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Brian's Buzz on Windows has changed its name to the Windows
Secrets Newsletter. Get the latest high-tech tricks with a free
subscription. Click here to subscribe
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March 25, 2004 — Issue 26
I'm honored to be selected
My Web site's search engine was recognized as one of the Internet's "Best
132 Search Secrets" in the April 2004 issue of PC World (photo, left).
The magazine's cover article commends sites that provide features not offered
by Google.com.
BriansBuzz.com is listed in the article's
very first paragraph of recommended links. The basis for
this recognition is my site's WinFind technology. This specialized search tool helps
you locate reliable technical advice on Windows from more than a dozen
authoritative resources.
Being included in the "Search Secrets" list comes just eight months after
BriansBuzz.com was deemed one of the Web's "101 Best Free Sites" by the
August 2003 issue of PC World. Very few sites made
it onto both lists. To be worthy of this trust, I've spent the last several
months developing an even more useful search program. Watch future issues of
Brian's Buzz for an announcement of a stronger, better WinFind.
New advertising format debuts
In this issue of Brian's Buzz, paid advertisements have moved from the
right-hand sidebar of a 2-column format into the middle of a new 1-column
format for simplicity's sake. I've tried to make the distinction between ad
material and my own writing perfectly clear. If a section of text bears the
heading "Advertisement," it's an ad and I have no control over the wording.
Everything else in this newsletter — articles, reviews, etc. — is
written by me and reflects my own personal opinion. To advertise in
Brian's Buzz, see the ad box near the end of this issue.
External links now open in a new window
In response to many reader requests, any clickable Web link in Brian's Buzz
will now be rendered in a separate browser window when you left-click it. This
is intended to help readers jump back and forth between, for example, a
patch review in Brian's Buzz and a security bulletin at Microsoft.com on
the specific problem I'm talking about. Thanks for the suggestion!
—Brian Livingston
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TOP STORY — info you need to make Windows work
Office XP Service Pack 3 problems bite users
By Brian Livingston
Microsoft released its latest mass beta test on an unsuspecting populace
when it started downloading into end users' computers on Mar. 9 its new
Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.
The update package — which at least has a poetic name —
has caused grumbling by PC professionals who refer to it using some
less-than-flowery language.
"The Pack was not widely circulated around the developer community
before release," says
Woody's Office Watch, an
e-mail newsletter that focuses on Microsoft Office tips and tricks.
Referring to reports of widespread incompatibilities between SP3 and other
companies' software (and some of Microsoft's own software), the publication
added, "This is something that Microsoft could have avoided if it
had wished to, but presumably either didn't know nor care about the
consequences for customers."
In this issue of Brian's Buzz, I report on these problems and bring
you some fixes and workarounds to mitigate the pain. I do not recommend
that you install Office XP SP3 unless you examine the issues described
below and carefully test the service pack on a noncritical machine that's
running your particular suite of applications.
SP3 doesn't install if SP1 or SP2 are installed
With all of SP3's problems, it's ironic that one of the most common
complaints is that people can't get the dang thing to install at all. The
noninstallation is iritating but saves the users from having to deal with the
incompatibilities that would have resulted!
This problem is succintly described by reader Evan Katz, who couldn't get SP3
to install on Office XP. In fact, he couldn't even get Microsoft's online
Office Update page to recognize that his PC was lacking the patch:
-
"The very new Microsoft Office XP SP3 erroneously fails to install on many
standard/vanilla computer systems, including mine (HP Pentium, 1 gig RAM,
Windows XP Pro, etc.). Specifically, SP3, when attempting to install,
quits/aborts and gives a false/incorrect error message:
'The expected version of the product was not found on your system'
even though it should install right over the existing Office XP installation
(specifically, on my system, Word 2003 v. 11.6113.5703 and Outlook 2003,
v. 11.5608.5703).
"Moreover, this error is repeated, in effect, on the Office Update web
test, which likewise incorrectly states:
'Your Office products do not need any updates'
when, in fact, my system indeed is ready for the new SP3 update."
Microsoft quickly acknowledged in Knowledge Base article
837826 that SP3 has this problem. The company says the
false error messages occur when
- A machine has had Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2
installed on Office XP from an administrative installation point, and
- The SP3 update is being downloaded from
the Office Update site or the Microsoft Download Center.
Two possible workarounds, the article says, are to
- Create a new administrative installation point that contains only
an RTM (released to manufacturing) version of Office XP, without any
service packs, or
- Use the "full-file" version of Office XP SP3, rather than the smaller
Office Update version, on an installation point or an individual PC.
Unfortunately, the "full-file" SP3 update is a gigantic hunk of software
— almost 60 megabytes. Even with code that's this extensive,
reader Katz reports that the "full-file" version fails in his environment
with the same erroneous error message. Furthermore, Katz says he never
installed SP1 or SP2 from an administrative installation point, which
is what Microsoft says is causing the failures.
SP3 causes dialog boxes to pop up incessently
If you do manage to get SP3 to install on Office XP, you may encounter
the issue that many observers consider the worst: the lack of
compatibility of the service pack with major, mission-critical
applications — including Microsoft's own.
Reader Walter Wood suffers from this problem whenever he uses Microsoft
Word to compose e-mail messages for delivery by Microsoft Outlook:
-
"Recently, Office SP3 was installed on my system with Office XP. Now
Outlook gives me a security warning every time I create, reply to, or
forward an e-mail message. This warning states that a program is attempting
to access my Address Book. I then have to click Yes or No to give it
permission. (The end result is the same, regardless of what my answer is.)
Generally I get this warning two times before Outlook lets me continue with
the message.
"I did find that not using Word as my e-mail editor will eliminate the
warning messages. But then I do not have the extra features provided by
using Word. I am attached to an Exchange Server, and I'm told there is a
workaround that our IT department can use. But so far, this has not
happened."
In a Usenet discussion forum, PC user Larry Bohen illustrated how bad the
problem can get:
- "I have a similar problem that started just after
I installed Office XP SP3, only the box pops up 3-4 times for every
e-mail I receive (several hundred a day)."
These repeated warnings and alerts have an admirable purpose. Microsoft
is trying to make it harder for worms and viruses to send out mass mailings
from Outlook. But this seems to have been implemented sloppily
and without adequate coordination with vendors of competing e-mail,
antispam, and hot-sync applications.
The following programs, and certainly many others, need updates to work
with SP3 — and many of the necessary updates weren't available until
after SP3 caused enormous headaches:
- ActiveX applications (uninstall them, unless fixes
are available)
- NewsGator (see
update page)
- Norton AntiSpam (run LiveUpdate)
- SpamNet (see
update page)
- IHateSpam (see update page)
- Palm Hotsync (upgrade to
version 4.1.0 or higher)
- Word e-mail macros and Acrobat add-in for Word
(rename or remove them, or don't use Word as your e-mail editor)
- Some Word templates, such as PalmApp.dot
(remove from Word's startup folder)
The workaround for the constant warnings described by reader Wood, above,
is either to install the free Express-Soft
ClickYes program — which clicks "Yes" on the alert
boxes for you — or to digitally "sign" and then "trust" your e-mail
macros. You can do the latter using SelfCert.exe, a Microsoft utility that
is located on the CD-ROM of Office 2000 and higher (but is not installed by
default). More information is available from KB article
217221 and
Slipstick.
Ten days after Office XP SP3 was released, Microsoft issued details about
incompatibilities such as those described above, especially as they relate to
Outlook 2002, the version included in Office XP, and Outlook 2003. See
KB 838871.
Mail-merging in Word spawns database warnings
Installing Office XP SP3 is reported to cause database warnings to pop up
every time a mail-merge to Word from a separate database is performed.
This was acknowledged by Microsoft as a known issue with Word back in
September 2003, but SP3 seems to make the problem crop up more consistently.
Every time you run the mail-merge, you see a warning such as the following:
Opening this will run the following SQL command:
SELECT * FROM C:\file_name.log
Data from your database will be placed in the document. Do you want
to continue?
You can place a line in the Registry to prevent the alert from popping up,
as described by Microsoft in KB
825765.
There's an error in the article, however. Where the description
shows "11.0" in the Registry branch, the number should be "10.0".
Don't bother trying to uninstall SP3
In case you've already run Service Pack 3 and you're so sick of it
that you want to get rid of it, think again. It can't be undone using the
Add/Remove Programs control panel. You may be able to roll back to your old
configuration using System Restore, however.
To send me more information about Office XP SP3, or to send me a tip on any
other subject, visit
WindowsSecrets.com/contact. You'll receive a gift certificate for a book,
CD, or DVD of your choice if you send me a comment that I print.
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RECOMMENDED READING — my book reviews of tech topics
Windows XP Quicksteps
Lots of Windows XP books are full of heavy, leaden text. But not
Windows XP Quicksteps. This book is in full color, which makes the
whole thing a lot more fun to read, and its tutorial advice is presented
in easy, bite-size steps. It also benefits from a horizontal page format,
which makes the book easier to spread out on a desk or table for those
who are learning about XP. This isn't for advanced users, but it makes a great
starting point for your friends and family who really ought to make an effort
to learn this stuff on their own.
More info
Windows XP and Office 2003 Keyboard Shortcuts
Personally, I try to avoid using my mouse as much as possible. It's much
quicker for my fingers to hit a key combination to do the same thing, as
long as my hands are already on the keyboard. Windows XP and Office 2003
Keyboard Shortcuts is a perfect way to make yourself an expert at this
kind of time-saver. Besides little-known Windows tricks, the book also
covers Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, Outlook, and many other programs. And
it's only 160 pages, making it easy to carry around during your learning curve,
if you like.
More info
501 Web Site Secrets
There's a lotta little tips here, focusing on getting the most out of
e-commerce sites and portals such as eBay, Amazon, and Yahoo. Perhaps you think
you know all the secrets of "sniping" to get the products you want at eBay. If
so, you might be interested in how to configure CNN.com news alerts and access
CNN news on your cell phone. The author is Michael Miller, who's written
fifty other how-to books, including the
Business Travel Almanac 2004. He's president of a
writing/consulting firm in Carmel, Indiana, and is unrelated to the Michael
Miller who edits PC Magazine.
More info
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FORWARDING INSTRUCTIONS — news gains value when it's shared
Please share this information with your colleagues
You're encouraged to refer your friends and colleagues to this free
newsletter. Because most e-mail programs don't correctly display a formatted
message that's been forwarded, simply call people's attention to
the permanent Web address of this issue:
BriansBuzz.com/w/040325.
HERE'S A TIP — you'll get a better newsletter if you choose the paid version
You're reading the free version of Brian's Buzz on Windows
Subscribers to the paid version receive additional information in each issue,
plus they are entitled to a bonus download at least once every
calendar quarter.
This month's bonus download for my paid subscribers is Dan Appleman's e-book,
Everyday Security and Registry Tricks. As I described in the
March 11
issue of Brian's Buzz, this 16-page PDF e-book is available for every reader
who upgrades to a paid subscription between March 18 and April 18.
To upgrade, simply make a contribution of any amount that you choose.
If you contribute before April 7, 2004, you'll immediately be sent
the full, paid version of this week's newsletter. That issue
contains complete instructions that enable you to download your copy
of the bonus e-book. You'll also get immediate access to all past paid
Brian's Buzz newsletter content.
In addition to the bonus download, some of the extras in this week's paid
version of the newsletter are:
- New hotfixes aid users. The patch that Microsoft
released in the past year with the worst side-effects, MS04-004, has gained not
one but five different hotfixes to mitigate different versions of Redmond
software that proved incompatible.
- Weakness affects more Outlook users than thought. The software
giant escalated a recent security flaw to "critical" status, the most serious
level, because the hole is now understood to expose more people.
- Free software makes complex tasks simple. There's an improved
release of one of the most highly rated free programs out there, and it can
transform your most difficult procedures into one simple click.
To upgrade to the paid version, please visit
WindowsSecrets.com/upgrade.
Thanks in advance.
BRIAN'S BOOKSHELF — new e-books from the author
Spam-Proof Your E-Mail Address
This 27-page e-book in PDF format gives you step-by-step instructions
that can eliminate 97% of the spam that would otherwise clog your e-mail
account. You could call it "Brian Livingston's Spam Secrets." The book
is the result of months of experiments and tests I conducted, and I now
receive little or no spam to the addresses I used as guinea pigs. These tests
show that you can actually reduce your volume of spam to practically nothing,
not just battle an unstoppable and ever-growing flood. The methods I describe
work with Windows, Apple, and Linux and don't require any filters or block
lists — but you can use those in addition to the book's techniques, if you wish.
More info
WACKY WEB WEEK — playing for you the Internet's greatest bits
"Magnetoids" will be the next "Tickle Me Elmo"
You read it here first — well, second. A shockingly simple new toy
(or is it a brilliant relaxation device?) has just gone on sale at a single
online e-tailer. I predict that these shiny little ovoids, left, will
take off like a rocket this year.
Magnetoids are elongated, metallic objects about 2 inches (5 cm) in length.
Oddly, they're magnetically polarized on the sides, rather than at the
tips. That fact, and the strong magnetic force within them, gives any two of
the skinny egglets a fascinating way of "dancing" toward each other on a table
top and then singing an appealing "chirping" song that's indescribable.
The only site that seems to have any of these li'l goodies is a gizmo store
in London — Firebox.com — which is selling them for 15 pounds (about
USD $27). You can visit the manufacturer's own site, but there's nothing there other than a minute-long
video showing various ways people play with the objects. I much prefer the page
on Magnetoids at Firebox, which seems genuinely excited about them. The store
has posted several short videos and even has a link to a story in a local U.K.
paper about one of the objects, which somehow stuck itself onto a woman's car.
She reported it to the authorities as an object from outer space.
See Magnetoids at Firebox
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Advertise in Brian's Buzz
Circulation: over 47,000, plus page views. Cost per insertion: $195 per 50
words. Your ad will reach high-tech buyers who manage Windows for businesses
of all sizes. Your ad includes a clickable headline, body text, and an optional
clickable image (a maximum of 125 by 125 pixels). The words in the headline and
body are included in the word count, but the length of the URL underlying the
headline and the image is free. (This example consists of 100 words.) To place
an ad, send us a message via our contact page by clicking the headline.
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CLOSING REMARKS — the best is yet to come
In this section, I provide links to columns I've published recently that
you might find useful.
Trash your drive? Now you can have a do-over
Now there's a way you can install the most elaborate upgrade, try out the
strangest configuration, even experiment on your PC with the latest virus —
and then return your test PC to its original state with the push of a button.
More info
Scan any document without even being in the room
What with your corporate Web site and your branded publications of all shapes
and sizes, it seems like almost everyone in your company eventually needs to
scan something in. But who's stuck with having the scanner accessible only from
their one PC? The solution to this problem is easy with a piece of software
that makes a scanner available to any PC user on your network.
More info
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