error posts

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, How-Tos

How to fix a Windows 7 upgrade from Vista that is stuck at 62%

by Lee Mathews Nov 2nd 2009

A number of message boards around the net have been receiving comments from users upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 who have been unable to complete the upgrade install.

Once the installer hits 62% complete, it locks up. You can sit and wait as long as you want, but it's not going anywhere.

The problem occurs when the Windows IPv6 helper service (which allows automatic IPv6 connectivity over a much more common IPv4 network) stops responding . Microsoft has posted a fix to this particular problem, and it's not terribly complicated.

Restart the computer - your system will automatically roll back to Windows Vista.
Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
System Properties will open. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Environment Variables.
Click the New button.
Enter MIG_UPGRADE_IGNORE_PLUGINS into the Variable name field.
Copy the following bold text: iphlpsvcmigplugin.dll and paste it into the Variable value field (or type it manually)
Click OK three times to close the dialog boxes.
Re-launch your Windows 7 Upgrade installer!

Please note that this fix won't help if your install is stuck at some percentage other than 62. Strange but true. This is a specific fix for a very specific issue.

You may also want to run the System Readiness Tool for Vista and Windows 7 before trying the upgrade again. It can detect and correct certain issues that may cause trouble during the process.

Tags: error, failed, frozen, stuck, vista, win7, windows 7 upgrade, windows-7, Windows7Upgrade

Filed under: Security, Office, Adobe

Adobe Acrobat bug more dangerous than originally thought

by Lee Mathews Mar 5th 2009

The Adobe Acrobat vulnerability that was reported here back on February 20th remains unpatched, and it now appears that the risk the bug presents is even greater than originally thought.

Because of the way Adobe integrates into Windows explorer - to provide metadata information about PDF files - there is a chance that your system could become infected without ever opening a single file. Since the bug's code can be placed within a file's metadata, any action that calls that data could set things in motion. That includes something as simple as hovering your mouse over the file icon, according to Obsessable's Stephen Schenck.

In the original post, I suggested using an alternative application to read files, but that won't fully address the vulnerability. To be completely safe, you'll have to remove Adobe Reader (and presumably, Acrobat as well) from your system for the time being and reinstall it once Adobe has developed a patch.

[ via Obsessable ]

Tags: adobe-reader, bug, danger, error, vulnerability

Filed under: E-mail, Humor

Error message cake: Or why human proofreaders are still needed

by Brad Linder Feb 1st 2009

I lived in New Jersey for a few years, and the best thing about living in Jersey (OK, it might have been the only good thing besides cheap gas), was that I lived near a Wegman's supermarket. The store offers a huge selection of items and has an excellent bakery. But here's something I didn't know about Wegman's until this week. Apparently you can order a cake with a custom message by sending an email with that message.

And that's just what one woman did recently. Unfortunately the message was written in English and Italian and the computer that prints the messages on the cake didn't know how to interpret Italian. So it spit out some weird code -- which wound up on the cake instead.

This is an excellent example of a combination of computer error and human error. Sure, the machine failed to do what the Wegman's staff expected. But you would have thought someone would have noticed the error before showing the cake to the customer.

On the other hand, I could totally see some folks asking for a cake like this for their geekier friends.

[via Neatorama and Boing Boing]

Tags: cake, error, wegmans

Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Google

Red Alert! Google warning errors persist in Gmail

by Lee Mathews Feb 1st 2009

While the more glaring problem of flagging the entire internet as untrustworthy was quickly resolved yesterday, it appears as though the Google bug hasn't been completely crushed underfoot.

I was originally tipped off by our own Christina Clark, who advised our team to check the spam folder for incorrectly flagged messages. Lo and behold, several tips from our loyal readers had been erroneously shuffled in amongst the Viagra ads and messages from hot girls who want to chat with me now.

Not content with crying wolf over reader emails, the Gmail error has spread to our own internal distribution list: even though every contact in the message appears in my address book. This has been going on since yesterday, so it's either not as widespread as the search issue or just not as important. I'd wager the answer is a combination of the two. Google would likely prioritize a few million falsely blackballed search results over a few hundred thousand email messages.

Clarification: the issue does not just cause messages to go into your spam folder. As in the screenshot, it also incorrectly flags some incoming messages as potentially dangerous.

Tags: error, fail, gmail, google

Filed under: Fun, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

Torment (or help) your users with MsgBoxToy's Windows alert boxes

by Lee Mathews Nov 5th 2008

While there are certainly some good ways to put MsgBoxToy to use - say, prompting users to save their work or take a computing break - it's also a lot of fun to create dialog boxes simply to mess with your co-workers.

The program's interface is incredibly simple: choose a title, enter up to four lines of text, and enter button labels. You can also select the type of icon to display: stop, alert, question, or information. Click the make button to preview your work, and then save it to a file.

Running [the path to MsgBoxToy]\msgboxtoy.exe /text.txt launches your message. Make sure to give your message a test run, as Windows' security may ask you to confirm the run command. Just untick the always ask box and that will be the end of that.

Because MsgBox uses a command line switch to display alerts, it plays well with the Windows Task Scheduler. With Vista and Windows 7's support for on event tasks, MsgBoxToy can actually be put to very good use in a workplace setting.

It's a quick, easy way to create Windows message boxes. Whether you use your new software powers for good or evil is entirely up to you.

Tags: alert, alerts, error, message, message box, MessageBox

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Mozilla, Freeware, Browser Tips

ErrorZilla: Useful error messages in Firefox

by Jordan Running Sep 5th 2006

Ooh, I like this. ErrorZilla is a free add-on (i.e. extension) for Firefox by Eric Hamiter that replaces Firefox's error messages, which are out of the box not completely uninformative, but not entirely useful either, with something much more useful. In addition to the familiar "Try Again" button, ErrorZilla adds five more: Google Cache, Wayback, Ping, Trace, and Whois. I'm especially excited for the Google Cache and Wayback Machine links, which will (sometimes) allow you to view the contents of pages that are down or defunct. Ping, Trace(route), and Whois will perhaps be of less day-to-day use, but still handy for the more technically inclined. Brilliant.

Tags: addon, error, errorzilla, extension, firefox

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