PS CS Help and XP SP-2

Susan Perkins wrote:

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related. When I click the menu item, I get:

http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html"
in the browser address window. That’s garbage of course, and the file, actually D:\Apps\PhotoshopCS\Help\help.html, is there, and can be opened manually from a browser file-open-browse operation. When it opens, up pops the "new and *unimproved*" MS warning about content that can hurt my computer. I allow it in this case, of course, and things then work. Just kind of a PITA to have to do it that way now.
Is there any way to get this back to the simplified and painless way it used to work before MS decided to "improve" my security (by breaking things that used to work just fine and were not security threats in the first place)?

I recently posted the same problem to comp.graphics.apps.photoshop, so far without response.

However, your deduction that it is SP-2 related gave me an idea. (I use W2000, not XP). I just made Firefox my default browser, and now, when I do "Help", Photoshop uses Firefox instead of IE. And this appears to work properly. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

—
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/

In article <418aba2e$0$5898$>, deleted@
says…

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related. When I click the menu item, I get:

http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html"
in the browser address window. That’s garbage of course, and the file, actually D:\Apps\PhotoshopCS\Help\help.html, is there, and can be opened manually from a browser file-open-browse operation. When it opens, up pops

the

"new and *unimproved*" MS warning about content that can hurt my computer. I allow it in this case, of course, and things then work. Just kind of a PITA

to

have to do it that way now.

Is there any way to get this back to the simplified and painless way it used

to

work before MS decided to "improve" my security (by breaking things that used to work just fine and were not security threats in the first place)?
SP

Yes, it appears that SP-2 fixes a lot of things on average "home" XP machines, and maybe even some server applications, BUT it really messes up a work machine. Most folk that I know, are making sure that it doesn’t get added to their machines. I do wonder about new boxes with OEM XP though. I suspect that most resellers are doing SP-2 by now. Maybe SP-3 will actually work with real software, at least the stuff that I use.

Hunt

Barry Pearson wrote:

Susan Perkins wrote:

/snip/

However, your deduction that it is SP-2 related gave me an idea. (I use W2000, not XP). I just made Firefox my default browser, and now, when I do "Help", Photoshop uses Firefox instead of IE. And this appears to work properly. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Good tip. In general it’s good practice not to use IE or ANY Microsoft product if you can avoid them.

—
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Comics art for sale:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/batsale.html

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 23:52:39 GMT, "Barry Pearson" wrote:

Susan Perkins wrote:

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related. When I click the menu item, I get:

http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html"
in the browser address window. That’s garbage of course, and the file, actually D:\Apps\PhotoshopCS\Help\help.html, is there, and can be opened manually from a browser file-open-browse operation. When it opens, up pops the "new and *unimproved*" MS warning about content that can hurt my computer. I allow it in this case, of course, and things then work. Just kind of a PITA to have to do it that way now.
Is there any way to get this back to the simplified and painless way it used to work before MS decided to "improve" my security (by breaking things that used to work just fine and were not security threats in the first place)?

I recently posted the same problem to comp.graphics.apps.photoshop, so far without response.

Ok. Well, it’s possible that the problem is DEP-related (Data Execution Protection). It’s a module in SP2 that prevents programs accessing memory in data storage areas – a common sign of malware is that it uses these areas to execute code. So, it’s actually a sensible thing to do. (Incidentally, if you have an AMD 64 it’s coded into the hardware and will be activated as soon as Winnows 64 is put on any AMD 64 machine).

The cure, if that is what is causing the problem is to do the following:

Right click my computer
Select properties
Click on the advanced tab
Click on settings in the performance panel
When the Performance Options dialog appears you’ll see a tab marked Data Execution Prevention.
Click that tab and then make the relevant executable an exception.

Of course, it’s quite possible that DEP isn’t your problem, but if you want to check it out further try here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=875352

Microsoft have already recompiled all their binaries to take account of this and as the software companies have already had 2 years to do so, with the full specs from Microsoft, it’s really the software companies that are causing this problem that should be complained to. MS may not get some things right, but this time they’ve given other companies plenty of time, and the relevant tools, to make sure that problems with DEP should not occur.

If it’s not DEP then I suggest you take a look at an 8 page article here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/mainta in/sp2chngs.mspx

I did notice however, the 20% that keeps appearing. That’s code for a space (you often see it on web page URLs) and suggests that for some reason unreadable spaces are being sent with the html help file request. As the file is on a different drive than the main drive, it may be that, for some reason, the file request isn’t being parsed correctly. What’s causing that would take further investigation. One way of doing that is to go to:

http://www,sysinternals.com

and download Process Explorer. Install it. Run it. And then run the request for the help file again. Process Explorer should give you an idea of what’s happening and give you a clue to where the problem lies.

Hope that helps.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

"Susan Perkins" <deleted@> wrote in message

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related.

I kind of doubt that since I’ve had this exact problem since long before SP2.

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 01:27:44 GMT, "Ken Burns" wrote:

"Susan Perkins" <deleted@> wrote in message

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related.

I kind of doubt that since I’ve had this exact problem since long before SP2.

Seen a similar problem on SP1 with Illy too. But there’s always the chance…

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Its really quite simple to fix this problem in most cases.
1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Choose Tools | Internet Options
3. Choose the Advanced Tab
4. Scroll down to the Security section
5. Look for "Allow active content to run in files on my computer"
6. Put a check mark by this option.
Your problem will probably go away.
Cheers,
Fredrick

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"Susan Perkins" <deleted@> wrote in message

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related. When I click the menu item, I get:

http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html"
in the browser address window. That’s garbage of course, and the file, actually D:\Apps\PhotoshopCS\Help\help.html, is there, and can be opened manually from a browser file-open-browse operation. When it opens, up pops the
"new and *unimproved*" MS warning about content that can hurt my computer. I
allow it in this case, of course, and things then work. Just kind of a PITA to
have to do it that way now.

Is there any way to get this back to the simplified and painless way it used to
work before MS decided to "improve" my security (by breaking things that used
to work just fine and were not security threats in the first place)?
SP

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 03:34:35 GMT, in article <bDXid.61466$>, "Comcast News Groups" wrote:

Its really quite simple to fix this problem in most cases.
1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Choose Tools | Internet Options
3. Choose the Advanced Tab
4. Scroll down to the Security section
5. Look for "Allow active content to run in files on my computer"
6. Put a check mark by this option.
Your problem will probably go away.
Cheers,
Fredrick

Sadly, that does not do the trick. The actual error is "invalid syntax", and has to do with http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html" (a garbage address) being called by the CS Help command.

I figure this is a registry key that I ought to be able to modify, but I can’t find it.

The assistance offered above does fix one annoyance, however, in that if one browses to the file in IE after applying this, the help file opens without complaining or getting the SP-2 warning bar in IE. But PS CS is still calling garbage from Help or by simply using F1. Until that is fixed, not fixed. <g>

SP

Susan Perkins wrote:
[snip]

Sadly, that does not do the trick. The actual error is "invalid syntax", and has to do with
http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html" (a garbage address) being called by the CS Help command.

[snip]

The assistance offered above does fix one annoyance, however, in that if one browses to the file in IE after applying this, the help file opens without complaining or getting the SP-2 warning bar in IE. But PS CS is still calling garbage from Help or by simply using F1. Until that is fixed, not fixed. <g>

As I said earlier, since I made Firefox my (W2000) system’s default browser, I get straight into the Help system without problems.

This suggests that it is not PS CS that puts the silly address in. Otherwise the problem would surely apply to Firefox too?

—
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 10:00:23 GMT, in article
<Xg1jd.48$>, "Barry Pearson"
wrote:

Susan Perkins wrote:
[snip]

Sadly, that does not do the trick. The actual error is "invalid syntax", and has to do with
http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html" (a garbage address) being called by the CS Help command.

[snip]

The assistance offered above does fix one annoyance, however, in that if one browses to the file in IE after applying this, the help file opens without complaining or getting the SP-2 warning bar in IE. But PS CS is still calling garbage from Help or by simply using F1. Until that is fixed, not fixed. <g>

As I said earlier, since I made Firefox my (W2000) system’s default browser, I get straight into the Help system without problems.

This suggests that it is not PS CS that puts the silly address in. Otherwise the problem would surely apply to Firefox too?

Maybe W2000 and XP are different? <g>

SP

Susan Perkins wrote:

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 10:00:23 GMT, in article
<Xg1jd.48$>, "Barry Pearson"
wrote:

[snip]

As I said earlier, since I made Firefox my (W2000) system’s default browser, I get straight into the Help system without problems.
This suggests that it is not PS CS that puts the silly address in. Otherwise the problem would surely apply to Firefox too?

Maybe W2000 and XP are different? <g>

But is PS CS different on the 2 systems? If Firefox doesn’t get the silly address on W2000, (which appears to be the case), will it get it on XP?

What happens on XP if you use another browser as the system default browser? (I’m trying to understand where the problem really lies).

—
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 13:35:44 GMT, in article
<Qq4jd.103$>, "Barry Pearson"
wrote:

Susan Perkins wrote:

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 10:00:23 GMT, in article
<Xg1jd.48$>, "Barry Pearson"
wrote:

[snip]

As I said earlier, since I made Firefox my (W2000) system’s default browser, I get straight into the Help system without problems.
This suggests that it is not PS CS that puts the silly address in. Otherwise the problem would surely apply to Firefox too?

Maybe W2000 and XP are different? <g>

But is PS CS different on the 2 systems? If Firefox doesn’t get the silly address on W2000, (which appears to be the case), will it get it on XP?
What happens on XP if you use another browser as the system default browser? (I’m trying to understand where the problem really lies).

Well, I tried this just to see how it went. I have resisted making FFox the default browser on the system, because some Java applications that run fine in MSIE cannot display DBCS fonts in FFox. But perhaps I can still use MSIE where needed even with FFox as the default browser.

The end result is that file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html ends up in the FFox address window, and this works just fine in FFox. It used to work fine in MSIE, too. Why it no longer does is beyond me. Normally, Adobe eats out of Microsoft’s hand, and their software is highly tailored to Windows and IE.

SP

Susan Perkins wrote:

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 13:35:44 GMT, in article
<Qq4jd.103$>, "Barry Pearson"
wrote:

[snip]

What happens on XP if you use another browser as the system default browser? (I’m trying to understand where the problem really lies).

Well, I tried this just to see how it went. I have resisted making FFox the default browser on the system, because some Java applications that run fine in MSIE cannot display DBCS fonts in FFox. But perhaps I can still use MSIE where needed even with FFox as the default browser.

The end result is that file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html ends up in the FFox address window, and this works just fine in FFox. It used to work fine in MSIE, too. Why it no longer does is beyond me. Normally, Adobe eats out of Microsoft’s hand, and their software is highly tailored to Windows and IE.

Thanks for that. Are we agreed that Adobe appears to be doing it right, and Microsoft have done something to stop things working? (But didn’t you already suggest that, talking about SP2?)

Thanks for your help. I am happier, even if you are not.

—
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/

"Susan Perkins" posted:
"…
The end result is that file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html ends up in
the FFox address window,
…."

With FireFox you get (reference your most recent posting): file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html

With IE you get (reference your original posting):
http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html

Can you spot the difference? What would happen if you checked your Registry (search on the string) for the second address, and corrected it?

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 08:25:04 +0900, Susan Perkins <deleted@> wrote:

Well, I tried this just to see how it went. I have resisted making FFox the default browser on the system, because some Java applications that run fine in MSIE cannot display DBCS fonts in FFox. But perhaps I can still use MSIE where needed even with FFox as the default browser.

The end result is that file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html ends up in the FFox address window, and this works just fine in FFox. It used to work fine in MSIE, too. Why it no longer does is beyond me. Normally, Adobe eats out of Microsoft’s hand, and their software is highly tailored to Windows and IE.

Note: you can download a plug in for Firefox which allows a right click, "View in IE" for those occasions when FF doesn’t render the page correctly. Probably no help in your situation, but it’s a useful; plug in.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 00:45:24 GMT, in article <Ekzjd.6933$>, "RSD99" wrote:

"Susan Perkins" posted:
"…
The end result is that file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html ends up in
the FFox address window,
…"

With FireFox you get (reference your most recent posting): file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html

With IE you get (reference your original posting):
http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html
Can you spot the difference? What would happen if you checked your Registry (search on the string) for the second address, and corrected it?

Yes, that is the difference of course. I ran regedit searching all keys and values for help.html. I did not find what I was looking for.

SP

Hecate wrote:

Note: you can download a plug in for Firefox which allows a right click, "View in IE" for those occasions when FF doesn’t render the page correctly. Probably no help in your situation, but it’s a useful; plug in.

How is this plug in called?
I don’t have it

Stephan

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 18:55:44 GMT, Stephan wrote:

Hecate wrote:

Note: you can download a plug in for Firefox which allows a right click, "View in IE" for those occasions when FF doesn’t render the page correctly. Probably no help in your situation, but it’s a useful; plug in.

How is this plug in called?
I don’t have it

Stephan

It’s called ieview and it’s currently version 0.83. It works fine with the latest Firefox release.

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Hecate – The Real One

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Hecate wrote:

It’s called ieview and it’s currently version 0.83. It works fine with the latest Firefox release.

Thanks I’m on my way to get it.
Did you get Gestures? it is really handy.

Stephan

In article <418aba2e$0$5898$>, Susan
Perkins wrote:

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related. When I click the menu item, I get:

http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html"

Happens with me in SP1, as well.

—

Roger

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 04:40:32 GMT, Stephan wrote:

Hecate wrote:

It’s called ieview and it’s currently version 0.83. It works fine with the latest Firefox release.

Thanks I’m on my way to get it.
Did you get Gestures? it is really handy.

Handy being the operative word. Which is why I can’t use them.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Roger Whitehead wrote:

In article <418aba2e$0$5898$>, Susan
Perkins wrote:

Pretty sure the failure of PS Help to open from the PS Help menu is SP-2 related. When I click the menu item, I get:

http://%1%20"file:///D:/Apps/Photoshop%20CS/Help/help.html"

Happens with me in SP1, as well.

My Photoshop CD – Windows XP SP2 combination works just perfectly. I have no trouble bringing up Help or anything.

Actually, I’ve had no trouble with SP2 on anything.

Clyde