Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys on your keyboard to bring up the Task Manager.  Look under the Proceses tab for a process running called Hotfix.exe.  Highlight Hotfix and then click the button to End Process.  The Think Point program should end and your normal desktop should start to appear.

After you have your normal desktop back up, go online and download the program Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (can be downloaded from www.download.com).  After downloading this program, make sure to click on the Update tab and check for any updates.  Run the program using the Quick Scan option.  When it is complete (typically takes about 15 minutes), Malwarebytes will notify you of the problems it has found.  Click on the Remove Selected button.  Restart your computer.

Upon researching the error, I learned that it was caused by some permissions that were not set to allow me to install the product.  I had to changes permissions in the registry in order to proceed with the install and get it to successfully complete.

I went to Start, then in the search blank typed in “regedit” and hit Enter.  I navigated to the registry key indicated in the error message (if you don’t know where the key is, click on Edit, then Find, then type in as much of the key as you can know – you will then be navigated to the correct key).  Once you located the key in the registry editor, right click on it and choose “Permissions”.

Under the box Group or User Names, click on the Add button.  In the “select users or groups’ box that comes up, click on the “Advanced” button.  In the next box that comes up, click on the “Find Now” button.  In the search results that come up, look for “Everyone” and select it.  Hit OK, then hit OK again.

Now you are back at the first Permissions for XX box.  In the section Groups or User Names, highlight the newly added Everyone.  Check the box under Allow, for Full Control.  Hit OK.

Restart the computer and try reinstalling Office again.  I did run into this error a few more times, each time for a different registry key.  I repeated the above steps for each key that appeared.  Eventually the product successfully installed.

Go to Control Panel, then Network and Sharing Center.  Click on Manage Network Connections.

Locate your connection – it might be the Wireless Network Connection (if you connect wirelessly) or Local Area Connection (if you use an ethernet cord).  Right click on your connection and choose Properties.

In the Properties box that comes up, look under the Network tab at the box under the words “This connections uses the following items” .  Locate the words “Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IP)” and double click on them.

In the box that pops up, under the General tab you should check the tabs that say “Use the following IP address” and  ”Use the following DNS server addresses”.  Fill in the appropriate boxes with the IP address you want to assign.  Hit OK to save.

It is not possible for a single antivirus software to catch and prevent every possible infection out there.  While in general they can prevent a lot, you might just be one of those lucky people to discover a new infection that the antivirus program does not yet have a fix for.  The moral of this story is: don’t be lured into thinking just because you have an antivirus program installed that it will prevent anything bad from happening to your computer.

Well, you ask, how to I prevent virus attacks on my computer if I can’t trust my antivirus program?  The single easiest thing you can do is to not allow anything to download unless you are 100% certain it is a legitimate program.  If you are on a webpage and something pops up and asks you to download a program, allow a program, allow an add-on, etc., do not do so if you do not know what it is.  If you manually allow a malicious program to download, your antivirus program will not intervene.  If in doubt, say “no”, then write down the name of the program that wanted to run and do a search on it to determine if it is legitimate or not.

Also use caution when surfing on the web.  Certain types of sites are hotbeds for malicious software, particularly anything that advertises as free (i.e. free music, free games, free porn, etc).  Stick to well known and trusted sites when possible.

Email attachments are another good way to get a virus.  If an attachment looks suspicious, do not open it.  Even if it is from your mother.  Again, if in doubt, say no and verify first before opening or downloading anything.  Along the same lines, do not click on links embedded in emails if you are not sure where you will be directed to.  This is especially true for sites requesting financial information.  If your bank sends you and email and wants you to click on a link to verify account information, you are better off ignoring the link in the email and instead going directly to your institution’s website and logging in there.

I am not saying that antivirus programs are a waste of money.  I recommend them for people who do a lot of internet surfing, and especially for people who have teenagers in the house.  If you use an antivirus program, it is very important that you regularly download the updates for the program.  Most programs automatically download the updates, but be proactive and check yourself every so often to be sure you have the most up-to-date software out there.  Antivirus programs must constantly send out updates in order to stay on top of recent known infections.  Keeping an updated antivirus program and using caution when online are the best things you can do to prevent computer infection.

The drive would read CDs that had information on them without a problem.  I just got the error message when I tried to burn something onto a blank CD.  I did all the troubleshooting steps of making sure the CDs were compatible with the drive, making sure I had the updated drivers installed, deleting the drive from device manager and letting it reinstall, cleaning the lens, etc.  I went to the drive Properties and made sure that under the Recording tab the box was checked that said “enable cd recording on this drive”.  I changed registry keys, and I verified that the computer was not running any third party cd burning software such as Roxio or Nero.  None of this would get the error message to go away.

I finally discovered that the IMAPI service was not automatically running, and though I would manually start it, it would not stay on.  After a little more digging it seems that there was a conflict between this and the XP SP3 update.  I unstalled service pack 3 and the error message went away.  I was able to burn CDs again.  I don’t know that this is a perfect fix, but it got me where I needed to be.

(You may need to do this in Safe Mode with Networking if you cannot boot to regular mode.)

Go to your C:\Windows\System32\drivers folder
Locate the file nvlddmkm.sys
Rename it to nvlddmkm.sys.old

Next go to nvidia.com and download the latest drivers for your graphic card and system

Go to the C:\Nvidia folder
Find the file nvlddmkm.sy_
Copy and paste it to the C:\Windows\System32 folder

Open a CMD (DOS) window
Type in: CD C:\Windows\System32 and hit Enter
Type in: expand.exe nvlddmkm.sy_ nvlddmkm.sys 
Hit Enter
Once the expansion is complete, go to the System32 folder and find the new file nvlddmkm.sys.  Copy it and paste it into the C:\Windows\System32\drivers folder.
Restart the computer.

Here are steps to resolve the problem:

Step 1
First try downloading and installing the Gear Software drivers, which are the drivers used by iTunes to burn CDs and DVDs.  They can be found here http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/drivers.php

This solutions works sometimes.  If downloading and installing the drivers fixes the problem, then you are done.  If not, try the next step.

Step 2
You will need to change a registry value.  Only make changes to the registry if you know what you are doing.
Click on Start, then Run, then type in: regedit

This brings up the Registry Editor.  Hit the + signs to navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SYSTEM
CurrentControlSet
Control
Class
{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Create a new “Multi String Value” within this key (very important to select Multi String Value).
Name it UpperFilters, and then double click it to add the following text to the box: GEARAspiWDM 
Hit the Enter/Return key after entering the text (called a carriage return) to leave a blank line below the text you just entered.

Close the Registry Editor, then close iTunes.  Open it back up and your problem should go away.

New Problem
The above steps fixed the error message I was getting about iTunes not having the drivers to import and burn CDs and DVDs.  However I soon discovered that a new problem had been created.  I was no longer able to burn a CD/DVD at all from my computer (with or without iTunes).  I kept getting a message that my CD drive could not be located, or that I needed to insert a CD (even though one was already in the drive).  It turns out this was due to third party media player software.  To correct the problem, I did the following:

Go to C:
WINDOWS
System32
Drivers
Look for the file afs.sys.  Rename it to afs.txt.  
Reboot your computer. 

You should now be able to burn CDs/DVDs.

Go to the Search blank (Start – Search in XP, the “Start Search” blank in Vista).  Type in msconfig then hit enter.  A System Configuration box will come up.  Click on the Startup tab.

Every item in the list that you see that has a checkmark in the box on the left is running on start-up on your computer.  To stop one from running, simply uncheck the box on the left and hit Apply.  Many of these programs/processes are necessary for boot-up and should be left alone.  Never stop a program from running if you are not certain of what it is and what it does.  If in doubt, leave well enough alone.  The idea is to look for programs with familiar names that you know you do not need to run on start-up.  Examples of common ones are QuickTime, iTunes, Adobe Acrobat.  By unchecking the box, you are not disabling the program from running and you will still be able to use it.  Rather, you are stopping it from automatically running on start-up, which will help with your computer’s performance.

1. Start by reseting your modem, router, and computer.  To reset your modem and router, simply unplug the power from each device and leave unplugged for about 30 seconds.  Plug the modem back in first, then wait about 30 seconds and plug in the router.  Restart your computer in the meantime.  See if you now have internet.

2. Bypass your router.  Plug your computer directly into your modem – your ethernet cord should go directly from your modem into the back/side of your computer.  Restart your computer.  If you are able to access the internet this way, the problem is with your router.  You could have a bad router, or a setting could have been changed within the router.

3.  Still no internet even though you are plugged in to the modem directly?  Check the lights on your modem and make sure all applicable internet lights are on.  If not, you will need to call your internet service provider and have them check your line for problems.

4. Ping a website.  Go to Start, then Run, then type in the letters CMD and hit Enter.  A black box will appear.  In the box, type in: ping google.com , then hit Enter.  If you see the words Reply From with a series of numbers appearing over and over, then you have an internet connection.  The problem is likely a virus/malware on your compter.  Run a virus scan and clear off any problems found. 

5. If after trying to ping a website (see step above) no information is returned, you might have lost your winsock.  To reset, do the following:  Click on Start button. Type Cmd in the Start Search text box.  Press Ctrl-Shift-Enter keyboard shortcut to run Command Prompt as Administrator. Allow elevation request.  Type netsh winsock reset in the Command Prompt shell, and then press the Enter key.   Restart the computer.