Lazybit

The best way to gather detailed troubleshooting information about Windows is the built-in System information tool. It generates a report that contains details about the hardware and software configuration. Here's how it works:

1. Press Start\Run
2. Type msinfo32 and press Enter
3. Once the program is loaded, press File\Save
4. Send the generated NFO file to your geeky friend who knows what to do with it

Here's what the report will contain:

• exact version of Windows and service packs;
• installed software;
• currently running applications;
• start up programs;
• system services and their status;
• hardware and hardware drivers (and their versions);
• partition table (indicating the size and file system of each drive);
• users and user-groups.

If you have a SIM card reader for SIM recovery or contacts synchronization, you may notice some weird behaviour on Windows 7.

Every time you plug in the reader, Windows begins to look for a driver:

This is strange, because you have already installed the driver once; and what is stranger is that despite the fact that Windows fails to find a driver - the SIM card manager still works properly!

The explanation is very simple: Windows doesn't try to install the driver for the smart card reader, instead it attempts to install the driver for the smart card.

Take a look at your device manager, and pay attention to the names of the sections. Notice that the smart card readers are OK (highlighted with green), while the smart cards themselves are marked as "unknown" (highlighted with red). [please excuse the mess in my system, there are many items there because my computer is a testbed for all my experiments]

So, what is all this about? First of all, it is not a bug, it is a feature of Windows 7. It attempts to load a minidriver for the smart card that was plugged in (yes, a SIM card is a smart card, so Windows reacts to a newly inserted SIM card in exactly the same way).

This may be needed for some smart card applications, but it is not needed for SIM card management software (our smart card security tools don't need it either). You have two options here:

• Ignore it and let it be. This is somewhat annoying.
• Disable the feature, save some time and get rid of the annoyance.

How to disable smart card plug and play on Windows 7

1. Start the group policy editor, by typing gpedit.msc in the Start menu
   
2. Go to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Smart Card
3. Find "Turn on Smart Card Plug and Play service" and double-click it
   
4. Disable it, click OK to apply the new setting
   

After you reboot the system, the pop-ups that show up every time you plug in a smart card will be gone.

Another way to disable smart card plug and play on Windows 7 is to run this from the command line, with admin rights:

Reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ScPnP\ /v EnableScPnP /t REG_DWORD /d 0

Should I disable smart card plug and play?

• If you don't disable it, the worst thing that can happen is that there is a delay before the inserted SIM card becomes readable. This happens because Windows locks access to the card, preventing the applications from reading it. After Windows fails to find a driver, the card becomes usable.
  This breaks some smart card programs, making them "believe" there is no card at all. SIM Manager was updated to take this feature of Windows 7 into account - so you can read your SIM card, its phonebook and SMS, etc
• If you disable it, the delay is removed, thus the card can be read instantly. Note that if you use Windows built-in smart card authentication mechanism, it may not work. If "smart card authentication" rings no bells to you, it is safe to disable smart card plug and play.
  Note that this feature does not affect Dekart Logon - our own program for smart card authentication in Windows.

p.s. those of you who already have SIM Manager, stay tuned for the upcoming release, it's new feature is deleted SMS recovery for the iPhone.