Category: Tech Articles

I wondered when I was going to use the Windows Mobile Marketplace logo again. It seems suitable this time. Microsoft fan sites have rumors of Windows Blue flying all over the place. We don’t know much, and some of the articles I’m reading are crossing themselves trying to explain what they think it is. Here’s my take on Windows Blue.

Windows Blue is what most people would call Windows 8 Service Pack 1. But don’t think of it as a service pack. Think of it as an upgrade. Because Microsoft is most likely going to charge a modest fee (honestly? I’m hoping it’s $20. If it’s much more than that, Microsoft will probably blow their chance, have to release it for free, and refund people’s money). They’re trying to cramp Apple’s style and get in on the pricing model much like how Apple has released several releases to OSX in the form of Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion.

If you were around for the transition to Windows XP Service Pack 2, you should understand what I mean when I say “upgrade” rather than just a service pack. Microsoft had every right to charge full price for Windows XP SP2. It replaced swaths of the operating system, it almost eliminated most Kernel differences between Home and Pro versions of Windows XP. For all intents and purposes, it was one of the largest operating system releases Microsoft never had! There were new features, additional support for new features, future-proofing the operating system in a way that hadn’t been done before. And it was all behind the scenes. Blue is supposed to really be a major step for Windows as brand.

It’s been discussed, but my theory as that Blue will unify the code bases of Windows Phone, Windows RT, and Windows 8. An app designed for one, will run on any. Blue has support for many resolutions, which is prepping it for things like a Microsoft Surface Mini. I anticipate a Surface Mini would likely run Windows RT (it would be hard to fit an x86 processor in such a small package with passive cooling – an Intel i5 would melt the plastic!), but if Blue does what we expect, it’s going to simplify the “app” Store a great deal and broaden the audience of developers in one quick move. People don’t want to develop for Windows Phone because it hasn’t seen mass adoption. But if you could develop your app and release it to every Windows Phone, Windows RT, and Windows 8 device with just a few clicks? Suddenly you have a massive audience which will grow by the day.

Rumors abound that Microsoft’s Windows team hit their first Milestone with Blue just a few weeks ago, and if it stays on schedule we’ll see an RTM in the summer, and early in the fall we should be getting access to Windows Blue. Time will tell what all that really means, but I’m pretty excited – and surprised at how little chatter there has been! I mention this to other people in the tech industry and they haven’t even heard of Blue! Open your eyes and ears, because it’ll be here before you know it! And whether it’s free or paid, I don’t care. I’ll be all over it!

As many of you know, I’ve Gone Legal with my digital content. But some things aren’t easily attainable. Say, for instance, you wanted the entire series of Space Above and Beyond – it’s just not out there digitally, not that I’ve found anyway. But you can rip your own! So today I’m just going to provide you a few names of programs that I’ve used in the past. You’ll have to figure out how to use them. But the good news is, most of them make it fairly simple, and in the coming weeks I may post a guide or two for some of them. But today? Just the need-to-know information.

Before we begin: KNOW YOUR TERMINOLOGY. To rip something is to make digital copy from the source media. i.e. making a DivX/Xvid AVI file from a DVD, or an MP3 from a CD. If you want to simply make a copy, or duplicate a DVD or a CD, you typically do not need to rip the contents first.

Decrypting a DVD / splitting up episodes of a TV series: DVD Shrink (I don’t know if the current program at DVDShrink.org is affiliated with this classic, so I still grab the freeware edition from Afterdawn).

Ripping a DVD Movie to an AVI file: Once the decrypted files are on your drive, point AutoGK to them, specify an output file size, and let AutoGK or Auto Gordian Knot do the rest. Geek info: from my days on the download scene, I can tell you that “the people on the internet” have worked around the limitations of their media and come up with, basically, standards, for ripping your content. Target file size of an average ~90 minute movie should be between 700MB and 1.5GB, depending on the desired quality. An average 30 minute episode of a TV show is around 175MB (4:3). This of course increases slightly for “widescreen” 16:9 TV shows. These are rules of thumb, not hard and fast rules – play around to find what quality works best for you.

One click DVD & BluRay ripping to MKV file: Handbrake gets a lot of talk around the web. I didn’t like it in the past, but I recently gave it another shot and like it more than I used to. It takes a lot of the work out of the combination of programs above, like using DVD Shrink then AutoGK. Rumors are Handbrake works with BluRay, though I haven’t tried it, yet, myself. I plan to give it a shot in the very near future.

Convert an AVI to a DVD ISO: If you have a movie you ripped, and you want to burn it as a playable DVD, you’ll need to start with AVI2DVD.

Burn any ISO to a DVD: once you have an ISO file, you’ll need to burn it to a disc. Whether it’s a CD, DVD, VCD, whatever, let IMGBurn take the guess work out and burn the DVD for you. Quick, simple, free. It’s one of the first applications I install on any new computer.

Rip MP3s from a CD: Yeah, iTunes made it popular, but CDex was there first… and it’s still a go-to, for me, because it has all of the features I need, and allows for much more customization.

Burn MP3s to a Music CD: InfraRecorder can do that for you. It can also burn an ISO, make a VCD, or just clone from disc-to-disc.

Decrypt a BluRay movie: The only paid-app on my list is one that has been working hard for years. While I do like their entire suite of software, you can get by using most of the freeware I’ve listed above. But the one tool you need is AnyDVD HD. I don’t know how they make their software, but there are frequent updates, and they keep it legal by keeping it out of the US. It’s a questionable product by some people’s standards of legality, but a must if you’re ripping your own content, and well worth the investment, as it does seem that SlySoft is going to be around for a while, still.

On this Valentine’s day where people are looking for companionship and comfort, I’m trying to think of the coldest thing possible! In an era where technology has eroded middle-class jobs, isn’t it about time it did the same to the upper crust of our society?

Machines could be more analytical than any business owner could ever hope to be. A machine is far less corruptable. It isn’t driven by greed, or any sort of “alpha” mentality – it makes the most logical decisions that lead to the best decision for the company. A machine doesn’t need to make a ballsy move to impress anyone, it doesn’t have anything to prove. A machine could process data thousands of times faster and simplify processes in a way no human being could. It would cut down bureaucracy, there wouldn’t be needs for meetings, or or discssions. Decisions would be made, workers would act.

What if an organization of workers united under their robotic overlord and founded a “leaderless” company? Imagine a company where all employees are equal, there is no hirearchy, the machine decides the tasks at hand, the workers build out the orders at a factory, ship out the finished product, and share in the profits. Imagine how well off banks and auto manufacturers would be if it wasn’t unbalanced by guys at the top getting multi-million dollar bonuses, and the guys at the bottom earning a “decent living” at $18 an hour. I feel like the future is upon us, and it might be time to use machines for more than replacing our physical labor force.

So, it’s not an app, but I did want to share with everyone this week how I got my Windows Phone upgraded to 7.8. As Windows Phone fans have no doubt heard, Windows Phone 7.8 has been out for a while. There was a lot of worry that certain phones, including my handset (the HTC Arrive on Sprint), would not be receiving the update. Luckily, there is a process that can be followed to upgrade your phone to Windows Phone 7.8, and it doesn’t involve any sort of “hacking” or modding, or HSPL unlocking, or anything like that. Plug your phone in to your computer, run a program, and wait. It’s that simple.

I first found This article on WindowsPhoneHacker that describes the process. Once you download the executable and plugin your phone, it will tell you if you require any missing files (I was missing them!). Once again, it’s a small download – extract the zip file as it tells you and then run again. You will see the phone download, flash an update, and reboot – continuously. Each time, your phone will indicate that the update is complete, but don’t worry, it isn’t the final update. Don’t unplug or touch the phone. It took my phone almost two hours of the same cycle. For a while I began to worry that my phone may be stuck in a loop, but if you’re fast enough, you can actually see that the build number is changing with each reboot. Eventually, it will pop up a message on your computer telling you that the updates are 100% complete. You will know when you’re getting close because your 7.5/Mango boot screen will change from a red logo to a blue logo.

I could’ve waited, or tried more Zune trickery, but I was having all kinds of problems with my update process, and having the option to just start this process and walk away for a bit was a great help. For anyone wondering if the SevenEighter method works, it does and I encourage you to give it a shot. If the download links in the article I link to no longer work, please post a comment below and I’ll upload them here, as I have kept a copy. I typically don’t like to link to other articles without providing instructions here, just in case the article ever disappears, but I don’t want to take credit for this one, it was all WindowsPhoneHacker!

A friend asked me what i thought of Microsoft buying a piece of Dell. Here is what I wrote to him on Facebook.

Microsoft taking 10-15% of Dell is a natural move, now that they are edging more in to the hardware market with Surface, Surface Pro, and whatever this year’s Surface 2 is bound to be. Apple doesn’t want Dell, they’re ALREADY a hardware manufacturer with ties to Intel, which they will break when OS11 launches. I expect them to go back to their non Intel ways. Higher profit margins. Right now I think every company is trying to innovate ways to increase revenue streams, not being innovative in ways that are making people flock to them. This goes for everyone. Did apple think a 5th row of icons was gonna sell iPhone 5? Does Intel think we can stay at their 3Ghz barrier forever and just keep adding cores? Microsoft stepping in to more hardware is exciting. It’s not just a mouse with their logo on it, or the next Xbox, it’s a real Microsoft product stepping up and showing companies like HP and ASUS how to do it. With a stake in Dell, it makes that a lot easier.

My friend mentioned that he didn’t think it would stop at 15%, and that Michael Dell wanted to bring the company back to a privately held company. I continued…

Michael Dell only owns I think 15 or 16% himself. Private, maybe, but I don’t think he wants to give up the goat to Microsoft entirely, and let them call the shots. And I don’t think Microsoft is interested in being seen as a threat to their licensing partners; all the other OEMs who sell Windows on their machines (Acer, ASUS, Toshiba, Sony, HP, etc…). If they see Microsoft as a direct threat to their business, they won’t support it by licensing Windows. MS must know that. If Microsoft buys a huge chunk of Dell, the others will flock to Linux or another alternative, just so they aren’t giving their competition a dime. It would be the end of Microsoft as anyone has known it for 25 years. I think Microsoft is smart enough to know a small investment in Dell would pay for itself while working on “a tablet” and maybe “a desktop” or two, but they don’t want to be seen as a threat to their OEMs.

Some business users may have put in the wrong key when the first installed Office 2010. Some software pirates may have been caught. Whatever your reason, changing your Office 2010 Product Key is easy, here’s how you do it:

I consider Microsoft Word to be the father of all Office products, so I advise opening Word. But if you didn’t install Word, any Office product ought to do, such as Excel, or even Outlook. Click on the File menu in the upper left. Then select Help. To the right, you should see that your product is already activated – if it isn’t, this is where you can activate a new install, or change your key of an existing install. In order to avoid the need to reinstall your Office product, your product key should match the current version of Office installed (Home and Student, Professional Plus, etc…).

Similar steps can be followed in Office 2013 to activate or change your product key, should you need to.

Users complain that they can’t send email. You dig through your exchange queues and logs, and you stumble across this:
451 4.4.0 primary target IP address responded with “421.4.4.2 unable to connect.” Attempted failover to alternate host, but that did not succeed. Either there are no alternate hosts, or delivery failed to all alternate hosts.

The root cause of this is that something, be it a hardware or software firewall, or antivirus product, something is blocking outbound traffic on port 25.

You ready for me to read your mind? In our particular case, and in at least 3 other cases I have confirmed with other IT persons, we had installed antivirus software from McAfee on our Exchange server. McAfee has a feature which watches for Mass Mailing worms – this is great on your desktop! But not so great on your Exchange server, as all of your SMTP outbound mail needs to leave on port 25. McAfee’s software does this by watching for outbound traffic on Port 25. Although I don’t know what the exact threshold is, eventually it decides there is too much traffic, assumes your computer may be infected, closes the port on your computer (in this case, our Server), and mail stops flowing. Here is my solution for the McAfee software:

All you need to do to fix this is open up McAfee from the System Tray, then find the Access Protection Properties, they look like the menu pictured above. Then choose Antivirus Standard Protection on the left, and uncheck Prevent Mass Mailing Worms from sending mail on the right. I would uncheck both the BLOCK and REPORT options, otherwise you can expect some pretty large log files.

I first encountered this and posted a solution on TechNet in October, but thought it was worth revisiting as it was a heck of a process to narrow down! At least one user there has confirmed it to be the solution for them.

I’m trying to wait for a Windows Phone 8 device, but my carrier, Sprint, isn’t making it easy. I know, I hear it already, calls to ditch Sprint and run away from their decrepit, slow network. Trust me, I’ve been tempted to a hundred times over – but that Unlimited data holds me back. People ask, realistically, how much data do you use? I’ve had months as low as 300MB, and some over 4GB. But I still don’t have a 4G Phone with my current HTC Arrive WP7 phone, and we’re talking about today. The question is: how much data am I going to use in two, four, and six years? As if we don’t do enough online already, even more things are going to go through your data connection in the future. I’m going to stay where the Unlimited is as long as possible.

But that means I’m still with Sprint. My phone selection is terrible. They get some of the big names, like the Galaxy S3, and this week announced that they will be getting Windows Phone 8 devices. But they didn’t mention a date. Which means, to me, probably some time in August. Mid-to-late summer. Just a guess. But When I take a look at what else is out there, and what else is coming? I’m having a hard time plotting myself into the Windows Phone ecosystem.

If Ubuntu launched their Ubuntu for Phones tomorrow, I would buy the device it was on. If there was an unlocked, CDMA device, even if I had to pay full price, $500, my order would be in, instantly. Now, we know from experience they’ll do GSM first, so AT&T will get their crack at it, and Sprint / Verizon customers will wait in line. But imagine if they could sell the OS. Treat the phone like the computer. It is a blank slate, and the software you install on it is up to you.

There are groups of hackers who do things like make Android run on old Windows Mobile devices, or change the version of Windows Mobile on a device… but what if it wasn’t just for the hardcore of the hardcore? Jailbreaking iOS is fairly mainstream, and several Android phones can be rooted easily. The Smartphone market took off because Apple escalated it to new heights. And then we quickly fell in to that compartmentalized set of ecosystems that Apple segregates us all in to. Your Mac wasn’t supposed to run Windows. It can, now, because Apple realized where the better hardware was. And OSX became a geek’s dream, because underneath it all, it’s Linux. Apple co-opted, improved upon, then locked it down, just as they did with their computers.

I think it’s time for a free (as in speech, not as in beer) phone. On that phone can be installed Android, Ubuntu, and any other platform that sees fit to at least release a build. The software doesn’t have to be open source, like Windows and OSX aren’t, but the platform should mature for enthusiasts. Take it apart, upgrade the RAM, swap out the CPU… it’s time to liberate the device we’re all so dependent upon.

I’ve seen people who have gone so far as to uninstall and reinstall their printer yet STILL could not print! If you’ve already tried all of the steps in how to reset your print spooler, try the steps below… tested and has worked for me on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 32 and 64-bit… the solution below has worked for me several times!

1. Stop the printer spooler (see this article for instructions).
2. Browse to this folder: C:\windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS (for newer versions of Windows, you will have to say Yes to a UAC prompt asking if you want to proceed).
3. Delete everything in the folder.
4. Start the printer spooler (see above article about stopping/starting).

Try your print job again!

People tell me that updates are annoying, and slow… but they are for your protection. Windows, Android, iOS, Wii U, Xbox 360, whatever… you should keep them up to date. Sometimes new features emerge, sometimes it is a behind the scenes security enhancement, but you should always install updates, and uninstall them only if necessary.

To keep your Surface tablet updated, you should go to the Start Screen and type “Windows Update” – then, click Settings on the right side, and click on “Install optional updates.” Then search for and apply the latest. If you haven’t done this since buying your Surface RT tablet, it will update your Office 2013 to the full Home and Student edition, along with applying several updates to keep you safe on the internet!

This thing is nasty. I’ve seen what I can only believe is a variant of WORM_VOBFUS.SMIS as defined by Trend Micro. Here’s what’s happening: an infected computer on your network looks for any shared folders (network shares, USB flash drives, etc…) and hides all of your real files. It then will replace the “hidden” files, with .EXE’s of the same names, to try and trick people in to clicking on them, and causing the worm to spread further. I’ve already seen this thing a few times and have developed a good plan of action for fighting it off.

Finding the infected computer and Cleaning the Infection

Skip ahead if you want to unhide your files, but I want to cover this virus a little further in depth. (more…)

I wanted to sell my old Xbox 360 on Craigslist after I bought a Slim console. I tried to sign up for Craigslist, but I couldn’t unless I provided a phone number. I’m VERY selective about where I put my cell phone number online, as I don’t have a land line, and don’t want this thing ringing every five minutes. I tried to use a Google Voice number, but it wouldn’t take. I skipped it.

That was a year ago. Recently, I had occasion to try again, with Craigslist. I caved in and provided my number so I could authenticate my account and list my goods. Only about 12 hours, my post was flagged and taken down, with no clear reason given. A list a mile long of potential reasons was given, but no single “flagged for xyz.”

I was recently told by a friend that he couldn’t see anything I was posting on Reddit. I have no notification, no reason to suspect I was problematic – I link to my blog posts occasionally, a little self promotion when I think it’s something Reddit folks might be interested in, but I don’t do it daily. Being logged in to the Reddit site, I saw now sign that I didn’t exist any more, no warning that my posts may be blocked as Spam, but it’s nearly the only thing I can think they would’ve hidden my posts for.

So what happens on the user-moderated internet? When someone doesn’t like you, or your content, or is mad that you’re getting more views than them, they flag you, and the system listens. I’m told some places require multiple flags before any action is taken, but the problem isn’t how many or even that it’s happening – it’s your recourse after the fact. I sent a support request to Reddit and haven’t heard anything back. I emailed Craigslist support to ask the specific reason I was flagged, and got the same email in response that I was initially sent: a laundry list of possible reasons. You can’t do anything to get yourself quickly reinstated, or actually find out what you did wrong in the first place!

I have theories on why people may have flagged my content on a site or two, but I’m not trying to a spammer, I’m a nice person, and the links I post are genuinely helpful to many people. Why do I suffer the same fate as the guy posting links to “CH3@P V1AGR4!” in the comments!?

It really happened. I kind of thought it might, and addressed this once before, but I hoped it wouldn’t. Microsoft failed so badly at explaining Windows 8, people actually need to search the internet to figure out how to do it. If you’re reading this, and you came here asking how, DO NOT FEEL BAD! It isn’t your fault at all. Microsoft changed things too much and just assumed we would all just figure it out. So, if you’re asking how do I shut down Windows 8? Here’s how:

1. Bring up the Charms Bar (the menu on the right). Here are 3 ways to do it:
   -On a computer with a mouse, place your pointer in the upper or lower right corner of the screen.
   -With no mouse, only a keyboard, you can press “Windows Key + C” to bring up the Charms Bar.
   -With a touch interface, swipe in from the right hand side of the screen.
2. Click Settings – yes, the cog/gear icon.
3. Click Power.
4. Click shut down.

Rolling out slowly over the last two weeks has been “Tor, the Data Coach.” Sprint created personas for the data coach, giving him at least his own tumblr and Twitter handle, @DataCoachSays. The tumblr page posts random pictures of the datacoach with attempts at meme-worthy jokes, completely with broken English. I guess that plays in to the character’s foreign (Russian?) persona.

Nobody will be fooled in to thinking it isn’t a ploy by Sprint. The tumblr site is filled with Sprint advertisements, the color schemes are obvious, the official Sprint twitter not only follows, but responds to @DataCoachSays. In the linked tweet, the official Sprint account fights against the data limits imposed by the Data Coach. What would make this great would be if these tweets were replies to various “@VerizonWireless” tweets in regards to how great shared data plans are. But @DataCoachSays’ 122 followers tell me this isn’t going to catch on very fast.

The least they could do is buy a few more followers!

Have you ever noticed that, sometimes when you’re on DHCP, you can have more than 2 DNS addresses? Perhaps you have a need to set 3 or 4 – or maybe, you need to set your primary and secondary DNS servers statically through command line. Well, don’t you worry, there’s a command to do just that.

Even if your primary is already set, I’ve had the best luck setting it again, then setting your secondary DNS. For this example, I’m going to use Google’s well known public DNS servers, but you can use your own internal IP addresses, your ISP’s DNS servers, OpenDNS, whatever works for you. Simply open a command prompt, and enter the following commands.

This first command sets your primary DNS server:
netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 8.8.8.8

Here, we set the secondary:
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr="8.8.4.4" index=2

If you need to set a third, fourth, and so on, all you need to do is change the index number at the end of the line:
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr="208.67.222.222" index=3
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr="208.67.220.220" index=4

To verify the settings took, you can check your DNS settings with a quick command of ipconfig /all and check how many and what DNS servers you are showing. If you show a strange hexadecimal value, try resetting the primary DNS entry with the different command at the top again, then the second, third, and so-on…

I was going to join the fray, today, and post an article about Windows Phone 7.8. I was going to ask where it was, why it hadn’t been mentioned lately, and talk about how some people disagree with Paul Thurrott’s recent public shaming of Windows Phone team (for the record, I’m on Paul’s side on this one!). Microsoft is focused, as they should be, on their new products. But for a company who has made monthly updates to Windows since 1998, and made their monthly updates work across a metrically infinite number of possible hardware combinations, Microsoft sure has had a hard time getting Windows Phones updated. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a one man “team.”

I was going to write about all of that, but in the last 24 hours, Microsoft finally spoke up. Probably due to rumors starting on Mashable that Windows Phone 7.8 could arrive as early as yesterday, and a bit in response to Thurrott’s post, Microsoft’s Official Windows Phone Blog had something to say. Word is that new phones could ship as early as the end of the year, preloaded with Windows Phone 7.8. These phones will be designed to hit a budget minded audience, but Microsoft’s Terry Myerson didn’t want people to worry, because Microsoft is pushing to have popular apps, like this Spring’s crazy popular “Draw Something,” and last Winter’s “Words with Friends.” Okay, they also mentioned Angry Birds space and the newest Angry Birds Star Wars, but no dates.

As far as pre-existing phones getting the update? Well, Myerson was a bit more guarded when it came to that, saying: “we want you to know that we’re working closely with our hardware and carrier partners to get it tested, approved, and rolled out to as many devices as possible in early 2013. As we work to quickly get this in the hands of our loyal users, we’re also striving to deliver a high-quality release and ensure a smooth transition for our widely expanded services.”

The reaction wasn’t very positive. Scanning the comments below the post, feedback compared Windows Phone 7.8 to the WebOS, and more than a few remarking that they were disappointed or annoyed. I even joined in the comments! The post has a 1/5 star rating, too. People are unhappy. Not millions of people, more like dozens… but we still feel the pain, and I hope at least someone at Microsoft is learning a lesson. I know I did: being an early adopter has its risks. I already knew that, but I seem to be reminded of that lesson in spades this year. More on that tomorrow.

It’s Tech Tip Tuesday. It’s November 20th, 2012. 27 years ago today, Windows 1.0 was shipped. For just a geek trip down memory lane, here is the official version log / change log for versions 1-3 (essentially, anything before Windows 95). It’s too bad that the official Microsoft “history of Windows” page hasn’t even been updated with relevant Windows 7 or Windows 8 information, yet. Still, I thought it would be fun to read through the official “change log” of the earliest versions of Windows that only some of us even remember!


Version Date Requirements
------- ---- ------------

- Certificate of Authenticity
- More sophisticated hologram and an MS (3M) sticker
on box
- An 800 number to call (in the United States &
Canada) and check for product legitimacy
- Updated drivers
- Five updated core files
- NetWare support files (from Novell)