Some Notes on the Machines

Here are the downloads for XP, 7, and 8.1:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/hh852365

Remove old obsolete printer connections here:

HKEY_USERS\<the user's SID>\Printers\Connections

and here:

HKEY_USERS\<the user's SID>\Printers\Settings

and the problem goes away.

It may occur that this location:

%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue

(on most systems, thus:)

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue

starts to fill with gigs and gigs of queued reports for Windows Error Reporting. The folder’s contents can be deleted safely. If you want to turn W.E.R. off on a server:

1. Go to Administrative Tools, Server Manager.
2. Go to the Server Manager top level page, the very bottom, make sure you can see the whole Resources and Support section.
3. Click into Configure Windows Error Reporting and turn it altogether off.

For one user, this works:

1. WindowKey+R
2. shell:startup
3. Create your shortcut in the window which comes up.

For all users, place a shortcut in the following location:

C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

This is one good fix to try when svchost.exe is occupying 100% of one CPU’s capability on XP or 2003.

net stop wuauserv
del /f /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\*.*
net start wuauserv
wuauclt.exe /detectnow

Another is here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891

If BITS and/or Windows Update aren’t working, try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949104

If this is missing, try here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=5555

Create a shortcut, in the taskbar and on the desktop if desired, to this:

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f8-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

The resultant icon will bring up 8’s all-apps screen, which may be a sufficient replacement for the start button.

Try this:

reg add "HKLM/Section1/Section2/Section3" /f /v "ItemName" /t REG_SZ /d "ItemContents"

Try:

slui.exe 0x3

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2750773