The steps to resolve this issue are simple (you need to have administrative access to your computer):

1. Open the Control Panel and go to Administrative Tools. Here, open the Services Program. (Alternatively, you can select Run from your Start Menu and type in services.msc and press enter).
2. Here we have to make sure that two services are running. First locate the Automatic Updates service. Double Click the service to open it’s properties.
3. Inside the properties page, set the startup type list to Automatic.
4. Start the service if it is not running by clicking on the Start Button.
5. Click OK to close the properties dialog box.
6. Now repeat the same process with the Background Intelligent Transfer Service.

Below is a screen shot of the properties page:

If you are still getting this error, there are other services which may be worth checking out. These are Cryptographic Services, Remoter Procedure Call (RPC), and System Restore Services. Sometimes these services can have the same error.

If you are having problems starting these services, then there is one more check you should perform if you continue to get this error. You need to check if the BITS service is properly configured. To do that, again open the Properties dialog for the BITS service, and this time go to the Log On tab. Here verify that the service is enabled for all hardware profiles that are listed on that page.

That’s it. These steps should resolve your error.

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This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.

This error is actually not an Outlook error. Your Outlook configuration is alright, but you need to go and fix something outside Outlook to get this working. This error occurs when a specific part of the Windows Registry related to Internet Explorer settings is corrupted or missing. This can happen if you upgraded the version of your IE.

There are a couple of approaches you can take to resolve this:

Try the simple way first

Instead of diving into the registry right away, we can try and reset the settings in Internet Explorer. Depending on the version of your IE, there are different steps for this.

Internet Explorer 6

1. After running IE, go to the Tools menu and click Internet Options.
2. Click on the Programs tab and then click the Reset Web Settings button.
3. Under Internet programs, verify that the correct e-mail program is selected.
4. Select the “Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser” check box.
5. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Internet Explorer 7

1. After running IE, go to the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2. Go to the Advanced tab, and then click Reset.
3. Go to the Programs tab, and then click Set programs.
4. Click Set Default Programs.
5. Click to select Microsoft Outlook, and then click Set this program as default, and click OK, and then close the Default Programs dialog box.
6. On the Programs tab, click Make default under Default web browser and click OK.

Now, this may or may not work to resolve your issue. If your problem still persists, then read on.

Fixing the Registry Key

The registry key in question is the following:

HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command

Disclaimer: This solution will require you to manipulate the Windows Registry, and you must proceed with extreme caution. Any corruption of the registry may render the Windows installation unusable. Always backup your registry (follow instructions here to do so).

To fix this, you need to export this key from another computer, and then import it into your own registry. Before you proceed, I have exported this key from my computer and made it available for download. If you trust this site (no reason for why you shouldn’t) then you can download the key and use that (it will save you the hassle of exporting). Here’s the download:

. It’s a zip file, with the key file inside.

In case you prefer to export your own key, read on. If you are using the key above, then skip the next section.

Exporting the registry key

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate the following registry key: HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command
4. Click the command folder.
5. On the File or Registry menu (depending on your operating system), click Export.
6. Note the location of where the file will be saved. The registry file can be saved directly to the hard drive or floppy disk.
7. Type a unique file name, and then click Save.
8. Quit the Registry Editor.

Importing the registry key

To import the registry key, you have to carry out two very simple steps:

1. Copy the .reg file to a location on your computer (either the one you exported or the one you downloaded from the link above).
2. Double-click the .reg file and confirm the action by clicking yes on the ensuing dialog box.

That’s it, you are done. This should have fixed your problem. If the problem still persists, then please let us know. We will do our best to help you resolve it.

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As you can see in the message, it says “Cannot find the e-mail server. Verify the server information in your account properties”. There can be many reasons for why this can happen and to figure out the issue, we need to proceed step by step.

First things first – Is the Internet accessible?

Before we run off to check our server settings, we need to make sure that the basics are in place. Make sure that you can access the Internet. I produced the screen shot above by simply disconnecting my computer from the Internet and then trying to get email.

The simplest way to check if your Internet is running is to open your browser and visit any page on the Internet (you could try visiting http://windowserrorsadvisor.org/). If you are not able to open pages on the Internet, then chances are that your problem is right there. Figure out what the problem with your computer is, fix it, and then try accessing your email.

Okay, so Internet is working. Let’s confirm the settings.

Although, this step usually doesn’t reveal any problem. The reason is that (unless you have recently changed any settings) your settings cannot change themselves, and if the email was working yesterday, there is no reason it shouldn’t work today.

But maybe you just setup your account; or someone (or you yourself) could have changed the settings recently. So, it is necessary to go and verify your settings. The method for verifying your settings is the same as what it took to setup your account in the first place. There are many tutorials on this, and one excellent site is here.

The settings that you enter here should be those provided by your ISP, administrator, or your email hosting provider.

Beyond this, it gets a little fuzzy. Check if the mail server is up.

There are a number of things that we can do here. We can check if the email server itself is running. There are many ways through which you can do this. One possibility is to use a website which allows you to check your email from a web page. While you should be careful of giving out your email credentials on the Internet, there is one particular site that I use quite regularly (and so I can suggest it. NOTE: this is just a suggestion, anything you do on the Internet is at your own risk). The one I use regularly is called Mail2Web.

The idea is to see if email can be downloaded at all. If there is a problem with email being downloaded from an external site like Mail2Web as well, then the problem is not with your Outlook, but with your email provider. Contact the person responsible for maintaining the email server (ISP, administrator, support, etc.).

Finally, there can be other problems.

If you can access the email from an external site like mentioned above, but not from Outlook, there can be many reasons for that still. Some of these are:

• Firewall – Have you installed a new firewall on your computer or your network – this could be blocking default email ports or the mail servers as well. Make necessary changes to the configuration.
• Anti-virus – Have you installed new Anti-virus software? This can sometimes cause such problems. Consult your AV provider’s website for help.
• Corporate Network – Are you behind a corporate firewall? A lot of offices have very strict firewalls, and so you may need to talk to your IT Admin.
• VPN – Are you on a VPN? A number of VPN clients can restrict access when you are connected to a VPN.

There can be other problems as well. If none of the above fixes your problem, you should post it in the comments, and we will be more than glad to help you figure it out.

Post from: Windows Errors Advisor

this Stop message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver attempted to access a memory address to which it did not have permission to access. The most common cause of this error is an incorrect or corrupted pointer that references an incorrect location in memory. When it occurs in kernel mode, it generates a STOP 0×0000000A message.

What does this mean?

What this means is that there is a program on your computer that is not behaving well. It says here that the stop error is generated when this misbehavior happens in Kernel mode. What this indicates is that chances are that this program which is misbehaving is a device driver (as most applications don’t run in Kernel mode). As soon as you see this error, you should think what is it that you have changed recently in your computer – did you install a new hardware; did you update a device driver; are you trying to update your OS?

How do I solve this?

There are 4 steps that you can take to solve this issue, each harder than the previous one, so here we go with the easiest:

1. Reboot: Simply reboot your computer and pray that it was a one time problem. There are times when this can happen. If the error never appears, then you are home free. However, if it appears again then proceed to Step 2.
2. Driver Problem: There is a problem with your hardware/software. Let’s try the software first. Try to recollect if you have updated a driver or installed a new hardware (in which case move to Step 3). If you have installed a new driver, or updated a driver, or installed an new software, then you should boot into Safe Mode  (by pressing F8 during the bootup process). This will load Windows with the least amount of drivers installed. Now, uninstall any new driver or software, then try booting normally. If your problem goes away, then you need to get in touch with the manufacturer for the latest version of the software/driver. Of course, the problem may not be gone. Let’s look at Step 3.
3. Hardware Elimination – Open your computer and remove all hardware except the basic  (remove your sound card, modem, etc. but leave the video card). Go into your BIOS and restore  factory defaults. Now boot your computer (it should boot fine, else go to Step 4). Next thing to do is to re-introduce all the hardware that you removed one by one. To do this, power down your computer and add one hardware (printer) and then power up and check. Keep repeating the cycle, until your computer crashes again.When it does, the last piece of hardware that you put in is the culprit. You will need to find the latest drivers for this piece or replace the hardware all together.
4. Microsoft Support – if nothing works, then your best bet is to contact Microsoft Support.

There are advanced approaches as well (which would allow you to debug the output of the blue screen in the hope for figuring out the exact error) but these are beyond this article, and might be a topic for another post.

Post from: Windows Errors Advisor

To be able to debug a BSoD you need to be able to know what is wrong in the first place – information that you typically read of the BSoD itself. But what do you do if your computer is continuously rebooting as soon as a BSoD is displayed. This happens because of a setting in Windows. Now, following the ‘Prevention’ step-by-step below, you should disable this setting to avoid getting into a continuous loop of restarting in case of a recurring BSoD. If you are already stuck in such a loop, skip over to the “Cure” after the step-by-step.

Prevention: Disabling the Automatically Restart Setting

This setting is reached by opening the System Properties from the Control Panel. Here’s a step-by-step:

Open System Properties – Go to Control Panel and locate the “System” Icon, and double-click it (as shown below):

Open the Startup and Recovery Settings – Under the System Properties, there is a tab called “Advanced”. Switch to this tab. On this tab there is a “Settings” button under the “Startup and Recovery” section. Click on it.

Disable Automatically Restart – When you click the settings button, you will see a section called “System Failure”. Under this section there is a setting called “Automatically Restart”. Uncheck this setting and close the window.

Now that you have disabled this, you will have to manually reboot your computer by powering it down and then powering it back up every time you encounter a BSoD. The reason this setting exist is because (once again) most BSoDs are cleared by a simple reboot, so this setting tells the computer to do the reboot for you.

Cure: What if you are already in a loop?

Well, so you had this setting on, and now you are stuck in a loop that prevents you from loading Windows (essential for you to be able to turn off this setting). Well, here’s an approach which gives you a shot at fixing this problem (so that you can then go on to fix the original BSoD problem).

Disclaimer: This solution will require you to manipulate the Windows Registry, and you must proceed with extreme caution. Any corruption of the registry may render the Windows installation unusable. Always backup your registry (follow instructions here to do so).

Alright, here we go. The workaround for this problem requires you to install another copy of Windows in parallel to your existing installation. There are many resources on the Internet which will tell you how to do that. Usually, the process is similar to installing one copy. All you need to do is to choose a folder which is different from the folder where you installed your existing copy.

Once you are done installing the second copy of Windows, follow these steps:

Step 1: Boot the computer using the newly installed Windows.

Step 2: Run the registry editor by running regedt32.exe. To get more details on how to edit the registry, see the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article here.

Step 3: After running the registry editor, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.

Step 4: After selecting the key, open the File Menu, and choose “Load Hive” and open the SYSTEM file in the original Windows installation. This file is located (by default) under “%windir%\system32\config”. Here %windir% stands for the Windows installation directory. (see pictures below):

Step 5: You will be prompted to enter a key name when you load the file. Enter a random string here. You have now loaded HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive from your original Windows Installation as a subkey of the current key.

Step 6: Locate the following key in this loaded Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CrashControl. When you locate this key, you will see a value called “AutoReboot” in the right pane. Change it’s data to 0 from 1.

Step 7: Now you should unload this hive by choosing “Unload Hive” from the menu.

You have now disabled the “Automatically Restart” option of the original Windows installation. You should now shutdown and reboot using the original Windows installation. When the BSoD appears, it will no longer restart, and you will be able to look at the information generated by the BSoD and possibly resolve the error by using the information presented on the screen.

Post from: Windows Errors Advisor

Background

Let’s start with a little bit of a history lesson. The Blue Screen of Death is technically known as a stop error which occurs in operating systems to signify a fatal error in the working of the OS. It is the Operating System’s way of preventing the computer from corrupting itself further. The reason why it is associated with Windows most is probably because Windows is the most popular OS around.

The BSoD in Windows has been around since the days of Windows 3.1 and every version of Windows has a BSoD (even Windows CE), and various versions have different information on the BSoD. Windows Vista and Windows XP display similar BSoDs. Most BSoDs are a result of corrupt or badly written device drivers, but they can also result from faulty hardware on the computer (such as memory) or problems with the power supply of the computer (though these days, this is becoming less frequent).

Anatomy of a BSoD

Let’s take a look at the BSoD that appears in Windows Vista and Windows XP (which covers the majority of Operating Systems running on consumer desktops). Below is a screenshot (picked up from the WikiPedia); click  the image to see a larger version:

Every BSoD is made up of a few essential parts and if you understand them, it will take you a long way when you are trying to fix a problem that you are having with your computer (that results in a BSoD). Take a careful look at the BSoD above; there are three main parts in a BSoD:

• Error Name - This is the symbolic name of the error corresponding to the actual error that occurred. In the example above, it is PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. You may or may not receive additional text which supplies information about the actual driver which caused the error (such as shown in the screen above).
• Troubleshooting Help - This is a fairly generic set of recommendations which usually recommend you to simply restart your computer (which works a lot of times).
• Error Information - This is the technical information about the error. It contains the STOP error number followed by up to 4 parameters containing information about the error. This is referred to as the bugcheck info. The actual meaning of the parameters is depending on the error type.

Occasionally, you may also see some memory dump or other information on this screen, and this once again can be useful in resolving the specific error. Usually, Windows will create a memory dump on the hard drive which can be accessed later as well.

As it has become the universal solution for most of Windows problems, more often than not, simply rebooting the computer will resolve the problem for you. However, if the problem doesn’t go away, knowing your way around the BSoD will help you a lot (even if it is to provide information to someone else who is helping you troubleshoot the problem remotely).

Another very important bit of information that you should possess is to know how to start your computer in Safe Mode (usually this requires pressing the F8 key at the start of the boot-up sequence just before Windows is about to load). To get a detailed set of instructions for your particular version of Windows, visit this resource on PC Hell.

Post from: Windows Errors Advisor

• The Microsoft Update Web Sites.
• Or, through Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server.
• Or, through SMS server.
• Or, through Windows Automatic Updates.

The usual reason behind this error is because a mismatch has occurred between what Windows thinks that it has downloaded to your computer, and what has actually been downloaded. And this results in a situation which causes Windows Update to be stuck and it keeps showing this error. This can happen because of a network problem during the data transfer, or an intermittent Internet connection can also cause this.

A very simple and straightforward mechanism to get rid of this problem is to reset the DataStore where Windows keeps this information which has become mismatched. Here’s how you can do it in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Disable the Windows Automatic Update Service

• Go to Control Panel (accessible from your Start Menu).
• Find the Administrative Tools folder and open it.
• Inside it, find the Service icon, and open it.
• In the Window that opens, locate the Automatic Update Service, right-click it, and choose stop (as shown in the screenshot below).
• Leave the Services window open (as we will need it later)

Step 2: Reset the DataStore

• Open My Computer (from your Start Menu).
• Locate your Windows folder (typically C:\Windows) and double click to open the folder.
• Locate the SoftwareDistribution folder and double click to open the folder.
• Now locate the DataStore folder and double click to open the folder.
• Delete all contents of this folder.
• Close the window.

Step 3: Resume the Updates Service

• Go back to the Service Window.
• Right Click the Automatic Updates service.
• Choose Start (this may take some time, but it will start). Screenshot below:

This should fix the error that you have been receiving. However, in case this doesn’t fix your problem, there can be another reason for the error. Microsoft explains this as a problem that occurs in minifilter-based products that use the Microsoft Filter Manager Technology. A status code problem can cause the computer show this error.

Microsoft has released a patch which is aimed at resolving this problem. This patch and more details about this error condition is located on the Microsoft Support Site here.

While there are still other situations that can cause these errors (especially after upgrading to newly released Service Packs) they are not related to problems with the Update Service.

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As we mentioned previously, the Windows Registry is the giant storehouse of information for all the different software applications (like Word, or Internet Explorer) that run on your computer. When each of these different pieces of software is installed on your computer, it adds an entry to the registry. This is so the software can keep track of seperate settings (your homepage, for example) and also to let Windows know that a new piece of software has been installed.

The trouble starts when the piece of software is deleted, uninstalled, or has a fatal error of some sort. Then, entries which existed previously in the Registry no longer exist, and the Registry is essentially corrupted.

The difficult way to fix this is to run RegEdit.exe from the command line - something Microsoft itself doesn’t even recommend. If you’re still interested, see this article at the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

The more relatively easy way to fix the registry is to download a registry cleaner. We will review Registry Cleaners in a separate post.

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Go into Tools/Preferences and uncheck “Use OS and Feel”. This will stop Zend from trying to look like Windows (which it’s not) and will lower the total amount of load that it will use while running on the system.

Hat tip to smaxor.

Post from: Windows Errors Advisor

The Windows Registry came around with the release of Windows 95. It was designed as replacement for the different ini (short for initiation) files that were used to configure the computer in previous versions of Windows 3.x and previous.

The purpose of the Windows Registry is to serve as a centralized location for applications (such as Microsoft Word, your internet browser and many others) to store their data and default settings. It’s also where the operating system itself stores various portions of data.

In other words, the Registry is simply a place where you computer remembers basic things - from printer settings, to default fonts, to software installed.

Post from: Windows Errors Advisor