[pcuser]

WSOCK.EXE is a simple utility that I made to restore your existing/corrupt winsock2 entries in your registry to a known good state.

It currently works with:
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows XP

In the future, support is planned for:
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 2000
Windows 2003 Server

It will not (and never will) work with:
Windows 3.1
Windows NT 3.51

Yes, I know that WinsockXPFix already exists for XP but WSock.exe works in a different way. WSock.exe simply detects the OS that it's being ran on then extracts a .REG file (which is embedded in the exe as a resource file) for that OS then it creates a backup of the existing/currupt section and imports the .REG file. The .REG file removes the current winsock2 key completely before importing the good one. You have to reboot after it's finished.

This utility should restore your internet connection if for example, you visit freeze.c*m and download a "free" screensaver which will also install NewD*tNet on your machine then you run your antispyware program which removes the dll but doesn't restore your registry. After a reboot you're greeted with "unable to locate NewDot~.dll" and the only webpage you can pull up says "This page cannot be displayed"!

NOTE *** WSock.exe doesn't take into account ANY antivirus of firewall program that might need to have entries under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2 so be carefull not to overwrite your original backup! (everytime you run it, it will create a new backup with the same name).

Could someone provide me with the exported winsock2 .REG files from a fresh install of NT4, 2k and 2k3 server? Just pm me and I'll give you my email address.

It works great on my machines but PLEASE be carefull when playing with it on a healthy machine until it's tested more.

Tom

******************************

SteelTrepid wrote...

Are you not busy enough already??

Hmmm, let's see here really quick:
1.EzPCFix
2.RootKitty
3.Config Tool
and NOW a WinSock fixer??

I wish I had your drive man!! This is going to be nice. I really wish you would have told me about this last night though. I just downloaded another free one to fix my system. I think when I upgraded to FF 1.5 something got messed up and I haven't had the time to find the issue. I assumed and hope that what I did today fixes my issue. I was losing internet access on my computer on a daily basis. For a while there it was happening around the same time of day. I would have to reboot in order to be able to be online. I did some basic troubleshooting.

Anyways good luck with this I hope it will be a nice to that you could offer on your site. I will try to check it out when I get the chance. If I get the chance I'll throw a HDD in my test system and do a clean install of 2K and get that information sent out to ya!

******************************

I made a few changes so it can now run from read only media. It now creates the backup and extracts the .REG files to %TEMP%

HERE'S the UBCD4WIN plugin.

This utility is completely worthless from PE unless RunScanner is used (which I haven't tried yet) but it works great from windows straight from the CD.

Quote

If I get the chance I'll throw a HDD in my test system and do a clean install of 2K and get that information sent out to ya!

WOW, thanks for the offer but please don't spend the time it takes to install an OS just for this! There's enough people here on the forums that do this kind of stuff daily that I'm sure someone will PM me and help me out.

Tom

******************************

SteelTrepid wrote...

Well, it's not like it really takes much effort to install an MS OS. Just start it and then keep checking back to click on a few things here and there. Having a HDD in my test system would probably help anyways. The only problem with it is me getting off my lazy arse!! Walk a few feet to my HDD's, shut down my test system, mount it with a screw (too lazy for two!), hook up the power and IDE cable, and then start it up. Although it may take me time to find my 2K CD again, haven't used it in a while! I have a 7 shelf CD/DVD shelf on my desk....yet I can never seem to find the time to put CD's back when I'm done with them. I always have a pile of 15-40 of them in the corner of my desk!! Anyways, I'll play with it tomorrow more when I'm not so tired.

******************************

SteelTrepid wrote...

Is this what you needed???

Quote

CODEWindows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2\Parameters]
"WinSock_Registry_Version"="2.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2\Parameters\NameSpace_Catalog5]
"Num_Catalog_Entries"=dword:00000000
"Serial_Access_Num"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2\Parameters\NameSpace_Catalog5\Catalog_Entries]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2\Parameters\Protocol_Catalog9]
"Num_Catalog_Entries"=dword:00000000
"Next_Catalog_Entry_ID"=dword:000003e9
"Serial_Access_Num"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2\Parameters\Protocol_Catalog9\Catalog_Entries]

*************************

Yes! Thank you

Is this from win2k pro?

Tom

*************************

SteelTrepid wrote...

yes