The BugBlog -- December 2002

BugBlog

Entertainment Special -- December 2003

The worlds of music, photography and movies are rapidly converging with the world of PCs. That's good, for now we can rip, burn, edit, dub, and touch up on our own. Digital devices (Music, cameras and camcorders) are sure to be on the shopping list this holiday season.

However, there's a bad side. Computers and software are still buggy, and as you start to connect more devices the possibilities of incompatibilities increase as well. At one time, your biggest compatibility worry in music was whether you had one of those plastic disks that would let a 45 rpm record fit over the 33 rpm spindle. It's not so easy now. For instance, The BugBlog was going to ask Santa for an Apple iPod for Christmas, until it was discovered there are problems if Windows isn't on your C: drive.

The following bug, incompatibility and problem reports have either been pulled out of the BugBlog archives (the date below the item tells when it was written up) or written new for this special report (these items don't have dates.) They are arranged by company, and then by product.

Apple

Apple DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2
Apple has released the DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2 Update. They say this update is "strongly recommended" but they don't really say if it is for bug fixes, performance improvements, or what. In any case, you can get the update at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120251.
10/13/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 4
In Apple Final Cut Pro 4, if you are using one of the Boris Calligraphy text generators, and the font you used previously is no longer on the computer, then Final Cut Pro 4 will crash. Apple says there are two workarounds. The first is to restore the previously used font. If that isn't possible, they say to delete the Final Cut Pro 4 Preferences files in your home folder at /Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/. If you have other custom user settings in Final Cut Pro, this workaround will delete them. Apple doesn't say if it is possible to just edit the preference files to eliminate references to the missing font.
11/10/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 4
Apple says that Final Cut Pro 4 has a conflict with Norton AntiVirus. The problem happens when using the Capture Now feature in Final Cut Pro 4. This will cause your computer to lock up. It will also cause a large file with *.av* in the name to show up on your hard drive. There are three possible workarounds: You can turn off Norton AntiVirus when using Final Cut Pro; you can go to System Settings and Deselect the "Limit Capture Now To" option; you can use Batch Capture instead of Capture Now.
7/11/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 4
Apple Final Cut Pro 4 has compatibility problems with the Edit Decision Lists (EDL) on a Sony 9100 or Sony 5000 EDL formats. When importing the EDL, Apple says the sequence will have no name nor any clips. For now, there is no fix or workaround.
7/29/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro
Apple says their video editing applications, including Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, and iMovie, may not like it if both an iSight camera and a DV video camera are both connected to the computer. Start up these applications, and they may lock up. Apple's workaround is simple -- disconnect the iSight camera from its FireWire port before starting your editing session.
8/13/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro
If you are using Apple Final Cut Pro 4 on a Power Mac G5 computer with QuickTime 6.3, and you are working with a long clip, Final Cut Pro may crash. Apple says this can be fixed by upgrading to QuickTime 6.4.

Apple Final Cut Pro 4.0.1
If you are using Apple Final Cut Pro 4.0 or 4.0.1 on a Mac OS X 10.3 computer, Apple says that Final Cut may crash right after opening. As a fix, they say to upgrade to Final Cut Pro 4.0.2.
11/19/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 4.0.2
The Apple Final Cut Pro 4.0.2 update fixes some compatibility problems with DV (Digital Video) and DVCPRO50 devices. This bug was making repeated frames when you did an Edit to Tape procedure. Get the update at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120241.
9/8/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 4.1
Apple says that the update of Final Cut Pro to version 4.1 takes care of bugs that were playing havoc with ripple delete, and also some problems with match frame not working.

Apple Final Cut Pro
Apple says there is a conflict between Final Cut Pro's Capture Now command and Symantec Norton AntiVirus. If the two are running, Final Cut Pro locks up and quits. Apple says you need to do a forced quit on it. Then look for a "large file" with an .av extention on your hard drive. You can delete this file. As a workaround, either turn off the antivirus program while using Final Cut Pro, or use Batch Capture instead of Capture Now in Final Cut Pro.
9/29/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 4
Apple Final Cut Pro (FCP)4 has compatibility propblems with Digidesign audio cards. If you have one of these cards installed, when starting up FCP you may get this error " Out of Memory" and then FCP quits. As a workaround, Apple says to go the Mac OS X System Preferences and switch the sound output device to "Built-in audio controller." If that doesn't work, the next two fixes are more drastic -- either remove the audio card or upgrade to Mac OS X 10.3.
11/13/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 3
If you are using Final Cut Pro 3 on a Macintosh, there are some compatibility problems with multi-user configurations. Final Cut Pro does not work in the Macintosh Manager server environment, nor does it work with NetBoot. Multiple users are OK in Mac OS X, as long as they all have administrator privileges. Multiple users are also OK in Mac OS 9, but there are some configuration hurdles to jump first. You can find out the details for them at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31365.
5/12/2003

Apple Final Cut Pro 3
If you are trying to install Final Cut Pro 3 on an Apple Mac OS X computer, you may see one of these error messages, and then installation will abort: error creating file error creating folder, acess denied. Apple has a rather long 25 step troubleshooting procedure to fix this. You can find it at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93066.
5/30/2003

Apple iMove 3
When using Apple iMovie 3 or iDVD 3, including any 12-bit audio in your project may cause the audio and video to get out of sync. For now, 12-bit audio is incompatible.
3/3/2003

Apple iMovie 3.0.2
If you use Apple iMovie 3.0.2 to import still pictures from an iPhoto library, the pictures may look bad. In particular, Apple says you may see some real obvious pixelation. Their advice is to upgrade to iMovie 3.0.3.
7/1/2003

Apple iMovie 3.0
Apple says that iMovie 3.0 and later may have compatibility problems with third-party QuickTime codecs. These problems may cause an iMovie crash when some audio files get added to a project. If you look at the Crash Reporter you will see tha Thread 0 crashed in strcpy. As a workaround, Apple says to shut down iMovie and then take any third party codecs out of /Library/QuickTime and ~/Library/QuickTime by dragging them to the desktop. If the crashes go away, and you dragged out more than one codec, add them in one by one to look for a culprit. For more details and help on this, see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93267
7/28/2003

Apple iMovie 3
If you are using Apple iMovie 3, and you export a movie to QuickTime or iDVD, Apple says you audio and video may get out of sync. If you don't want your movie creations to look like a badly-dubbed foreign film, then it is time to upgrade. Apple says to move up to iMovie 3.0.3 or later, as well as QuickTime 6.3 or later.
7/10/2003

Apple iMovie 3.03
Apple says that Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro 4 are compatible with iMovie 3 projects. However, they are not compatible with iMovie 3.0.3 projects, which won't open. Instead, you will see this error message: Unable to open iMovie project. Final Cut Pro (or Express) requires iMovie 3.0 project files. Apple may be working on a fix for this.

Apple iMovie 3.0, 3.02
If you are using Apple iMovie 3.0 to 3.02, and you are trying to view a clip that is in PAL format, you may not be able to speed up the clip or play it in reverse. Apple says you can fix this by upgrading to iMovie 3.03.
6/12/2003

Apple iMovie 3.0
If for some reason you need to reinstall Mac OS X 10.2, you may find that afterwards iMovie 3.0 won't open, and that it also has a generic icon. Apple says you may need to drag the iMovie application to the Trash, and then use the Mac OS X installer to reinstall iMovie 3. You can also download and reinstall it from http://www.apple.com/imovie/, or from the iLife CD.
12/2/2003

Apple iPhoto
Apple says that when you order an iPhoto book, you should only use these fonts within the book: Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, Century Gothic, Papyrus, Gill Sans, Markerfelt, Baskerville, Brush Script. Use any other font, and the text may come back truncated or distorted. They may also just cancel your order. 8/8/2003

Apple iPod for Windows
If you want to use Apple's iPod Software Updater for Windows, make sure that Windows is installed on the C: drive. If it is installed anywhere else, you may see this error message when installing or restoring the iPod software " Can't Mount iPod" There is no workaround.
11/10/2003

Apple iPod 2.1
Apple says that if you are using your iPod for voice recording, pressing Pause while recording, and then leaving the iPod on Pause, may quickly run down the battery. Their advice is to turn off voice recording instead of Pausing. 11/10/2003

Apple iPod 2.0
Apple says that their iPod 2.0 software has an odd way of alphabetizing musical groups. A group such as "The Beatles" is going to be found in the T section instead of the B section, since iPod alphabetizes the T in The. (Do you think that Michael Jackson gets classified under F for "Freak of Nature"?) However, this is not how iTunes does things. You find John, Paul, George, and Ringo in the B's.

Apple iPod for Windows
When you are using Apple iPod for Windows, you may cause problems for both MusicMatch and the computer if you disconnect the iPod from the computer while a song is being played from it. To get MusicMatch and the computer to recognize the iPod again, you may have to reboot the computer. 5/5/2003

Apple iPod
Apple says that the iPod Battery Status Indicator is only an approximation. You may run out of power before the indicator says so, and after fully charging the battery for four hours it may not show a full charge. For more details on deciphering the charge indicator, see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61475

Apple iPod 1.3
There is a new upgrade to the Apple iPod. Version 1.3 mainly adds new features, as opposed to being a bug-fix release. However, it does extend support to Apple's new iTunes 4. The OS 9 version is at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120198, and the OS X version is at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=122014.
4/29/2003

Apple iPod 2.0
Apple says that if you are using an iPod 2.0, and you can't hear the alarm clock beeping, then you need to upgrade to iPod 2.1, which you can get from http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/

Apple iPod
If you are using an iPod and iTunes for Windows, watch out if the drive letter after your iPod has been mapped to a network drive. If so, both iTunes and Windows Explorer will show the wrong amount of open drive space on the iPod. Apple points the finger at Microsoft, showing that it is a more general problem with removable disks on both Windows 2000 and XP, as shown by http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=297694.
12/09/2003

Apple iSight
Apple says that if you are using their iSight camera where the only light source is 50 Hz fluorescent, there may be bands or flickering in your images. As a fix, Apple says to let the sun shine in (add sunlight as a light source, even indirectly) or turn on some incandescent bulbs. 7/14/2003 Apple iTunes Apple says that their iTunes Music Store is sensitive to the permissions that are set on the Itunes Music folder on your computer. If you see an error message with a cryptic -5000 error message, you may have to change the permissions, or the permissions on a subfolder. For more details on how to do this, see http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n93069. 5/21/2003

Apple iTunes
Apple says that if you want iTunes to show full-screen visualizer effects on a multiple-display system, you can only show them on the primary display.

Apple iTunes for Windows
Apple says that if you are using iTunes for Windows on a Spanish, Swedish or Finnish version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you may not be able to burn MP3 CDs or DVDs. For now there is no fix.

Apple iTunes 4
Before using Mac OS X to go to the Apple iTunes Music Store to purchase some songs, make sure the date is correct on your Mac. If it isn't, the songs may not play, and you may see an error message that contains
-9815
5/14/2003

Apple iTunes
Apple says that iTunes for Windows has compatibility problems with the sound cards on some Dell computers. (They aren't specific on makes and models.) The incompatibility may cause the songs to play faster than normal. If all your iTunes sound like they are being played by Alvin and the Chipmunks, then contact Dell for a sound card driver update. 11/18/2003 Apple iTunes for Windows Apple says that when using iTunes for Windows to shop at the iTunes Music Store, there may be incompatibilities with Symantec Norton Internet Security. Instead of connecting with the store, you may see this error message: " We could not complete your Music Store request. There is not enough memory available. There was an error in the Music Store. Please try again later." Apple says to disable Norton Internet Security, shop at iTunes, and then turn Norton Internet Security back on if you have this problem.

Apple iTunes
for Windows When using Apple iTunes for Windows on Windows XP, if you use the Fast User Switching to switch accounts, turn off iTunes first. If the second user tries to open iTunes, they may see this error message: " You cannot open the application "iTunes" because another user has it open. Ask the other user to quit the application, then try again."

Apple Mac OS 9
There is a firmware update for the Apple PowerMac SuperDrive for Mac OS 9. The update squashes some bugs that were preventing copy-protected audio CDs from being ejected. Look for the update at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120172.
12/10/2002

Apple Mac OS X 10.3 If you are upgrading from Apple Mac OS X 10.2.x to 10.3, the installation may stop during the second CD and you will see this error message in the installation log: "Can't open package /Mac OS X/Library/Receipts/iTunes.pkg (there was an error reading the file iTunes.bom)." This happens if iTunes 1.0 had already been installed on this Mac. The workaround is to get rid of iTunes 1.0. For steps on how to do that, see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25630.
11/5/2003

Apple Mac OS X 10.2.4
There are compatibility problems between DVD-R disks burned on a Panasonic E-20 or Panasonic E-30 Set-Top DVD recorder and the Apple Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.2.4. According to Apple, after you put these disks in the drive, they will show up on the desktop, but they have no available space and hold no items. This incompatibility is fixed with the Mac OS X 10.2.5. 5/1/2003 Apple Mac OS X 10.2.2 Apple has released the Mac OS X 10.2.2 Update. A number of its fixes are for digital media issues, including these: you may not be able to remount a CD ejected by mistake, which might prevent applications using this disk from quitting; enhanced CDs may not have their data and audio sessions appearing as expected on the desktop; color-sync problems with third-party displays. In addition to fixing these issues, compatibility problems with these devices have been fixed: LaCie d2 48x24x48x, Sony CRX-820E, Toshiba SD-R2212 and SD-R1202, Pioneer DVR-105, and Yamaha CDW-F1 44x24x44x models.
11/12/2002

Apple QuickTime 6.4 Apple says that if you are using Mac OS X 10.2, and you want QuickTime Java support for Java 1.3 or Java 1.4.1, then you shouldn't upgrade to QuickTime 6.4. There are compatibility issues. For now, stay with QuickTime 6.3. If you have already upgraded, use the QuickTime 6.3 Reinstaller at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120255.
11/20/2003

Apple QuickTime 6.3 If you are running Apple QuickTime on a Macintosh, and you want to upgrade to QuickTime 6.3, you may find that it doesn’t show up in the Update window. Try to use the standalone installer, and you will see an error message with an important clue: " This disk is dimmed because the system version is not at least 10.2.3" This version of QuickTime is incompatible with versions of Mac OS X earlier than 10.2.3. So you need to upgrade the OS first, and then QuickTime. You can get the update at http://www.apple.com/swupdates/.
6/10/2003

Apple QuickTime 6.3 The upgraded Apple QuickTime 6.3 for both Macintosh and Windows mostly provides greater compatibility with various multimedia standards, as opposed to being mostly bug fixes. It is compatible with 3GPP, which is the standard for multimedia on wireless devices. It also extends compatibility with .amr and .sdv files, if you also use the free 3GPP compoment. You can also now use it with Kodak DCS Photo Desk JPG files.
6/10/2003

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Creative

Creative Audigy MP3
Creative has an update for the Audigy MP3 Creative Recorder. You need this update to the recorder, REC2-WEB-2-LB, if you have upgraded to the AUD_EAX4DRV_031031.exe driver for this device. You can get the upgrade at http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download.asp. 11/20/2003 Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra If your Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra, running from Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, and connected via a USB port, is getting errors after doing a song preview, then get the Jukebox Firmware Update 1.02.01.

Creative NOMAD Jukebox
If you are using a Creative NOMAD Jukebox player and you are getting an error message such as " Device not connected" when you are sure that it is connected, it may be time for a driver update. In this case, update to update to the Creative NOMAD Jukebox Driver Update version 1.23.00

Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen USB 2.0
If you have a Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen USB 2.0, and the player locks up after doing a USB charge, then get the version 1.11.01 firmware update.

Dell

Dell Dimension
Dell has an upgraded driver for Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital sound cards, which are optional in some Dell Dimension computers. The new version 5.12.1.203 has a number of unspecified bug fixes, plus some new features.

Linux

Mandrake Linux 9.2
Some USB webcams may crash Mandrake Linux 9.2. Mandrake points fingers at some Philips webcams, but there may be others. As a solution, they say to upgrade to kernel 2.4.22-18mdk.
11/19/2003

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Microsoft

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1
If, after you have upgraded to Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1, you may notice that a Hi-Speed USB isochronous device, such as a video camera, may hog up to 80 percent of CPU time during streaming video. This, of course, may cause problems elsewhere on your system. You can fix this by getting the USB driver update from Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822603. 11/24/2003 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition When using Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, yo may have some odd video behavior after resuming a computer from standby, when you had been playing a video. When you restart the video (after resuming the computer), and double-click the screen to maximize it, you will have a completely black video window. Microsoft says as a workaround, restart the video with the Play button on the remote control.
11/14/2003

Microsoft Windows XP
Windows XP Service Pack 1 may cause compatibility problems with InterVideo DVD software. It may allow audio without video, video without audio, or it may just hang. This fix is available by following the link at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329623.
2/4/2003

Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003
There may be compatibility problems with some third party media programs, such as Intervideo WinDVD or Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 when running on Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003. This will happen if you are using a USB 2.0 DVD-ROM or CD-RW drive. It may cause audio or video problems, or this error message when copying: Disc Copier could not find a support CD-ROM reader These are caused when a host controller receives several USB STALL packets from the DVD device or the CD-RW device, and then issues a USB bus reset command. Microsoft has a hot-fix, which will be in future service packs for each of the Windows versions. If you can't wait for the fix, you can contact Microsoft Tech Support and ask for the hotfix described in Knowledge Base article 820759. Note that you may get charged for this call.
7/23/2003

Microsoft Windows XP
Originally, Windows XP Video for Windows was not compatible with a Sony DVMC-DA2 DV converter. However, Microsoft has come up with a compatibility fix, which they say will be in a future Windows XP service pack. In the meantime, you could get the fix from Microsoft by contacting Technical Support and asking for the hot-fix described in Knowledge Base article 327897. However, you may get charged for this call.
12/6/2002

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 Microsoft says that Windows XP Service Pack 1 had a modification to the stream.sys class driver. This change caused problems with video capture devices that connect via USB. They say that if the system shuts off the device, you won't be able to restart it. This will then lock up any program, such as a video editor, that may want to restart the device. Microsoft has a hotfix for this, which will be in a future service pack. If this bug is causing problems, you can contact Microsoft Technical Support and ask for the fix described in Knowledge Base article 813348. Note that you might get charged for this call. 11/18/2003 Microsoft Windows XP If you repair a Windows XP Media Center Edition computer, or a Windows XP Tablet PC, and the computer has Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 installed, you may see this error message msvcr71.dll cannot be found Microsoft has a detailed explanation about some verson mis-matches, and they have a fix that involves creating a small XML file. If you have this problem, check out the details for the fix at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=827073.
9/25/2003

Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft says that all versions of Windows XP (Home/Pro/Media Center/Tablet/64 bit) may exhibit two related problems. There may be a very long wait when going to My TV and starting LIVE TV, and there may be errors when trying to use the Windows Update site to install updates. The problems trace back to Cryptsvc.dll, for which Microsoft has a fix. They advise you to go to Windows Update and get the Q817287 Critical Update. They do not mention, however, how to do this if you are suffering from the second symptom (problems in using Windows Update.)
7/7/2003

Microsoft Windows XP Media Player
There are a number of different "Invalid file forma" error messages that you may get in Windows XP Media Player. Microsoft has the extensive list, as well as some hints and troubleshooting procedures on what you can do, at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=234019
12/4/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
If you are using Windows Media Player (WMP) to play an AVI file on a Windows XP computer, don't switch between a windowed command prompt and a full-screen command prompt while WMP is playing. Microsoft says that if you switch multiple times, WMP may crash with a message like Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The file is either corrupt or the Player does not support the format you are trying to play. 0xC00D1199: Cannot play the file. Microsoft says to use the Windows Task Manager to turn off WMP. You can then restart it. 11/24/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
If you are using Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 for Windows XP to view a DVD, using subtitles, the subtitles may become disabled if you put the computer into Suspend or Hibernate mode. When you resume, and go back to the DVD, the subtitles will be gone. However, you can just go back to the Play Menu, Captions and Subtitles, and turn the Closed Captions back on.
11/24/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.1, 8
Another way has been found to sneak damaging material onto your computer through a Microsoft product. This time, is is Windows Media Player 7.1 and 8.0 (the latter is the XP version). A flaw in the way the Media Player downloads skins may allow an attacker to sneak an executable program onto your computer, which could be designed to do all sorts of damage. This attack would have to be mounted via a hostile web site, which you would need to visit. A fix is available, which you can get from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-017.asp. Microsoft credits Jouko Pynnonen of Oy Online Solutions Ltd, Finland and Jelmer for finding this problem for them. 5/7/2003 Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 If you are trying to use Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP to play back video on a secondary monitor, it may not work. You may only see a black frame or the first frame, although you will hear the audio. There is an update to fix this. Get it at http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/6/e/76e01626-58dc-42a5-9b27-725a3a9bcacf/Windo wsMedia9-KB820772-x86-ENU.exe
5/21/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4, 7
If you are still using Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4 or 7, there are fixes available for a bug that may allow malicious web site operators to violate your privacy. If you are using WMP 7, upgrade to 7.1. If you are using WMP 6.4, get the patch from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=29921.

Microsoft Windows Media Player
Microsoft says that if a computer's system time is not set correctly, or if the BIOS time is not set correctly, it may crash Windows Media Player running on Windows XP, with the detailed error message showing " error signature app name wmplayer.exe app ver 8.0.0.4477 mod name msvcrt.dll mode version 7.0.2600.0 offset 00034748" The workaround is to set the time correctly.
11/4/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 has a problem with some DVD titles. The seek bar may be missing (or have a length of zero). If you try to move this rather small seek bar, it may send the video back to the beginning. Microsoft says some of the DVDs with this problem are "Lord of the Rings", "Toy Story 2" and "The Thomas Crown Affair." (They don't say if it is the McQueen/Dunaway version 1.0 or the Brosnan/Russo version 2.0). If you have this problem, get the update at http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/4/c/f4ccbf12-fcdf-466d-b59d-104eb1dea75b/Windows 5/21/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
When you run Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 for Window ME/2000/XP, there is a welcome screen that says "Welcome to Windows Media Player 9 Series" and starts a wizard. If you click the X button to cancel the wizard, Microsoft says that the left mouse button will no longer work on desktop shortcuts, although it will work on the Start menu. There is no fix at this time -- I guess Microsoft wants you to finish the wizard. Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Microsoft says that if you are using Windows Media Player 9 for Windows 2000 to burn files to a CD-RW, and there are already files on the CD-RW, you may get an error message saying " You are currently in the process of burning a CD. Please wait until this CD is done before attempting to burn another CD." Microsoft's two suggested workarounds -- either use a new blank CD-RW, or erase the files already on the disk. They say this behavior is by design, so don't look for a fix.

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
There is an incompatibility between the Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 OCX Control, when used with Netscape Navigator. This happens if Netscape has an embedded <APPLET> tag that is used for the OCX control. This may result in the error message: General Failure java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: sun/awt/DrawingSurface at WMPNS.WMP.getHWND(WMP.java). Get the update at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=817855. 7/21/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
Microsoft says that when Windows Media Player 9 for Windows XP is used to record an audio CD, there will be a two second gap between the audio tracks. If you don't want this gap, you need to get the Nero Fast CD-Burning Plug-in. Microsoft says you can learn about this at http://www.wmplugins.com/.

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
There is a bug in Windows Media Player 9 that may let outsiders in and rummage around in your media library, and possibly delete or modify files (Aha! A backdoor for the record companies!). For the outsider to gain access, you would need to be enticed to a maliciously-designed website and click a link. An update to this is available via Windows Update, and is also available here. Microsoft credits Jelmer for finding this bug.
6/25/2003

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
Microsoft says that there may be a problem when using the Windows Media Player 9 plug-in along with Netscape 4.75. Depending on the way the website has been set up, Media Player may stop responding. According to Microsoft KB article 813343, there isn't much that the end user can do to work around the Microsoft bug. It is up to the website creator, using Windows Media Series 9, to make sure to set the DefaultFrame property inside the <Embed> tag to specify which frame it is going to flip. If not, you risk the presentation freezing. 2/13/2003 Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 If you are using Windows Media Player 9 to view some video files such as AVI or MPEG, on a computer with multiple monitors, you will have bad performance with every second item on a playlist. Microsoft says this is because the playlist items may not correctly take advantage of hardware buffering when rendering video. This won't happen with video files in Windows Media format.

Microsoft Windows Media Player 9
If a Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 client, on Windows ME/2000/XP, is streaming files from a Windows Media Services 9 Series server, there may be a five or six second delay while switching files. That's because the client rendering log is being sent to the server, and an error in reporting may cause the delay while the client is waiting for a response. There are two fixes. In the first, the people responsible for the server can turn off the client rendering log feature. If you can't get that done, then there are client updates for Windows Media Player. For details on these fixes, see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=827560.

Microsoft Windows Media Services 9
If you are using Microsoft Windows Media Services 9, and you are either doing a live stream of high bitrate content, or doing on-demand streaming of files via a SMB connection to a remote storage server, there may be problems. The users may get quite a bit of rebuffering, or the stream may thin out during playback. If you are having these problems, Microsoft has a fix for you, along with some instructions, at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=818127
5/13/2003

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Musicmatch

Musicmatch Jukebox
If you are trying to get online music via a "radio station" in MusicMatch Jukebox, and you are getting script errors, the problem may be that you are trying to get to the Online Music window too quickly after starting Musicmatch Jukebox, and part of the interface, which uses JavaScript, isn't loaded yet. If you get the script error, try this: click View, My Library; then close Jukebox; restart Jukebox, and then click the Online Music button; wait at least twenty seconds before selecting a station.

Musicmatch Jukebox
While using Musicmatch Jukebox on a Windows computer to download music tracks, you may get this error message " Fatal Error in accessor.dll". Musicmatch says this usually happens if the accessor.dll file wasn't installed correctly when Jukebox was installed. As a fix, they say to get the latest free version of Jukebox from http://www.musicmatch.com/download/free/?OS=pc and install it again. Musicmatch Jukebox While ripping MP3 files from a CD using Musicmatch Jukebox, you may get this error message " Error 10" which is an unrecoverable read error. As a workaround, Musicmatch suggests this configuration: in Jukebox click Options, Settings and then go to the Recorder tab; Click Advanced, and set "Max Mismatches" to 225, and turn "Multipass" to on.

Musicmatch Jukebox
If you are listening to online music using Musicmatch Jukebox, and all the songs sound like they are being sung by chipmunks, then you are probably using an old version of Musicmatch that is having incompatibility problems with the newer version. The fix is to get the latest version from http://www.musicmatch.com/download.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA nForce
NVIDIA has an updated unified driver (both Windows XP and 2000) for nForce, nForce2, and nForce3. They say it includes some general compatibility fixes, plus some specific audio fixes, including a fix for the bug that sometimes caused a blue screen of death when loading DLS files. You can get the driver at http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_udp_winxp_3.13.

RealNetworks

Real RealOne/RealPlayer Real
RealOne and RealPlayer have three different security flaws, all related to buffer overflows, and all capable of being exploited by remote users. The flaws were originally found by NGSSoftware, who reported the problems to Real. There is a patch available at http://service.real.com/help/faq/security/bufferoverrun_player.html. You can also use the programs themselves to check for updates.
11/26/2002

RealNetworks RealOne Mobile Player
If you run the RealNetworks RealOne Mobile Player for Pocket PC's setup program when Microsoft ActiveSync 3.1 is not in its Connected status, then the Mobile Player may never successfully recognize ActiveSync 3.1, and will keep on giving error messages like " Please install Microsoft ActiveSync 3.1 or any later version before installing RealOne Player." RealNetworks says to change the ActiveSync status to Connected, and then install.
11/21/2003

RealNetworks RealOne Player 1.0
If you install RealNetworks RealOne Player 1.0 on a Windows XP computer, it may cause your computer to drastically slow down. If you call up the Task Manager, you will see a program called Evntsvc.exe in the Processes tab sucking up all your CPU time. As an immediate fix, click this and choose End Process. Then upgrade to a newer version of RealOne Player, at least according to Microsoft. That program, by the way, is installed by RealOne Player and runs in the background to schedule all the busybody-type stuff that RealNetworks products are prone to do. 6/12/2003 RealNetworks RealOne Player 2 RealNetworks says there are some compatibility problems between RealOne Player 2, and Symantec Norton Internet Security and Norton Personal Firewall software. The two security products will block the content portion of RealOne Messages, although you will be notified of the message and see the title. RealNetworks has no workaround information.
11/24/2003

RealNetworks RealOne Player 2
If you are using the RealOne Player 2 on a Windows 98 computer with an Iomega Predator 4x4x6 USB 1.1 drive, and you try to burn a CD, you may get an error message No disc inserted even though a disk is in there. RealNetworks says to get a firmware update from Iomega. Also, you may not want to try burning at faster than 4x speed.

RealNetworks RealOne Player
RealNetworks has a security update for the RealOne player. The 10/14/03 update fixes security holes that may allow an attacker to embed scripts or false URLs in the RealOne players temporary files. It also fixes a bug that may have allowed scripts to be run remotely. Get the update at http://service.real.com/help/faq/security/securityupdate_october2003.html.

RealNetworks RealOne Player
RealNetworks says that both RealOne Player and RealPlayer 8 have a security bug that can be exploited via a malicious PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file. An attacker may be able to corrupt a computer's heap and then use that corruption to run their own code. To avoid this bug, upgrade to these versions from Real: RealOne Player (6.0.10.505), RealOne Player version 2 (6.0.11.853), RealPlayer 8 (version 6.0.9.584). They are all linked from http://service.real.com/help/faq/security/securityupdate_march2003.html.
4/7/2003

RealNetworks RealOne Player 2
If you are using RealNetworks RealOne Player 2 with a Samsung CDRW/DVD SM-316B 16x, you may have problems burning disks using the Disk-At-Once, or DAO, mode. RealNetworks says if you try at the fastest speek, the drive may lock and the drive light will flash continuously. If so, you need to reboot the computer with a Ctl-Alt-Del. They suggest, as a workaround, to use CD-RW disks instead of CD-Rs.

RealNetworks RealOne Player 2
RealNetworks RealOne Player 2 might have trouble burning CDs to a HP CD Writer + 8200 Series USB 1.1 drive on a Windows XP computer if you use Disk-At-Once, (DAO) mode. This may give a Drive Error message #1005. RealNetworks says to switch to Track-At-Once mode.

RealNetworks RealPlayer 2
If you are using the RealOne Player 2 on a Windows 98 computer, you may have problems burning CDs to USB drives. RealNetworks says "This is caused by poor drive interaction with the OS" which is probably a polite way of saying that Windows 98 is a crappy OS. You may get you best success with a less CPU-intensive burn method, Track-At-Once.

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Winamp

Winamp Winamp 2.81/3.0
Foundstone Research Labs say they have found buffer overflow problems in Winamp 2.81 and 3.0. Attackers may be able to use this overflow to send bad data in MP3 files that will crash Winamp and possibly allow them to run their own code. Updated versions of Winamp that fix this are now available at http://www.winamp.com/
1/10/2003