TIPS & TRICKS: OS X Leopard Eject Superdrive Icon

Recently, I found an new icon on my taskbar on my Macbook Pro running OS X 10.5. The icon looks like this:


My first thought was how do I get rid of it? Here's how:

- Hold the alt/option key down.
- Navigate the mouse up to the icon.
- Click/hold the icon and drag it off the bar.

My second thought was how to restore it? Here's how:

- Navigate to System\Library\CoreServices\Menu Extras
- Click/hold the Eject.menu file.
- Drag it up to the upper right-hand portion of the task bar (near the clock).
- Drop it between any of the existing icons (much like adding an icon to the dock).

I'm not quite clear how mine just appeared, but I realized that on certain machines (i.e. desktop Macs with Superdrives that have trays), it can be a useful feature.

RANT: TaxCut & eFiling

It's that time of the year that causes feelings of anxiety and despair. I normally do well around this time. But, this year, I have to document my experience with TaxCut software.

I've used TaxCut the last several years, mostly because I can get MS Money for free. That seems to be going away, as I only found one place that makes that offer now (Staples), which I took advantage of this year.

In using the store-purchased version of TaxCut Premium + State + E-file, my spouse's adjusted gross income (AGI) is rejected as a signature because it doesn't match what the IRS has on file. I've called the IRS and verified that it is the correct one, but the return is still rejected. This leads me to believe that there is a problem with the software and/or the H&R Block servers that process the returns to send off to the IRS. I pay for the convenience to be able to submit everything electronically, yet I'm not able to submit it.

This, along with the inability to get MS Money for free, may cause me to switch to another tax software, or find a tax accountant next year.

TIPS & TRICKS: Install Firefox Extensions for All Users

Looking for a way to install helpful Firefox extensions across all users? Fortunately, Firefox has a command line tool to do just that. I've confirmed this works for Windows XP and Vista. I have not tried it on other OSs.

Here are the steps:

1. Download the extension to your computer (don't do an install from within Firefox).

2. Make note of where the extension is saved (it will be a .xpi file).

3. Start a command window (Windows XP: Start > Run > cmd; Windows Vista: Start > cmd; for Vista, you may need to run the command window as an Administrator).

4. Here's the command to type at the command prompt:
firefox.exe -install-global-extension "path"
(i.e. firefox.exe. -install-global-extension "C:\Temp\extension.xpi")
I found that if it doesn't work, then you may need to navigate to the folder where Firefox is actually installed. Also, note that there is a space between firefox.exe and -install..., but no spaces between the install and the next hypen or global and the following hypen. Finally, the quotes are necessary around the path name.

5. There won't be a prompt of any kind, but you should be able to test it by logging in as different users to see the extension installed.

This link was helpful in my original search for an answer:

http://www.tinsie.net/Recommended/?p=902

TIPS & TRICKS: Lost Sound on a MacBook

Had a student bring her MacBook to me and said that the sound just stopped working. I checked the OS X System Preferences for Sound > Output and found only the Digital Out option available. The built-in audio was missing, which also doesn't allow headphones to work. She was carrying a set of headphones on her.

Here's a list of symptoms I found:

- no sound
- audio controls on keyboard would bring up icon on screen but could not change audio levels
- missing built-in audio in System Preferences > Sound > Output
- red light coming out of the sound jack on the side of the MacBook

Macs have become more advanced. They used to only have analog output and many low-end Windows notebooks only have analog output (you get what you pay for). But, all the Macs now have the ability to convert to accept digital output connections.

In order to move between digital and analog output on the same port, there's a tiny switch in the port that recognizes the plug that is inserted. However, that switch will sometimes get confused and get stuck, which is what happened in this case.

THE FIX:

Something must be inserted into the port to make the switch move back to the desired position, in this case, analog. One way to do it is put the headphones' jack into the port and wiggle it around. This doesn't always work. I've found that a smaller tool in there would work better. I'm not too fond of sticking metal things (i.e. paper clips) into ports, so I used the straw from a can of compressed air. I inserted the straw into sound port and wiggled it around a little as I watched the window in System Preferences > Sound > Output. You should see it change Digital Out to Internal Speakers (Built-in Audio) and the red light, which indicates a digital connection, go off.

Hope this helps someone. Good luck.

By the way, I found this macrumors.com forum posting that had some other folks who experienced the same problem.

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-237405.html

TIPS & TRICKS: Office 2007 installation fix

Here are the preliminary facts:

- Windows XP, including latest updates
- Office 2003, including latest updates

Error messages encountered:

- "Product: Microsoft Office (Version) -- Error 1704. An installation for Microsoft Office (Version) is currently suspended. You must undo the changes made by that installation to continue. Do you want to undo those changes?"
- After clicking Yes and waiting for awhile, this message comes up: "Error 1712.One or more of the files required to restore your computer to its previous state could not be found. Restoration will not be possible."

The real problem here was that the laptop that was running the Office 2007 installer to upgrade Office 2003 and the notebook ran out of juice (wrong power supply was used, which meant that it was running solely off battery). The installation process was interrupted and left in an unusable state. Office was no longer listed in the list for Add/Remove Programs. Running the Office 2007 installation did not recognize that we still wanted to upgrade, which meant that it didn't recognize a usable version of Office on the machine.

The Fix:

This involves a registry hack. As usual, editing the registry incorrectly could cause Windows to function incorrectly. Please make sure to backup your registry settings before making any changes. Ultimately, use these instructions at your own risk.

The registry key is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\InProgress

I deleted the key entirely, rebooted, then ran the Office 2007 installation again. If I had to go back, I would go in and delete all the files related to Office in Program Files and any installation files to create a clean environment for the new Office 2007 installation.

Nevertheless, this worked for me. Hope this helps someone else.

TIPS & TRICKS: Firefox, Bouncing Web Pages

I came across an odd phenomenon today. Everything else on the computer being normal, web pages in Firefox would bounce up and down, much like if I were moving the scroll wheel up and down rapidly. The user came in and said that it started happening when he made adjustments to toolbars. Thus, I went in and adjusted settings for toolbars and found that the built-in Firefox Bookmark Toolbar, at least on that machine, required at least one bookmark in it or it would show the bouncing behavior. The other alternative is to hide the Bookmark Toolbar altogether.

RAVES: Fixit Guide Series - DIY Mac & iPod Repair

Great site for do-it-yourself repairs for Macs. I've used this site quite a few times. The guides they offer are full color, quite descriptive, and easy to follow. Highly recommended.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/

RAVES: Immersive Media Streaming Immersive Demos

At the risk of sounding like a biased Googlite, this is a great "behind-the-scenes" look at the raw recording of Google Maps Street View. Some of the on-board components are merely off-the-shelf pieces. Amazing.

http://demos.immersivemedia.com/fvdemo_1/data/CylindricalFlashPlayerDemoSite/PopularMechanicsNYCDriveAlong/PopularMechanicsNYCDriveAlong.php

TIPS & TRICKS: Optical drives not recognizing in Windows XP

This has been a fix that's been around for some time, but I hadn't documented here until now. The optical drive(s) do not show up in either My Computer or Disk Management. In Device Manager, the drive(s) show up with yellow exclamation points. There is also and error message that says the following: "Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)"

1. Click Start.
2. Click Run.
3. In the "Open" field type REGEDIT.
4. Click OK.
5. Click "File" in the menu bar.
6. Click "Export" from the drop down menu this will open a new box.
7. Click the down arrow beside "Save In" and select "Local Disk (C".
8. In the File Name field type BACKUP.REG.
9. Verify that under the “Export Range”, that the radio button is beside "All".
10. Click Save.
11. Click the plus sign (+) beside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
12. Click the plus sign (+) beside System.
13. Click the plus sign (+) beside CurrentControlSet.
14. Click the plus sign (+) beside Control.
15. Click the plus sign (+) beside Class.
16. In the left hand window pane click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} to select that key.
17. In the right hand window pane select the UpperFilters registry key and press the delete key on the keyboard.
18. Confirm with an OK.
19. In the right hand window pane select the LowerFilters registry key and press the delete key on the keyboard.
20. Confirm with an OK.
21. Click the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the Registry Editor window to close it.

Restart your Computer in order for the registry - fix to work.

RAVES: A First Look at the Google Phone

This looks quite promising for the future of cell phones. With a software platform that works well, we could definitely see "phones" take off with much more user-friendly features than what we have today. Personally, I have found that most multimedia features on today's phones are a bit cumbersome. They work for the most part, but they definitely have a long way to go before they can be considered ready for the masses. This may be the catalyst to get this progress moving in the right direction.

Make sure to take a look at the videos here:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/a-first-look-at-the-google-phone/?ref=technology

RANTS: Techdirt: Verizon Wireless Apparently Still Can't Train Its Sales People In Basic Math

I'm not completely convinced this is a Verizon problem. I vaguely recall that I was taught basic math in grade school. Last time I checked, I'm pretty sure that Verizon wasn't administering grade-school classes. Thank goodness because they might try to sign me up for a long-term contract that I would have to pay to cancel early.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20071114/115632.shtml

RANTS: Bureau warns on tainted discs

This is unbelievable. I'd say that I'm more paranoid that most and I take good precautions to protect myself from those who would do me harm. But, I do recognize that some precautions are unnecessary, until you find out something like this. When will this madness end?

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/11/2003387202

RANTS: Windows Vista Wireless Connection

I came across a Gateway notebook running Windows Vista, which has trouble connecting to some access points (it worked on some but not others). I wish I could say that this was specific to this machine, but it seems to be a widespread Vista problem. There are different theories as to the cause, but the symptoms are the same:

1. Windows shows that the internal wireless card is connected to the wireless network.
2. But, machine doesn't receive and IP address.
3. Instead it gets an autoconfigured address beginning with 169.x.x.x.
4. The machine shows its access as "Local only"

I've tried all kinds of resets, including ARP cache, TCP/IP stack, DNS flush, and IP renew. I've also tried disabling IPv6 and the registry hacks documented by Microsoft here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233

and configuration settings, also documented by Microsoft here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928152

A simple search of Vista wireless problems documents the countless number of people having this issue. The machine does connect with other access points, but the one where I need it to work is failing. How long do we need to wait for a fix?

Update: Just came across a new suggestion: disable IPv6.

TIPS & TRICKS: Frequently Used Programs list is reset to defaults during every logon in Windows Vista

In Windows Vista, when the start menu is clicked, there's a list of programs, which reflect the most recently used programs. I came across a machine that reset this list to a default list. The default list included Welcome Center, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Calendar, and Windows Meeting Space.

I tried clearing it by, first removing all the existing icons manually, then by clearing the list through unchecking the box for "Store and display a list of recently opened programs" for Start Menu Properties. Neither method withstood a restart.

The cause turned out to be an improperly set registry value (thanks a lot Gateway). The registry value is called StartMenuInit. Here are the instructions:

- Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER

- Navigate to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced

- In the right-pane, create a new DWORD value named StartMenuInit

- Double-click StartMenuInit and set 3 its data

- Close Regedit.exe

Hope that helps someone. Good luck.

TIPS & TRICKS: Sophos Stand-Alone Installation Error 3057

In trying to install the Sophos Anti-Virus onto a Windows Vista machine using a stand-alone installer, I ran into an error message towards the end of the installation. An error message popped up that said the following:

Error 3057: There was an unexpected error while attempting to create, repair or delete a user account. Contact your support personnel.

Well, I am the support personnel. Where do I go for help? For once, tech support over the phone actually worked. I called Sophos and they had a fix. It was registry modification, which didn't sit well with me because that usually means it'll affect many users for us. But, that's another problem for another day.

For now, here's the modification:

1. Open Regedit
2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
3. Open Software
4. Check the Permissions for Software to make sure the Administrators group is explicitly listed and has full permissions. There are a few other keys to check for permissions also. They are:
HKLM>Software>Classes
HKLM>Software>Classes>Interface
HKLM>Software>Classes>Interface>TypeLib
HKLM>Software>Sophos
But, the one that needed to modified for me was the first one.
5. Next, open Computer Management
6. Go to Users
7. Delete any entries that start with "SophosSAU..."
8. Finally, reattempt the reinstallation and it should work now.

Update: Found that if the HKLM>Software registry shows the Everyone group with full permissions and nothing else, then the above fix key works. However, if the permissions already shows the Administrators group, then the problem lies elsewhere.

TIPS & TRICKS: More OS X Keyboard Shortcuts

I've mentioned this time and again. I'm a fan of using keyboard if it's faster than reaching for the mouse. OS X has some great shortcuts and here's 2 more.

To be able to select from the available menu items in the application you are using:
CTRL-F2

To be able to select shortcuts in your dock:
CTRL-F3

Enjoy!

2012/01/21 Update: Apparently, these keyboard shortcuts no longer work in Lion (OS X 10.7+). No solutions for a custom mapping, as I'm a fan of native keyboard shortcuts because I'm often on someone else's computer. However, there are ways to customize the keyboard shortcuts by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts.

RANT: Can't select links on Firefox (OS X) with Alt-Tab

Being a Windows user first, I've always loved being able to tab through to all the different links in a web browser. When I hit tab, the selection will highlight each link on the web page. I was also able to discover that alt-tab does the same thing in Safari on Mac OS X.

My gripe is that I can't do this in Firefox on the Mac. Is it that hard to do? I suppose if I had programming skills, I could go and try it myself. But I'm still learning those skills and would love it if this simple feature could already be available, especially when the alt-tab function isn't even used in Firefox.

To be fair, I can see that if it's added on the Mac side, then the Windows side would likely have it too. This would take away Windows ability to switch between applications. Trade-offs I suppose.

TIPS & TRICKS: Microsoft Updates for April 2007

Microsoft, generally, releases their updates to Windows on the second Tuesday of every month. Generally, I don't see many problems. However, after this last round of updates, I've been finding that machines have been slowing down to the point that they are unusable. Another symptom has been an error message with the following message:

svchost.exe - Application Error : The instruction at "0x745f2780" referenced memory at "0x00000070"". The memory could not be "read".

After a bit of research, I've discovered that Microsoft knows about the problem and has a fix for it. Here are the links to their knowledge base articles. The latter is all I needed for my own fixes.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916089
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891

Happy computing.

TIPS & TRICKS: Missing Microsoft Equation Editor in Office 2004

Had a student come in today and report that Microsoft Equation was missing from the Word application. This normally shows up in Word under the Insert > Object menu. I suppose this isn't a frequently occurring problem so I didn't find anything online about how to get it back in. But, rest assured, it's easier than solving a Rubik's Cube for a Cube champion.

As long as you have the original install CD, the file for Equation Editor resides in Microsoft Office 2004 > Office. Just copy the file called Equation Editor to the same location where you have Office 2004 installed on your computer (usually, Macintosh HD > Applications > Microsoft Office 2004 > Office). I even did it with Word open and it worked. I would recommend shutting Word down and the reopening it when done. But that's it.

Good luck.

TIPS & TRICKS: svchost.exe -- application error the instruction at "0x745f2780"

A faculty member went home before the end-of-the-year holiday break with a brand new machine that I installed our software packages on. The machine worked perfectly when it left here. It just came back here today and he reports that the machine receives the following message:

svchost.exe -- application error the instruction at "0x745f2780" reference memory at "0x00000000". the memory could not be 'read'

There was also another message, but this was the pertinent one. As soon as the error message was closed, the machine became unusable. Since it was working just fine before it left my possession, I assumed that he installed something to break the Windows install.

I first tried booting into Safe Mode. It booted with no problems. I then turned off all startup items and booted the machine into normal Windows. Error message still came up. This was going to be a problem with the core OS. Not wanting to waste more time, I searched the web for the error message. The first hit was this [swigartconsulting.blogs.com].

Amazing, that the first hit gave me the solution. Apparently, the problem was corruption in the Windows Update process. The easy solution to try was to turn off Automatic Updates, run Windows Updates (or Microsoft Updates), then turn Automatic Updates back on. There's also a more in-depth fix listed on the website above. However, the easy one worked for me.