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• .htaccess working on remote server but does not work on localhost. Getting 404 errors on localhost

  - by Afsheen Khosravian

  MY PROBLEM: When I visit localhost the site does not work. It shows some text from the site but it seems the server can not locate any other files. Here is a snippet of the errors from firebug: "NetworkError: 404 Not Found - localhost/css/popup.css" "NetworkError: 404 Not Found - localhost/css/style.css" "NetworkError: 404 Not Found - localhost/css/player.css" "NetworkError: 404 Not Found - localhost/css/ui-lightness/jquery-ui-1.8.11.custom.css" "NetworkError: 404 Not Found - localhost/js/jquery.js" It seems my server is looking for the files in the wrong places. For example, localhost/css/popup.css is actually located at localhost/app/webroot/css/popup.css. I have my site setup on a remote server with the same exact configurations and it works perfectly fine. I am just having this issue trying to run the site on my laptop at localhost. I edited my VirtualHosts file DocumentRoot and to /home/user/public_html/site.com/public/app/webroot/ and this reduces some errors but I feel that this is wrong and sort of hacking it since I didn't use these setting on my production server which works. The last note I want to make is that the website uses dynamic URLs. I dont know if that has anything to do with it. For example, on the production server the URLS are: site.com/#hello/12321. HERES WHAT I AM WORKING WITH: I have a LAMP server setup on my laptop which runs on Ubuntu 11.10. I have enabled mod_rewrite: sudo a2enmod rewrite Then I edited my Virtual Hosts file: <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName localhost DirectoryIndex index.php DocumentRoot /home/user/public_html/site.com/public <Directory /home/user/public_html/site.com/public/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> </VirtualHost> Then I restarted apache. My website is using cakePHP. This is the directory structure of the website: "/home/user/public_html/site.com/public" contains: index.php app cake plugins vendors These are my .htaccess files: /home/user/public_html/site.com/public/app/.htaccess: <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine on RewriteRule ^$ webroot/ [L] RewriteRule (.*) webroot/$1 [L] </IfModule> /home/user/public_html/site.com/public/app/webroot/.htaccess: <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?url=$1 [QSA,L] </IfModule>

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• How to diagnose computer lockup/freezing problem

  - by Scott Mitchell

  I built a desktop computer a couple years back with the following specs: CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9300 Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard Video Card: Two EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SCC 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card PSU: SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT 550W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply Memory: Two G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ Since its inception, the machine has periodically locked up, the regularlity having varied over the years from once a day to once a month. Typically, lockups happen once every few days. By "lockup" I mean my computer just freezes. The screen locks up, I can't move the mouse. Hitting keys on my keyboard that normally turn LEDs on or off on the keyboard (such as Caps Lock) no longer turn the LEDs on or off. If there was music playing at the time of the lockup, noise keeps coming out of the speakers, but it's just the current frequency/note that plays indefinitely. There is no BSOD. When such a lockup occurs I have to do a hard reboot by either turning off the computer or hitting the reset button. I have the most recent version of the NVIDIA hardware drivers, and update them semi-regularly, but that hasn't seemed to help. I am currently using Windows 7 x64, but was previously using Windows Server 2003 x64 and having the same lockup issues. My guess is that it's somehow video driver or motherboard related, but I don't know how to go about diagnosing this problem to narrow down which of the two is the culprit. Additional information re: cooling Regarding cooling... I've not installed any after-market cooling systems aside from two regular fans I scavenged from an older computer. The fan atop the CPU is the one that shipped with it. One of the two scavenged fans I added it located at the bottom tower of the corner, in an attempt to create some airflow from front to back. The second fan is pointed directly at the two video cards. SpeedFan installation and readings Per studiohack's suggestion, I installed SpeedFan, which provided the following temperature readings: GPU: 63C GPU: 65C System: 76C CPU: 64C AUX: 36C Core 0: 78C Core 1: 76C Core 2: 79C Core 3: 79C Update #3: Another Lockup :-( Well, I had another lockup last night. :-( SpeedFan reported the CPU temp at 38 C when it happened, and there was no spike in temperature leading up to the freeze. One thing I notice is that the freeze seems more likely to happen if I am watching a video. In fact, of the last 5 freezes over the past month, 4 of them have been while watching a video on Flickr. Not necessarily the same video, but a video nevertheless. I don't know if this is just coincidence or if it means anything. (As an aside, each night before bedtime my 2 year old daughter sits on my lap and watches some home videos on Flickr and, in the last month, has learned the phrase, "Uh oh, computer broke.") Update #4: MemTest86 and 3DMark06 Test Results: Per suggestions in the comments, I ran the MemTest86 overnight and it cycled through the 8 GB of memory 5 times without error. I also ran the 3DMark06 test without a problem (see my scores at http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15163549). So... what now? :-) Any further suggestions on what to check? Is there some way to get a stack trace or something when the computer locks like that? Thanks

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• Tuning performance of Ubuntu 10.04 on Compaq Evo W4000.

  - by Fantomas

  Hi, I got this computer free and installed Ubuntu 10.04 on it + updates, plus followed the following tutorial all the way: http://www.unixmen.com/linux-tutorials/937-things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-1004-lts-lucid-lynx I love the Docky which comes with it, but the computer has been running rather slowly. The System: kernel 2.6.32-22-generic Gnome 2.30.0 (I like Gnome!) Memory: 1GB Processor: Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 1700 MHz (needless to say, it is 32 bit). I think I dedicated 128 Mb to video memory while installing, but cannot find this setting now. I did also install an NVidia driver for the 3D card, so I probably want to reclaim that memory back. I want to trim the fat but I also want to keep some of the sex appeal of Ubuntu 10.04. I will gift this computer to a friend, who will use it for Internet, music, videos, word processing, Skype and instant messaging - he is non-technical, so this hardware and Linux should work for him; I just need to speed it up while keeping the good software and having a nice UI. I sort of know my way around Linux, but not that well. Feel free to ask me to run particular commands if you want more info. For starters, here are the services below. Which ones can I kill and how? What else can go? There is no need to run ssh or ftp or http or ntp servers. As I said before, this computer is for non-technical person. There is also absolutely no bluetooth or wireless networking needed - it will feed off a regular ethernet cable. What I do not want to do is reinstall some other distro or recompile a kernel. I want to make it 80% perfect spending 20% of the energy :) Thanks! $ service --status-all [ ? ] acpi-support [ ? ] acpid [ ? ] alsa-mixer-save [ ? ] anacron [ - ] apparmor [ ? ] apport [ ? ] atd [ ? ] avahi-daemon [ ? ] binfmt-support [ - ] bluetooth [ - ] bootlogd [ - ] brltty [ ? ] console-setup [ ? ] cron [ + ] cups [ ? ] dbus [ ? ] dmesg [ ? ] dns-clean [ ? ] failsafe-x [ - ] fancontrol [ ? ] gdm [ - ] grub-common [ ? ] hostname [ ? ] hwclock [ ? ] hwclock-save [ ? ] irqbalance [ - ] kerneloops [ ? ] killprocs [ - ] lm-sensors [ ? ] module-init-tools [ ? ] network-interface [ ? ] network-interface-security [ ? ] network-manager [ ? ] networking [ ? ] ondemand [ ? ] pcmciautils [ ? ] plymouth [ ? ] plymouth-log [ ? ] plymouth-splash [ ? ] plymouth-stop [ ? ] pppd-dns [ ? ] procps [ + ] pulseaudio [ ? ] rc.local [ - ] rsync [ ? ] rsyslog [ - ] saned [ ? ] screen-cleanup [ ? ] sendsigs [ ? ] speech-dispatcher [ ? ] stop-bootlogd [ ? ] stop-bootlogd-single [ ? ] udev [ ? ] udev-finish [ ? ] udevmonitor [ ? ] udevtrigger [ ? ] ufw [ ? ] umountfs [ ? ] umountnfs.sh [ ? ] umountroot [ ? ] unattended-upgrades [ - ] urandom [ + ] winbind [ ? ] wpa-ifupdown [ - ] x11-common

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• Upgraded Ubuntu, all drives in one zpool marked unavailable

  - by Matt Sieker

  I just upgraded Ubuntu 14.04, and I had two ZFS pools on the server. There was some minor issue with me fighting with the ZFS driver and the kernel version, but that's worked out now. One pool came online, and mounted fine. The other didn't. The main difference between the tool is one was just a pool of disks (video/music storage), and the other was a raidz set (documents, etc) I've already attempted exporting and re-importing the pool, to no avail, attempting to import gets me this: root@kyou:/home/matt# zpool import -fFX -d /dev/disk/by-id/ pool: storage id: 15855792916570596778 state: UNAVAIL status: One or more devices contains corrupted data. action: The pool cannot be imported due to damaged devices or data. see: http://zfsonlinux.org/msg/ZFS-8000-5E config: storage UNAVAIL insufficient replicas raidz1-0 UNAVAIL insufficient replicas ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90B134910 UNAVAIL ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51422523 UNAVAIL ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51535969 UNAVAIL The symlinks for those in /dev/disk/by-id also exist: root@kyou:/home/matt# ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90B134910* /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51* lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 May 27 19:31 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90B134910 -> ../../sdb lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90B134910-part1 -> ../../sdb1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90B134910-part9 -> ../../sdb9 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51422523 -> ../../sdd lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51422523-part1 -> ../../sdd1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51422523-part9 -> ../../sdd9 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51535969 -> ../../sde lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51535969-part1 -> ../../sde1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 27 19:15 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51535969-part9 -> ../../sde9 Inspecting the various /dev/sd* devices listed, they appear to be the correct ones (The 3 1TB drives that were in a raidz array). I've run zdb -l on each drive, dumping it to a file, and running a diff. The only difference on the 3 are the guid fields (Which I assume is expected). All 3 labels on each one are basically identical, and are as follows: version: 5000 name: 'storage' state: 0 txg: 4 pool_guid: 15855792916570596778 hostname: 'kyou' top_guid: 1683909657511667860 guid: 8815283814047599968 vdev_children: 1 vdev_tree: type: 'raidz' id: 0 guid: 1683909657511667860 nparity: 1 metaslab_array: 33 metaslab_shift: 34 ashift: 9 asize: 3000569954304 is_log: 0 create_txg: 4 children[0]: type: 'disk' id: 0 guid: 8815283814047599968 path: '/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90B134910-part1' whole_disk: 1 create_txg: 4 children[1]: type: 'disk' id: 1 guid: 18036424618735999728 path: '/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51422523-part1' whole_disk: 1 create_txg: 4 children[2]: type: 'disk' id: 2 guid: 10307555127976192266 path: '/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARS-00Y5B1_WD-WMAV51535969-part1' whole_disk: 1 create_txg: 4 features_for_read: Stupidly, I do not have a recent backup of this pool. However, the pool was fine before reboot, and Linux sees the disks fine (I have smartctl running now to double check) So, in summary: I upgraded Ubuntu, and lost access to one of my two zpools. The difference between the pools is the one that came up was JBOD, the other was zraid. All drives in the unmountable zpool are marked UNAVAIL, with no notes for corrupted data The pools were both created with disks referenced from /dev/disk/by-id/. Symlinks from /dev/disk/by-id to the various /dev/sd devices seems to be correct zdb can read the labels from the drives. Pool has already been attempted to be exported/imported, and isn't able to import again. Is there some sort of black magic I can invoke via zpool/zfs to bring these disks back into a reasonable array? Can I run zpool create zraid ... without losing my data? Is my data gone anyhow?

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• Yet again: "This device can perform faster" (Samsung Galaxy Tab 2)

  - by Mike C

  I've been doing a lot of research with no reasonable solution. Please excuse the length of my post. When I plug my Galaxy Tab 2 (7" / Wi-Fi only / Android ICS) into my Windows 7 64-bit machine, I (almost always) get this warning popup that "This device can perform faster." And in fact, transfers onto the Tab in this mode are slow. The two times I've been able to get a high-speed connection, the transfer has occurred at the expected speed. I just don't know what to do to get that high-speed transfer. (The first time I did, it was the first time I connected the Tab; the second time I did, I was fiddling around and unplugging/plugging in again.) That popup is telling me that the device is USB2, but that it thinks I've connected to a USB1 port. In fact, every USB port (there are ten) on this system is USB2. It's an ASUS M3A78-EMH mobo from late 2008. I'm not sure what the chipset is; the CPU is an AMD Athlon 4850e, but I've seen this message reported for non-AMD systems. (Every mobo reference I've seen in reports on this has been for Asus, but of course most reporters aren't reporting that info at all.) The Windows 7 installation is just a couple weeks old (I had a disk crash) but I saw the same warning on the WinXP/64 that was installed previously. In Device Manager, there are two "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller" nodes which are the actual high-speed controllers. There are also five "Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller" nodes, which I have determined are virtual USB1 controllers embedded in the "Enhanced" controllers. (In Device Manager, I'm using View|Devices by Connection.) My high-speed thumb drives, external disks, and iPod all show up as subnodes of the "Enhanced" controllers; the keyboard, mouse, and USB speakers under the "OpenHCD" ones -- and this is true no matter which ports these devices are plugged into. The Tab shows up under an OpenHCD node, unsurprisingly. It appears as a threesome: a top-level "Mobile USB Composite device" with two subs: "Galaxy Tab 2" and "Mobile USB Modem." (I have no idea what the modem device implies or how I might use it, but I don't care about it either: I just want the Tab to reliably connect at high speed.) On the Tab, the USB support has a switch between PTP and MTP, the latter being the default, and the preferred mode for me (as I'm usually hooking it up for music synch). I have tried, however, connecting it as PTP, and it still connects as USB 1. (As PTP, only the "Galaxy Tab 2" device appears -- no Composite, no Modem.) If it's plugged in as MTP and I change the setting to PTP, Windows unloads and reloads the device, and voila: The Tab appears under an "Enhanced" node, but eventually re-loads again to show a exclamation icon on the device; Properties then shows "This device cannot start." Same response if I plug it in as PTP and then change to MTP; in this case, only the Tab itself shows the exclamation, not the other two devices. One thing I have not tried, and really would prefer to avoid, is installing the "beta" chipset driver available on the Asus website, which is dated 2009. Windows tells me it has the most up-to-date drivers for the Tab, and for the chipset, and I'm inclined to believe that. I suspect the problem is with the Samsung drivers, or possibly the hardware. One suggestion I saw elsewhere which might, possibly, pertain is to ensure the USB cable is properly shielded; however, the Tab has one of those misbegotten 30-pin, not-quite-an-iPod connectors; I don't know if I could find a 3rd party one. It seems unlikely that this cable is improperly shielded, tho. (Is there a way to test that?) So, my question is: does anyone know how to get this working as one might reasonably expect it to?

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• DVD ROM is not working

  - by Cyril N.

  (note: I don't know in which StackExchange site to put this question, I'll thank the moderator that will move it to a more appropriate place, if there is a S.E. available for my question). I have a DVD RW drive that is well listed in the bios, and if no CD is in, it is also present in the "My Computer" of my Fedora 16. But when I put a disc on it, the icon disapear from "My Computer", and I can not do anything with this ! (Like erasing a RW disc). I'd like to boot a Fedora 17 Live CD image. I burned it on an other computer but when I try to run it in bios, nothing is done and I'm redirected to Grub of my HD. The command cdrecord -scanbus shows this : wodim: Warning: controller returns wrong size for CD capabilities page. wodim: Cannot get CD capabilities data. 6,1,0 601) 'HD-DT%ST' 'DVD%RAM G@22NP20' '1&04' Removable CD-ROM And when I try to mount manually the disc, I got this error : mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only mount: /dev/sr0: can't read superblock Here's a paste of dmesg | grep sr0 : [ 5.161265] sr0: scsi-1 drive [ 5.161621] sr 6:0:1:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 [ 834.545978] sr0: Hmm, seems the drive doesn't support multisession CD's [ 841.731194] sr0: CDROM (ioctl) error, command: Get configuration 46 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 [ 842.021640] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 842.021652] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Aborted Command [current] [ 842.021662] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Add. Sense: No additional sense information [ 842.021672] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 [ 842.021688] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 0 [ 842.021697] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 0 [ 842.023715] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 843.048203] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Aborted Command [current] [ 843.048211] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Add. Sense: No additional sense information [ 843.048219] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 [ 843.048234] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 0 [ 843.048274] EXT4-fs (sr0): unable to read superblock [ 843.063155] sr0: CDROM (ioctl) error, command: Get configuration 46 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 [ 843.075904] sr0: CDROM (ioctl) error, command: Get configuration 46 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 [ 843.220512] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 843.220522] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Aborted Command [current] [ 843.220530] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] Add. Sense: No additional sense information [ 843.220538] sr 6:0:1:0: [sr0] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 [ 843.220553] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 0 [ 843.220609] FAT-fs (sr0): unable to read boot sector The lines from Sense Key .. (line 6) to DRIVER_SENSE (line 11) are repeating a lot. I then changed my DVD player with an other spare one I had, and the disc didn't boot neither. I then changed the IDE cable, but still no success. What can I do to make it work? Thanks for your help.

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• Choice of an OS for a home ZFS NAS

  - by OlafM

  I am preparing a home NAS with an old Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 4 GB ECC RAM, Asus M2V MX motherboard, and a single 3 TB WDC Green (another one as mirror may be installed in the future). It's the cheapest solution I found that includes ECC memory and the higher energy consumption is offset by the lower (zero) cost of acquisition. The system will be used for: music storage and stream to other desktop computers; storage of the scanned dia slides (3-4k slides, 180 MB TIFF each one plus reduced quality JPEG version); stream of these photos to a local iPad 2 (maybe Plex App? not yet sure); (one additional) remote backup via rsync/ssh or ZFS send/receive. It will be controlled via remote ssh, maybe VNC, no monitor attached. Absolute requirement is a reliable ZFS solution, plus the ability to easily install packets/software/virtual machines and to update remotely (I will be the admin and I don't live near the NAS). I have mainly three options: NAS4free/FreeNAS OpenIndiana Solaris Express 11 (yeah yeah I know the license requirements, I will write a perl script on it to count it as development machine). Problems: NAS4free/FreeNAS (I tested only NAS4free) required embedded installation for remote upgrading, but full install for easy addition of software packets. Since I need at least AirVideo Server (linux/win) and Plex App (win/linux) to stream the photos and some videos to iPad (they both require virtualbox), but I cannot be there to install updates, NAS4free/FreeNAS are excluded. http://www.nas4free.org/general_information.html explains the issue: embedded can be remotely updated, full cannot. Solaris has also another advantage: Crashplan client supports Solaris and I'm already using it for other backups. I would like to leave the option open, even if I will be doing backups probably through zfs send/receive. NexentaStor was left out because zfs send/receive are not included in the free version. The question is now Solaris 11 Express over OpenIndiana. To ease the management, I will be using http://www.napp-it.org Which one would you suggest and why? I found lots of informations and it's difficult for me to decide. I think (from the napp-it manual) that Solaris has some additional options for SMB shares, but are they really needed at home? I think I won't even use ACLs, since normal unix-style permissions are enough. OpenIndiana has maybe more frequent updates (Solaris offers only security updates between releases), but again, do I need them? I don't think so. Moreover, this is a NAS that has to work and nothing else, I cannot risk having problems that require me to access the server. Isn't OpenIndiana a bit more... cutting edge (in the Solaris world)? I'm just asking, no need to focus on this for the answer :-) I would limit myself to these two options (SE11.1/OI) also because I will be making a NAS for me in the future (where high performances with Mac shares are also required) and Solaris has kernel support for AFP. I will use this server to gather experience as well. After this long question, thanks in advance! If you need additional info, let me know and I will update this post.

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• Is it safe to enable forced ASLR via EMET on Windows?

  - by D.W.

  I'd like to enable forced ASLR for all DLLs on Windows. Is this safe? Background: ASLR is an important security mechanism that helps defend against code injection attacks. DLLs can opt into ASLR, and most do, but some DLLs have not opted into ASLR. If a program loads even a single non-ASLRized DLL, then the program doesn't get the benefit/protection of ASLR. This is a problem, because there are a non-trivial number of DLLs that haven't opted into ASLR. For instance, it was recently revealed that Dropbox injects a DLL into a bunch of processes, and the Dropbox DLL doesn't have ASLR turned on, which negates any ASLR protection they otherwise would have had. Unfortunately, there are many other widely used DLLs that haven't opted into ASLR. This is bad for system security. Microsoft provides several ways to turn on ASLR for all DLLs, even ones that haven't opted into ASLR: On Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, you can enable "Force ASLR" in the registry. On all Windows versions, you can use Microsoft's EMET tool and enable EMET's "Mandatory ASLR" option. These methods are possible because all DLLs are compiled as position-independent code and they can be relocated to a random location even if they haven't opted into ASLR. These options will ensure that ASLR is turned on, even if the developers of the DLL forgot to opt into ASLR. Thus, forcing on ASLR systemwide may help system security. In principle, turning on forced ASLR could potentially break a poorly-written DLL, so there is some risk of breakage. I'm interested in finding out just significant this risk is. I have the suspicion that this kind of breakage might be extremely rare. Here's what I've been able to find: Microsoft has done compatibility testing with several dozen widely used applications. The only one they found where Mandatory ASLR causes problems is Windows Media Player. All the other applications continue working fine. (See pp.39-41 of this document.) I've seen some anecdotal reports that enabling "Mandatory ASLR"/"Force ASLR" is fine and unlikely to cause problems. CERT reports that AMD and ATI video drivers used to crash if you enabled forced ASLR, but their latest drivers have now fixed this problem. They don't show any other drivers with this problem. A forum post from Microsoft shows no other applications with compatibility problems if ASLR is forced on, as of 2011. A user reports that borderlands.exe, a video game by Gearbox Software, crashes if you turn on mandatory ASLR. What else should I know? Is it relatively safe to turn on Force ASLR / Mandatory ASLR systemwide to harden the secuity of my system, or will I be in for a world of pain and broken applications? How significant is the risk of compatibility problems and broken applications?

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• What NAS setup for two-way syncing over the internet?

  - by Jamse

  I have family living a few hours away and have a lot of files that I would like to share - especially lots of folders of digital photos, but also documents etc. - partially so they can see them, partially so I can have access when I visit them and partially for backup / redundancy purposes. My current hard drives on my main machine are getting pretty full anyway, and I have a MythTV box where my music is currently stored, so I was thinking of getting a NAS anyway. And at the other end my family have a few computers, so they would probably benefit from a NAS too. My general idea (though I'm willing to shift on this if there are any bright ideas about other ways of achieving my objectives) is to get a matching pair of NASs and have them sync over the internet. (To cut down on bandwidth use I would get them in sync locally to start with.) Having read around as best I can it seems that syncing over the internet is generally only a feature on quite high end units. However, I have seen that QNAP seem to feature this on their TS-110 and TS-210 units, which might work (they call it "remote replication"). They seem pretty reasonably priced for what they are, but of course with buying 2 of them and then adding the drives (say 1TB or 2TB each) I'd be looking at about £400 total. So, I'm looking for recommendations really. I don't want to spend more than the QNAPs would cost me, but any other ideas would be most appreciated. I am comfortable with technology and tinkering around, but I don't have as much time for that as I would like, so I guess I would favour solutions that require less tinkering rather than more (even though that's less fun!). Any thoughts would be welcome, as would any comments from people who have used the QNAP boxes for this. Thanks in advance. Some specifications: Two-way syncing. Changes made at either end should be synced to the other. There shouldn't be one unit that is effectively a read-only mirror of the other. Not real time. The syncing doesn't need to be real time - if it updated, say, daily overnight that would be fine. Set and forget. I would prefer minimal user interaction once set up - it would be great if syncs were scheduled and automatic. OS independence. I am running Windows XP plus an Ubuntu-based MythTV box. At the other end there are Windows 7 and Windows XP machines, plus a networked TV set top box which I think can play files off the network. Machine independence. I would favour a system that is self-contained, i.e. not reliant on any particular PC being switched on. If the system had enough else going for it I could perhaps work around it at this end, where I only have one PC that's used as such, but it would be harder at the other where there are at least two PCs that might be accessing the files. Notifications. I guess things like getting an email notification if the syncing fell over for any reason would be useful, though it's not a deal breaker. Update I've been digging some more and it looks like QNAP's Remote Replication function is actually just Rsync, so only really suitable for one-way syncing. I've posted on their forum to double check, but I think that's the case. In which case, I think the focus of my question is now either: do any reasonably-priced NASs support bidirectional syncing over the internet?, or has anyone had any luck installing onto NASs for this purpose? (Also, updated question to clarify that I'm after two-way syncing.)

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• Why doesn't video run smoothly on my laptop anymore?

  - by andygrunt

  This might be an impossible question to answer remotely but I figure there may be some common causes that people can suggest so I think it's worth asking... Video no longer plays smoothly on my laptop. It used to but not for a while now. For example, playing a video on YouTube is pretty typical: I press play (making sure it's not on HD or even HQ) and the video buffers a little then starts to play. At first it plays fine then the video starts to stutter, turning into a slideshow while the sound continues to play smoothly. If I try playing the same video on my Playstation 3 (which is linked to the same network) it plays smoothly so it can't be the connection. Another example is streaming DivX videos. Again, I wait while it buffers and it starts but very soon, instead of a slideshow, this time the video just plays slowly while the sound continues as normal (instantly getting out of sync). Even if I let the video fully load before pressing play (i.e. it's no longer streaming), it still behaves the same way. I can even let it load 100% then save the file to hard disk and use VLC player to view it, and the same thing happens. I'm using an old laptop running Windows XP. For the past several years it's been connected to the router via Wi-Fi but in the past few days I've changed that to a network cable (like my PS3) but that hasn't helped. Yes, I regularly install various bits and pieces of software but nothing that I can identify as being the cause. So, are there known causes of this sort of behaviour and if so, what can I do to fix it? Thanks. Update to answer a few questions... Laptop Spec' (note: video has played back fine for the majority of time I've had the laptop) Toshiba Satellite 1900-603 (possibly called something else outside the UK) Intel Pentium 4 2.2 Ghz Processor Originally had 512Mb memory but recently doubled that to 1 Gig of memory Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 16Mb DDR VRAM Windows XP SP3 (Home edition) Over the years I've done several things to speed it up (disabling indexing etc) and am generally happy with the performance. I also regularly have a clear out of old software (if for no other reason than the laptop only has a 40Gb hard disk) and use CCleaner and Glary Utilities to strip out much of the crap from my system. Also recently (after doubling the memory), I've tried a few new things which might be likely candidates for slowing the video down such as Rocketdock, Jingle keyboard (which gives an old style 'clacky' typewriter sound when I type - love it), SugarSync, Taskbar Shuffle. However, the video doesn't play smoothly even when I try quit all these apps.

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• How to diagnose computer lockups and freezes?

  - by Scott Mitchell

  I built a desktop computer a couple years back with the following specs: CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6 MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9300 Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard Video Card: Two EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SCC 256 MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card PSU: SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT 550W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply Memory: Two G.SKILL 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ Since its inception, the machine has periodically locked up, the regularity having varied over the years from once a day to once a month. Typically, lockups happen once every few days. By "lockup" I mean my computer just freezes. The screen locks up, I can't move the mouse. Hitting keys on my keyboard that normally turn LEDs on or off on the keyboard (such as Caps Lock) no longer turn the LEDs on or off. If there was music playing at the time of the lockup, noise keeps coming out of the speakers, but it's just the current frequency/note that plays indefinitely. There is no BSOD. When such a lockup occurs I have to do a hard reboot by either turning off the computer or hitting the reset button. I have the most recent version of the NVIDIA hardware drivers, and update them semi-regularly, but that hasn't seemed to help. I am currently using Windows 7 x64, but was previously using Windows Server 2003 x64 and having the same lockup issues. My guess is that it's somehow video driver or motherboard related, but I don't know how to go about diagnosing this problem to narrow down which of the two is the culprit. Additional information re: cooling Regarding cooling... I've not installed any after-market cooling systems aside from two regular fans I scavenged from an older computer. The fan atop the CPU is the one that shipped with it. One of the two scavenged fans I added it located at the bottom tower of the corner, in an attempt to create some airflow from front to back. The second fan is pointed directly at the two video cards. SpeedFan installation and readings Per studiohack's suggestion, I installed SpeedFan, which provided the following temperature readings: GPU: 63C GPU: 65C System: 76C CPU: 64C AUX: 36C Core 0: 78C Core 1: 76C Core 2: 79C Core 3: 79C Update #3: Another Lockup :-( Well, I had another lockup last night. :-( SpeedFan reported the CPU temp at 38 C when it happened, and there was no spike in temperature leading up to the freeze. One thing I notice is that the freeze seems more likely to happen if I am watching a video. In fact, of the last 5 freezes over the past month, 4 of them have been while watching a video on Flickr. Not necessarily the same video, but a video nevertheless. I don't know if this is just coincidence or if it means anything. (As an aside, each night before bedtime my 2 year old daughter sits on my lap and watches some home videos on Flickr and, in the last month, has learned the phrase, "Uh oh, computer broke.") Update #4: MemTest86 and 3DMark06 Test Results: Per suggestions in the comments, I ran the MemTest86 overnight and it cycled through the 8 GB of memory 5 times without error. I also ran the 3DMark06 test without a problem (see my scores at http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15163549). So... what now? :-) Any further suggestions on what to check? Is there some way to get a stack trace or something when the computer locks like that? Resolution I have never did figure out the particular problems, but based on the suggestions here and elsewhere, I'm presuming it was a motherboard issue. In any event, I recently upgraded my system, buying a new motherbeard, PSU, CPU, and RAM, and that new rig has been working splendidly the past several weeks. I am using the same graphic cards as in the old setup, so I think it's safe to reason that they weren't the cause of the problem.

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• How to enjoy DVD on Apple iPad

  - by user44251

  I believe many people spent a sleepless night yesterday waiting for the new Apple Tablet to come, just a few days ago or perhaps longer I noticed fierce debate about it, its name, size, capacity, processor, main features, price etc. And now, they can take a long breath with the new Apple Tablet named iPad officially released on 28, January, 2010 (Beijing Time). But I know a new battle just begins. iPad, sounds somewhat like iPod and it really shares some similarities in terms of shape like smart, light and portable. It has a 9.7-inch, LED-backlit, IPS display with a remarkable precise Multi-Touch screen. And yet, at just 1.5 lbs and 0.5 inches thin, it's easy to carry and use everywhere. It can greatly facilitates your experience with the web, emails, photos and videos. Right now, it can run almost 140.000 of the apps on the Apple store. It can even run the apps you have downloaded for your iPhone or iPod touch. But so far, I haven't seen any possibility that it can work with DVD, probability there is no built-in DVD-ROM or DVD player which can play DVD directly. As Apple iPad states, the video formats supported are MPEG-4 (MP4, M4V), H.264, MOV etc and audio formats accepted are AAC, Proteceted AAC, MP3, AIFF and WAV etc, those are formats that are commonly used with iMac. This could really a hard nut to crack if you want to watch your favourite DVD on this magic Apple iPad. But don't worry, there is still way out, you just need a few steps for ripping and importing DVD movies to Apple iPad with a simple application DVD to iPad converter What's on DVD to iPad Converter for Mac DVD to iPad converter for Mac is a powerful and professional application designed for the newly released Apple iPad which can rip, convert your DVD contents to Apple iPad compatible MPEG-4 (MP4, M4V), H.264, MOV etc, and other popular file formats like AVI, WMV, MPG, MKV, VOB, 3GP, FLV etc can also be converted so that you can put on your portable devices like iPod, iPhone, iRiver, BlackBerry etc. Besides, it can also extract audio from DVD videos and save as MP3, AIFF, AAC, WAV etc. Mac DVD to iPad converter has also been enhanced that can run both on PowerPC and Intel (Snow Leopard included). It can offer versatile editing features which allows you to make your own DVD videos. For example, you can cut your DVD to whatever length you like by Trim, crop off unwanted parts from DVD clips by Crop, add special effect like Gray, Emboss and Old film to make your videos more artistic. Besides, its built-in merging feature and batch mode allows you to join several DVD clips into a single one and do batch conversion. And more features can be expected if you afford a few minutes to try.

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• Why does my computer run slowly and freeze sometimes?

  - by Brae

  EDIT I disabled sound in the BIOS, rebooted and it hung. I removed the (previously) faulty HDD, rebooted and it hung. I have managed to get my Realtek audio manager open again after its mysterious disappearance. Subsequently my microphone is now working again, to fix it I had to uninstall audio drivers, disable audio in BIOS, install audio drivers, enable audio in BIOS. Access via network (with faulty HDD in) seems to not be triggering hangs at the moment. I think with the sound problem fixed it might play a little nicer, but I think its still going to hang. If it does, then I'm fairly sure its been narrowed down to the mobo. EDIT Pretty convinced my motherboard is the culprit, because nothing else seems to have any obvious problems (bar the hard drive, which the PC still hangs without it being plugged in) So thank you all for helping, once I get more rep ill up a few of the answers. My PC is doing some weird things... Sometimes when I open up a program, lets say Adobe Photoshop, it will load everything normally, nice and quick no problems and I can use it fine. Other times its a little odd, and it loads the program as if it's only using half of the CPU. It's pretty obvious when it does it, normally the loading screen skims past, but when it does this weird load you see it slowly tick though each thing, and the program itself becomes incredibly slow. Even Google Chrome does it sometimes. Yet when I exit and reopen the program without doing anything else, it typically opens fine without lagging. I think this problem is probably a symptom of something bigger, because of other problems I'm having. Random hangs; no matter what I have open or what I'm doing. My PC will sort of freeze up for a few seconds. If music is playing it will either loop the last second or two, or it will buzz. This only lasts for a few seconds then it returns to normal without having to restart. During this time all programs lock up and freeze, and the mouse and keyboard are useless. I am also having a weird issue with my audio jacks, without touching my PC at all, sometimes I will see a popup saying that I have unplugged something or plugged something in, neither of which has actually happened. Pretty sure this is cause by the motherboard. I recently had a 'Pink Screen of Death' (yes pink) which pointed to my audio drivers. The lockups seem to happen with some consistency when someone is accessing my shared files via my home LAN. Which leads me to believe either one of my hard drives is acting up or more likely the controller. One of my drives had a bit of a crash before, I used Spinrite and managed to recover my stuff and now the drive appears to be working okay. This is possibly adding to the problems. My best guess is something has gone wrong with my motherboard, possibly a power issue or a chip has died, I really don't know. So what I would like to know is: Have I have missed some obvious diagnostic to help figure out what it is, or should I just bite the bullet and assume its my motherboard acting up and buy a new system? dxdiag[64-bit] - http://pastebin.com/G30kb2TL PSOD (minidump) - http://pastebin.com/aZsv0H56 HWiNFO64 (system info / specs) - http://pastebin.com/X6h3K8g6

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• After each command tmux prints: ps1_update: command not found

  - by B.I.

  On Linux Ubuntu 11.04, after each command (cd, ls, vim...) successful or not, tmux prints out as a last line ps1_update: command not found. Is there any config option I am missing? Thank you very much! tmux.conf # http://lukaszwrobel.pl/blog/tmux-tutorial-split-terminal-windows-easily # just remember that after every modification, tmux must be refreshed # to take new settings into account. # This can be achieved either by restarting it or by typing in: # tmux source-file .tmux.conf # Here is a list of a few basic tmux commands: # Ctrl+b " - split pane horizontally. # Ctrl+b % - split pane vertically. # Ctrl+b arrow key - switch pane. # Hold Ctrl+b, don't release it and hold one of the arrow keys - resize pane. # !Ctrl+b c - (c)reate a new window. # !Ctrl+b n - move to the (n)ext window. # Ctrl+b p - move to the (p)revious window. # Shift+LMB - select text. # ALT+Arrows to move among panes. # rebind default prefix to C-a unbind C-b set -g prefix C-a # use ALT+Arrows to move around panes bind -n M-Left select-pane -L bind -n M-Right select-pane -R bind -n M-Up select-pane -U bind -n M-Down select-pane -D # activity monitoring setw -g monitor-activity on set -g visual-activity on # highlight current pane set-window-option -g window-status-current-bg yellow # enable pane switching with mouse set-option -g mouse-select-pane on # read bashrc source ~/.bashrc # Sane scrolling set -g terminal-overrides 'xterm*:smcup@:rmcup@' commandline print out ($(cat)user@tiki:~/.vim$ ls autoload bash_profile bashrc bundle README.md tmux.conf vimrc xmonad xmonad-ubuntu-conf xsessionrc ps1_update: command not found ($(cat)user@tiki:~/.vim$ ll total 56 drwxrwxr-x 2 user user 4096 Mar 17 10:20 autoload/ -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 170 Mar 17 10:20 bash_profile -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 4004 Apr 2 11:37 bashrc drwxrwxr-x 20 user user 4096 Aug 20 10:55 bundle/ -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 11170 Aug 20 11:24 README.md -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 1243 Mar 17 10:20 tmux.conf ps1_update: command not found ($(cat)user@tiki:~/.vim$ And the following is plain terminal output, without tmux running user@tiki:~$ ls backup_list.md Documents Dropbox examples.desktop hakers_and_painters.md~ hyundai Music projects ror Ubuntu One Videos windows.sh Desktop Downloads elif.txt hakers_and_painters.md help.txt maqola.txt Pictures Public tmp update_background.sh VirtualBox VMs user@tiki:~$ ll total 116 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 380 Aug 9 17:34 backup_list.md drwxr-xr-x 6 user user 4096 Jul 15 09:26 Desktop/ drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Jul 7 11:26 Documents/ drwxr-xr-x 11 user user 20480 Aug 20 13:53 Downloads/ -rwx------ 1 user user 729 May 7 14:45 update_background.sh* drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Dec 10 2013 Videos/ drwxrwxr-x 4 user user 4096 Sep 10 2013 VirtualBox VMs/ -rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 36 Jan 11 2014 windows.sh* user@tiki:~$ cd Desktop/ user@tiki:~/Desktop$ ll total 36 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 3388 Jul 14 17:10 daily--report.md -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 71 Jan 28 2014 fernandez readme.md -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 23 Jan 28 2014 fernandez readme.md~ drwx------ 4 user user 4096 Mar 23 14:02 my_docs/ drwx------ 2 user user 4096 Feb 3 2014 Origami/ drwx------ 7 user user 4096 Feb 1 2013 Plants_vs._Zombies_v1.2.0.1065/ -rwxr-xr-x 1 user user 301 Apr 15 11:28 Sky Fight.desktop* drwx------ 2 user user 4096 Feb 11 2014 webdesign/ -rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 26 Jan 11 2014 windows.sh~* user@tiki:~/Desktop$

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• What NAS setup for syncing over the internet?

  - by Jamse

  I have family living a few hours away and have a lot of files that I would like to share - especially lots of folders of digital photos, but also documents etc. - partially so they can see them, partially so I can have access when I visit them and partially for backup / redundancy purposes. My current hard drives on my main machine are getting pretty full anyway, and I have a MythTV box where my music is currently stored, so I was thinking of getting a NAS anyway. And at the other end my family have a few computers, so they would probably benefit from a NAS too. My general idea (though I'm willing to shift on this if there are any bright ideas about other ways of achieving my objectives) is to get a matching pair of NASs and have them sync over the internet. (To cut down on bandwidth use I would get them in sync locally to start with.) Having read around as best I can it seems that syncing over the internet is generally only a feature on quite high end units. However, I have seen that QNAP seem to feature this on their TS-110 and TS-210 units, which might work (they call it "remote replication"). They seem pretty reasonably priced for what they are, but of course with buying 2 of them and then adding the drives (say 1TB or 2TB each) I'd be looking at about £400 total. So, I'm looking for recommendations really. I don't want to spend more than the QNAPs would cost me, but any other ideas would be most appreciated. I am comfortable with technology and tinkering around, but I don't have as much time for that as I would like, so I guess I would favour solutions that require less tinkering rather than more (even though that's less fun!). Any thoughts would be welcome, as would any comments from people who have used the QNAP boxes for this. Thanks in advance. Some specifications: Two-way syncing. Changes made at either end should be synced to the other. There shouldn't be one unit that is effectively a read-only mirror of the other. Not real time. The syncing doesn't need to be real time - if it updated, say, daily overnight that would be fine. Set and forget. I would prefer minimal user interaction once set up - it would be great if syncs were scheduled and automatic. OS independence. I am running Windows XP plus an Ubuntu-based MythTV box. At the other end there are Windows 7 and Windows XP machines, plus a networked TV set top box which I think can play files off the network. Machine independence. I would favour a system that is self-contained, i.e. not reliant on any particular PC being switched on. If the system had enough else going for it I could perhaps work around it at this end, where I only have one PC that's used as such, but it would be harder at the other where there are at least two PCs that might be accessing the files. Notifications. I guess things like getting an email notification if the syncing fell over for any reason would be useful, though it's not a deal breaker.

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• Choice of an OS for a home ZFS NAS

  - by OlafM

  I am preparing a home NAS with an old Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 4 GB ECC RAM, Asus M2V MX motherboard, and a single 3 TB WDC Green (another one as mirror may be installed in the future). It's the cheapest solution I found that includes ECC memory and the higher energy consumption is offset by the lower (zero) cost of acquisition. The system will be used for: music storage and stream to other desktop computers; storage of the scanned dia slides (3-4k slides, 180 MB TIFF each one plus reduced quality JPEG version); stream of these photos to a local iPad 2 (maybe Plex App? not yet sure); (one additional) remote backup via rsync/ssh or ZFS send/receive. It will be controlled via remote ssh, maybe VNC, no monitor attached. Absolute requirement is a reliable ZFS solution, plus the ability to easily install packets/software/virtual machines and to update remotely (I will be the admin and I don't live near the NAS). I have mainly three options: NAS4free/FreeNAS OpenIndiana Solaris Express 11 (yeah yeah I know the license requirements, I will write a perl script on it to count it as development machine). Problems: NAS4free/FreeNAS (I tested only NAS4free) required embedded installation for remote upgrading, but full install for easy addition of software packets. Since I need at least AirVideo Server (linux/win) and Plex App (win/linux) to stream the photos and some videos to iPad (they both require virtualbox), but I cannot be there to install updates, NAS4free/FreeNAS are excluded. http://www.nas4free.org/general_information.html explains the issue: embedded can be remotely updated, full cannot. Solaris has also another advantage: Crashplan client supports Solaris and I'm already using it for other backups. I would like to leave the option open, even if I will be doing backups probably through zfs send/receive. NexentaStor was left out because zfs send/receive are not included in the free version. The question is now Solaris 11 Express over OpenIndiana. To ease the management, I will be using http://www.napp-it.org Which one would you suggest and why? I found lots of informations and it's difficult for me to decide. I think (from the napp-it manual) that Solaris has some additional options for SMB shares, but are they really needed at home? I think I won't even use ACLs, since normal unix-style permissions are enough. OpenIndiana has maybe more frequent updates (Solaris offers only security updates between releases), but again, do I need them? I don't think so. Moreover, this is a NAS that has to work and nothing else, I cannot risk having problems that require me to access the server. Isn't OpenIndiana a bit more... cutting edge (in the Solaris world)? I'm just asking, no need to focus on this for the answer :-) I would limit myself to these two options (SE11.1/OI) also because I will be making a NAS for me in the future (where high performances with Mac shares are also required) and Solaris has kernel support for AFP. I will use this server to gather experience as well. After this long question, thanks in advance! If you need additional info, let me know and I will update this post. UPDATES Given the first answers, I will strongly suggest the person paying the hardware to insert a second HD. Better 2x2TB than 1x3TB (3 TB is oversized anyway). I was trying to keep the initial costs down to spread them over a longer period, but better having something good from the beginning.

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• Hosed Windows 7 permissons

  - by Anthony

  Here is the most interesting thing I've noticed since the problems started: If I go into a control panel/system module (in this case the Resource Monitor) that has a "Check Online" type option, Firefox (my default browser) opens right up without a problem. But if I just start Firefox from any shortcuts (start menu, desktop, etc), the Firefox process starts up (and the start menu icon starts glowing) only to end without notice a few seconds later. Possibly related: If I start up in Safe-Mode (w/o Networking, but haven't tried with yet), I can start up FF or Chrome just fine, but if I attempt to open Chrome normally, I get a permissions error. Opera and Safari seem to be okay (mostly). Safari crashes when I try to download any files. All of the above leads me to believe that some (but clearly not all) core files have messed up permissions. Or rather, that I no longer have permission. System still does, based on Firefox opening without fail when the system initiates it. I've run MS Forefront once in normal mode, Malwarebytes twice in normal mode and once in safe-mode. One trojan found and deleted, but the problem persists. Two other things worth mentioning: I accidentally duplicated my library... I thought I'd try to add the "Internet" folder to my start menu, next to music and downloads. The first advanced thing I tried was "create new library". I clearly misunderstood what this means. I thought it was a way to add virtual folders to the library (which I thought, in turn, would allow me to choose it as a link on the start menu), but instead it recreated my already existing user folder, AppData and all. I didn't notice this until today. Then I tried setting permissions for my User folder to full control, recursively... Confused but not giving up,I thought I could maybe create a shortcut to the NetHood folder manually, but instead got hit with an access denied error. So I tried to change the permission levels for all sub-folders to my user folder so that I had full control. I got several access denied errors along the way. At this point I gave up, went out, ended up caught in the rain and stuck on a friend's couch and showing up late for work the next day. Thanks for nothing, Microsoft. When I finally got home today (20 hours later), I noticed that Firefox was acting really strange. I tried opening Chrome to see if the problem was client side or server side, and instead got the above-mentioned "you don't have permission to open this program" alert. And I think that's the whole story. Oh, I also did a system restore, but not chose a point from this morning (an auto update), and it worked but the problem wasn't fixed. And then all the earlier restore points were gone. So the questions are: a) is there a way to set the admin and user privs back to "default"? b) would this, in anyone's expert opinion, fix the problems I'm having? c) how come being logged in as an admin isn't the same as being logged in with admin privs? It seems that half the time I have to do run as admin for fairy standard things because i'm being treated as me-theuser and not me-theadmin. Thanks for reading.

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• Ubuntu + SSL ports + AVAST

  - by jurajvt

  I have an interesting problem with communication via standard SSL ports. Fresh installed Ubuntu 14.04 server + Postfix + Dovecot, SASL authentication provided by Dovecot, self-signed certificate generated trough the Dovecot script mkcert.sh. Redirected ports on ZyWALL USG 200. I can send and receive e-mails from outside with standard ports 25 and 110, but not over 587. I am connecting to my server from machine with Windows 8.1 + VMWare Player + Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop + ssh. On Windows host I have installed Avast! antivirus. When I am trying to telnet from virtual machine to server over 587, it refused connection. But when I turn on Avast! it let me in to message Connected to... Same with nmap. When Avast! is turned on it is show me all SSL ports. When I turned it off, only standard ports appeared. OpenSSL shows me CONNECTED(00000003). But outside virtual machine directly in Windows 8.1 using nmap with zenmap there are not opened SSL ports in both Avast! states. From other external linux machines are problems with touching SSL ports same - refused. I have turned on submission in master.cf and 587 port is correctly listening on 0.0.0.0 in process master.pid which belongs to Postfix. I can telnet, or nmap over port 587 to my domain directly from server. Other ports like 995, 993 are OK on localhost, too. It is true, that I can't send emails via 587 anyway (Avast! turned on/off), but I can see ports opened. It is possible, that I have simply bad certificate and Avast! has right one, so with turned it on I can see opened ports? EDIT: To be more clear, I can't see or using port 587 everywhere from outside (tried Thunderbird, telnet, openssl, nmap, putty, swaks; both from Linux or Windows machines) and that is my problem. It was only by chance that I saw opened ports when Avast! is turned on.

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• Install XP Mode with VirtualBox Using the VMLite Plugin

  - by Mysticgeek

  Would you like to run XP Mode, but prefer Sun’s VirtualBox for virtualization?  Thanks to the free VMLite plugin, you can quickly and easily run XP Mode in or alongside VirtualBox. Yesterday we showed you one method to install XP Mode in VirtualBox, unfortunately in that situation you lose XP’s activation, and it isn’t possible to reactivate it. Today we show you a tried and true method for running XP mode in VirtualBox and integrating it seamlessly with Windows 7. Note: You need to have Windows 7 Professional or above to use XP Mode in this manner. Install XP Mode Make sure you’re logged in with Administrator rights for the entire process. The first thing you’ll want to do is install XP Mode on your system (link below). You don’t need to install Windows Virtual PC. Go through and install XP Mode using the defaults. Install VirtualBox Next you’ll need to install VirtualBox 3.1.2 or higher if it isn’t installed already. If you have an older version of VirtualBox installed, make sure to update it. During setup you’re notified that your network connection will be reset. Check the box next to Always trust software from “Sun Microsystems, Inc.” then click Install.   Setup only takes a couple of minutes, and does not require a reboot…which is always nice. Install VMLite XP Mode Plugin The next thing we’ll need to install is the VMLite XP Mode Plugin. Again Installation is simple following the install wizard. During the install like with VirtualBox you’ll be asked to install the device software. After it’s installed go to the Start menu and run VMLite Wizard as Administrator. Select the location of the XP Mode Package which by default should be in C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode. Accept the EULA…and notice that it’s meant for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. Next, name the machine, choose the install folder, and type in a password. Select if you want Automatic Updates turned on or not. Wait while the process completes then click Finish.   The VMLite XP Mode will set up to run the first time. That is all there is to this section. You can run XP Mode from within the VMLite Workstation right away. XP Mode is fully activated already, and the Guest Additions are already installed, so there’s nothing else you need to do!  XP Mode is the whole way ready to use. Integration with VirtualBox Since we installed the VMLite Plugin, when you open VirtualBox you’ll see it listed as one of your machines and you can start it up from here.   Here we see VMLite XP Mode running in Sun VirtualBox. Integrate with Windows 7 To integrate it with Windows 7 click on Machine \ Seamless Mode…   Here you can see the XP menu and Taskbar will be placed on top of Windows 7. From here you can access what you need from XP Mode.   Here we see XP running on Virtual Box in Seamless Mode. We have the old XP WordPad sitting next to the new Windows 7 version of WordPad. This works so seamlessly you forget if your working in XP or Windows 7. In this example we have Windows Home Server Console running in Windows 7, while installing MSE from IE 6 in XP Mode. At the top of the screen you will still have access to the VMs controls.   You can click the button to exit Seamless Mode, or simply hit the right “CTRL+L” Conclusion This is a very slick way to run XP Mode in VirtualBox on any machine that doesn’t have Hardware Virtualization. This method also doesn’t lose the XP Mode activation and is actually extremely easy to set up. If you prefer VMware (like we do), Check out how to run XP Mode on machines without Hardware Virtualization capability, and also how to create an XP Mode for Vista and Windows 7 Home Premium. Links Download XP Mode Download VirtualBox Download VMLite XP Mode Plugin for VirtualBox (Site Registration Required) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Search for Install Packages from the Ubuntu Command LineHow To Run XP Mode in VirtualBox on Windows 7 (sort of)Install and Use the VLC Media Player on Ubuntu LinuxInstall Monodevelop on Ubuntu LinuxInstall Flash Plugin Manually in Firefox on Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7 OnlineOCR – Free OCR Service Betting on the Blind Side, a Vanity Fair article 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More with Less LEGO Digital Designer – Free Create a Personal Website Quickly using Flavors.me

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• Install XP Mode with VirtualBox Using the VMLite Plugin

  - by Mysticgeek

  Would you like to run XP Mode, but prefer Sun’s VirtualBox for virtualization?  Thanks to the free VMLite plugin, you can quickly and easily run XP Mode in or alongside VirtualBox. Yesterday we showed you one method to install XP Mode in VirtualBox, unfortunately in that situation you lose XP’s activation, and it isn’t possible to reactivate it. Today we show you a tried and true method for running XP mode in VirtualBox and integrating it seamlessly with Windows 7. Note: You need to have Windows 7 Professional or above to use XP Mode in this manner. Install XP Mode Make sure you’re logged in with Administrator rights for the entire process. The first thing you’ll want to do is install XP Mode on your system (link below). You don’t need to install Windows Virtual PC. Go through and install XP Mode using the defaults. Install VirtualBox Next you’ll need to install VirtualBox 3.1.2 or higher if it isn’t installed already. If you have an older version of VirtualBox installed, make sure to update it. During setup you’re notified that your network connection will be reset. Check the box next to Always trust software from “Sun Microsystems, Inc.” then click Install.   Setup only takes a couple of minutes, and does not require a reboot…which is always nice. Install VMLite XP Mode Plugin The next thing we’ll need to install is the VMLite XP Mode Plugin. Again Installation is simple following the install wizard. During the install like with VirtualBox you’ll be asked to install the device software. After it’s installed go to the Start menu and run VMLite Wizard as Administrator. Select the location of the XP Mode Package which by default should be in C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode. Accept the EULA…and notice that it’s meant for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. Next, name the machine, choose the install folder, and type in a password. Select if you want Automatic Updates turned on or not. Wait while the process completes then click Finish.   The VMLite XP Mode will set up to run the first time. That is all there is to this section. You can run XP Mode from within the VMLite Workstation right away. XP Mode is fully activated already, and the Guest Additions are already installed, so there’s nothing else you need to do!  XP Mode is the whole way ready to use. Integration with VirtualBox Since we installed the VMLite Plugin, when you open VirtualBox you’ll see it listed as one of your machines and you can start it up from here.   Here we see VMLite XP Mode running in Sun VirtualBox. Integrate with Windows 7 To integrate it with Windows 7 click on Machine \ Seamless Mode…   Here you can see the XP menu and Taskbar will be placed on top of Windows 7. From here you can access what you need from XP Mode.   Here we see XP running on Virtual Box in Seamless Mode. We have the old XP WordPad sitting next to the new Windows 7 version of WordPad. This works so seamlessly you forget if your working in XP or Windows 7. In this example we have Windows Home Server Console running in Windows 7, while installing MSE from IE 6 in XP Mode. At the top of the screen you will still have access to the VMs controls.   You can click the button to exit Seamless Mode, or simply hit the right “CTRL+L” Conclusion This is a very slick way to run XP Mode in VirtualBox on any machine that doesn’t have Hardware Virtualization. This method also doesn’t lose the XP Mode activation and is actually extremely easy to set up. If you prefer VMware (like we do), Check out how to run XP Mode on machines without Hardware Virtualization capability, and also how to create an XP Mode for Vista and Windows 7 Home Premium. Links Download XP Mode Download VirtualBox Download VMLite XP Mode Plugin for VirtualBox (Site Registration Required) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Search for Install Packages from the Ubuntu Command LineHow To Run XP Mode in VirtualBox on Windows 7 (sort of)Install and Use the VLC Media Player on Ubuntu LinuxInstall Monodevelop on Ubuntu LinuxInstall Flash Plugin Manually in Firefox on Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7 OnlineOCR – Free OCR Service Betting on the Blind Side, a Vanity Fair article 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More with Less LEGO Digital Designer – Free Create a Personal Website Quickly using Flavors.me

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• Scan a Windows PC for Viruses from a Ubuntu Live CD

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  Getting a virus is bad. Getting a virus that causes your computer to crash when you reboot is even worse. We’ll show you how to clean viruses from your computer even if you can’t boot into Windows by using a virus scanner in a Ubuntu Live CD. There are a number of virus scanners available for Ubuntu, but we’ve found that avast! is the best choice, with great detection rates and usability. Unfortunately, avast! does not have a proper 64-bit version, and forcing the install does not work properly. If you want to use avast! to scan for viruses, then ensure that you have a 32-bit Ubuntu Live CD. If you currently have a 64-bit Ubuntu Live CD on a bootable flash drive, it does not take long to wipe your flash drive and go through our guide again and select normal (32-bit) Ubuntu 9.10 instead of the x64 edition. For the purposes of fixing your Windows installation, the 64-bit Live CD will not provide any benefits. Once Ubuntu 9.10 boots up, open up Firefox by clicking on its icon in the top panel. Navigate to http://www.avast.com/linux-home-edition. Click on the Download tab, and then click on the link to download the DEB package. Save it to the default location. While avast! is downloading, click on the link to the registration form on the download page. Fill in the registration form if you do not already have a trial license for avast!. By the time you’ve filled out the registration form, avast! will hopefully be finished downloading. Open a terminal window by clicking on Applications in the top-left corner of the screen, then expanding the Accessories menu and clicking on Terminal. In the terminal window, type in the following commands, pressing enter after each line. cd Downloadssudo dpkg –i avast* This will install avast! on the live Ubuntu environment. To ensure that you can use the latest virus database, while still in the terminal window, type in the following command: sudo sysctl –w kernel.shmmax=128000000 Now we’re ready to open avast!. Click on Applications on the top-left corner of the screen, expand the Accessories folder, and click on the new avast! Antivirus item. You will first be greeted with a window that asks for your license key. Hopefully you’ve received it in your email by now; open the email that avast! sends you, copy the license key, and paste it in the Registration window. avast! Antivirus will open. You’ll notice that the virus database is outdated. Click on the Update database button and avast! will start downloading the latest virus database. To scan your Windows hard drive, you will need to “mount” it. While the virus database is downloading, click on Places on the top-left of your screen, and click on your Windows hard drive, if you can tell which one it is by its size. If you can’t tell which is the correct hard drive, then click on Computer and check out each hard drive until you find the right one. When you find it, make a note of the drive’s label, which appears in the menu bar of the file browser. Also note that your hard drive will now appear on your desktop. By now, your virus database should be updated. At the time this article was written, the most recent version was 100404-0. In the main avast! window, click on the radio button next to Selected folders and then click on the “+” button to the right of the list box. It will open up a dialog box to browse to a location. To find your Windows hard drive, click on the “>” next to the computer icon. In the expanded list, find the folder labelled “media” and click on the “>” next to it to expand it. In this list, you should be able to find the label that corresponds to your Windows hard drive. If you want to scan a certain folder, then you can go further into this hierarchy and select that folder. However, we will scan the entire hard drive, so we’ll just press OK. Click on Start scan and avast! will start scanning your hard drive. If a virus is found, you’ll be prompted to select an action. If you know that the file is a virus, then you can Delete it, but there is the possibility of false positives, so you can also choose Move to chest to quarantine it. When avast! is done scanning, it will summarize what it found on your hard drive. You can take different actions on those files at this time by right-clicking on them and selecting the appropriate action. When you’re done, click Close. Your Windows PC is now free of viruses, in the eyes of avast!. Reboot your computer and with any luck it will now boot up! Alternatives to avast! If avast! and a liberal amount of Googling doesn’t fix your problem, it’s possible that a different virus scanner will fix your obscure issue. Here are a list of other virus scanners available for Ubuntu that are either free or offer free trials. See their support forums for help on installing these virus scanners. Avira AntiVir Personal for Linux / Solaris Panda Antivirus for Linux Installation and usage guide from Ubuntu F-PROT Antivirus for Linux ClamAV installation and usage guide from Ubuntu NOD32 Antivirus for Linux Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 Bitdefender Antivirus for Unices Conclusion Running avast! from a Ubuntu Live CD can clean the vast majority of viruses from your Windows PC. This is another reason to always have a Ubuntu Live CD ready just in case something happens to your Windows installation! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Secure Computing: Windows Live OneCareHow To Remove Antivirus Live and Other Rogue/Fake Antivirus MalwareUse the Windows Key for the "Start" Menu in Ubuntu LinuxScan Files for Viruses Before You Download With Dr.WebAsk the Readers: Share Your Tips for Defeating Viruses and Malware TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 The Ultimate Guide For YouTube Lovers Will it Blend? iPad Edition Penolo Lets You Share Sketches On Twitter Visit Woolyss.com for Old School Games, Music and Videos Add a Custom Title in IE using Spybot or Spyware Blaster When You Need to Hail a Taxi in NYC

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• Week in Geek: USDA Chooses Microsoft for Cloud Services Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  This week we learned how to create geeky LED holiday lights with old bottles, dig deeper in Windows Defrag via the command prompt, use Google Chrome’s drag/drop feature to upload files easier, find great gift recommendations by looking through the How-To Geek holiday gift guide, and have fun adding Merry Christmas fonts to our computers. Photo by ntr23. Random Geek Links It has been a busy week, so we have extra news link goodness with information that is good for you to know. USDA making the move to Microsoft The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that it has chosen Microsoft to host things like e-mail, instant messaging, and collaboration through the software giant’s Business Productivity Online Suite. Google says it was cut off from USDA project bid Google is claiming that it was not given a chance to bid on a cloud-computing project for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for which the contract was awarded to rival Microsoft. Apache is being forced into a Java Fork When Oracle rolled over Apache and Google’s objections to its Java plans in December, the scene was set for Apache to leave and, eventually, force a Java code fork. Tumblr explains daylong outage After experiencing an outage that started on Sunday afternoon and stretched through most of the day yesterday, Tumblr has explained what happened. Google demos Chrome OS, launches pilot program During a press briefing this week in San Francisco, Google launched the Chrome application store and demonstrated Chrome OS, its browser-centric netbook operating system. Don’t expect Spotify in U.S. this holiday season As of last week, Spotify had yet to sign a single licensing deal with a major label, after spending more than a year negotiating, multiple music sources told CNET. December 2010 Patch Tuesday will come with most bulletins ever According to the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft will issue 17 Security Bulletins addressing 40 vulnerabilities on Tuesday, December 14. It will also host a webcast to address customer questions the following day. Hacker plants back door in Symbian firmware Indian hacker Atul Alex has had a look at the firmware for Symbian S60 smartphones and come up with a back door for it. PC quarantines raise tough complexities The concept of quarantining PCs to prevent widespread infection is “interesting, but difficult to implement, with far too many problems”, said security experts. Symantec: DDoS attacks hard to defend It has surfaced that the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on Visa and MasterCard Web sites on Wednesday were carried out by a toolkit known as low orbit ion cannon (LOIC). Web Sockets and the risks of unfinished standards Enthusiasm for a promising new standard called Web Sockets has quickly cooled in some quarters as a potential security problem led some browser makers to hastily postpone support. Internet Explorer 9 to get tracking protection Microsoft is making changes to Internet Explorer 9’s security features that will better enable users to keep sites from tracking their activity across browsing sessions. NASA sold PCs with sensitive data NASA failed to remove sensitive data from computers that it sold, according to an audit report released this week. Cybercrooks create fake Amazon receipts The bad guys have created yet another online scam, this one involving fake Amazon receipts. World of Warcraft character move fees waived Until December 22, Blizzard will allow free realm transfers from 25 highly populated servers to alleviate log-in queues or performance issues. (The free transfers are one-way and one-time only.) SpaceX Dragon reaches orbit atop a Falcon with a fiery tail The Space Exploration Technologies corporation has become the first nongovernmental entity to put a vehicle into low Earth orbit. Geek Video of the Week If birds have wings, then why are the Angry Birds using slingshots? Photo by Dorkly Bits. Wait… Birds have Wings, Why are the Angry Ones Using Slingshots? Sysadmin Geek Tips How To Setup Email Alerts on Linux Using Gmail or SMTP Linux machines may require administrative intervention in countless ways, but without manually logging into them how would you know about it? Here’s how to setup emails to get notified when your machines want some tender love and attention. Random TinyHacker Links Red Panda Webcam Support Firefox and the Knoxville Zoo’s Red Panda program. Christmas Icons (Icons we like) Superb set of holiday icons by lgp85 at deviantArt. Download the .zip and use as .png or convert to .ico at Convertico.com or with tiny app Imagicon. Super User Questions Enjoy reading the great answers to this week’s popular questions from Super User Useful USB boot disks? DVD/CD burning .zip: is it more reliable, faster, longer lasting to burn a zip of files rather than the files as a folder? What are other ways to backup my files if I do not have an external drive? Anti virus what is the difference between these all? How can I block all Facebook elements/content? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Have you had a busy week between work and preparing for the holidays? Get caught up on your HTG reading with our hottest articles of the week. 20 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? How to Use and Customize Google Chrome Web Apps One Year Ago on How-To Geek This week’s batch of retro geeky goodness is all about customizing Windows 7. ClassicShell Adds Classic Start Menu and Explorer Features to Windows 7 Get an Aero-Styled Classic Start Menu in Windows 7 Customize the Windows 7 Logon Screen Get the Classic Style Network Activity Indicator Back in Windows 7 How To Enable Check Boxes for Items In Windows 7 The Geek Note We would like you to join us in welcoming Jason Fitzpatrick to the writing staff here at How-To Geek. He started with us this past week, so take some time to read through his articles about the Wii, Kindle, & PlayStation 2 Peripherals and leave a friendly comment to say “Hi”! Got a great tip to share? Make sure to send it in to us at [email protected]. Photo by real00. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Settle into Orbit with the Voyage Theme for Chrome and Iron Awesome Safari Compass Icons Set Escape from the Exploding Planet Wallpaper Move Your Tumblr Blog to WordPress Pytask is an Easy to Use To-Do List Manager for Your Ubuntu System Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox

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• Our Look at the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview

  - by Asian Angel

  Have you been hearing all about Microsoft’s work on Internet Explorer 9 and are curious about it? If you are wanting a taste of the upcoming release then join us as we take a look at the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. Note: Windows Vista and Server 2008 users may need to install a Platform Update (see link at bottom for more information). Getting Started If you are curious about the systems that the platform preview will operate on here is an excerpt from the FAQ page (link provided below). There are two important points of interest here: The platform preview does not replace your regular Internet Explorer installation The platform preview (and the final version of Internet Explorer 9) will not work on Windows XP There really is not a lot to the install process…basically all that you will have to deal with is the “EULA Window” and the “Install Finished Window”. Note: The platform preview will install to a “Program Files Folder” named “Internet Explorer Platform Preview”. Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview in Action When you start the platform preview up for the first time you will be presented with the Internet Explorer 9 Test Drive homepage. Do not be surprised that there is not a lot to the UI at this time…but you can get a good idea of how Internet Explorer will act. Note: You will not be able to alter the “Homepage” for the platform preview. Of the four menus available there are two that will be of interest to most people…the “Page & Debug Menus”. If you go to navigate to a new webpage you will need to go through the “Page Menu” unless you have installed the Address Bar Mini-Tool (shown below). Want to see what a webpage will look like in an older version of Internet Explorer? Then choose your version in the “Debug Menu”. We did find it humorous that IE6 was excluded from the choices offered. Here is what the URL entry window looks like if you are using the “Page Menu” to navigate between websites. Here is the main page of the site here displayed in “IE9 Mode”…looking good. Here is the main page viewed in “Forced IE5 Document Mode”. There were some minor differences (colors, sidebar, etc.) in how the main page displayed in comparison to “IE9 Mode”. Being able to switch between modes makes for an interesting experience… As you can see there is not much to the “Context Menu” at the moment. Notice the slightly altered icon for the platform preview… “Add” an Address Bar of Sorts If you would like to use a “make-shift” Address Bar with the platform preview you can set up the portable file (IE9browser.exe) for the Internet Explorer 9 Test Platform Addressbar Mini-Tool. Just place it in an appropriate folder, create a shortcut for it, and it will be ready to go. Here is a close look at the left side of the Address Bar Mini-Tool. You can try to access “IE Favorites” but may have sporadic results like those we experienced during our tests. Note: The Address Bar Mini-Tool will not line up perfectly with the platform preview but still makes a nice addition. And a close look at the right side of the Address Bar Mini-Tool. In order to completely shut down the Address Bar Mini-Tool you will need to click on “Close”. Each time that you enter an address into the Address Bar Mini-Tool it will open a new window/instance of the platform preview. Note: During our tests we noticed that clicking on “Home” in the “Page Menu” opened the previously viewed website but once we closed and restarted the platform preview the test drive website was the starting/home page again. Even if the platform preview is not running the Address Bar Mini-Tool can still run as shown here. Note: You will not be able to move the Address Bar Mini-Tool from its’ locked-in position at the top of the screen. Now for some fun. With just the Address Bar Mini-Tool open you can enter an address and cause the platform preview to open. Here is our example from above now open in the platform preview…good to go. Conclusion During our tests we did experience the occasional crash but overall we were pleased with the platform preview’s performance. The platform preview handled rather well and definitely seemed much quicker than Internet Explorer 8 on our test system (a definite bonus!). If you are an early adopter then this could certainly get you in the mood for the upcoming beta releases! Links Download the Internet Explorer 9 Preview Platform Download the Internet Explorer 9 Test Platform Addressbar Mini-Tool Information about Platform Update for Windows Vista & Server 2008 View the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview FAQ Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Mysticgeek Blog: A Look at Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 on Windows XPMake Ctrl+Tab in Internet Explorer 7 Use Most Recent OrderRemove ISP Text or Corporate Branding from Internet Explorer Title BarWhy Can’t I Turn the Details/Preview Panes On or Off in Windows Vista Explorer?Prevent Firefox or Internet Explorer from Printing the URL on Every Page TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Awesome Lyrics Finder for Winamp & Windows Media Player Download Videos from Hulu Pixels invade Manhattan Convert PDF files to ePub to read on your iPad Hide Your Confidential Files Inside Images Get Wildlife Photography Tips at BBC’s PhotoMasterClasses

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• Blending the Sketchflow Action

  - by GeekAgilistMercenary

  Started a new Sketchflow Prototype in Expression Blend recently and documented each of the steps.  This blog entry covers some of those steps, which are the basic elements of any prototype.  I will have more information regarding design, prototype creation, and the process of the initial phases for development in the future.  For now, I hope you enjoy this short walk through.  Also, be sure to check out my last quick entry on Sketchflow. I started off with a Sketchflow Project, just like I did in my previous entry (more specifics in that entry about how to manipulate and build out the Sketchflow Map). Once I created the project I setup the following Sketchflow Map. The CoreNavigation is a ComponentScreen setup solely for the page navigation at the top of the screen.  The XAML markup in case you want to create a Component Screen with the same design is included below. <UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" xmlns:i="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity" xmlns:pb="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Expression.Prototyping.Behavior;assembly=Microsoft.Expression.Prototyping.Interactivity" x:Class="RapidPrototypeSketchScreens.CoreNavigation" d:DesignWidth="624" d:DesignHeight="49" Height="49" Width="624">   <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"> <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Margin="307,3,0,0" Style="{StaticResource TitleCenter-Sketch}" Text="Aütøchart Scorecards" TextWrapping="Wrap"> <i:Interaction.Triggers> <i:EventTrigger EventName="MouseLeftButtonDown"> <pb:NavigateToScreenAction TargetScreen="RapidPrototypeSketchScreens.Screen_1"/> </i:EventTrigger> </i:Interaction.Triggers> </TextBlock> <Button HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="164,8,0,11" Style="{StaticResource Button-Sketch}" Width="144" Content="Scorecard"> <i:Interaction.Triggers> <i:EventTrigger EventName="Click"> <pb:NavigateToScreenAction TargetScreen="RapidPrototypeSketchScreens.Screen_1_2"/> </i:EventTrigger> </i:Interaction.Triggers> </Button> <Button HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="8,8,0,11" Style="{StaticResource Button-Sketch}" Width="152" Content="Standard Reports"> <i:Interaction.Triggers> <i:EventTrigger EventName="Click"> <pb:NavigateToScreenAction TargetScreen="RapidPrototypeSketchScreens.Screen_1_1"/> </i:EventTrigger> </i:Interaction.Triggers> </Button> </Grid> </UserControl> Now that the CoreNavigation Component Screen is done I built out each of the others.  In each of those screens I included the CoreNavigation Screen (all those little green lines in the image) as the top navigation.  In order to do that, as I created each of the pages I would hover over the CoreNavigation Object in the Sketchflow Map.  When the utilities drawer (the small menu that pops down under a node when you hover over it) shows click on the third little icon and drag it onto the page node you want a navigation screen on. Once I created all the screens I setup the navigation by opening up each screen and right clicking on the objects that needed to point to somewhere else in the prototype. Once I was done with the main page, my Home Navigation Page, it looked something like this in the Expression Blend Designer. I fleshed out each of the additional screens.  Once I was done I wanted to try out the deployment package.  The way to deploy a Sketchflow Prototype is to merely click on File –> Package SketchFlow Project and a prompt will appear.  In the prompt enter what you want the package to be called. I like to see the files generated afterwards too, so I checked the box to see that.  When Expression Blend is done generating everything you’ll have a directory like the one shown below, with all the needed files for deployment. Now these files can be copied or moved to any location for viewing.  One can even copy them (such as via FTP) to a server location to share with others.  Once they are deployed and you run the "TestPage.html" the other features of the Sketchflow Package are available. In the image below I have tagged a few sections to show the Sketchflow Player Features.  To the top left is the navigation, which provides a clearly defined area of movement in a list.  To the center right is the actual prototype application.  I have placed lists of things and made edits.  On the left hand side is the highlight feature, which is available in the Feedback section of the lower left.  On the right hand list I underlined the Autochart with an orange marker, and marked out two list items with a red marker. In the lower left hand side in the Feedback section is also an area to type in your feedback.  This can be useful for time based feedback, when you post this somewhere and want people to provide subsequent follow up feedback. Overall lots of great features, that enable some fairly rapid prototyping with customers.  Once one is familiar with the steps and parts of this Sketchflow Prototype Capabilities it is easy to step through an application without even stopping.  It really is that easy.  So get hold of Expression Blend 3 and get ramped up on Sketchflow, it will pay off in the design phases to do so! Original Entry

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• How to Animate Text and Objects in PowerPoint 2010

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Are you looking for an eye catching way to keep your audience interested in your PowerPoint presentations? Today we’ll take a look at how to add animation effects to objects in PowerPoint 2010. Select the object you wish to animate and then click the More button in the Animation group of the Animation tab.   Animations are grouped into four categories. Entrance effects, Exit effects, Emphasis effects, and Motion Paths. You can get a Live Preview of how the animation will look by hovering your mouse over an animation effect.   When you select a Motion Path, your object will move along the dashed path line as shown on the screen. (This path is not displayed in the final output) Certain aspects of the Motion Path effects are editable. When you apply a Motion Path animation to an object, you can select the path and drag the end to change the length or size of the path. The green marker along the motion path marks the beginning of the  path and the red marks the end. The effects can be rotated by clicking and the bar near the center of the effect.   You can display additional effects by choosing one of the options at the bottom. This will pop up a Change Effect window. If you have Preview Effect checked at the lower left you can preview the effects by single clicking.   Apply Multiple Animations to an Object Select the object and then click the Add Animation button to display the animation effects. Just as we did with the first effect, you can hover over to get a live preview. Click to apply the effect. The animation effects will happen in the order they are applied. Animation Pane You can view a list of the animations applied to a slide by opening the Animation Pane. Select the Animation Pane button from the Advanced Animation group to display the Animation Pane on the right. You’ll see that each animation effect in the animation pane has an assigned number to the left.    Timing Animation Effects You can change when your animation starts to play. By default it is On Click. To change it, select the effect in the Animation Pane and then choose one of the options from the Start dropdown list. With Previous starts at the same time as the previous animation and After Previous starts after the last animation. You can also edit the duration that the animations plays and also set a delay.   You can change the order in which the animation effects are applied by selecting the effect in the animation pane and clicking Move Earlier or Move Later from the Timing group on the Animation tab. Effect Options If the Effect Options button is available when your animation is selected, then that particular animation has some additional effect settings that can be configured. You can access the Effect Option by right-clicking on the the animation in the Animation Pane, or by selecting Effect Options on the ribbon.   The available options will vary by effect and not all animation effects will have Effect Options settings. In the example below, you can change the amount of spinning and whether the object will spin clockwise or counterclockwise.   Under Enhancements, you can add sound effects to your animation. When you’re finished click OK.   Animating Text Animating Text works the same as animating an object. Simply select your text box and choose an animation. Text does have some different Effect Options. By selecting a sequence, you decide whether the text appears as one object, all at once, or by paragraph. As is the case with objects, there will be different available Effect Options depending on the animation you choose. Some animations, such as the Fly In animation, will have directional options.   Testing Your Animations Click on the Preview button at any time to test how your animations look. You can also select the Play button on the Animation Pane. Conclusion Animation effects are a great way to focus audience attention on important points and hold viewers interest in your PowerPoint presentations. Another cool way to spice up your PPT 2010 presentations is to add video from the web. What tips do you guys have for making your PowerPoint presentations more interesting? 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