Sharepoint site 500 Error after Office Web Apps Installed

After Office Web Apps was installed on our SharePoint 2010 server, we could not access the site any more with ERROR 500. We tried to restart IIS by typing “IISReset” in command line console and even rebooted the server. The problem did not disappear. Finally it turned out the Office Web Apps did not correctly update the web.config file in folder “C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\”. To fix it, just remove “<staticContent />” from the configuration file. Here is the sample of the file with problem:

    <staticContent>
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".atomsvc" mimeType="application/atomsvc+xml" />
      <remove fileExtension=".svg" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".svg" mimeType="image/svg+xml" />
    </staticContent>
<staticContent />
  </system.webServer>

Kaseya agents went offline with Comcast internet.

We got this problem many times before we came up a solution. It was really a big headache for us. Agents could not go online even they got a backup server address. Our technician had to go to the client’s sites and RESET the Comcast modem (Restart the modem did not solve the problem sometimes).

We did diagnosis and found out those agents actually were connected to our server using the primary server address. But the network packets could not get back to those agents. We double checked the firewall rules on our side and the client side. Rerouted network traffic. Problems were still there. Our service IP was not blocked, because we had no problem to access agent computers using HTTP or RDP from our server.

Finally it turned out the Comcast cable modems were blocking the Kaseya network packets by using something called “Smart IP Packet Filter”. It is enabled by default. To disable it, log in your Comcast cable modem, and check “Disable Smart IP Packet Filter” in the “Firewall” section. Amazingly, all your agent go online right away!

Solution: Disable “Smart IP Packet Filter” in Comcast cable modem

AVG Gone MAD Again?

While doing remote support for our client to removal malware, I got a very weird problem. I could not run any programs except Windows Explorer. Whenever I tried it, I got an error message saying: “Windows cannot access the specified device path or file. You may not have appropriate permissions”. However, I was able to start any programs normally if I chose “Run as…” as another administrator. I first checked all processes, services and loaded dll modules for malware. All of them were clean. I then checked the .Exe file type settings and file association. There was no exe hijack. I also checked the security permissions on one sample program and reset them even they were fine. But the problem was still there. No much useful information could be found using Google. At last, I noticed that there was an AVG anti-virus running on the background and the AVG icon was missing on the Task Bar. I decided to uninstall it but could not do it because of the same “permission” problem when opening “Add/ Remove Program” in Control Panel. I managed to get it uninstalled finally using our service program. After 2 hours hard work, the problem was fixed even without rebooting!

System error 5 when map a drive from Vista to XP

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.
   If you are prompted for an administrator password, type your password. Or, if you are prompted for confirmation, click Continue.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. If the LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy registry entry does not exist, follow these steps:
   1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   2. Type LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy, and then press ENTER.
4. Right-click LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy, and then click Modify.
5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
6. Exit Registry Editor.

Automatic Fix: MS Fixit

Cannot Start MS Office Outlook - invalid XML.

Start outlook with the /resetnavpane switch. At start menu, run, type outlook.exe /resetnavpane

Quick Fix for Slow Performance with “Open with Explorer” in SharePoint

If you find it takes long time to open shared documents on your SharePoint server with explorer, you may be in the right place. The solution is very simple. Just disable “Automatically detect settings” in Internet Explorer.

Here is how:

1. Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools menu. Click Internet Options.

2. In Internet Options, go to Connections tab.

3. Click LAN settings.

4. Uncheck “Automatically detect settings”

5. Click OK twice to apply changes and go back to Internet Explorer to try “Open with Explorer” again.

Wow! Problem has been fixed! Right?

PS. Here is what should look like after making the change:

Funny “PXKBF.SYS”

The driver “pxkbf.sys” belongs to the antimalware software Prevx. Even though Prevx will not report this file as malware file during regular scan,  the file is listed on their website as malware!