David Vielmetter

Tag: Windows XP

  • Play music from your iPhone on speakers of any PC in your house

    I have a HTPC running Windows 7 hooked up to my entertainment system in the living room. Recently someone asked me how I play music from my iPod, iPad or iPhone to the speakers of my entertainment system without an Airport Express. Here’s how I do it:

  • NTSTATUS Error Code List

    Ever wonder about those error codes displayed in kernel level messages? Device driver developers these codes when they make calls into Windows APIs as well as when driver developers return error codes to Windows. Below is a comprehensive list of NTSTATUS codes defined in ntstatus.h: Status Value Description STATUS_WAIT_0 0x0 STATUS_SUCCESS STATUS_SUCCESS 0x0 STATUS_SUCCESS STATUS_WAIT_1…

  • Why is my windows xp computer running slow?

    I work on a lot of older PC’s. Whether its the overall price tag of an upgrade or the fear of having to deal with something new, people tend to prefer the status quo. And for many that remains Windows XP. The “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke approach” has some advantages…a familiar environment,…

  • All Windows drivers suddenly appear unsigned

    So I saw a strange one today and got to exercise my noodle. An XP SP3 system where all windows drivers including mass (USBSTOR.SYS) suddenly appear unsigned. So, install a printer or pop in a thumb drive, and you get to click “Continue” a gazillion times. As if XP on a production Dell Optiplex 330…

  • Windows Update: 403 – Forbidden: Access is denied.

    While cleaning up an older Windows XP system got a 403 – Forbidden error after visiting Windows Update in IE7. Of course I checked the proxy settings and the hosts file to see if anything fishy was going on, but alas everything seemed fine except windows update. Even upgrading to IE8 didn’t help. Here’s how…

  • Dell Latitude with Unknown Device in XP

    The other day someone gave me their Dell Latitude to find a driver for an unknown piece piece of hardware in the device manager. After a bit of searching around I found the tricky bugger. The device was actually the built-in free fall sensor attached to the hard disk (you know to arrest the hard…

  • Use your cell phone as a presentation remote

    Part of my job involves giving lots of presentations. In order to be able to focus on my audience during proposals or training sessions a presentation remote is key. It allows me to advance through or go back to specific slides at key moments during my presentation. I can talk without being distracted by my…

  • Task Manager says svchost.exe uses 100% of my CPU

    It is hard to believe that this tiny (14kb) program originally created by Microsoft has been the source of so much controversy. Also known as the Generic Host Process for Win32 Services, svchost.exe has been exploited by a slew of computer worms and viruses because it is such an integral part of Windows XP. Throw…

  • A weekend with Windows VISTA and Office 2007

    I had some free time this weekend, so I decided to install latest Windows VISTA release candidate along with a trial version of . So far I’ve been relying on XP and Office 2003 because that’s what the majority of my clients use, but lots of people have been talking about upgrading so I figured…

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