SP2 and XOX

[virusdoc]

I just downloaded SP2 and installed it. The install went fine, although lengthy (~30 minutes) even though I keep my critical updates up to date. Reboot was long as well. But it ran fine afterwards.

On first boot, I was greeted with the new XP Security Center Window, which allows you to change firewall, autoupdate, and antivirus settings. Nice.

BUT, whenever I click on any of the help center links in the Security Center (for example, there is a link that says something like "What is new in Windows XP to help protect my computer?" the files that result are a mess. Graphics are missing, and the text is in a non-windows standard font, and is sprinkled with the characters "XOX" where other words should be.

A quick google on the problem turned up a few other people experiencing this, and a link to one Windows Knowledge base article that suggested this may be caused by enabling script debugging. But script debugging is enabled in all browsers on my machine, and it still happens.

Anyone else experience this? Should I be alarmed? Thx.

[icallmedan]

If the problem is called by Enabling script debugging, and it is enabled on your system, try disabling it....

[virusdoc]

Oops. What my original post SHOULD have said was that debugging was DISabled in my OS for all browsers, and the problem still occurs. Sorry for the confusion. I'm a newbie, but not an idiot! (Mostly)

Any one else encountering this?

[icallmedan]

Sorry, I have yet to install SP2. Whenever it comes out for everyone's use, I will see if I can get the same problem to occur. Are you running a Beta SP2?

[virusdoc]

I'm using the link to SP2 on the pcmech.com homepage. I hope it's not a beta! The article said it wasn't.

[bailey]

must be something in your system settings, works ok with all 5 of my systems

[virusdoc]

Could it be that I have Firefox set as my default browser, forcing the Windows Help Center to use it to display its pages? I would imagine the Help Center would force use of IE, though.

[icallmedan]

Is that a real version on the PCMech page. I thought SP2 was more than 272Mb. I am downloading it, and I will install it on my computer, and see if I get the same thing. bailey, did you get your SP2 from the link on the PCMech News page?

[Redfallon]

SP2 will be either listed as 272,XXX bytes on the microsoft webpage (sorry don't remember exactly how many), or 266MB. It's the same size file.

[icallmedan]

So the link to a 272Mb SP2 on the PCMech news page is the final version of SP2?

[seussman]

I had XOX problem before way before SP2.Nothing works for me.
The suggestions below may work for you.
Dear all,

I got an Athlon 2400+ PC running Windows XP. The problem is that recently, when I click on certain sections of help and support (ie. breakthroughs but there also many more pages like this), I see that certain words (like Microsoft XP and many others) are
replaced with XOX's. Moreover, the background and certain graphics (like the microsoft logo) are missing and replaced with squares having red X's. The fonts of those pages have been replaced with NewTimeRoman ones. Moreover when I press a link I often get
a "cannot display the page" message.

Before I post here I have tried everything. I have followed the direction on Q306741 KB but to no avail. I have downloaded every H&S fixes from Kelly's Korner and elsewhere. I have replaced the winhelp32.* files (crt, exe etc) with the ones from the disk
. I have downloaded and copied the winhelp32sp1.exe to help file of windows folder but still nothing.

I also tried the repair windows procedure but still no results whatsoever.

This problem does not affect the H&S as a whole but certain pages that are related to it. I can still read the text but it is a little bit annoying because a great part of its functionality is lost. It has happened before the only solution so far I have d
one to solve this is to format the hd and reinstall windows. However this is not an easy task and besides that everything else is working fast and properly so I find no reason to reinstall the entire OS just to resolve this.

On the other hand I don't understand if the problem lies to the H&S itself or is something else (ie. Internet Explorer Error). I search everywhere but still there is no answer about it. What I have found is occasions that H&S does not work at all or certa
in .crt files missing which I have investigate as well to my occassion but the solutions there are not applying to my case. I have followed the instruction for each and every workaround for H&S located in Kelly's Korner but nothing has happened so far. Is
there a way to replace the whole help file system of windows with the original one that is located on the cd? Is something wrong with the links displaying on IE6.0 that I have to focus upon? I am really frustrated over this.

I find that this problem is not uncommon since it has happened to me before have different PCs and seeing this to other computers that running windows XP. Any advice will be deeply appreciated.

One simple thing to check, which may or may not be related...

Control Panel|INTERNET OPTIONS|FONTS button.

In the "Script" box at the top, choose LATIN.

--
For most XP answers and tweaks...
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
http://dougknox.com http://aumha.org
http://support.microsoft.com


Pete Lees
.

Does your \Windows\Help directory contain the files ntshared.chm and
ntdef.chm? These files contain the cascading style sheets that control
the appearance of all the Windows XP help topics, common graphics like
the Microsoft logo, and scripts that replace the XOX placeholders in
the topics with reusable text strings. If one or both .chm files are
missing then you'll run into the problems you've described.

However, if both these .chm files are present then you might try the
following:

1) Use Microsoft Critical Update 811630 to upgrade the help viewer
components. This is available from here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811630

2) Use MJ's Help Diagnostics to check that all the help viewer
components are properly installed and registered.

http://helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#MJs

(The only section of the MJ's Help Report that is relevant to your
problem is the one headed "HTML Help Run-time Components".)

3) Delete or rename the file hh.dat, which you should find in this
directory:

\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML
Help

The hh.dat file stores user-specific information on all the HTML Help
files on your system (favourite topics, search history, etc.), and can
cause the files to misbehave if it has somehow been corrupted. Windows
will create a new version of hh.dat when you next open any .chm file.

4) Empty your Temporary Internet Files directory (in Internet
Explorer, Tools > Internet Options > General tab > Delete Files). A
full TIF directory can cause HTML Help files to misbehave.

--
Pete (Microsoft Help MVP)