http://www.bootdisk.com/ 017 July 2007
HouseCall
Welcome to the 17th Edition of HouseCall
INDEX
1) 1.44 Floppy Disk Not Seen By XP
2) End Program-WMS Idle
3) Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed
4) Security Issues
5) Setup Stops With 34 Minutes Remaining
6) System Idle Takes 95% Of My CPU
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1) 1.44 Floppy Disk Not Seen By XP
someone wrote - I have the WXP Pro. edition and I am asking two questions. Firstly, the Floppy Disk drive had deleted itself from my computer and I am unable to enable this function. I have recently re-installed this WXP Pro. edition twice with the updates from the Microsoft Windows Update website. And, still I have no A drive.
TaurArian answered:
The Floppy Disk Drive Is Missing in My Computer Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=812489
*** Make sure it appears in the BIOS, as a surge may have set your bios to defaults.
Kelly said:
Floppy Disk is Not Accessible, Not Formatted, or Not Recognized by Windows:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=140060
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2) End Program-WMS Idle
Twitchy asked - This keeps coming up when I turn off my pc. I have to click end program, any ideas?
Oldus Fartus replied:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921113
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3) Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed
chad posted - Every time I try to install something the message "The Windows Installer service could not be accessed" will pop up and then not finish the installation.
Kelly said:
Windows Installer Service could not be accessed error message when installing application.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319624
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4) Security Issues
Lumpjaw asked - I have a reason to believe my work computer has been compromised, i.e. stealth software installed. Does anyone know of a good mechanism to detect hidden spy programs outside of adaware and spybot>
Carey F. answered:
Windows Live OneCare safety scanner is a free service designed to help ensure the health of your PC:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm
PcEngWork-NoSpam said:
You might want to familiarize yourself with this:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/RootkitRevealer.mspx
Rock answered:
If you believe it's been compromised then flatten it and rebuild. See this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/secmgmt/sm0504.mspx
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5) Setup Stops Responding With 34 Minutes Remaining
Thomi wrote - I manage to get into the installation as far as Windows "installing Devices" and it stops at about 65%. I've done this twice and waited an hour although the screen has indicted "Setup will complete in approximantly 33 minutes" and stayed there for some 40 minutes.
PcEngWork suggests:
Take a look at this Knowledge Base Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=828267
*** Also:
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootlist/130.htm#5
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6) System Idle Takes 95% Of My CPU
Jeff G. inquired - Task manager shows me that of the many applications running on my XP machine the only one using significant CPU resources is "System Idle Process" taking 95 CPUs. Anyone know what the units are? Is there a way to discover what this process is doing, or is a case of shutting it down to see what crashes?
Frank S. said:
It isn't doing anything. It's a record of how much of the time the CPU is idle.
pam120 adds:
The CPU column displays the percentage of CPU usage for the process listed under Image Name. The System Idle Process displays the CPU "power" that is waiting to be used, thus, it is "idle", waiting for something to do.
Bruce C. buds in:
Break out a dictionary and look up the word "idle," sometime. ;-} The "System Idle Process" metric is the amount/percentage of time that your CPU has *nothing* to do. A reading of 98-99% is generally considered a good thing, and readings above 90% are normal. Think of it like a car's engine idling in your driveway before you place the car in gear.
Ken B. wrote:
"System Idle Process" is not any problem at all. That's just the name for what the system is doing when it's not doing anything. It's there to make the total add up to 100%.
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