SON SON
Can’t Read Reader
You can’t consider a Windows operating system installation complete until you’ve got Adobe Reader on your system. So many assets on the Web come in Acrobat form, and unless you have the full program on your software shelf you need Reader to check them out.If you’re the kind of power-user who turns off User Account Control, or if you log on right into the default administrator account, you might notice that Adobe Reader 8 won’t install after download—or after you discover it on some other media that included it. That’s a known problem, and you’re not alone.
You’ll have to solve this problem through one of two ways. If you’ve turned off UAC, turn it back on. Go into Control Panel, click User Accounts, and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Restart the computer. Then, install Adobe Reader normally. When the installation is complete, you can turn UAC off again if you wish.
If, however, UAC is on and Reader still won’t install, you’ll need to run the installer in Windows XP compatibility mode. Navigate to the folder into which you saved the Reader installer. Right-click it. Click the Compatibility tab. Under Compatibility Mode, check Run This Program in Compatibility Mode and, below that, choose Windows XP from the list. Reader should install just fine after that.
Wire Won’t Fire
So, you installed Windows Vista, it worked, you were happy, and then one day you get a bizarre blue screen with an error message along the lines of DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. The first thing you have to wonder is where those friendlier error messages went during the development.
Now, think back. You probably plugged in an IEEE 1392 (FireWire) device at some point, such as a digital video camera or an external hard drive. You left it turned on and allowed Windows Vista to go to sleep. When Vista woke up, it gave you that rude error message.
The problem lies in a driver called Sbp2Port.sys, which is a mass storage driver that has a problem with sleeping computers. You need an update for it, which you can find right here on Microsoft’s server.
Download the update and when it’s in place, your FireWire stuff should let Windows Vista sleep peacefully
iFried
When Apple released iTunes 7.1 to deal with a huge number of incompatibilities the music front-end had with Windows Vista, it introduced one new problem that has some iPod users surprised and dismayed.
Normally, when you go to remove your iPod, you click the little icon in the tray (a.k.a. the System Notification Area) that allows you to unplug a USB item safely. If you mouse over it, it’s called Safely Remove Hardware. If you use that interface with Windows Vista and iTunes 7.1, the routine could corrupt the contents of your iPod’s hard drive.
The solution: don’t use it. When you’re done syncing up your iPod, just pull the cord gently from the USB port and be on your way. If you do corrupt your iPod, plug it back in, go to the iPod’s summary panel in iTunes, and click Restore to fix it. Then, avoid “safely” removing it–just yank it out like a daredevil. Sometimes, it pays to live dangerously.