BiggAndyy

C:\IPCONFIG

WHOA!!!!!!!

That’s a LOT of devices… not just the 5 or 6 usually listed… I had HUNDREDS.  What’s going on?  I don’t want them there, even if they are important!

Turns out they aren’t really that important, especially if you are one of the millions of users still using IPv4 (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) IP address configuration.  Windows 7 ships with both IPv4 and IPv6 already enabled.  All those tunneling adapters are translators from IPv6 to IPv4.  But since we aren’t using IPv6, let’s get rid of them.  They slow down the machine when there are hundreds, and if you want any USEFUL information from IPCONFIG the getting rid of is easy.

First, uncheck the IPv6 option in your Adapter Settings dialog box and click OK.

If it were THAT easy this post would not be necessary.  It isn’t that easy.  When you retype IPCONFIG at a CMD window the tunnel adapters are still listed.  Don’t bother disabling and re-enabling the network cards or starting and stopping the wireless service or even rebooting.  They won’t work.

Second, you probably (99% sure) will need a program from MS called DEVCON.EXE.  This is the key to the rest of the process.  If you are running Windows 7 64 bit (and many of us are) you can get it at this >>link<<.

Put the program somewhere you can access it easily from a CMD window (such as %HOMEPATH%).
Open a CMD window to that directory and type this:

DEVCON REMOVE *6TO4MP

After you hit ENTER, depending on how many of those things have built up over the months, it can take a minute or two.  Eventually the program will give you the all clear and when you type IPCONFIG again, *POOF* they are all gone.

So, no more swirling down the digital doo-doo drain!  You’ve just fixed it on your own.  Good luck.

Windows 7 (and Vista and even Xbox) will encounter this error, and there are numerous fixes in the cloud to remedy this problem.  I’ll quickly list my attempts failures, and then describe what I did that finally did succeed.

I tried editing the Firewall to allow all the Microsoft sites access.  No help.

Updating the Network Card device driver.  Nothing.

Reinstalling several .dll files mentioned at some sites.  Did not work.

Edited the registry to change the MTU (maximum transmission unit).  Zilch.

Swearing loudly.  I felt better but the machine ignored me.  Zip.

Re-performed all those things logged in as the local administrator.  Up until now I did it as the local user and just upped the privileges when asked by 7.  Lots of time but no effect.

Finally I started to think outside the box/cubicle.  I remembered one of the .dll files was java-something-something.dll.  I began to wonder… did this machine have updated Java?  No, it did not.

I updated Java (to 6r30) over the web, rebooted, and heeeeeeey!!!!  That worked!

Once again, the simplest solution was the correct one, and once again, it was one of the Big 3 Things (Windows Updates, Java, and Antivirus).  So, long story short, if the propeller heads start directing you to edit this registry entry and modify that policy object STOP.  Try the simple things first!  It will only take a small amount of time and many times WILL solve the problem.

No, this isn’t an advertisement for insurance coverage against infections from malware, viruses and spyware. But protecting your system from infection is so easy a caveman could do it.

It is really as easy as 1 -2 -3. There are only 3 things to keep track of, and all of them offer automated programs to run in the background so all you need to do is allow permission for those programs to do their job.

Number 1: Windows Updates (if you are on a MAC why are you reading this blog???)
Schedule Windows to do automatic updates WHEN YOUR COMPUTER IS ON!  Years ago it made sense to turn off your computer when you were finished using it.  But today, to insure that you are receiving updates from Microsoft in a timely manner have your Microsoft Update run on Tuesdays (Patch Tuesday in geek-speek).

Number 2: Antivirus protection.  There are many antivirus scanners that real time monitor your system for malicious software and attacks.  Many are subscription based, many are free with a subscription option.  Choose one and USE IT.  Leaving your machine on is just more insurance that you receive updates to your virus definitions and keep the window of opportunity for a new exploit to attack your machine as small as possible.

Number 3: Java/Flash Updates.  Yes, the majority of exploits propagating across the interwebs today are being served up by unpatched or outdated Java and Flash plugins.  Both these have a TSR that receives information from their home base and ask the user to update to the latest versions.  USE THIS!

This will go a long way (even to you administrators) in keeping your machines healthy, fast, and trouble free.

Microsoft Software Update Website.

Avast Antivirus Website.

Java Website.

Flash Website.

The KSOD has now morphed into the HSOD (Hang Screen of Death).  Similar symptoms except the hang comes while the desktop is still visible on the screen.  The mouse moves but the buttons don’t work, nor does the keyboard.

To get the machine past the KSOD (see previous post) I allowed Vista to restore from a restore point.  Now this is different.  The machine works for a few minutes then just hangs.  Repeatedly and reliably.  I am all for computers (especially Windows) being reliable, but not this type of reliable.

Spinrite 6.0 found a few unrecoverable sections of the hard drive but nowhere near the boot sector or MBR.  But since it is good to have as clean a drivespace as possible, I ran the fix and locked those sectors out.  Still hangs.

Asked Mr. Google for some advice and found *gasp* MICROSOFT social technet had some good suggestions!  Seems to be two big culprits in this mystery, the WLAN service and NVidia drivers.  Well, since the WLAN NEEDS to be on (this is a notebook), I tried disabling the service.  Still hangs.

Seems our winner of the Vista Fail Award today is NVidia!  Downloaded new drivers, installed them, and so far no more hangs.

However (and this may be a preview of an upcoming Vista Fail) I just ran the Updates and Vista seems to be KSODding again… I think I’ll start selling little clay figurines on eBay to make a living.

The blacK Screen Of Death.  Well, the black screen of waiting to see if it eventually boots.

It won’t.

And I tried ALL the poindexter solutions on the web.  Hitting the left shift key about a bazillion times.  Using BART-PE and renaming the event log folder.  Spinrite’d the entire hard drive.  Let Vista try to autofix the problem.

None of them worked.  Except one.

Let Vista go back and restore from a backup that at one time worked (assuming you are allowing Vista to do that).

That is the only reliable fix I have found for Vista’s KSOD.  YMMV.

OWA – Outlook Web Access.

My machine was updated from Windows XP64 to Windows 7 64.  Well, by updated I mean Windows reinstalled itself since there is no clear upgrade path from XP64 to 7 (except using the FAST wizard).  But that only saves profile information, NOT the programs themselves.

So I am sitting with a nice, clean Windows 7 installation and no Outlook until I can get hold of the Office 10 DVDs.  (RABBIT CHASING TIME: I can remember when Windows came on 4 3.5 inch diskettes and now it is an entire DVD??? anyway…)

I am logging into OWA to get my mail and I am eminently annoyed that I must relogin every ten minutes or so.  Until I realize I am logging is as a PUBLIC computer.  The autologoff feature for OWA is 10 minutes.  If I select PRIVATE computer I can stay logged in for 6 hours.

Just passing this along… it’s easy to forget.

Ever get the error message at boot “missing or corrupt HAL.DLL”?

Ever copy HAL.DLL to WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ and get the same error at boot time?

Ever swear at the top of your lungs…

Yup, yup, and yup.

Never fear, it is just Microsoft lying to you (once again).

More often than not the error is not with the HAL.DLL file at all but with the boot.ini file.  HAL.DLL just happens to usually be the first file windows looks for to boot with.  (BTW: HAL stands for Hardware Abstraction Layer).

To fix this it may simply be editing the boot.ini file to reflect the actual physical hardware present.  But usually it can be fixed by booting from an install CD and doing a repair console repair.  A fixboot, fixmbr, and bootcfg will get the master boot record, the boot.ini file and everything else playing nice.

Believe me, I spent 4 hours trying to make HAL.DLL work before I found out about the boot.ini and boot record problem.