Cleanup $NTServicePackUninstall$ and SoftwareDistribution Folder

Service pack and Windows update installations leave a lot of unnecessary files in the %SystemRoot% folder. They occupy a lot of space and you can safely delete these files. Do this only when you are sure that you will not need to uninstall any of the updates or Service Pack.

To remove the Service Pack uninstall files

1. Go to C:\WINDOWS and delete "$NTServicePackUinistall$"
2. Go to Add/Remove Programs.
3. Click "Service Pack 1"(2)(3), there will be an error since you just deleted the file.
4. Click YES to delete the shortcut.
5. Use similar procedure to delete uninstall files for the updates.
   

The updates will be in this format "$NTUninstall********"
Do NOT delete "$hf_mig$"

To remove the Automatic updates' files in SoftwareDistribution Folder

Automatic updates are downloaded in %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder and occupy a lot of space. You can safely delete these files.

1. Open a command prompt window
2. type net stop wuauserv and press enter
3. Open Windows Explorer and delete all contents in the folder c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
4. Go back to Command prompt window and type net start wuauserv and press enter

Be sure to restart Windows before before another attempt at getting the updates !!

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Tags: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP

Published Date: 20080519

How to clean up downloaded files for Automatic updates / Windows Update

Automatic updates are downloaded in %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder and occupy a lot of space. You can safely delete these files.

Type the following commands in command prompt window

net stop wuauserv

Open Windows Explorer and delete all contents in the folder c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download

Go back to Command prompt window and type net start wuauserv

Be sure to restart Windows before another attempt at getting the updates !!

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Tags: Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP

Published Date: 20080517

How to remove Outlook Express 5.1, 5.5, or 6.0 from a Windows 2000-based computer

To manually remove Outlook Express 5.1, Outlook Express 5.5, or Outlook Express 6.0 from a Windows 2000-based computer, follow these steps:

Note Make sure that you are logged on to the computer as an administrator.

1. Make sure that system files and file name extensions are visible.

a. Double-click the My Computer icon.

b. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.

c. In the Hide Files and Folders section, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click to clear the Hide file extensions for known file types check box.

d. Click to clear the Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended) check box, and then click Yes in the warning message dialog box.

e. Click OK to close the Folder Options dialog box.

2. Delete the Outlook Express registry keys.

To remove Outlook Express, you must delete the registry keys for Outlook Express. To do this, follow these steps:

a. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

b. Locate the following registry keys, right-click the registry key, and then click Delete:

•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express

•HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express

•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}

c. Close Registry Editor.

3. Rename the Outlook Express files.

To complete the removal procedure, rename the Outlook Express files. Each of these files is located in the default file folder and in the C:\Winnt\System32\Dllcache folder. For example, the Msoe.dll file is located in the following folders:

• C:\Program Files\Outlook Express

• C:\Winnt\System32\Dllcache

You must rename the file in both folders to successfully remove Outlook Express. To rename the Outlook Express files, follow these steps:

a. Remove any CDs that are in your CD drive.

b. Start Windows in safe mode.

c. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files and Folders.

d. In the Search for files or folders named box, type Msoe.dll, and then click Search Now.

e. Right-click the first Msoe.dll file, and then click Rename.

f. Type Msoe.old, and then press ENTER.

g. To rename the second instance of the Msoe.dll file, repeat steps e and f.

h. When you are prompted about Windows file protection, click Cancel.

i. When you are prompted about whether to keep unrecognized file versions, click Yes.

j. To rename the following files, repeat steps d through i:

• Msoeacct.dll

• Msoert2.dll

• Msoeres.dll

• Msimn.exe

• Oeimport.dll

• Oemiglib.dll

• Oemig50.exe

• Setup50.exe

k. Restart your computer in Normal Mode.

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Tags: Windows 2000, Windows XP

Published Date: 20080516

How to manually rebuild Performance Counter Library values

When you use the System Monitor tool, some counters may be missing or do not contain counter data. The base set of performance counter libraries may become corrupted and may need to be rebuilt along with any extensible counters. This behavior may occur if certain extensible counters corrupt the registry, or if some Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)-based programs modify the registry.

To rebuild the base performance counter libraries manually:

1. Copy Perfc009.dat and Perfh009.dat to %Systemroot%\System32 folder.

2. Start Registry Editor, and then locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib

3. In the registry, change the LastCounter value to 1846 (decimal), and change the LastHelp value to 1847 (decimal).

4. Locate the following registry key to search for services that have a Performance subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

5. Remove the following values from the Performance subkey (if they exist):

• FirstCounter

• FirstHelp

• LastCounter

• LastHelp

You can also use the Exctrlst.exe tool to locate the performance counter dynamic-link library files (DLLs) that are installed, and then access the registry to remove the DWORD values. You now have a workable performance registry that contains only system base counters.

After you have completed this procedure, you must re-add the extensible counters from the list of services. Before you do so, however, you must identify the .ini file that is used to load the counters:

5. Run the batch file counters.bat

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Tags: Windows XP, Windows 2003

Published Date: 20080515

If Windows Update does not work

If Windows update does not work properly and you are receiving error repeatedly when you are trying to update windows from microsoft website use these commands to configure windows update from scratch.

net stop bits
net stop /s wuauserv
regsvr32 /u wuaueng.dll /s
del /f /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\*.*
del /f /s /q %windir%\windowsupdate.log

regsvr32 wuapi.dll
regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll
regsvr32 wuaueng.dll
regsvr32 wucltui.dll
regsvr32 wups2.dll
regsvr32 wups.dll
regsvr32 wuweb.dll

net start bits
net start wuauserv
wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow

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Tags: Windows XP, Windows 2003

Published Date: 20080514