Category Archives: Windows

What Happened to the Propagation of Dates in Project?

Applications, Windows

I had a user who was suddenly unable to interact with a Microsoft Project file and expect the reliant dates and times to change according to parent changes.  In other words, there were project dates (or times) which relied upon previous dates (or times) within the project file.  (The project start date is a good example of a potentially relied-upon date.)

We started small but by the end had taken pretty extreme measures to correct the matter.  Since I don’t use Project I am somewhat reliant upon the users who do to help me understand how their application is supposed to function.

First I ran a Repair using the Project installer.  That completed successfully but made no difference in the user’s ability to propagate dates through the project.

Then I tried removing and re-installing Project.  This also did nothing.

Finally I pulled out the big guns and used Revo Uninstaller to completely gut-out Project (Advanced mode; removed all Registry entries; removed all related files).  Since Project is remarkably intermangled with Office and Visio, I gutted those as well.

I made sure the machine and all its applications were all up to date, and reinstalled Office (then service pack one), Visio, and Project.  Again, I ran all available updates.

And fuck me with a cactus if it didn’t have exactly the same effect: nada.

Damn it.

We had a quick drink and contemplated the problem.

No other user seemed to be effected.  This user could move to a common machine and there could make said changes propagate.  It has to be this user; it has to be this machine.

Turns out there is a setting which allows you to disable what’s called Auto Scheduling.  Once Auto Scheduling was re-enabled (as it is by default) the propagations started working as expected.

You can read the Microsoft knowledge base article here (KB 312379).  That should help anyone else solve the problem, and hopefully my colorful description will help you find this solution through your favorite search provider.

Have fun with that.

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Create a New OU with ADManager

WebApps, Windows

Our helpdesk uses ADManager as a tool for making Active Directory changes.  Though it is slower than accessing AD directly, it’s a pretty robust tool and it’s reasonably intuitive in most cases.  However, I needed to create a new Organizational Unit in AD and simply poking around didn’t turn up the solution.

Well, that’s because this particular step is decidedly unintuitive.

For your edification (and my memory) I present here the easy steps to accomplish this mild feat.

  1. Drop back to the ADManager dashboard by clicking the ADMgmt tab near the top of the page.
  2. Click on the “Create Single User” link (under “User Creation”).
  3. Near the bottom you will see a field for “Container:”; to its right click the “[Change]” link.
  4. Select your preferred parent OU in the main section, then click on the “Create New OU” link (near the top and to the right of the “Selected Container:” field).
  5. Enter the “Name:” in the small pop-up dialog.
  6. Then it’s the Create and Ok buttons to get that done.
  7. You can leave the unused Create Single User page as it was just a patsy.

Finis!

Hope that helps you.

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Undelay Typing in Office 2013

Applications, Windows

My team at work has been using Office 2013 for some time now.  We’re vetting it for use company-wide I guess.  I’ve already written about how ugly it is here, but now I’d like to write about a more pressing concern.  They have instituted a typing delay which, though slight, has been driving me absolutely nuts.

I touch type and I’ve been doing a long time and am thus pretty fast.  For a slower typist or a pecking typist this delay is likely not noticeable.  But for folks like me it’s intolerable.

I have found this article which discusses the solution.  It, as you may have guessed, requires a registry hack.  That being said, proceed at your own caution.

They provide both registry keys for download or the manual method for making the necessary change.

Finally: liberation.

 

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Oh, My Darling! Musica!

Applications, Mac, Ubuntu, Windows

Well, Clementine has been around for a little while by now.  It’s based on an earlier version of Amarok and it’s available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.  Since I advocate for Ubuntu I’ll give you the short version of how to install it for Ubuntu.  (Unless stated otherwise my instructions should function for all three platforms.)

For Mac and Windows users, head on over and download Clementine.

Ok, Ubunters, grab your terminal because you’ll enter a couple of commands to make this quick and painless installation.  (This works for at least 10.04 through 16.04.  Older versions use apt-get in place of apt which is used now.)

(As of 14.04 Clementine is included the repositories and you needn’t add David’s repository.  Thus you may skip the first command below.  However, if you want the most current version do  add the repository since the version in the standard repositories can be slightly stale.  The current standard version will not support the mobile remote control application as an example.  I add the respository below.)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:me-davidsansome/clementine
sudo apt update
sudo apt install clementine

Once this repository is added and running, you’ll get your updates through your usual updates channel so this is my preferred method.  (The repository currently throws errors in 13.04 beta but they can be ignored. This has been fixed.)

It has a fairly comprehensive Preferences dialog so feel free to poke around in there, see what’s what, and try some of the features.

I don’t use Internet music sources, but it supports a good host of them for those of you who do (from Spotify to Last.FM and all points hither and yon).

This is also a great way to get simultaneous FLAC and library support on the Mac and on Windows.  (You can get limited FLAC support in iTunes on the Mac but it’s a bit of a pain in the ass.  Here is that article.  And you can get a FLAC plugin for Windows Media Player but why bother?)

One quirk with Clementine (and also previously with Amarok) is that it’s not obvious how to just play from all of your music.

Firstly, you open it and you have no content.  You’ll have to navigate to Tools —> Preferences —> General —> Music Library and click the “Add new folder…” button to add a folder location.  I just add my Music folder (and add shortcuts into my Music folder for any additional locations).  This page in Preferences also houses the word list for album cover art.  Separate each word with a comma.

Ok, so it will scan your collection now that you’ve added a folder location (and you can manually force a scan as well).  Once that finishes you will see a column of artists with sub-directories for albums. But how do you play everything?  If you open the Smart Playlists folder at the top you’ll see one called All tracks.  Not complicated but not necessarily obvious.

I use a black background with yellow lettering, and I have Clementine display the album art behind the semi-transparent playlist.  It’s pretty cool looking.  Both of these settings can be found at Tools —> Preferences —> User Interface —> Appearance.

(If your version of Clementine on Ubuntu doesn’t have an Appearance tab—and I think that is limited to 12.04—you can make adjustments using qtconfig after installing the package qt4-qtconfig.  You can install this by issuing the command sudo apt-get install qt4-config.  You can run it from your terminal by typing qtconfig.)

It’s really well integrated into the latest Ubuntu.  Clementine (and Rhythmbox) are located conveniently in the Volume drop-down.  Very clean and very quick to respond (for both of them).

While Clementine is running it will change the color of it’s icon as the song progresses (this may need to be enabled to take effect).

The folks over at OMG!Ubuntu! have many articles covering Clementine for those interested in such things.

There is a lot more that could be said about Clementine but this ought to be enough to get you started.

Have fun with that.

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Notepad++ Backed in Black

Applications, Windows

On my Ubuntu system I use black backgrounds and yellow lettering throughout: applications, dialogs, preference panes, everything.  It’s very easy to read and even easier to acquire.

(I’ll see if I can find an article explaining why this is, but it relates to our yellow sun.  Notice how many flowers are yellow.)

When I use Windows I don’t tend to get so many options (and forget having options once you start using Windows 8).  This being said, some applications do have preferences which would allow one to make up for this system level deficiency.

In Notepad++ (a formidable and free text editor for Windows) you can make these adjustments for yourself.

Under Settings —> Style Configurator (Language: Global Styles; Style: Global Override) you can select a foreground and background color for your color style.  If you’d like to imitate mine you can try these color settings.

Foreground:  Hue 32; Sat 240; Lum 120;Red 255; Green 204; Blue 0

Background:  Hue 160; Sat 0; Lum 0; Red 0; Green 0; Blue 0

That’s it.  Figure out your color preferences and Ok and Save & Close your way out to finish.

Have fun with that.

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Gag Reel? Nope, Office 2013 Is a Gag

Applications, Windows

So I recently wrote this short piece concerning the new fugliness of Office 2013.  Subsequently I’ve been thinking there might be a way to enable Aero and return the windows from the Office Suite back into, you know, normal windows.  In my search I have come across some great gems as others vent their spleens over the fugly-nature of Microsoft’s newest Office faux pas.

Here are two of my favorites from this post:

You start Windows 8…and see all the crazy colors. Wow…there are colors EVERYWHERE….it’s like Teletubbies land. Then, you launch the Excel 2013 app…and all the life is instantly sucked right out of Windows 8. You can feel it in your bones. The Office apps are a barren, Boot Hill-esque, cold wasteland….with grey and white tumbleweeds and gravestones. Then, you go back into Metro…and WHAM…it’s the Skittles rainbow monster voraciously attacking everything in sight. Nom nom nom nom. Big blocks of color coming at you….it’s crazy like…wow man…what a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas trip crazy! You are flying sky high with the bats and stingrays. Life is groovy. You then launch Outlook 2013 and WHAM…there you are…slammed down to the ground…back in Frankenweenie land ready to raise some dead animals or something.

And…

Please…PLEASE…someone tell me there is a way to change the Office 2013 RTM themes beyond just a grey-scale look. All I can see is “White”, “Light Grey”, and “Dark Grey”…which is equivalent to “Stormtrooper White”, Stormtrooper Light Grey”, and “Stormtrooper Dark Grey”. Did the Adams Family design the Office 2013…because everything looks like a flat-styled death theme compared to Office 2010. I’m quite literally getting eye-strain from it. I can see a headache coming on if I try to use this all day.

Feel free to link to other hater-threads in the comments.

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Office 2013 Confirms Aesthetic Paralysis

Applications, Windows

I’ll say it right up front.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Microsoft Office.  I started using Microsoft Works when I was at school the first time.  When I went back to school to finish my degrees I had already spent too much time using Office at various office jobs but still hadn’t discovered Open Office (see my later article here).

Anyway, it’s really popular.  Mostly because Outlook is the only mail client capable of connecting to MAPI and thus the only one to get all those integrated Exchange features.  Not so true any more, but that’s the historical fact.

Now with that out there, I would like to say that as a person who has used Office since ’97 it seems to me that they work hard to frustrate their user-base with each new iteration.

When they introduced the Ribbon (Office 207) I thought “that’s stupid; it’s just more difficult to find things now” and I felt bad for all those old people who rely on Office for their livelihood.  I’m sure those old people are used to the Ribbon by now so it’s probably no big deal.

But now it’s 2013.  Those oh-so-clever cats in Redmond (farm country!) have made the fugliest version of Office EVER.  Seriously, Office 2013 is a huge aesthetic roll-back.  They wiped the lipstick off the pig.

The rounded corners are all square again.  Everything is clunky and looks like it too was designed by Fischer-Price.  Even the Aero features like the so-called glass theme won’t carry into the various Office applications.  (You can read my article discussing the Fischer-Pricing of Windows here.)

In all fairness, you can customize it.  You can add a splash of background.  This background shows up as a tiny bit of art in the upper-right corner of the window.  I have some sea stuff.  I feel like a beach.

You can also choose a bit of color for the window framing (especially cool since the aforementioned glass is gone).  You can choose from between three colors: white, gray, or a slightly darker gray.

[rolls eyes]

Why so ugly?  Did they learn nothing from getting their asses handed to them by Apple and even Google in the devices market?  The Slate looks pretty good.  Why so ugly?!

There you have it.

(For those who are comfortable with mild change, you can try either OpenOffice or OfficeLibre.  Here is an article I wrote about OOo.)

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Give Windows Photo Viewer the Lightbox Look

Applications, Hacks & Slacks, Windows

You may have a different (read: wrong) opinion, but I can’t stand looking at an image surrounding by blinding white monitor; it really detracts from the photograph or drawing (or what have you) I’m supposed to be admiring.  Is this why some folks wear sunglasses indoors?  Maybe.

Not all applications do this (the Mac application Preview uses gray for its background color), but Windows Photo Viewer does.  Usually it’s a blinding white light all around the picture.  Well, if you have a Samsung monitor it might be a dingy yellow light.  Microsoft surely blames that on Samsung, in spite of the fact that it is Microsoft’s software which is choosing the background color.  I digress.

There is great fortune in certain corners of the world of computing and here we have one.  It is possible to select the background color in Windows Photo Viewer.

If you have a Samsung monitor you may want to see this thread if my instructions don’t work for you.  There is a Control Panel item called Color Management and on its All Profiles tab under ICC Profiles, you will want to remove any mention of Samsung.  You should have an item (also under ICC Profiles) called sRGB IEC61966-2.1 which is what you want to use instead.  I had it.  If you don’t you may want to look over that thread to see if there is better advice than merely “add it”.

Now let’s change the background color.  This is done (let’s have some fun!) through the registry editor.  Run regedit (pressing Windows-R will open the run dialog, or you can type regedit into the search field in your Start menu).

Navigate to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER ——> Software ——> Microsoft ——>  Windows Photo Viewer ——> Viewer

Right-click in the right-hand pane and choose New ——> DWORD (32-bit) Value.  This will create a new item which you will call Backgroundcolor and then give a hexadecimal value which corresponds to your preferred background color (black is ff000000 which is really ff followed by the color black and I’m not clear why the ff is needed—don’t shot the messenger).

Depending upon your Backgroundcolor choice you may want to either create or alter your Textcolor key as well.  Follow the same above procedure for creating the key or if it already exists merely double-click it to change the hex number.

(I believe using HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE instead of HKEY_CURRENT_USER will change this for all users, but I have not tested this.)

Have fun with that.

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For net use, Persistence Is Persistent

Shell Games & Scripts, Windows

We’ve been seeing a certain issue arise for random users in the company where I’m doing support currently. It would run something like this. Someone would leave to work from home or on a business trip, they would restart their laptop, and they would lose all of their mapped drives.

Some of the time things of this sort just happen.  It is Windows after all.  Do the same thing twice and get two different results.  That’s not shocking.  But it was forming a pattern.  It was, shall we say, spreading.

I decided it wasn’t an issue each of these machines was having but rather something more systemic.  I asked to look at the login script responsible for mapping drives.  The original script looked something like this:

net time \\[our-dc] /set /yes

net use M: /delete:yes
net use P: /delete:yes
net use S: /delete:yes
net use T: /delete:yes
net use V: /delete:yes

net use M: \\[a-server]\[some-share]
net use P: \\[another-server]\[a-different-share]
net use S: \\[we-have-many-servers]\[and-lots-of-shares]

(We actually have several similar scripts depending on the role of the user, but they were all similar enough to this one. Also, don’t worry about net time which merely calls out a time server. There was a syntax problem there was well, but I corrected it and the syntax you see above is now correct. And, damn it, you are smart enough by now to recognize that the stuff in the [brackets] is for substituting.)

I was suspicious because I typically use the persistent argument and this script was thus lacking. So I did a little research into the matter. It turns out that the persistence flag is itself persistent. This means that if it is set to yes it is yes until something else changes it. As such a script as you see above can fail if something (anything) happens to alter the persistence on a system to no. Once that system is then rebooted, all drive mappings (since they are still set to persistence=no) will vanish silently leaving the user wondering what happened (and calling into technical support to have it corrected).

That’s easy enough to fix. Include persistence.

As you might notice from the script above there are mapped drives being called out for deletion which are not being mapped. I wanted to also capture that in my replacement script. This is what I wrote:

net time \\[our-dc] /set /yes

net use * /delete:yes

net use /persistent:yes
net use M: \\[a-server]\[some-share]
net use P: \\[another-server]\[a-different-share]
net use S: \\[we-have-many-servers]\[and-lots-of-shares]
net use /persistent:no

This version deletes any mapped drives (using the * wildcard). Then it sets persistent to yes and maps three drives. Finally it reverts persistence to no so that any other drives mapped by the system will fall off at reboot (unless they are specifically set to yes). This really covers all the bases and ensures that drive mapping is kept very clean. More importantly it ensures that these mapped drives will always remain persistent regardless of reboots or user locations.

My boss didn’t like the idea that the script would delete all mapped drives and he didn’t like the idea of leaving persistence set to no (in case users wanted to map their own drives persistently). So I altered the script again to satisfy those requirements:

net time \\[our-dc] /set /yes

net use M: /delete:yes
net use P: /delete:yes
net use S: /delete:yes

net use /persistent:yes
net use M: \\[a-server]\[some-share]
net use P: \\[another-server]\[a-different-share]
net use S: \\[we-have-many-servers]\[and-lots-of-shares]

Now you should have enough to write some very fine, proper, and best-practice login scripts. Conversely you could write some notoriously bad scripts which plague users with bizarre behaviors and which flood your help desk with strange calls. Either way, have fun with that.

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Conflict Between Visio and Lingoes

Applications, Windows

Sometimes helping someone fix a problem leads to unexpected discoveries.  I had a client who was experiencing repeated crashes in Visio 2010.  We found numerous articles discussing crashing in Visio 2007 and 2010.  Unfortunately none of these solutions were of any use in our case (for instance, Vista or Win7).

The suggestions range from running Visio as an administrator (we were) to disabling add-ins and macros (none were enabled).  I was considering removing Visio using Revo Uninstaller and reinstalling it afresh.  In the end I didn’t have to do this.

The user was also running an application called Lingoes on this (virtual) machine.  It turns out this combination of applications was causing a conflict.  Once we uninstalled Lingoes from that machine Visio stabilized and crashed no more.

If you are interested in language you may want to take a look at Lingoes.  It seems like a pretty robust translation and dictionary software.  Just don’t expect it to play nicely with Visio.

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