Some Notes on the Machines

If Adobe Pro X won’t load, if it is installed as part of CS6, there is a good procedure to get it unstuck:

http://mike-thomson.com/blog/?p=1690

http://wpressurecooker.com/adobe-cs6-wont-start-how-to-fix/

See here:

http://notes.ponderworthy.com/logmein-settings-for-routers-firewalls

For Symantec, rolling one’s own seems usual. I have been doing it using psexec and LabTech command prompt, running the msiexec lines below remotely. One has to get the long code first via regedit. Examples are below under major subversions. But before you do that, make sure there’s no password protection on the client. There are two locations.

First in here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC

and make sure SmcGuiHasPassword is 0.

Second, in here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\AV\AdministratorOnly\Security

make sure UseVPUninstallPassword is 0.

And now for some example msiexec lines. The /q is apparently needed just as the /qn, and the last two (very sparsely documented) items appear helpful as well. The GUID (the long code) is the tough part. It comes from:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

searching for “Symantec Endpoint Protection”, and it is possible to have more than one sub-subversion — and therefore more than one GUID — needed within a given LAN, mostly depending on update status.

for 12.1:

MsiExec.exe /X {EFCC6FA1-8F3F-46E6-B7BF-8336CCD3DA67} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL
MsiExec.exe /X {BCE5F3B0-8407-42DB-8073-1812F7D2D1E6} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL

for 12.0:

MsiExec.exe /X {895665D9-6614-4930-9D39-3567283DD424} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL
MsiExec.exe /X {D350A6A1-044F-4E19-8267-F1C44775CFC2} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL
MsiExec.exe /X {A3AEEA68-AC93-4F6F-8D2D-78BBF7E422B8} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL
MsiExec.exe /X {84B70C16-7032-41EE-965C-3C8D9D566CBB} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL

for 11.0:

MsiExec.exe /X {26624215-248C-4F88-A415-35301812FB75} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL
MsiExec.exe /X {AAE221D5-C3DD-4FE2-A063-C1368FE730A5} /q /qn /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL
msiexec.exe /X {84B70C16-7032-41EE-965C-3C8D9D566CBB} /q /qn /norestart /REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL

It can take a while — but it happens very silently.

If you see this happen, try turning off the Explorer preview pane!

If you see this, find OUTLOOK.EXE, go to Properties, and check the Compatibility tab. It may be set to XP SP2 compatibility. Uncheck Compatibility mode if it’s set.

No clues yet as to what is causing this, but I’ve seen it as the only solution needed once, and I have multiple reports similarly.

The below explicitly refers to Access 2000, but at least in theory, it should work for any ADODB type database, which was standard from 2000 through 2003:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304915/en-us

Often Windows Updates will do it. However, sometimes one has to run ‘webfldrs.msi’ and uncheck the last four options:

http://www.networksteve.com/enterprise/topic.php/Cannot_save_new_Office_document_with_spaces_in_filename_to_Share/?TopicId=25091&Posts=0

This tool does very well:

http://download.cnet.com/ProduKey/3000-2094_4-10457063.html

Here is an excellent reference of “file signatures”, data bytes at the beginning of files to use for identification.  Under Unix these are called “magic numbers”.

http://www.garykessler.net/library/file_sigs.html

Some firewall on-the-fly antivirus systems can use these to decide which files to scan.

If you run into this, stop the ImageManager service, and delete the file “ImageManager.mdb” from the ImageManager program’s folder.  (Don’t touch ImageManager.clean.mdb!)  Then restart the service.  ImageManager.mdb will be rebuilt, and all will be well.