Interesting Logon Issue with Active Desktop
in [Windows XP]
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From: Daniel P. Cayea on 20 Nov 2007 08:56 I have several users whom when they log onto Windows XP machines they get an error message that says: "Internet Explorer cannot find the Active Desktop HTML file. This file is needed for your Active Desktop. To turn off Active Desktop, click OK." Additiionally a large bar shows up on the left side of the screen with common folder tasks on the left. I'm not sure how to fix this, any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Dan
From: Malke on 20 Nov 2007 10:06 Daniel P. Cayea wrote: > I have several users whom when they log onto Windows XP machines they get an > error message that says: > > "Internet Explorer cannot find the Active Desktop HTML file. This file is > needed for your Active Desktop. To turn off Active Desktop, click OK." > > Additiionally a large bar shows up on the left side of the screen with > common folder tasks on the left. > > I'm not sure how to fix this, any advice you can offer would be greatly > appreciated. Active Desktop (discontinued in Vista because it is a security risk) allows one to set a "live" html page as the Desktop background. Apparently your users have set a page that no longer exists. Have them disable Active Desktop: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190228 As for the Common Tasks bar, you can show it or not. MVP Doug Knox has a script that makes it very easy to remove: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_commtask_desktop.htm Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
From: Daniel P. Cayea on 20 Nov 2007 10:53 Hi I tried the KB article, but none of the options that MS lists are available to me. For example, Active Desktop isn't turned on and the Web tab isn't available in the Displays control. I also tried Doug Knox's vbs fix and that didn't work either. -Dan "Malke" wrote: > Daniel P. Cayea wrote: > > I have several users whom when they log onto Windows XP machines they get an > > error message that says: > > > > "Internet Explorer cannot find the Active Desktop HTML file. This file is > > needed for your Active Desktop. To turn off Active Desktop, click OK." > > > > Additiionally a large bar shows up on the left side of the screen with > > common folder tasks on the left. > > > > I'm not sure how to fix this, any advice you can offer would be greatly > > appreciated. > > Active Desktop (discontinued in Vista because it is a security risk) > allows one to set a "live" html page as the Desktop background. > Apparently your users have set a page that no longer exists. Have them > disable Active Desktop: > > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190228 > > As for the Common Tasks bar, you can show it or not. MVP Doug Knox has a > script that makes it very easy to remove: > > http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_commtask_desktop.htm > > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computers > www.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User >
From: Malke on 20 Nov 2007 11:44 Daniel P. Cayea wrote: > Hi > > I tried the KB article, but none of the options that MS lists are available > to me. For example, Active Desktop isn't turned on and the Web tab isn't > available in the Displays control. > > I also tried Doug Knox's vbs fix and that didn't work either. If Active Desktop isn't turned on, then it is probable that either 1) the workstations are infected with some variant of the Smitfraud trojan; 2) the workstations were infected but you subsequently cleaned them, leaving the startup entries. Since you've told us nothing about the computers, your network (workgroup vs. domain, are you the IT admin or do you have one, the malware status of the machines and the protection you use, etc.) that's all I can say. General troubleshooting: 1. The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't? 2. The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and versions) did you use to determine this? Be sure the computer is clean: http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware 3. If this is on a domain and you have an IT Dept. contact them. If a domain and you are the IT person, check Group Policy settings. 4. If this is a Workgroup (or a domain for that matter) and you don't have an official IT admin (small business with someone simply designated as the "tech person"), consider having a professional come on-site. This will not be someone from your local version of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad. Get recommendations from friends, colleagues, etc. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
From: Elmo on 20 Nov 2007 14:40
Daniel P. Cayea wrote: > I have several users whom when they log onto Windows XP machines they get an > error message that says: > > "Internet Explorer cannot find the Active Desktop HTML file. This file is > needed for your Active Desktop. To turn off Active Desktop, click OK." > > Additionally a large bar shows up on the left side of the screen with > common folder tasks on the left. > > I'm not sure how to fix this, any advice you can offer would be greatly > appreciated. > > Thanks > Dan Turn of Active Desktop. Remove Common Tasks from Desktop http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_commtask_desktop.htm -- Joe =o) |