Enable AHCI support in Windows Vista/7/8

If you have installed Win7 on an existing PC, and suddenly find yourself needing or wishing to
take advantage if the enhanced performance from ACHI (over legacy IDE)... 

In regedit, go to HKLM:SYSTEM:CurrentControlSet:services\msahci

Click on Start, choose MODIFY, and set the value to zero.

Shutdown regedit, shutdown Windows, power cycle PC and go to your system BIOS setup
and enable your controllers AHCI support and save the config.

Boot into Windows, it will load an AHCI driver.  Reboot again and the machine will be
running in AHCI mode.

AOL webmail crashes with IE 11

For those of you still paying AOL to get email (why I don't know) and if you are having
issues where IE crashes as soon as you login to AOL Mail... where it says "IE has stopped responding"...  remove IE11 and go back to IE 8... it seems to be the only IE that works
with AOL Mail.

I had tried resetting IE back to factory, clearing caches and all that, updating Java, modifying compatibility settings, disabled helpers and plugins... all on a fresh install of Win7 Pro... nothing worked. I noticed on another machine that IE8 would bring up AOL successfully.

So, I removed the update that installed IE11, ran IE8.. and it worked... AOL Mail now
comes up without crashing.

Itunes crashes with R6027 Pure Virtual Function Call or Itunes has Stopped Working

I have had numerous issues with Itunes 64 bit 11.1.38 (and other previous versions) locking up and crashing upon start with "Itunes has stopped working" or "R6027 pure virtual function call".  I have researched the answers around the forums as well as having tried some extensive and repetitious troubleshooting myself and thought I'd list them here... in order of troubleshooting...



1. Install all Windows updates and reboot.  This seems to clear issues from time-to-time... I suspect Itunes expects the latest-and-greatest as far as Windows is concerned.. see if this clears your issue.

2. Remove the contents of your "Iphone photo cache" (or other related product)  directory...

3. Try editing the shortcut properties and configure the shortcut (for all users) to run as Administrator.

4. Try editing the shortcut and configure it to run in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7 (for all users).

5. Uninstall all Itunes and Apple products; reboot, remove their directories, remove lingering Itunes registry entries, reboot again, reinstall using "RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR" to install the Itunes executable. See if this allows Itunes to stabilize.  Please be sure to use the following guide from Apple as far as removing the apps and directories are concerned...

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1923

NOTE: If you are having issues with accessing ITunes STORE, try reinstalling the latest QuickTime player.

6. a.Try using MSCONFIG to locate a potential conflicting application or service using the following...

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2292

or



6. b. Remove the last recent software application(s) you may have installed... in my case removing GREENSHOT http://getgreenshot.org/  stopped my Itunes from crashing on startup and it stabilized after driving me nuts for weeks.

Small Business Server 2003 with Win7 client account lockout

I recently added a WIndows 7 Pro 64 bit client to an SBS 2003 AD domain.  After which, every time the Win7 client reboot/went into standby/screenlocked then the domain account would get locked out.

After several attempts I was able to rectify the issue by disabling SBS Account lockout policy...

Open Server Management.

1. In the console tree, click Advanced Management, right-click Group Policy Management, and then click Add forest.
2. In the Add forest dialog box, enter the domain name. When prompted Do you want to add this forest with this domain?, click Yes.
3. In the console tree, under Group Policy Management, click Forest:forestname, click Domains, right-click Small Business Server (Account) Lockout Policy, and then click Edit.
4. In Group Policy Object Editor, click Computer Configuration, click Windows Settings, and then click Security Settings.
5. Under Security Settings, click Account Policies, and then click Account Lockout Policy.
6. In the details pane, double-click each of the following policies, and modify settings as needed: Account lockout duration, Account lockout threshold, and Reset account lockout counter after.
7. I SET ACCOUNT LOCKOUT THRESHOLD TO ZERO.
8. Click Apply, click OK, and then close Group Policy Object Editor.
9. Close Group Policy Management.

If you also need to disable Account audit... (I didn't have it set ) do the following...

1. Open Server Management.
2. In the console tree, click Advanced Management, right-click Group Policy Management, and then click Add forest.
3. In the Add forest dialog box, enter the domain name. When prompted Do you want to add this forest with this domain?, click Yes.
4. In the console tree, under Group Policy Management, click Forest:forestname, click Domains, right-click domainname, click Domain Controllers, right-click Small Business Server Auditing Policy, and then click Edit.
5. In Group Policy Object Editor, click Computer Configuration, click Windows Settings, click Security Settings, and then click Local Policies.
6. Under Security Settings, click Local Policies, and then click Audit Policy.
7. In the details pane, double-click Audit logon events, and modify settings as needed.
8. Click Apply, click OK, and then close Group Policy Object Editor.
9. Close Group Policy Management.

Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000709)

Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000709) when trying to set default printer in Win7...

Turns out an old printer (defunct yet still in registry somehow) was still there...

Fixed by setting permissions to key...

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

To FULL.  Then renamed key ..\Windows as ..\windows.x and restarted print spooler
service.. the default printer setting then worked normally.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/57d9e420-0ea2-4561-a7cc-2fd33da792ae/

ASUS G1Sn-x1 with T9300 and 8GB RAM

I was able to successfully and easily upgrade my ASUS laptop to an Intel T9300 Core2 Duo

CPU... was a very easy swap.. cost me 50 bucks to extend the life of this awesome gaming lappy.

Hybrid SSD is also onboard...

ASUS G1Sn-x1 also upgraded to 8GB RAM, seen in BIOS and reported by Windows 7 64bit.

Used Corsair Valueselect 8GB 2x4 kit.

Lenovo T60 Bad Option ROM PXE-E05 Error

If you are having issues with your T60 Lenovo or similar laptop with a corrupted NIC Option ROM, I was able to fix it by resetting the ROM to default.

Download Intel BOOTUTIL here...
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=19186

Create a FreeDOS bootable USB using RUFUS...
http://rufus.akeo.ie

Copy the \Intel###\APPS\BootUtil\DOS\bootutil.exe file to the USB drive and boot up
the laptop with it...

Run "bootutil -CFGDEF - ALL" and then power cycle.. it will be fixed.