Windows XP and Windows Vista Technical Chat (June 05, 2007)
Chat Topic: Windows XP and Windows Vista Technical Chat
Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity.
Introductions
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
We'll begin by introducing our experts.
I'm Lance Zielinski, I manage the test lab for the Windows SDK Test Team.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I'm Jeff Varga and I work for test on the IE team.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I am Josh. I write automation and utilities at Microsoft that support the Microsoft Windows Logo Kit for display devices and graphics cards.
Mike Johnson [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I'm Mike Johnson. I'm a Software Development Engineer in Test for the Windows SDK team.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I am Ryan Sizemore. I am a developer for Windows Server.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
If you want to ask us a question, be sure to check the "Ask the Experts" checkbox before sending your question!
Start of Chat
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: IE7 shuts down completely when I try to enter a chat room
A: WOODS: Do you have addons (toolbars, extensions, etc) installed? Have you tried starting IE with addons off?
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: My collegue try to use IOCTL_VIDEO_SET_DISPLAY_BRIGHTNESS to adjust IBM Thinkpad R40 LCD brightness. But failed. His OS is Windows XP SP2. We would like to know whether the function, IOCTL_VIDEO_SET_DISPLAY_BRIGHTNESS , is hardware manufactuer depended. Is
A: Hi Aaron, we don't cover coding questions in these Chats. You'd want to hit msdn.microsoft.com for developer information.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Vista consume more battery than XP. Is it true?
A: As a laptop owner, I can safely this is NOT the case. If you ensure that you have the proper power management utilities and drivers from your OEM, you will be very happy with mobile use of Windows Vista.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I don't know how to turn them off? I am running the yahoo toolbar if that is what you mean.
A: WOODS: There is the possibility that an installed addon might not be playing nicely with whatever is on the chat page. You can test this by going to Start -> Run and typing "%PROGRAMFILES%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -extoff
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I seem to have an ongoing issue with Vista retaining window size/placement on certain folders, most notably Control Panel - is this an known issue with Vista ?
A: If you open Control Panel (or any other window in Explorer) and press the ALT key, you will see the Menu Bar at the top. Go to the Tools Menu -> Folder Options -> View Tab. Find the checkbox called "Remember each folder's view settings". Make sure that it is checked.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Does Vista will always preinstalled with Microsoft Java Virtual Machine?
A: We actually don't ship Java with Windows anymore. In order to get java support, go to http://java.sun.com and you download the Runtime there.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: After I run that, what do i do? Or will that fix the problem?
A: WOODS: That will run IE with addons disabled. You can see if IE still crashes when you navigate to the chat page.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: What can we do to have power lasting longer for Vista on Laptops
A: Vista comes with the Windows Mobility Center. You can go there to fine-tune a number of power options. Also, you can go into the "Power Options" in Control Panel to adjust the specifc power settings. The "Power Saver" options there will configure your settings for optimal power savings.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: hello, which expert is endowed with the forbidden knowledge of the windows xp registry?
A: Depends... what is your question? :)
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: when i click to open it all thaty happens is a flash
A: deggzy: If you run "%PROGRAMFILES%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -extoff does it still happen?
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there a workaround to allow Vista to connect to VPN's running versions of MS-CHAP not currently supported by Vista?
A: MS-CHAP v1 is depricated in Vista, but POP, CHAP, and MS-CHAP v2 are still supported. For more information, you can take a look at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926170
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: i cannot seem to get the dock/undock option to show up in XP, any ideas?
A: Can you please give us a little more info? Are you trying to dock your laptop, or docking a device to your computer?
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can powercfg.exe adjust the LCD brightness in Vista and XP? If it can, how?
A: There is a KB article here that covers what powercfg.exe can do. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324347
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: game question, during execution of an old game, a dialog appears that says the display has been set to basic mode, but I not saying it was set back and the Aero functions like (windowskey-tab) works ok, is it going back to adv display automatically?
A: If I'm reading the correctly you want to know if Windows will switch back to Aero when the game closes? If so, yes, it sets back automatically once the application that disables it closes.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: i ve 2 critical ID 100 & 106 (degradation) in diagnostics - performance journal, vista takes about 45 seconds to start , it is slow on the vista boost screen, is there a way to fix it ?
A: milo974: We're looking for some more information on your issue. Can you give us any more information about the events?
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Guys, please don’t repeat your questions. We are responding to them as we are able, or trying to get additional experts in on the chat to assist you.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Hi, with Windows Explorer in Vista Utimate, I click the + sign besides C: and its up to a minute to show the directory structure below the c:. Why?
A: A number of things can be causing Explorer to take time showing a folder contents. You might try running a ChkDsk and Defrag on the drive. Also, if there are a large number of folders under C:, this could be causing it to take time. You should also under Windows Logs -> System in Event Viewer to see if there are any events relating to hardware problems, which could indicate a problem with the drive itself.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: journal : Diagnostics - Performance (Operational) degradation ID 106 Critical Nom : BackgroundPrefetchTime Dur�e totale : 56590ms Dur�e de la d�gradation : 26590ms Heure de l’incident (UTC) : 21/04/2007 08:17:53
A: Here are a couple KB articles that explain what events 100 and 106 are for.
ID 100
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923869
ID 106
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295670
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I want to prevent some programs to load at startup. I tried to use Defender in Vista but all loaded progrmas don't apear. Is it the rigth way of doing so?
A: Arcadi: In my experience, Windows Defender is pretty good about enumerating the registry startup tasks and the Start Menu startup tasks. Are you seeing things starting that are not on one of those two lists? Is it a service?
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Follow-up #5: Enabled, Sometimes a defined size/placement will revert during a single user session. It's not only a size/placement issue but also the selected "View" changes.
A: You might try using the "Reset Folders" button in the Folder Options window. This should clear out the existing settings and allow the new ones to take hold.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Thanks ryansize. It is a brand new HP box with Core Duo 2.16Mhz, blah, blah, etc. There are no errors in the system logs in event viewer. I will try chkdsk and defrag, who knows...
A: You might also want to check in Take Manager to make sure that no other apps are running (3rd party apps running in the background for example), since these might be causing the system to run slower.
Mike Johnson [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I recently purchased Windows Vista and my 5.1 surround sound speakers do not work, i contacted Dell, but they were no help, i downloaded new drivers but they dont work either
A: Are you certain this is a driver issue? If you've already downloaded the latest driver and installed it, but the hardware still doesn't work, unfortunately there isn't much you can do until the manufacturer releases a driver that works for Vista.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I want to prevent some programs to load at startup. I tried to use Defender in Vista but all loaded progrmas don't apear. Is it the rigth way of doing so?
A: Here is a KB article that describes how to use the Group Policy Editor to enforce Software restrictions. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310791/en-us
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: ok, why was there no registry scanner / cleaner / tuner-upper included in windows xp? like the prior o.s.'s?
A: This sounds like a 3rd party application that likely can packaged with your scanner software. Do you know the name of the application specifically?
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: when setting the hardware profile to tell windows that the computer is a laptop and in what state its in, (docked or undocked) and i want it to give you the option to undock the computer when i want to.
A: Ah! Sorry missed this one. Many apologies for that!! What laptop are you using? Normally the OEM provides utilities for docking that interface with this feature.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Jeff...it still shut down the whole browser?
A: WOODS: Without more information, there's not much I can suggest offhand. Your installation may have been corrupted somehow. You can try uninstalling and reinstalling IE7 (I assume that's the version you're using) and see how that works out.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: in Vista , in event viewer, Diagnostics performance , 2 critical ID 100 and 106 (degradation), how can i fix it ?
A: Milo have you had a chance to look at these KB articles?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923869
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295670
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: After installing Office 2007 on Windows Vista. Programs such as Word, Outlook, Excell runs very slow. The task manager says: max 49% CPU usage? Can anyone tell me why? or How to fix it
A: Mantis Computers: If you right click the task bar and go to the Task Manager, then go to the Processes tab, can you see which process is pegging your CPU?
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Any news of Vista SP1?
A: Sorry we can't talk about unreleased products, and Vista SP1 falls under that rule. :(
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: is there a way to optimize winload ?or repair the boot process to speed startup ...
A: You can use the MsConfig utility 'Run -> msconfig' to enable/disable the startup application, which may improve your startup time.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Jeff, I did install it again lastnight, but it didn't help. What do you think about my idea that it might have something to do with only java sites? I had a virus on a few java programs a few weeks ago, maybe I missed something up?
A: WOODS: Running with extensions off given the command line I suggested should disable all extensions (including Java). That you say you're still crashing even with extensions off indicates a larger issue.
You've indicated that you had a virus a few weeks ago -- there may have been residual damage on your system.
Does IE only crash when you go to that one site?
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: In Vista (Ult) the quicklaunch sometimes takes a long time to open the list.. is this a known issue that will be addressed?
A: I assume that you are saying that the Icons are taking time to show up (when the computer is still booting). Since this occurs when the system is starting up, it is probably that other things are still loading, with is causing the system to run slower than usual.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Hi im going to buy a nomal desktop pc but i what the screen to be touch screen. will vista see that it is touch screen and change the look for better touch screen use's or do i need to by diffrent windows software?
A: If you are going to buy a touch screen display for your machine you should ensure that the company that produces it has a Vista compatible driver. Ideally you would want to see that the driver was Logo'd by Microsoft as being Vista compatible. It would be their driver that handles the touch aspect.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: No, it did it again when I was trying to log onto a conference call yesterday. It was a totally different site.
A: The only thing I can suggest at this point is to open a support ticket via http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_fam_ie7 so that a support professional can get a more detailed explanation of your experience.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: i need help with a modem
A: Could you provide more information on your question?
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Windows 2003 Server SP2 Scheduled Tasks - - Loss of "Administrator" Credentials ...
A: Sorry, we don't cover Windows 2003 Server in this chat. Only XP and Vista clients. Check out http://support.microsoft.com for KB articles on Server. You can also check out the newsgroups for information on Windows 2003 Server.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: hello ryansize: well if i recall there was regclean for win 3.1 and 95, then there was regscan or scanreg or something to that affect in win me... don't really think these were third party software
A: Well, I can't find anything like that on the support website. It seems like there used to be a "Clean Registry" feature for pre-ME, but I dont think it exists any longer. You might try looking at other 3rd party apps to see what they provide.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: for the 2 kb, it doesnt correspond , i m on vista, the kb talk about exchange and vista, wrong....
A: The Event ID's that are displayed in the Event Viewer are unique. If your Event viewer has these ID's logged in there then it is likely you are hitting the same issue somehow that is outlined in the article. If you have not installed Exchange on this system or it isn't a domain controller then I think you will need to contact Microsoft Support. They will probably have better information for you.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Yes PST is almost 4.2GB On the Outlook? any way I can get by.
A: Outlook may be trying to archive or scan your personal folder file. You can help improve performance by decreasing the size of your PST file (either by archiving old mail, or compacting your PST file http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291645/en-us.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: RE: Q/A #24 -- no I mean usually the first time quick launch is accessed (using the chevron arrows) the list takes a long time to populate. Nothing to do with it still booting up. This happens on computers with long lists or short lists in QL.
A: The first time you access the QL, it is likely loading the Icons and links in the QL folder. Althougth this might take a longer than usual time, this should only happen the first time you access it, and subsequent times should be quicker. Also, make sure that you only have shortcuts in the QL folder.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Sleep mode - I read that Vista should be rebooted every few days anyway, is sleep mode a viable option?
A: Yes, sleep mode is a viable option. Reboots only happen when either the user initiates it, Windows/Microsoft Update, or a 3rd-party installation requires it.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: my modem burned out and i need to know what a part onside it is called so i can get it replaced
A: If you need to replace your hardware you will need to remove it and see what it was, if you want the exact same part to replace it. If you don't feel comfortable removing the hardware yourself you can have a PC repair shop do the repair for you. If you don't care about having a specific modem then you can generally replace it with something similar.
To identify what the hardware is generally you can look at the part number or model number that is silk screened onto the device. In rare occasions you might have to do a search on the numbers on the main chip of the device.
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Jeff, do you suggest that I install, uninstall java? I can't use the additional help at this time because of financial restraints.
A: You can attempt that and see if it works, yes.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: hi, I am trying to get some help copying metatags to the background of my website in microsoft publisher 2007. Can someone help me.
A: Hi Dr Singh, this ExpertZone chat is geared towards the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. We don't cover Office questions in this chat, sorry! :(
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: when I try to open the “connections of net " in the control panel, nao appears nothing! when it would have to appear “local connection” at least!
A: You can also view the existing connection on your system by opening a command prompt and typing 'ipconfig /all'. Do you see any adapters listed there?
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Five minutes left to this chat. Give the experts some time to answer the remaining questions. :)
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: i dunno if this sounds stupid but is there anyway i can update my version of xp? windows update just updates my current version im on
A: You receive free updates through Windows Update to keep your system patched, but Windows Update will not upgrade you to a new operating system version (Vista, Windows 2003).
If you want to upgrade to Windows Vista, this website can help you: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx?wt_svl=20409a&mg_id=20409b
Jeff V [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I am having trouble with microsoft office for Mac, but I couldn't find a chat room corresponding to this topic. If their is one, could you give me a link to it? and if there isn't, could you answer my questions?
A: This room is not equipped with experts to answer Office for Mac questions. You can try asking your question, but there are no guarantees. Your best bet, as always, is http://support.microsoft.com/
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Hi again,dose anyone know whetehr or not I can get Works 8.5 word processor to understand any other language besides 4 types of English?
A: Kurt, we only answer questions regarding the operating systems, and not other Microsoft products in this chat. Sorry for not responding sooner.
Fred Nava [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: How about a folder question? The games folder seems to reset its settings, usually to whatever I have set a recent folder view to. I have "remember each folders settings" turned on.
A: Hi Mark,
We've been seeing issues with our explorer template settings for different folders. It's been difficult to nail down exactly where the problem lies. Can you give me more details on how you repro your issue? That's the most important thing we can get for this right now.
Thanks.
JoshSm [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have used the App Compat Toolkit to make old games work, is there a way to automate the fix? Right now I have to open it, load the sdb file and hit F5 to run
A: You should be able to use sdbinst.exe to add a permanent entry to fix old apps. You should be able to find it with a search.
ryansize [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: on vista, in performance and fiability, the index was : 10 ! Now it is : 7.52 , vista is slow at startup; can you help me please ?
A: You should check for driver updates, then re-run the perf indexer.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
We're out of time today. Please check back on 6/26 for our next scheduled chat.
Lance [MSFT] (Moderator):
We're closing down the questions now.
