Windows .chm help files on the LAN

nospam@example.com (Craig Deering) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:07:12 -0500

Ran into something interesting today. We have an application that the majority of it is run from a network drive. It looks like not too many people ever access the help system because it wasn't working. After some testing, it was discovered that the same help file copied to the local C: drive worked fine.

There is a security setting in Windows (at least 2003 server) that disables the ability to use remote .chm help files. Here's a way around it. Create a .reg file like this. Or use the path to create it manually in regedit.exe.

<-- Start Reg File -->
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]

"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001
<-- End Reg File -->

Save this somewhere and double click it. After the file has been merged, anyone on the computer will be able to view .chm files off of network drives!

Craig Deering
Network Engineer
Astro Shapes, Inc. - Aluminum Extrusions
Website - http://www.astroshapes.com

Windows, DNS and AJAX

nospam@example.com (Craig Deering) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:04:20 -0500

If you ever run into a situation where you have deployed an AJAX web application onto multiple servers using round robin DNS and find you are getting horrible performance on Windows and Linux is running great, check your DNS!!

This has bit me a few times and figured it might save someone a ton of aggravation. Here is the scenario. Two web application servers each have their own "A" record in the DNS server. When the browser tries to connect to the web server, it asks the DNS servers for the IP addresses resolved from the host/domain name.

If, for whatever reason, one of the servers is unavailable, Windows does not always do what you would expect. Here's what was happening to me.

Continue reading "Windows, DNS and AJAX"

Astro Shapes Information Technology Blog - Windows

Windows .chm help files on the LAN

Windows, DNS and AJAX