What do you do when your state-of-the-art OS on a high-end laptop won't connect to the Internet? Ya call CyberMedics.
We just had a laptop come in, exceptionally new laptop, with Vista Home Premium pre-installed on it. The computer was able to get online for a while and then it wasn't able to. Our "Triage" diagnostic (performed by yours-truly) came up with a preliminary report that Norton Internet Security or the built in Windows/Internet Explorer security settings were set so high that they prevented the laptop from getting online. Triage showed that the laptop was able to get online, and was able to ping the router and DNS server, but it wasn't able to ping any domains, use IE7, or utilize any third-party programs to access the Internet.
After working with the laptop for a while, I was confused to say the least. I lowered much of the security related to connecting to the Internet, including Norton Internet Security. I even went through some of the automated diagnostic software included with Windows to check the system over (which seemed to work well, but in turn, revealed nothing of consequence). However, at one reboot of the system, MySpace IM was able to get online, however no other applications were. Thinking there must be a software issue going on, I restarted the computer in safe mode.
It was the first time I attempted to boot Vista into safe mode. I managed to hit the wrong key the first time, which brought up the Windows Boot Loader, much like Grub in Linux, upon hitting the correct key on the Grub screen will allow the user to pass different startup options to adjust how the OS boots. Now, it seems that Windows has a similar feature. I quickly showed by boss who was quite surprised and pleased with this new feature of Vista.
Not to become distracted by a new feature, I moved right along to get the system into Safe Mode. The first thing I noticed about the new "Advanced Startup Options" menu was that there was a "reverse print" title bar at the top that said "Advanced Startup Options," anyone who has used the Linux "man pages" knows what this looks like, the centered black text with the white "bar-like" background stretching from one side of the screen to the other.
There was also a new option, "Repair your computer" [link]. This looks like the Windows XP repair installation that has so many times saved a system that has crossed my bench at CyberMedics. If it is, and I am having trouble finding much details on the "repair your computer" option in the Vista ASO, then it would simplify matters from XP, which always had to be run from the CD after going through the preliminary section of the Windows XP installer. By the way, one should take note that the "Repair your computer" options is not always on the ASO screen, it seems that the option is only available if the system has the necessary system files stored on the computer itself.
The last thing that I noticed about the new ASO screen is that as you move between options, a section at the bottom (in bright white text) displays a description of what the option will do. This should help decrease the number of people that select Debugging or Directory Services Restore Mode... Neither of which are really needed on the average home user's computer.
Oh, and that customer's computer, after entering safe mode, the Internet was working correctly. 10 to 1 odds: the Internet isn't working correctly in Vista because of a conflict in Norton Internet Security.
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