FAQs of Life

I’ve encountered an issue recently on a few machines with Windows Update on Windows XP machines after installing Service Pack 3 on them. Essentially, the updates get downloaded but not installed.

There are a ton of various fixes for Windows Updates but this patch from Microsoft resloves this particular issue with minimal headache.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144/en-us#

Follow the instructions for Method 2.

• Save the x86 version (very few folks are running XP 64) to the root of your C: drive (very important to save to an easily accessible location).
• Click on Start | Run and enter C:\WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe /wuforce
• Follow the prompts to install the update
• Run Windows Updates

Came across an Outlook 2003 issue today that I’ve only seen one previous time. Basically, Outlook functions normally but in the right corner of the status bar, it lists sending 1 of x number of messages. However, there are no messages in the outbox. If you see this you probably have some “Read Receipts” that are trying to be sent.

The resolution isn’t for the faint of heart but it really isn’t complicated. You have to download MDBVU32.EXE from Microsoft which allows you to delete items from the Outlook data store (PST file) that you cannot see in the Outlook client.
How-to-Outlook has a great tutorial on the process

Here’s a problem that I encountered for the second time in recent weeks. Thought I’d pass it along, hopefully saving some frustration…

Here the scenario:

New user/profile setup on computer where Office 2007 was installed using a different profile.  New Local user has full admin rights to local machine.

After configuring Outlook 2007 for a new user on a machine, Outlook won’t close using File Exit or click on the X. Also, if you opened a message to read it, you could not close that window. I had to use task manager and end the process.

On subsequent attempt to use  Outlook 2007, the mail configuration settings are retained. The prompt to enter your Name and Initials pops up but quickly disappears before you can enter the information.  Still have to use task manager to end process.

The first time I encountered the problem, I did a bit of Google research and found that the trick to fixing this was to open Word or Excel 2007 (with Outlook closed) and set the user info it asks for.  Somehow, this fixes the problem of Outlook 2007 from closing…  When I came across it the second time today, I had forgot the problems from a couple weeks ago (different companies) but alas it was the same issue.

At least one of the machines was running Office 2007 Service Pack 1

RBL (Real-time black lists) are very effective spam blocking mechanism.  However, like any spam prevention solution, it is far from perfect and legitimate email can be blocked as well.  An RBL is a list of IP addresses that an email server will not accept email from.  This is very effective as a spam blocking mechanism but can also be an issue for small businesses that have internal email servers since they often, through no fault of their own, are included on the RBL lists.  With the rise of spam originating from spyware and virus infected home PCs, RBLs almost always block email if it is sent directly from an IP address “known” to be a residential broadband range.  This is terrific concept except it is a huge under taking to maintain an accurate list of residential broadband IP addresses. RBLs are also know to add large ranges of IP addresses to their list if they detect spam activity from a single IP address within that range.  And unfortunately, the consensus attitude of the organizations that maintain most RBLs is “your were blocked for a reason, prove to us that you don’t send spam, we then might unblock you if we believe you.”

If you can’t tell from my tone, I don’t agree with this approach for preventing spam. If you are in a position to decide to use a RBL to block spam, please thoroughly research the various solutions and use one that has a mechanism for legitimate users to easily get themselves removed from the list.  There are some lists that charge a fee to be removed from their list (highly suspect!).

Here are some online tools that will check to see if your server is listed on an RBL

http://www.dnsstuff.com
http://www.robtex.com/rbl

Here’s a link to get removed from AT&T’s RBL
http://worldnet.att.net/general-info/bls_info/block_inquiry.html
And you need it, here’s a phone number for AT&T abuse department (to use if their online system doesn’t get you removed)

1-800-648-1626 option 1

For the past few days, one of my customers has been reporting that some of the email she was sending out were not recieve by the recipients. Furthermore, if she forwareded the original message that didn’t go through on first attempt, it would go through as reliably as ever on second try. Now the more I learn about email and will everyone using some sort of spam filter, I’m really surprised that email ever works. But it usually works, and fairly well considering how many things have to work perfect for a message to go from my inbox to yours. So when a customer says that their emails are getting to the intended recipients, it’s my job to figure out why. And you will never guess what the problem was…. A blank subject line.  All of the messages that didn’t go through on the first attempt had blank subject lines.  When she forwarded the messages, “FWD” was automatically added in the subject. Turns out there is a  setting in Symantec Antivirus for Microsoft Exchange which I had forgotten about, that if enabled will ‘drop’ emails (at one time this was indicative of spam or virus infected message). ARGH!
So the moral of the story is to include a something in the subject line of all your emails (and yes I have since disabled this restriction)…