“Click2Run Configuration Failure” when Office 2010 Starter is launched

Here’s a frustrating issue that hasn’t yet been solved by anyone at Microsoft from what I can tell. For as yet unknown reasons, occasionally some PCs exhibit an error when launching Office 2010 Starter (which is preinstalled on many new PCs). The error is worded as such:
“Click2Run Configuration Failure”
Although many solutions on the internet (even from Microsoft employees and the KB) suggest that a simple Repair install or Uninstall of Click2Run from the Programs and Features menu will correct this, executing the uninstaller actually triggers the exact same error message.
Update (June 2012): I have now been able to confirm that this problem is caused by the use of registry cleaners.  For more details on why you should never use a registry cleaner, see my blog entry here.
This error may also occur on other downloadable versions of Office 2010, but I haven’t seen it yet anywhere else. Correcting the problem with the preinstalled OEM Starter versions is tricky enough, so I decided to make that the focus of this post.
Here’s what you do to fix the problem. First, you’ll need a special Click2Run cleanup tool that has seemingly disappeared from Microsoft’s server. You can download it here:
Click2Run Cleanup Tool
Once in possession of this tool, take the following steps to correct the problem:

1. First, be sure to have a copy of the required installation files for Office 2010. Make a backup of them if you don’t have access to them elsewhere by copying the following directory to another location:
   • %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\OEMOffice14\OStarter\en-us
2. Execute the CleanC2R.exe file from the zip archive provided above to completely remove C2R, including the virtual Q: drive containing the relevant install files.
3. Reboot the PC, then execute the CleanC2R.exe tool a second time.
4. Reboot once more, then execute the offcln.exe tool to completely remove Office 2010 Starter.
5. Reboot yet again, then navigate to the ProgramData directory containing the Office Starter installation files (they must be located in the exact directory detailed above for the installation to work properly). Run the SetupConsumerC2ROLW.exe file to install C2R once again, along with a fresh copy of Office 2010 Starter.

This should finally correct the issue. If you happen to be missing the installation files for Office 2010 Starter, you can actually find them available for download in various places. Downloading the files and installing the suite is perfectly legal as long as it was already once provided with the PC new by the OEM.
If this tip has helped you, please drop me a line and let me know!
If you’re looking for computer help in the Louisville area, look no further.  Call me today and get it done right!

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How To Pin an External Drive to the Windows 7 Taskbar

Do you have an external drive connected to your Windows 7 computer and would like to access it from the Taskbar? Here we show you a work around that will allow you to pin it to Taskbar.

Adding Drive to Windows Explorer

You would think the process would be as easy as dragging the external drive icon to the Taskbar. Unfortunately that isn’t the case. If you try to drag the external drive icon to the Taskbar, it just adds it to Windows Explorer.

Then if you right-click on the Windows Explorer icon, you’ll be able to access it from there. This might be enough for some users, but we want to add it to the Taskbar as an icon.

Steps for Pinning External Drive to Taskbar

With a quick work around we can add the drive as an icon. First what you need to do is right-click an empty area on your desktop and select New \ Text Document.

Then name the text doc whatever you want to call it and change .txt to .exe. Like in this example we’re adding the external E:\ drive, so we named it Drive E.exe then hit Enter.

After hitting Enter you will get a message asking if you’re sure you want to change the extension, click Yes.

Now you’ll have the “dummy” executable on the desktop. Right-click on it and select Pin to Taskbar.

Now you’ll have the executable icon on the Taskbar. Right-click on it, then right-click on the name of the file and select Properties.

Under the Shortcut tab change the Target to the drive letter and Start in to the drive letter as well and click OK. You can actually use this technique to add any folder to the Taskbar too. The main thing to remember is changing the Target to the correct path.

While you’re there, you might want to change the icon to something more appropriate like a hard drive icon. Or if you want to change the icon to something not included in Windows 7, check out our guide how to customize icons in Windows 7 and Vista.

And there you go! As you can see we have a more appropriate looking hard drive icon on the Taskbar…

And when we click on it, it opens up to our external USB drive so we can access its content.

Or maybe you want to have the drive open to a specific folder. Just change the Target path to the folder you want it to open in.

Then when you click the icon it will open to the directory you specified.

Although it might seem like a goofy method for simply pinning a drive or other folder to the Taskbar, the work around is effective. This will allow you to access the external drive with only one click and save a few steps in navigating to it.

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Create a Shortcut Icon or Hotkey to Turn Windows 7 / Vista Firewall On or Off

When you are troubleshooting network problems, one of the first things to do is disable the built-in Windows Firewall… but there are just way too many steps required to the firewall on and off. Can’t we make a simple shortcut icon instead?
Naturally we can, using the built-in netsh utility that is usually used on the command line to perform advanced networking functions. We’ll simply create a shortcut to it with the appropriate parameters.
Note: Always remember to turn the Firewall back on after you are done troubleshooting, especially if you use public wireless networks.
Create Shortcut Icons for Enable/Disable
Right-click on the desktop or elsewhere, and choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

Then in the shortcut location box, you’ll add one of two commands listed below.

Disable Firewall

netsh firewall set opmode disable

Enable Firewall

netsh firewall set opmode enable

Once you’ve added the correct command, go to the next screen and give the shortcut a helpful name like “Disable Firewall”

At this point you should have a shortcut icon, but it won’t work yet without choosing to run as administrator.

Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties, and then choose the shortcut tab.

In this screen you can assign a shortcut key for this shortcut by adding it into the Shortcut key box. The most important step is to click the Advanced button, so we can choose “Run as administrator” to always run the shortcut in administrator mode.

You can also change the icon by using the Change Icon button. If you want the shortcuts to really match, you can change the “Look for icons in this file” to the following:

%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

In that file you can find the red shield icon as well as the green one…

So now I have two shortcuts that not only look good, but are functional.

If you want to verify that the shortcuts are working, use one of them and then open Windows Firewall through the start menu, and click on the link for “Turn Windows Firewall on or off”

Then you should be able to see that the firewall is either on or off.

The same shortcuts should also work on Windows XP or Windows 7, even though the screenshots are all for Windows Vista. You don’t need to run as administrator in XP, of course.

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7 Quick Fix 1.0 – Repair Tool of the Week

7 Quick Fix 1.0 – Repair Tool of the Week

7 Quick Fix is a small, freeware and portable tool designed to quickly fix common errors that may occur under Windows 7 and is able to re-enable certain parts of the system (such as Task Manager) after a virus attack.
7 Quick Fix can fix 21 common errors including Slow Shutdowns, Slow Thumbnails, Missing System Tray Icons, Missing DVD Drives and more. For the Windows XP equivalent, check out XPQuickFix.


Here is the complete list of what it can do:

• Enable Task Manager
• Enable Command Prompt
• Enable Registry Editor
• Enable Folder Options
• Reboot After Update (stops “You must restart for changes to take effect” after updates)
• Update Shutdown (prevents updates hijacking sleep button when there are updates to do)
• Show Shutdown
• Slow Thumbnail
• Restore Aero Function
• Disable IPv6
• Enable IPv6
• No DVD Drive
• Installer Crash
• Slow Menu
• Theme Changes (prevents themes changing cursors and desktop icons, but changes everything else)
• System Tray (fixes missing system tray icons after updates)
• Enable Taskbar Properties
• Taskbar Context
• Win-X Shortcuts (re-enables disabled Win-X shortcuts)
• Display Properties (re-enables)
• Control Panel (re-enables)

Screenshots:

Downloads:
Download from CNet – 463kb

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Windows Vista Services.msc Registry Files

Windows Vista Services.msc Registry Files

Are you one of those who have changed the services and can´t remember the default values? So you have been searching the net to restore the default settings?
Here are the default Service.msc configuration files for all versions of Vista.

Default settings:
Windows Vista Home Basic:  Download
Windows Vista Home Premium: Download
Windows Vista Business: Download
Windows Vista Ultimate: Download

How to use the downloaded registry file called .reg
Go to Start>Run and type in: regedit
Click OK
When that opens, click on File > Import to find the regfile.reg that you downloaded and click it, then click the Open button and see if it merges it into the registry.
Alternative Method
Simply “double Click” the downloaded file.

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Vista upgrade hangs at 62%

Windows 7 can start causing problems before it's even installed, as many people report their upgrade hangs forever at 62%. Which is annoying.
Reboot, and your PC should roll back to Windows Vista. You can then open the setup log file \$WINDOWS. BT\Sources\Panther\setupact.log to view what happened. Microsoft say this is usually caused because the Iphlpsvc service has stopped responding, and just adding an environment variable to ignore it will fix the problem. Point your browser at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/975253 for the fix.
If this doesn't help (or your upgrade hangs at something other than 62%) then browse the setup log for other clues. And you might also try to boot and install from the Windows 7 disc, if possible, as that reduces the chance of any conflict with your existing Vista (or XP) setup.

INSTALL WINDOWS 7:Windows 7 upgrades are usually quick, but sometimes it doesn't install at all

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"Open With" dialog appears when double clicking on a mapped network drive in My Computer

When you double-click a network drive in My Computer, the Open With dialog may appear rather than displaying the drive contents. However, when you right-click on the drive and choose Explore, the drive opens correctly as it should.

Resolution

Note: In conjunction with the fix suggested in this article, it's highly advisable to follow-up with a thorough Virus/Malware scan. The problem explained in the Symptoms section may be a result of a virus or Malware attack, or may be a remnant in the aftermath of virus or Malware removal.

• Download FixDrive.zip and save it to Desktop
• Unzip the file and extract the contents (FixDrive.exe and readme.txt) to a folder
• Double FixDrive.exe to run it
• Select the drive-letter from the list that's exhibiting the problem
• Click Fix

Screenshot

FixDrive (for Windows XP / Windows Vista)
Note: In case the problem reappears on restart after running this tool, it's possible that there is a Malware actively running in your system. It is suggested that you run a thorough scan using specialized anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities. This utility does not remove the Malware, but only repairs the settings that were probably added by Malware.

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Error "Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator" when you open the Registry Editor in Windows Vista

When you attempt to start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) in your Windows Vista system, you may receive the following message:

Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator

If the above error message is shown in a standalone system, then it may be a result of Malware infection. It is also possible that the DisableRegistryTools policy had been enabled by a third-party tweak program which you may be using. It's highly advisable to follow up with a complete system checkup for Virus and Malware, especially when you're unsure about the cause.

Note: If your system is connected to a domain, your network administrator may have enabled the DisableRegistryTools Policy setting. In that case, you'll need to contact the network administrator to relax this restriction, if need be.

Method 1 - Using Group Policy Editor

If you are using an edition of Windows Vista (Windows Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions) which includes the Group Policy Editor, follow these steps:

• Click Start, type gpedit.msc in the Search box, and press ENTER
• Go to the following branch:

User Configuration | Administrative Templates | System

• Double-click Prevent access to registry editing tools
• Set it as Not Configured

Important: If it's already set to Not Configured, set it to Enabled and click Apply. Then repeat the steps and revert the setting back to Not Configured. This removes the registry based policy if set already.

Method 2

This method should work in all editions of Windows Vista.

• Download reg_enable.vbs attached at the end of this article, and save it to Desktop
• Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
• Switch to your Desktop directory by typing the following command, and then pressing ENTER:

cd /d %userprofile%\desktop

• Then, type the following command and press ENTER

wscript.exe  reg_enable.vbs

• Type EXIT to close the Command Prompt window.

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Lock Windows Vista from Shortcut IconLock Windows Vista from Shortcut Icon

Locking Windows Vista is a good way to secure your PC when you leave your computer for a while (especially in an office environment). Normally you can lock Vista by clicking on the padlock icon on the start menu or by pressing WINDOWS KEY + L. However, you can easily add an icon to the desktop to perform this same task.

First, right click on the desktop and select New then Shortcut:


Now, enter "rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation" into the text box then click Next:


You can then enter a title for the icon and click Finish:


Your icon will now be placed on the desktop, and double clicking it will lock your PC:

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Windows Vista Password Expired

You may find when using some editions of Windows Vista that your password expires and you are required to change it. This problem will keep re-occurring until you change your account profile to prevent password expiration.

To do this, start lusrmgr.msc from the run box (Press WINDOWS KEY + R to access this):


Once the Local User Manager has loaded, click Users in the left column and then double click your username in the main window:

Now, tick the Password Never Expires box followed by OK:

In future, you password will not expire. Allowing you to log on without needed to change your password again.

 

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How to Disable User Access Control in Windows Vista

Windows Vista introduced the User Access Control (UAC) feature to improve security for the end user, however if you are an experienced power-user it is quite likely that you find UAC extremely annoying.

Fortunately, disabling it is very straight forward (although I would not recommend doing this unless you are aware of the consequences).

First, load the MS config utility by typing "msconfig" in the run box (Press WINDOWS KEY + R to access this) then click OK:


Once MSConfig is loaded, click on the Tools menu then select Disable UAC in the menu then click OK:


This will then run a script to disable UAC, which requires a restart to complete. If you wish to re-enable UAC, simply repeat the above steps but click Enable UAC instead.

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Change Windows Vista Password

Most users will be required to log on to Windows Vista with a password each time they start their PC, allowing many different users to each have a unique login username and storage area.

If you wish to change your username at some point, go to the control panel by clicking the Start Menu and then Control Panel:


Then click User Accounts and Family Safety:


Then select Change your Windows password:


Then click Change your password:


Now, enter your old password, followed by your new password (twice) and then click Change Password:

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Automatic Backups in Windows Vista

Windows Vista includes an option to back up documents, photos and several other file types automatically, on a schedule you select. However, you can't select to backup your entire PC on a regular basis by default.

If you have a NAS drive or 2nd hard drive, it would be ideal to be able to automatically backup your computer should the worse happen. Thankfully, you can use the command line interface and the "Task Scheduler" to create an automated backup solution without any other software. This will only work with Ultimate, Business or Enterprise editions of Vista in Administrator mode.

To begin, load the Task Scheduler by starting taskschd.msc from the run box (press WINDOWS KEY + R to load this):
Once the Task Scheduler has loaded, click Create Basic Task:


Now, enter a name and an optional description for your automated backup script:

You can now choose the intervals at which you want your backup to run (weekly or monthly would be sensible, depending on how often you need backups). Click Next when you are done:

Select a time of day for the script to start based on your interval selection, then click Next:


Now, select Start a Program and click Next:


For the "Program/Script" box, enter the following command:

wbadmin

Then, the following arguments to the next box:

start backup -allcritical -backuptarget:d: -include:c: -quiet

This example argument assumes you are backing up the entire C: and storing the backup on the D:. You can chance the storage paths by editing the values above. Once you are done, click Next:


This final screen lets you confirm the backup script details. If everything appears correct, click OK:

When the script starts, a command box similar to the one below will load. This will show you the progress of the backup and close automatically once complete. All of the backups will be stored in a "WindowsImageBackup" folder on the backup drive you selected, should you need to restore the computer using the Vista installation disk:

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Deleting Temporary Files in Windows Vista

Windows Vista includes a very useful "Disk Cleanup Tool" which does exactly as the name suggests, and allows you to remove a wide variety of temporary and cached files that you no longer need. Most applications will automatically remove the temporary files once you have closed the software down, but in some cases (such as crashes or bad programming), trails can be left behind. Removing these files will create extra diskspace and keep your system in good condition.

To begin, load the Run box by pressing WINDOWS KEY + R, then type "cleanmgr" and click OK:


Now, select the drive you wish to clean up. Normally the "C:" is your primary drive where temporary files will be located. Click OK once you have done this:

It may take a few moments while the cleanup software scans your drive for files that are safe to remove:


You can then select all of the temporary file types you wish to remove. It is not normally worth removing Image Thumbnail files as these will just be recreated next time you view a photo directory. Once you have selected the file types you want to remove, click OK:


You will be prompted to confirm you are sure about the deletion. If you are sure, click Delete Files:


The Disk Cleanup Tool will then remove the selected files and close, successfully reclaiming some diskspace:

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Hide Hard Disk Drive in Windows Vista

It is possible to hide a hard drive letter using Windows Vista, preventing it from showing up in applications and Windows Explorer. However, this will not prevent you from access files from it manually (by browsing directly to it by typing "D:" for example). This can be useful to hide files quickly and easily.

To being, load the Registry Editor from the run box (Press WINDOWS KEY + R to access this) by typing "regedit" and clicking OK:


Once this loads, browse to the following registry key on the left hand side:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer

Then, right click on the white space in the right hand side and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and call it "NoDrives":


Double click on "NoDrives" to enter a Decimal value. This value depends on the drives you wish to hide, and is created by adding the numbers for each drive you wish to hide from the list below. Click OK once you have entered this number.

For example, to hide drive D you would enter a decimal value of 8. To hide both drives D and E, you would enter a decimal value of 24 (8+16):

A = 1
B = 2
C = 4
D = 8
E = 16
F = 32
G = 64
H = 128
I = 256
J = 512
K = 1024
L = 2048
M = 4096
N = 8192
O = 16384
P = 32768
Q = 65536
R = 131072
S = 262144
T = 524288
U = 1048576
V = 2097152
W = 4194304
X = 8388608
Y =16777216
Z = 33554432
All drives = 67108863

Once you restart your computer, the selected drives should be hidden. If you wish to remove the hidden drives, browse to the NoDrives registry value and delete it.

As with all registry modifications, care should be taken to ensure that these steps are followed exactly. You should make a backup of your system before any major changes should things go wrong.

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Great Expose Clone for Windows Vista

The market seems to be full of OS X Expose clones, but this is the first one that I’ve found that not only works really well, but has a ton of customization options. It’s called Switcher, and you might already be familiar since it’s been out for a while.
You can switch between the default tiled view that we’re all used to:

Or you can go with the Dock view, which shows the current window in a larger tile, and hitting the tab key will switch between the tiles.


The standard customization screen gives you most of the common options, but you can use the advanced screen to let you change just about anything you want.

The default shortcut key is Win+Tab, which replaces the Flip3D key, but you can customize it if you’d like to use something else.
Hint: If you turn off the animation it’ll even work really well on older computers.
Download Switcher from Insentient.net

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Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Open Task Manager’s "All Users" View in Windows 7 or Vista

Have you ever wondered how to open up Task Manager with the “All Users” view instead of just your own processes? One of our readers wrote in with this same question, so I’m writing it up for everybody.
In case you are confused about what we’re talking about… on the Processes tab in Task Manager there’s a button called “Show processes from all users” which will re-open Task Manager in order to show all the processes, which can be annoying if you need to do it a lot.

Create the Task Manager Shortcut
Right-click on the desktop or elsewhere, and then choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

Then in the shortcut location box, add the following command:

taskmgr.exe

Once you’ve added the command, go to the next screen and give the shortcut a useful name – I chose “Task Manager (All Users)” as the name since it seemed descriptive enough.

Now right-click on the shortcut and open up Properties, where you can add a shortcut key if you’d like (note that the shortcut needs to be on the desktop or in the start menu for this to work)…

And now the most important step, click the Advanced button and choose the “Run as administrator” checkbox.

Now you’ll have a shortcut that will immediately open up Task Manager to the all users view (after a UAC prompt).

For extra credit, you could create the shortcut without a UAC prompt (it just takes a little more work).

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Create Shutdown / Restart / Lock Icons in Windows 7 or Vista

If you dislike the new Windows Vista shutdown menu, you are probably in the majority. An alternative option is to create icons that will let you shut down, lock, or restart your computer without having to mess with that stupid popup menu.
Of course, Windows 7 makes the shutdown menu a lot better, but if you want a shortcut elsewhere or to assign a hotkey, this should help you out.
This tip is nothing new, and probably very old hat to most of the advanced geeks reading this feed. I’ve been asked this question so many times in the last month that I decided to finally just write it up for everybody.
First right-click on the desktop, choose New and then Shortcut.

In the shortcut location box, you’ll need to enter the correct command, which I’ve listed for you below.

Shutdown Computer

Shutdown.exe -s -t 00

Restart Computer

Shutdown.exe -r -t 00

Lock Workstation

Rundll32.exe User32.dll,LockWorkStation

Hibernate Computer

rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll,SetSuspendState

Sleep Computer

rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

When you’ve clicked next on the above dialog, you’ll be asked to name the shortcut. Probably best to name it according to the right function.

After you click Finish, you should now have a new icon that you can double-click to immediately shutdown, restart, or lock your computer.
Change Shortcut Icon
The default icon is really ugly, and if you want to have separate shortcuts for each function you might want to change the icon. Right-click on the icon and choose properties.

Click the Change Icon button, and then you can pick from the available icons in the system, or you can use the Browse button to pick an icon you downloaded off the web.

Note that you can drag them to your quick launch bar if you’d prefer to have them there.
And so ends the tale of the shutdown icons…

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How To Use Backup and Restore in Windows 7

The backup utilities in previous versions of Windows have been less than spectacular resulting in a nice market for third party applications.  Today we take a look at the Backup and Restore feature in Windows 7  that may be their best backup tool yet.
Set the Backup
To set up a backup in Windows 7 open up Computer right-click on your local drive and select Properties.  Then click on the Tools tab and click the Back up now button.

In the Back up or restore your files window click the link to set up a backup.

Windows will search for a suitable drive to store the backup or you can also choose a location on your network.  If you backup to a network location you might need the password to the share.

You can have Windows choose what to backup or you can choose the files and directories.  Because I like more user control for this tutorial I am choosing what to backup but it’s completely up to you. 
Note:  If you let Windows choose it will not backup Program Files, anything formatted with the FAT file system, files in the Recycle Bin, or any temp files that are 1GB or more.

Select the files and folder to include in the backup.  Also notice you can select the option to create an image of your local drive.

Now review the backup job and make sure everything looks correct.  

 Here you can also schedule the days and times the backup occurs.

 Save the backup settings and kick off your first backup and while it runs you can monitor the progress

Click the View Details button to see exactly what is being backup during the process.

When the backup is complete you will see the two backup files and image folder if you created one.  I backed up 20GB of data and it took around 15 minutes including the system image which came to 11GB.

Double click on the backup file and can restore files or manage the size of the backups folder.

Restore Files from Backup
If you need to go back and restore a file from a backup click on Restore my files in the Backup and Restore Center.

Now you can browse or search the most recent backup for a file or folder your missing. 

Next you can restore them back to the original location or choose a different spot then click Restore.

Progress of the restoration will vary depending on the size of the data and location it’s restoring from.

Manage Backup Size
Sometimes you may need to recover some disk space and Windows 7 allows you to manage the size of your backups.  In the Backup and Restore section click on the Manage Space link. 

Your given a summary of the backup location and what is taking up space from the backup. 

Click on the View backups button to check the different dated backups where you can delete older ones if needed.

You can also change how windows retains older system images.

Backing up data is one of the most important but overlooked tasks for a computer user.  If you have another backup app you might not consider letting Windows do it, but overall, the new backup and restore utility in Windows 7 is much better than previous versions. 

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