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Aero mouse cursors in 2008/R2 server editions
edited by on July 2nd 2012, at 13:14
By default, the Aero mouse cursor theme was left out of the server editions (2008, 2008R2 and their SBS counterparts). For those that wish to have these cursors available on their server (e.g. if you want the "full" desktop experience on a RDS/TS server), I've compiled an archive with the necessary files and registry entries. They come from a Windows 7 Pro but are usable on all server editions (2008 and up). Note that you can easily get them yourself off a Vista or Windows 7 install by copying the right files and exporting the right registry key and values.

Inside the archive you'll find a cursors folder. Copy the contents of that folder to %windir%\Cursors . If you get an overwri  ...
 
Remove links from the Games menu
edited by on July 2nd 2012, at 12:54

You can remove (or manage) links in the Games menu through the registry. The key for this can be found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games.

For each entry there's a subkey named a CLSID. When browsing through the list, opening a CLSID reveals the actual title, path and some other settings of that entry. If you want to remove an entry, find the right entry by checking titles and/or paths, then delete that key.

 
XMeeting, a working SIP client for Mac OSX
edited by on June 22nd 2012, at 16:14
Free (as in "beer") SIP clients are very scarse on the Mac OSX platform. Most clients are too far outdated and only work on old versions and on PowerPC. Other, more recent clients start up but they lack proper quality and functionality to be even remotely usable.

Luckily, there is a client available. Originally designed as meeting software using the H.323 protocol, it also implements SIP and can be used with any SIP provider, including Asterisk. The client is called XMeeting, and while it's no longer actively maintained, it still runs on Mac OSX up to 10.7 (Lion).

http://xmeeting.sourceforge.net/


I've tested it out at work on our Asterisk server and it works flawle  ...
 
Expired Avast subscription kills Exchange Information Store
edited by on June 22nd 2012, at 16:04

A note of warning I read on the Avast Forums: if your Avast subscription runs out, the Exchange Information Store no longer starts and bails out with an error "failed to start virus scan". Very annoying indeed...

Source: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=92162.0

 
Exchange 2010 with Avast disrupts Transport Service
edited by on June 22nd 2012, at 16:00
We updated Avast to the latest version on a client's server running SBS 2011. The update apparently included antispam. All of a sudden, the Transport service kept failing, and all messages (in both directions) landed in the Poison Queue. Restarting the Transport service did not fix the issue, and there was nothing we could do.

Googling around, we found that the trouble was indeed related with Avast. Disabling the Antispam Shield did not resolve the issue, but disabling the transport agent in Exchange, via Powershell was the fix:

disable-transportagent "avast antispam for exchange"

After disabling the agent, everything came to life again.

@ Avast: you should really start  ...
 
Where to put the help files in Juniper Ringmaster software
edited by on June 20th 2012, at 15:30

The Ringmaster software downloaded from Juniper Networks doesn't come with the help files included. They are available as a separate download and need to be integrated after installation. Unfortunately, it's not really clear where to put them.

Downloading the help files provides you with a html.zip file, containing a html folder with a bunch of html files in it. This folder has to be placed inside the help/ subfolder of where you've installed the Ringmaster software. The default path in linux is: /opt/ringmaster/help/ . When done correctly, you will be able to access the help files via the URL http://ip-of-your-server/html/ or by pressing F1 in the Ringmaster client.

 
Slow printing in Adobe Acrobat
edited by on June 20th 2012, at 13:56
One of the more recurring issues is slow printing of PDF files in Adobe Acrobat. While Acrobat itself works smoothly, printing sometimes comes to a complete halt, taking up to 10 minutes (or even more) per page to print. The more complex the PDF document becomes, the more apparent the problem becomes.

By default, Adobe prints to your printer using PS commands, which then get converted by the printer driver to a language your printer understands (PCL, PS, HPZL, HPGL, ...). More complex PDF documents, i.e. PDF's with lots of objects, a lot of embedded fonts, damaged images, etc., generate more and more complex commands, resulting in spooler files that are a multiple of the original document,   ...
 
Install Exchange 2007 SP3 on SBS 2008
edited by on June 20th 2012, at 12:49
Unlike SP2, there's no installation tool for installing SP3 on an SBS 2008. Fortunately, the installation is pretty straight-forward. The steps to perform depend largely on whether or not your SBS 2008 server is running Forefront Security or not. If it's not, simply install SP3 like you normally would. The installation will succeed without additional tasks. If you are running Forefront Security, you will have to disable it before installing SP3, then re-enable it when installation has completed.

Download SP3: http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=24111.

Run the software, it will extract its contents to a directory of your choosing. I recommend creating an empty directory as the  ...
 
Windows 7 drivers for Canon PIXMA iX 4000
edited by on June 14th 2012, at 17:38

I had a hard time finding the right drivers for a Canon PIXMA iX 4000 printer for Windows 7. The drivers available on the european website are old and missing 64-bit support. After googling around, I found the drivers on the asian website. Because I lost quite some time searching for them, I thought I just post the direct links here:

 
Get rid of IWantThis adware
edited by on June 14th 2012, at 11:30

A comprehensive guide on removing the I Want This adware can be found on the forums of Spybot S&D.

Direct link: http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=65998.

 
Uninstall tool for Office 2003, 2007 and 2010
edited by on June 13th 2012, at 22:15

If you are unable to uninstall Office 2003, 2007 or 2010 the normal way (via Control Panel), you can try with the uninstall tools made available by Microsoft. They do a manual uninstall of all files and registry settings of the selected Office, but without losing removing personal settings.

They are available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971179.

 
Belgian Google search provider for IE
edited by on June 13th 2012, at 10:44

I found it rather difficult to find the Belgian version of the Google search provider for Internet Explorer. Here's the direct link: http://www.iegallery.com/nl-BE/Addons/Details/6218.

 
Linker error "Invalid OMF record type 0x21 (possibly COFF)" in Borland C Builder
edited by on June 11th 2012, at 17:32
When using external libraries (with .lib files) and are getting linker errors like below, you are using an imcompatible import library (.lib) file.

Invalid OMF record type 0x21 (possibly COFF)

The reason for this is that your import library file was designed for MSVC. The one uses the COFF format, which is not compatible with Borland's OMF format.

To solve this, try the following and in preferred order:

Try obtaining the Borland compatible version of the import library. While difficult, this will always work.

Use the conversion tools in Borland. Read Convert MSVC import libraries for use in Borland C Builder for more info on these tools.

Try using IMPLIB to manually rea  ...
 
Convert MSVC import libraries for use in Borland C Builder
edited by on June 11th 2012, at 17:24
By default, import libraries (.lib files) made for MSVC are not compatible with Borland C Builder and Borland Delphi. Since version 6 of Borland C++ Builder, there's a tool which can convert these files in COFF format to OMF format. The tool is called coff2omf and resides in the Bin directory of your Borland installation.

Simply run the file as follows (be sure your path etc. is correct):

coff2omf mylib.lib mylib2.lib

Then, use the mylib2.lib file you just created and add it to your project.

Notice
The coff2omf tool only works properly if the library exports plain C functions. If C++ classes or mangled function names get exported, you usually get linker errors. If this is th  ...
 
Preemptive detection of strokes
edited by on June 7th 2012, at 13:22
Got this in my mailbox. It's a set of questions designed to indicate the possible presence of symptoms of a stroke. It's a set of four tasks you can have someone perform. If someone is acting strangely, you can use these to highlight possible symptoms of a stroke. Of course, it's not a definite answer, but it should help to tell whether that person should see a doctor or go to the hospital right away.

These four tasks/questions are:

Talk: have the person speak a simple sentence.

Laugh: have the person laugh out loud (tell a joke or let them watch a funny show).

Arms up: have the person put up both of their arms simultaneously.

Tongue: have the person stick out   ...
 
dst_lib_init: openssl failure on some Cygwin apps
edited by on June 6th 2012, at 13:51

When I was installing a fresh copy of Cygwin, I noticed that some tools didn't work as they normally would. They would bail out with an error.

C:\Windows\system32>dig
dig: dst_lib_init: openssl failure

A quick search on Google shows that there's a dependency error. While the openssl libraries are installed, the openssl package is also required. After installing that package too, it worked again.

 
Convert FAT32 to NTFS in Windows 2000 (and up)
edited by on June 4th 2012, at 12:01
Since Windows 2000, you can use the convert tool to convert FAT32 partitions to NTFS, provided that enough free space is available to perform the conversion. Any drive can be converted "live" (although the system partition requires a reboot).

To run a conversion, you'll need the drive letter and the volume label. Fetch it using Explorer or by running a command on the command line:

vol C: Volume in drive C has no label. Volume Serial Number is A83C-E4E8

Next, run the conversion command. If you're converting the system partition, you will have to reboot to complete the conversion.

convert C: /FS:NTFS

This will perform the conversion. Note that it will probably take s  ...
 
Renew the SSL self-signed certificate in SBS 2008
edited by on May 24th 2012, at 16:29
Every two years, the self-signed SSL certificate expires, and has to be renewed in order to ensure your users can continue to connect to the server. This renewal is not difficult, and can be done in a few steps.

Go to the Windows SBS console, navigate to Network, then Connectivity

Click on the certificate icon, and choose view certificate properties to check the expiration dates. If it is expired, continue with the next step.

In Connectivity Tasks, choose to Set up your internet address, and follow the steps. At some point you'll need to enter your domain name (which should be set to the current). If required, adjust your prefix (by default: remote) Upon finishing the wizard, a new self-s  ...
 
Tweaking Launchpad
edited by on March 8th 2012, at 23:42

By default, Lion's new Launchpad application is what it is: it contains all the applications installed on your Mac. With Launchpad-Control you can configure which applications are shown and in which order. It's a very neat and handy tool to configure Launchpad just the way you want it.

http://chaosspace.de/launchpad-control/

 
Creating ISO's on a Mac
edited by on February 23rd 2012, at 13:43
Create a folder with the contents you want on your ISO.

Open Disk Utility and use the New Image from Folder menu item to create an image. Ensure it is uncompressed and use the CD/DVD master option.

In my experience this creates HFS+ masters which are no good in Windows.

Open the Terminal

Assuming your new image is called ~/Desktop/Master.cdr (the file is on your desktop and called Master.cdr) type:

cd ~/Desktophdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o Master.iso Master.cdr

This will create an ISO/Joliet .iso file.

Notice
When converting a DVD, be sure to use the option -udf instead of "joliet" to generate an UDF filesystem. This is particularly important with DVD video master  ...
 
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