Try New Technology

Because of the recent issues with a Microsoft update to at least Windows 10 (and maybe 8.0/8.1) I am posting the “winsock” fix below…it’s mostly so I can find it online if people ask:

Start, Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select “Run as Administrator” to open a command prompt.
OR Windows 8 or 10: Right-click Start and select “Command Prompt (Admin)“

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset IPv4 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults: netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

Reset IPv6 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults: netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Reboot the machine.

Below is a fix I needed to find after working on a MacOS X install where the person needed to change the Apple ID being used on the machine. While we could Logout and then Login, certain apps would still not update and would prompt for the password still showing the old Apple ID. This is apparently caused by a “receipt” file listed under the App causing the App to be “locked” to the old Apple ID. Follow the steps below to disconnect them.

• Go to the App that needs to be updated with this issue (usually in the /Applications folder).
• Right-click on the App and click “Show Package Contents”.
• Browse into the “Contents” folder, then the “_MASReceipt” folder.
• Delete the “receipt” file

Now you should be able to App Store and update the App. You may need to reboot first though.

This was taken directly from How-To Geek and is only being posted here so I can find it in the future to run on machines.

The Original Article – How-to Geek: How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps (and How to Reinstall Them)

First launch Windows PowerSheel as Administrator (right-click -> Run as administrator).

The following commands to remove the Built-in Apps. Note if they aren’t listed below you can’t remove them (ie Contact Support, Cortana, Edge, and Windows Feedback):

Uninstall 3D Builder:

Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Alarms and Clock:

Get-AppxPackage *windowsalarms* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Calculator:

Get-AppxPackage *windowscalculator* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Calendar and Mail:

Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Camera:

Get-AppxPackage *windowscamera* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Get Office:

Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Get Skype:

Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Get Started:

Get-AppxPackage *getstarted* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Groove Music:

Get-AppxPackage *zunemusic* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Maps:

Get-AppxPackage *windowsmaps* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Microsoft Solitaire Collection:

Get-AppxPackage *solitairecollection* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Money:

Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Movies & TV:

Get-AppxPackage *zunevideo* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall News:

Get-AppxPackage *bingnews* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall OneNote:

Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall People:

Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Phone Companion:

Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Photos:

Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Store:

Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Sports:

Get-AppxPackage *bingsports* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Voice Recorder:

Get-AppxPackage *soundrecorder* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Weather:

Get-AppxPackage *bingweather* | Remove-AppxPackage

Uninstall Xbox:

Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

To Re-install them use the following PowerShell Code:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

First off I must suggest that everyone ALWAYS RUN RKill as IEXPLORE.EXE to you can detect Trojans like this!

I had a computer (Windows 10 Pro) tonight that had a bunch of crapware and bogus antivirus that just “appeared” on May 20th. The kids were being blamed, but it just didn’t add up since nothing aside from all of the this junk was installed on the same day at/around the same time. Running RKill as RKill.exe didn’t detect anything, so then AdwCleaner found a whole bunch of junk and after a reboot looked to have all the infections gone.

Well don’t ever stop there! Once infections are cleaned up it’s always best to start from the beginning (of you toolkit) in case one of them was hiding something else.

I then realized I had ran RKill as rkill.exe and not iexplore.exe (some infections will look for the name rkill.exe and work to hide themselves, but iexplore.exe is the name of Internet Explorer so they won’t hide from that file). So I renamed my file and ran (as Administrator – another thing you always need to do) and this time it found and killed the Windows Service file smass.exe (which is close in name to smss.exe – if found inside of the C:\Windows\System32\ it’s OK). Looking at it’s file location it was obvious it was NOT a real service and based on it’s location had to be bad news. This file was located at “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsAccountManager\smass.exe” so I browsed in to Delete it and it was already running again. After finding out I could not do anything with the Windows Account Manager service (all options were grey) I rebooted Windows 10 into a Command Prompt, and browsed to the file directly. I them renamed it (just to make sure I don’t break anything major on the next reboot), then backed up and renamed the folder I was in (once again to be safe), and rebooted Windows to the desktop. No error on boot and the service is no longer listed and RKill (as iexplore.exe) doesn’t find anything…

Now on to all my other scanning tools – See the Self Help list for all that I use when cleaning infections…but nothing there will teach you things like this.

NOTE: What I could find about the smass.exe is that it’s a Dropper Trojan, but I am guessing it has other file names, which is why the only pages If found about it were questionable and linked to “support” downloads to fix it…most likely these sites were created by the same people or the same kind of people that made the Dropper Trojan in the first place

If you are like I was and find that your ##GB USB key is only showing 2MB or 3MB and needs to be formatted, you might need to “clean” it. These directions are for a Windows computer:

Open an Administrative Command Prompt:

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
——– ————- ——- ——- — —
Disk 0 Online 408 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 7509 MB 6619 MB

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> exit

You will then need to Format the USB key like usual.