Sugarloaf Tech

Windows Installer Service cannot be accessed and may not be installed correctly - solution

benzipperer — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:37:55 +0000

If your 64-bit Windows PC generates this error - “Windows Installer Service cannot be accessed and may not be installed correctly” when trying to install some programs, you should first read this Microsoft article. Following the steps in this article is a good way to fix any real underlying problem with the installer service.
But, if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you may have a simple registry problem that is preventing the proper use of the installer service even though the installer service is porperly installed. In that case, a simple registry change may be the last remaining step you need to take to get back on track. Note: the following steps involve editing the registry on your PC. If you make a mistake while editing the registry, your machine may no longer boot properly, so don’t try this unless you have backed up your PC!

close all running programs
Bring up the “run” prompt by holding down the “Windows” key and the letter “R” at the same time.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/MSIServer and right-click on WOW64
select “Modify” and change the Value data from “1″ to “0″
close regedit and re-boot the computer

Now try and re-install the programs you were having trouble with before.

Does your Mac have an excessively loud fan noise?

benzipperer — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:42:39 +0000

If your Mac’s fan seems to run constantly, is very very loud, and seems really hot, you should probably have it serviced. However, occasionally some Macs are afflicted with a loud fan noise for no apparent reason. The fan runs and runs very noisily, blowing cool air. This is most probably just a glitch and you may be able to fix it yourself quite easily.

To attempt this quick fix, shut the Mac down, and then unplug it from the wall AC power. If it is a Macbook with a removable battery, remove the battery. Wait five minutes and re-attached everything. If you’re lucky, the fan problem may now be fixed! If that does not work, you may need a firmware update from Apple in order to fix the problem. Go to this Apple page and see if they have an update for you.

Uninstall Trend Micro without a password

benzipperer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:38:11 +0000

Some editions of Trend Micro cannot be easily uninstalled without knowing the Trend Micro administrative password. If you are trying to uninstall Trend Micro and have lost your password, try this procedure.

From an account with local administrator privileges, run REGEDIT by clicking on the Windows key and the letter “R” simultaneously, and then typing REGEDIT followed by the ENTER key. Navigate to:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\PC-cillinNTCorp\CurrentVersion\Misc

Double-click on the name

“Allow Uninstall”

and set the value to 1. You should now be able to uninstall Trend Micro without being prompted for a password.

Remote wipe your BlackBerry without BES

benzipperer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:07:11 +0000

Your BlackBerry contains lots of useful business and personal information - that’s why you bought one. But if your BlackBerry is lost or stolen, that information could be compromised. If you have a corporate BlackBerry connected to a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES), your IT folks will almost certainly use its Remote Wipe feature to nuke your BlackBerry remotely in the event that it is reported lost or stolen. If your BlackBerry is not connected to a corporate Blackberry Enterprise Server, you can accomplish the same thing with a little $9.95 BlackBerry App from roblock.

Once this app is installed, you have a number of theft recovery features available remotely should your phone be lost or stolen. You can track it by GPS or cell tower location, can cause it to emit a high-pitched alarm, can disable it, or wipe it. There are also remote backup options available for a monthly fee.

Trouble upgrading to AVG 9.0 Free Edition

benzipperer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:56:17 +0000

We’ve received a lot of feedback from folks having trouble upgrading their AVG Antivirus Free Edition from version 8.5 to version 9.0. The following recipe seems to solve the issue:

Use your browser to navigate to free.avg.com
Download and save the AVG installation file to your desktop
Navigate to www.avg.com/download-tools and save the avg-remover tool to your desktop
Close your browser, go to the control panel, launch Add/Remove Programs (XP) or Programs and Features (Vista, Win 7), and uninstall AVG
Reboot and run the AVG remover you saved to your desktop
Reboot and run the AVG installation file you saved to your desktop

Just say no to toolbars

benzipperer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:12:02 +0000

Sometimes when I work on a computer that is running very very slowly, I see lots of toolbars installed in the web browser. Each individual toolbar might be nice, but you can definitely have too much of a good thing. Multiple toolbars can slow down your web browsing, cause your computer to become unstable, and even make it hard to see all of a web page on the screen at one time. How do folks end up with so many toolbars?

Well, lets of folks don’t always read the fine print when they install new software or allow a software update to take place. Lots of times, this is a source of unwanted add-ons such as toolbars.

As a test, I started with a freshly formatted Windows XP system. It was perfectly tuned, booted in seconds, and Internet Explorer rapidly snapped open to show the Google home page when you clicked on the trusty Internet Explorer icon, taking less than one second to launch. Overall, the system was very responsive, and made full use of the fast processor and fast internet connection that was available.

Then, I installed a standard complement of necessary software components such as Java, Adobe Reader, Flash Player, etc. Normally I read the fine print on these install screens and clear any box with optional software such as a toolbar. This time, I left the default boxes checked each and every time I installed these software components. In this shot you can see a Java update selecting the Bing toolbar by default.

After I had installed these components, I noticed the system was sluggish. Boot time was horrible, and it took more than three minutes to launch Internet Explorer. This same system was blndingly fast only a few minutes ago! To top it all off, once the browser was loaded, the screen was so full of toolbars that very little room was left for the web page itself. Look at this screenshot! It’s a joke.

The moral of the story - when you install software or an update, pay attention to the opt-in or opt-out software that is tagging along. If later on you decide you really need that toolbar, you can always download it separately.

How to display your birthday, not your age, in Facebook

benzipperer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:56:34 +0000

Many people choose the default settings when entering their birthdate information into Facebook, and as a result the day, month, and year of their birth is displayed in their profile. You can preserve some privacy and change this default so that only the month and day appear.

First, log into Facebook and click on Profile. Then, click on the Info tab under your name, and then the Edit button next to Basic Information. Select “Show only month and day in my profile”, and scroll down and click the blue “Save changes” button. Here is a screenshot:

With these settings, only the month and day of your birth will be displayed in your profile. The year will not be displayed.

Java Update Available - should I install it?

benzipperer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:04:34 +0000

Some people are annoyed when this pop-up appears on their screen, and wonder if it is legitimate or necessary:

This is indeed a legitimate software update from Sun Microsystems, the vendor that provides Java. Java is a programming language and runtime environment used by a number of websites to display interactive web content. In order to secure your computer from online threats, you should keep all of your online software up-to-date. This includes Java. So, the next time this pop-up happens, you should click on the pop-up window and allow the update to proceed. It should only take a few minutes.

Is your home in a flood hazard area?

benzipperer — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:51:12 +0000

We certainly have had more than our share of rain in the Atlanta area recently! Many areas experienced historic levels of flooding as swollen streams and area lakes overflowed. Lots of people had wet basement, but many were really flooded!

Is your home in a flood hazard area? FEMA has online resources which outline the extent of the officially calculated hazard areas. One such resource is FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer for Google Earth.

To get started, download and install Google Earth if you do not have it already. Then download the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer and save it. Opening this file will launch Google Earth with the FEMA layer loaded.

Here is a screenshot showing the overlay after choosing “Special Flood Hazard Areas” and “Floodways”.

The red areas indicate flood hazard zones, where flood insurance may be mandatory.

Upgrade your Windows Installer version

benzipperer — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:49:22 +0000

An older Windows XP system can sometimes get into a state where complex software products do not install and uninstall properly. One thing to try when you have this situation is to make sure your XP system has the latest version of the Windows Installer. Microsoft has a KB article which describes the 4.5 version of the installer.

The downloads for various flavors of Windows can be obtained directly from Microsoft. Upgrading your Installer will ensure that you have the latest Microsoft fixes for the Installer component, and may possibly fix registry permission issues that are hampering some of your current attempts at installing third-party software packages.