Microsoft

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Software: Repairing your Outlook file. What to do when Outlook wont open because your .pst file is corrupted.

May 9th

Posted by anovelo in Fixes for Windows Errors

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microsoft A call that I get sometimes involves “I can’t open my Outlook email”.  Microsoft Outlook uses a PST file to store your emails.  The problem with the PST file is that a single file holds all the info, so if something happens to the file, it affects all parts of your email (Inbox, Sent Items, etc).  The PST file has a size limit as well, for those using Outlook 2002 and earlier the limit is 2 GB.  The size limit has changed for users of Office 2003, 2007, 2010 and its now 20 GB.  Two of the most common ways to When you let your pst file get close to its size limit, or if your pc happens to power off while you are in Outlook you risk

     Since the beginning of Outlook, one of the little known tools that Microsoft includes is the Inbox Repair Tool.  The tool is designed to fix your pst file if it ever gets corrupted.  The following steps will help you fix Outlook if your pst gets corrupted. 

1 – Find your PST file.  If you have installed Outlook in with default settings, the PST file will be located in

C:\Documents and Settings\user_id\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook (Where user_id is the name of the Windows id that is signed in).

2 – Find the Inbox Repair tool for your version of office.  Unfortunately Microsoft stopped putting an icon in the start menu for the Inbox Repair tool after Office 97. 

To use the Inbox Repair tool, locate one of the folders by using Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then double-click the Scanpst.exe file.

The Scanpst.exe file is typically located in one of the following folders: ( Where disk drive is the location of your install, typically the C:\ drive)

<disk drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\

<disk drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

The Scanpst.exe file for Outlook 2007 is is typically located in the following folder:

<disk drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12

The Scanpst.exe file for Outlook 2010 is is typically located in the following folder:

<disk drive>\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14

3 – Once you found and started the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe), type the path and the file name of the personal folders (.pst) file or click Browse to locate the file by using the Windows file system.

4 – Click on start.

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5 – Once it completes, you should be able to start Outlook again.

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Software: Recovering email client password.

May 7th

Posted by anovelo in Fixes for Windows Errors

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computer_cartoon As Part of Tech Support, many times we are required to find out what the password to email accounts are so that we can either back it up or reinstall the account.  The problem is that most people when they originally set up the account, they check the box that says “Remember Password”, then they forget the password they used.  A lot of times you will get the “my email doesn’t have a password” or “I just open it, I don’t use a password”, which is just a way of saying that the user doesn’t have a clue about what their password is.  FOR THE RECORD: Every email account, no matter who the provider is, has a password.

So what do you do if you don’t know what the email client password is?  I found a useful Free utility called Mail Passview from Nirsoft (LINK:) http://www.nirsoft.net/ (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/)

email recover password

Mail PassView is a small password-recovery tool that reveals the passwords and other account details for the following email clients:

  • Outlook Express
  • Microsoft Outlook 2000 (POP3 and SMTP Accounts only)
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002/2003/2007 (POP3, IMAP, HTTP and SMTP Accounts)
  • Windows Mail
  • Windows Live Mail
  • IncrediMail
  • Eudora
  • Netscape 6.x/7.x (If the password is not encrypted with master password)
  • Mozilla Thunderbird (If the password is not encrypted with master password)
  • Group Mail Free
  • Yahoo! Mail – If the password is saved in Yahoo! Messenger application.
  • Hotmail/MSN mail – If the password is saved in MSN/Windows/Live Messenger application.
  • Gmail – If the password is saved by Gmail Notifier application, Google Desktop, or by Google Talk.

You can download Mail Passview from the Nirsoft Site (LINK) http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv_setup.exe (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/mailpv_setup NULL.exe)

KNOWN ISSUE WITH TOOL –

   Due to the nature of what this tool does, some of the Anti-Virus companies will flag this program as a virus/trojan.  This is what is known as a false positive.  I very rarely tell anyone to ignore or override a message from Anti-virus, however, in this case as long as you are getting the download from the Nirsoft site, the AV message is a false positive.  If you would like to see a small explanation as to why False positives can occur you can read the blog post by Nirsoft about their false positive alerts (LINK) http://blog.nirsoft.net/2009/05/17/antivirus-companies-cause-a-big-headache-to-small-developers/ (http://blog NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/2009/05/17/antivirus-companies-cause-a-big-headache-to-small-developers/)

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How To: Uninstalling Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, when the normal uninstaller says it failed. (Also works for all versions of Office 2007)

Apr 25th

Posted by anovelo in Beta

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  This week Microsoft released the final version of Office 2010 for those who have accounts with TechNet or MSDN (LINK: http://www.neowin.net/news/office-2010-now-available-on-msdntechnet?showcomments=true (http://www NULL.neowin NULL.net/news/office-2010-now-available-on-msdntechnet?showcomments=true)), so I figured I should move up from my beta version of 2010 (which has run without issues since I installed it) to the final version. 

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     I am one who always believes in doing “Fresh” installs whenever possible, which means that you need to uninstall your current version prior to installing the new edition of the software.  However I came across this error when uninstalling the beta version

error uninstalling

    It seems the error is caused by a missing xml file that should have loaded into the Grove portion of the install but didn’t.  When I installed my copy of Office 2010 Beta, I did a custom install and did not select Grove to install, so I will post the 2 possible solutions for this situation (With Grove and Without Grove)

To Check and see if you have Grove installed –> Go to ?:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 14 or ?:\Program Files (X86)\Microsoft Office\Office 14 (the “?” in the address will be the location of where you installed your copy of office.  If you installed it with default settings then the “?” will be your “c:\” drive.  In addition, you will have (x86) in the address if you installed the 32 bit version of office in a 64 bit Windows Version)

(**Close all Office Files / Folders / Programs prior to attempting any uninstall)

Solution with Grove -

**You will need a copy of your installation source / CD for this solution
1 – Locate the Grove Folder on your Installation Source / CD

2 – Copy the setup.xml from the groove folder of the installation source, and paste it in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE14\Office Setup Controller\Groove.en-us\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE14\Office Setup Controller\Groove.en-us\ (Depending on the version you have installed)

3 – Try and uninstall (AGAIN)

Solution without Grove Installed or without the Office Installation Source

Go to the following Microsoft Support Page (LINK) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971179/ (http://support NULL.microsoft NULL.com/kb/971179/)

Using the Microsoft Fix It function found about 2/3 of the way down the page, click on Fix It and then select run. 

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Microsoft Fix It will go in and remove the files

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The entire process removed Office 2010 Beta in just a couple of moments. 

**The process can be used to remove any version of Office 2007 Suite or Office 2010 Suite

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Alerta: Mensaje en Espanol de correo electrónico que es un Virus de computadora.

Mar 22nd

Posted by anovelo in Alerts

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computer virus Desde el inicio de la TechGeekandMore, uno de los ejes más grandes ha involucrado virus de computadors (que se llaman Rogueware o Malware). Rogueware y malware pueden infectar un pc a través de diversas maneras (visitar sitios del Web, haga clic en vínculos, a través de correos electrónicos, o mas….). Hasta ahora, todas las advertencias de correo electrónico cubierto correos electrónicos en inglés, porque eso es lo que se sabia que existia.  Sin embargo por ahora puedo informar oficialmente que los correos electrónicos son ahora multi-lenguaje.  Esta noche he recibido un correo electrónico (que me mando un miembro de familia) que dice "Amix, esto tienes probarlo".

spanish malware email

      La versión en inglés del correo electrónico se a visto por un tiempo, "Cheques para ver quien te está bloqueando en MSN".  El gancho del ser que si puede clic en el enlace proporcionado en el correo electrónico, que podrá ver (supuestamente) que ha le bloqueado de su lista de MSN Messenger.  Como se señaló mirando el origen del correo electrónico (abajo), es casi una traducción exacta de la versión en inglés, afirmando que si se mira el enlace usted será capaz de ver que está bloqueando le (bloquear las direcciones de internet dentro de la fuente del correo electrónico) 

email source

Lo que realmente hace el vínculo es instalar una versión de Antivirus2009 (o 2010) que produce una gran cantidad de dolores de cabeza para el usuario y normalmente requiere un tecnología para limpiar o reinstalar el equipo.  Si tienes amigos ni familia de habla española, le recomendamos encarecidamente que Hágales saber no se van a abrir este correo electrónico y a sólo la lista como correo no deseado y elimínelo.  Si ya han abierto el correo electrónico, pueden utilizar programas como la versión gratuita de SuperAntiSpyware (LINK: http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html (http://www NULL.superantispyware NULL.com/superantispywarefreevspro NULL.html) ) o la versión gratuita de Panda (LINK: http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (http://www NULL.malwarebytes NULL.org/)).

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Alert: Malware emails are not just in English – They also exist in Spanish.

Mar 22nd

Posted by anovelo in Alerts

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computer virus Since the start of TechGeekandMore one of the biggest focuses has involved Malware and Rogueware. Malware and Rogueware can infect a pc via various ways (visiting websites, clicking on links, via emails, etc….). Until now, all the email warnings covered English language emails, because that’s what was known to exist.  However as of now I can officially report that those emails are now multi-language.  This evening I received an email (from a Spanish speaking family member) that says “Amix, esto tienes que probarlo”, which loosely translates to “Buddy, You have to check this out”. 

spanish malware email

     The English version of the email has been a regular for a while, “Checking to see who is blocking you on messenger”.  The hook being that if you click on the provided link in the email, that you will be able to see (supposedly) who has you blocked from their MSN Messenger list.  As noted while looking at the email source (below), it is almost an exact translation of the English version, claiming that if you look at the link you will be able to see who is blocking you (I did block the internet addresses within the source of the email) 

email source

     What the link actually does is install a version of Antivirus2009 (or 2010) which causes a lot of headaches for the user and normally requires a tech to clean up or reinstall your computer.  If you have any Spanish speaking family or friends, we highly recommend that you let them know NOT to open this email, and to just list it as junk mail and delete it.  If they have already opened the email, they can use programs like the free version of SuperAntiSpyware (LINK: http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html (http://www NULL.superantispyware NULL.com/superantispywarefreevspro NULL.html)) or the free version of Malwarebytes (LINK: http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (http://www NULL.malwarebytes NULL.org/)).

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TGM Q&A: Solution to Error “Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed” .

Mar 7th

Posted by anovelo in Fixes for Windows Errors

No comments

microsoft An interesting error came up this week when working on trying to add a pc on to a network.  The error “Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed” came up while trying to add pc new pc onto an existing network.

multiple-connections

     I had not seen this error previously and started doing all the standard troubleshooting procedures and research, and discovered that this error happens both when adding a pc to a network or while trying to a new network drive to an existing pc. 

    The error itself seems to be triggered by the way Windows handles authorizations (I am assume on that, but due to the solution, it makes sense), and the solution is actually a very simple one. 

SOLUTION:

On the pc that is getting the error, go to Start –> (settings –>) control panel –> Administrative Tools –> Services.

- In Services you will find 2 items toward the bottom. Locate where it says Server and Workstation. 

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- Once you find Server –> click on it 1 time to highlight it. On the top left you will see it say Server with a choice of Stop, Pause and Restart. Select STOP under server

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- Now go down to Workstation –> click on it 1 time to highlight it. Again click on Stop.

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      Now you will be able to add either the pc to the network or add a mapped network drive.  Once you have done either reboot the pc.  Simple as that.

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