Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)
This is a cross-post thread.
Last Friday the morning began with an error pop-up window specific to our
McAfee software.
Seems the Personal Firewall Plus application was having some difficulties,
as the error was instructing that we contact McAfee and forward a certain
log.txt file.
This seemed suspicious, so I went directly to McAfee to confirm, connected
to McAfee's Live Tech Support.
Their virtual technician verified a problem and the live help desk
technician adamantly instructed me to follow a series of instructions from
him, and from a list on one of their web pages. He seemed somewhat obscure
when asking that I forward the log file --- I can't explain it --- but I know
now, I should have been listening to my gut.
He insisted that varying in the least bit from his instructions would mean
it would become necessary to uninstall the Personal Firewall Plus application
manually; so I was firecely attentive!
After 5 or 6 steps into McAfee's instructions I came to a step that required
a system "backup" be done before proceeding..........
Unbeknownst to me, --- [ and how many other unsuspecting XP users]
---NTBackup.exe is NOT installed on the Windows XP - Home Edition operating
system upon its original installation.
I wondered if it was "missed" in the setup process so I browsed the OS's cd
and eventually discovered it to be "hidden" away within the Value Added files
(almost simultaneous to discovering this Microsoft web page info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320820).
I went ahead and loaded the NTBackup.exe file, initiated a system file
backup and followed McAfee's instruction to "test" the backup file to be
certain it worked before proceeding, it seemed to respond predictably.
I proceeded on to the instructions of editing from within the Registry.
sidebar:
[What ever was I thinking ... ??? That I could trust the world's supposed
foremost authority on Anti-Virus and Hack Preventions as well as creator of
many other helpful software applications ?? ---Unfortunately, yes.]
Various keys within the registry were needed to be deleted per their
instructions, followed by dumping the recycle bin and finally a restart of
the pc.
I then returned to the McAfee web site to proceed with getting a fresh
install of the Personal Firewall Plus application. This is when I discovered
there was no longer any Internet access.
I explored what could be the problem and learned that the Management Console
could not start the Remote Access nor either of its two dependencies. I ran
through the troubleshooter to see if it could be fixed with no avail.
I then contacted my DSL / ISP provider for assistance.
.....perhaps they would know what might have turned off the RCP and how to
reset it ? ...
Under the supervision of the senior tech at my DSL / ISP service center,
many attempts were made to identify the problem and resolve it by conducting
various tests and run commands including attempting to reset the IP protocol
-- still -- an IP address failed to be recognized.
The technician [having to apoligize numeous times] referred me to my OS's
manufacturer for further assistance at getting to the advanced settings of
XP's system files.
So,.......... I called Microsoft and accordingly learned I had to contact my
pc manufacturer ( DELL ) as apparently they did not [nor, do not] install the
actual Microsoft product of Windows XP - Home Edition operating system
software, rather, it's some OEM type.
Sidebar:
Including my lunch break, I am now at 6.5 hours into attempting to resolve a
stupid file error at the break of morn.
The DELL technician brings even more to the party which at the close of the
day [what totaled an 11.5 hour "fit-to-be-tied, seeing-purple" day] by
rendering my operating system to a non-functional piece of - - - - !
The Dell Tech, had me try the RESTORE feature which was somehow not "turned
on" ... then a few run commands, then an attempted "repair" from the
installation disk, which failed to initiate: it continuously delivered a
message: " SETUP cannot start in safemode. Restarting computer now."
-----Which lead the tech to decide that a "dirty" install was the last
solution in order to recover documents and then do a hard drive formatting
and a fresh new install.
Sidebar:
Even at my prompting, at no time did the tech caution me to backup documents
[thanks a lot, - - - -head] stating we were not removing any files, nor
deleting anything, so there should not be any danger of losing documents. He
just kept encouraging me to follow directions.
End Result:
[1].
Our original operating system files are gone... or - rather - no where
obvious and pretending not to exist.
[2].
All of our documents are inaccessible. [Valuable lesson already learned,
save your breath on lectures of imploying frequent backup behavior, thank
you.]
[3].
The hard drive now has TWO Windows operating system installs, in which one
does not work whatsoever [that'd be the attempted repair one] and another
which refuses to read the original os installed files and I am not certain it
is working properly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
****
I decided to slave the XP hard drive to my other pc which is running Windows
2000 - Professional.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's quite peculiar at this point as the slave idea works to read the files,
but few are accessible. I was able to modify the user permissions by adding
an "Everyone" user and also gave "Everyone" complete control throughout the
propagation, but still I cannot access those documents that I need to copy to
disk so that I can proceed on with re-formatting the XP hard drive.
My question to you:
(Actually, I have three questions)
[1].
How can I get my Windows2000 machine to read those files in order that they
can be copied?
[2].
Will I be able to restore our email files from Outlook Express?
I seem to recall trying to copy one identity to another new machine [awhile
back], as I recall, there were lots of problems trying to get it to work....
[3].
After I do get to the re-formatting of the hard drive and do a clean
install, is there some short cut to getting all of the updates and the
service pack 2 back in place?
I'd appreciate hearing thoughts and or comments, thank you.
Babs
This is a cross-post thread.
Last Friday the morning began with an error pop-up window specific to our
McAfee software.
Seems the Personal Firewall Plus application was having some difficulties,
as the error was instructing that we contact McAfee and forward a certain
log.txt file.
This seemed suspicious, so I went directly to McAfee to confirm, connected
to McAfee's Live Tech Support.
Their virtual technician verified a problem and the live help desk
technician adamantly instructed me to follow a series of instructions from
him, and from a list on one of their web pages. He seemed somewhat obscure
when asking that I forward the log file --- I can't explain it --- but I know
now, I should have been listening to my gut.
He insisted that varying in the least bit from his instructions would mean
it would become necessary to uninstall the Personal Firewall Plus application
manually; so I was firecely attentive!
After 5 or 6 steps into McAfee's instructions I came to a step that required
a system "backup" be done before proceeding..........
Unbeknownst to me, --- [ and how many other unsuspecting XP users]
---NTBackup.exe is NOT installed on the Windows XP - Home Edition operating
system upon its original installation.
I wondered if it was "missed" in the setup process so I browsed the OS's cd
and eventually discovered it to be "hidden" away within the Value Added files
(almost simultaneous to discovering this Microsoft web page info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320820).
I went ahead and loaded the NTBackup.exe file, initiated a system file
backup and followed McAfee's instruction to "test" the backup file to be
certain it worked before proceeding, it seemed to respond predictably.
I proceeded on to the instructions of editing from within the Registry.
sidebar:
[What ever was I thinking ... ??? That I could trust the world's supposed
foremost authority on Anti-Virus and Hack Preventions as well as creator of
many other helpful software applications ?? ---Unfortunately, yes.]
Various keys within the registry were needed to be deleted per their
instructions, followed by dumping the recycle bin and finally a restart of
the pc.
I then returned to the McAfee web site to proceed with getting a fresh
install of the Personal Firewall Plus application. This is when I discovered
there was no longer any Internet access.
I explored what could be the problem and learned that the Management Console
could not start the Remote Access nor either of its two dependencies. I ran
through the troubleshooter to see if it could be fixed with no avail.
I then contacted my DSL / ISP provider for assistance.
.....perhaps they would know what might have turned off the RCP and how to
reset it ? ...
Under the supervision of the senior tech at my DSL / ISP service center,
many attempts were made to identify the problem and resolve it by conducting
various tests and run commands including attempting to reset the IP protocol
-- still -- an IP address failed to be recognized.
The technician [having to apoligize numeous times] referred me to my OS's
manufacturer for further assistance at getting to the advanced settings of
XP's system files.
So,.......... I called Microsoft and accordingly learned I had to contact my
pc manufacturer ( DELL ) as apparently they did not [nor, do not] install the
actual Microsoft product of Windows XP - Home Edition operating system
software, rather, it's some OEM type.
Sidebar:
Including my lunch break, I am now at 6.5 hours into attempting to resolve a
stupid file error at the break of morn.
The DELL technician brings even more to the party which at the close of the
day [what totaled an 11.5 hour "fit-to-be-tied, seeing-purple" day] by
rendering my operating system to a non-functional piece of - - - - !
The Dell Tech, had me try the RESTORE feature which was somehow not "turned
on" ... then a few run commands, then an attempted "repair" from the
installation disk, which failed to initiate: it continuously delivered a
message: " SETUP cannot start in safemode. Restarting computer now."
-----Which lead the tech to decide that a "dirty" install was the last
solution in order to recover documents and then do a hard drive formatting
and a fresh new install.
Sidebar:
Even at my prompting, at no time did the tech caution me to backup documents
[thanks a lot, - - - -head] stating we were not removing any files, nor
deleting anything, so there should not be any danger of losing documents. He
just kept encouraging me to follow directions.
End Result:
[1].
Our original operating system files are gone... or - rather - no where
obvious and pretending not to exist.
[2].
All of our documents are inaccessible. [Valuable lesson already learned,
save your breath on lectures of imploying frequent backup behavior, thank
you.]
[3].
The hard drive now has TWO Windows operating system installs, in which one
does not work whatsoever [that'd be the attempted repair one] and another
which refuses to read the original os installed files and I am not certain it
is working properly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
****
I decided to slave the XP hard drive to my other pc which is running Windows
2000 - Professional.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's quite peculiar at this point as the slave idea works to read the files,
but few are accessible. I was able to modify the user permissions by adding
an "Everyone" user and also gave "Everyone" complete control throughout the
propagation, but still I cannot access those documents that I need to copy to
disk so that I can proceed on with re-formatting the XP hard drive.
My question to you:
(Actually, I have three questions)
[1].
How can I get my Windows2000 machine to read those files in order that they
can be copied?
[2].
Will I be able to restore our email files from Outlook Express?
I seem to recall trying to copy one identity to another new machine [awhile
back], as I recall, there were lots of problems trying to get it to work....
[3].
After I do get to the re-formatting of the hard drive and do a clean
install, is there some short cut to getting all of the updates and the
service pack 2 back in place?
I'd appreciate hearing thoughts and or comments, thank you.
Babs
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