Microsoft Releases Windows Help Program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows 7 x64 and Windows 7 x86

Microsoft didn’t wait for the October 22, 2009 Windows 7 RTM deadline and yesterday published Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows 7. A genuine validation is performed before the download can be initiated. Further information about the removal of the Windows Help Program is provided at the Microsoft Knowledgebase.

This replaces my temporary solution which I’ve patched together four months ago.

Before Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft allowed third-party developers to include WinHlp32.exe with their Windows programs. This is no longer the case, and the utility is now available exclusively as a standalone download from Microsoft. WinHlp32.exe is set up to integrate with both the 32-bit and the 64-bit editions of Windows 7, as well as with the exclusive x64 version of Windows Server 2008 R2.

“Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) is a Help program that has been included with Microsoft Windows versions starting with the Microsoft Windows 3.1 operating system. However, the Windows Help program has not had a major update for many releases and no longer meets Microsoft's standards. Therefore, starting with the release of Windows Vista and continuing in Windows 7, the Windows Help program will not ship as a feature of Windows. If you want to view 32-bit .hlp files, you must download and install the program (WinHlp32.exe) from the Microsoft Download Center,” Microsoft stated.

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v (1011) Samsung SLC SSD and Windows 7 x86 Upgrade

Last night, my brother bought our forth SSD—another Samsung SSD RBX Series 64GB MCCOE64G5MPP-0VAD1 SLC solid-state drive, disassembled from a Dell Latitude E Series—for $130. Having bought three of the same Samsung SSDs about a week ago from the same shop, the Dell dealer joked with my brother asking “do you have a research lab?!”

The device embracing this newly-purchased Samsung SSD is my sister’s Dell Inspiron Mini 10v (1011). The original operating system on the Mini 10 is Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC, and the hardware configuration comprises an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz with 512kB L2 cache CPU, 1GB DDR2 667 RAM, Intel GMA 950 64MB graphics adapter with VGA output, and finally a 160GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD1600BEVT-75ZCT2 HDD.

The first step was to patch Samsung MCCOE64G5MPP-0VA SSD with the PS105D15 firmware update (dated 3/25/2009) using my PC. Now that the SSD’s firmware is patched successfully, it’s time to view Mini 10v’s service manual, to know how to get into Mini 10v’s assembly safe and sound. Please note the Serial ATA controller in Dell Mini 10 doesn’t operate in SATA II mode, so you’ll see the SSD is detected as a SATA1 disk in Mini 10’s BIOS.

To install Windows on netbooks lacking DVD drive, the best practice is to prepare an external HDD having a few gigabytes of free space. Then you need to make an active FAT32 partition somewhere on the external USB hard disk drive, and copy the entire contents of your bootable Windows installation CD/DVD into the FAT32 active partition. Please note there’s no necessity for the active FAT32 partition to be the first partition. It can be the only partition on the disk, located somewhere between other partitions, or even the last partition on your USB portable HDD.

To clone recovery and OS partitions, I used “Acronis True Image Home 2010”, which I’m happy to announce is much faster, user-friendlier, and stabler than its previous version included in “Acronis Rescue Media” bootable CD. My tests also show not only it operates more supportive over AHCI, but cloning Windows 7 partitions between HDDs and SSDs, it doesn’t cause the “boot selection fail” with status 0xc000000f problem noticed before as “Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.”

After a fresh installation of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Build 7600, Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) measured a Windows Experience Index (WEI) score of 6.1 for SSD’s disk data transfer rate. Now to make an SSD vs. HDD comparison benchmark, the Windows 7’s partition has to be cloned. While cloning the freshly-installed Windows 7 Ultimate x86 Build 7600 using Acronis True Image Home 2010 from the SSD (64GB Samsung MCCOE64G5MPP-0VAD1 SLC solid-state drive) into the HDD (160GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD1600BEVT-75ZCT2 hard disk drive) using my PC (ICH8 AHCI SATA 2), I observed True Image unbelievably finishing the cloning job in only 2 minutes!

The following table shows the accurate boot up benchmark for Dell Inspiron Mini 10v (1011) with its original Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC on HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Build 7600 on HDD, and Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Build 7600 on SSD respectively:

Windows / Disk Type	Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC / HDD	Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Build 7600 / HDD	Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Build 7600 / SSD
Total seconds elapsed to finish POST	7.77	7.50	7.65
Total seconds elapsed before Windows welcomes user	34.72	39.68	29.36
Total seconds elapsed before Desktop is shown	42.67	58.48	35.41
Total seconds elapsed before tray icons are completely displayed	58.91	1:04.41	42.60

Having allocated a total of 251MB graphics memory, Windows 7 enables it to play bigger graphics roles comparing to its original Windows XP. Now it plays wide full-HD (1920x1080) DivX/Xvid AVI videos with bitrates as high as 6Mbps without getting out of sync. Tried an 8Mbps Xvid HD video in Media Player Classic – Home Cinema, but after a few moments it got out of sync. Matroska video containers require more processing comparing to DivX/Xvid AVIs while being decoded, so I believe it’ll jitter playing an MKV sooner than a high-bitrate DivX/Xvid AVI.

Samsung MCCOE64G5MPP SLC SSD Installation Experience

Yesterday I and two of my friends bought three Samsung SSD RBX Series 64GB solid-state drives for $130 each from a Dell laptop dealer. These fine SLC SSDs were disassembled from brand new Dell Latitude E Series laptops requested by stupid customers who preferred a 500GB slow, noisy, heavy, and power-hungry HDD over an agile, silent, light, and green SSD. All manufactured on 5/23/2008, the three of them revealed “Power On Hours Count” of less than 10 in HD Tune Pro. Dell OEM labeled MCCOE64G5MPP-0VAD1, they shockingly had around 40 reallocated sectors each, showing us how immature the SSD technology is.

Computers needing surgery were my Dell XPS M1330, my friends’ Dell Studio XPS 13 (1340) and Sony VAIO VGN-SZ650N. To preserve Dell/Sony recovery partitions and also our existing operating systems for the purpose of an accurate benchmark comparison between before and after the SSD replacement, I used “Acronis Rescue Media” bootable CD’s “Acronis True Image” to clone every laptop’s HDD into each SSD with the HDD still installed inside the laptop and its own Samsung MCCOE64G5MPP-0VA SSD hooked up with a SATA/USB converter. Then the three hard disk drives were replaced by the solid-state drives respectively, but out of the ordinary, Windows failed to start on all three machines, with both Dells operating Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit build 7100, and the Sony operating Windows Vista Business 32-bit Service Pack 2, showing the following error message:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."

If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

For the Sony VAIO, operating Windows Vista Business 32-bit Service Pack 2, a simple try of the ERD Commander 6 bootable CD fixed the problem. Now the Dell laptops operating Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit build 7100 looked different. So I tried booting them with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit build 7100 installation DVD. When it started “Install Windows,” I clicked “Next,” then clicked “Repair you computer,” and waited for the System Recovery to find my Windows installation. After a while, a dialog box was shown, displaying “Windows found problems with your computer’s startup options.” It was asking “Do you want to apply repairs and restart your computer?” I clicked “Repair and restart.” This fixed both Dell laptops’ SSD startup problem.

Searching Dell website, I found a firmware update for Samsung MCCOE64G5MPP-0VAD1, downloadable as R214180.exe for making a bootable CD/USB flash and BR214180.exe for making a bootable floppy disk. The update applies firmware PS105D15 (dated 3/25/2009) to the Samsung MCCOE64G5MPP-0VAD1 (64GB) and also MCBQE32G5MPP-0VAD1 (32GB) FlashSSD once executed over a bootable media.

Dell says the firmware upgrade reduces potential issues due to power mode transitions and improves internal error handling. This firmware will decrease the possibility of the drive not being detected and system hanging. The problem is Dell’s R214180 firmware upgrade doesn’t end up in a proper bootable CD once extracted for the moment. So I uploaded the fixed ISO file for making a Samsung 2.5 S2 RBX SSD PS105D15 firmware update bootable CD onto my SkyDrive.

My Dell XPS M1330 and Mohammadreza’s Sony VAIO VGN-SZ650N managed to upgrade their Samsung SSD RBX Series 64GB flawlessly, while Farshad’s Dell Studio XPS 13 failed right when Samsung ACube was trying to patch the drive with PS105D15.bin. Thanks to Samsung ACube programmers, Farshad’s SSD didn’t become a brick, and I managed to re-flash it in my Dell XPS M1330. What astonished us was Samsung’s trick in hiding ID 05 aka “Reallocated Sector Count” out of HD Tune Pro’s health status. ID 0C aka “Power Cycle Count” was reset, and ID 09 aka “Power On Hours Count” was also foolishly set to 1, making someone willing to buy a firmware-upgraded Samsung RBX solid-state drive unable to determine the exact amount of time the drive has been working, or how many reallocated sectors it has replaced so far.

The following table shows the three laptops’ configuration, and their accurate boot up benchmark, before and after the SSD installation:

Laptop	Dell XPS M1330		Dell Studio XPS 13 (1340)		Sony VAIO VGN-SZ650N
Owner	Komeil Bahmanpour		Farshad Shirazi		Mohammadreza Taghavi
OS	Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Build 7100		Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Build 7100		Windows Vista Business x86 Service Pack 2
CPU	Intel Centrino Duo T7500 2.20GHz 4MB L2 Cache		Intel Core 2 Duo P9600 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache		Intel Centrino Duo T7500 2.20GHz 4MB L2 Cache
RAM	2GB Qimonda HYS64T128021HDL-3S-B DDR2 667		4GB Nanya DDR3 1066		4GB Kingston DDR2 800
VGA	Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS 128MB		Hybrid-SLI Nvidia GeForce 9500M 256MB (GeForce 9400M G and GeForce 9200M GS)		Hybrid Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS 64MB and Intel GMA X3100
HDD	160GB Fujitsu MHY2160BH 5400RPM		320GB Seagate Momentus 7200.3 ST9320421ASG		160GB Seagate Momentus PSD ST91608220AS
SSD replacement	Before	After	Before	After	Before	After
Total seconds elapsed to finish POST	6.74	6.78	13.23	13.20	10.85	11.24
Total seconds elapsed before Windows welcomes user	34.39	22.72	38.20	32.88	1:06.66	38.71
Total seconds elapsed before Desktop is shown	49.31	25.86	44.50	36.55	1:13.68	43.75
Total seconds elapsed before tray icons are completely displayed	59.52	32.25	54.31	42.38	1:30.81	48.38

After a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate x86 Build 7600 onto my Dell XPS M1330—now equipped with an SLC Samsung SSD RBX Series 64GB—it boots up in less than 28 seconds (7.03, 20.74, 23.14, 27.72) from off state, twice faster than when it was using an HDD, also its disk data transfer rate assessed by Windows Experience Index has jumped to 6.2. The same measure’s jumped from 4.6 to 5.9 in the VAIO—now SSD-equipped—operating its OEM Windows Vista x86. Now all three laptops are faster, lighter, quieter, and their batteries last longer, but there’s also an unsought side-effect to this amazing SSD experience. Because the lazy HDD is now replaced with the agile SLC SSD, system’s bottleneck point is removed, causing CPU not to have enough time to idle (read rest and cool down), so laptop’s cooling fan needs to overwork!