How to Clear the Java Cache

The Java cache is the location on your computer where copies of java applets you have used are saved. If you are experiencing Java errors it could be caused by a faulty or corrupt applet in the cache. Clearing the Java cache removes these files from your computer and forces your browser to download a new copy of the applet the next time you visit a site that requires it.

To clean out the Java cache follow these steps

1) Open the control panel and find Java

2) Open the Java control panel and click on Delete Files. This can be in different locations depending on the version but the most common one will look like the image below.

In some cases a few files or archives will remain inside Java cache folder and need to be manually deleted.

The default location of this folder in Windows XP and Vista is:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache\

To empty the cache folder, navigate to it with Windows Explorer. Select all files and subfolders and then press the "Delete" button on a keyboard, or select the File->Delete menu option. As this folder contains only cached files, no important data is lost in the operation.

How to Manage POP3 Email Using the Command Line

Open a command prompt or your favorite telnet client and type in telnet domain.com 110, where domain.com is your email domain such as gmail.com.

Here are the commands to log in:

USER user name
This must be the first command after the connect. Type in your e-mail user name (not the full e-mail address).

PASS password
This must be the next command after USER. Supply your e-mail password.

Here are the commands you can use to manage the account:

STAT
The response to this is: +OK #msgs #bytes Where #msgs is the number of messages in the mail box and #bytes is the total bytes used by all messages. Sample response: +OK 3 345910

LIST
The response to this lists a line for each message with its number and size in bytes, ending with a period on a line by itself. Sample response:+OK 3 messages1 12052 3053 344400.

RETR msg#
This sends message number msg# to you (displays on the Telnet screen). You probably don’t want to do this in Telnet (unless you have turned on Telnet logging). Example: RETR 2

TOP msg# #lines
This is an optional POP3 command. Not all POP3 servers support it. It lists the header for msg# and the first #lines of the message text. For example, TOP 1 0 would list just the headers for message 1, where as TOP 1 5 would list the headers and first 5 lines of the message text.

DELE msg#
This marks message number msg# for deletion from the server. This is the way to get rid a problem causing message. It is not actually deleted until the QUIT command is issued. If you lose the connection to the mail server before issuing the QUIT command, the server will not delete the messages.

RSET
This resets or un-marks any messages previously marked for deletion in this session so that the QUIT command will not delete them.

QUIT
This deletes any messages marked for deletion, logs you off of the mail server and ends the telnet session.

Great Collection of Firefox Wallpapers

Here are some great wallpapers for all the Firefox fans out there.

http://kidtechguru.blogspot.com/2008/12/100-amazing-firefox-wallpapers-that-you.html

How to Protect Your PC from Viruses and Malware

PC security is one of my favorite subjects. I spend a lot of time fixing problems that could have been easily avoided by using a few simple tools. On this post I will list some of my favorite applications that will keep your computer healthy.

Run Anti Virus Software

Rule number 1, use an Anti-Virus program and keep it up to date.
Everyone has their favorite, I recommend Avast Free Edition for most users because it is free, stable and effective. Plus, the boot time scan is great. No matter what AV program you use, none of them are a complete solution. Do not depend solely on it. For a complete solution, you need to combine it with a few other products.

Run Windows Defender

If you are running Windows Vista you already have it. If you are running Windows XP SP2 or above it’s available as a free download. This program is a pleasant surprise from Microsoft. It is lightweight, effective, unobtrusive and works.

Malware Cleaners

Malware can be defined as any program designed with malicious intent. This includes viruses, worms, rootkits, spyware, adware and Trojans. As scanners get better, so does the malware. Malwarebytes available here is my top pick. Unlike an antivirus program, you can run as many of these as you want so if you think you might be infected run several of them. Here are my top picks.

http://malwarebytes.org/
http://superantispyware.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD724AE0-E72D-4F54-9AB3-75B8EB148356&displaylang=en
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html



If you are infected and your installed tools are not able to remove it, or they do but it comes back after a reboot, run both of these online scanners in safe mode, reboot to safe mode and run them again.

Free Online Scanners
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

If you have tried all of these and you still feel you are infected, call a pro or keep an eye out for my Guide to Advanced Malware Removal. I will be posting it soon.

List of the essential processes that Windows XP needs to run.

Here is a list of the essential processes that Windows XP needs to run correctly. You can view these in the Task Manager. To open this click Start - Run type in taskmgr and click Ok. Click on the Processes tab to view the running processes.To end a task select it and choose "End Process".

System Idle Process
explorer.exe
taskmgr.exe
spoolsv.exe
lsass.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
winlogon.exe
services.exe
svchost.exe - There will be a few of these, read below for more information on this.


By shutting down anything other than these processes, XP should operate just fine, however if any of these processes are shutdown, Windows will start to become unstable or unusable.

On most computers there will be multiple instances of svchost.exe, these control various connections on your computer whether its to the Internet or within a LAN. It is usually safe to switch off some of these, however it’s not easy to determine which ones, I recommend Process Explorer from Sysinternals if you need to start digging into these processes. I will be posting an in-depth guide to using Process Explorer soon.

My Favorite Diagnostic Command Line Tools

Here are some of the command line tools I use most often when troubleshooting a PC or network issue. Open a command prompt and try these out. For details and available switches enter the command followed by a question mark, for example (ipconfig ?).


ipconfig (Vista, XP, 2000 & NT4.0)
This command displays IP settings of the current computer and much more.

msconfig (Vista & XP)
This is a great tool that allows to change the services and utilities that start when your PC boots up.

netsh (Vista, XP & 2000)
A network configuration tool console there is alot to this one. I use it mostly for winsock resets. At the 'netsh>' prompt, use the '?' to list the available commands and type "exit" to get back to a command prompt.

netstat (Vista & XP)
View your active network connections - try netstat -ano. This one is great for hunting malware!

nslookup(all)
A DNS name resolution tool.

pathping (Vista, XP & 2000)
A cross between the ping and traceroute utilities. Type "pathping " and watch it go.

systeminfo (Vista & XP)
This command displays common system configuration information, such as the system type, the processor type, time zone, virtual memory settings, system uptime, and much more. This program is great for creating an inventory of computers on your network.

How to Set Up Windows Vista Parental Controls

In today's world, monitoring your children's online activity is something that every parent needs to do. This can be much easier than you might think, as long as you can stay ahead of your children's growing technical expertise. This post will show you how to use the tools built right into Windows Vista to set up a much safer computing experience for your children and give you some peace of mind.

Getting Started

The first thing to do is setup user accounts for each person that uses the computer. Regardless of whether you use Parental Controls or not you should have your computer set up with one Administrator account and Standard User accounts for all other users. Only standard user accounts can be managed by Parental Controls.

Once you have the user accounts setup, bring up the Parental Controls screen. Click on Start and open the Control Panel, in category view select User Accounts and Family Safety if you are using classic view select Parental Controls. If you get a UAC prompt asking for permission, click continue. Select the user account to configure and go to work.

This is the Parental Controls screen

This screen is broken down by category, Web Restrictions, Time Limits, Game, Allow or Block Specific Programs, and my favorite, Activity Reports.
The Activity Reports include information about what Web sites your children visit, how long they're online, how many e-mail messages they get, and information about who they are exchanging messages with, just to name a few. Make sure you have turned this on.

From here simply select each category and select the appropriate settings.

Now that you've seen how to setup an account and enable Parental Controls, here are the details on how you can get the most out of these tools.

Web Restrictions

Whatever rules you specify in Web Restrictions will apply to any and all browsers. If you configure Parental Controls to allow your children to visit only 10 Web sites that you name, they won't be able to visit any others. Likewise, if you set a particular Web site as "blocked," they won't be able to visit that site either. This is the best set up for younger children. For older ones, watch the reports and if you see sites you don't like, simply block them!

You can also restrict file downloads to preventing unwanted malicious software from infecting your system such as malware, adware, and viruses.

You can set general content restrictions by selecting from the generic settings of Low, Medium, High, or Highest. 

You can also block specific types of content in categories such as alcohol, bomb-making, drugs, gambling, hate speech, mature content, pornography, sex, tobacco, weapons, Web chat, and Web e-mail. 

Time Limits

You can limit the time your children spend online or on the computer. By configuring Time Restrictions, you can designate the hours and the days of the week the child is allowed on the computer. If the child tries to log on at a time not allowed, the logon will fail. If a child is logged on and time limits expire, the child will be automatically logged off.

Games

You can use Parental Controls to manage which games your child can play and how long they spend doing it. You can block all games or specific games based on their ratings. Most computer games have an age and content rating, assigned by the applicable ratings board for your region. You will need to select this in options. You can also set other boundaries based on game content. In addition to games installed on the computer, Parental Controls allows you to set similiar permissions for online gaming content. Because some games may not be rated, you have the option of blocking games with no rating, until you have reviewed them and decided if they are suitable for your children to play.

Block Specific Programs

With Allow and Block Specific Programs, you can disallow a user from running any program you select. These could be third party programs you've installed, including games or instant messaging software, or anything you install and don't want them messing with.

Activity Reports

My personal favorite feature. Using Activity Reports you can see what a user does online and off, including what Web sites they visit, who they instant message, what they download and what programs they access.

Here's what an Activity Report looks like.

Now, I don't advocate spying on your kids, however you are responsible for keeping them safe. Bear in mind that this type of report is probably the same type your company might use to log the activity of users on their computer systems. If you have young children, these activity reports can help you initiate important conversations about personal safety and responsible computing. So take the time to create user accounts for your children and set up basic filtering and monitoring.

Hacking your computers Hosts file

The Hosts file is used by computers to map IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory at startup and the computer checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override public DNS addresses. A practical; use of this file is preventing access to certain websites an entry in the hosts file such as "127.0.0.1 http://www.espn.com/" will prevent access to http://www.espn.com/ by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local machine.

This works because whenever a web site or application calls up a website it normally uses a standard URL like www.staticit.com which like any URL typed into a web browser must be translated into a machine recognized numerical identifier or IP address pointing to its home on the Internet.

Once you understand how it works, this can be used for some interesting things.
For Example you can turn myspace into facebook and facebook into myspace by inserting an entry such as this into the Hosts file:

69.63.176.140 http://www.myspace.com/
69.69.176.140 myspace.com
216.178.38.116 http://www.facebook.com/
216.176.38.116 facebook.com

A savvy user can use this for less malicious things such as blocking google ads.

Here is an example of that type of entry

127.0.0.1 adwords.google.com
127.0.0.1 pagead.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 adservices.google.com
127.0.0.1 imageads.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads1.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 www.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 apps5.oingo.com

If you are interested in playing around with this, you can find the hosts file on most common platforms in the following locations;

Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\
This is the default location, which can be changed. The directory is determined by the Registry key \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DataBasePath.
Windows 95/98/Me: %WinDir%\

Linux, BSD based, and other Unix-like operating systems: /etc/hosts

Mac OS 9 and earlier: System Folder: Preferences or System folder
Mac OS X: /private/etc/hosts
iPhone/iPod OS: /private/etc/hosts

How to configure or hack Internet Explorer’s Kiosk Mode

Many businesses set up a PC for use as a public Internet kiosk by launching IE in Kiosk mode. To try this, simply enter iexplore -k in the Start menu’s Run dialog, appending the URL of the Web site you want it to open. You could also create a shortcut containing this command line. The resulting window will totally fill the screen with the selected page—no frame, no title bar, no menu, and no toolbar. If the page in question is a local HTML page without links, users can’t click to navigate anywhere.

Savvy users get around this limitation by controlling IE through the keyboard Ctrl-O or Ctrl-L will launch the Open window, which you can then use to open any Web site you want. Ctrl-N would open a new window that’s not in Kiosk mode, and Shift-clicking a link would open that link in a non-Kiosk window. Also, Alt-F4 or Ctrl-W would close the Kiosk-mode window.

A good admin will lock down these key combinations by applying restrictions in the Registry. To do this, launch RegEdit from the Start menu’s Run dialog; navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft Internet Explorer\Restrictions; and find or create each of the following DWORD values, setting its data to 1 to enable the restriction:

· NoBrowserClose (disables closing the browser window)
· NoBrowserContextMenu (disables right-click context menu)
· NoFileOpen (disables use of Ctrl-O or Ctrl-L to launch an arbitrary URL)
· NoOpenInNewWnd (disables opening a link in a new window via Ctrl-N or Shift-click)

A user who attempts one of these restricted actions will get a warning stating “This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.” You may need to restart the computer to make it recognize changes in these values. Of course users can still enter Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up Task Manager and end the process.

How To Clear the ARP Cache in Windows XP, Vista and 2003

When diagnosing a network problem, you may get the error "Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following operation could not be completed: Clearing the ARP cache".

To clear the ARP cache in windows Vista, XP or Server 2003 follow these directions.

• Click on Start, click on Run and type cmd and press enter.
• In the command prompt box type "netsh interface ip delete arpcache"
  
  

So what is the ARP cache?

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is is a component of TCP/IP network communication. ARP provides the functionality to add, delete, or display the IP address for Media Access Control (MAC) address translation.

The ARP cache is designed to reduce the number of address resolution requests, a client normally caches resolved addresses for a predetermined period of time. The arp cache is of a finite size, and would become full of incomplete and obsolete entries for computers that are not in use if it was allowed to grow without check. The arp cache is therefore periodically flushed of all entries. This deletes unused entries and frees space in the cache. It also removes any unsuccessful attempts to contact computers which are not currently running.

How to Disable Some Common Firewalls

Windows Vista

1. Open the Firewall by clicking Start, Control Panel, Security and Windows Firewall.
   
2. Click "Turn Windows Firewall on or off." (you must provide an administrator username and password if prompted to)
3. Click "Off (not recommended)" and click OK.

Windows XP

1. Log on as an administrator.
2. Open the Control Panel and select Security Center and Windows Firewall.
3. Click "Off (not recommended)" and click OK.

Zone Alarm

1. Right click on the Zone Alarm icon on the bottom right of your screen.
2. Select Shutdown ZoneAlarm.

Norton Internet Security

1. Log in as an administrator and open Norton Internet Security
2. On the left side of the window, click Internet Status and then Current Status.
3. In the Current Status windows click Disable.

Norton Personal Firewall

1. Log in as an administrator and open Norton Personal Firewall.
2. On the left side of the window, click Internet Status and then Current Status.
3. In the Current Status windows click Disable.

McAfee Internet Security

1. Right click the McAfee icon.
2. Click Personal Firewall and then click Options.
3. Click the Security tab.
4. Set the Security Level by moving the slider to the left.
5. Set access to Low.
6. Click OK to save the changes.
   

How to use Tweak UAC to manage User Account Control

If you are annoyed by the constant popups from UAC then Tweak UAC is for you!

This free program from WinAbility Software allows you to enable "quiet mode" for Vista's user account control. This little application is easy to install and configure. Download the program from here. Once you have downloaded it to your computer just unzip it to the directory you want and run it. Select Switch UAC to the quiet mode, and click OK.

How to test for the Conficker worm

The conficker worm, also known as Conficker B++, Conficker.C and Downadup.C blocks access to many anti-virus and security websites. If you cant go to any of these sites you may be infected. To find out for sure, Take the conficker eye test!

Just click on the image below and follow the instructions on the site

Check back soon for my walk through on removing this worm if you are infected!

How to Enable the Wireless Zero Configuration

You can use the Wireless Zero Configuration service to use 802.x authentication in Windows. This can be a lifesaver if your third party wireless connection manager is not working.
To start Wireless Zero Configuration use the directions for your version of Windows listed below. Then skip down to the last section showing how to enable it.

• For Windows Vista Users
  To start Wireless Zero Configuration in Windows Vista you need to log in as an Administrator.
  Click on Start and Control Panel
  Select Administrative Tools and then Services
  In the Services box scroll down the list of Services (Local) until you find the one labelled Wired AutoConfig and double click it.
  In the Wired AutoConfig Properties (Local Computer) box change the Startup type to Automatic
  Click on Start and once the service has started click on OK
  Now find the service labelled WLAN AutoConfig and double click it.
  In the WLAN AutoConfig Properties (Local Computer) box change the Startup type to Automatic
  Click on Start and once the service has started click on OK
  Go to File and Exit to close the Services window
  
  
  
• For Windows XP Users
  Windows XP users must have Service Pack 2 installed to activate the Wireless Zero Configuration.
  Go to Start and Control Panel
  Click on Administrative Tools and Services
  In the Services box scroll down the list of Services (Local) until you find the one labelled Wireless Zero Configuration and double click it.
  In the Wireless Zero Configuration Properties (Local Computer) box change the Startup type to Automatic
  Click on Start and once the service has started click on OK
  Go to File and Exit to close the Services box.
  

Now all you have to do is enable it!

To do this, click on Start and Settings and Control Panel open Network Connections
From here, right click on your Wireless Network Connection and select Properties

On the Wireless Networks Tab. Check the “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings” check box. This will alow “Zero Config” or the Windows Wireless Zero configuration utility to control the wireless card. Click ok.

You can now use windows to manage your wireless connection.

How to turn off Aero effects in Vista

Windows Aero is sleek and looks great but, it can hinder the performance of your system if you have limited RAM or a slower processor. Here are a few simple changes that can boost system performance.

Right click your desktop and click “Personalize” .Click “Window Color and Appearance”.Uncheck the box next to “Enable Transparency”.This will give your system a little boost but if you want to go all out, you can turn off all of the Aero effects. To do this, follow these steps.

From the “Windows Color and Appearance” box select “Open classic appearance properties for modem color options”.
On the list under Color scheme select “Windows Vista Basic”.
This will give a slower system a noticeable performance boost.

How to stop Outlook Express from blocking attachments

Most of the time this is caused by Antivirus programs or Windows update changing the way Outlook Express Handles attachments. Fortunately, you can reverse the process and get your email attachments again. To do this, start Outlook Express and follow these steps:

1) Click Tools from the menus
2) Click Options
3) Click the Security Tab
4) Uncheck the “do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus” box
5) Click Apply
6) Click OK

How to Convert a USB Drive to NTFS

This comes in handy for larger thumb drives.

1) Plug in the drive
2) Open a command prompt and type “convert x: /FS:NTFS” where x = your drive letter.

Simple as that!

How to use CHKDSK to fix a boot problem

In my experience, CHKDSK /P /R fixes 90% of all Windows XP boot problems. It is run from the Recovery Console as described in some of my other posts.

First run CHKDSK /P then reboot and hope for Windows. If it blue screens again, go back into the Recovery Console and try the "in place upgrade" as described HERE If you find there is no OS found to "upgrade", reboot, back into the recovery console, and then run BOOTCFG /ADD or /REBUILD, and name the XP install if found. If BOOTCFG /REBUILD wont finish you can try running a disk diagnostic program from a live cd such as Ultimate Boot CD.

How to Perform an In Place Upgrade (Reinstall) of Windows XP

If you can't repair a Windows XP system that won't boot and you don't have a recent backup, you can perform an in-place upgrade. Doing so reinstalls the operating system into the same folder, just as if you were upgrading from one version of Windows to another. An in-place upgrade will usually solve most, if not all, Windows boot problems.



Performing a Windows XP in-place upgrade is pretty straightforward. To begin, insert the Windows XP CD into the drive, restart your system, and boot from the CD. Once the initial preparation is complete, you'll see the Windows XP Setup screen (shown earlier in Figure A). Press [Enter] to launch the Windows XP Setup procedure. In a moment, you'll see the License Agreement page and will need to press [F8] to acknowledge that you agree. Setup will then search the hard disk looking for a previous installation of Windows XP. When it finds the previous installation, you'll see a second Windows XP Setup screen, as shown in the screenshot.

This screen will prompt you to press R to repair the selected installation or to press [Esc] to install a fresh copy of Windows XP. In this case, initiating a repair operation is synonymous with performing an in-place upgrade, so you'll need to press R. When you do so, Setup will examine the disk drives in the system. It will then begin performing the in-place upgrade.

Thats it! Make sure that after you perform an in-place upgrade or repair installation, you reinstall all Windows updates.

How to make a wireless connection with Windows Vista

1) Go to Start and click on Connect To.

2) The connect to a network window will appear. This window will show all available connections, broadband, dial-up, VPN and wireless connections, look for the wireless connection you want to connect to and click the Connect button.

Note: If the network you choose is secured, you will need to enter the network key provided by your network or system administrator (whoever set up your router)

3) Once you are connected to wireless network, it will show connected next to the network name.

Thats it!

SMTP Error Codes

0x800CCC60 - SMTP_RESPONSE_ERROR Invalid response.
0×800CCC61 - SMTP_UNKNOWN_RESPONSE_CODE Unknown error code.
0×800CCC62 - SMTP_500_SYNTAX_ERROR Syntax error returned.
0×800CCC63 - SMTP_501_PARAM_SYNTAX Parameter syntax incorrect.
0×800CCC64 - SMTP_502_COMMAND_NOTIMPL Command not implemented.
0×800CCC65 - SMTP_503_COMMAND_SEQ Improper command sequence.
0×800CCC66 - SMTP_504_COMMAND_PARAM_NOTIMPL Command not implemented.
0×800CCC67 - SMTP_421_NOT_AVAILABLE Command not available.
0×800CCC68 - SMTP_450_MAILBOX_BUSY Mailbox is locked and busy.
0×800CCC69 - SMTP_550_MAILBOX_NOT_FOUND Mailbox not found.
0×800CCC6A - SMTP_451_ERROR_PROCESSING Error processing request.
0×800CCC6B - SMTP_551_USER_NOT_LOCAL User mailbox is known, but mailbox not on this server.
0×800CCC6C - SMTP_452_NO_SYS

How to Use the Recovery Console

When a Windows XP boot problem is severe, you'll need to use a more drastic approach. The Windows XP CD is bootable and will provide you with access to a tool called Recovery Console.



To boot from the Windows XP CD, insert it into the CD-ROM drive on the problem system and press [Ctrl][Alt][Delete] to reboot the computer. Once the system begins booting from the CD, simply follow the prompts that will allow the loading of the basic files needed to run Setup. When you see the Welcome To Setup screen, shown in Figure A, press R to start the Recovery Console

Figure A

You'll then see a Recovery Console menu, like the one shown in Figure B. It displays the folder containing the operating system's files and prompts you to choose the operating system you want to log on to. Just press the menu number on the keyboard, and you'll be prompted to enter the Administrator's password. You'll then find yourself at the main Recovery Console prompt.

Figure B

How to Use System Restore

System Restore is an extremely helpful tool built into Windows XP and Vista. System Restore runs in the background as a service and continually monitors system-critical components for changes. When it detects an impending change, System Restore immediately makes backup copies, called restore points, of these critical components before the change occurs. In addition, System Restore is configured by default to create restore points every 24 hours.

To use System Restore, first restart the computer by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Delete]. When you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options menu. Now, select the Safe Mode item from the menu and press [Enter].

Once Windows boots into Safe mode, click the Start button, go to All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools, and select System Restore. Because you're running in Safe mode, the only option on the opening screen of the System Restore wizard is Restore My Computer To An Earlier Time, make sure it's selected and click Next. Follow along with the wizard to select a restore point and begin the restoration procedure.

Confirm the date and time selected and click Next. Windows will perform the restoration and shut down. After the restoration Windows will restart and inform you that the restoration completed successfully.

Click OK to continue the startup process.

How to Perform a System Restore from a Command Prompt

1. Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
c:winnt\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

How to Fix a Corrupt Partition Boot Sector

The partition boot sector is a small section of the hard disk partition that contains information about the operating system's file system (NTFS or FAT32), as well as a very small machine language program that is crucial in assisting the operating system as it loads.

If you suspect that Windows won't boot because the partition boot sector has been corrupted, you can use a special Recovery Console tool called Fixboot to fix it.

Start by accessing the Recovery Console.

To use the Fixboot tool, from the Recovery Console command prompt, type
Fixboot [drive]:

Where [drive] is the letter of the drive to which you want to write a new partition boot sector.

How to Fix a Corrupt Master Boot Record

The master boot record occupies the first sector on the hard disk and is responsible for initiating the Windows boot procedure. The master boot record contains the partition table for the disk as well as a small program called the master boot code, which is responsible for locating the active, or bootable, partition, in the partition table. Once this occurs, the partition boot sector takes over and begins loading Windows. If the master boot record is corrupt, the partition boot sector can't do its job and Windows won't boot.

If your master boot record has been corrupted, you can use the Recovery Console tool Fixmbr to fix it. First, boot the system with the Windows XP CD and access the Recovery Console

To use the Fixmbr tool, from the Recovery Console command prompt, type "Fixmbr [device_name]"

Where [device_name] is the device pathname of the drive to which you want to write a new master boot record.

For example, the device pathname format for a standard bootable drive C configuration would look like this:

\Device\HardDisk0

How to Fix a Corrupt Boot.ini

As Windows begins to load, the Ntldr program refers to the Boot.ini file to determine where the operating system files are and what options to enable as the operating system continues to load. So if there's a problem with the Boot.ini file, your PC will not boot up correctly.

If you suspect that your Boot.ini file has been corrupted, you can use the special Recovery Console version of the Bootcfg tool to fix it. To do this, you must first boot the system with the Windows XP CD and access the Recovery Console.

To use the Bootcfg tool, from the Recovery Console command prompt, type

Bootcfg /rebuild

There are several other parameter switches you can use with Bootcfg. These are listed here.

• /Add--Scans the disk for all Windows installations and allows you to add any new ones to the Boot.ini file.
• /Scan--Scans the disk for all Windows installations.
• /List--Lists each entry in the Boot.ini file.
• /Default--Sets the default operating system as the main boot entry.
• /Rebuild--Completely re-creates the Boot.ini file. The user must confirm each step.
• /Redirect--Allows the boot operation to be redirected to a specific port when using the Headless Administration feature. The Redirect parameter takes two parameters of its own, [Port Baudrate ] [UseBiosSettings].
• /Disableredirect--Disables the redirection

How to Disable Automatic Restart

When Windows XP begins to boot up and you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options Menu. Then, select the Disable The Automatic Restart On System Failure item and press [Enter]. Now, Windows XP will hang up when it encounters the error and with any luck, it will display a stop message you can use to diagnose the problem.

How To Disable Norton 360

1) Start Norton 360.
2) In the Norton 360 main window, in the upper-right corner, click Tasks & Settings.
3) In the Tasks & Settings window, on the right, click Change Advanced Settings.
4) In the Advanced Settings window, click Virus & Spyware Protection Settings.
5) In the Automatic Protection Settings tab, uncheck Turn on Auto-Protect, and then click Apply.
6) Under “How long would you like to disable Auto-Protect for?” select Until I turn it back on, and then click OK.
7) Click Firewall Protection Settings.
8) Under Firewall, click Off.
9) Click Apply.
10) Under “How long should the firewall remain turned off?” select Until I turn back on, and then click OK.
11) Click Close

If these instructions do not pertain to the version of the software that you have please contact Norton Technical Support.