Kent Oyer

Here’s a tip. Occasionally you may find that the Windows Control Panel will not open, or it may open and then close immediatly. Usually, the solution is simple. Windows stores the control panel icons as individual files with a .cpl file extension. These files are located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Do a quick search for *.cpl files and you will see names such as the following:

appwiz.cpl
bthprops.cpl
collab.cpl
desk.cpl
Firewall.cpl
hdwwiz.cpl
inetcpl.cpl
infocardcpl.cpl
intl.cpl
irprops.cpl
joy.cpl
main.cpl
mmsys.cpl
ncpa.cpl
powercfg.cpl
sysdm.cpl
TabletPC.cpl
telephon.cpl
timedate.cpl
wscui.cpl

This is the standard set of control panel icons for Windows Vista. However, many software applications will also install a control panel icon so you may see files that aren’t listed here. If so, those are the ones to focus on first. Try renaming them one by one, until you figure out which one is causing the problem. For example, Firebird is known to cause this problem, so if you see a file called Firebird.cpl, try renaming it to Firebird.cpl.old and then try opening Control Panel. If it works, then you’ve found the culprit. If not, rename it back and try renaming a different file. Once you’ve pinned it down, either reinstall the program it’s associated with, or just leave the file renamed and you’re all set!

Many things in your computer depend on having the correct date & time. Fortunately, there are network time servers all over the Internet that you can use to keep your computer’s clock in perfect sync. The trick is knowing which time server to use and how to configure the setting. The Network Time Protocol, or NTP, is the protocol your computer uses to communicate with other time servers across the network. You may have an NTP server on your local network but if not, you can use one of the many NTP servers on the Internet.

Step 1
First, open your date & time properties and make sure you are on the correct time zone. The NTP protocol will adjust your computer’s time, but not the time zone. You have to enter that manually. Also, if your location observes daylight savings time, make sure you check the box as appropriate.

Step 2
If you have Windows XP and are NOT part of a domain you will see an “Internet Time” tab. This is where you set the NTP server you want to sync with. The default time server, time.windows.com, is notoriously unreliable. Perhaps because every Windows PC built in the last 7 or 8 years is set to synchronize with that server. Instead, the time server I use is  north-america.pool.ntp.org. This is not really a time server at all. In fact it is a whole pool of time servers in North America that have agreed to let people use them. If you are outside North America, you can find a pool in your region by visiting http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers

Step 3
Now all you have to do is click the “Update Now” button to test it. You should see a message that the time has been successfully synchronized. If not, check that you entered the correct server name and try again. Also, make sure your clock is set to the correct date. If your time if off by more than 15 hours, it won’t work. Once you have it configured correctly, your clock will be synchronized automatically with a time server once a week.

Synchronizing Time on a Domain
If you don’t see an Internet Time tab, your computer might be part of an Active Directory domain. In that case, your computer will receive it’s time from a domain controller. In that case, all you need to do is make sure your domain controller has the correct time. To do this, log on to your domain controller as an administrative user and execute the following commands:

For Windows 2003 Server

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:north-america.pool.ntp.org,0×8 /syncfromflags:MANUAL
w32tm /config /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
w32tm /resync

For Windows 2000 Server

net time /setsntp:north-america.pool.ntp.org
net time /querysntp
net stop w32time
net start w32time
w32tm -s

Once your server has obtained the correct time, the rest of your client PC’s will follow suit.

Today I went out to a job to fix a problem with installing the Citrix XenApp Web Plugin. The user had downloaded the msi file from Citrix but shortly after starting the installation an following error appeared:

Installation Error – Invalid Drive H:\

Of course, there was no H: drive on the system. I tried downloading the .exe version of the installer, but no luck. Then I did a quick search of the registry and discovered the following registry key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\User Shell Folders\

The “My Pictures” key was set to “H:\My Pictures”. I changed it to the default for Windows XP which is:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures

I also changed the type from REG_SZ to REG_EXPAND_SZ. I tried running the Citrix Installer again and voila, it worked! I have no idea why the Citrix installer was tring to access the My Pictures folder but if it works, so be it!

If you have more than one computer that you use on a regular basis, it seems like the file you need is always on the other computer. Sure, you can use a flash drive but if that’s still too much work, you need Dropbox! I use it all the time to sync files between my work computer, laptop and home computer. Check it out, it’s free!

http://www.getdropbox.com/

One of the questions I get asked the most is “How do I backup my PC?” Of couse, there’s a million ways to backup data but few are easy, reliable, or cheap. This might be the answer to all three of those problems. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection, and a friend.

http://www.cucku.com/

Everybody’s heard about server virtualization and what it can do to make your server room easier to manage. Now desktop virtualization is poised to become the next holy grail. Check out this video of Citrix’s new Xen Based Client Hypervisor.