TIPS & TRICKS: DVD Shrink Burning Error Message (Bourne Supremacy)

forum.digital-digest.com: Burning Error message...

I was working on backing up a DVD (Bourne Supremacy) and kept running into a problem with DVD Shrink. I did my usual poking around and found this solution that seems to have worked (it's still encoding).

I've visited this site before and have found some helpful answers to some of my questions. Here's the useful exerpt:

"Ok here is the deal on how to get the The Bourne Supremacy backed up. Once you have picked what you want on your back up you will get a pop up box or menu. Choose the tab quality settings. At the bottom of that menu choose DVD Shrink 3.2 quality enhancements. Click on compress video with adaptive error compensation and your problem is solved. Note this process takes a while to complete so you might want to do this when you go to sleep at night or while you are at work. Once completed you will have complete back up with all menu's."

UPDATE: Here's more info from that website that may save even more time:

"use and older version of dvd shrink (dvd shrink 3.1). that running man will run for about 2 min. but it will backup the entire disc. or use dvd2one."

TIPS & TRICKS: Microsoft "Genuine Advantage" Cracked

boingboing.net: Microsoft "Genuine Advantage" cracked in 24h

I am not condoning the use of illegal software. Since I haven't tested all versions of Windows (i.e. Retail, Education, VL, etc.), I would venture to guess that there will be people who will still run into problems even if they have a legitimate version of Windows. This is aimed at those people so that they can still get fully patched (Microsoft said that Security updates will still remain freely available) with all critical patches besides just the Security updates.

Here's the meat:

"Before pressing 'Custom' or 'Express' buttons paste this text to the address bar and press enter:

javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

It turns off the trigger for the key check."

Thinking on a grander scale, I would also imagine that if there weren't some level of piracy, I don't think Windows would have the acceptance it does now. Again, I don't condone piracy, but sometimes you have to wonder, if Windows was completely locked down from day one, what OS you and I would be using on our computers right now?

UPDATE (8/23/2005): I just had an opportunity to try this hack and it seems to not work. However, it was after several failed attempts, so I don't know if something was written to registry to not allow the hack to work.

TIPS & TRICKS: "Acquiring Network Address"

NOTE: Modifying the registry, improperly, may cause your computer to crash, not boot, or otherwise malfunction. Take the following steps at your own risk. If you must do it, remember to backup, backup, and backup.

Symptoms:

* Constantly trying to acquire network address
* Never receiving an IP address
* Worked before
* Here's the clincher: Just uninstalled Norton Anti-Virus

Solution:

* Run 'regedit' and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Dhcp
* Edit the entry 'DependOnService'
* Remove the line that contains 'SYMTDI'
* Reboot

Analysis:

Norton AV wasn't completely removed. The service didn't get removed properly with the uninstall because it was still active. Therefore, after rebooting, the DHCP Client refused to start without the Norton AV service that no longer worked properly.

This has been verified for Windows XP Home Edition SP2, running Norton AV 2002.

These following steps may or may not help:

Reload TCP/IP in WinXP with this command: netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
Reload Winsock services with this command: netsh winsock reset

TIPS & TRICKS: Customize the Start Menu Button

Annoyances.org - Customize the Start Menu Button

If you've ever wondered how to customize that little Start button in Windows, here you go. Be forewarned. This is not for the basic user. Kids don't try this at home...

TIPS & TRICKS: How can I force GPO updates to take effect?

windowsitpro.com: How can I force GPO updates to take effect?

This is a more of a tip for things that I do on a regular basis. But feel free to use it as you need it. Here's the steps in a nutshell, without clicking to the website:

Policies are refreshed every 90 minutes (5 on DC's). To force a machine to update the policy use the SECEDIT command.

To update the computer policy type

C:\> secedit /refreshpolicy machine_policy

To update the user policy type

C:\> secedit /refreshpolicy user_policy

Adding /enforce to any of the above forces a reapply of the security policy even if there is no GPO change.

UPDATE: You'll find that running secedit on WinXP will tell you that the new and improved command replacement is gpupdate. In fact, if you don't mind that all Group Policies get updated in the process, run gpupdate by itself and the machine and user will refresh all the associated policies.

TIPS & TRICKS: Typing Spanish Accented Characters

bowdoin.edu: Typing Spanish Accented Characters

I was just typing my Away Message in AIM and realized that I needed an "é" for the word "resumés". I know that both Windows and OS X have international keyboards built-in and I could have just as easily enabled the feature to be able to type the "é". However, I decided that I just wanted something fast that worked on any computer. Thus, I decided to find what's called ASCII code for the particular character. The webpage shows this code and how to use it (ALT+0233). It probably took me longer to find it than to install the international keyboard. But, I now know the ASCII code to use on any computer (with a numeric keypad) without having to install the international keyboard. Hopefully, this will help someone else save some time too.

Update: I forgot to mention that on a Mac, at least on OS X, all you need to do is hold the alt-option key down, hit the letter you want (i.e. any character that could be used with an accent mark), let go of the alt-option key and type the letter again. Also try typing any other key with the alt-option key held down, you'll get a plethora of special characters.

Updated 4/8/2006:
Ever seen this character?: Þ

I use this one quite a bit: •

There's a whole bunch of characters that many people don't use on a regular basis, that may come in handy. Do a web search for ASCII characters and you'll find a lots of websites that have lists of these special characters. For example, do you ever wonder how to make this letter: é ? There are keystrokes that will yield these special characters. Here's how to get the three I just mentioned:

Þ = ALT-0-2-5-4
• = ALT-0-1-4-9
é = ALT-0-2-3-3

Note: These codes will only work on a keyboard using the numerical 10 keypad on the right. They may also work on a laptop if the laptop keyboard has keys that double as a number pad if the numlock is enabled.