Tag Archives: Windows
Remote Desktop (Server) in Windows XP Home Edition
November 14th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
The folks over at My Digital Life have a blog post that explains how to install the necessary files for Terminal Services and trick the OS so Windows XP Home Edition will allow incoming Remote Desktop sessions. Frankly, the lack of Remote Desktop in Home edition is the biggest drawback to this version of XP. Still, I’m a huge fan and pretty much an everyday user of UltraVNC, but that isn’t as easy to set up for non-technical persons like the built-in Remote Desktop application. Anyway, go check out the article.
Windows 7 news
October 29th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
There have been a number of Windows 7 articles recently, due to Microsoft flaunting it the Professional Developers Conference in LA this week. I’ve been reading up on a few of them and am a bit excited about Windows 7. But then again I was excited about Vista before it was released, and we won’t talk about how that went. Still, as Gizmodo is pointing out, Windows 7 is looking like what Vista should have been. Check out these two Gizmodo articles:
Old Java packages are still a security risk
October 1st, 2008. Published under Software Tools. No Comments.
This baffles me. Sun Microsystems, the company who produces Java, which is commonly used as a web browser plugin, occasionally offers updates to Java. These updates are almost always due to someone discovering an exploitable security hole and Sun patching that hole. This makes perfect sense and frankly is a necessity. However, what I don’t get is why Sun would then leave the old, insecure versions of Java installed. ALL of the old versions. I’ve seen Windows computers with ten or so versions of Java installed. What’s worse, malicious users who know how to exploit these security holes can easily access the older versions of Java still present, thereby defeating the entire purpose of upgrading Java to the most recent version. What’s with this, Sun?
The old versions of Java should be removed unless you know you have software that requires an older version. If that is the case, then you are stuck with the security issue as well. If not the case, which should be most people, then all of the old Java packages should be uninstalled. This used to be a tedious process using Add/Remove Programs, uninstalling one at a time. No longer!
Javara is a tiny utility that removes all old Java packages with the click of a few buttons. It logs all changes it makes as well. You can also use it to make sure you have the latest version of Java. I’ve recently discovered this utility and I now use it regularly. Go check it out and make your computer more secure!
Bad USB cable knocks out other USB devices
July 3rd, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Here’s a lesson learned that took a few hours. Just last week, someone asked me to help them with their iPhone suddenly not synching their Outlook info. I confirmed this was actually working previously. When plugging in the iPhone, Windows XP gives the standard “USB Device not recognized” error message balloon. Hmm, ok, let’s begin troubleshooting.
I install iTunes and restart. No go. I uninstall iTunes, restart, reinstall iTunes, restart. No go.
Someone else has an iPhone in the office, so let’s see if the first iPhone works with the other computer. Yes, it does, so the iPhone is OK. Let’s try this other person’s iPhone USB cable on the computer giving the error. No, it doesn’t work either, so the USB cable is OK.
Its starting to look like a USB issue, so I pull out my Cruzer Titanium USB thumb drive. Ah ha! The thumb drive fails, so there is definitely a USB issue here. I try the thumb drive and the iPhone in different USB ports. No go. I download the latest Intel chipset drivers, pull out all USB connections (there was also an HP LaserJet 3050 All-in-one plugged in), and restart. After logging in, I plug in the iPhone. It’s recognized – bingo! I plug in my thumb drive and it is also recognized. OK, at this point I’m thinking there was a corrupted USB driver and the issue is gone. I plug in the USB cable for the HP LaserJet 3050 again and send a test print. Test print works.
OK, let’s restart one more time to make sure everything is going to work after I walk away. Unplug the iPhone and put my thumb drive back in my pocket. Restart. Plug in iPhone. USB device not recognized. What? But it all just worked fine?!??!
Try my thumb drive again. No go. Send a test print. Test print comes out fine, so the printer is still working. What the heck is going on here? I’m two hours into this by now (iTunes installs were slow and restart and logging in isn’t the fastest thing either), and I’m still scratching my head. I unplug the printer again, and the iPhone and thumb drive work! I plug in the printer again and the test print works, but the iPhone and thumb drive do not.
Then I notice the USB cable for the LaserJet was rather stretched, since the printer was somewhat far from the comptuer. The cable didn’t touch the floor anywhere, so coming out of the computer the cable was bent about 90 degrees. Could it be a bad cable? I grab another USB cable and swap. Test page prints fine AND the iPhone and thumb drive work as well! Bingo. This is the first time I have ever seen a bad USB cable actually work for the perhiperal it is plugged into but make all other USB devices on the computer fail.
I just hope this post saves someone else from 2.5 hours of frustration.
Goodbye, Windows XP (well, not really just yet)
July 1st, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Windows XP is now officially retired by Microsoft. This doesn’t mean you will not be able to get your hands on it or get support for it. All it means is it isn’t being shipped to stores or most vendors. It will still be installed on ultra-mobile and ultra-low-cost class computers. Also, some major vendors such as Dell are offering a “downgrade” service that will allow you to technically be purchasing Vista, but have XP factory-installed for you. The nice thing about this is that Dell will support both XP and Vista installed on your computer, and you can upgrade to Vista at your discretion.
I personally will not be migrating toward Vista, nor will I be migrating anyone else’s computers toward Vista. I’ll most likely continue purchasing computers with XP Professional as long as it is available as an option.
10 things you can *try* when Windows XP will not boot
June 26th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
This article, on TechRepublic, is called “10 things you can do when Windows XP won’t boot”, but I think my title is more accurate. Many, many things can cause Windows XP to not boot, so this list is most certainly not a definitive list that will make XP boot once again. But, it does cover the basics, and there is a decent chance on of these will fix things. It is worth noting that number ten, “Perform an in-place upgrade”, will cause a lot of extra work, in that you’ll have to reinstall most of your apps, since a fresh new registry is written to the disk. More importantly, if I remember correctly (its been a while since I’ve done this myself), it also overwrites the “Documents and Settings” folder on the system drive, which would wipe out all user profiles (read: wipe out your My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, etc). Usually not the best option. Oh, you say you don’t have a backup of your data? Tsk, tsk.
I would add a section in number ten and first recover data. Here are three ways to first recover data:
- Remove the drive and set it as a slave in another computer. This would allow you to copy data over using the other computer’s OS. You then burn to disc or copy to USB drive or whatever.
- Remove the drive and put it in an external enclosure that will allow you to plug the drive into another computer. Same result as the first option, where you can burn or copy the data using the other computer. Or better yet, just buy a new hard drive for your computer, install Windows (or another OS), reinstall all your apps, then use the old hard drive in the external enclosure to copy over your data to your new hard drive. Then wipe the old hard drive clean and use this old hard drive and external enclosure to regularly backup your data, as you should have been in the first place.
- Use an “OS on a CD” solution, such as the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, or a Linux Live CD, or the like. The UBCD for Win is great. I keep one in my briefcase at all times. Anyway, boot your computer to the UBCD4Win disk, which is loaded with diagnostic tools and stuff. If these don’t work, at least you should be able to recover data from this environment using your burner or USB drive.