Defensive Computing

The New York Times published an article on Friday about Windows Vista that included this: "The main problem with Vista, Microsoft said, was that given the delays, uncertainty and significant changes in the software, the rest of the industry was not ready when Vista finally arrived."

This is, of course, self-serving; companies rarely admit their mistakes. How convenient that the fault lies with the "rest of the industry."

In fact, Microsoft released Vista prematurely. One can only assume that there was pent-up pressure stemming from the delay in getting it out the door. But few Windows users care about the delay. What made an impression, to the non-techies of the world, were the initial problems people had using it.

In the quote above Microsoft was referring to the lack of hardware drivers. They have to shoulder some of the blame for this, both in terms of not working sufficiently with hardware vendors and for releasing Vista knowing full well that driver problems awaited early adopters. Then too, they signed off on calling under-powered computers "Vista capable".

On top of this, Vista wasn't fully baked when it was released. The huge number of articles that suggested waiting for the first service pack is a testament to that.

In fairness, the same can be said of Apple. Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) too, was far from fully baked when it was released. In this regard at least, Linux shines. There is no marketing department or sales department at Linux headquarters pushing the operating system out the door before the programmers say it's ready. In fact, there are no Linux headquarters at all.

Hassle factor

The Times article goes on to say: "By now, Microsoft insists that most of the frustrating technical problems with Vista...have been resolved--and many industry executives and analysts agree." Assuming, for argument's sake, that's true, the out-of-the-gate problems aren't the end of the story.

Vista has to be better than Windows XP. And the judgment of whether it's better or not varies with the audience. While techies may write blogs and articles, nerds are the minority--most Windows users are normal people with lives focused elsewhere. And for many normal people, Vista just ain't worth it.

For example, I can drive a car with an automatic transmission, but not a stick shift. Assuming, for argument's sake, that stick shifts offered an advantage (perhaps better mileage), I have to weigh the advantage against the cost and hassle of making the switch.

For many computer users, Windows XP works just fine. It's familiar, it's what they know, it's not a problem waiting to be solved. Some can barely use Windows XP and may not have the ability to adapt to anything new. Technical change is fun and easy for techies, but the same change is hard and/or distracting for others. I deal with many non-techies with jobs in other fields who could care less about operating systems. Their computer is a tool to get their work done and any change is a nuisance--perhaps one they don't have time for.

The keyboard on your computer uses a layout that was chosen for reasons that no longer apply. Yet, who knows how many better layouts have failed to take off because they couldn't overcome the hassle involved in changing. Once someone learns to type on an existing keyboard, the benefit has to be huge to switch to a new layout.

Against this background, Vista has to be better than Windows XP. Much better. Noticeably better.

I don't see it.

I don't see Vista offering sufficient benefit in the way of must-have features to make it worth the changeover hassle. On top of this, despite whatever strides Microsoft may cite, Windows XP will be more compatible with existing hardware and software for the immediate future. Thus, XP is still the right decision for many Windows users.

Businesses choose which version of Windows to use and most chose XP (see Intel and General Motors). Consumers, by and large, don't choose, they are force-fed Vista. That's a shame. In part, it has led to the resurgent interest in Macs (along with the commercials, of course) and may well lead to the rise of Linux on Netbook computers. We'll see.

Update September 7, 2008: I'm not a Mac person, so my analogy about Apple also releasing an OS before it was ready may have been off. A commenter below said: "You would be more correct in using OS X 10.0 as a parallel example, which was released way too quickly, and was full of bugs. OS X 10.1 (which had all the fixes) came out very quickly after that, and was distributed to all OS X users for free as a partial apology."

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

Bad news: Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, or one of the subsequent patches, breaks Windows Update. Not all the time, but often enough that I got burned twice.

Good news: Microsoft offers free technical support for Windows Update and that support provided a solution to my problem.

While consumers are conditioned to call their hardware manufacturer for technical support, Microsoft offers free support for Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, IE7 and Windows Update. Support for SP3 and IE7 is offered on the phone (866-234-6020), although, I had a hard time qualifying. Support for Windows Update is offered by email.

(Credit: Microsoft)

To request assistance with Windows Update, start at the Windows Update website (Tools -> Windows Update in IE6 and IE7) and click on the "Get help and support" link in the gray stripe on the left. Then click on "Send a problem report".

The best way to do this is with Internet Explorer on the computer with the problem. This allows Microsoft to download an ActiveX control that gathers assorted debugging information and sends it back to them. In my case, this debugging information proved critical.

A Microsoft technician responded to my plea for help well within their 24 hour goal.

My problem was particularly annoying because there was no error code, thus nothing to search the net for. The error message simply referred to "a problem on your computer". In addition, a review of the update history (click on "Review your update history" in the left side gray stripe) showed no failures at all. I had even checked the system event logs and come up empty.

It turns out that Windows Update has 2.5 activity log files.

In addition to the "update history", there are two plain text log files in the C:\WINDOWS folder. The "half" is a file called "Windows Update.log" which doesn't seem to be used any longer. I checked four XP machines and in each case the file had almost no data and hadn't been updated in a long time.
Update: A reader named Joseph pointed out that this is from an older version of Windows Update.(July 27, 2008)

But the other log file, "WindowsUpdate.log" is a gold mine of information (this file has no spaces in the name). It was included in the debugging information sent to Microsoft and revealed that my problem was an error 0x80004002.

The Fix

Windows Update was resuscitated with the oldest trick in the book, re-installing the software.

Microsoft's first suggestion was to download version 3 of the Windows Update "Agent" (file WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe) to the root of the C disk, then run it with Start -> Run and the following command:

C:\WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe  /wuforce  

The installation was quick and painless. On both computers, this fixed the problem.

The link to this stand-alone version of the Windows Update agent may change over time. A technician at Microsoft suggested getting the software from here. This fix is also offered here, for a similar Windows Update problem.

How widespread is this problem?

There's no way for me to know how widespread this problem is. If you've had problems with Windows Update after installing Windows XP SP3 leave a comment below.

I don't use Automatic Updates, but if you do, and find the yellow shield never goes away, you may be experiencing this problem. To see, try running Windows Update manually from the website to insure it can install patches.

A brief search turned up forum postings at Microsoft.com from others with this problem. This thread, XP SP3 Preventing any other Windows Update Installs, started almost 3 months ago.

The thread includes an email from Microsoft technical support with three possible fixes. One of them, involving re-registering DLLs, was my fallback if the first suggestion didn't work. Scott Dunn from Windows Secrets covered re-registering Windows Update DLLs last September in Stealth Windows update prevents XP repair.

Finally, let me repeat a warning about upgrading to Internet Explorer 7. When you first install IE7, you get a known buggy version. After rebooting, run Windows Update immediately to get the patch shown below

Update July 27, 2008: After installing XP SP3 and all the subsequent patches on three more computers, my best guess is that the problem has to do with the type of license for Windows. On all four machines that were purchased from the same hardware vendor (very different models), Windows Update broke. However, a copy of Windows XP purchased at retail in a shrink-wrapped box had no problems with Windows Update.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

On two Windows XP machines of mine, the installation of post-SP3 patches has broken Windows Update.

I first wrote about this yesterday, when it happened on one machine. Today, on a computer with very different hardware, the problem repeated itself.

In both cases the computers had no application software installed. Each had only Windows XP SP2 and a handful of vendor installed utilities. Neither machine had any anti-malware software of any kind, not even a firewall (other than XP's firewall). Both were running Internet Explorer 6.

Each time I started by installing SP3 and rebooting. Next, I ran Windows Update manually and opted to install all the post-SP3 patches, with the exception of Internet Explorer 7. I prefer to install IE7 by itself. The patches install fine, and I reboot again.

At this point Windows Update no longer works.

As I suggested three months ago, it's best to hold off on Service Pack 3.

Update July 27, 2008: This problem is not related to IE6, it was re-produced on two machines running IE7. At this point, I have tried to reproduce it on five computers. My best guess now is that the problem has to do with the type of license for Windows. On four machines that were purchased from the same hardware vendor (very different models), Windows Update broke. However, a copy of Windows XP purchased at retail in a shrink-wrapped box had no problems with Windows Update.

One Windows XP test machine started out with no service packs. I installed SP2, rebooted, installed IE7, rebooted, installed SP3, rebooted and then installed all the post-SP3 patches except for one. One patch had to be omitted because without something to install there is no way to know that Windows Update is broken. Specifically, I chose not to install KB923789, an update to the Adobe Flash player. The post-SP3 patches that I did install were KB951748, KB951978, KB890830, KB951376, KB950762, KB950760 and KB942763. One of them broke Windows Update.

For the fix to Windows Update see Fixing Windows Update on XP SP3
See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

The day Windows XP SP3 was released I advised waiting a long time before installing it. In the three months since, I haven't installed it on a computer that mattered to me. Today, I installed it on a computer that didn't matter much, and it caused a problem. So, I tried to take advantage of the free tech support Microsoft offers for SP3 - and got a lesson in fine print.

The computer shipped with Windows XP SP2 and some vendor utilities installed. It was a good guinea pig for SP3 because there were no user-installed applications and no user-created data files on the machine.

I downloaded and installed SP3 without incident. Then I rebooted and ran Windows Update again to get the latest patches. There were a handful of recent patches, and I installed all of them except for Internet Explorer 7. This too went fine and I rebooted again, little knowing the grief that awaited.

Back to Windows Update to install IE7. As you can see below it found another patch too.

Now however, Windows Update can't install either the patch for the .NET framework or IE7. It politely says that "Some updates were not installed".

Under the error (see below), it says to try again. So I did, but that didn't help. I tried one at a time, but that didn't help either. I rebooted, to no avail.

So I called Microsoft (866-234-6020) hoping to get some of the free tech support for XP SP3 mentioned here. But I didn't qualify.

The free support is for "installation and compatibility". In my case SP3 installed fine so I don't qualify there. And compatibility doesn't seem to include SP3 being compatible with Windows Update.

No Free IE7 Tech Support Either

While on the phone with Microsoft, I have an idea. Because of the problem, I couldn't install Internet Explorer 7 and Microsoft offers free tech support for IE7 too. This page clearly refers to "Free Internet Explorer 7 installation and set-up phone support".

Switching from asking for XP SP3 support to asking for IE7 support stumped the person I was speaking to, and I had to wait on hold while he got a ruling from the judge. Again, I didn't qualify.

Despite the offer of free installation support for IE7 and despite the fact that I couldn't install IE7, the Microsoft person explained that since my problem was really with Windows Update, I didn't quality for the free help.

The patch for the .NET framework did me in. Since it also wouldn't install, this pointed the finger at Windows Update rather than at IE7. Adding insult to injury, Windows Update created the need for this patch by installing the known buggy Service Pack for the .NET framework in the first place, a situation I wrote about back in April (see Don't get burned by Windows Update).

Lawyers reading this, must find it a hoot. Internet Explorer 7 is installed with Windows Update and there is free telephone support for installing the product. But if Windows Update is the problem, no free support.

After hanging up, I tried Microsoft Update instead of Windows Update, but it failed in the same way. When turning off the machine, automatic updates tried to install a patch, but that failed. At the next boot, automatic updates wanted to install both IE7 and the patch for the .NET framework. I let it try, but it failed in the same way. At the next shutdown, Windows again tried to install a patch. It's confused.

Microsoft offers free tech support for Windows Update too. But that's not on the phone, only by email. I went down that route, filling out the necessary forms and accumulating the required data.

I don't expect it to lead anywhere. For one thing, as you can see from the screen shots above, there is no error code, just a generic warning about "a problem". I checked the event logs and there were no error messages there either. Debugging errors without an error code is really hard, especially by email.

I think it's time for some more Linux postings.

Update: July 22, 2008: This was not a fluke, it happened again on another machine.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

Six hours ago Ina Fried wrote that Windows XP is a hot item at Amazon.com. The full version of XP Home was number 15 on the software hit parade and the full version of XP Professional was number 21. Amazon updates the list hourly. As I write this, XP Professional is up to number 14, though XP Home slipped down to 16.

There are many ways to slice and dice Windows XP, but I'm going to focus on three "families" - full (expensive), upgrade and OEM (cheap).

The two best selling versions at Amazon are from the "full" family. Full versions of XP can be installed on a virgin computer, or more likely, a virgin virtual machine. My guess is that Mac users are gobbling up the full editions of XP to run in virtual machines alongside OS X. I say this because Mac OS X Leopard is number 7 on the list, VMware Fusion is number 5 and Parallels Desktop is number 17. Fusion and Parallels both provide virtual machines for OS X.

I also think this because the more expensive full versions of XP are outselling the cheaper upgrade versions.

The upgrade version of XP is what most people buying a shrink-wrapped copy of the operating system purchased over the last seven years. Before an upgrade edition of XP installs, it has to find either an older copy of Windows already on the computer, or you have to provide it with a CD of an earlier copy of Windows. The description of the upgrade edition of XP at Amazon.com is wrong. It says "Upgrade only; previous version of XP required." You need a previous version of Windows, not a previous version of XP. For example, upgrade versions of XP will install fine when presented with a copy of Windows 2000.

Both the upgrade and the full versions of XP share a common trait, they are retail editions. As such, tech support is provided by Microsoft and you can call them on the phone for help. I forget the exact rules but the first couple or so calls are free. At least until April 2009 when Microsoft will no longer offer free tech support for retail copies of XP.

Finally, there are OEM copies of Windows XP, sold by retailers such as NewEgg (which also sells the full and upgrade editions). These are the cheapest way to go, but they include no tech support at all. The intended audience for OEM copies are small companies that build computers. When you buy a computer with Windows XP pre-installed from such a company (often called a "system builder") they provide tech support for Windows, not Microsoft.

Another difference is that the retail copies of Windows XP can be installed on one computer at a time. If the computer dies, you can move that copy to a different machine. Not so with the OEM copies. They are married to the computer they are first installed on. If it dies, so too does your license to run that copy of Windows.

For those of us that prefer XP over Vista, an important difference between the OEM and retail editions is that Microsoft still offers the OEM editions. The retail versions are being from stock by retailers. When the stock runs out that's it.

Who can buy OEM copies of Windows XP? According to this June 24th article at PC Magazine, anyone willing to live by the OEM rules.

Of course, buying a shrink-wrapped copy of XP is only one many ways to still get your hands on a copy.

Windows XP will be supported by Microsoft until 2014, so an investment in a shrink-wrapped copy won't sour.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

If the list of installed programs on your Windows XP computer is annoying long, a little organization goes a long way. Try moving items that you never expect to use to a folder called "NeverUsed" and move items you very rarely use to a folder called "Infrequent". I've done this for years, on many computers, and never regretted it.

To begin, right click on the Start button, "Open All Users" and double-click on the Programs folder. In the Windows Explorer window, right click over nothing and select "New" and then "Folder". Name the new folder "NeverUsed" and then repeat the process to make another new folder called "Infrequent".

Then, right click on the Start button again, select "Open" and double-click on this copy of the Programs folder. If you can, re-arrange these two Windows Explorer windows so they are both visible side-by-side.

We need two windows because some programs are installed for all users of Windows, while others are installed for use by just the user logged on when the program was installed. The entries for each program are shortcuts. Moving a shortcut is harmless, it does not impact the actual program in any way.

The process of moving the shortcut for a program into one of these new folders consists of two steps. First, right click on the shortcut to be moved and select "Cut". Then, right click on the destination folder (Infrequent or NeverUsed) and select "Paste".

I find that I never invoke the Adobe Acrobat Reader or Windows Media Player directly, so they are good candidates for the Infrequent folder. I don't use Outlook Express, so it goes into the NeverUsed folder. I always invoke Internet Explorer from a desktop icon, rather than the Start button, so it gets moved to the NeverUsed folder too. Other candidates for NeverUsed include MSN Explorer, Set Program Access and Defaults, Windows Messenger and Remote Assistance.

At times, I have worked with computers that came with tons of software from the hardware vendor. If your computer is like that, organizing all that stuff under a single folder named after the computer manufacturer should neatened things up.

Think of it as spring cleaning.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

Paul Thurrott, who clearly thinks Windows Vista is better than XP, has taken the release of Service Pack 3 as an opportunity to review Windows XP, taking a step back from the bits and bytes to ask if XP is good enough. The article, written last month, is called A Look at Windows XP Service Pack 3 Part 1: Good Enough? I recommend reading it.

One point he makes is that because of the delays in releasing Vista, Windows XP got more mature, "in ways that were never possible with previous versions of Windows." Lots of jobs require maturity, I like it in my operating system too. From my Defensive Computing perspective, I view Windows XP as mostly debugged. It's had hundreds of bug fixes issued for it, which suits me fine.

On a psychological level, Paul writes:

"We're creatures of habit, you and I. And even the most forward-looking of us, those who enjoy living on the edge, technology-wise, have a very natural need to be in the comfort zone sometimes. And XP is just that, comfortable, like that ratty old sweatshirt that we should have thrown out years ago but just can't bear to replace ... the longer Vista was delayed, the more comfortable XP became to users."

Again I agree. Some people don't have the time or the interest to learn a new user interface. Vista should have had an option to make it look just like XP.

Paul also writes that the delays in releasing Vista forced Microsoft to add stuff to XP that was originally targeted exclusively for Vista. Thus, the difference between the two is smaller than Microsoft had originally intended. Paul writes:

"As Vista was delayed again and again, Microsoft realized that it would be a mistake to tie the success of key new technologies that were to have originally been Vista-only. So it back-ported a number of technologies to XP, things that previously were designed to be Vista-specific. These include, among others, Windows Defender, Internet Explorer 7, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communications Foundation, .NET 3.x, the Windows Security Center, Windows Media Player 11, and even Office 2007."

Finally, an analogy:

"If customers are standing put on the previous version, that means they're not sold on the company's technological vision, and they're no longer lining up as Microsoft tries to lead them to the future. I mean, imagine a case in which customers were allowed to choose between a previous generation Toyota Camry and the all-new, designed-from-the-ground-up 2008 model, and the customers actually chose the old version by a roughly 2-to-1 margin, despite the fact that the price hadn't changed at all? This would be devastating to any car maker. I believe it's devastating to Microsoft for the same basic reasons."

I can't wait for Part 2 of his review.

The Internet is littered with stories about the soon to be released third service pack for Windows XP. Here's an uncommon wrinkle. Don't install it when it's officially released on the 29th. Not yet, it's too soon.

I say this at the risk of not being a team player. Fellow CNET blogger, Robert Vamosi, recently wrote "Starting April 29, all Windows XP SP2 users should upgrade to SP3..." If this is my last posting, you'll know why.

A fundamental tenant of Defensive Computing is not to install newly released software. With Windows XP SP3, the reason to wait is software incompatibilities. Even though SP3 has underdone much testing, it's a big world and there are bound to be problems with some software. By waiting, you let everyone else find and fix the problems before you face them.

If you are using software that's impacted adversely by SP3, you don't want to be among the first people to call the software vendor for help. It's far better to call a couple months later when the problem and the solution are well known and grooved in.

Deciding when to install new software involves balancing the risk vs. the reward. While the risk with SP3 should be small, so too is the reward. In fact, the reward is pert near zero for anyone who is up to date on Windows bug fixes. Granted, this is one person's opinion, and reasonable people may disagree, but from what I've read, the new features added to XP by the third service pack are a big yawn.

The suggestion to wait on installing SP3 is not based on specific problems, issues or incompatibilities. That said, it's not hard to find them.

Just today, ComputerWorld noted that Mac users need new versions of Apple's Boot Camp and VMware's Fusion to be compatible with XP SP3. On The Personal Computer Show this week, the host, Joe King, told of problems using a Trend Micro anti-malware suite of software with SP3. If you go to TrendMicro.com and search for Windows XP SP3, there's nothing there about compatibility issues with the new service pack. It's too soon.

How long to wait? I'd give SP3 at least a couple months, maybe three or four.

How to Install a Service Pack

When the time comes to install SP3, the right approach is to first make a disk image backup of the partition containing Windows. Anything else is risky. No doubt SP3 was designed to be un-installed should the need arise, but putting your full faith in this would be a mistake.

Also, the installation process is going to exercise the heck out of the file system, so I suggest first running a thorough Check Disk. If you have any other hard disk diagnostic utilities, it would be good to insure the hard disk is healthy before installing the service pack. And a defrag can't hurt. At the very least, make a restore point.

Update. April 30, 2008: I told you so. On April 29th, Ina Fried wrote that Windows XP SP3 has been delayed to a newly discovered software incompatibility. See XP update delayed over glitch. As XP SP3 gets distributed to more and more people, we can expect still more software incompatibilities to surface.

Update. May 9, 2008: From ComputerWorld: XP SP3 cripples some PCs with endless reboots. One of the problems described in this article is a mistake by HP - running software meant for Intel processors on computers running AMD processors. Normally, this is not a problem, but for some reason it causes a problem after installing XP SP3.

Update. May 9, 2008: FYI: From the Microsoft Knowledge Base How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer.

Update. May 22, 2008: FYI: XP SP3 triggers false positives in security apps by Scott Dunn.

Update. July 23, 2008: After taking my own advice for three months, I installed SP3 on a guinea pig machine and it broke Windows Update. The next day, on a different computer, the same thing happened. See Post-SP3 patch breaks Windows Update.

Note: Paul Thurrott wrote an excellent Windows XP Service Pack 3 FAQ
See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

It seems that Michael Dell is breathing new life into his company.

A year ago, Dell was brave enough to backtrack on its Vista-only policy for consumer machines (Dell brings back XP on home systems). It also showed some independence from Microsoft by offering Linux to consumers. And again, Dell is innovating.

Fact 1: As of June 30, large computer manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard can no longer offer Windows XP preinstalled on new computers, though Microsoft has said it would consider re-evaluating the deadline if there's enough customer demand.

Fact 2: Anyone who buys a copy of either the Business or Ultimate versions of Vista is entitled to also get Windows XP Professional.* Each computer manufacturer decides whether, or how, to implement this.

Until now, consumers who exercised their right to get XP Professional when they purchased Vista got a computer with Vista preinstalled and an XP image CD in the box (an image CD is very different from a retail Windows CD).

Dell's innovation? It will do the XP image installation for you. It may not sound like much, but the net result is that the computer leaves the factory with Windows XP Professional on it, rather than Vista.

Deadline? We don't need no stinkin' deadline.

Microsoft can't be happy about this, though a cynic would note that even though Dell computers leave the factory with XP on them, Microsoft can tally it as a sale for Vista.

It's an interesting power play between the two companies. Will other companies follow Dell or toe the Microsoft line?

According to Randy Copeland, president and CEO of Velocity Micro, after the June 30 deadline, all of its computers will ship with Vista preinstalled. The company will offer the XP Professional "downgrade" in the traditional way, by including an XP image CD in the box. Interestingly, each XP image CD will be mated to one, and only one, computer.

Dell has a Web page devoted to its new policy, Windows XP Availability, which notes that the last day to buy a computer with Windows XP preinstalled under the current rules is June 18. Afterward:

When selecting your operating system, you will see an option called "Genuine Windows® Vista Business BONUS" and "Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate BONUS." With these options, you may...have Dell factory install Windows XP Professional. You will also receive a backup media disc for Windows XP Professional, as well as the media for Windows Vista.

In other words, Dell provides optical discs for both XP and Vista, so you can change over at any time. This is not like Apple's Boot Camp, however; the computer can have only one operating installed on the hard disk at a time. But Dell provides technical support for both XP and Vista. Whether its tech support is worthwhile is another matter.

According to Infoworld, Dell will offer this new "buy Vista, get XP Pro preinstalled" service on some Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision systems for free. It will also offer it on some Vostro and XPS systems for a small fee.

For more about getting Windows XP after the June 30 deadline, see my previous posting, Who's selling Windows XP in July?

*NOTE: Microsoft allows a "downgrade" only to XP Professional, not to the Home or Media Center editions. According to InfoWorld, large organizations with site licenses can "downgrade" from any version of Vista.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.