Archive for June, 2009

Google releases an extremely Alpha version of Chrome for Mac and Linux.

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Yah I know.  They released it yesterday.  It sucks to be so behind the curve.  But I cannot restrain my joy and I have to shout it out to the world.

Google Chrome for Mac!

Phew, I feel better now.

What is so great about Google Chrome?  It is simple… speed, speed and more speed.

Autodesk Network License Manager (FlexLM) and Windows Server 2008

Friday, June 5th, 2009

We ran into a situation today where we upgraded a server from Windows Server 2003 R2 to Windows Server 2008.  We thought we had covered all the bases, but we had to jump through a few hoops to get the Autodesk Network License manager to work. 

First, a disclaimer.  Autodesk does not support Windows Server 2008 with ANY version of the license manager.  However, we were able to get version 11.5 to load. 

  1. Version 10.4 of the license manager will not load at all in Server 2008.  We upgraded to 11.5 to get past that problem.
  2. On the Autocad install DVD the installation package for FlexLM is named NLM.msi.  If you need to install on a remote server you only need to copy this file across the WAN.
  3. Copy all the settings from your old installation into notepad and copy the files off to a backup directory.  You do not want to mess up and delete your license file.
  4. Remove the old version via “Programs and Features” in Control Panel.  In case you didn’t know, Microsoft has renamed the old reliable “Add/Remove Programs”.
  5.  We moved from a 32 bit (x86) version of FlexLM to the 64 bit (x64) version of FlexLM.  This messed up the path in LMTools because the directory names changed from “c:\program files (x86)\” to just “c:\program files\” .  You have to change the path to the lmgrd.exe executable.  That path was automatically imported from the old installation.

Text message “Sooper Credit Union Alert” Scam

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Yet another one that one of our clients received the other day.  This was on their Verizon phone.  We confirmed that it happened to another Verizon customer as well.

From:  MsgID5_YW6WAWUF@v.w

Sooper Credit Union Alert:

  Your CARD has been DEACTIVATED.  Please contact us at 303-482-2272 to REACTIVATE your CARD.

How to run an elevated command prompt in Windows 7 (with pictures!)

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Windows 7 (and Vista) have changed the way that the old command line window works.  You no longer have ultimate unlimited power when you click the command line prompt in the start menu.

command-prompt-menu-snip

Try something fancy and you will get the dreaded “The requested operation requires elevation.”  Elevation?  Wait a second, we are in Colorado, is that not elevated enough?  Apparently not.

operation-requires-elevation

Now it gets fun.  You can either 1) right click command prompt and choose “run as administrator” or 2) you can use a keyboard shortcut.

Right click method:

command-prompt-right-click

Keyboard Shortcut method:

command-prompt-keyboard-shortcut

Type cmd.exe into the search/run box in your windows menu and then press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER.  Wow, that’s easy to remember, right?

Jury Duty Scam

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

We just got a report from one of our clients that the old Jury Duty scam (around since 2001) is back on the rise.  In this particular scam you get a call from a person claiming to work for the courts who is outraged that you did not show up for your scheduled jury duty.

This is the proper time to hang up.  If you stay on the phone the scammer will start asking for your phone number, social, address, etc so they can “verify your information”.  Next thing you know you are being taken to the cleaners by a bunch of crooks.

For more details see the article on Snopes.com.

Windows Server 2008 R2 to be released October 22, 2009

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Microsoft let slip today that the R2 release of their Server 2008 operating system is set to be release in concert with Windows 7 on October 22nd of this year.

Original Article at Computer World

The big highlight for me is the inclusion of read only replication groups in DFS-R. We use DFS-R as an easy method for copying project files from remote sites to a central location for consolidated tape backups.  Making those replication groups read-only would provide an extra layer of security to ensure that the central site cannot make a fat fingered mistake that modifies the remote site’s files (trust me, this can happen).

Trouble with Wordpress 2.7.1 not linking to images in the Media Library

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

I use Wordpress 2.7.1 for this blog.  Earlier today I ran into an issue where the image would upload to the Wordpress Media Library, but the link that Wordpress created to the image would not work in the post.

Several other posts I found on the internet mentioned editing some settings in the miscellaneous screen under the site administration settings.  Miscellaneous?  What miscellaneous?

Where is my missing miscellaneous?

Where is my missing miscellaneous?

I went into the wp-admin directory on my wordpress server and found that I did indeed have an options-misc.php page.  I typed that into my browser’s address bar and hoped for the best.  Sure enough it pulled up the settings page for configuring the image URL location on my Wordpress installation.

I noticed that the setting for “Full URL path to files” was incorrect. I tried blanking the entry (the recommended setting), but that did not work.  I then noticed that my Wordpress installation had added the full URL of my website into the directory structure for the wp-update directory.  I added that extra bit to the end of the image path…

Wordpress miscellaneous settings with corrected full URL path.

Wordpress miscellaneous settings with corrected full URL path.

and presto, I had images.

If anyone has a suggestion for getting the miscellaneous option to appear in my admin menu, please let me know.

Fingerprint reader not working in Windows 7 RC

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

I have an HP Pavilion tx2000 laptop/tablet running the x64 bit version of Windows 7 RC, Build 7100.  The TrueSuite.FPR application would crash every time I tried to register a finger using the Control Panel fingerprint application.

 

Image with the fingerprint reader section of the windows control panel highlighted.

I did a bit of research and found this solution on the Microsoft Technet forums:

     “Try to run “regsvr32.exe “C:Program FilesWIN7TSWBFLibrary.dll”‘ from elevated command prompt.

     It seems that COM-object from this library is not registered in installation process.”

The author (thank you imLex) was absolutely correct and the fix worked perfectly.  It didn’t even require a reboot.