HPBPRO.exe

Problem: A user reported serious response time problems on her machine while trying to open attachments in Outlook and while accessing various internet links within Internet Explorer. It's still not clear what was really causing the problem, but Filemon showed very heavy file activity from HPBPRO.exe. It's apparently part of the HP Toolbox product, which is non-essential to the operation of the HP printers. Lots of hits on the internet indicated that the program was causing performance problems. And, there was a lot of discussion about how to remove HPBPRO, but it was not clear which was the best way (It's not an item in Add/Remove Programs). Simply renaming the file in the Windows\System32 directory didn't completely stop related file activity. There was still an SVCHOST task trying to execute it.

Solution: I navigated to C:\Program Files\Hewlett Packard\Tools and found an Uninstall program. After I ran this, all file activity related to HPBPRO.exe stopped. All is well so far. If we have any fallout from this, I'll update the post....

Mac Server Share Points

Problem: The user reported that no one could logon to the Macintosh network from any of the workstations. After I verified that I also could not logon, I logged onto the X Server as Administrator and found that the "Users" share point was listed, however it only contained a few userids (including mine). Looking further I found that there was now a "Users1" directory which contained all the real user profiles. Apparently, the RAID device which contains all the user profiles and data for the network had dropped connectivity for some amount of time, releasing the "Users" share point (The RAID device was later found to be hung and in need of a firmware upgrade) . When a few users attempted to logon, a new "Users" share point was mounted and captured those few userids, but the system would not allow them to logon. In the mean time the RAID device reconnected and created the "Users1" share point, since "Users" was already mounted.

Solution: To work around this situtation and allow people to logon, we renamed the "Users" directory to "XUsers" and then renamed the "Users1" directory to "Users". This allowed the users to find the correct path to their user profiles. The final fix was to upgrade the firmware and restart the RAID device.

Printers That "Don't Print"

Problem: The user reported that her printer wasn't printing. The first thing I usually try is to print a test page; if it doesn't print I can usually see the print in the queue and then determine what the problem is. In this case, the print flashed through the queue and disappeared into limbo. Gone without a trace. I remembered that I had seen this problem before and spent many hours trying to resolve it by reloading drivers until I was completely frustrated. As a desperate last resort, I did the following.......

Solution: This is difficult so you might have to write it down:

1. Unplug the power cord
2. Wait about 30 seconds
3. Plug in the cord

Fooling Exchange

Problem: A user reported that each time she got a meeting invitation, Exchange was also sending the invitation to another account in the office next door (her boss). I checked all the usual settings in her Outlook configuration and could find no reason for the invitation being forwarded. All attempts to figure out what was causing this failed.

Solution: This is not a solution, but a workaround. I exported her mail to a .pst file and saved her Outlook data strored in her user profile (both the Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook and the Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook paths). I also saved her Desktop, Favorites and My Documents directories from her user profile. I then had the administrator delete her Exchange mailbox and her Windows userid. After he redefined her userid and mailbox and reset the permissions on her server directory, I had her logon to recreate her local user profile. I launched Outlook to re-establish her Outlook connection to the Exchange server and restored all her saved Outlook settings. At the end of all this she was able to get a meeting invitation without forwarding the phantom invitation to her boss.

I have no idea why this worked, but it's okay so far. I have my fingers crossed (as I often do in this business)