Known issues afflict Windows 2000 SP4

Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 9 • 2003-07-10 • Circulation: over 400,000

Table of contents

Insider Tricks: You can fix XP’s slow discovery of other computers
Insider Tricks: More ways to fix your XP slowdowns
Patch Watch: Microsoft issues three new security warnings and patches
Best Freeware: Feed Demon pushes the envelope to bring RSS to the masses
Wacky Web Week: Sean Connery looks great on Iranian money

You can fix XP’s slow discovery of other computers

In the June 19 issue of Brian’s Buzz, I reported on Alan Chattaway’s success in solving Windows XP’s extreme slowness in copying files to (and printing to printers attached to) non-XP computers. The cure involved replacing a network hub with a switch.

Reader John Meyer was also quoted in that same issue, describing XP’s slow-file problem in his own words. After I printed Alan’s comments on his cure, John sent me a deeper analysis of the difficulty, which the hub-to-switch switcheroo merely hides:

“As your reader, Alan Chattaway, pointed out, the problem did not exist until he upgraded to XP. The change from hub to switch is probably simply causing some threshold to be reached that masks the underlying problem.

“In a similar vein, a few people have reported that changing the NIC [network interface card] also cures the problem, even though there was no problem using the same computer/NIC combination prior to upgrading to XP.

“Thus, the packet fragmentation is being caused by something in the way that XP interacts with a 98 machine, and he hasn’t really gotten to the bottom of why this happens only between XP and 98/Me, nor has he provided a real solution, if indeed there is one. This is not meant to be a knock, but simply to point out that we don’t really know yet what is going on, or how to fix it in software.

“I’m not a Microsoft conspiracy kind of guy, but several people who have posted online comments about this problem take the position that Microsoft intentionally slows down interaction with older Windows computers to force everyone to upgrade to XP.”

Conspiracy theories aside, an enormous amount of interest was generated among my readers by a different comment by John that I’d printed in the June 19 issue. Describing the XP file slowdown that Alan had managed to solve, John said in passing:

“This is a different problem from the slow browsing problem, where it takes XP a long time to ‘discover’ computers on the network. That problem can be fixed with a Registry change.”

I received scores of messages from readers who were plagued with XP’s slow-discovery problem and were desperate for the Registry change, which they’d never managed to find on their own. Here’s John’s description of the fix:

“The problem itself [as it affects Windows 2000 discovery] is documented in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 245800 (although MS provides no solution).

“Slow discovery of other computers is just as widespread as the more serious performance issue [of XP's file slowness], but is easily fixed. The fix is well documented in many different forums. It involves going to the following section of the XP registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / Current Version / Explorer / RemoteComputer / NameSpace

and then deleting the key

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

“This solution is described in many places, including Earth Village, Experts-Exchange, and Practically Networked.”

Deleting the registry key that John describes has the effect of disabling Scheduled Tasks. This is a process that Windows 2000 and XP use to search remote computers to see if they have any pre-scheduled events. That’s a nice idea, but few people use it and the search slows down Windows Explorer by up to 30 seconds. Deleting the key eliminates this delay and also speeds up both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer in general.

My thanks to both Alan and John for their advice on these subjects.

Insider Tricks

More ways to fix your XP slowdowns

I’ve received enormous reader interest in the two different XP file-slowdown and slow-network-discovery problems discussed in part 1 of Hot Tips, above. So I’m giving you here in part 2 even more solutions that’ve been discovered.

Gregg Sloan found that XP’s slow-discovery problem can be eliminated by something as simple as changing the order of the network providers in the Network Connections dialog:

“I had this problem ever since I upgraded two machines to XP on my switched network. The problem occurred mostly between the two XP machines, but sometimes between Win 9x boxes. I was about ready to try the Registry change when I discovered an immediate fix.
“I changed the Network Providers order under the Providers Order tab. This is found under the Advanced menu on the Network Connections window. Select Advanced Settings, then the Provider Order tab.
“Under Network Providers, I moved Microsoft Windows Network to the top position. (It had been second under Microsoft Terminal Services.) Problem solved immediately. Now all the other machines come up as quickly as if they were drives on the same machine. No more delay at all.
“I suspect that XP was searching first under Microsoft Terminal Services, not finding anything, timing out, and then moving on to Microsoft Windows Networks. Don’t know, but it may be worth a try.

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Patch Watch

Microsoft issues three new security warnings and patches

Recent discoveries of security holes in Windows, one of them rated “critical,” motivated Microsoft to release three new security bulletins on July 9.

IE flaw affects Windows XP, 2000, NT, 98, and Me
The most critical risk Microsoft identified in its notices this month involves the converter that’s used by Internet Explorer and other applications to save files in HTML format. By sending a special e-mail to users or enticing them to visit a malicious Web site, an attacker can run code on the users’ machines. The attacker’s program would enjoy only whatever privileges the user has, but that could be a lot. The problem doesn’t affect Windows Server 2003 in its default configuration, but Microsoft’s patch prevents the issue from arising even if Server 2K3′s configuration is altered. More info
SMB (Server Message Block) protocol puts XP, 2000, and NT at risk
SMB is a standard Internet protocol that Windows uses on a network to share files, ports, printers, and to communicate using named pipes and mail slots. The latest flaw allows an attacker to cause a buffer overrun, enabling him or her to run code. Fortunately, the attacker couldn’t operate anonymously and would have to have been authenticated by the affected server. But installing the Microsoft patch eliminates this possibility. More info
Accessibility utility allows insiders to gain Win 2K privileges
The Utility Manager is a Windows 2000 utility that allows users to check the status of Accessibility options and to start and stop them. Persons who can log on to a Windows 2000 system can take advantage of a weakness in the utility to escalate their privileges to that of an administrator and run code of their own on the affected machine. This exploit can’t be executed remotely. More info

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Best Freeware

Feed Demon pushes the envelope to bring RSS to the masses

I don’t usually review beta software in this space, but a new RSS aggregator, Feed Demon, is getting such rave reviews that I feel compelled to touch on it.

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a fast-growing standard that promises to revolutionize the way people receive information. Instead of visiting the home pages of several Web sites every day, your RSS aggregator collects headlines from the sites you’re interested in and displays the new items in a desktop application. It’s something like e-mail, except that you can’t be spammed. Only you can define the “feeds” you wish to monitor. (I myself plan to create an RSS feed for Brian’s Buzz within a few months.)

Feed Demon, already noted for its smooth user interface, is free in its current version, release 1.0 B2A. It runs on Windows 98 and higher but requires Internet Explorer 6.0. Author Nick Bradbury, the creator of the HomeSite HTML editor (recently purchased by Macromedia), says he’ll start charging for Feed Demon in August, so now’s the time to take a look. More info

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Wacky Web Week

Sean Connery looks great on Iranian money

There’s talk of printing new currency for the shell-shocked nation of Iraq. Perhaps the new design that’s floating around the Internet for Iran’s cash will show the way. The wags at Aref-adib.com, a blog on Iranian politics, have published a picture of Sean Connery, left, gracing a new-style Iranian bill, enscribed in Arabic, of course. With his white beard, the actor looks just like an ayatollah. The site also shows what Iranian money would look like if its revered leader was George W. Bush. But that’s a bit too close to the heart of the matter for some tastes.

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