Archive for the ‘Power User’ Category
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/21
The introduction of the Ribbon in Office 2007 and 2010 often makes me ask “why are things so complicated now, that were so easy until Office 2003″.
One of the things that were very close together in Word 2003, was converting text to and from tables: they were in adjecent menu items.
Not any more, as you can see in the Convert text to a table or vice versa topic on the Microsoft site. There is even a Dummies article on this topic.
Summarized:
Convert text to a table
- Tab Insert,
- Group Tables,
- click Table,
- then click Convert Text to Table.
Of course the keyboard shortcuts are “easy” to remember: Alt, N, T, V
Convert a table to text
- When you have a (portion of a) table selected, you get a new contextual tab set called Table Tools.
- Tab Layout,
- Group Data,
- click Convert to Text.
Of course the keyboard shortcuts are “easy” to remember: Alt, J,L, V
–jeroen
via: Convert text to a table or vice versa – Word – Office.com.
Naming of ribbon UI elements
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/18
(Thanks to a “Missed Post” problem on WordPress.com, this one didn’t get posted on the scheduled date. Sorry for any inconvenience)
First Lenovo did away with 1920×1200 screens. Now they done away with the ThinkPad keyboard layout.
Both were my compelling reasons for buying Lenovo.
In fact, they are now marked as forum.thinkpads.com • non-ThinkPad Lenovo Hardware.
New Lenovo X1 keyboard. No more ScrLk, Pause and local-menu keys, PrtScr key moved to impossible place. 6-key navigation split.
–jeroen
PS: Anyone in The Netherlands who has a new ThinkPad W701 with 1920×1200 screen for sale?
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/18
Some shortcuts on the Mac are difficult for me to remember. For instance the one to move s
omething from the Finder to the Trash.
The guides on Trash at MacRumours.com to the rescue:
Deleting items
You delete files and folders by moving them to the Trash. You can:
Drag and drop a file on the trash icon in the dock
Control-click on a file and select “Move to Trash” from the menu
Select a file or files and use the keyboard shortcut: command-backspace
Select a file or files and choose “File > Move to Trash” from the menu bar
Note that on many Mac keyboards, the backspace key is called delete. It in fact functions as backspace which removes the character left of the cursor; to delete a character under the cursor you have to press Fn-delete.
–jeroen
via: Trash – Mac Guides.
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Posted in Apple, OS X Leopard, OS X Lion, OS X Snow Leopard, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/15
Just checked my post history (as most posts are scheduled months in advance) just to see a bunch marked “Missed Schedule“:
I tried this trick, but it didn’t help:
wget http://www.domain.com/wp-cron.php
Anyone who knows how to work around this?
Edit: posted on the forum, and contacted staff. But any ideas are still welcome.
–jeroen
via:
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/14
(Thanks to a “Missed Post” problem on WordPress.com, this one didn’t get posted on the scheduled date. Sorry for any inconvenience)
You need to be administrator to see the output of the “net config server” command.
The inbound/outbound limit is 20:
Running ‘net config server’ at the command-line suggests that Windows 7 can support up to 20 inbound / 20 outbound incomplete connections.
–jeroen
via: Inbound TCP connection limit in Windows 7 – Super User.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/14
A few tools to prevent your screensaver to run:
Windows (most seem to work with Windows 7 too)
Mac OS X
Note: on Windows 7 this will not prevent the inactivity timer on an RDP connetion!
–jeroen
via: windows xp – How to prevent screensaver – Super User.
Note: no need to write it yourself 
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Posted in OS X Leopard, OS X Lion, OS X Snow Leopard, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/14
(Thanks to a “Missed Post” problem on WordPress.com, this one didn’t get posted on the scheduled date. Sorry for any inconvenience)
I must try to see if this is going to work with my mentally retarted brother: Kidi.Net: Kinderen VEILIG op het Net.
–jeroen
via: Giovanni Praet (giovannipraet) on Twitter.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/11
(Thanks to a “Missed Post” problem on WordPress.com, this one didn’t get posted on the scheduled date. Sorry for any inconvenience)
You can fix the “temporary profile” in Windows 7 if you have access to the registry.
So it totally depends on how tight security at your clients is, and how fast their alternative processes are…
–jeroen
via: How to Fix Temporary Profile in Windows 7.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/11
The “route print” command in Windows will show you some “On-link” entries in the gateway column. This is from Windows Vista and up. Before that, you would see “127.0.0.1″.
While creating Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft built a “Next Generation TCP/IP Stack” (Wikipedia link) that – apart from adding IPv6 – added many new features and performance improvements.
Since traffic routable through the local machine can have multiple IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, it is not called ” 127.0.0.1″ any more, but “On-link” as the answers to the windows 7 – What does “On-link” mean on the result of “rout print” command? on SuperUser nicely point out:
They are addresses that can be resolved locally. They don’t need a gateway because they dont need to be routed.
and this:
Yep, the other three answers are correct: it’s just a route thats directly reachable the NIC is in direct contact with it; on the same subnet. To explain a little further though: by contrast, the routes that have a gateway IP listed must be contacted through that gateway.
Note that sometimes the new TCP/IP stack needs some arm wrestling in order to have it do what you want (for instance to have it honour TCP metrics).
Note that the “default gateway” line is also missing, as it is in the 0.0.0.0 network destination.
A few examples of what route print shows: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/09
A few notes on TLIST.EXE:
- Lots and lots of articles mention it.
- Not all versions of TLIST.EXE will work on all Windows versions (I found a 40k version 3.51 at a client that clearly hangs on their XP systems, where the version 3.50 works fine but is more limited).
- It is hard to find an actual download.
This is what I downloaded as I prefer ISO files prefer web-installers:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/A/2/4A25C7D5-EFBE-4182-B6A9-AE6850409A78/GRMWDK_EN_7600_1.ISO
I got there through these pages (in reverse chronological order)
–jeroen
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Posted in Debugging, Development, Power User, Software Development, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/08
Some clients generate their VPN connection settings using the CMAK (Connection Manager Administration Kit). Apart from the cumbersome way to support both x86 and x64 at the same time, they usually add in some kind of time-out feature, and often route the whole 10.0.0.0/8 network over the VPN to just host a couple of dozen machines. Having done most of my VPN connections by hand, and automating them using rasdial to dial these from the commandline, I also found out the hard way that you cannot use rasdial for CMAK generated VPN connections: it will give you the error “This function is not supported on this system.”. The funny thing is: you can disconnect using rasdial. Luckily, the far less well documented rasphonedoes work for dialing. The batch file below uses a few tricks, and you can set the parameters in the top of the batch file.
Have fun with it!
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Posted in Development, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows 7 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/07
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/04
One of the things about the Office 2007 and 2010 Ribbon is that it makes the things that you have remembered for 10+ years go into hard to find places.
My point is that according to the ribbon documenation:
A ribbon can replace both the traditional menu bar and toolbars.
Microsoft has decided to read the ”a ribbon can replace” as “the ribbon replaces”. Thereby also introducing a whole new naming for the UI elements used in ribbons (see at the bottom).
Tab "Review"; Group "Changes"; Commands "Protect Sheet" / "Protect Workbook"
Protecting a worksheet and workbook have been in the menu “Tools”, submenu “Protection” forever. But alas: No more “Tools” menu, and accompanying keyboard shortcut productivity (and I needed “unprotect workbook” because you cannot copy workbooks inside a protected workbook).
As “password protect worksheet” shows, it is now under:
- Tab: Review
- Group: Changes
- Commands: Protect Sheet / Unprotect Sheet / Protect Workbook / Unprotect Workbook
–jeroen
via: Microsoft Excel 2007 – Protecting Workbooks.
Naming of ribbon UI elements
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/30
If you love photography, be sure to read Ken Rockwell’s website. It is filled with useful information on photography and audio ranging from generic tips on making better pictures to specialized tips for many brands of equipment.
Since I use a Nikon D700 and D300, these are the most important for me, with a few quotes: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/27
Gearing down to WAP:
Zoals Donny al zegt, je hebt GPRS voor 2G, wat redelijk werkt voor lage-bandbreedte dingen zoal mail en mobiele websites (http://tweakers.mobi) bezoeken.
Vroeger had je ook nog WAP (wireless access protocol). Hele lage bandbreedte. Daarvoor moet je browser wel wap begrijpen. Zo is wap.tweakers.net nog in de lucht.
Moderne browsers snappen WAP iig. niet. Voor een simulator voor WAP: http://tagtag.com/site/info/emulator (en probeer maar wap.tweakers.net)
–jeroen
via: Providers vergroten capaciteit netwerken voor Koninginnedag | Mobile | Tweakers.net Nieuws.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/27
Dit was 1 van de dingen die ik midden jaren ’90 van de vorige eeuw voorzag: oude info blijft tot in de eeuwigheid beschikbaar.
- Naam: PLUIMERS SOFTWARE ONTWIKKELING
- Vestigingsadres: HOOFDSTRAAT 207 B
- Vestigingsplaats: 2171BC SASSENHEIM
Toen het nog een eenmanszaak was en je de 500 meter van je favoriete vereniging naar huis blind kon afleggen.
–jeroen
via: Kamer van koophandel: handelsregister : Kiezen informatieproduct.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/23
Someone forgot to kick the VDI instances in the farm to perform an automatic reboot.
Patch Tuesdays only work when you make sure that mandatory reboots are actually being done.
That also prevents users of getting confused by these System Modal dialogs:
[System Restart Required]
A newly installed program requires this computer to be restarted.
Please save your work and restart your computer. Your computer needs to be restarted by wo 11-4-2012 2:43.
[Restart Now] [Close]
and
[Restart Alert]
A system restart cannot be completed while another software installation is in progress. Please allow the software installation to complete before attempting a system restart.
[OK]
–jeroen
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/23
Hmm, interesting*:
Gbridge lets you sync folders, share files, chat and VNC securely and easily between friends or your own computers. Google Apps users can create their own free VPN within the organization instantly!
- EasyBackup: Backup to remote computer!
- DesktopShare: Technical support made easy.
- SecureShare & AutoSync: Share files within group!
Either a portable version of Gbridge (currently non-existent) or Gbridge running under a portable VM solution (would vbox.me or VirtualBox on a USB stick work?) running as a non-admin would open up a can of worms for syadmins, and at the same time make a lot of life hackers extremely happy
–jeroen
via: Google Apps Marketplace – Gbridge: Free instant VPN for everyone!.
PS: *If you hear a programmer mumble “Hmm, interesting” be wary as either something very smart or very stupid came to mind.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/20
The VDI recently it is driving me nuts with sudden disconnects and messages like these after you have been connected for a couple of hours.
It all looks like there is some sort of Connectra thing in the middle that does deep packet inspection and randomly kicks out RDP or PCoIP sessions it doesn’t like, then doesn’t allow any new sessions to come in.
If I get a connection at all, now I always get a fresh VM, which – because they all are single core – take between 2 and 3 hours of getting below 100% CPU usage.
CcmExec.exe, SMSCliUI.exe, and the svchost.exe instances for RpcSs and BITS hog the CPU scanning for updates and software installs for about about 25% of a working day.
Boy I wish there was something I could do about it.
---------------------------
Remote Desktop Disconnected
---------------------------
A licensing error occurred while the client was attempting to connect (Licensing timed out).
Please try connecting to the remote computer again.
---------------------------
OK Help
---------------------------
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/20
Found this out 9 days before my birthday: wikiquote.org: of course with the one of the most famous quotes from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galazy:
almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea
–jeroen (who won’t be 42 forever)
via: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Wikiquote.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/17
If you followed my blog, you probably already guessed that I’m assisting a client to prepare for a big SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2008 R2 migration. When not, you know now
I’m a fan of commandline, tools, and preconfigured settings. Which means that I’m in the midst of reconfiguring all my shortcuts to SQL Server 2000 tools to SQL Server 2008 equivalents.
When inspecting and changing LNK shortcut files, two tools are important:
- dumplnk: dumps a shortcut lnk file from the commandline
- shurtcut: creates a shortcut lnk file from the commandline
One of tools I many shortcuts for is the ISQLW aka SQL Query Analyzer, which I use far more than the SQL Server Enterprise Manager (more on SSEM in a future post).
Depending on the mode of authentication you use to connect to your SQL Server, there basically are two forms of shortcuts:
- SQL Server Authentication (using SQL Server username and password):
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\isqlw.exe" /S"servername[\instancename]" /U"username" /P"password"
- Windows Authentication (using the credentials of the currently logged in windows user):
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\isqlw.exe" /S"servername[\instancename]" /E
The former is less secure (so better to only store those shortcuts in a place that no other users can access).
From the ISQLW.exe syntax documentation:
Syntax
isqlw
[-?] |
[
[-S server_name[\instance_name]]
[-d database]
[-E] [-U user] [-P password]
[{-i input_file} {-o output_file} [-F {U|A|O}]]
[-f file_list]
[-C configuration_file]
[-D scripts_directory]
[-T template_directory]
]
The parameters /S, /U, /P and /E are very similar to the -S, -U, -P and -E ones from SSMS.exe (SQL Server Management Studio) with one distinction: there MUST be a space between each parameter and the value:
- SQL Server Management Studio (using SQL Server username and password):
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe" -S "servername[instancename]" -U "username" -P "password"
- SQL ServerManagement Studio (using credentials for the currently logged in windows user):
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe" -S "servername[instancename]" -E
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Batch-Files, Database Development, Development, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, SQL Server, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2012 | 3 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/16
Don’t post screen shots as low quality JPEG.
Use PNG, which results in smaller files and better looking images.
Not like ING did: no screen reader can help visually impaired, and it gives a very bad user experience to the rest of the world.
–jeroen
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/16
Something I might want to try soon:
Migrate mailboxes between Microsoft Exchange, Office 365, Novell GroupWise, Google Apps/Gmail, VMWare Zimbra, IMAP or POP systems.
Thanks Scott for mentioning this.
–jeroen
via: MigrationWiz – Complete cloud-based mailbox migration solution for Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Exchange Online , Office 365, Novell GroupWise, Lotus, Notes, Google Apps/Gmail, VMWare Zimbra, IMAP and POP systems.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/14
I’m experimenting with the Posting categories overview page as a prequel to a proper tag cloud (and a series of posts on how to get there).
Please let me know in the comments which of the below ones you like most:
- Left:
HTML tree with post count per category
- Middle:
HTML tree with font size indicating post count
- Right:
HTML tree with post count per category and font size indicating post count
(For comparison, you need a big screen; the most popular choice will survive on the Posting categories page).
–jeroen
via: Posting categories « The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of Wiert stuff. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in CSS, Development, HTML, Power User, SocialMedia, Software Development, Usability, User Experience, Web Development, WordPress, WordPress | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/13
Recently I was at a site where the KB2509553 security update on Windows XP would not install because of this error, even after retrying a couple of times:
---------------------------
KB2509553 Setup Error
---------------------------
Setup cannot update your Windows XP files because the language
installed on your system is different from the update language.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
The error came from the Dutch version of Microsoft Update and the (also Dutch) Autoupdate inside Windows XP.
The solution that seemed easy didn’t work:
Manually download the Dutch version at the KB2509553 download page, and install that one.
Thanks Halima S for mentioning this on the Microsoft Answers site.
So: where should I start looking to get this security update installed?
–jeroen
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/12
Coo, I never knew that MS-DOS had STDAUX and STDPRN, I only knew about PRN (I think it mapped to LPT1).
Don’t you love the old new thing
The standard MS-DOS file handles are as follows:
| handle |
name |
meaning |
| 0 |
stdin |
standard input |
| 1 |
stdout |
standard output |
| 2 |
stderr |
standard error |
| 3 |
stdaux |
standard auxiliary (serial port) |
| 4 |
stdprn |
standard printer |
–jeroen
via: The importance of error code backwards compatibility – The Old New Thing – Site Home – MSDN Blogs.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/06
If you like .NET and scripting, then PowerShell and the PowerShell Community Extensions is what you should try:
PowerShell – The full power of .NET, WMI and COM all from a command line. PowerShell has a steep learning curve, much like the tango, but oh, my, when you really start dancing…woof. I also use PowerShell Prompt Here. Its built into Windows 7, by the way.
- I also recommend after installing PowerShell that you immediately go get PowerTab to enable amazing “ANSI-art” style command-line tab completion.
- Next, go get the PowerShell Community Extensions to add dozens of useful commands to PowerShell.
- Want a more advanced GUI for PowerShell? Get the free PowerGUI.
Thanks Scott for summarizing
–jeroen
via: Scott Hanselmans 2011 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows – Scott Hanselman.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/05
Finally, Google allows searching for C# and returns meaningful results (previously they returned the same results as searching for C).
They improved a bunch of other special characters as well.
–jeroen
via:
Search quality highlights: 50 changes for March – Inside Search.
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Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/04
Thanks to Randy Glasbergen for the debt image
I love this quote from Jeff Attwood on technical debt in 2009:
periodically pay down your technical debt
and the Computer Weekely article about half a year ago:
Short-term speed may come at the price of long-term delays and cost.
Lately, I find that I need to explain Debt in relation to IT and Software Development more and more often.
We now all know what happens with the financial system when we let debt get out of control.
The same holds for your IT and Software Development.
Debts get introduced by not “playing by the rules”. The quotes are there because you can not always play nicely, and the rules are not always clear or known.
Lets give a few examples of rules that – from experience at clients – are more often than not neglected. The examples are based on Windows, but could just as easily be Mac OS X, Unix, OS/400 or anything else.
- Make sure you use a recent Windows version
I often see companies lagging more than one version behind (i.e. still use Windows XP or SQL Server 2000). That’s too far.
- Don’t run your users with too many privileges (and certainly not as Administrators)
Especially running as Administrator will get you in trouble with User Account Control (UAC) in Windows Vista and up.
- Using directories like C:\TEMP is a no-no.
This should be a no-brainer, but truckloads of in-company software still thinks it can write everywhere.
I know C:\TEMP used to be the Temporary Folder some 20 years ago.
But that was then, and this is now: Use the %TEMP% environment variable or GetTempPath function (even better: the GetTempFileName function or the .NET Path.GetTempFileName function).
More in general for known folders, use CSIDL or KNOWNFOLDERID whenever possible. Your favourite development tool usually has a library functions for that, for instance the .NET System.Environment.GetFolderPath function.
These few were examples ranged from technically very broad to specific. There are more, but these will give you a rough idea how wide the field of debt can be. Even debt outside the realm of Technical Debt can turn out to be really expensive.
Every time you postpone or skip a Windows version, you collect some debt in the hope (often wrongfully called expectation) that you earn more on the money/resource you just didn’t invest and putting that money/resource to use otherwise. The same holds for any other kind of debt.
The main problem with debt is not the total of the debt, it is the interest rate that makes the accrued debt grows faster than most people and organizations realize.
This is actually one of the main causes of the current world wide financial crisis, the same holds for many IT debts.
And for all kinds of debts, you often don’t know how high the interest rate will be, so the accrued value can be way beyond what you expect.
I’ve regularly seen projects collecting so much debt, that migration costs raised to thousands of hours because of it, resulting into management taking another very bad decision: rewriting the stuff from scratch. Don’t do that: Joel on Software excellently describes what happens when you do that.
What to do about it?
You might say “don’t collect debt”, but you can’t always avoid debt.
So you need to build periods where you pay off accrued debt. And you need to do that regularly, in order to avoid the interest pitfall.
This does not limit itself to software development (though that’s what I normally focus at). It covers a wide range of IT topics.
Sometimes, you can even pay your debt in advance. For instance, I was among the first to switch from Windows XP to the x64 of Windows Vista. I knew it would cause pain, but it immediately payed back by being able to use much more memory, and run more Virtual Machines at the same time. That made me more flexible and productive.
–jeroen
via: Coding Horror: Paying Down Your Technical Debt.
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Posted in *nix, .NET, Delphi, Development, Opinions, Power User, Software Development, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 5 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/04/02
Ever since I bought PCs, monitors, laptops and other devices with displays, I went for the highest resolution I could afford (though I didn’t try the QXGA 2048×1536 in my Thinkpad T60 or T61p)
I bought a 13-inch MacBook Air, not a MacBook Pro not because of SSD (it is nice, no doubt), but because the screen resolution.
Small digression:
Last year, I had a huge disappointment where almost all laptop manufacturers were not only ditching 1920×1200 in favour of 1920×1080 (that’s 10% less vertical display estate right where apps waste that with higher toolbars, ribbons, task bars, etc!), but also ditched the 1920 pixel wide 15.something inch form factors in favour of 17 inch screens. Switching from 15 to 17 inch adds another 2 pounds to your laptop. Not nice!
Now the 3rd generation iPad beats all of my other displays. Not only in resolution (it does), but especially in ppi: at 264 ppi it reads like paper.
It took a long time, but this will introduce a new era of high ppi displays on mobile, and hopefully not so mobile devices so we have retina displays (measured at viewing dinstance) everywhere (and might also introduce the post-PC era, though the issue of software development on all those smart devices needs to be solved first; more on that in a later post).
So over the last 20 years, we went from lean back paper through lean forward reading displays into lean back reading iPad and ePaper at comfortable (264 / 200+) ppi.
Now that’s progress:
The 3rd Generation iPad has a display resolution of 264ppi. And still retains a ten-hour battery life (9 hours with wireless on). Make no mistake. That much resolution is stunning. To see it on a mainstream device like the iPad – rather than a $13,000 exotic monitor – is truly amazing, and something I’ve been waiting more than a decade to see.
It will set a bar for future resolution that every other manufacturer of devices and PCs will have to jump.
Having that much resolution in a handheld device will be the final step in changing reading forever. I’m not the only one who believes this. Andrew Rashbass, chief executive of The Economist Group, recently gave a fascinating presentation he called LeanBack 2.0. He postulates that in the days of print, we leaned back and read. The Web and computers made us lean forward to read. Devices like the iPad have restored our ability to lean back, relax, and read. LeanBack 2.0!
–jeroen
via: 3rd Generation iPad: Entering A High-Resolution, Post-PC World… | The Future of Reading.
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