Ask DACS
June 2009

Moderated and reported by Jim Scheef.

Ask DACS is a Question and Answer session before the main presentation at the monthly General Meeting. We solicit questions from the floor and then answers from other audience members. My role as moderator is to try to guide the discussion to a likely solution to the problem.

We had two email questions this month, but the member was at the meeting and asked the questions from the floor.

Q – I know it just came out, but has anyone installed Vista SP2 yet? If so, what's the verdict? Any problems with it?

A – Very few members at the meeting had tried SP2, so I installed it the next day on the Vista installation I have running in a virtual machine. As recommended at the meeting, I downloaded the ISO of the installation CD from Microsoft at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148.aspx. The same CD covers Windows Server 2008 as well as Vista and in both 32 and 64-bit versions. Rather than burn it to a CD-R, I mounted the ISO as a virtual CD drive. The install starts similar to past service packs except for the warning that the system may reboot more than once. My dedication to DACS ends when it involves watching a service pack install, so I watched long enough to be sure it was doing something and then went to do other things. When I returned several hours later, the system was showing the login screen. After logging in, I ran Windows Update to see what patches might still await. There were none, so I ran the Disk Defragmenter several times and declared success. The only caveat is that my case is somewhat unique. My installation, on a virtual machine, is virtually (sic) new – no applications installed and no time surfing the web where it might pick up nefarious code trying to do me dirt. I had not even applied all the post SP1 updates from Windows Update before applying SP2. Even so, I expect most people will experience no trouble installing SP2. Only time will tell if there are problems waiting to show up after SP2.

Q – For my next PC, I want to equip it with more than 4GB of RAM. But that, of course, will require a 64-bit version of Windows to take advantage of the increased memory. I know the pluses with a 64-bit OS. What are the downsides? Will I run into compatibility problems with certain software or hardware?

A – An informal survey of the audience found less than ten raised hands indicating they were running the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. The reality is that many more people may be running Vista64 without realizing it. Most new computers are sold with the 64-bit version of Vista pre-installed. No one in the audience indicated application software problems, but one or two people mentioned that the drivers for their older printers did not work on Vista64. Hardware device drivers is an area where “bit-ness” is important and older hardware like scanners and printers may not work. Hardware manufacturers have no motivation to provide new drivers for out of date models when the alternative is for you to buy a new one. One person reported that “bit-ness” can cause problems with printers shared over a network. A printer installed and shared on 64-bit Windows would not work from a machine running 32-bit Windows, even though that machine had the correct 32-bit drivers installed for the same printer. So it pays to do a survey of your existing hardware and the device drivers available for those devices before introducing Vista64 to your Network Neighborhood.

Q – I switched to DSL from Charter Cable and I now want to remove the Charter Security Suite software. When I run the uninstall and reboot, the software reinstalls itself. How can I remove this software?

A – This behavior sounds like malware! Several suggestions: Reboot into Safe Mode and run the uninstall. Use MsConfig.exe to stop the software from running automatically when Windows starts and then run the uninstall. Another suggestions was a tool for uninstalling applications called Revo Uninstaller.

A couple of days after the meeting the member contacted me to say that none of these suggestions had worked. As a last resort, I suggested calling Charter support. It appears there is a bug in the uninstall routine that comes with the Charter Security Suite. Charter support was aware of the problem and gave the member instructions to download a patch that resolved the problem and allowed a successful uninstall.

Q – I have an AT&T Wireless Broadband connect USB device and the connection is exceedingly slow, so slow that it can take several minutes to display a web page. What can I do to improve the speed?

A – There were several rounds of questions and answers to resolve exactly what type of device is involved. The device plugs into a USB port and connects to the AT&T cellular phone network by way of the fastest service available at the location. Several people in the audience were familiar with the service which is the same as used by an Apple iPhone for the data connection. The consensus was that the slow speed was caused by being in a location where the fastest “3G” service is not available. The device will use whatever data connection the cellular network can provide at that location. A suggestion to determine what data service the device is using (3G or something else) was to look at the icons showing on an AT&T cellphone at the same location. If the 3G icon does not show, then the device will be using a slower service. The Windows software provided by AT&T with the device should also indicate what service and possibly the speed available at that moment. It must be noted that even under the best of conditions, this device will not be as fast as a Wi-Fi hotspot, such as the wireless network available in the Danbury Hospital auditorium.

Questions for the upcoming meeting can be emailed to askdacs@dacs.org.

Disclaimer: Ask DACS questions come from members by email or from the audience attending the general meeting. Answers are suggestions offered by meeting attendees and represent a general consensus of those responding. DACS offers no warrantee as to the correctness of the answers and anyone following these suggestions or answers does so at their own risk. In other words, we could be totally wrong!