"Compressed drive", now computer acting a little funny

[shawnh]

Hi all, wonder if anyone could help me out with this weird thing. My old XP laptop was running low on HD space the other day so I did that "Compress drive to save disk space" thing. It did give me some extra space, but ever since, I notice a few odd little things with my system:

 

- when I try to run my Excel 2003, a window will come up "Preparing to install" then it says "please wait while Windows configures MS Office Profession Edition 2003". A progress bar will go about 3/4 of the way, then another windows pops up saying "Installation error: file not found. A required installation file SKU011.CAB could not be found". It asks for a folder location to install this file but I no longer have the installation CD. So I can't get Excel working now.

 

- also, it seems the system "sounds" are a little different. My Pegasus mail program used to play a little chimey sound thing when new mail would arrive - it still does, but now the chimey sound is different. And some other system sounds don't sound quite what they used to.

 

- also... and I don't know if this means anything... in Windows Explorer, all my folder names are in a blue font color, whereas they were in black before.

 

 

Not catastrophic, but some funny little occurrences since I did that compress thing. Has anyone ever experienced the same before?

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[aFixedPC]

I've known all sorts of problems occur from compressing your drive. If I were you I would take compression off by going to "My Computer", right click on C: and choose Properties. Untick "Compress drive to save disk space" and click OK.

 

The reason you are getting blue colours is due to the setting in "My Computer", Tools, Folder Options, View, Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.

 

I've come across the SKU011.CAB lots of times but have always used the installation CD to fix it. Try this: -

A required installation file SKU011.CAB could not be found. | Kazmarek Technology Blog

 

With regards to the sounds it could be that the program can't access the sound file if it's compressed and has used an alternative.

 

I'd recommend running Disk Cleanup without the compressed option to clear up your drive. Go to "My Computer", Right click on C: and choose Properties then "Disk Cleanup".

Another way is to double click on C:, press Ctrl+F and search for files greater than 10MB. If you don't need the file and you know what it is, delete it.

 

Finally if you're still low on space, grab a new hard drive that has more space.

[RandyL]

I've always been afraid to choose the compress files option. I was wondering if it could be undone. Thanks for the info.

[Plastic Nev]

The problem may be that the compression may not be fully undone, compression always means throwing out odd bits of data the system deems unnecessary.

Sometimes those odd bits are needed. it is similar to taking a full photograph direct from a camera, and uploading it to your computer, converting it to a JPG file, then making the picture smaller.

Fine, to your eyes you cannot see anything wrong, but if then bringing the picture back up to it's original full size, it is now pixelated. That is because in converting to JPG, then making the picture smaller, (the same as compressing it) many single pixels are lost. you cannot get them back.

you have to go back to the original picture to get it back to fully recognisable.

 

The same now with your operating system. To return to full functionality you may have to use at least a system recovery disk, or if installed, the recovery partition. In most cases a system repair is required.

A full recovery will send the computer back to how it was when bought and wipe all your data. you don't want that unless it has been thoroughly backed up elsewhere.

Nev.

[shawnh]

Hi guys, thanks for the quick replies! I can tell you a little more now about my computer's condition now after working with it some more - I had thought it was playing "different" chimey sounds, but it's actually playing ALL audio (and video... youtube, etc), really S-L-O-W ! Everything sounds right draggy. God, what have I done!

 

I did that compress thing about a week ago, and it seems to me that youtube videos and other audio was fine until just yesterday. That was when I noticed my Excel not working and I googled "SKU011.CAB missing". I found this site:

 

SKU011.CAB

 

... and tried the quick registry fix it recommended. But it didn't work, so I changed it back to the original value. Only after I did all this, did I read the comment further down that website that said:

 

"Watch out, this advice about editing the registry is bogus.

changing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Office -> 11.0 -> Delivery just produces a different error and really screws your system".

 

 

... do you think it could have been this little registry change that messed me up? That's really the only "system" change I made since doing the compress thing.

 

 

AFixedPC --> I'm following your recommendation of searching for files > 10 megs and deleting any unnecessary ones, and then UNcompressing everything again. Hopefully that'll put me back to my original state. I have to be careful though - I have only a 30 gig HD on this laptop with only 2.7 gigs of free space at the moment. Thanks also for the SKU011.CAB suggestion... do you think I should wait till after I UNcompress, or can I do that now?

 

Plastic Nav --> Wouldn't compressing be more like zipping and then when you uncompress, you unzip. In this way, the original file is completely intact, byte for byte.... no?

 

 

Thanks!!

Shawn

[shawnh]

Further to my condition - aFixedPC, I followed your advice and did that search of files > 10 megs and deleted a LOT of useless crap. I'm up to about 9 gigs free space now, and guess what? Somehow during all that crap deletion it fixed up my draggy audio/video playback! That's back to normal now - not sure what I did to do it! Everything is still compressed, I didn't undo that yet, not sure if I will now, or if I need to.

 

Question please about the LIStool you recommended for my Excel 2003 suggestion - basically, I'm just not sure how to use it. I tried the "enable"mode for it, and it just asks again for the source CD which I don't have. I didn't try the "disable" mode yet as I'm not sure what it will do. I did find a copy of the SKU011.CAB file on the net, so do I need to do a "disable" and then have the LIStool point to the folder where I have this file saved?

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[shawnh]

Hi, are you guys still with me? I could still use your help please!

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[Jelly Bean]

Hey Shawn I suppose some of the guys are in bed by now,diffrent time zones.

 

Can you let us know if any of the fixes have helped in anyway please?

 

Just on one note I did compress my Vista hard drive some time ago and I wish I had not,it refused to boot afterwards and replaced the hard drive and a reinstillation was in order.

 

Shawn what is the size of your harddrive?I wonder if it is an older one that it was having issues before you compressed?

[lon0]

To fix your SKU011.CAB issue when you open excel, you can try this. If you have never edited your registry before I would back up all your work and backup your registry. To backup your registry click start, run and type 'regedit', a two pane window will open. Go into the File menu, and select Export. Find the location of where you wish to store the registry backup file, and type in a name for the file. Click on the Save button. Close the registry editor down and save the file on a memory key or any other external device.

Now to fix Excel:

 

1) Access the registry editor by clicking start, run and then type regedit.

 

2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, click software, click microsoft, click Office, click 11.0 and then delivery.

 

3) There should only be one directory under delivery which is your DownloadCode (something like 80000309-6000-11B3-8CEE-0140047383C)

Select that directory.

 

4) On the right hand side of the screen, right-click on cdcache and change the value to 0.

 

Close down, restart and try to open Excel.

 

To deal with your space issues, I find the best program to clean unwanted files is Ccleaner. Its also free! Hope this helps

[Dalo Harkin]

Plastic Nav --> Wouldn't compressing be more like zipping and then when you uncompress, you unzip. In this way, the original file is completely intact, byte for byte.... no?

 

YUP

[shawnh]

To fix your SKU011.CAB issue when you open excel, you can try this. If you have never edited your registry before I would back up all your work and backup your registry. To backup your registry click start, run and type 'regedit', a two pane window will open. Go into the File menu, and select Export. Find the location of where you wish to store the registry backup file, and type in a name for the file. Click on the Save button. Close the registry editor down and save the file on a memory key or any other external device.

Now to fix Excel:

 

1) Access the registry editor by clicking start, run and then type regedit.

 

2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, click software, click microsoft, click Office, click 11.0 and then delivery.

 

3) There should only be one directory under delivery which is your DownloadCode (something like 80000309-6000-11B3-8CEE-0140047383C)

Select that directory.

 

4) On the right hand side of the screen, right-click on cdcache and change the value to 0.

 

Close down, restart and try to open Excel.

 

To deal with your space issues, I find the best program to clean unwanted files is Ccleaner. Its also free! Hope this helps

 

 

Lon0, I had mentioned at around the start of this thread that I saw this fix elsewhere on the web and tried it. It didn't do any good, and then I read some comments about it later that said it was actually dangerous to your system... so then I switched it right back. Anyway,my Excel 2003 still doesn't work now because of this SKU011.CAB file issue. Does anyone have any suggestions please?

 

Also, can someone please help with a complete virus and spyware check of my laptop? I have had help on this forum before for that from a couple of helpful people for two of my other computers. They guided me through using a series of anti-spyware and anti-virus cleanup tools... it was great.

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[shawnh]

Anyone please?

 

Shawn

[RandyL]

shawn if you need help with malware please post it in the security section.

 

If you still can't get Excel to work and no longer have the installation CD's you might be out of luck. However you might be able to repair it. If you go to add/remove programs and choose uninstall you might get prompted to repair or uninstall. Try repair. You still might need the disks though.

[shawnh]

Tried the Uninstall to get to the "repair" option but it just went right ahead with the uninstall without asking me, lol. Anyway, my sister has a licensed copy of Office 2003 Basic for her computer and she sent me her disc, all is cool! You can close up this thread if you like.

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[DSTM]

The Copy would still have to be validated, for your Computer,I would think,Shawn.:)

[WhizzKid]

No, office 2003 should install OK.

[PseFrank]

@ WhizzKid...

You may have misunderstood what DSTM meant. He was not questioning Shawnh's ability to install his sisters copy of Office. I think what he meant was that if that version of Office only carried a single use licence, or if it was licenced for example for three computers...but those licences had already been used.

 

Then, apart from it being illegal to install it on another computer. Shawnh may have had a problem with validating the software.

 

It should also be pointed out that Free PC help will not knowingly offer assistance pertaining to use or problems with illegal software.

[shawnh]

Seems to have validated okay guys... I think I'm alright!

 

Thanks for all your help!

Shawn

[RandyL]

Sorry about the repair Shawn. I'm glad everything is ok again.