Windows Help and Support

Open up and look at the *.query files in
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Profess ional_32#0409
or
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Persona l_32#0409
or
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Advance dServer_32#0409
or
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Server_ 32#0409
or
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\DataCen ter_32#0409
or
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Profess ional_64#0409
etc.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
hunted and pecked:
Lizzie wrote:
When clicking on help and support (Windows XP Pro), the date associated
with the "Did You Know Section?" is stuck on August 27 (of this year). I
have never had never seen this before. Can you please advise as to why
this is happening.

Ok, quick summary: This is a common problem, no one is SURE exactly why
it happens, but it does. Don't worry about it! The "headlines" are
boring anyway!

On my system at least, the "problem's" root is that the headline files
that H&S downloads (the NewsHeadlines... and newsver... xml files) come
down across the link just fine (I can "see" them transfering w/ DU Meter,
and the passthru proxy lists the file requests), HOWEVER these files do
NOT end up in the IE cache - something in xp is filtering them out and
discarding them. H&S therefore receives a "file not found" type of error,
and it resorts to using the last fileset that it did receive, hence the
old date being displayed. If there is no previous fileset available (in
\pchealth\helpctr\config\news) then you get the (totally misleading) "when
you are connected to the internet..." error message.

If you manually fetch these files (by pasteing their URL into the address
bar and hitting enter), they come down fine, are in the IE cache, and
display fine in IE. Ask H&S to try again (click Home), and they come down
again, are REMOVED from the cache, and the same thing happens - old files
are used instead. [This smacks of the "Local/My Computer Zone"
restrictions placed on IE about 12 months ago, but I have "opened up" that
zone too, no diff].

I have tweaked all kinds of things, IE options, security settings, removed
the firewall, removed the proxy, etc, and the same thing happens - the
files are downloaded but (for some reason) discarded.

And of course, the damn thing DOES OCCASIONALLY update succesfully w/o any
config changes.

"It's a Mystery!"

Wesley Vogel wrote:
Open up and look at the *.query files in
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Profess ional_32#0409

Had lots of files from 2 months ago, I looked them over and didn't see
anything that raised a red flag. Deleted them and nothing new gets
created.

What I meant was that the .query files contain things like...

W i n d o w s X P , t h e c o m p o n e n t s i n c l u d e d ,
an d a c t i v a t i o n a n d l i c e n s e i n f o r m a t i o n .
M u s i c , v i d e o , g a m e s , a n d p h o t o s
G e t h e l p w o r k i n g w i t h y o u r m u l t i m e d i a
f i l e s a n d g a m e s .

The extra spaces between letters is MS's deal not mine.

I have a batch file that deletes the contents of
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Professio nal_32#0409

New query files get recreated every time that I open Help and Support.

Do you have a Dell, HP or Gateway machine?

With some Gateway machines, Help and Support is somehow linked to Gateway's
HelpSpot program.

A friend has a Gateway and he had over 500 .query files. He deleted them
and they did not get recreated. I figured it had to do with Gateway's
HelpSpot. He restored them from the Recycle Bin, just in case.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
hunted and pecked:
Wesley Vogel wrote:
Open up and look at the *.query files in
%systemroot%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\Profess ional_32#0409

Had lots of files from 2 months ago, I looked them over and didn't see
anything that raised a red flag. Deleted them and nothing new gets
created.

Yes, saw .query files like you said, but they do not come back
consistantly. none came up today at all. last set was dated several
months ago.

FWIW, my gf's machine updated her Did You Know just yesterday; mine won't
update today, still stuck back at Aug 30th.

It's still a msytery...

Mine is still stuck on ... Updated: Tuesday, 30 August, 2005. I just
checked. Oh well.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
hunted and pecked:
Yes, saw .query files like you said, but they do not come back
consistantly. none came up today at all. last set was dated several
months ago.

FWIW, my gf's machine updated her Did You Know just yesterday; mine won't
update today, still stuck back at Aug 30th.

It's still a msytery...

Hey guys, very simple, always skip the obvious....I updated my time frame by
nist.gov and did nothing. Today, I updated by windows time, and "Voila",
everytime I click Help and Support, the date is correct....Curiosity killed
the cat. I think not....Thanks to you all....Debbie

"Wesley Vogel" wrote:

Mine is still stuck on ... Updated: Tuesday, 30 August, 2005. I just
checked. Oh well.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
hunted and pecked:
Yes, saw .query files like you said, but they do not come back
consistantly. none came up today at all. last set was dated several
months ago.

FWIW, my gf's machine updated her Did You Know just yesterday; mine won't
update today, still stuck back at Aug 30th.

It's still a msytery...

Debbie,

Glad that your Help and Support Did you know? updated.

I believed that synchronizing the time on your computer clock was
coincidental. But I tried it anyway and...

Did you know? Updated: Saturday, 15 October, 2005

Son of a gun!

I wonder if this has to do with the fact that I normally have the Windows
Time service disabled and only start it once in a while when I synchronize
my clock manually.

If this is true, then if one has the Windows Time service set to Automatic
and Windows sets synchronization to occur weekly, then Did you know? should
be updated at least weekly. And if one were to synchronize their clocks
more often then Did you know? should update more often.

I should have looked before I synchronized my clock this time to see when
the last time it had been synchronized was. I suspect that Tuesday, 30
August, 2005 was when that happened since that's what Did you know? was
stuck on.

Anyone else want to test this?

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
Lizzie hunted and pecked:
Hey guys, very simple, always skip the obvious....I updated my time frame
by nist.gov and did nothing. Today, I updated by windows time, and
"Voila", everytime I click Help and Support, the date is
correct....Curiosity killed the cat. I think not....Thanks to you
all....Debbie

"Wesley Vogel" wrote:

Mine is still stuck on ... Updated: Tuesday, 30 August, 2005. I just
checked. Oh well.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
hunted and pecked:
Yes, saw .query files like you said, but they do not come back
consistantly. none came up today at all. last set was dated several
months ago.

FWIW, my gf's machine updated her Did You Know just yesterday; mine
won't update today, still stuck back at Aug 30th.

It's still a msytery...

Well, poster "Alias" in another group suggested opening IE before opening
H&S, saying it would then update ok. I tried it, and BINGO, it did update
today, Sat 15 Oct.

Now, it is possible it was just a coincidence, maybe something is just
"good" at the server end today, but it did update for me using this
method. I'll try again in the next several days and see if it's a real
solution or not. Very interesting....

Thanks to everyone for the followups. I was only delaying something much
worse. I have a virus that corrupted my registry. Stole all my good icons and
my windows installed does not work. Yes, I tried every post, I tried Doug
Knox and Kelly's tips (you know she is from Louisiana also). Therefore I have
just finished backing up anything of importance to DVD's....Wish me
well...Debbie

" wrote:

Well, poster "Alias" in another group suggested opening IE before opening
H&S, saying it would then update ok. I tried it, and BINGO, it did update
today, Sat 15 Oct.

Now, it is possible it was just a coincidence, maybe something is just
"good" at the server end today, but it did update for me using this
method. I'll try again in the next several days and see if it's a real
solution or not. Very interesting....

I saw that post by Alias after I had already synchronized my clock.

You may be correct, a coincidence may be possible and MS's server may be
just working good today.

Or maybe the clock in MS's server only gets synchronized every couple of
months. LOL

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
hunted and pecked:
Well, poster "Alias" in another group suggested opening IE before opening
H&S, saying it would then update ok. I tried it, and BINGO, it did update
today, Sat 15 Oct.

Now, it is possible it was just a coincidence, maybe something is just
"good" at the server end today, but it did update for me using this
method. I'll try again in the next several days and see if it's a real
solution or not. Very interesting....

I wish you well, Debbie. Good luck! ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
Lizzie hunted and pecked:
Thanks to everyone for the followups. I was only delaying something much
worse. I have a virus that corrupted my registry. Stole all my good icons
and my windows installed does not work. Yes, I tried every post, I tried
Doug Knox and Kelly's tips (you know she is from Louisiana also).
Therefore I have just finished backing up anything of importance to
DVD's....Wish me well...Debbie

" wrote:

Well, poster "Alias" in another group suggested opening IE before opening
H&S, saying it would then update ok. I tried it, and BINGO, it did
update today, Sat 15 Oct.

Now, it is possible it was just a coincidence, maybe something is just
"good" at the server end today, but it did update for me using this
method. I'll try again in the next several days and see if it's a real
solution or not. Very interesting....

wrote:
Well, poster "Alias" in another group suggested opening IE before opening
H&S, saying it would then update ok. I tried it, and BINGO, it did update
today, Sat 15 Oct.
Now, it is possible it was just a coincidence, maybe something is just
"good" at the server end today, but it did update for me using this
method. I'll try again in the next several days and see if it's a real
solution or not. Very interesting....

Following up: today, monday, launched H&S WITHOUT first opening IE, and
it updated fine. So, no definative conclusions yet...

I guess the real questions is WHY would synching the time make it work, or
WHY would opening IE first make it work? What in XP is deciding to filter
the xml files if the time is "off"? Or what dll gets loaded by IE that
suddenly makes it work? The mechanism MUST be there. [I've been writting
software since..., well a long time, and there is always a mechanism -
there are no ghosts in the machine, just bugs.]