Why is Windows such a piece of Crap

[Guest]

It's MS that creates this arena, not the lamers demanding that a OS does it
all for you. MS creates this product to market to lamers. Ya Vista is worse,
what a pain and process hog. Gotta switch to a open source platform.

 

[Eric]

I'm an IT professional with over 30 years experience and I cannot solve
simple little problems with Windows. Why are there no log files create so
that those who want can find out what is wrong with their systems.

I too am having the "MCI Command Handling" window show up during shutdown
and cannot find a fix for it. Of couse there is absoulutely no where to
look
to see what error are logged. Event viewer is just somebodys idea of a
joke!

I'm also having a problem with the Welcome Screen. After logging off,
when
I next click on a user id to log back on, the system will not allow for
the
entry of a password. It just sits there staring at me, doing nothing.
The
only way out is a C-A-D to get the real login screen. Again, I can find
lots
of people having this problem but nobody solving it.

A computer system should log every thing that it does for audit purposes
and
error correction. Or at least give me the opportunity to turn on logging.

There are logs if you know where to look. Most of what you need is in Event
Viewer. What is Event Viewer showing you?
I'm an IT professional with about 9 years experience on the job (at least 15
years since I started using PCs) and I have yet to have a problem with
Windows I couldn't fix. Don't flame Windows because you're not smart enough
to fix simple problems.

You don't seem to know much for an IT professional. If you are supposedly
experienced, you could try posting more information about the problem.
The first useful thing you could've posted was the XP version you're
running, which I see you finally mentioned in a response in the thread was
Media Center.
Is this a standalone PC or signing in to a network?

The next thing you might want to mention is how you get the error.
You get a message on shutdown? Is this every shutdown? If you just start
it up and shut it down, or only if you do something in particular in
between, or randomly?
You don't get a password entry on log on? Does this happen on initial
startup, or only if you log off without restart?
Did you check Task Manager to see what processes are running?
Did you check the Startup on both the Start menu and the registry to see if
you're running any programs that could possibly cause these problems?
Surely you know where to look for information in the registry if you have 30
years experience.

Did you search for answers? Most answers to "simple Windows problems" can
be found with a simple search on either Google or support.microsoft.com.

 

[Guest]

Ok Eric here goes:

I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP2 on a Sony VAIO
VGC-RA826G with 2GB RAM and three 250 GB SATA disks. The system has been
patched with ALL available hot fixes including the Media Center Roll-up
packages. Optional software loaded is Office 2003 Pro (fully patched), HP
Laserjet 1320 driver (only driver and not the whole HP package), Brother MFL
Pro Suite with Scan-Port, CA Anti-Virus plus some programs which came with
the Sony such as Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premier Standard, WinDVD, Sonic
Stage, Quicken, Click-to-DVD and DVGate Plus.

This PC is a stand-alone system but is part of a home workgroup. Local
accounts only; no domain login.

I'm having two problems which I don't think are related, but you never know.
The first problem has to do with the Windows Welcome logon. After logging
off the computer, the Windows Welcome screen is displayed with the names of
the two user accounts I've created on this machine displayed. Both accounts
have passwords enabled. When I click on either account so that I can enter
the password and logon, which the account gets highlighted, there is never a
cursor present in the password box. Because of this, I cannot enter a
password and hence cannot logon. The only way around this is the
Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence which brings up the standard logon screen. From then I
can enter a username and password and logon. Alternatively, I can shutdown
and reboot the system and then for one time and one time only, I can enter a
password on the Windows Welcome screen.

The second problem has to do with the "MCI Command Window" dialogue box
popping up on shutdown. When this message is displayed, the system waits
till I "End Task" before continuing the shutdown. This problem appears to be
quite common as I've seen others searching for a resolution as well. I
cannot associate any program I'm running with this message. Sometimes I
think it has to do with Windows Media Player or WinDVD or some other video
program, but when I run them, and shutdown everything works. But when I'm
not watching, this message just pops up.

In neither case does anything show up in the event log. I've enabled
auditing for all logon events and still see nothing that looks like either a
cause or result.

This machine had a catastrophic system disk failure 3 weeks ago. At that
time I bought a new drive, did a complete system restore, applied all
required patches from Sony, then applied all patches from MS. Recreated from
scratch the two user accounts, restored from backup the data in the two user
accounts. The "MCI Command" message which I was getting before replacing the
disk, came back right away. The Windows Welcome screen just started a couple
of days ago.

Prior to the rebuild I was having problems on occasion with the logoff not
completing. It would sit at the "Saving settings" screen for hours at a time
and never complete.

In neither case is it possible to check the Task Manager because on one
setting I'm logged off and trying to log on and on the "MCI" error, if the
task manager is running, it is stopped as part of the logoff prior to getting
this message.

Even with 30 year experience, I do not know were to look in the registry. I
know were to look for some things, but when I don't know what is even causing
this problem, how do I know even which hive to begin looking in. Is this a
"user" problem or does it happen at the system level.

I've searched high and low on the web before ever coming to this newsgroup.
In fact before posting, I search all the newgroups as well. While I've seen
many people talk about the "MCI" problem, I don't see anybody with the
Windows Welcome Screen problem. I do see issues with the logoff hang, but
they don't appear to apply to my case.

Any further information you need, just ask.

Greg ...

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm an IT professional with over 30 years experience and I cannot solve
simple little problems with Windows. Why are there no log files create so
that those who want can find out what is wrong with their systems.

Never heard of the Event Viewer in all of those 30 years' experience?
It's a poor workman who blames his tools; but an even poorer one who
doesn't even know they exist.

I too am having the "MCI Command Handling" window show up during shutdown
and cannot find a fix for it. Of couse there is absoulutely no where to look
to see what error are logged. Event viewer is just somebodys idea of a joke!

I'm also having a problem with the Welcome Screen. After logging off, when
I next click on a user id to log back on, the system will not allow for the
entry of a password. It just sits there staring at me, doing nothing. The
only way out is a C-A-D to get the real login screen. Again, I can find lots
of people having this problem but nobody solving it.

A computer system should log every thing that it does for audit purposes and
error correction. Or at least give me the opportunity to turn on logging.

Nonsense; that's a complete waste of resources. A computer does need,
however, a means of turning such logging on when there's an issue to
troubleshoot.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Eric]

Ok Eric here goes:

I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP2 on a Sony VAIO
VGC-RA826G with 2GB RAM and three 250 GB SATA disks. The system has been
patched with ALL available hot fixes including the Media Center Roll-up
packages. Optional software loaded is Office 2003 Pro (fully patched), HP
Laserjet 1320 driver (only driver and not the whole HP package), Brother
MFL
Pro Suite with Scan-Port, CA Anti-Virus plus some programs which came with
the Sony such as Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premier Standard, WinDVD,
Sonic
Stage, Quicken, Click-to-DVD and DVGate Plus.

This PC is a stand-alone system but is part of a home workgroup. Local
accounts only; no domain login.

See, now connecting to a workgroup could be a useful piece of information.
The more you can provide about the situation, the better advice you are
likely to receive.

I'm having two problems which I don't think are related, but you never
know.
The first problem has to do with the Windows Welcome logon. After logging
off the computer, the Windows Welcome screen is displayed with the names
of
the two user accounts I've created on this machine displayed. Both
accounts
have passwords enabled. When I click on either account so that I can
enter
the password and logon, which the account gets highlighted, there is never
a
cursor present in the password box. Because of this, I cannot enter a
password and hence cannot logon. The only way around this is the
Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence which brings up the standard logon screen. From
then I
can enter a username and password and logon. Alternatively, I can
shutdown
and reboot the system and then for one time and one time only, I can enter
a
password on the Windows Welcome screen.

Are there any users set up on the machine with no password, aside from the
Guest user?
Is the Guest user enabled?

You first just said it "won't allow password entry". Now you say there is a
password box, and no cursor present? Is the mouse still on the screen?
Does the password box appear to be completely disabled? Did you try
selecting it with the keyboard ie tab key?
Does it still have a problem if you disconnect it from other machines?

The second problem has to do with the "MCI Command Window" dialogue box
popping up on shutdown. When this message is displayed, the system waits
till I "End Task" before continuing the shutdown. This problem appears to
be
quite common as I've seen others searching for a resolution as well. I
cannot associate any program I'm running with this message. Sometimes I
think it has to do with Windows Media Player or WinDVD or some other video
program, but when I run them, and shutdown everything works. But when I'm
not watching, this message just pops up.

I did a quick search of MCI errors and the first suggestion it seems is to
put your Windows disk in, start an install, and select "repair".
You might try restoring if you have good restore points set up.

As far as the task manager goes, you may not be able to view it while the
MCI message is up if it comes up while you are shutting down. If the
message sometimes comes up and sometimes doesn't, if you can figure out what
you can do to make it come up - try checking task manager before shutdown on
a clean startup/shutdown and comparing processes running to just before
shutting down where you get that message.

As far as the registry goes, check what processes Windows runs in the
background. The first place to check is your startup.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and any other keys you might have in those paths that start with "Run".
Those are all programs that run when you start your machine.
If you can find the name of a process in Task Manager associated with the
error, you can search the registry for that too and you may be able to
figure out what is causing the error.

 

[Guest]

Eric, password required for both accounts that I created plus the
Administrator account. Guest account has never been enabled. ASPNET,
HelpAssistant account and the SUPPORT account have not been touched.

What happens exactly is that I log off the machine. Windows display the
"Windows Welcome" Screen which displays both mine and my wife's account.
When I click on either of these accounts, the password entry box is then
displayed. However, normally there would be a single black vertical blinking
line as a cursor and I would be able to enter a password. But since this
problem started, there is not black blinking cursor; the box is just empty
and when I try to type in the box, nothing that I type is displayed. It just
does not take my password. I have tried selecting it with the tab key. My
mouse still works fine. I can sign on to the machine via RDP as well.

Whether I'm connected to the network or not seems to make no difference.

I can then hit the CTRL-ALT-DEL key sequence to bring up the normal Windows
Login box where I can enter both my username and password and sign on.

Something new has now happened. I had Fast User Switching turned off. So I
turned it back on and when I did so, the Welcome Screen problem went away.
If I turn Fast User Switching back off again, the problem comes back.

There is nothing starting at system startup of login that I don't want. I
use the Autologins tool from SysInternals to manage the processes that run at
both startup and login.

Greg ...

 

[Guest]

Greg, If you're still having these problems then try doing a POE under the
"start up" tab in msconfig. I don't think I saw that suggestion in any of the
previous replies. Hope this helps.

For all the rest of ya'll "Pros" out there, Bill Gates made Windows for me,
An old fart that thought computers were only for banks. He just didn't
realize how many millions of "Pros" were going to try to crack his Windows.

 

[Guest]

Hi: I am a first time user of chat forums like these, but I too am having
major problems with MCI not handling. my after my internet explorer has been
inactive for more than 30 mins everyrhing is frozen and I have to reboot,
that is when the window comes up about MCI. Please could someone help with
this infuriating problem.

 

[limatho]

Hi Greg,

I'm facing exactly the same problem.
Today I reinstalled WinXP SP2 completely clean. I've installed Office
and some small utility programs. After a few hours working I started
to face this problem, usually after switching between accounts (I've
two), but the problem not always occurs.
I've no strange processes running, neither by the system account nor
any of the user accounts.
Also no unfamiliar services are running, though i stopped some
services by default that don't make sense on my computer. But that
shouldn't matter, first because I know what I'm doing and secondly the
problem behaves inconsistent.
Indeed Windows is crap, but unfortunately the whole world is using it
(yes I tried Linux...)