Rundll32 has stopped working error on Vista

I've seen this problem on two different systems. Both were HP laptops running vista. Some brief time after logon the error comes up the Rundll32 has stopped working. Looking in the event logs I see that the associated module is User32.dll (in both cases). I think I may have found the problem. At least this system to work. I had installed Nvidia drivers for the video from the Nvidia website. This installs a Nvidia Driver Helper Service. I think this service had something to do with the problem. What I ended up doing was uninstalling the Nvidia video drivers through the control panel. Rebooting. Then right clicking my computer, choosing properties, clicking Device Manager, expanding Display, right clicking the standard VGA and choosing update driver (and having it automatically do it from the web). It installs the drivers without the helper service. After doing this, the rundll32 has stopped working errors went away.

USB flash drive annoying launch pad software

Do you want to get rid of the launch pad software on your U3 USB flash drive? I did. I don't use it, and I don't need it. I just want a plain USB flash storage device. The launch pad can be removed. The removal tool is here. Make sure you backup and data stored on the device before you run this tool.

http://www.u3.com/uninstall/

Tool for find paths that are too long on computers or servers

Occasionaly I run into a situation that quickly becomes very frustrating. Let's say I am backing up a user's data to move to a new system. I'm copying their My Documents to a server, or usb drive and the copy bombs out because it encounters a path that is too long. Another scenario is I am setting someone up to synchronize documents stored on a server with their local computer. Again, the sync bombs because it encounters a path that is too long. This can become frustrating because sometimes you have to dig and search to find the offending file. Or, maybe this person has 100 items that are too long. So again you repeat the process of the copy bombing out and having to go search for the offending files.

I made a tool that can search a system on find all the long paths and record them. The offenders and be exported to a .csv file for the record. This way these can be addressed ahead of time before the backup or sync is run.

This is a very simple tool. It is small and quick. If you think this might be of use to you download it here. This is an installer it copies the exe to a folder under program files and creates a start menu shortcut and a desktop shortcut. If you prefer to just get the exe it is here.

This tool will scan local drives, or UNC paths.

Citrix connection hangs on 'Negotiating Capabilities'

This is an annoying issue that occurs in an inconsistent manner. Fortunately the fix is easy.

The fix involves deleting some keys from the registry.

Run regedit (Start>Run>type regedit in the open box and click OK)

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing

Delete the subkeys HardwareID and Store

Try this Citrix connection again. This time it should pass Negotiating Capabilities and work.

You might also want to change the permissions on the MSLicensing key. Users and Power Users should have Full Control permissions to it and all subkeys.

Adding movies to My Movies so they can be accessed from extenders or other media centers

This is covered in the MyMovies Mulitzone documentation. I will also describe how to properly add the movies to the collection so the path is usable by extenders and other comptuers.

You perform this procedure even if the computer you are adding is the same computer the movie is stored on (ie: your media center).

Add a title to MyMovies through the Collection Manager.

Click the Add Online button.

The Browse for Folder dialog comes up.

Find the node called Network. Click to expand it. Find the computer where the movie is stored (ie: your media center computer).

Expand to the location of the folder containing the movie (there needs to be a Video_TS folder inside)

With the movie folder highlighted click Ok.

Click 'Add owned for keeps' in MyMovies and now the movie is added with the proper path.

This puts the movie into the database with a path like file://vista-mce/F/Movies/BekindRewind rather than F:\Movies\BekindRewind. The latter path will not work when network devices try to access the movie.

If you have already added movies using the local path format, ie: F:\Movies\BekindRewind you can fix them through the Collection Mananger.

With the Collection Manager open browse and select a title on the left.

Under the Edit Title tab click the discs button:

This dialog will come up. Notice the movie has a local path:

Click the little button the red arrow is pointing to in the image above.

That bring up the Folder Browse Dialog.

Again, scroll to Network, expand, find the computer with the movies, expand it, find the movie folder, highlight it, and click OK:

Notice (in the image below) we now have a network path which is what we need.

Click Ok.

Now we are back on the Edit Title tab. Towards the bottom left is the Save Title button. Click it so the changes we just made get save.

The edited movie should now be accessible to media centers and extenders.

Why do you have to do this? A remote device will not understand F:\Movies\movie. A path like that says 'the movie is on myself'. But the movie is not, it is on another computer. So the network path tells the device, go look here on this other computer.

Cooling the ATI Radeon 4870 - how to manually adjust the fan speed

*****The procedure outlined below is no longer required with drivers and Catalyst Control Center version 8.10 and later. Now you can manually adjust the fans under the ATI Overdrive section.*****

Although this information is obtainable in forums and other websites, I thought I would post it myself. After getting a new ATI 4870 I noticed it was running hot. Even idle, the temperature was 80c. This is not hard to adjust.

1) You need the catalyst control center installed. This comes bundled with the drivers. If you chose not to install it, you can get it from the http://www.ati.com/ (amd) site.

2) Run the ATI Catalyst Control Center and choose advanced mode when prompted

3) Under the Graphics Settings tab, click on ATI Overdrive.

4) Most likely, the Enable ATI Overdrive box will be checked, but the buttons and settings will be greyed out. To enabled this click on the lock icon.

5) Now at the top click the Profiles Menu and choose Profile Manager

6) In the edit or select a profile name type in something like: fanSpeed in profile description you can make yourself a note like 'used to adjust the fan'

7) Below you'll see a Composition tab. All you need (and I believe it is the default) is ATI Overdrive selected

8) Click the Save button. Click the Close button.

9) You can leave the CCC up while you do this part. Go to Start>Control Panel>Folder Options (may need to choose Classic View on the left). Click the View tab and uncheck the box next to show hidden files and folders.

10) Click Ok and close the Control Panel

11) Vista Users -> Now go to Start>Computer> and browse to C:\Users\your username\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles.

XP Users -> C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Application Data\ATI\ACE\Profiles

In the profiles folder you will see a file for the fan profile we created. Right click on it and choose edit (or you can open it with notepad). Change the following in the file:

Automatic to Manual and the number to a higher value (ex: replace 23 with 45 or whatever you want). Since this number is a percent the max would be 100 (and it is pretty loud).

For now I am running at 45% and my temps dropped 30 degrees. It is a little louder but not any louder than the other fans in my computer and it had a major effect on the GPU temperature.

12) Now to implement the new setting go back to the CCC (Catalyst Control Center). Click the Profiles Menu, Activate Profile>click the profile name you created. You should hear the fan louder now. You should also notice your GPU temperature dropping.

If you want to make any more changes to the fan speed just go back to the profiles folder, edit the file for the profile, change the number and save. Then go back to the CCC and activate the profile again.

mHome Power Management Module

This looks interesting.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2008/08/21/1645360.aspx

Thanks Chris.