Tag Archives: “Windows Vista”

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 DNS Server may stop responding to DNS queries and requests from client computers

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 DNS Server may stop responding to DNS queries and requests from client computers, this issue may occur randomly and when it is occuring the DNS Server stops responding.

This issue occurs because the DNS Server goes into an infinite loop, more information about this issue and a hotfix to address the issue is provided in Microsoft KB 2655960 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2655960

Troubleshoot a Blue Screen of Death BSOD or Crash Dump on a Microsoft Windows Operating System

It’s probably the thing we all dread most, evereything has been working great for weeks/months/years and then suddenly your machine starts randomly crashing to a Blue Screen of Death or BSOD

All is not lost though as Windows will often generate its own crash dump a report of what happened to cause the crash, this is often invaluable when it comes to finding the cause and fixing it.

A company called Nirsoft offer a great little utility called Blue Screen View, you can download it from here ttp://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

This program will automatically analyse the default Mini Dump and Crash Dump locations and then pull back a summary of the driver or system file that was most likley the cause of your crash.  In many cases it’s then just a simple case of removing the offending software, updating/downgrading the device driver or installing a software patch/hotfix.

CPU Usage may increase to 100% while you are scrolling through a Web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 9

CPU Usage may increase to 100% while you are scrolling through a Web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 9

This can occur if the “Use smooth scrolling” option is enabled in “Internet Options” by default the “Use smooth scrolling” setting is enabled in Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9.

To resolve the issue you just need to disable/untick the “Use smooth scrolling” option in Internet Explorer by following the steps below

  1. On the “Tools” menu in Internet Explorer, click “Internet Options” then click the “Advanced” tab
  2. Click to untick the “Use smooth scrolling” check box as shown in the screenshot below

The Microsoft knowledge base article KB 885355 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885355

ATI / AMD Catalyst 12.1 Driver

ATI / AMD have released the Catalyst 12.1 preview driver you can obtain the driver from here http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst121Previewdriver.aspx

The AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview includes all of the features found in AMD Catalyst™ 11.12 and also includes all of the latest optimizations found in the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance drivers (AMD Catalyst 11.12 does not include the latest 11.11c optimizations).   It is highly recommended that all gamers use the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver.

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver:

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

  • Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
  • ·         Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections – 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays.

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Application Profiles

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
  • Please be sure to select the “Restore Factory Defaults” option under the Catalyst Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature – this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Video UI improvements

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simplify adjustment of video color and video quality control.

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver (in addition to the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance driver)

  • Improves performance (10-15%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossfireX configurations