Windows XP SP3 plus Internet Explorer 8 plus Microsoft Update equals malicious add-on (DEP) error

Yesterday I installed a netbook from scratch. Everything went fine.

After installing XP SP3 and IE8 I wanted to switch Windows Update to Microsoft Update. Currently this PC has no Office installed but I wanted to make sure that I don’t miss an update if I ever decide to install it.

Okay, clicked on Microsoft Update inside Windows Update and IE8 stalled. After a few moments I get an Data Execution Prevention error and IE was telling me that an malicious add-on was the cause of this. WTF!?!?

After trying to fix this unsuccessfully, I though that goggling might be an good idea.

Bingo, shortly after I came across a discussion about this on Microsoft Answers. Once more the solution Microsoft has declared as “answer” was not the answer, but a user named Valeyard had the solution:

Inside Tools – Internet Options – Advanced (Security section) disable/uncheck the option Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks.

Did that, restart the PC and Microsoft Update worked just fine.

Backup Exec 12.5: Error "The Backup Exec Server Service detected a schema version mismatch."

You need to love Symantec...

I just did an update from Backup Exec 12.0 to 12.5. Since the last update (11 to 12.0) failed with a version schema error, I though this time I will wait until at least SP1 is available.

No guess what? Software installation okay, restarted the server and here we go again: The Backup Exec Server Service detected a schema version mismatch. ÜBERFAIL SYMANTEC!

Fortunately, the fix is nearly the same as the last time. Using SQL Server Management Studio, open the following files and execute them. Please remember to switch the database (normally it will say MASTER inside the tool bar) to the BEDB database before executing any of those.

#1: C:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\betopcat.sql
#2: C:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\dbupgrade12.0.sql
#3: C:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\dbupgrade12.0-viewandsp.sql

After that, everything should be fine.


Appendix:

To: Product manager of Backup Exec
From: TeX HeX
Subject: Whoever is in charge for the schema upgrade process within BE...

Fire him!

'nuff said.

Trine or Bust!

If you haven't bought TRINE so far, you're missing something really cool.

I bought my copy on Sunday and playing it sense then. It's a side-scrolling action/puzzle game and it's just a h*** lot of fun.

You can get it for XBOX 360, PS3 and PC (using Steam).

Hexagon v3: Building my new PC

Sorry for the lack of updates in the last time, but first I needed to get X-Setup Pro 9.2 out of the door and after that I had my three weeks summer holiday.

Soon after I got my new BMW K1300S which causes me to drive around like crazy. If you are interested, have a look at my tracks.

Back to computer, I have a new project: My new custom build PC called Hexagon v3. See the next post for the introduction.

Hexagon v3: Part 1 - Components

This is a post about my new custom build PC. See the other posts as well:

Part 1 – Main Components
Part 2 – Case fans
Part 3 – Case assembly
Part 4 – Full assembly
Part 5 – Over clocking

 

My custom PCs are always named HEXAGON or OCTAGON (that’s because there are some weeks where I use them both and Windows does not like equally named computers within the same network). Each new build gets an version number because I’m a programmer and I like version numbers :-).  I’m writing this on OCTAGON v2, so the new PC will be HEXAGON v3.

Hexagon v3 Main Components

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 (Bloomfield)

I like the features it has like the integrated memory controller (although this idea is stolen from AMD) with the triple channel interface. As it looks like, you can overclock the 920 very good so I hope I can each 3.2 GHz with it. I know that new Core i7 “Lynnfield” are on their way, but they will no longer have the triple channel for the memory.

 

Main board: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P 

UPDATE As it seems this is EOL, replaced with Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

X58 chipset (not that you have a choice for the i7…), with Intel Controller Hub v10 RAID (ICH10R). I plan to use RAID 1+0 (Mirroring and Stripping) and the ICH10R will allow me just that. Also, it comes with EasyTune a software normally designed to over clock from Windows but I want to use it to read the current temperatures, voltages etc. directly from the board. It has Dual Bios so if flashing the production BIOS fails, you can still access the board. Great if you were stupid enough to flash a board during a storm…

 

CPU Cooler: Scythe Kabuto

A top blower cooler, which should help cooling the components around the CPU. With a 120mm fan and a airflow of about 74 CFM (cubic feet per minute) it should operate silent but also keep the CPU cool.

 

PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro M600

Very silent, very good efficiency in low to medium workloads and very good protection against surges, bursts etc. Its 600 watts should be enough since I don’t plane to build a SLI system (two or more graphic cards). If you want build a pure gaming PC with SLI, there are better PSUs for that.

 

Memory: Patriot Viper Series DDR3 6GB (3 x 2GB) PC3-12800 Low Latency DIMM Kit (PVT36G1600LLK)

It is on the list of supported memory modules from Gigabyte and DDR3-1600 MHz speed will give me enough bandwidth when I try to overclock the CPU. And if overclocking fails: They look good too.

 

Hard disks: Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD103SI (four times)

932 GB is more than I need, but it’s good to know that I never ever get the “HD full” message again. Beside this, this is a 5400 rpm (rounds per minute) drive and still has a performance of 105-121 MB/sec. This looked to me like the ideal compromise between silent operation and good performance. The switch between slower/silent and faster/louder will be explained in a different post.

 

Case: Antec Twelve Hundred

This case has three 120 mm fan on the front, two 120 mm on the back and a 200 mm fan on the top. This should allow a very good cooling and (with good fans) a very silent operation. If you think I choose it because of the “cool” blue fans it has: No, since I will replace all (except one) of them.