Monday, August 15, 2011

Problems renewing then viewing my site

I recently needed to renew my website, hosted by bytehost.com, but was unable to access the client area to do so. I tried two different computers, and two different browsers before finally figuring out the problem. The advice below could be adapted to almost any problematic website.

To "fix" the problem, you can either temporarily disable the HOSTS file, or edit the HOSTS file, which may be blocking the site(s) that you are trying to access...

1. Disable the HOSTS file with "HOSTS Switcher" (http://www.woodenpickle.com/code/hostswitch.html)

and/or

2. Close all browsers, then edit the HOSTS file with "HostsXpert" (http://www.funkytoad.com/) -- first use the option to make the file write-enabled, find and remove all lines with byet.net, byet.org and possibly byet.com (substitute your own site), then make the file write-protected (read-only) again.

After I finally renewed my site, however, I found I was unable to view it!

These are the steps to do if this happens to you...

Do the following on all computers:

1. Clear your browsers' cache and cookies...

Firefox:

  • Options > Advanced > Network > Clear Now
  • Options > Privacy > Show Cookies > delete all, or as needed

Chrome:

  • Options > Under the Hood > Clear browsing data

Internet Explorer:

  • From the Safety menu in the upper right, click Delete Browsing History... .
  • Deselect Preserve Favorites website data, and select Temporary Internet files, Cookies, and History.
  • Click Delete.

2. Close all browsers.

3. Flush your DNS cache on all computers (for help: http://www.wikihow.com/Flush-DNS), or issue these commands (Win XP can just use the 2nd one):

  • Win+R
  • cmd
  • ipconfig /flushdns

4. Reboot or Restart your Network Router and/or Modem (if you have both restart the modem first, then the router)

5. Restart your computers.

Then try your domain again. It should now work.

Posted by Tom at 10:40 PM
Edited on: Monday, August 15, 2011 11:00 PM
Categories: Articles, Recommended freeware, Tips, Tricks, Tweaks

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Site code updates

It's been quite a while since I've had the chance to update this site, or to post any new articles. I have, however, posted a few (mostly shorter) articles at the SWLAPCUG site, as well as acting as one of the SWLAPCUG site admins, so be sure to check that out.

I finally got around to tweaking a bit of code for this site today. One of the things that had bothered me is that the code I used to display the current time on the home page did not automatically update to accomodate Daylight Savings Time, so twice a year (if and when I remembered), I had to manually change a line of code and repost the front page. Well, I found a nice bit of code at http://www.designerwiz.com/JavaScripts/digital_clock.htm that was "set it and forget it". I tweaked the colors and font attributes to better fit my site, and I like the result.

The other change was to add a few links to the right-side menu, including:

Hopefully, I will post some new articles soon.

Posted by Tom at 8:03 PM
Categories: Mr. Fix-It's Services

Monday, November 15, 2010

File Association Fixes for Windows 7

I had a problem a while back with the Windows 7 file association for .cmd and .bat files, after I had set my default text editor (PSPad) to open those files for editing, while working on scripts (batch files) to automate some tasks in Windows ... but that is another story. This worked great, but then I discovered that I could no longer actually RUN those files, rendering all my coding temporarily worthless until I could fix the problem. While attempting to fix this manually, and Googling for help on the Internet, I came across a treasure-trove of "File Association Fixes for Windows 7", at WinHelpOnline. They had "fixes" for both .cmd and .bat files, so I downloaded them, examined the code as a safety precaution, and when they looked OK, I backed up my Registry and applied them, and POOF - my problems were instantly and easily fixed! I didn't even need to Logout or Reboot, although that would be recommended to ensure success. I was so impressed that I downloaded and saved ALL of their fixes for off-site repairs.

The WinHelpOnline File Fixes include: AVI, ICO, REG, BAT, IMG, SCR, BMP, INF, TIF/TIFF, CHM, JPE/JPEG/JPG, TXT, CMD, JS, VBS, COM, LNK, WMA, EXE, MP3, WMV, GIF, MPE/MPEG/MPG, XML, HTM/HTML, MSC, and ZIP files.

A few weeks later, I got a call from an old friend asking if I knew how to repair the file associations in Windows 7 for .htm and .html files, which had somehow gotten messed up. I referred my friend to the WinHelpOnline website and recommended he do as I did, and download all the fixes. He later told me that the fixes worked great for him, and he saved them all.

Today, while looking on the SevenForums site at a different topic, "How to Remove and Restore the Default Windows 7 New Context Menu Items", I discovered another page with even more File Association Fixes for Windows 7: Default File Type Associations - Restore. I think these are essentially the same as the ones from WinHelpOnline, but the SevenForums page has an even larger list of extensions. I have not yet tried the SevenForums fixes, but I downloaded all of them also.

The SevenForums File Fixes include: aspx, asf, asx, AudioCD, avi, bat, bmp, cab, chm, cmd, com, cpp, cur, dat, Directory, dll, drive, dvr-ms, exe, folder, gif, gz, h, htm, html, m3u, mov, mp3, mp4, mpa, mpe, mpeg, mpg, MTS, msc, msi, msp, otf, pdf, png, psd, reg, rtf, scr, tar, tif, tiff, TS, ttf, TTS, txt, url, vbs, wma, wmv, wsf, xml, xps, and zip files.

In addition to several others not included in the WinHelpOnline fixes, I was especially glad to see the one for .url files, as that is one that is frequently broken on customer's computers.

I hope these links may help, should you find yourself in need of a "fix"!

Posted by Tom at 1:58 PM
Categories: Articles, Favorite Websites, Tips, Tricks, Tweaks

Friday, October 01, 2010

Some Great Free Programs From Microsoft

No, really! Microsoft! We all love to dog Microsoft for their exorbitant pricing on products like the Windows operating system, their Office suites, etc., but they also have some truly great freeware goodies if you know where to look. In this article, I will tell you about a few of the better or more interesting ones, but there are many, many more to discover. Because I am covering so many tools, this is just a quick introduction to some of these tools, and you will want to visit the relevant webpages for more details. Hopefully you will find something interesting in this list.

Enjoy

First I would like to recommend almost any of the tools from Technet Sysinternals. Sysinternals was created in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006, but has continued to host and even update the free tools. Sysinternals utilities can help you to manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. Two of my favorite tools are AutoRuns and Process Explorer, but be sure to check out the others and you'll find some amazing and free tools.

AutoRuns shows you detailed information about processes that are configured to run during system bootup or login, and allows you to disable or delete them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. Autoruns can also show other info, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.

Process Explorer shows you information about which programs and services are running, which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. Process Explorer has a search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded, can kill (or restart) processes, can shutdown or reboot your computer, and even has an option to replace the wimpy Windows default Task Manager.

Next I recommend looking into the so-called "PowerToys", which are various projects developed by Microsoft staff, and released as freeware, but which are "not fully supported by Microsoft". One of the better ones is SyncToy, which can help to copy, move, and synchronize different directories, even across a home network. Tweak UI is another good one, and can give you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. Although these PowerToys are officially only for XP (not Vista or Windows 7), many of them, such as SyncToy will still work fine.

Microsoft Research, aka "Microsoft Labs" is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. MS Labs has numerous projects available for download. Most are prototypes of ideas that may or may not ever be released in a final form, and may or may not work as flawlessly as you might hope. There are, however some real gems. Click on "Projects" or "Downloads" and see what you can find. Note that some are NOT free, so be sure to read the descriptions.

Some examples:

AutoCollage is an application for automatically creating collages from your images. Pick a folder, press a button, and in mere moments AutoCollage presents you with a unique memento to print or to e-mail to your family and friends.

Songsmith (Free Trial) generates musical accompaniment to match a singer's voice. Just choose a musical style, sing into your PC's microphone, and Songsmith will create backing music for you. Then share your songs with your friends and family, post your songs online, or create your own music videos.

WorldWide Telescope is another Microsoft Research project. It essentially provides you with a virtual telescope, bringing together amazing imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope and approximately 10 earthbound telescopes. The images are stitched together seamlessly, allowing you to pan around outer space and zoom as far into any one area as the data will allow. The user interface makes galactic exploration easy, right from your computer. There is both a download client and a web-based client. The web client will require the installation of Microsoft SilverLight. The download requires Microsoft DirectX version 9.0c, .NET Framework 2.0, and a PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2 gigahertz processor or faster (recommended); 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM (min); 2 GB RAM (recommended); a 3D accelerated graphics card with 128 megabytes (MB) RAM (min); discrete graphics card with dedicated 256-MB VRAM (recommended for higher performance); 1 GB of available hard disk space (min); 10 GB (recommended for off-line features and higher performance browsing).

Windows Live Essentials includes free programs from Microsoft for photos, instant messaging, email, blogging, family safety, and more. Get them all in one download and get more done with Windows. With Essentials, you get Messenger, Photo Gallery, Mail, Writer, Family Safety, and Toolbar, plus Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, Office Live Add-in, and Microsoft Silverlight.

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date.

Paint.NET - My friend Tiny talks about this one all the time, but I don't think either of us realized that this was in any way associated with MS! Paint.NET started as a computer science project at Washington State University. It was, however, such a good image and photo editing product (as well as an exceptional example of the .NET Framework technology in action), that Microsoft hired the two developers, Rick Brewster and Tom Jackson, and has allowed them to continue improving the application and offering it as a free download. Paint.NET has a great user interface and is easy to use. It provides all the essential image editing features you need, plus layers, special effects, and support for a wide range of image formats. Paint.NET also has quite a following on the Internet, and you can find lots of help, tutorials, and plugins -- and it supports Windows 7!

Photo Story - Putting digital "slides" to music with simple pan and zoom -- It just works!

There are conflicting reports on Windows 7 compatibility, but my advice is to download the latest version and try it. If it does not install, then "extract it" with Universal Extractor. Inside the extracted folder you will find another PStory.msi file. Try installing from that. If that still does not work, then read the Microsoft Forums post above for other ideas, including using Windows Live Essentials, which includes at least some of the functionality of Photo Story.

Microsoft Fix it provides automated solutions to common software problems in an easy, intuitive way that is available when and where you need it. Fix it provides a way to apply automated fixes, workarounds, or configuration changes so you don't have to perform a long list of manual steps yourself.

If you have Vista or Windows 7, you can try the Vista Sidebar gadget, although when I installed it, it showed "Service not available"! The Fix It gadget lists the most popular Fix It routines that have been published on the Microsoft Support web site. Fix It routines are pieces of executable code that you can run from the Support web site that automatically repair or configure your computer simply by downloading them. There are more than 260 Fix It routines published so far.

Here's a quick listing of some of the more useful Fix It routines:

  • Show Internet Explorer desktop icon (if it’s missing or deleted)
  • Error when you download updates using Windows Update or Microsoft Update: 8000FFFF
  • The menu bar and the toolbar are missing in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista
  • How do I reset Windows Update components?

(The Windows Update components Fix It, in particular, is really nasty and requires a lot of work. If not for Fix It, the execution of this modifications would take a fair amount of effort.)

Note: Several Fixes are not available for XP.

Links for more info:

SharePoint Designer 2007 and SharePoint Designer 2010, formerly known as FrontPage, became a free download as of April 2, 2009. SharePoint Designer is a great tool for website development. It is a WYSIWYG HTML editor and Website administrator tool from Microsoft. It is a Web and application design program used to design, build, and customize Web sites running on SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. With SharePoint Designer 2010, you can create data-rich Web pages, build powerful workflow-enabled solutions, and design the look and feel of your site.

Sharepoint is a Microsoft technology that allows a company to host intranet based webpages. It also enables the sharing of MS Office documents between users on the intranet. The Sharepoint resides on a server running the Sharepoint software.

FrontPage is no longer available from Microsoft, because they have moved on to Sharepoint Designer and Expression Web, but neither FrontPage nor Expression Web are free. Of course you may want to try another free editor, such as KompoZer or Namu6. Both are much easier for beginners, yet very powerful.

PowerPoint Viewer - Not everyone has MS Office with PowerPoint, so this makes it easy for those folks to view PowerPoint presentations.

Also see:

You can find more viewers, or versions, at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?freetext=viewer&displaylang=en&stype=s_basic

Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook 2007 and 2010 lets you print all your custom Outlook calendars and task lists superimposed. NOTE: The Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook is NOT supported on Outlook 2010 (64-bit)

RoboCopy and RichCopy - powerful file copy/move tools:

Robocopy has been part of the Windows Resource Kit since Windows NT 4.0 days. However, Microsoft updated Robocopy with some extra features designed for Vista and decided to make it a regular part of the Windows Vista operating system. While this is a good thing in that it is readily accessible to all, there is a catch - Robocopy is a command-line tool, and its power is tucked away in more than 80 switches.

This means that in order to harness the power of Robocopy, you have to spend a lot of time investigating and deciphering all the switches and then figuring out which ones you need to use. While this may not be a difficult procedure for us high-powered techies, it can be a daunting task to many casual users who would like to have an additional backup tool. Of course, there are GUI interfaces for Robocopy, which may make it easier to use.

RichCopy is one of the most powerful copy/transfer tools available for the Windows operating system, and unlike Robocopy, is not a command-line tool. Of course, RichCopy is not for the average user. Anyone who thinks Ctrl-C / Ctrl-V is good enough can skip RichCopy. This tool is for power users. If you copy large amounts of files or have a need to copy from one machine to another - RichCopy is the tool for you.

More information, download links, and more can be found at:

Virtual PC - Some versions of Windows 7 support Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode. However, if you are running Windows Vista, Windows XP, or a version of Windows 7 that does not support Windows Virtual PC, you can still download and use the free Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 package, which will allow you to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Virtual PC 2007 is easy to install and easy to use. The How-To Geek has a good article, "Create an XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Versions & Vista" on using the free VMware Player, but the idea and steps should be similar. Or read the How-To Geek's article on installing Virtual PC on an XP computer: Part 1 and Part 2.

Windows SteadyState - If you support shared-access computers in a public venue, such as classroom/lab, a library, or an Internet cafe, you're definitely a prime candidate for Windows SteadyState. With this package, you can configure and lock down a Windows system to be just the way you want for your public setup. Users can do whatever they need to do, change whatever they want, or even inadvertently crash the system with malware while they're using it. When they are done, you can reset the entire system to be exactly the way that it was the first day you configured it. just as if no one had used it. You can find several demos as well as an FAQ that will help you quickly determine if Windows SteadyState is the tool for your environment. Windows SteadyState is available on Windows XP and Windows Vista,and will only be available for download until the end of 2010, so if you want it - get it now.

Office Accounting Express 2009 is an easy-to-use accounting package that has the familiar Microsoft Office interface and is designed to integrate seamlessly with other Office applications. Providing most accounting features a small business might need, such as managing credit cards, bank accounts, payroll, vendors, invoices, quotes, cash sales, and even built-in PayPal functionality, Office Accounting Express is a great piece of software for business managers. Formerly available free from Microsoft at http://www.ideawins.com/, it is, unfortunately no longer available from MS. It can, however, still be found at other sites, including Softpedia, so get it while you can.

Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition is worth investigating if you're Web site developer at any level. This easy-to-learn, and easy-to-use development environment makes it a snap for anyone to create Web sites or small applications. Aimed mainly at amateur or intermediate-level developers, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition provides professional-level features that will allow you to create a wide variety of Web sites, from the most basic HTML to more advanced ASP.NET pages or SQL Server databases. You can get started by viewing an introductory video that covers the main features of this package and walks you through some of the most common tasks.

Server Quest II - Remember the vintage computer games "King's Quest" and "Leisure Suit Larry"? If you liked those, you will probably like ServerQuest II. It has the same type of pixilated graphics and cheesy humor as those classics, but it's aimed at IT professionals and computer specialists. In the game, which is created with Silverlight and runs in your browser, you play an IT pro (either Matt or Alicia) whose objective is to keep the network running smoothly while encountering a host of technical problems that are presented as games and puzzles, ranging from the absurd to things you might encounter in the real life of an IT pro. As you work through the tasks, you'll learn about and use Microsoft technologies to solve problems, encounter hidden Easter Eggs, earn geek points, and get to post your high scores for others to compete against. The game is really very humorous -- and you might even learn some interesting troubleshooting techniques as you play. Note: You will need to install Microsoft Silverlight to play this game, and it is only playable online. There are several other Silverlight-based games available at http://www.serverquestcontest.com/.

Posted by Tom at 3:39 PM
Edited on: Friday, October 01, 2010 4:22 PM
Categories: Articles, Favorite Websites, Recommended freeware

Monday, September 20, 2010

Local Links

The Southwest Louisiana PC Users Group (SWLAPCUG)

DangPC for Southwest Louisiana

The Lake Charles Linux Users Group

The Golden Triangle PC Club (GTPCC -- SE Texas)

Cajun Clickers Computer Club (Baton Rouge, LA area)

New Orleans Personal Computer Club

St. Tammany Computer Association

Weather in Lake Charles

McNeese State University

Posted by Tom at 1:37 PM
Edited on: Monday, September 20, 2010 2:03 PM
Categories: Articles, Favorite Websites, Local Links

Themed Wallpaper Packs from The How-To-Geek

If you want a quick and easy way to change your Windows appearance, change your Desktop background, aka "wallpaper". I prefer to use "wallpapers themes" or packs, rather than "full" themes, which can change many Windows elements that you may prefer to leave as they are, such as sounds, icons, etc. The How-To-Geek has some nice wallpaper packs to get you started on the Desktop Fun page. Note that in most cases, the pictures shown on these pages are of a reduced size from the originals. With these packs, you can download individual wallpapers (click each one to go to the original wallpaper page), or on many of the pages you can download the entire set as a zipped file. If you have downloaded the zipped themes, simply double-click to extract the theme-pack file. In some cases it may even "install" them, but if not, then extract them to a new folder in your User account's My Pictures folder, such as:

  • "C:\Users\UserProfileName\Pictures\Wallpapers\Mountains" for Vista or Windows 7, or
  • "C:\Documents and Settings\UserProfileName\My Pictures\Wallpapers\Mountains" for XP and older,

then browse to that folder to use these as your Windows Desktop Wallpaper.

PS: Windows 7 even has an option to automaticaly change the wallpaper, with adjustable settings for frequency, and which papers to use.

General info:

Desktop Fun: Add New Theme Packs to Windows 7
(This page also includes several wallpaper theme packs.)

Learning Windows 7: Desktop Themes and Backgrounds

Download New Themes in Windows 7

How to Get Windows 7 Theme Wallpapers Without Installing Them

Here are some theme wallpapers to get you started, but there are even more on The How-To-Geek Desktop Fun page:

Amazing Desktop Wallpapers: the Castle-Themed Edition

Awesome Holiday Themed Desktop Wallpapers

Beaches Theme Wallpapers

Fantasy Theme Wallpapers

Forest Theme Wallpapers

Gardens Theme Wallpapers

Horse Theme Wallpapers

Mountains Theme Wallpapers

Pirate Theme Wallpapers

Starscape Theme Wallpapers

Starship Theme Wallpapers

Steampunk Theme Wallpapers

Underwater Theme Wallpapers

Waterfalls Theme Wallpapers

Winter Theme Wallpapers

Posted by Tom at 11:35 AM
Categories: Articles, Favorite Websites, Tips, Tricks, Tweaks

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Update on Thingamablog

Well, I haven't posted anything since Wednesday, August 13, 2008!!! Lots of excuses - some even legitimate - mainly family responsibilities and the crash of the old XP computer on which I had originally installed Thingamablog.

I want to finally get this going again, but on my Win 7 computer this time, so I downloaded the newest Thingamablog version 1.5.1, entered my site info, and was hoping it would have an option to import from my existing site. After all, my site is almost entirely put together with Thingamablog! Alas, I see no such option, so I suppose I'll be installing from scratch, once I figure out what to download with FileZilla, and where to put it.

Hopefully, I haven't lost all my old articles I had posted!

Posted by Tom at 8:58 AM
Edited on: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 9:53 AM
Categories: Articles, Mr. Fix-It's Services

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Even MORE Lifehacker!

In case you couldn't already tell from my previous post "My Favorite Websites", I like Lifehacker! There are so many good sections and articles in addition to the main site, and there is always some great information to read - either from the editors, and often, from the comments by other readers. You can also create your own custom mix of articles through the use of tags, as shown in several of the example links below, and even type your own "tag" into the browser's address bar to create your own page to read.

Lifehacker Features

Tagged sections (downloads)

Tagged sections (other)

Posted by Tom at 9:37 AM
Edited on: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 9:52 AM
Categories: Articles, Favorite Websites

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

My Favorite Websites

These are some of my favorite websites that I like to visit daily

Posted by Tom at 9:32 AM
Edited on: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 9:52 AM
Categories: Articles, Favorite Websites

Sunday, August 01, 2010

About me

I have been involved with personal computers since I bought my first Commodore Vic-20 with a whopping 5KB of memory, no hard drive and no floppy drive. OK, it did have a cassette drive... you could set it up to load a program and have time to go eat lunch while it was loading!

Prior to that, I had used a large Honeywell mainframe computer at college. It took up a room larger than my house, had to be environmentally controlled, and was constantly served by a swarming team of white lab-coated servants. My programs were typed on "punch-cards", wrapped in rubber bands, and submitted to the servants. Several days later I would get the results, and if I had made any errors, would figure out what was wrong and retype the offending cards. Of course that was often a large stack of cards.

We have certainly come a long way since then, and both my PocketPC and my cell phone are more powerful, convenient and accessible than either the Vic-20 or the mainframe.

Anyway, in the intervening years, I have built, repaired and used more computers than I care to even attempt to remember, and have worked with numerous operating systems, including DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista and now Windows 7, numerous Linux distributions, and even the occassional Mac, although my Mac experience is too little to claim any level of proficiency.

I have programmed in BASIC and FORTRAN and have written batch and scripting files to accomplish tasks that I wanted to automate or make easier to accomplish. I have also learned HTML, CSS, and a bit of Javascript to put together some websites. I DO NOT, however, have any higher-level programming experience, such as C++, etc. That is on my to-do list, but is so far down my ever-expanding list that I doubt I will ever get there.

I would be happy to help you with your computer problems. Please visit my Services page for an idea of what I can offer.

I am an active member of the SWLAPCUG, a fantastic computer club in the southwest Louisiana area, and serve as one of the website administrators, occassional article writer for the newsletter, club CD chairman and architect, and co-leader of both the Q&A SIG (question & answer special interest group) and the Beginners' SIG. Please feel free to visit our site, and I hope you may be inspired to join our group.

Thanks for stopping in.

Posted by Tom at 11:10 AM
Categories: Mr. Fix-It's Services