I started getting the following error message in XP:

JIT Debugging component registration is incorrect.

Please repair the installation of the most recent version of Visual Studio ..Net or Remote Debugging components.

Alternatively, execute the following command as an Administrator to manually repair the JIT Debugging component registration:

“C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\vs7jit.exe” /RegServer

The program it wants me to run is not on my machine. So, after a little googling, here’s a partial fix (or: http://tinyurl.com/95zt). This reinstalls the .NET framework, which you need, apparently, if you’re working with VB 6.

This worked well enough that now the error messages I get when I run into Java on the Web are debilitating but not lethal.

Good news with my daughter’s XP desktop: After many hours of work, I think I have it almost entirely free of spyware.

After running all the standard spyware removal programs, I finally installed a spare copy of Norton Firewall I’d found buried in a stack of disks. Duh. Then, I believe I extirpated the last of the malware spawners. The spyware removers were unable to remove it because it was a running process. It would run itself even if I booted into safe mode. So, I foolishly waded into the Task Manager’s process list and weed-whacked until I found the relevant process. (Yes, this can corrupt your system. I assume you make backups more frequently than you make caca.) It was a RUNDLL thing. Killed it and deleted the file in Windows\System32 the spyware removers had discovered. Now, for the first time in months, the spyware removers report no malware.

For now.

(I hadn’t installed a firewall before because my daughter is not an under-the-hood sort of user, and, in my experience, firewalls force us to make decisions based on too little information expressed in too much jargon.)

Categories: Uncategorized dw