Data Execution Prevention - Internet Explorer

Data Execution Prevention can be turned off completely, but it's kind of a pain.  If you find that it's only interfering with Internet Explorer, then this is any easy fix.

Symptoms:  Either Internet Explorer quickly shuts down on its own or you see the following window appear when trying to open the browser:

1.  Go to Start > Run and type the following:  inetcpl.cpl

2.  Press OK and the Internet Explorer Options window will appear.

3.  Go to the Advanced tab.

4.  Uncheck "Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks*"  (It's near the bottom)

5.  Click OK and Internet Explorer should open just fine.

Blackberry Won't Turn On

I've seen it several times:  a user's Blackberry stays powered off with a black screen.  This likely happened after you disconnected your phone in the middle of an update.  The only indication of life is the blinking red light in the corner.  Nothing seems to wake it up and the Desktop Manager doesn't recognize that anything is connected.  What do you do?

This:

1)  Make sure you have Blackberry's Desktop Manager installed.
2)  Go to Start > Run and copy and paste the following line exactly (meaning with the quotation marks):

"c:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader\loader.exe" /nojvm

3)  The Application Loader Wizard will appear -- click "Next."
4)  In the "Connection:" drop-down menu, you should see "USB-PIN: UNKNOWN".  Click the "Next" button.
5)  You should then see a list of applications ready to be installed for your Blackberry.  Hit Next and Finish and you are well on your way to getting your Blackberry back to life. Congrats!  Just don't disconnect anything and let the lengthy process finish completely.

NOTE:  If you do not see a list of applications mentioned in step 5 and instead see the message "The Blackberry Desktop Software does not have Blackberry Device Software for the device that you have connected to the computer.  Contact your wireless service provider or system administrator," then you must download Blackberry's Operating System for your carrier and device.  Just select the appropriate carrier and network type, select your Blackberry model from the list and download the latest version.  Install this download and follow the above steps again and you should be on the right path.

Outlook 2003 Will Not Open

No matter how many times you click the Outlook icon, it never pops up on your screen.  Sometimes it has started, but you would never know because the graphic user interface never appears.  Try this:

1.  Press the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys together.
2.  Click on the "Image Name" column header (this sorts all processes alphabetically).
3.  Look for "OUTLOOK.EXE".
4.  Click on every instance of it and click the End Process button until none are listed.

At this point, you may be able to open Outlook.

So what happened?  I often blame Outlook problems on Plug-ins.  iTunes has been especially troublesome lately as the iPhone seeks to integrate with every piece of software produced thus far.  The iTunes plug-in allows iPhones to synchronize with Outlook contacts.  I suggest finding other ways to accomplish this, because the iTunes plug-in has been a repeat offender in cases such as this -- it will re-install itself when you update iTunes.  Other repeat offenders have been Google Desktop and Skype, but these have been less common as they released updates.

How to remove plug-ins:

Go to Tools > Options > Other tab > Advanced Options button > COM Add-ins.  This is where you'll find the iTunes plug-in and possibly others listed.  I personally remove all of these, but by all means keep what you find valuable. 

If you are still unable to open Outlook, try going to Start > Run... and type in:
Outlook /safe
(note the space before the slash)

This will open Outlook without any plug-ins.  Once open, you can then disable problematic plug-ins as instructed above.

More-advanced users can remove plug-ins through the registry by cleaning out this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\

Duplicate Contacts on Blackberry Using Blackberry Enterprise/Professional

If a Blackberry isn't wiped out prior to configuring it for use on Blackberry Enterprise Services, then duplicate contact can appear, causing a frustrating need to delete the unwanted entries one by one.  Sometimes this can also occur if a user attempts to synchronize from the Blackberry Desktop Manager on their computer.  Two "Desktop" contact lists are shown on the device and one of them is configured for wireless synchronization.  You can't clear out an address book database on a BE blackberry because it's marked as read-only -- what do you do?

You reset the address book from the device, which completely clears the address book and repopulates it based on the Blackberry Enterprise Server information:

1.  On the Blackberry device, go to Contacts and open Options.
2.  Type:  rset (there isn't a field to type it in, just type it while Options is open.)
3.  Confirm that you want to wipe the contacts.

The address book will then appear blank, but will soon repopulate with the current contact information.