"21 days sentence - say hello to Paris Hilton while you're there."

That is definitely cruel and unusual treatment... I'm just not sure which one it's cruel to...

Is that all it takes.... a little worship of the great Squeezebox...

now I know...

Thanks GreyArray.  Mine actually works without the quotes (I think because this user has no special characters).

When I run into one that doesn't work without quotes I'll (hopefully) remember to use the quotes.

So SVCHOST is not your issue.  Good.  I think Squeezebox is most likely correct then follow him.

Just a stab in the dark here.

If you've done all of your updates.. and Have your XP CD..
goto start-> run-> type "sfc /scannow" (no quotes)

have your XP CD ready it will most likely prompt you for it.

Next time this happens, when you hit ctrl+alt+del go to the task manager and look to see if a process is eating your CPU (70+%) cycles.

If it is please post the name of the process.  There's a known issue with SVCHOST.EXE that appears to lock up your computer.

If a process is locking you up we may be able to help

Couldn't find a post like this so, I'll try to start one.

Frequently (I do these monthly, depending on usage):
  Error Check (right click on drive, properties tools  "Check Now" check both boxes and restart machine)

  CCleaner  (3rd party freeware application http://www.ccleaner.com/) Clean

  CCleaner  (3rd party freeware application http://www.ccleaner.com/) Issues (repeat{scan and fix} until 0 issues found)

  SFC /scannow (start run "sfc /scannow) (info can be found on this site System File Checker - An XP Maintenance Utility? http://www.fixmyxp.com/content/view/35/129/

  Spybot search and destroy (3rd party application from safer-networking.org) (update, immunize and search for spy ware)

  Defragment  (right click on drive, properties tools "Defragment Now"


  Create a restore point

I also weekly
  Check patches from Micro$oft
  make sure my virus definitions are current (I'm set to daily get updated)
 

Alright people, is this an adequate list?  I know some prefer other products to spybot S&D, and CCleaner.... am I missing something important?

Those 2 programs are system files needed to run your machine.  If they were infected and deleted, that could be part of your issue.  I suggest running sfc /scannow  (you will need original XP CD) click START then RUN  then type sfc /scannow and hit enter.

You will almost certainly be asked for your XP CD.

As far as for a virus issue, we have masters at reading HJT logs but I do not think they will have an issue with you running SFC.  That may be all you need to get this sorted out.

I assume there are products out there that could help..

Looks like HJT gives a list (or is that just the registry values)..

My machine is hosed and needed rebuilt (have old HD so I can use it to find out what I had, but this looks like a LONG process).  My 10 ( :dohhh:oops sorry 11 year old today)(happy birthday to her )'s machine is dying and my wife's machine is starting to get flakey.... so I really would like an easier way than add/remove programs screenshots to list software.


We have a 5 license copy of a few programs and kept great track of who has which license assigned to them.  Then we didn't keep track of the list.  so any way of pulling license numbers from the software?  One of these products is game drive (allows up to play CD software without the CD)  I recommend a product like this VERY highly for anyone with small kids who are likely to scratch or otherwise hurt the CD.  Game drive keeps track of license numbers well enough that it throws errors when same license number is running twice on the same network.  Some of our games do this also.


Thanks for any help.

Have a computer (friend of mine 2000 miles away from me) that will not boot.  I suspect hard drive issues.  I'm talking them trough burning a boot CD but I'm not sure which files I need to have on it to run chkdsk /r or other useful/ necessary programs.

I have my XP CD's, so I don't run into this myself.  My friend (actual my wife's friend first) does not have her XP CD's and is not....(****DIPLOMACY ALLERT****) really technical.   Advice please..... and thank you.

Little red x  on pages while browsing can be caused by IE (or similar) product "protecting you" from the files these (often image files).

I would check security settings.  Please let us know what browser you use to surf.  Even just describing the picture you click on to get to the internet may be enough, but it would be better if you told us name and version number (version can often be found by clicking HELP then ABOUT.

Anyone else here with more/better info?

They are 1 of several "voluntary groups" that is involved in the fight against SPAM.  These groups have each settled into different roles, but basically they publish lists of IP addresses (or blocks of IP addresses) or users that they think should not be allowed to send e-mail.  These lists are generally useful in cutting down SPAM so several ISP's check all mail against these lists and block e-mail as the list suggests.

Because it is all voluntary, there is almost no way to use the legal system to get yourself removed.  Fortunately ALL of these voluntary lists are maintained by the best people on the planet (please let me keep sending e-mail) so there should never be a reason to need the legal system.  That is why I advised you to follow their steps for removal and make it as painless as possible.

Glad it helped, and sorry again I didn't see it the first time.  Because I had issues with this type of thing before I should have noticed it.  I'm sure you'll look for that type of thing in the future if you ever have another e-mail issue.

AWESOME  
That looks like EXACTLY what I was looking for.

one note though, I use server's IP address rather than server name due to odd DNS issues that crop up over VPN.  If someone else is going to do this and they run into issues making it work try IP address rather than name.

i.e. \\192.168.1.1\users\whoever rather than \\mostawesomeserver\users\whoever for the path part of the command.


THANKS again

2 things,

1st I'm an idiot because I didn't read the post you made carefully enough.

2nd the IP address 71.41.31.14 in the error message is your ISP's smtp server?  If so they are listed on CBL (composite Blocking List) due to a naming issue.  If this is your mail server, go here for information to fix it.  http://cbl.abuseat.org/namingproblems.html

I worked for an ISP for a while that had issues with one of these types of services......  It is easier to fix the issue if it's your mail server than to fight with them... They are ALWAYS right cannot be intimidated or bought off, and are only doing it for your own good.

(If I sound hostile here it's only because I've dealt with one of these types of places before and found them to be puffed up self important egotists with no true reason to exist other than to make themselves feel important.)  That experience was not with CBL and I'm sure CBL is awesome to deal with (please note if you run one of these services I'm NOT talking about you... no matter who you are...it was someone else...please let me keep my e-mail)

Here is where you can do a CBL lookup... http://cbl.abuseat.org/lookup.cgi?ip=71.41.31.14&.submit=Lookup

You say nothing has changed, are you SURE?  I have seen this type of error right after an Anti-virus change...

If you can ping your smtp server.... and telnet to them at port 25 your connection and firewall setting are good....

please try those things and let us know.