I've got a few posts in the pipeline at the moment thanks to the generous time I've had on hols, but one thing caught my attention whilst fixing a problem on a Windows 8.1 Enterprise desktop.
I use Secunia to help keep an eye on installed software - it can be difficult to keep track of all the software installed sometimes, and this solution seems to cover various types of installer (including EXE's copied into a folder, without any associated registry settings).
So after running it and getting caught up on some minor version changes it also pointed out that there was a deprecated version of MSXML v4 deployed and after some laborious - but necessary - ownership and permission changes in SysWOW64 / System32 directories, I'd removed the MSXML v4 libraries. Of course that's never enough - Also noticed MSXML v3 so did a bit of digging into the upgrade path to version 6 (most of which dated back to 2007). No indication of warning signs.
So some more ownership & permission changes followed by some deletes. All fine.
Some time later.... I had cause to make a networking change and tried to open the Network and Sharing Center... hmmm. Nothing happens.
I try a few other control panel items and get a mix of results but most of the really important control panel pages aren't working. Some just aren't responding, others open the dialog but have particular tabs throwing exceptions about panel pages.
So aided by a bit of digging around I find the reference to the system file checker (sfc) - Always have a look at the command before you run it (rather than just doing what a web page tells you to...ironic considering this is a blog post). I hadn't connected the dots between MSXML and the problems at this stage so was curious about the log file sfc /scannow would generate.
000007c6 [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\System32"\[l:22{11}]"msxml3r.dll" from store
000007c7 [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\System32"\[l:20{10}]"msxml3.dll" from store
000007c8 [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:48{24},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64"\[l:22{11}]"msxml3r.dll" from store
000007c9 [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:48{24},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64"\[l:20{10}]"msxml3.dll" from store
There it was - literally as simple as that. Of course now everything was working as expected I did what I should have done first and read up on the MS Xml Parser roadmap.
Moral of the story...If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (especially if you have a cold and know you're not operating at 100%)
I'll post less dumb things as soon as I've got Kali set up on my new Pi B+.
