SuperWasp

Productivity tips, reviews, tools, software and gadgets.

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

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 | 4 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

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

22 Reasons Why Safari 3 is Unusable (and counting)

As indicated in my previous post, I had high hopes for Safari on Windows and I've played with it for about an hour.
Although I didn't intend to use it as my daily browser, I did want to keep it for testing purposes. The following list of problems and bugs will explain why I will uninstall it immediately, as it won't be of any use to me anymore:

Update: I've added some more problems posted by visitors
Update 2: Added related articles at the bottom

1. The interface does not adhere to Aero or XP Windows UI standards (same problem as iTunes and QuickTime (and is subjectively ugly)


2. No ClearType support, only font smoothing that looks terribly fuzzy on flat panels


3. In Vista, the window has no drop shadow like other applications, making it very hard to see what application is focused (unless you keep checking the status bar)


4. Clicking on the Safari icon in the Windows taskbar doesn't Minimize or Restore its window


5. You can't resize the window with its borders, only by using the small grip in the bottom right corner (provided it is not off screen).


6. You can't close a tab with the middle button of your mouse


7. Alt-Enter does not open an address in a new tab


8. Typing Ctrl-Enter does not add "www" and ".com" in the address bar


9. Escape key doesn't close the Print Preview window.


10. Buttons for Minimize, Maximize and Close are too small


11. Clicking on Bookmarks button or using Show All Bookmarks function (Ctrl-Alt-B) crashes Safari


12. Viewing installed plugins gives error message: Safari is missing important resources and should be reinstalled.


13. While typing my email address in the edit box on this page, Safari just crashes!


14. The toolbar buttons have no tooltips. I have no idea what that spider button will do...


15. Moving the Print Preview window around the desktop is very slow


16. Left edge of toolbar on Print Preview window has transparent part


17. Loading a different website in the main Safari window while the Print Preview window is still open, renders the new site also in Print Preview mode. I can't see the use of that, and the Print Preview should probably be a modal box.


18. Safari doesn't maximize properly on a second monitor.


19. Side-scrolling with the mouse does not work


20. Using Back & Forward buttons on my Logitech mouse doesn't work either


21. Not only does it use a lot of memory, it also leaks memory fast! Reloading this blog post a few times will eat up a few megabytes extra.
    
22. And finally... it does not uninstall gracefully. It leaves a lot of orphaned registry entries, including for the Bonjour technology.


23. Submitted by Tamir: Choose Language description in Hebrew is shown in reverse.


24. Submitted by Philip: It's impossible to change the proxy settings.


25. Submitted by anonymous: Preferences do not persist between sessions, nor is there a save button!

Okay, I agree that some bugs mentioned will be fixed, as this is a beta version after all. What will not be fixed however, is the fact that although Apple has the reputation of building user friendly devices and software, it actually fails totally in the User Experience! They have the arrogance to ignore de facto UI standards on the Windows platform, and by doing so they confirm what I've always thought about their products: they're (most of the time) beautiful but not practical. Sure, a lot of people benefit from a simple user interface, but not if it makes it harder to use the product: you can't easily resize the window, the font rendering looks horrible, buttons have no tooltips, the top header panel is huge, the removal of the status bar makes you wonder if your webpage stops at the bottom of your screen or continues under the taskbar, etc.

Apple might think that they'll gain some market share back from FireFox or Internet Explorer, but as it is now it just might backfire...

What are your thoughts? What problems did you encounter, or maybe you really like it? Let us know!

Here are some related articles on other blogs:

• View from W6th: Mac browser on the pc
  


• Phun-ky.net: Safari on Windows bugs
  


• 456 berea street: Safari now officially available for Windows
  

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Labels: Apple, browser, bug, crash, problem, problems, Safari, usability

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  Posted by oVan on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | PermaLink | 10 comments

Solving your Vista sleep problems (really)

Once upon a time
I've posted before of my journeys into solving Vista sleep problems. Although using the latest nVidia drivers for the video card certainly eliminated a lot of lockups, the truth is that the problems on my Dell Precision Workstation 690 never really went away.
In my original post Fix: How-to solve your Vista sleep problems I touched the possibility that nVidia wasn't the only one having trouble writing decent drivers. If you have a sound card from Creative you probably know what I mean.



It struck me that sometimes upon booting or waking Vista from sleep (whenever that worked) there was no sound from the speakers. A quick look at the device manager didn't show anything unusual, and the volume mixer was looking normally too; yet no sound to be heard. This strange phenomena was resolved easily by rebooting, but still it remained in the back of my head.

There's always a side track
In the second post – Windows Vista sleep problems, revisited – I side-tracked towards the LSI SCSI/SAS/SATA controller. I don't think I can prove that the changes to the power plan actually solved much, since Vista still hanged every once in a while upon entering sleep modus.

The solution I stumbled upon
Since I was looking to replace the current speaker setup (two Solid Monitor speakers with a Solid Active Power Bass (now discontinued) from Bowers & Wilkins, which needs a decent amplifier and is thus more suited for Hi-Fi systems, I decided to go with the Logitech Z-10 Interactive Speaker System. I'll leave my impressions of the Logitech speakers for a future post, but for now let me just say that I'm quite pleased with both the sound and the lookds.



What's more important and of relevance to the Vista sleep problems, is that the Logitech speakers are connected via USB instead of audio jacks. Unless you want to use the surround capabilities of your Creative X-Fi card, you can actually replace your sound card with just these speakers. When you open up the playback devices, you'll see them listed amongst other sound hardware you have in your computer.



So, you may ask, that looks really nice, but what is the solution to the sleep problem then? Well you've just read it... remove the Creative Sound Blaster or X-Fi card from your system and replace with something else. The Logitech speakers are one possible option, but you can also use the built-in High Definition Audio Device that is present on many machines, you just need to enable it in your BIOS.

Anyway, I've never had a sleep hang since I removed the Creative card from my system and uninstalled its drivers and software (a whopping 1Gb!).

ps: You can probably apply the same fix by buying a sound card from a different manufacturer, but I'll be the first to admit that I have no experience with other companies. If you do, let us know if it fixed the Vista sleep problems so we can help others too!

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Labels: creative, driver, fix, Logitech, nVidia, problem, sleep, SoundBlaster, soundcard, speaker, Windows, Windows Vista, X-Fi, Z-10

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  Posted by oVan on Monday, May 21, 2007 | PermaLink | 10 comments

Two Sidebar.exe processes running

Analysis of my log files reveal that quite a few people are looking for an answer to why there are 2 sidebar.exe processes running on Windows Vista.

The reason is simple: there's one process for the docked Sidebar at the edge of the screen, and there's another process to handle gadgets floating around on your desktop.

As to why there are two processes when you have no floating gadgets on your desktop, your guess is as good as mine. You can find this and other problems regarding the Vista sidebar in my previous post about it.

Labels: bug, problem, processes, Sidebar, sidebar.exe, Vista, Windows

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  Posted by oVan on Monday, April 23, 2007 | PermaLink | 1 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 | 7 comments