SuperWasp

Productivity tips, reviews, tools, software and gadgets.

Microsoft Bluetooth 2.1 drivers for Vista SP1

Microsoft silently released Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, which enables Bluetooth 2.1 support, a user interface for Unified Pairing and Windows Connect Now updates. Note: You must have Vista Service Pack 1 installed.

Update: Apparently you must contact your hardware manufacturer to obtain this feature pack. When I called Dell Gold Technical Support today, they had not heard of this update yet, and after an hour I got an email where they state that it will take another 3 to 4 weeks before it will be available from them.

Labels: Bluetooth 2.1, Microsoft, SP1, Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | PermaLink | 0 comments

FIX: GoogleBot produces "Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory" in ASP.NET

I found numerous "Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory" errors in my Elmah-logs lately, all of them generated by the ASP.NET engine after a visit from GoogleBot. It is caused by using URL rewriting in your aspx-pages in order to have more readable URL's and better search engine rankings.

Funnily, this only started after I submitted dynamically generated sitemaps to the Google Webmaster Tools for my clients websites. Instead of improved ranking and indexing, however it resulted in exclusion of all failing URL's.

For more background information about this error, which is generated only for certain user agents including GoogleBot and Yahoo! Slurp, you can do a simple Google search. There are a few solutions to fix this, but most involve using a custom base page class or creating different .browser files for each problematic user-agent in the App_Browser directory. Having done custom browser.ini solutions with Browserhawk years ago, I did not feel like starting all over again with googlebot.browser, yahooslurp.browser etc.

By far the easiest solution is a simple change in your web.config:

Find the <authentication> section, then change the <forms> line by adding:

cookieless="UseCookies"

Voila, the problem is fixed. Note that this disables cookieless functionality for forms, so if you really need that you should use a different solution.

Labels: .NET, asp.net, browser, bug, Google, Microsoft, problem, Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studion 2008, vs2005, vs2008

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  Posted by oVan on Sunday, April 06, 2008 | PermaLink | 0 comments

TIP: Improve weekly planning in your Outlook Calendar

Here are some quick tips to improve your productivity with the Outlook calendar:

Weekly Planning:
 

Create a second calendar for planning your week. Choose File | New | Calendar... and name it Planning.

In the planning calendar, make a general weekly planning by creating recurring appointments. Set their status like this: free status for home stuff, tentative status for work stuff, and busy status for must-do weekly items (backup, etc).

Assign meaningful categories to these appointments (work, phone, email, errands, home, garden, etc.) and make extensive use of Outlook's color categories. If you only need a few categories, give every one of them a distinct color.
If you plan on using lots of categories, assign the colors based on billable status (green = home stuff, blue = work stuff that brings in money, purple for unbilled work stuff, etc).

Every Monday morning, switch to the calendar view (Ctrl+2), enable Week View (Alt + "-"). Now you can do your weekly review (using David Allen's GTD-style or Franklin Covey's Big Rocks) with your planning calendar as a guide. Note that you can set the planning calendar to overlay your regular calendar, or you can display them side by side - whatever works best for you. Now it's easy to fill those days and keep a healthy balance between work and family life: a quick glance at the colors of the week will tell you if you schedule enough time for both parties.

Still in the calendar view, with the To-Do Bar at the right side open, arrange your todo's by Category. Based on the color or category, you can now quickly drag a task or follow-up item to your regular calendar:

• If you drop a task onto the Daily Task List, it will set the due date of your task and update the follow-up flag.
• Dropping it on a time slot of a day will create a new appointment and past the task text into the appointment.
• You can also drop your task on the calendar button in the navigation pane. That will create a new appointment with the task text, and open it for editing.

Note: Dragging/dropping with the right-mouse button will give you a popup menu with choices (create or copy a new appointment - with the tasks linked as a shortcut or attachment).

Some handy and lesser known Outlook keyboard shortcuts to further improve your productivity:

General:

• Control + 1: Email
• Control + 2: Calendar
• Control + 3: Contacts
• Control + 4: Tasks
• Control + 5: Notes
• Control + 6: All folders
• Control + 7: Your shortcuts
• Control + 8: Journal
  
• Control + Y: Jump to any folder
• Control + Shift + I: Jump to Inbox
  
• Alt + F1: toggle Navigation Pane (full, minimized, off)
• Alt + F2: toggle To-Do Bar (full, minimized, off)

Calendar views (regular shortcuts):

• Control + Alt + 1: Day view  (1 day)
• Control + Alt + 2: Work week view  (5 days)
• Control + Alt + 3: Full week view  (7 days)
• Control + Alt + 4: Month view (31 days)

Calendar views (alternative shortcuts):

• Alt + 1: Day view  (1 day)
• Alt + 2: Day view  (2 days)
• Alt + 3: Day view  (3 days)
• Alt + 4: Day view  (4 days)
• Alt + 5: Day view  (5 days)
• Alt + 6: Day view  (6 days)
• Alt + 7: Day view  (7 days)
• Alt + 8: Day view  (8 days, no kidding)
• Alt + 9: Day view  (9 days - yes really)
• Alt + 0: Day view  (10 days - this rocks!)
  
• Alt + -: Week view
  
• Alt + =: Month view

For email:

• Control + Shift + V: Move an item to a folder

Creating stuff:

• Control + Shift + M: New message
• Control + Shift + A: New appointment
• Control + Shift + C: New contact
• Control + Shift + K: New task

Has this helped you - or do you have some tips of your own? Drop a line in the comments...

Labels: 2007, key, keyboard, management, Microsoft, MSO2007, Office, Office 2007, OL2007, Outlook, Outlook 2007, productivity, project, shortcut, tip, trick, usability, Windows

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  Posted by oVan on Monday, March 31, 2008 | PermaLink | 0 comments

FIX: Remove and stop respawning of My Sharing Folders

In my previous post I quickly explained how to remove the "My Sharing Folders" shell extension via the command-line. All things work fine, until you restart your computer (or WLM) and notice that it has reinstalled itself.

In this post I will go a bit further, and explain how to stop automatic reinstallation of "My Sharing Folders", as apparently Microsoft has changed the latest Windows Live Messenger.

I assume you're familiar with Regedit and you have sufficient knowledge of Windows to play around with administrative rights. Obviously, I'm not responsible for any damage you might do to your machine - you're on your own there.

Let's get started:

1. Exit Windows Live Messenger (not just sign out)
2. In a command prompt, type: regsvr32 -u -s "C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\fsshext.8.5.1302.1018.dll"
   
   Note: you might need to change the numbers in the filename to match your version.
3. With Explorer, go to "C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\" and rename the fsshext.x.x.xxxx.xxxx.dll file to .old (replace X with the file version from your directory).
4. Next, open the registry editor (regedit), go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\(your userid)\Products\577EC8054AB4847428FDEF82ADF9300B\Features and rename the "MsgrFeat" string to "MsgrFeat-old". Don't change the contents of this string as you might need it someday to uninstall/change Windows Live Messenger.
   

Start WLM, all should be ok now. Let me know if it worked out ok for you... and Digg me!

Labels: fix, hack, Live, Messenger, Microsoft, registry, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista, WLM

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 | PermaLink | 3 comments

Fix: Localhost unavailable with ESET NOD32

Developers using Visual Studio will probably encounter this problem after installing ESET NOD32 antivirus or ESET Smart Security Antivirus+Firewall: browsing the web with Internet Explorer works fine except for websites you develop yourself (localhost).

Disabling the firewall or antivirus features doesn't solve this problem, however replacing localhost with 127.0.0.1 (or using FireFox) does solve it.

The real problem is easily fixed though.

Windows Vista:

In the start menu, type "notepad %system%\drivers\etc\hosts" and instead of pressing enter, right-click on the notepad icon in the top of the list (see screenshot). In the context menu you must click on "Run as administrator".

Windows XP and 2000:

Open a command prompt (cmd.exe) and type these commands:

cd %system%\drivers\etc

attrib -r -h -s hosts

notepad hosts

You will then see the following file in notepad:

The last line contains the problem. It reads:

::1             localhost

You can either remove this line and save the file, or comment it out with a pound/hash character #. Voila, fixed!

Labels: Administrator, fix, IE, IE6, IE7, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft, problem, Vista, Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studion 2008, vs2005, vs2008, web develoment, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Friday, March 21, 2008 | PermaLink | 2 comments

.NET Framework 3.5 Poster

Here's a poster with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Commonly Used Types and Namespaces.

It contains most used items from LINQ, AJAX, REST, CardSpace, WPF, WF, WCF, CLR, WinForms, Web Services and ASP.NET. There are also visual keys for new items in .NET 3.5, .NET 3.0, Compact Framework 3.5 and planned implementations for Silverlight 1.1.

Download page with 3 formats of the poster

Direct link to the large XPS version of the poster

Labels: .NET, Microsoft, MSDN

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  Posted by oVan on Friday, November 23, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 are here!

The Wait for Visual Studio 2008 is Over!

On Monday, Nov. 19, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 were released to manufacturing (RTM). With more than 250 new features,Visual Studio 2008 includes significant enhancements in every edition, including Visual Studio Express and Visual Studio Team System. Developers of all levels – from hobbyists to enterprise development teams – now have a consistent, secure and reliable solution for developing applications for the latest platforms: the Web, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, the 2007 Office system, and beyond.

• MSDN Subscribers: Get Visual Studio 2008 Now
• Download Trial Editions of Visual Studio 2008
• Download Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions
• Download the .NET Framework 3.5

Labels: .NET, asp.net, C#, free, Microsoft, MSDN, Visual Studio Orcas, web develoment, Windows

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  Posted by oVan on Monday, November 19, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Windows Vista October Reliability and Performance Updates

Microsoft has released several updates to improve the reliabiliy and compatibility of Windows Vista in certain scenarios. The issues resolved by these updates are detailed in the following Knowledge Base articles:

1. October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista (KB941229)
   Microsoft has released the October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista. This update rollup is intended for computers that are running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.
   
   
   Issues that are resolved by this update:
   In addition to the fixes that are contained in the updates that are listed in the "Hotfix replacement information" section, the October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista resolves the following issues: • Several issues that are related to the Media Center Extensibility Platform
   
   
   
   • An issue that affects digital cable card components when you use Scientific Atlanta cable cards
   
   
   • Interaction issues that occur between Media Center PC and Microsoft Xbox 360 when Xbox 360 is used as a Media Center Extender.
   
   
   • Autolaunch issues that occur with video CD (VCD) media
   
   
   
   Hotfix replacement information
   This is a cumulative update. This update replaces the following updates:
   
   
   
   • KB 935652 June 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista
   
   
   • KB 932818 April 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista
   
   
   
   
   


2. Cumulative update rollup for USB core components in Windows Vista (KB941600)
   This update resolves some reliability issues in the USB core components on the Windows Vista operating system.
   
   
   Issues that are fixed in the update rollup
   
   
   
   • KB 925528 Stop errors occur on a Windows-based computer that has 2GB or more of RAM and is using an NVIDIA nForce USB controller
   
   
   • KB 929734 You may experience problems after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation
   
   
   • KB 930568 Error message when you try to put a Windows Vista-based computer to sleep or into hibernation: "STOP 0x000000FE BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER"
   
   
   • KB 929478 After you use the Safely Remove Hardware option to remove a built-in optical drive from a portable Windows Vista-based computer, you may be unable to reconnect the drive
   
   
   • KB 930570 Error message in the Usbhub.sys process when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation: "STOP 0x00000044"
   
   
   • KB 928631 A USB device may no longer work correctly after Windows Vista resumes from sleep or from hibernation
   
   
   • KB 933433 Recording quality is poor when you use a USB microphone on a Windows Vista-based computer that has 4 GB of RAM or more
   
   
   • KB 933442 A USB composite device does not work after you disable and then enable the device in Device Manager on a computer that is running Windows Vista
   
   
   • KB 934633 When you connect a USB multifunction printer device to a Windows Vista-based computer, a second instance of the printer object is created, and the first instance no longer works
   
   
   • KB 934796 Error message on a Windows Vista-based computer that is running a USB composite device: "STOP 0x000000FE"
   
   
   • KB 933824 The Safely Remove Hardware feature and the Windows Explorer "Eject" command do not work correctly with an Apple iPod that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer
   
   
   • KB 935782 A USB device takes a long time to resume from "selective suspend" mode on a Windows Vista-based computer that uses UHCI USB controllers
   
   
   • KB 935783 When you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep, you may experience unexpected behavior from a USB device
   
   
   
   
   The following issues were not previously documented in a Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
   
   
   
   • When the computer resumes from a suspend state or from a hibernation state, the computer stops responding. Additionally, you receive a "0x9F" stop message on a blue screen.
   
   
   • The computer takes a long time to resume from a suspend state or from a hibernation state.
   
   
   • The computer takes a long time to resume from a suspend state or from a hibernation state when you use a VIA controller.
   
   
   • The computer stops responding when you use an AuthenTec USB fingerprint reader. Additionally, you receive a "0xFE" Stop error on a blue screen or a "0x9F" Stop error on a blue screen.
   
   
   • The computer stops responding when you use a USB Bluetooth audio device.
   
   
   • The computer takes a long time to resume from a suspend state or from a hibernation state when you use an Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) controller.
   
   
   • The computer stops responding when you remove a USB device. Additionally, you receive a "0xFE" Stop error on a blue screen.
   
   
   • When a computer resumes from a suspend state or from a hibernation state multiple times, you receive a "0xFE" Stop error on a blue screen.
   
   
   
   
   


3. Update for Windows Vista (KB941649)
   This update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista.
   
   
   This update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista. This update includes the following improvements:
   
   
   
   • It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
   
   
   • It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
   
   
   • It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.
   
   
   • It improves the stability of Internet Explorer when you open a Web page.
   
   
   • It improves the stability of wireless network services.
   
   
   • It shortens the startup time of Windows Vista by using a better timing structure.
   
   
   • It shortens the recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity.
   
   
   • It shortens the recovery time when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
   
   
   • It improves the stability of Windows PowerShell.
   
   
   
   This update also resolves the following issues in Windows Vista:
   
   
   
   • A compatibility issue that affects some third-party antivirus software applications.
   
   
   • A reliability issue that occurs when a Windows Vista-based computer uses certain network driver configurations.
   
   
   
   
   


4. Update for Windows Vista (KB941651) [KB article TBA -- Download below]
   This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.




• Update for Windows Vista (KB941651)
  
• Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB941651)

Via: Bink.nu

Labels: Microsoft, patch, reliability, update, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 | PermaLink | 1 comments

Additional Updates for Windows Vista

Here's a collection of recent updates for Microsoft Windows Vista that are not pushed through Windows Update or Microsoft Update.

• Download Update for Windows Vista KB936710 or x64 version
  

  Install this Microsoft update to help resolve a secondary graphic card operability issue when running DirectX 10 applications on multiple graphics cards.



• Download Update for Windows Vista KB941090 or the x64 version.
  

  Install this update to resolve an issue where messages become stuck in the Outbox and cannot be deleted when using Windows Mail. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.



• Download Update for Windows Vista KB940105 or the x64 version.
  

  Install this Microsoft update to resolve potential Graphics Virtual Address problems that may occur when running Windows Vista.



• Download Update for Windows Vista KB936004 or the x64 version.
  

  Install this update to resolve an issue where a USB telephony device (USB telephone, handset, headset and so on) is unexpectedly set as the default audio device on a computer running Windows Vista.

Source: Bink.nu

Labels: Microsoft, patch, update, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

FIX: Solving ATI Black Screen Problems in Vista

I've mentioned in my previous post about remotely restarting Vista with RDP that my switch from the finally fully working but oh so slow nVidia Quadro FX 550 card to the very fast (Aero Graphics: 5.9, Gaming Graphics: 5.5) and affordable XpertVision ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Super didn't work out because of the many sleep/hibernate problems in Vista.

To explain the situation a bit more, here's what my problems (and some early solutions) looked like.

• The system (sometimes) boots normally and the ATI card performs fast and stable.


• Putting Vista into Sleep mode or Hibernation mode always works.


• Shutting down Windows Vista also always works.


• Resuming from Sleep or Hibernation, or powering up sometimes works, but other times this can lead to this:
  
  
  
  1. Boot or resume works but with black screen syndrome: Windows is running but the ATI card appears not present and thus you get no picture whatsoever. You can however log in remotely using Remote Desktop Client.
  
  
  2. Boot or resume fails during the BIOS POST routine, and after some 30 seconds you get two beeps indicating your machine is tired of waiting on the video card to come alive.
  
  
  
  In the first case, it is enough to shutdown your pc remotely, and then retry the whole routine.
  In the second case, it only helped (in my case) to eithe remove and reinsert the ATI card, or to remove the power while your pc is hanging in the BIOS routine. Both solutions reset the video card and should get you going.
  


• Note that this happens with the ATI Catalyst 7.7 drivers, as well as with the beta version (RC3) of Catalyst 7.8.
  

However, while checking the very limited ATI/AMD support site, I decided to try some of the few solutions they had for similar but not identical problems.

To my big surprise, one of them actually worked... I've been able to put my workstation to Sleep, Shutdown, Restart for several times and not once did it fail.
Here's the solution:

1. Open the Start menu and type services.msc, then press Enter:
   
   
   


2. You'll now see the list of services. Select the ATI External Event Utility service, then press Enter:
   
   
   


3. This brings up the properties window. You'll notice that the service is started but that you can't stop it.
   
   
   


4. Change the Startup Type dropdown list from Automatic into Manual.
   
   
   


5. Close this window by pressing the OK button, then reboot your machine (with a proper restart via the Start menu).
   


6. Test the Sleep, Shutdown, Restart and Hibernate functions... it should work now.
   

I hope this really solves it, and that I don't need to revise this post or write a follow-up.

Labels: ATI, crash, driver, hibernate, Microsoft, problem, problems, sleep, Vista, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Friday, August 10, 2007 | PermaLink | 5 comments

How to shutdown or restart Vista via RDP?

I'm sure Murphy must be around the corner, because when I recently upgraded my video card from nVidia to a new ATI HD 2600 based card, I encountered a lot of problems that I did not expect.

As I've written before, the ATI video card and drivers in my notebook performed flawlessly from Vista Day 1. The nVidia drivers for the Quadro FX 550 on my workstation however had lots of problems, but in the end I've been able to solve it with more recent beta drivers and removing the SoundBlaster X-Fi card. Since that moment my workstation behaved perfectly also — no troubles with sleep, hibernation, shut down, restart whatsoever!

However, when I recently decided that the nVidia card was way too slow for this powerful machine, I've chosen an ATI-based card so that I would not encounter those problems again. But! Apparently the latest ATI Catalyst 7.7 and even Catalyst Beta 7.8 drivers still have problems with this brand new ATI HD 2600 XT Super, turning the whole sleep/shutdown/restart procedure back into a nightmare.

Sometimes the machine doesn't boot at all, just two beeps meaning it is tired of waiting for video initialization. At that point you can't even access the BIOS. The only way to revive is remove the power cord while it is turned on, or remove the card and reinsert it. Both solutions reset the video card from whatever buggy state it was left in.
Other times, it boots perfectly and restores the last session you were using, except you get NO picture... just a black screen! The only way to gracefully recover from this mess is to use Remote Desktop Connection from another machine. A glance at the event log reveals the following suspicious events:

The device 'ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT' (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9588&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\4&cff77c&0&0020) disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal.

The device 'High Definition Audio Controller' (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_AA08&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\4&cff77c&0&0120) disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal.

The device 'High Definition Audio Device' (HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1002&DEV_AA01&SUBSYS_00AA0100&REV_1000\5&921ff23&0&0001) disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal.

Note: The HD Audio device is a feature of the ATI Radeon HD 2600/2400 series, it is located on the video card and not on my motherboard.

Update: I've been able to fix these problems, see my recent posting about it.

Now using my workstation via RDP is fine and works really well, but it is no substitute for the real thing. It's as slow as the nVidia FX 550, so what did I change cards for then?

So the time has come to reboot the machine...but how to do that via Remote Desktop Connection? As you can see, you don't get the usual choices from the Start menu. The Power button has been changed into an X to disconnect the session:



The fly-out menu isn't any better, you just get Log Off and Lock:



If you look carefully, you'll notice a new button on the Start menu, it's called Windows Security. (This also happens on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Workstation/Server)



This brings you to the following screen (similar as pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete on your own Vista machine) where you'll notice the red power button in the bottom right corner. There you go: Restart, Sleep and Shut Down!

Labels: Microsoft, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Tuesday, August 07, 2007 | PermaLink | 2 comments

No more silent AutoPlay bypassing in Vista

Yeah, you know the trick, it's saved us from a lot of trouble. Holding down that Shift-key when inserting a CD or DVD made sure that nothing was autoplayed...

Now what do my eyes read in the Help-section from Windows Vista:

Why can't I override AutoPlay by pressing the SHIFT key as I could in Windows XP?
AutoPlay has been redesigned. Now holding down the SHIFT key opens AutoPlay regardless of the default setting.

For a moment I thought Microsoft had given in to the pressure of their commercial partners, but luckily you'll get the list of AutoPlay choices and thus you can always choose "View files".

Labels: AutoPlay, Microsoft, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Thursday, August 02, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Fix: Vista desktop stops updating

Microsoft is very productive lately, they have released a fix for these symptoms:
After a Windows Vista-based computer has been running for an extended period of time, the desktop screen may stop updating correctly. For example, you may experience any of the following symptoms:

• Parts of the screen may go black.


• Parts of the screen may become transparent.


• The toolbar may disappear.


• The toolbar may appear at the top of the screen instead of at the bottom of the screen.

It is described in detail in KB 932406: The Windows desktop may stop updating correctly after a Windows Vista-based computer has been running for an extended period of time.

Download here: 32 bit or 64 bit

Labels: desktop, fix, KB, Microsoft, patch, problem, update, WDM, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Fix: Vista sleep problems with High Definition Audio device

Similar to the sleep problems with Creative X-Fi and SoundBlaster audio cards, many Vista users have sleep/hibernation problems with the High Definiation Audio device from Intel.

Microsoft has released a new fix: as described in KB 937077: A high definition audio device may no longer work after you resume Windows Vista from hibernation or from sleep.

Download here: 32-bit or 64 bit

Labels: AC'97, AC97, audio, fix, HD, HD Audio, hibernate, hibernation, Intel, Microsoft, problem, problems, sleep, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Apple Safari 3 for Windows (beta)

Apple has released a public beta of their Safari browser version 3, including a Windows-version.



Here are the top reasons Apple wants you to know:

1. Blazing Performance


2. Elegant User Interface


3. Easy Bookmarks


4. Pop-up Blocking


5. Inline Find


6. Tabbed Browsing


7. SnapBack


8. Forms AutoFill


9. Built-in RSS


10. Resizable Text Fields


11. Private Browsing


12. Security

That list looks pretty compelling! I might add another reason, especially for web developers: it is the easiest way to know how your website might look on an Apple. If you install it together with Firefox 1.5 in the free Microsoft VirtualPC with IE6, you can easily test IE6, IE7, Safari 3, Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0 on a single Vista or XP machine without much trouble.

Update: In my follow-up post, I list no less than 22 problems with Safari on Windows that I've encountered in the first hour of usage. Suffice to say that I have uninstalled it now, and I'll revert to my previously reported method of cross-platform checking.

Labels: Apple, browser, IE, Microsoft, Safari, Windows

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  Posted by oVan on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Vista Released

Microsoft has finally released Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Windows Vista.



Here's a bit of info from their website:

The Windows Mobile Device Center enables you to set up new partnerships, synchronize content and manage music, pictures and video with Windows Mobile powered devices (Windows Mobile 2003 or later). The Windows Mobile Device Center combines an efficient business-data synchronization platform with a compelling user experience. The Windows Mobile Device Center helps you to quickly set up new partnerships, synchronize business-critical information such as e-mail, contacts and calendar appointments, easily manage your synchronization settings, and transfer business documents between your device and PC.

This new version of the Windows Mobile Device Center contains key improvements and new features to support Windows Mobile 6 devices. The Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 is only supported on Windows Vista.

Key updates in Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 include: Windows

• Mobile 6 feature support




• Information Rights Management activation - Automatically configure the Windows Mobile 6 device to open IRM-protected documents and files


• HTML mail – Set up your Windows Mobile 6 device to sync HTML-formatted mail


• Certificate Enrollment - Acquire certificates through the PC the Windows Mobile 6 device is currently connected to


• Allow data connections on the Windows Mobile 6 device when connected to the PC


• File synchronization for smartphones – Synchronize files with your Windows Mobile 6 devices, including both touch screen and non-touch screen devices




• Automatic device authentication - Connect the Windows Mobile device to the PC without the need to enter the device-lock PIN every time upon connect


• Product Registration - Register your Windows Mobile device and get connected to information and offers available for your device

Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 is fully compatible with Windows Mobile 2003 devices and later.

Labels: download, Microsoft, Smartphone, Vista, Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Thursday, June 07, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Tip: Looking for a Microsoft Hotfix?

If you're looking for Microsoft hotfixes, you sometimes need to call Microsoft to get it. However, there's a better/faster way:
The Hotfix Share only contains those hotfixes that are not publicly available on the Microsoft website. Bookmark it, it comes in handy when you're stuck again :-)

Labels: download, hotfix, Microsoft, patch, tip

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Vista Productivity Tip: Quick Access to Windows Mobility Center

Notebook users are often avid keyboard users, using a mouse is not always practical on the road or in the garden and you can do many tasks so much quicker with a few quickstrokes.

Windows Vista has a number of keyboard shortcuts that make life a little easier. One of them is Win+X: on notebooks, laptops and tablet pc's this launches the Windows Mobility Center. (Win+X is the Windows Logo Key together with the letter X)



The Windows Mobility Center gives you quick access to typical notebook-related activities. These are presented as small tiles: volume settings, battery status, wireless network, external display, sync settings and presentation settings.

Apparently it is also possible for third parties to create extra tiles, but so far I haven't seen them. One thing I'm missing here on my Dell Latitude D810 notebook is a tile for Bluetooth. Have you seen it, or do you know if it exists? What about other usefull tiles? Let us know, post a comment!

Labels: keyboard, Microsoft, mobility, productivity, tip, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Sunday, June 03, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

IE Developer Toolbar 1.0 Final Released

Microsoft has released the final release (v1.0) of the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar.

For those of you who are not familiar with the IE Developer Toolbar, here's a bit of info:

Overview

The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar provides several features for exploring and understanding Web pages. These features enable you to:

• Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a Web page.


• Locate and select specific elements on a Web page through a variety of techniques.


• Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.


• View HTML object class names, ID's, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.


• Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.


• Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS web feed links.


• Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.


• Immediately resize the browser window to a new resolution.


• Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies. Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.


• Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align and measure objects on your pages.


• Find the style rules used to set specific style values on an element.


• View the formatted and syntax colored source of HTML and CSS.


• The Developer Toolbar can be pinned to the Internet Explorer browser window or floated separately.

Although there aren't any major new features since beta 3, they've added some reliability fixes and polished the whole toolbar a bit.

Release Notes:

• If Internet Explorer is running while you install the Developer Toolbar,
  you must restart Internet Explorer before the Developer Toolbar will work properly.


• The Developer Toolbar icon may not be visible by default.  If you
  do not see it after restarting Internet Explorer, click the right-facing
  arrows at the end of the IE7 command bar to view all available toolbar
  buttons.


• Some menu items are unavailable (grayed out) when running Internet
  Explorer in Protected Mode on Windows Vista.  To use those options,
  temporarily turn off Protected Mode or right-click the Internet Explorer
  icon in the Programs menu and choose 'Run as administrator'.


• In IE6 or in IE7 with tabbed browsing off, using the validation links
  will navigate the current window to the validation page.  To launch the
  validation links in a new window, open the Tools menu, click Internet Options..., and uncheck "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts" in the Advanced tab, or use IE7 with tabbed browsing enabled.

» Download Microsoft Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar 1.0

Labels: CSS, developer, DOM, html, IE, IE6, IE7, Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft, toolbar

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  Posted by oVan on Friday, May 11, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 Developer Reference

No, that's not a typo in the title. Although Silverlight 1.0 hasn't been released yet, Microsoft has already shown the Silverlight 1.1 Developer Reference:



As noted in Andreas Kraus' post Silverlight - Take Back The Web, version 1.1 features true cross-platform capabilities and will offer support for the following soon: Opera browser, Windows 2000 operating system, IronRuby and VBx framework languages, Xml Language Integrated Query (LINQ to XML), XmlSerializer, System.Windows BackgroundWorker, Web Services Client Support, and Atom/RSS Support. These will be available after the 1.1 alpha release.

Labels: Microsoft, Silverlight

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  Posted by oVan on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Official nVidia Vista Drivers 158.18 WHQL

nVidia updated the download package of the nVidia Vista 158.18 driver –ForceWare158– because now they're official and also qualified by Microsoft (WHQL). This means that the driver has passed the tests at Microsoft Hardware Labs, but this also means nVidia considers this a stable release, even though it still contains a list of bugs.
As I still get frequent hangs on sleep, I'll have to investigate further. Next target on my radar is the Creative X-Fi.

Update: this driver adds support for my Quadro FX 550 (and a whole range of other Quadro cards) so you don't need a modified nv_disp.inf file anymore. It has also fixed the missing nVidia control panel on my system.

Update 2: A newer beta version has appeared – ForceWare Release 158
Version: 158.24 | Release Date: May 2, 2007 | Beta Driver – that promises to fix even more bugs and offer improved performance. Let us know if it solved your Vista sleep problems!

Labels: download, driver, ForceWare, Microsoft, nVidia, video, Vista, WHQL

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  Posted by oVan on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Update for Windows Vista Media Center released

Microsoft has released the Cumulative Update for Windows Media Center for Windows Vista (KB932818), the first update to the Media Center components of Windows Vista. Media Center functionality is available for the Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate editions.

Here's the list of improvements:

Hotfix replacement information

This is a cumulative update. This update replaces the following updates:

929011 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929011/)
Windows Media Center does not correctly configure a combo TV tuner that supports both ATSC and NTSC signals on a Windows Vista-based computer

932753 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932753/)
When you resize the Windows Media Center window in Windows Vista, video playback may stop

Issues that are resolved by this update

In addition to the fixes that are contained in the updates that are listed in the "Hotfix replacement information" section, the April 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista resolves the following issues:

•	The video may appear to freeze when the movie begins in some DVDs.
•	When you rotate a picture during a slide show in Windows Media Center, the wrong photo may be rotated.
•	The cover art for recorded TV movies may not appear in the DVD library view.
•	When you delete a picture in Windows Media Center, you may receive an error message that resembles the following: AUDIO ERROR The Url contains one or more invalid characters.
•	When you try to play a DVD by using Autoplay, you may receive an error message that resembles the following: Tuner not installed

Improvements that are in this update

The update also provides the following improvements:

•	Online Media support has been added for Windows Media Center on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.
•	Video Playlist support has been added for Windows Media Center Extenders.
•	Improvements have been made to Online Media caching.

Labels: download, Home Premium, MCE, Media Center, Microsoft, patch, Ultimate, update, Windows Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

IntelliPoint: To scroll or not to scroll?

Whomever at Microsoft Hardware decided to remove the universal scrolling functionality from the IntelliPoint software, should be removed from the team immediately. If that is the same person who decided that not every key should be configurable in the IntelliType Pro software, he/she should be expelled to Siberia instantly!

I have a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 (also part of the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000), in front of me. In many ways, it's an excellent mouse:

• very ergonomic for an ambidextrous model
• it's rechargeable and rechargeable AA battery is included
• quite attractive in silver, dark gray and matte black color scheme
• excellent optical performance with adjustable precision
• no noticeable Bluetooth lag (not recommended for gaming though)

But it also has some serious flaws:

• the left and right side buttons are difficult to reach
• although the wheel button turns without notches it doesn't roll smoothly
• no extra buttons (zoom, search, ...)
• But most importantly, it must use the latest IntelliPoint software and therefore it's useless!

For starters, the default configuration for this mouse is to have the scroll wheel click (when you push the wheel) launch the Instant Viewer. What on earth do we need that for? I thought Windows Vista had the great Flip-3D feature? I think I can hear them say "Nah sorry, you can't use that with your expensive mouse. You really need to use our full screen 2D viewer to see what windows are open."

Secondly, the Universal Scrolling feature has disappeared from the list of other activities you can bind to the wheel button. Put simply, you cannot scroll a window anymore without clicking the wheel button first (that's what they call AutoScroll, although I fail to discover the Auto in that functionality).

My excellent Wacom Intuos3 comes with a nice 5 button mouse that is ball free and optics free, and it scrolls immediately in any window. It's wheel rolls with soft notches, making it a very nice experience.

Additionally, my magnificent Logitech VX Revolution notebook mouse comes with an incredible free wheeling scroll wheel. It takes a little time to get used to it, but the productivity gains when skimming through hundreds of spam mails in Outlook 2007 is unbelievable. The best thing about this mouse is that it doesn't need the bloated Logitech software to work as expected, including scrolling a window without clicking. It has a search button, zoom lever, and back/forward buttons: these all work as expected in Vista. To anyone at Microsoft, please take note of this!

Finally, the magnifier functionality of IntelliPoint is very nice in theory. In reality however, it causes your Windows Vista Aero scheme to temporarily switch back to the Vista Basic interface and then immediately switch back to Aero. WTF! So it can work in Aero-mode but somehow they can't load the Magnifier DLL without switching. Uch!

Ps: I'll save my rant about IntelliPoint Pro 6.1 for a future post. There's only so much you can take :-)

Labels: 7000, 8000, Aero, AutoScroll, desktop, entertainment, IntelliPoint, IntelliType Pro, Intuos 3, keyboard, Logitech, Microsoft, mouse, Revolution, Universal Scroll, VX, Wacom, Windows Vista, wireless

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  Posted by oVan on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 | PermaLink | 2 comments

Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" Beta 1 available

You can now download Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas", the succesor to Visual Studio 2005. It's available in 3 flavours: Express Edition, Full Edition, and VPC images for your Virtual PC 2007 setup.

The full version is currently only available for MSDN subscribers, but the Express and VPC versions are here. This is from the overview page over at MSDN:

VPC Images
If you prefer the convenience of evaluating prerelease software in a virtual machine environment, you can download VPC images that include pre-installed instances of the prerelease software indicated, including any required prerequisite software.

• Visual Studio Team Suite-Only VPC
• Visual Studio Team Suite with Team Foundation Server VPC

Note: If you wish to use the Virtual PC image you will need Virtual PC or Virtual Server to run this image. Depending on your hardware the download files make take between 30-60 minutes to decompress these self-extracting files.

Visual Studio Express Editions
Visual Studio Express Editions are lightweight, easy-to-use and easy-to-learn tools for the hobbyist, novice and student developer.

For more information, see Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" Express Editions.

Labels: beta, download, Express, Microsoft, Virtual PC 2007, Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio Orcas, VPC2007

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  Posted by oVan on Friday, April 20, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

FIX: How-to solve your Windows Vista Sleep problems

You've heard it before: some people rave about Windows Vista, others keep complaining. From the computers I've installed and/or upgraded so far, I can tell that it's a hit or miss operation. Either it all works out smoothly, or it goes down to hell quickly.

One of the biggest problems I've encountered so far is that the new Hybrid Sleep from Windows Vista works so good on my Dell Latitude D810 notebook, and at the same time totally made the Vista Experience worthless on a Dell Precision 650 Workstation and even on a brand new Dell Precision 690 Workstation.

Here's what goes wrong: you push the power button in the Start menu – this is by default configured to use the Sleep mode. Sometimes this works ok, other times you get a black screen, some USB-peripherals are correctly disabled but the machine itself doesn't power off (fans keep turning etc.). To make matters worse, you can't wake your pc because your USB keyboard has already been disabled.

It also occurs that while your machine apparently went to sleep without problems, it won't start up again or even if it does, it hangs on a black screen and you can't do anything to go further.

The big constants between my Precision 650 and the Precision 690 were: a SCSI controller based on the LSI Fusion MPT chipset in the 650 and the newer version SAS/SATA Raid controller from LSI in the 690; and both machines had an nVidia Quadro FX workstation graphics card (Quadro FX 500 in the PWS650, FX 550 in the PWS690).

The solutions I've tried:

1. Having tried the latest drivers for the LSI based controller, downloaded from the support websites at Dell, HP, Intel, and LSI-Logic, it didn't solve the problem. I did see controller errors in the Event Viewer that were obviously related to the sleep problem, but the most recent drivers didn't solve a thing.


2. Updated BIOS firmware for the machines, installed most recent drivers for about anything in the machine, including the latest Intel INF files. No help.


3. Changed the Power Plan settings in the Vista control panel to never sleep, but use Hibernate instead. Unfortunately this gave me the same problems.


4. Changed the BIOS settings to use agressive S1 power state instead of S3, so that more devices are disabled and more power conserved. Alas, no resolution.


5. Reset all BIOS and Power plan settings to their default. I've experienced exactly one (1) successful sleep, after that it was back to square one.


6. This gave me the working solution: I changed from the latest WHQL nVidia drivers 97.46 to the nVidia beta drivers 158.18. Despite their wonderful explanation on how to install them, it didn't work at first: my video card was not supported. No problem, I've been a supporting fan of the LaptopVideo2Go website, and they have modified INF files for about every possible nVidia driver release, both official WHQL and beta drivers. So I grabbed a copy of the modified INF for the 158.18 driver and the install went smoothly. The only problem so far is that I can't access the new nVidia control panel, other than that the system runs much more smoothly than with the 97.46 driver and Sleep mode works perfectly so far!

Time will tell if and how good it keeps working, but so far the sky is bright :-)

This obviously leads me to the conclusion that nVidia was, contrary to ATI, totally unprepared for the launch of Vista, although they've had access to the beta and RC versions for months! Just do a Google search on "Vista sleep nVidia problem"... you'll find hundreds of thousands of pages. The machines I've installed or upgraded using an ATI video card never experienced this problem, they just work out of the box. In fact, they've had an WHQL'd driver from the very (consumer) launch of Vista, while nVidia had to catch up weeks and months later.

Another company that is totally unprepared for Vista is Creative Labs, but I'll save that for a future story!

Update: here's my follow-up post about more Vista Sleep problems

Update 2: I published the third post about Vista sleep problems, in which I removed the final culprit and solved the problem completely!

Labels: ATI, creative, driver, fix, hibernate, hibernation, hybrid, INF, Microsoft, nVidia, problem, sleep, solution, Vista, Windows

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  Posted by oVan on Friday, April 20, 2007 | PermaLink | 6 comments

How-to enable adminstrative shares on Vista

When accessing Vista from a computer on the network, you'll soon discover that it's impossible to use the administrative shares we've known and loved for years (C$, D$, ...)

You might get this error message:

Logon unsuccessful:
Windows is unable to log you on.
Be sure that your user name and
password are correct.

The solution is to add the following key to the registry. Use regedit and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and add a new DWORD labeled LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and set it's value to 1.

Although some sources state that you need to reboot the machine, I find it enough to logoff/logon your admin account. If you don't logoff or reboot, you'll get this error:

\\COMPUTER\c$ is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again.

Labels: administrative, Administrator, Microsoft, registry, remote, share, Vista

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  Posted by oVan on Thursday, April 19, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 comments

Microsoft Silverlight, not there yet!

You've probably read about Microsoft Silverlight by now, the new and fancy name for WPF/E that runs on both Windows and Mac, and on Internet Explorer, Firef