lsass.exe - system error An invalid HANDLE was specified

Today it happend to me. Suddenly my computer shows black screen with a message box saying lsass.exe - System error.

An Invalid HANDLE was specified.

and a OK button. Once I click OK the computer restarts and it works as normal.

I blurred because this is the first time I am encountering this problem. So I googled for this message and got alot of answers from the forums. Some says its due to virus or trojan and asked to download the malicious tool from download. Some refers this website

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20985875.html.

Some refers to microsoft website http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=258007 and few says it is W32.Sasser and refers to symantec website http://securityresponse.symantec.com. Some forums suggests mup.sys will give this problem. Nothing worked for me and finally the problem solved itself.

How to recover the administrator login password in xp sp2?

You can easily change or wipe out your Administrator password for free during a Windows XP Repair. Here’s how with a step-by-step description of the initial Repair process included for newbie’s.

1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (it’s assumed here that your XP CD is bootable – as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)

2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be “Press any key to boot from cd”

3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files.

4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now.

5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

8. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically – you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”

9. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

12. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

13. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

How to Prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software

There is proverb "Prevention is better than cure" which we normally say for our health. This is alos suits for spyware, malware and adware also. Next to antivirus now peoples worry alot about these threats which gives more headache than the virus. To prevent this infections I personally recomend SpywareBlaster 3.5.1. which is more powerful and free.

Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers are some of the fastest-growing threats on the Internet today.By simply browsing to a web page, you could find your computer to be the brand-new host of one of these unwanted fiends!

The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available.

• Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software.
• Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox.
• Restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer.

SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the "good side" of the web.

And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background.

SpywareBlaster is freeware for personal and educational use.

Download SpywareBlaster 3.5.1

How to Fix Problems with Content Advisor Missing Information

In most cases, this problem occurs when the Ratings.pol file is damaged, follow the instructions below to fix this issue.
1) Quit Internet Explorer
2) Open My Computer, click on Tools, Folder Options
3) Click on the View tab and make sure "Show hidden files and folders" is selected, you may also want to uncheck the box next to "Hide extensions for known file types" and click Ok
4) Double click on Drive C in My Computer
5) Double click on the Windows folder and then double click on the System folder
6) Search for the file RATINGS.POL and right click on it and choose Rename. Rename it to RATINGS.OLD
7) Close out of the open Windows and then reopen Internet Explorer
8) Click on Tools, Internet Options
9) Click on the Content tab, then click on Settings
10) Type in the Supervisor password if necessary and click Ok
11) Select the Ratings options you would like and click Ok and close out of Internet Explorer
12) When you reopen Internet Explorer, everything should work.
Source:http://www.pchell.com/support/contentadvisor.shtml

How to Remove Content Advisor Password in Internet Explorer

The following steps will remove any password set in the Internet Explorer Content Advisor and allow you to reset the program to its original state.
1) Click on Start and choose Run.

2) Type in RegEdit and select OK.

3) Now click on the little plus sign to the left of H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

4) Continue to drill down, always clicking on the plus sign at the left of the named key, through Software, Microsoft, Windows, Current Version and Policies.

5) Now click on the Ratings folder.


6) In the right pane of the RegEdit window, you'll see an icon called Key. Click on it and press Delete.

7) Next, choose Registry and then Exit to exit RegEdit. You've just deleted your original Content Advisor password.

8) Restart the computer and run Internet Explorer again.

9) Choose View and then Internet Options (or Options for version 3.x). For IE 5 or greater, Click on Tools, Internet Options.

10) Click on the Content tab and click on Disable. When asked for a password, don't enter anything; just click on OK. This will disable Content Advisor because there's no longer a password.

Earning more money through online using mylot

A new website named mylot.com is booming up in the internet world. They are giving money if you create discussions, refer a person, post messages on the current discussions. On writing this blog they have totally 45,145 registered users in their site. In yahoo answers alot of people are doing advertisement for this website.

How does this work?

We have implemented a system to give everyone who uses the internet the ability to make money. The idea is pretty simple - if you contribute to the myLot Community - whether it is by posting a new discussion, responding to a current discussion, commenting on a current discussion, or referring friends, you earn money. Our goal is to provide internet users a place to earn money using the web on a day to day basis and provide access to information they need. We pay each and every member of myLot based on their level of activity. As stated previously all you need to do is sign up for a myLot account and we do the rest.

How do I get Paid?

Get paid monthly with minimum account balance of $10 and carry forward of unpaid amounts. You have the option to increase your minimum payment to $25, $50 or $100. All payments will be in US dollars and made via PayPal or iKobo, depending on the country you reside in.

What can I do to increase my earnings?

What an excellent question, and one we hope every myLot user will ask.
Use myLot, post discussions, respond to discussions.
Post quality content. For example, generate discussions that engage other users and provide insightful responses and comments to other users discussions to further the topic.
Refer friends. For each person you send to myLot you will receive 25% of their earnings.

Click here to signup for this program.

VideoLan v0.8.6 Final

VideoLan v0.8.6 Final

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multi-platform multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, Ogg, OGM, MOV, wma, wmv...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
The VideoLAN project targets multimedia streaming of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on a high-bandwidth IPv4 or IPv6 network in unicast or multicast under many OSes. VideoLAN also features a cross-platform multimedia player, VLC, which can be used to read the stream from the network or display video read locally on the computer under all GNU/Linux flavours, all BSD flavours, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, Solaris, QNX, Familiar Linux... It's Freeware.

Features in VLC (VideoLAN Client):
- Rewrite of the playlist (tree structure, input preparsing ...)
- Preferences improvements
- XML parsers
- Client-side SSL/TLS support
- Massive Matroska improvements
- Support for SOCKS proxy
- Support for Shoutcast Meta-data
- Support for (HE-)AAC raw-audio streams
- TiVo demuxer
- Samba (Windows shares) access module
- Dirac decoder and encoder
- PNG decoder/encoder
- Support for Apple Lossless Audio Codec
- Services discovery modules (brand new SAP module, HAL discovery, DAAP (iTunes shares), shoutcast)
- Support for 20/24 bits LPCM
- Video snapshot support (png or jpg)
- Image file video output (png)
- Mosaic (picture-in-picture system)
- Pocket PC port
- Brand new Internet Explorer ActiveX plugin
Interfaces:

• Windows/Linux
  
• Brand new interface for Linux and Windows, based on the Qt toolkit
  
• All
  
• Improved user interaction
  

Download this free software from here.

An alternate to Microsoft Office

There is an alternate for Microsoft office in the market which is free to use as personal, commercial and educational use.  The great product is OpenOffice.org 2.0 the latest version.
OpenOffice.org is the open source project through which Sun Microsystems is releasing the technology for the popular StarOffice productivity suite. It is an international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format. It establishes the necessary facilities to make this open source technology available to the developer community!
As the name suggests, OpenOffice.org is the most open office suite available:

• no commercial licences or software compliance issues to worry about
  
• no language barriers - if it’s not yet available in your language, the chances are it will be soon
  
• available on all major computing platforms
  
• the first office suite to comply with the OASIS OpenDocument format
  
• the source code for the software is freely available under a full OSI certified licence]

What’s in OpenOffice.org?
WRITER is OpenOffice.org’s word processor: use it for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book with embedded illustrations, cross-references, tables of contents, indexes, bibliographies... Auto-complete, auto-format, and real-time spelling check make light work of the hardest task. Writer is powerful enough to tackle desktop publishing tasks such as creating multi-column newsletters, brochures – the only limit is your imagination.

Use CALC to bring your numbers under control. This powerful spreadsheet has all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, summarise, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics. A fully-integrated help system makes entering complex formulas a breeze. Sophisticated decision-making tools are just a few mouse clicks away. Pull in external data using the Data Pilot, and sort it, filter it, and produce subtotals and statistical analyses. Use previews to select from thirteen categories of 2-D and 3-D charts including line, area, column, pie, XY, stock and net with dozens of variants.

IMPRESS is the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations. Your presentations will truly stand out with special effects, animation and high-impact drawing tools.

DRAW will produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations and special effects.

New to Version 2, BASE enables you to manipulate database data seamlessly within OpenOffice.org. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or Base’s own built-in HSQL database engine.

Download the free software. For more details visit www.openoffice.org