Fix Windows Display Quality Issues

The display is without doubt one of the most important parts of a computer system. Display related issues, like blurry text, a bad refresh rate or colors that do not really match can impact a user’s work experience on a computer. Imagine having to work ten hours a day on a computer with blurry or difficulty to read fonts, not a nice prospect.

Microsoft Support has released a new Fix-It solution to fix Windows display quality issues. A Fix-It is a small portable program that can resolve common Windows issues automatically. Each Fix-It offers to resolve issues that it finds automatically or give the user the option to select the fixes manually. The second option is usually the recommended one as it gives users more control over the troubleshooting process and repair.

The display quality Fix-It is available as an app that downloads needed files from the Internet and as a portable version.

When you start the program the following screen is presented to you.

I’d recommend to select Detect problems and let me select the fixes to apply to avoid additional issues that the troubleshooter may cause. The Windows Display Quality Troubleshooter analyzes the system and displays fixes after the diagnosis has been completed on the next screen.

Here it is then possible to run some or all of the fixes if the manual option has been selected. It is also possible to display a detailed report that displays all issues that the Display Quality Troubleshooter checks for.

• Clear Type settings may not be adjusted
• Display settings are not optimized
• Calibrate display color settings
• The video card driver is not Windows Display Driver Model compliant
• Blurry text or graphics

The troubleshooting tool runs all selected fixes to resolve display quality issues in the Windows operating system. Depending on the issues, wizards may be displayed that walk the user through the configuration or fine tuning of a feature. This is for instance the case if Clear Type settings appear not to be adjusted.

Windows users can download the solve windows display quality issues Fix-It from the Microsoft Support website. (via)

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: display, fix it, microsoft fix it, portable software, troubleshooting software, windows software

Microsoft Releases Critical Windows Security Update

Back in October a rootkit was discovered that exploits a critical security vulnerability in the Windows operating system. We covered a detection and removal tool two days ago that would scan a PC and remove any traces of the Duqu rootkit from a system.

Microsoft today has releases a security advisory to give customers “guidance for the Windows kernel issue related to the Duqu malware”.

The advisory describes a vulnerability in TrueType font parsing that could allow elevation of privileges. Attackers who manage to exploit the vulnerability can run arbitrary code in kernel mode which would allow them to install programs, “view, change or delete data” and create new accounts with “full user rights”.

Microsoft confirms that targeted attacks are carried out currently that use the vulnerability. The overall impact is however rated as low.

Microsoft is offering a manual workaround for affected versions of Windows on the security advisory page:

On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:

For 32-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:

Echo y| cacls “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll” /E /P everyone:N

For 64-bit systems, enter the following command from an administrative command prompt:

Echo y| cacls “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll” /E /P everyone:N

Echo y| cacls “%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll” /E /P everyone:N

On Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2:

For 32-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:
Takeown.exe /f “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll”

Icacls.exe “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll” /deny everyone:(F)

For 64-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:
Takeown.exe /f “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll”

Icacls.exe “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll” /deny everyone:(F)

Takeown.exe /f “%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll”

Icacls.exe “%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll” /deny everyone:(F)

The workaround may impact applications that “rely on embedded font technologies”.

The workaround can be undone again the following way:

On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:

For 32-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:
cacls “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll” /E /R everyone

For 64-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:
cacls “%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll” /E /R everyone

cacls “%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll” /E /R everyone

On Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2:

For 32-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:
Icacls.exe %WINDIR%\system32\t2embed.DLL /remove:d everyone

For 64-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:
Icacls.exe %WINDIR%\system32\t2embed.DLL /remove:d everyone

Icacls.exe %WINDIR%\syswow64\t2embed.DLL /remove:d everyone

Microsoft furthermore has released a fix it solution that users can run on their system to protect it from the security vulnerability

The fix it can be downloaded from the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

It is recommended to apply the workaround on computer systems until Microsoft releases a security patch that resolves the issue without side effects.

Please note that there is a fix-it for enabling and one for disabling the workaround.

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: duqu, microsoft fix it, rootkit, security advisory, windows security

Uninstall Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 Completely

Windows users who have installed Internet Explorer 9 recently on one of the supported versions of Windows, may at one point decide to uninstall Internet Explorer 9 again. A common reason for uninstalling the browser at a later time is if it is acting up and troubleshooting the issue did not resolve it.

Most Windows users can uninstall the web browser from the operating system’s Control Panel applet. Some users have however reported that the uninstallation does not remove the Internet Explorer version from their computer system.

Finding out if the removal of Internet Explorer was successful is not complicated. You could first try and start the browser and check the reported version under Settings > About Internet Explorer.

If Internet Explorer 9 is listed, or if the browser does not start up at all, it is time for a thorough clean-up to remove the browser from the system.

Microsoft has released a Fix it application to resolve Internet Explorer 9 uninstallation issues. Microsoft Fix Its are lightweight programs that resolve specific issues on a system without user interaction.

All that is usually required to do is to run the Fix It with elevated rights. The program will take care of the rest on its own. The particular Internet Explorer 9 Removal Fix It creates a System Restore point before it starts the removal of the browser.

The Fix It app will remove Internet Explorer 9 automatically and prompt for a reboot once it is done.

Microsoft has furthermore posted a manual fix if IE9 cannot be uninstalled correctly on Windows.

To uninstall Internet Explorer 9, follow these steps:

• Log on to the computer as an administrator.
• Close all Internet Explorer browser windows.
• Start Notepad.
• Copy and paste the following HTML text into Notepad to convert the HTML text into plain text:

  FORFILES /P %WINDIR%\servicing\Packages /M Microsoft-Windows-InternetExplorer-*9.*.mum /c “cmd /c echo Uninstalling package @fname && start /w pkgmgr /up:@fname /norestart”

• Click Start, and then click Run.
• Copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Open box, and then press Enter: cmd
• Copy the text from Notepad, paste the text into the Command Prompt window at a command prompt, and then press Enter.
• After the command runs, and the Command Prompt window returns, repeat step 7, and then go to step 9.
• Restart the computer to complete uninstallation of Internet Explorer 9. When you do this, the previously installed version of Internet Explorer is installed.

The Fix It hopefully resolves all Internet Explorer 9 removal issues for Windows users. Did you try out Microsoft’s latest web browser? What’s your verdict? (via)

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: internet-explorer, microsoft fix it, uninstall internet explorer, uninstall internet explorer 9