
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end."
- Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
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Michael Martin wrote:
If all that don't work I will throw it in the f***ing pool.
That's one approach - be sure it's plugged in, though, as it really improves the effect.
If it's been 60 days since the update I'd agree that this is not the likely culprit. It sounds like a SUE (Stupid User Event) has damaged the dialup connection, or seriously dorked up IE. Explorer.exe is usually fairly solid, except after being updated on my machine, but since you mentioned it specifically I thought it worth a look. Never mind, your plan sounds as good as any.
If it doesn't work, feel free to email me... I can come up with some really convincing SWAGs at times, and most times they work nicely.
I've gone to find myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.
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A quick update.
Well in the end I managed to get Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer to work. Also found a sh*t load of spyware which I removed.
I went to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions and removed all the keys (there was only one) beneath it. At this point everything started responding and I was able to get to the internet.
I ran Ad-aware and Spybot - Search & Destroy to remove crap including Qcbar which added a whole lot of toolbars to Windows.
I then updated his virus definitions and downloaded 23 MB of WindowsUpdates and all is now well.
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end."
- Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
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a stab in the dark... (this had me stumbling for a short while)
check that the temp folder exists, is not corrupt, etc.
I once removed a partitiion that held the temp folder. On reboot, almost no MMC maintenance dialogs would load properly bcos it assumed a temp folder existed...and since I blew the partition away, it certainly didn't exist. To top it off, my IE temp folder was mapped to a subfolder of the temp folder...needless to say IE would crash on load.
good luck
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cognito wrote:
I once removed a partitiion that held the temp folder.
Ouch! That doesn't apply here, but I'm curious. How did you recover from that fiasco? Full reinstall, or was it possible to create dummies manually?
I've gone to find myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.
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Jason Henderson wrote:
FDISK.EXE 
Only if your going to come on over and reinstall it all for me. 
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"I personally love it because I can get as down and dirty as I want on the backend, while also being able to dabble with fun scripting and presentation games on the front end."
- Chris Maunder 15/07/2002
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