I am trying to VLOOKUP reference data with around 400 seperate Excel files.
Is it possible to do this in a quick way rather than doing it manually?
Sunday 9 February 2020
How can I VLOOKUP in multiple Excel documents?
Enable Windows 8 on-screen keyboard on desktop PC
Is it possible to use the tablet style on-screen keyboard on a Windows 8 laptop PC? I've found the 'Ease of Access' version which runs as a desktop window but (particularly in windows store apps) would prefer to use the docked version which only appears when a text entry field is selected.
Here's the scenario: I mostly use my laptop in the traditional desktop mode, but occasionally plug it into my TV and use a wireless mouse to operate it using Netflix and other windows store apps.
find - Is there a way to give focus to Chrome search result?
It is well known that one can use Ctrl+F to find textual content in the webpage, but after I found what I need, is there a way to give focus to the search result, so that if the result is a link or a button, I can quickly click the link/button by pressing space/Enter?
Answer
In Google chrome, you can start a search in the active tab by pressing Ctrl+F Or F3, input the text you want to find and press Enter to find
You can loop through the search results by pressing the Enter.
Once you found the text you want, if its a link or a button, you can navigate to it by pressing Ctrl+Enter
Hope it helps.
Saturday 8 February 2020
Excel Scatter Chart with Labels
I have three columns of data. Column 1 has a short description, column 2 has a benefit number and column 3 has a cost. I can create a cost/benefit scatter chart, but what I want is to be able to have each point in the scatter chart be labeled with the description. I don't care if you can see it on the chart or you have to roll over the point to see the description.
Using AppleScript to Enable Snow Leopard's Text Replacement Feature
I currently use Quicksilver with a Plugin and Trigger in concert with Snow Leopard's text replacement feature (for frequently-used combinations of hashtags, due dates and other parameters) to quickly send tasks to Remember The Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com).
Unfortunately, I have to click "Text Replacement" from the right-click menu of the text entry field in order to use that feature. I'm suspecting that I can add some AppleScript to the Trigger as a work-around to do that automatically. If so, what would be the best way to go about this? Would I need to use GUI scripting?
windows 7 - Find all past desktop IP addresses
Is there a way to find some type of log file that saves all IP address that were assigned to a desktop?
I changed an static IP of a desktop (switched it to DHCP) of mine and i can not recall what the ip address was. Does windows log what it was anywhere?
Answer
Interesting question...
At the very least, the DHCP server should log all the addresses it hands out, if logging is enabled.
Im looking to see if its logged on the client side anywhere, but Im not seeing anything.
Program that logs the CPU usage in Windows 7
Is there any program that logs the CPU usage of all programs? I want to know, over a period of one month, which programs use the CPU more intensely.
Answer
Windows has this built-in. It's called the Performance Monitor. Create a data collector set to start collecting performance data.
virtualbox - Why Virtual Box won't give me option to create 64 bits guests?
My host is x64 bits Windows 8.1.
I downloaded the latest Virtual Box (4.3) and I'm trying to create a VM with a 64 bits Ubuntu OS (ubuntu-12.04.3-desktop-amd64).
When I go to New VM wizard, it doesn't give me option to select "Ubuntu (x64)" as I have seen in other people's screenshots, only just "Ubuntu". As a result, the ISO can't boot. I tried in another PC and Virtual Box gives the x64 variants to most listed OS...
Control Panel shows x64 OS, x64 processor. My host laptop is a Sony Vaio VPCZ22UGX/N, Intel® Core™ i7-2640M processor. CPUz shows Vx-t is available on my processor, of course.
Here is what I tried so far:
I enabled IO APIC as required in the docs.
I have virtualization enabled in the BIOS. It works fine in VMware.
Check that Hyper-V is not running or even installed on my Windows. Same for VMware.
I also tried running the command:
VBoxManage modifyvm [vmname] --longmode on
for that VM, but no change.. I think the issue is really that I can't select x64 variant of the Ubuntu OS for that VM. Other people seem to indicate that's a requirement, but I don't get that option for some reason.
I spent a lot of time and can't find what's wrong... Anyone knows what could be missing here?
Thank you very much!!
Eduardo
Unable to change the Java update settings in Windows 7 control panel
Java updates are necessary but they are so frequent that i am now tired of it. Besides, I need to do simple work on my PC and the requirements for Java are seldom.
Today, I went into the control panel of my system(i.e Windows 7 32-bit) and then clicked the Java tab. The java config window appeared and in that selected update tab and then unchecked the check for updates automatically checkbox. Clicked on apply and then ok. To resure, I opened the Java config window again but the settings were not saved. Still the checkbox was in selected state. Why is this happening ? I am logged-in as administrator only.
Please tell me how to turn off the automatic updates for Java in Win 7?
Answer
The root cause of this problem is the Policy registry key. The user with administrative privilege can only change this registry key value.
- Open Command Prompt as administrator: in Start menu type
cmd, right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator. - In Command Prompt window type
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\javacpl.exe(this is for Windows 7 64-bit with Java SE 7). - On Update tab uncheck option Check for updates Automatically.
Source: Why are the Java update settings not saved in the Java control panel?
audio - Accidentally removed own NTFS rights from volume in Windows 7
I am using Windows 7 and my hard drive is partitioned to C: and D: drives. Yesterday I tried to limit some permissions for other users to volume D and accidentally denied everything for group "Users"
Now I can not access the drive even if I am administrator to the local computer. I did not touch the administrator permissions. I can not get to the Security tab of the volume because it says "Access denied".
How can I reset NTFS permissions or get my permissions back? Option is also, if possible, to backup my data to USB drive with some software and format the disk to start over.
I have tried:
- Booting to safe mode
- CMD: takeown /F D: /R
- Changed the drive letter to F: No use and reverted to D.
Thank you for your help!
bash - How to pipe command output to other commands?
Example:
ls | echo prints nothing ( a blank line, actually ). I'd expect it to print a list of files.
ls | grep 'foo', on the other hand, works as expected ( prints files with 'foo' in their name ).
What I do in these situations is something like: ls | while read OUT; do echo $OUT; done but this is rather cumbersome.
Why does piping work with some commands, but not with others ? How can I circumvent this issue ?
Answer
There is a distinction between command line arguments and standard input. A pipe will connect standard output of one process to standard input of another. So
ls | echo
Connects standard output of ls to standard input of echo. Fine right? Well, echo ignores standard input and will dump its command line arguments - which are none in this case to - its own stdout. The output: nothing at all.
There are a few solutions in this case. One is to use a command that reads stdin and dumps to stdout, such as cat.
ls | cat
Will 'work', depending on what your definition of work is.
But what about the general case. What you really want is to convert stdout of one command to command line args of another. As others have said, xargs is the canonical helper tool in this case, reading its command line args for a command from its stdin, and constructing commands to run.
ls | xargs echo
You could also convert this some, using the substitution command $()
echo $(ls)
Would also do what you want.
Both of these tools are pretty core to shell scripting, you should learn both.
For completeness, as you indicate in the question, the other base way to convert stdin to command line args is the shell's builtin read command. It converts "words" (words as defined by the IFS variable) to a temp variable, which you can use in any command runs.
microsoft excel - Making line charts so the line goes through all data points
I've got data based on over 50+ years for various products. Not all products have data for each year, so the line is not always shown from point to point - Excel bug or is there a work around?
I've created a line and X-Y scatter charts to show the movement (quantity sold) of these products over the years. It works well, except where the data points are too far apart i.e. 1965 and then 1975. For some reason there is no line.
It's not perfect data because of the missing years, but I can live with that, I just want to see the trend, and not just sporadic dots; squares or crosses.
Any help or links greatly appreciated.
Mike
Answer
Hopefully the following image is self-explanatory:
The complete command sequence in Excel 2007 is:
- Select your chart
- Select Chart Tools → Design on the Ribbon
- Select "Select Data"
- Select "Hidden and Empty Cells"
- Select "Connect data points with line"
- Select OK.
networking - DNSMASQ not answering DNS queries from routed subnet
I have two sub-nets connected together using two DD-WRT APs - The remote AP is in Client-Routed mode so it has a separate subnet its IP are 192.168.2.1/24 and 192.168.0.5/24. The local AP is in AP mode The DD-WRT DHCP settings are in forward mode for the remote AP
I have DNSMASQ setup within the first subnet on IP 192.168.0.2/24 it is also the DHCP server for the second subnet - this works and my remote clients get the correct router. The DNSMasq machine can ping the PC on the second subnet and the reverse is also true I can also RDP from a PC on the first subnet to the PC on the second subnet - so it appears to me most of the first to second subnet comms is working
My problem is DNSMasq does not send DNS replies to the second subnet - it does work to the first subnet. Can anyone suggest why?
One thing to note is that the route for the second network was on the gateway device (192.168.0.1 ) but I found this dropped many packets - so each of the first sub-net devices has a local static route for the second subnet added to it.
route add 192.168.2.0 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.5
I've yet to test the DHCP assigned route at this point due to my current problem
This is a sketch of what I have 
DNSMASQ Config
# Configuration file for dnsmasq.
domain-needed
bogus-priv
addn-hosts=/etc/dnsmasq.hosts
# so don't use it if you use eg Kerberos, SIP, XMMP or Google-talk. This option only affects forwarding, SRV records originating for dnsmasq (via srv-host= lines) are not
# suppressed by it.
filterwin2k
dhcp-range=set:house,192.168.0.1,192.168.0.254,infinite
dhcp-range=set:backyard,192.168.2.1,192.168.2.254,infinite
# Change this line if you want dns to get its upstream servers from somewhere other that /etc/resolv.conf
resolv-file=/var/run/dnsmasq/resolv.conf
# server=61.9.134.49
# server=61.9.133.193 setup the default gateway
dhcp-option=tag:house,option:router,192.168.0.1
dhcp-option=tag:backyard,option:router,192.168.2.1
# option 42?
dhcp-option=option:ntp-server,192.168.0.2
expand-hosts
domain=wilson.lan
dhcp-range=192.168.0.100,192.168.0.150,12h
dhcp-range=192.168.2.100,192.168.2.150,255.255.255.0,12h
# DO NOT Set The route to that network Done on Gateway
#dhcp-option=121,192.168.2.0/24,192.168.0.5
#Send microsoft-specific option to tell windows to release the DHCP lease when it shuts down. Note the "i" flag,
# to tell dnsmasq to send the value as a four-byte integer - that's what microsoft wants. See
# http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/a70f1bb7-d2d4-49f0-96d6-4b7414ecfaae1033.mspx?mfr=true
dhcp-option=vendor:MSFT,2,1i
# Set the DHCP server to authoritative mode. In this mode it will barge in and take over the lease for any client
# which broadcasts on the network, whether it has a record
# of the lease or not. This avoids long timeouts when a machine wakes up on a new network.
# DO NOT enable this if there's the slightest chance that you might end up
# accidentally configuring a DHCP server for your campus/company accidentally.
# The ISC server uses the same option, and this URL provides more information:
# http://www.isc.org/files/auth.html
dhcp-authoritative
# Log lots of extra information about DHCP transactions.
log-dhcp
Answer
Ok so after reading the manual better I need to add in something to override the default of only answer local sub-nets (--local-service) a default option which has no negation so for example I tried
listen-address=192.168.0.2
However as resolve.conf has the line
nameserver 127.0.0.1
my change stopped DNSMASQ answering queries from itself - so strangely enough the DNS server no longer could resolve any dns name whilst all other machines were successfully using it as a dns server. I fixed this by adding the following line instead
listen-address=192.168.0.2,127.0.0.1
as I could not work out a simple way to fix what resolveconf was doing
networking - Docker unable to pull images
On running the docker command, I get following error:
docker run hello-world
Pulling repository docker.io/library/hello-world docker: Network timed out while trying to connect to https://index.docker.io/v1/repositories/library/hello-world/images. You may want to check your internet connection or if you are behind a proxy..
I am getting following CURL output:
curl -v https://index.docker.io
* Rebuilt URL to: https://index.docker.io/
* Hostname was NOT found in DNS cache
* Trying 54.152.78.181...
* Connected to index.docker.io (54.152.78.181) port 443 (#0)
* successfully set certificate verify locations:
* CAfile: none
CApath: /etc/ssl/certs
* SSLv3, TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
* Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to index.docker.io:443
* Closing connection 0
curl: (35) Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to index.docker.io:443
So how will i pull my machines now?
Now getting following message:
Unable to find image 'hello-world:latest' locally latest: Pulling from library/hello-world 03f4658f8b78: Downloading a3ed95caeb02: Downloading docker: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority.
Update(obfuscated keys):
running following command gives output:
~$ openssl s_client -connect index.docker.io:443
CONNECTED(00000003)
depth=1 C = US, O = GeoTrust Inc., CN = RapidSSL SHA256 CA - G3
verify error:num=20:unable to get local issuer certificate
verify return:0
---
Certificate chain
0 s:/OU=GT98568428/OU=See www.rapidssl.com/resources/cps (c)15/OU=Domain Control Validated - RapidSSL(R)/CN=*.docker.io
i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=RapidSSL SHA256 CA - G3
1 s:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=RapidSSL SHA256 CA - G3
i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA
---
Server certificate
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIEpDCCA4ygAwIBAgIDAyF3MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMEcxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVT
MRYwFAYDVQQKEw1HZW9UcnVzdCBJbmMuLQYDVQQLEyZEb21haW4gQ29udHJvbCBW
YWxpZGF0ZWQgLSBSYXBpZFNTTChSKTEUMBIGA1UEAwwLKi5kb2NrZXIuaW8wggEi
MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IBDwAwggEKAoIBAQDRyme75dbw9AxWZ8QFCwMWrrYY
SclZ6HCiEbxSNxHgg08rEfEYi46VrL+joBwlA0t5WIIxHF198NzzdXC4YeGzruY9
7osv5lPrcdeIi+Ad+fY6K0rBBOB3xdqSPPObrINZpDmWhCQjlsnM6a1Th0oSUCjI
345b84/8PH363YO+Qmnl8BWnaTcZoPzeywM9czQsMyF2bOH+dhxja/zim6iu8W34
yBhVQeQRd1QROuHcsQAX19DKTn6TXaAwIBY3xM1Bi5Zl6tueII4dOEoibw/ImR3c
H73Pk7j1Wx+rAXeeq7LwjkUCCSlKNrHFEQ2nbr0R7FH6cck1ppgM8ud1pHr9AgMB
AAGjggFOMIIBSjAfBgNVHSMEGDAWgBTDnPP800YINLvORn+gfFvz4gjLWTBXBggr
BgEFBQcBAQRLMEkwHwYIKwYBBQUHMAGGE2h0dHA6Ly9ndi5zeW1jZC5jb20wJgYI
KwYBBQUHMAKGGmh0dHA6Ly9ndi5zeW1jYi5jb20vZ3YuY3J0MA4GA1UdDwEB/wQE
AwIFoDAdBgNVHSUEFjAUBggrBgEFBQcDAQYIKwYBBQUHAwIwIQYDVR0RBBowGIIL
Ki5kb2NrZXIuaW+CCWRvY2tlci5pbzArBgNVHR8EJDAiMCCgHqAchhpodHRwOi8v
Z3Yuc3ltY2IuY29tL2d2LmNybDAMBgNVHRMBAf8EAjAAMEEGA1UdIAQ6MDgwNgYG
Z4EMAQIBMCwwKgYIKwYBBQUHAgEWHmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnJhcGlkc3NsLmNvbS9s
ZWdhbDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFAAOCAQEATYgwOYz/w9Qyh/YPZQDZ0BdwhkX6OCX0
Mz8pP/OO+E+1RM7ZoAGwHvIaidFqh3WeCLHjGO2IId7Ff5EZUwZhiwog0R7Y838x
OCLza/2shuvjM/FPiyXDQ6q0w4rvpwsNjmYVDdYD8bCH3b8IlO2ysjgdhRYprsdU
jg6h+zK11/tXf6S5vegrgV0F62DYx0tuTTZq/HMuXvbgY2uL1sQ5jiHlzQndV9oL
YMYqJP5MkuAKzDL5u0b8mD/EHtoPkfWOIsA5i9YrAAoWRVOJHwfFfgSY+EpXpFc4
AZUPmdZGh6q1YNavRoOL/1D5aP/VBBtofj54uMbKOK8q6vxIXSyzaw==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
subject=/OU=GT98568428/OU=See www.rapidssl.com/resources/cps (c)15/OU=Domain Control Validated - RapidSSL(R)/CN=*.docker.io
issuer=/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=RapidSSL SHA256 CA - G3
---
No client certificate CA names sent
---
SSL handshake has read 2914 bytes and written 421 bytes
---
New, TLSv1/SSLv3, Cipher is ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
Server public key is 2048 bit
Secure Renegotiation IS supported
Compression: NONE
Expansion: NONE
SSL-Session:
Protocol : TLSv1.2
Cipher : ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
Session-ID: 111E09F815E121C7EA7E7FD0C07C4AC31FFDE4E13AD9BA926AFF03A2E267130C
Session-ID-ctx:
Master-Key: 78A4ABC11BFCCA245F4B3FE8BDA0C0BC3A10D3E9BB447838B06D8BB16DA1553DBBCBFE03408AF34FB7D0CA5E3E7E8D40
Key-Arg : None
PSK identity: None
PSK identity hint: None
SRP username: None
TLS session ticket lifetime hint: 300 (seconds)
TLS session ticket:
0000 - 57 92 4f 5c a0 41 ab d9-62 2c b1 05 66 b5 bc 79 W.O\.A..b,..f..y
0010 - c8 32 a1 b0 f3 df 3d e7-c8 8d 0b 62 b2 6f 2b 99 .2....=....b.o+.
0020 - 80 e1 60 73 19 67 bd c5-bf 4c 61 26 ca 3c 4d bd ..`s.g...La&.i...
0090 - ea ca 71 3e 9a 64 e8 23-dc f6 77 b4 6a 59 ac cd ..q>.d.#..w.jY..
Start Time: 1456385623
Timeout : 300 (sec)
Verify return code: 20 (unable to get local issuer certificate)
---
I tried following commands but in vain:
sudo update-ca-certificates sudo service docker restart
Also following command results:
# update-ca-certificates
Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs... unable to load certificate
140587866932896:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:703:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE
unable to load certificate
140365960205984:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:703:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE
WARNING: Skipping duplicate certificate cacerthaxx.pem
WARNING: Skipping duplicate certificate UbuntuOne-Go_Daddy_Class_2_CA.pem
WARNING: Skipping duplicate certificate UbuntuOne-Go_Daddy_Class_2_CA.pem
4 added, 0 removed; done.
Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d....done.
root@Data-Server:~# update-ca-certificates -f
Clearing symlinks in /etc/ssl/certs...done.
Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs... unable to load certificate
140706921281184:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:703:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE
unable to load certificate
139841225197216:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:703:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE
WARNING: Skipping duplicate certificate cacerthaxx.pem
WARNING: Skipping duplicate certificate UbuntuOne-Go_Daddy_Class_2_CA.pem
WARNING: Skipping duplicate certificate UbuntuOne-Go_Daddy_Class_2_CA.pem
177 added, 0 removed; done.
Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d....done.
How do I recover data from my presumably dead hard disk
I have a Seagate ST3500620AS (Barracuda 7200.11) hard disk:
- SATA
- 500GB
- 7200 spindle speed
I've used this disk for about 2 years now. But today it happened that my computer wouldn't wake up from sleep state. I hard turned off my computer and after turning it back on, I couldn't load the system and after some time of waiting a message came up, that OS can't be loaded from the network.
Checking my BIOS settings I can see that disk is not recognised by it. I unplugged it, put in another disk which got recognised just fine.
Then I tried connecting faulty disk to a different computer via USB (because I have a SATA-USB dock for a portable Seagate) but it didn't get recognised by the system either. I also run Disk management in case disk wasn't partitioned or anything so it would be recognised but not displayed in Explorer. No luck either. Disk doesn't show up anywhere...
So my conclusion is that this disk is now officially dead (RIP my working friend)... But I'd still like to recover more than valuable data from it. Bank certificate is just one of them...
How can I do anything to get to this disk's data? Is there any software that can actually bypass BIOS and access a device directly? Is that at all possible on an everyday machine? Should I start thinking of a data recovery service provider that would do it for me and recover valuable data?
Additional notes
- Disk physically isn't completely dead because on power-up it spins-up, heads get positioned (by the sound of it).
- Network related boot is most likely initiated by computer BIOS, because boot priority is
HD > Floppy > Network...
Answer
Sounds like you've been bitten by the BSY bug (the drive event log location has been set to an invalid location by an off by one error in the firmware). This contains a reference to your model being affected. At one time, you could send the drive into Seagate and they'd revive it by updating the firmware, you'd end up paying only for shipping. Hopefully they're still doing that. If not, you can do it yourself (another link). If you've got more of theses drives, get the firmware updated while they're still operational.
Update
Here are some additional links. This one seems to be a good general introduction that discusses the cabling / voltage requirements for communicating with the drive. This one has more details / discussion.
Windows 7 Licensing - Old Computer to New
I'm now a Mac user, but used to have a Windows laptop that I upgraded from Vista to 7 quite a while back (2 years now). I've not used the machine since I got my Mac, and wondered if there is any way of deactivating the license so it can be used on another Windows box (desktop) that I'd like to do some experimental stuff with, to save me purchasing anew?
It was an upgrade only license, but there is Vista on the box I want to upgrade, too.
Answer
Retail licenses (full and upgrade) of Windows 7 are transferable. With an upgrade license, the new computer must also already have a valid license.
Referring to the Windows 7 retail licenses:
2: INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.
a. One Copy per Computer. You may install one copy of the software on one computer. That computer is the “licensed computer.”
b. Licensed Computer. You may use the software on up to two processors on the licensed computer at one time. Unless otherwise provided in these license terms, you may not use the software on any other computer.
c. Number of Users. Unless otherwise provided in these license terms, only one user may use the software at a time.
d. Alternative Versions. The software may include more than one version, such as 32-bit and 64-bit. You may install and use only one version at one time.
15: UPGRADES.
To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.
17: TRANSFER TO ANOTHER COMPUTER.
a. Software Other than Windows Anytime Upgrade. You may transfer the software and install it on another computer for your use. That computer becomes the licensed computer. You may not do so to share this license between computers.
b. Windows Anytime Upgrade Software. You may transfer the software and install it on another computer, but only if the license terms of the software you upgraded from allows you to do so. That computer becomes the licensed computer. You may not do so to share this license between computers.
How can I stop Excel from eating my delicious CSV files and excreting useless data?
I have a database which tracks sales of widgets by serial number. Users enter purchaser data and quantity, and scan each widget into a custom client program. They then finalize the order. This all works flawlessly.
Some customers want an Excel-compatible spreadsheet of the widgets they have purchased. We generate this with a PHP script which queries the database and outputs the result as a CSV with the store name and associated data. This works perfectly well too.
When opened in a text editor such as Notepad or vi, the file looks like this:
"Account Number","Store Name","S1","S2","S3","Widget Type","Date"
"4173","SpeedyCorp","268435459705526269","","268435459705526269","848 Model Widget","2011-01-17"
As you can see, the serial numbers are present (in this case twice, not all secondary serials are the same) and are long strings of numbers. When this file is opened in Excel, the result becomes:
Account Number Store Name S1 S2 S3 Widget Type Date
4173 SpeedyCorp 2.68435E+17 2.68435E+17 848 Model Widget 2011-01-17
As you may have observed, the serial numbers are enclosed by double quotes. Excel does not seem to respect text qualifiers in .csv files. When importing these files into Access, we have zero difficulty. When opening them as text, no trouble at all. But Excel, without fail, converts these files into useless garbage. Trying to instruct end users in the art of opening a CSV file with a non-default application is becoming, shall we say, tiresome. Is there hope? Is there a setting I've been unable to find? This seems to be the case with Excel 2003, 2007, and 2010.
Answer
But Excel, without fail, converts these files into useless garbage.
Excel is useless garbage.
Solution
I would be a little surprised if any client wanting your data in an Excel format was unable to change the visible formatting on those three columns to "Number" with zero decimal places or to "text." But let's assume that a short how-to document is out of the question.
Your options are:
- Toss a non numeric, not whitespace character into your serial numbers.
- Write out an xls file or xlsx file with some default formatting.
- Cheat and output those numbers as formulas
="268435459705526269","",="268435459705526269"(you can also do="268435459705526269",,="268435459705526269"saving yourself 2 characters). This has the advantage of displaying correctly, and probably being generally useful, but subtly broken (as they are formulas).
Be careful with option 3, because some programs (including Excel & Open Office Calc), will no longer treat commas inside ="" fields as escaped. That means ="abc,xyz" will span two columns and break the import.
Using the format of "=""abc,xy""" solves this problem, but this method still limits you to 255 characters because of Excel's formula length limit.
browser addons - How do I get Firefox to return to the previous tab when closing a tab?
In Opera, when closing a tab, focus returns to the most recently used tab, while in firefox, it returns focus to the right-most tab. I find that the Opera behaviour is almost always what I want. Is there anyway to get this behaviour in Firefox?
Answer
Use add-on Tab Mix Plus It will do this and much more.
Friday 7 February 2020
Failing DVD playback on Windows 7 x64
System: Windows 7 Home Premium x64, brand new HW.
The machine rejects to play a few DVD-s. It is consistent on what to reject. Some DVD-s are fine, they are always fine. Some are rejected, they are always rejected.
All DVD-s played fine on my old XP machine.
The DVD-s are also backed up as ISO files on the hard drive, and can be played via virtual DVD drives. The result is the same. The non-tasty DVD-s are rejected, the tasty ones are accepted to be played via the virtual drive.
I have installed no extra codecs or player software besides Winamp and iTunes for movies. So I just use the default Windows Media Player and the codecs shipped with Windows 7.
Some more hints: The computer has been purchased in Europe, as well as the DVD-s, so I do not believe that this is a region issue. One of the DVD says in it title NTSC, but I have no idea how could digital DVD content be NTSC (or PAL).
Answer
try an alternative media player that doesn't require any codecs to be installed (e.g. SMPlayer) and see if the problem persists.
if you get the portable version, it doesn't even have to be installed on your system, can be used from a USB stick. SMPlayer works with Windows x64.
How to Improve Wireless Networking Range
I have a cable modem which is also a wireless router. I have this modem in my bedroom and the signal is strong in there, but when I go to another room of the house, the signal goes weak. Even in some rooms, the signal is so weak that I cannot have a nice connection, so my Internet connects and disconnects every 30 secs.
How can I amplify my wireless signal? Should I buy some powerful router? Or there is some wireless amplifier stuffs ?
windows - How to remove the meta data of all files within a folder and it's sub folders?
When a right click a file and hit details, it shows me Date created, date modified, owner, and computer.
I have a folder that I want to send to someone.
Basically I want to remove the Date created, date modified, owner, and computer info (and other meta info) for all the files within that folder and its subfolders (and their subfolders etc etc)
My priority is simply to remove Date created, date modified (if I can also remove the other meta data I'll treat it as a bonus).
Does anyone know of a way to do this? I'm using 32-bit Windows Vista SP2 Home Premium.
Can I use a slash in the Windows open file dialog?
In the standard Windows open file dialog (the dialog that comes up with the "File > Open" menu entry in Notepad, for example), I would like to be able to type a path containing slashes /. But only backslashes are accepted (I tried in both Windows XP and Windows 7). I can open c:\autoexec.bat, but if I try opening /autoexec.bat or c:/autoexec.bat, I get the error message
c:/autoexec.bat
The file name is not valid.
Windows accepts slashes as a path separator in some contexts, but sadly not in the open file dialog, at least by default.
Is there a magic registry setting, add-on program or other reasonable¹ method that would let me use slashes in the Windows file opening dialog? I am especially interested in Office 2007 running under Windows 7, but would prefer a solution that applies to all applications that use the standard dialog under XP and 7.
“Don't use Windows” is not an option.
Answer
I'm afraid the answer is no: the dialog you see is from the standard windows API, and most programs will use it. When programming it, there are a couple of options that can be turned on/off and the one casuing your problem is OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST in the OPENFILENAME structure. I could not find anything documenting how exactly it does the check, let alone a way to modify how it does it.
The only solution I see on the Windows side is patching the dll containing the function, and making it do another check allowing forward slashes, but that requires a sheer amount of skill.
On the other side things can be fixed though, if you are a programmer of some kind: the quickest I can think of (apart from modifying the source of the strings) is creating a small command line program that takes current clipboard input, converts forward to backslashes, and puts result on the clipboard again. Put it in a batch file, assign a shortcut to it and done. Your workflow would be: copy path, hit shortcut, hit Ctrl-V in dialog box, that's only one simple extra step. I think most scripting languages can get the clipboard content on windows, and they all can regex replace so it's only a few lines of code actually.
Does Windows 8 require any sort of Virus protection?
I have read about how Windows 8 is better and has better built in security... So the question is, do I really need third party Virus protection, or is the built in security good enough?
Answer
You can use the built in antivirus from the MS which is called Windows Defender but it has all the features of the MS Essential antivirus (except the right click scan option) which we have used on old Windows version.
Just update it regular and you will be safe. You can turn on its Real time protection option which will keep safe you from the malware and viruses.
If you want to add it in the right click menu to scan the drives and folder which you want immediate instead using the custom search's lengthy process you can see my this post.
windows - VNC session with locked screen
Is there a way to run a VNC session while the screen is "locked" on windows?
I want to start a VNC server on a windows box, lock the screen (so that no one locally can access it), and then later connect to that box with VNC.
I'd prefer the native windows locking, but any password protected lock is good.
Answer
Unfortunately, there's a conceptual problem here. VNC works by rendering your desktop on the local machine, and then effectively taking pictures of the desktop and sending them across the network. This means that what VNC sends must be rendered on the serving computer.
While Windows has the capability of hosting multiple interactive sessions at once, it is disabled in non-server editions and seldom used anyway. This means that in practice a VNC server must send what is being rendered by the interactive session at the local console - so what you see in your VNC session must also be what's sent to the display.
There are two potential workarounds:
- A display driver shim that sits between Windows and your graphics card and replaces the video data with something else, like a blank screen. This is the method that LogMeIn uses if you enable Display Blanking - while a LogMeIn session is active, it uses a display driver it installs to effectively disconnect the monitor.
- Use RDP, since RDP sessions are a native interface to Windows, and not just a 'remote desktop' protocol - there is a significant conceptual difference between RDP and VNC. (in fact, since non-server Windows editions only permit one session at a time, logging in to a computer by RDP will forcibly lock the console session if someone is logged in there).
As for option 1, I'm not aware of any VNC servers that implement this feature, but I suspect they must exist. If nothing else, LMI does implement it as I mentioned.
As for option 2, I'd say there's a high chance that this is what you really should be doing. In most cases RDP is a superior option performance, security, and feature-wise. The exception would be if you have a Home edition of windows, since only Professional and above allow you to enable the RDP server (although it is installed in Home editions, just disabled).
networking - How can I use Windows Firewall to only permit the Windows Update service to make an outbound connection?
I'm trying to tailor my Windows Firewall settings (using the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security console) to only permit programs that need to access the Internet with an outbound connection to do so.
This works fine for normal applications as I can just allow the program, but services that load in the svchost.exe process are a problem. The only services I actually need to give access to are Windows Update and the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (and even that, I would only like Windows Update to be able to submit jobs to, but that's another issue.) Is there a method to only allow these to be permitted an outbound connection, and not any of the other services loaded in svchost?
windows 8 - My headphones are not playing voices, but only the music
I'm using stereo headphones on Windows 8. When I play songs I can't hear them normally. Instead I'm only able to hear just "blurry" music, so I can barely hear the voices singing.
How can I resolve this problem?
hard drive - How do I restore a partition without losing the data?
I lost the D-partition in My Computer
I opened My Computer, but couldn't find it and I don't know where it is or how to return it. I went to Disk Management and found it available as free space.
So I tried to make it NTFS, but I had to format the drive and I don't want to, since it will erase my data.
Does anyone know how I can restore my partition without losing my data?
I cannot enable Windows Spotlight
For some reason, I cannot enable Windows Spotlight on my computer. I have Windows 10 Pro N, the same version as another computer in my house that has the Spotlight feature.
I think that the idea of Spotlight is great, is there any way of force-enabling it?
Answer
I have windows pro N. Windows spotlight is definitely not included in 'N' versions of Windows (N versions are related to the EU ruling on media player).
It may or may not be an oversight on MS's part to not include Spotlight in the N versions. I can't find any info on it anywhere. No amount of patching, or reg keys will fix it.
Even installing this patch doesn't fix it. This will fix a few other missing bits. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3133719
Accidentally set off mode that ignores keyboard input except to toggle actions, windows
Every once in a while I seem to accidentally chord something that puts Windows 7 into "be a total PITA" keyboard mode. It seems to be some kind of special keyboard navigation or command mode, where single keypresses will make the UI do things, e.g., D toggles the active window between minimised and unminised. The mouse still works, but I can't use anything that needs text input anymore. This has happened while using several programs, including Minecraft and Firefox. I've been a Windows user for a long time, but I'm not familiar with this behaviour.
Since I have no idea how PITA Command Mode was activated, I don't know how to deactivate it either. Logging off the Windows user and logging back in returns things to normal and is my current solution, but I'd like to just completely disable this behaviour.
I at first assumed it was an accessibility option I'd left un-disabled, but I already have all the accessibility options turned off. I figured it was maybe a feature of my keyboard (MS Wireless Keyboard 3000 v2.0), but I have almost all of the special (media, etc.) keys turned off (in the up-to-date official drive management utility) and none of the ones still enabled jump out at me as possibly having this effect.
I have the Windows, Flip 3D, and Application keys disabled.
Language and keyboard are set to English (Canada) and US (a.k.a. "Qwerty"), respectively.
Answer
I think the most likely scenario is that your Windows key is getting stuck “on.”
Certainly if Win+D is pressed, then it minimises windows, so if the Windows key is stuck, then D on its own would do this.
Usually just hitting the Win again should unstick it.
The other option is that you have Sticky Keys enabled, and you have "Lock modifier keys when pressed twice in a row" option enabled, and have then pressed the Win key twice to lock it.
You can enable sticky keys by hitting shift five times in a row, which is easier than it sounds (at least in my experience).
You can check the status of this by going to
Control Panel\Ease of Access\Ease of Access Center\Set up Sticky Keys
software rec - Alternatives to Real Player
I'm looking for a program that can open Real Player files (.ram). Real Player stinks, and I don't want to install it on my computer. Unfortunately, I have to open some .ram files for an online class that I'm taking. Are there any media players that can open Real Player files?
Answer
Looking for an alternative to real player - check out Real alternative.
Now that is good naming. You get exactly what it says on the tin.
bash - Move all files from subdirectories to current directory?
How can I move the files contained in all subdirectories to the current directory, and then remove the empty subdirectories?
I found this question, but adapting the answer to:
mv * .
did not work; I received a lot of warnings looking like:
mv: wil and ./wil are identical
The files contained in the subdirectories have unique names.
router - How to assign a static IP with a linksys WRT54G2?
For all my googleing it appears the best you can do is tell your computer not to use DHCP; I cannot find a way to do this at the Access Point level.
EDIT: This is not for port forwarding. This is for an internal mythTV server. Right now the DHCP server on the AP is set to assign IP's from 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.149. When I set a static IP outside that range on the computer that computer is unable to connect to the Internet.
I've done this before on my old Buffalo brand AP (may it RIP) without any problems. This seems to be a WRT54G2 specific issue.
Answer
From what I have found, it doesn't look like the WRT54G2 supports setting static IPs through the DHCP server. Depending on the version of the WRT54G2 you could load a 3rd party firmware such as DD-WRT onto the router to add these features. Here is a tutorial from someone who did it on a WRT54G2.
Cannot Update Graphics Drivers - OEM or Generic - Driver does not support this version of windows. - Toshiba - Intel HD 4600
I am completely unable to update intel hd graphics 4600 driver. I have tried using OEM drivers(from Toshiba) and Generic Intel drivers. I have tried the built in exe installers (setup.exe) and using device manager but everytime I get an error. Setup.exe say You don't meet minuium requirments Device manager says Your driver does not support this version of windows.
I have checked many times and downloaded 64bit Windows 10 version that I require.
I don't have a proper graphics card like amd or nvidia just a integrated intel hd graphics 4600
Hardware IDs: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0F31&SUBSYS_F9101179&REV_0E PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0F31&SUBSYS_F9101179 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0F31&CC_030000 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0F31&CC_0300
EDIT:
Windows Update has managed to install updates itself for version 10.18.10.4425. Is this the lastest and is this trustable?
The reason I wanted updated drivers is becuase I thought I might be able to play my favourite game PvZGW2. On it's specification it says it requires a graphics card. But I have found many youtubers who have played without a card with low quality. When I open it says I need to update to Intel driver xx.xx.15.4251? I cannot find this driver so am assuming I have a higher version... When i launch the game the it just goes black and then says there was a problem making it crash da da da. Windows will now try and fix it.
DXDIAG: DXDIAG Thank You ! Could this be anthing? Problem signature:
P1: GW2.Main_Win64_Retail.exe
P2: 1.0.7.0
P3: 581be994
P4: igdusc64.dll
P5: 10.18.10.4425
P6: 5702a750
P7: c0000094
P8: 00000000002163ec
P9:
P10:
Thursday 6 February 2020
What do the acronyms mean after the slash in the Firefox dictionary?
What do these capital letters mean after the / character in the en-US.dic file found in the \Firefox\Dictionaries folder?
For example:
collectivism/M
collectivist/MS
collectivity
collectivization/M
collectivize/GDS
collector/MS
colleen/SM
college/SM
collegial
What does M or MS or GDS, etc. mean? I'm sure there's documentation online somewhere, but I'm not having much luck finding it.
Answer
The letter identifiers refer to affixes listed in the corresponding .aff file. This prevents the need to list every form of every word in the .dic file. See "Understanding the Affix File Format" for further information.
The same format is used by the MySpell spell checker.
windows xp - CD Burned in XP isn't readable in Vista
I burned a CD on XP using the built-in burning software and I can read the CD on that machine, but when I insert it into my Vista machine, I can't read the files. It shows the correct volume label, and the correct 'free space', but I can't access the actual files.
Am I missing something obvious?
(Both systems are fully up-to-date)
Answer
If you didn't finalize the disk then it is only readable in the drive that created it. This will make it look like it's an XP to Vista problem if these are the only two computers that you've tried it on.
Are there any wireless routers that allow bandwidth monitoring and throttling?
Are there any wireless routers that would allow me to see what clients are hogging up bandwidth and that would let me limit them so that they can't grab it all? Both wifi-wise and internet-wise.
I would be especially interested in one what would let me set a default limit for everyone but certain computers.
Example usage could be to set up a hot-spot at an event with many visitors and prevent some of them from grabbing all the bandwidth by running bittorrent transfers or something like that.
Answer
I don't know the specifics of each, but DD-WRT and Tomato are two firmware options I've heard a lot about; they might be able to do something like that.
What is Git Bash for Windows anyway?
I have happily been using Git and Git Bash from https://git-scm.com/. There is a page with more information here: https://git-for-windows.github.io/.
Yesterday I ran into a problem with rsync, and I started digging deeper into Git Bash for Windows. I realized that I'm not even sure of the name of the Bash program, because it's just bundled with the git-scm download. I'm calling it Git Bash for Windows, which seems reasonable.
In looking into "What is Git Bash" I read about Cygwin and a different thing called mysys2, which seems to be related to mysysGit, and I saw references to MinGW. But, then I saw in the FAQ that mintty is the the default terminal for Git Bash.
It seems that the Bash application is actually a specially curated bundle of other things (mostly listed above) that are available independently.
Fundamentally, I would like to know what is the basis that makes *nix commands like ssh scp cat ls work in Git Bash for Windows?
(I think a good answer would help someone understand, in broad strokes, how these components fit together and understand the right words for the components, but I don't want to break the SO question / answer format.)
Answer
You are correct, Git Bash for Windows is not just bash compiled for Windows. It's package that contains bash (which is a command-line shell) and a collection of other, separate *nix utilities like ssh, scp, cat, find and others (which you run using the shell), compiled for Windows, and a new command-line interface terminal window called mintty.
On Windows you might run commands like ipconfig /all or format G: using cmd.exe. These commands are actual executable files under C:\Windows\system32, stored as ipconfig.exe and format.com files. cmd.exe is separate from both and loads and runs them on user's request.
ssh, scp, cat, find are run using bash in exactly the same way. They are usually stored under /usr/bin rather than in C:\Windows\system32 on *nix systems, because Windows and *nix have their system file structure organised differently.
In the case of Git Bash for Windows these programs are located in the Git installation folder: C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin, which can also be found in the emulated Linux environment under /usr/bin.
Just like being able to just run cmd.exe on *nix doesn't allow you to do much without the other system utilities, just being able to run Bash on Windows is not very useful either. This means that all these extra commands have to be bundled together with Bash to create a usable software package.
Normally those extra commands would be found on *nix systems and not on Windows, because they have been programmed against the POSIX programming API (which is what *nix uses), and not the Win32 APIs (which is what Windows uses). POSIX API documentation is openly available, so some people have ported it to other systems, including Windows. Windows implementation of POSIX APIs/libraries are provided by Cygwin and MSYS.
This is kind of similar to what the Wine project does, but it converts POSIX->Windows rather than Windows->POSIX like Wine does.
mintty is included because cmd.exe, the default Windows command line window, is missing some important features which are normally available on most *nix systems. In most cases, mintty is a better choice for running commands (certainly for the utilities that come with the Git Bash for Windows package), but occasionally a Windows system application may work better with cmd.exe.
All windows on the screen at the same time in Windows XP
I'm a happy Windows XP user for around 15 years and yesterday I accidentally hit random keys combination which brought me to this
What's this and how did I do this?
windows 7 - Restore deleted default folders
I was tinkering with my new laptop and, on purpose, deleted those default folders in my "home" directory: "My Music", "Links", "Favorites". This, because, i decided i wanted all my data on another partition, leaving C: only for applications and configs files.
But now, some of the explorer functionalities are gone: i cannot use the Favorites tree in the left side pane, also discovered that "My Documents" stores some PowerShell config file.
I feel like i misunderstood this folders' purpose and by deleting them, provoked some Explorer instability. Is there any way to restore them? I do not seem to find it.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Flip x and y axes in Excel graph
This should not be very difficult, but I cannot figure out how to do it.
I have a table similar to this
%low %high
0 0 12
1 13 26
...
19 90 94
20 95 100
When I graph it, excel defaults to having the first column on the x axis and plotting the second and third column as y values. I want the first column to be on the y axis instead. I assume there is an easy way to do this, but I cannot figure it out. Most of the things I have found from searching have suggested the "Switch Row/Column" button, but that does something else.
Thanks for the help.
Answer
You can manually select what you wish to graph.
Here is my sample data:
I select to create a scatterplot graph. Upon editing the data source, I click the Add button.
You can select whatever you want for series name but I select the column header. X Values are the values in your X column of course. Y values are one of the Y columns.
Repeat the process for the second set of data.
Windows 8 sign in error code: 0x80070426
while switching or creating a new user account on Windows 8 it is unable to sign in. Windows 8 sign in error code: 0x80070426. Tried to switch user with other account still same error. How to fix it
windows - VM running CentOS, can ping but can't access web server
I've been trying to set up a CentOS server for the first time (ever setting up a Linux server). The installation went fine, I installed LAMPP (and the required dependencies for x86), used the lampp security tool, and went to http://192.168.0.112:8888/ using elinks.
So far so good... But then I wanted to access the server from the other computers in my network (including the host of the VM). But I can't get it to work and keep getting 404's...
Note that I have another webserver running on this network (on port 80), so I changed Listen 80 to Listen 8888 in httpd.conf and forwarded 8888 in my router to the IP from the CentOS installation (static: 192.168.0.112, according to ifconfig).
Ping 192.168.0.112 returns:
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.112:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
Server details:
- CentOS 6.5 minimal, installed from .iso
- LAMPP 1.8.1 (via wget from apachefriends.org)
Host details:
- Windows 8.1 x64
- VirtualBox is using a Bridged Network Adapter (translated from Dutch: Netwerk bridge adapter)
Any ideas on how to fix this issue? I'm relatively new to networking and server as I'm a front-end developer myself, but I really want to get into back-end stuff.
It's getting really late now, so I'm off to bed. Hopefully I get some good insights in how networking/CentOS works in the morning!
Thanks in advance.
Answer
More than likely is a virtualhost configuration inside apache. There is a section in there that will say "allow from [something]". Make sure it says "allow from all".
Here is what mine looks like;
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride AuthConfig FileInfo Limit
Order allow,deny
allow from all
My personal opinion is to not use xampp at all. You are actually making things more difficult. Just use the native packages in CentOS. Here is a good tutorial (from a quick google search)
Or, you can install Ubuntu Server and there is an option during the install phase that you can check to install LAMP. It will download and install all of the packages for you.
Good luck.
windows 7 - How can I set a dual-display, single-background when my primary display is on the right?
I have two displays, and I've managed to change the background to a new panoramic picture I've taken. It does span across my monitors, but I believe I have ran into a Windows bug.
My #1 monitor (plugged into the #1 port of my docking station) is to the right of my #2 display. My #1 monitor is also my primary/main monitor which means my Taskbar is located on my Right monitor, instead of my left monitor which I imagine is much more common for users with two displays.
I can not get my panoramic image to span from my secondary display (on the left) to my primary display. Instead, the left side of the image starts on my right screen, and the middle of the image, starts on my left monitor, left side.
This makes my background look like two distinct images, rather than one large panorama.
I've fiddled with every Windows setting that I can think of, and I actually swapped how my monitors are plugged into my docking station.
I can't re-orient my background to get the full panoramic affect. Is this a Windows 7 bug because my primary display is on the right, or am I doing something wrong?
Below is a screenshot of my monitor settings.
CLARIFICATION
If you will notice above, my #1 display is on the right, #2 on the left. Originally, #1 was on the left and #2 was on the right. Regardless, my main display has always been physical-right.
I switched them by not moving the monitors, but flipping around the cables on the docking station-- this is effectively the same thing, with less physical work.
In the image above, you can swap your order of displays by dragging and dropping your monitors in the position that you want in this settings screen. I had to float the order of the displays when I swapped the cables, so that the settings would match the physical setup.
Regardless, in both contexts I've set the "Main Display" to be the one that is on the right-hand side. This setup allows for me to setup my favored desktop to the right, and I can drag my mouse to the far-left to reach my secondary display. If I flipped both of these settings (desktop order of [1, 2] and map the Main Display option to Monitor #2), my desktop would look the same as it does now except I have to drag my mouse to the right to reach the second display.
That doesn't fix the problem, though, because now Windows is assuming there is a different, physical orientation of my displays but, technically, the background would be laid out correctly for the background setup.
Answer
In my experience, there does not appear to be any native means of resolving this. Windows will assume that any wallpaper image intended to span multiple screens should originate from the top-left corner of the primary display, regardless of where the primary display is in relation to the others.
There are a couple ways to work around this. One, as suggested by @Petr, is to chop up the image in an image editor (e.g.: MSPAINT) and put the right half on the left and vice-versa. This can be a little tricky, especially if the image isn't at the same aspect ratio as your monitor or if you have monitors with different resolutions/ratios.
The other alternative is to get a program that will do it for you. There are several out there which will generate the image for you to set as your desktop background. I prefer DisplayFusion, which also offers a number of options for resolving other common multi-monitor headaches. DisplayFusion comes in Free and Pro editions, and the Free edition is totally free - no adware, spyware, or nagware.
macos - Viewing the full Skype chat history
I have Skype 2.8 on Mac OS X 10.5.8.
Under the the chat menu is an option called "Recent Chats". This allows me to see logs of recent chats, but not of older ones.
I know the older ones are stored because they are in ~/Library/Application Support/Skype/username/chatmsg256.dbb. This file when put in a text editor has text chat information from all my previous Skype chats. It is however stored in an unknown file format that I do not know how to parse.
Does Skype have a built-in log viewer (like Adium's) that I can use to access these older logs?
Answer
I'm not sure if this shows the entire history, but try the following. Whether the contact is online or offline, pop up the chat window.
Then click "All" under "View earlier messages:".
Alternatively, click the gear icon for the contact and select "View Chat History". That generates an html file that is opened in your web browser window.
The reason I'm not sure if this shows all the history is because I can't fully remember when my chat history began on this computer.
formatting - Reusing a USB Boot Drive - Format back to factory state?
I am trying to reuse a USB boot drive (Mac) for regular file storage on Windows ... when Windows detects it, it won't let me reformat to anything greater than a 40 MB or so - and this is an 8 GB drive... How do you format the drive back to its original factory state?
Answer
You did not provide any information about which version of Windows you are using or about what sort of partitioning this USB drive is using.
If you are using Windows 7 then perhaps it cannot delete the partitions because your USB drive was GPT formatted by your Mac? If that is the case, then run DISKPART from an (elevated) command prompt. If a partition is READ ONLY or HIDDEN I don't think it can be deleted unless you force it. For example, use DELETE PARTITION OVERRIDE.
See the HELP for DISKPART for more info if you need it.
Of course, using dd from a Linux Live CD boot is also a way to clear the drive. FWIW, you don't have to write zeros to the entire USB drive. Just clearing the first MiB or so would do it. Adding count=2 to the example in hotei's answer should accomplish this.dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/usb_device_name_goes_here bs=1024k count=2
Unless I've screwed it up the above should write 2 blocks of 1024k (1MiB) zero bytes to the device you specify as the outfile (of=). This will wipe out the partition table whether it is GPT or MBR and then Windows can partition it as you wish.
home networking - Is it possible to configure a TP_Link ADSL router to work with a cable connection?
I have purchased TP Link ADSL router a while back when I was connecting to my first ISP via ADSL.
Now, I have changed the ISP to a cable company and am having trouble setting up the router to connect to the new cable modem.
The Internet works, but only in bridge mode, i.e. my PC gets a public IP, and isn't part of the 192.168.1.0 network (and can't be accessed by other PCs in the network) which is what I want - I want the router to have the NAT and the clients behind it to have access to the Internet, but with 192.168.1.0 addresses.
The setup is pretty simple - from cable modem one network cable to router, from router another network cable to PC.
When I configure the router to use Encapsulation - Bridged (VC Mux), my PC gets the public IP and the Internet works. When I configure it to use a routed connection (either LLC or VC Mux) I do get the local IP but no Internet (regardless of the NAT setting)
The router also has diagnostics, status, ping etc, but nothing I change in the PVC settings enables the Internet.
Is what I'm trying even possible? If so, how can I do it? What am I missing?
Answer
No, you will need another wireless router.
The WAN side of the TP-Link's router is dedicated and internally connected to the ADSL modem and phone port, so you have no means to use the router's uplink capability. The Ethernet ports you do have access to are all for the LAN (local area network). If you could convert one of those RJ45 ports to WAN functionality, then you could use that TP-Link unit with a cable modem.
windows - can't exclude path with a space (xcopy)
I'm trying to use xcopy /exclude:exclude.txt and one of the paths in exclude.txt has a space in it and it's not working. Is there any workaround for this?
Answer
Reading through the relevant sections of the xcopy help
/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...
Specifies a list of files containing strings. Each string
should be in a separate line in the files. When any of the
strings match any part of the absolute path of the file to be
copied, that file will be excluded from being copied. For
example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude
all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the
.obj extension respectively.
We can see that the exclude option is not working on paths or file names but "filters". To illustrate this I'll try to give a short example. Picture this exclude.txt
Unicorns
Dolphins
This will filter out any file that has unicorns or dolphins anywhere in its name. e.g Dolphins.txt will be filtered but Ponys.txt will be fine.
To get back to your issue. The reason that your filter isn't matching isn't because of the space in the path. By default xcopy will only care about the filename and not the full path, any filter you have that includes a full path will not match and the file will get copied.
You can change this behavior of xcopy by supplying the /f flag in your command. This should solve the issue you're seeing.
How to launch multiple instances of microsft edge browser and collect their Process Ids
How can I launch multiple edge browsers, that too in private mode and then get the process Ids. Also, is there any way to say that they should all be in different browser sessions and shouldn't share?
Having Windows 7 "Sort by File Type" by default
Possible Duplicate:
How can I make all Windows 7 folders show in the same view mode?
I use to have a XP desktop, which I had set so that when I went into a folder, the default way it would sort said folders contents would be by file type. Now with my windows 7 laptop, thats not the case - It sorts by Name by default.
This is a bit of a pain, because I can find files and folders a lot faster when going by file type and then by name, rather by name. Is there anyway I can set windows 7 to sort by file type by default?
Right now I'm having to click "Type" to have it sort for every "New" folder (that is a folder I have not gone in before, and thus sorted by name), which I dont really like.
Answer
1) Make sure you have only one Explorer window open. Right click on an empty space of a folder and select “View – List”, then right click again and select “Sort by – Type” (if you don’t see the “Type” option, click on “More…” at the end of Sort Options and in the list that appears find the “Type” option and bring it to the top of the list.)
2) Press the alt key to release the top menu of Explorer, and go to “Tools – Folder Options”. Go to the second tab (“View”) of the dialogue box that appears, and press the “Apply to Folders” button. You will be asked to confirm; do it.
3) Close the window by pressing the Ctrl key and (with this key pressed) clicking the x button at the right top of Windows Explorer.
An SSH tunnel via multiple hops
Tunneling data over SSH is pretty straight-forward:
ssh -D9999 username@example.com
sets up port 9999 on your localhost as a tunnel to example.com, but I have a more specific need:
- I am working locally on
localhost host1is accessible tolocalhosthost2only accepts connections fromhost1- I need to create a tunnel from
localhosttohost2
Effectively, I want to create a "multi-hop" SSH tunnel. How can I do this? Ideally, I'd like to do this without needing to be superuser on any of the machines.
Answer
You basically have three possibilities:
Tunnel from
localhosttohost1:ssh -L 9999:host2:1234 -N host1As noted above, the connection from
host1tohost2will not be secured.Tunnel from
localhosttohost1and fromhost1tohost2:ssh -L 9999:localhost:9999 host1 ssh -L 9999:localhost:1234 -N host2This will open a tunnel from
localhosttohost1and another tunnel fromhost1tohost2. However the port9999tohost2:1234can be used by anyone onhost1. This may or may not be a problem.Tunnel from
localhosttohost1and fromlocalhosttohost2:ssh -L 9998:host2:22 -N host1
ssh -L 9999:localhost:1234 -N -p 9998 localhostThis will open a tunnel from
localhosttohost1through which the SSH service onhost2can be used. Then a second tunnel is opened fromlocalhosttohost2through the first tunnel.
Normally, I'd go with option 1. If the connection from host1 to host2 needs to be secured, go with option 2. Option 3 is mainly useful to access a service on host2 that is only reachable from host2 itself.
Wednesday 5 February 2020
How to restore the window of tabs crashed 1 day ago in Google Chrome
How do you restore the window of tabs crashed 1 day ago in Google Chrome? if I have used another window of many tabs in Chrome for 1 day.
windows - Some questions on laptop battery
Possible Duplicates:
What is it that kills laptop batteries?
Do newer laptop batteries still need to be drained before recharging?
Is it better to use laptop on battery or on AC power?
I have found some laptop battery myths in here: http://batterycare.net/en/guide.html But I have a few more questions so that I can ensure that my battery will last longer.
- Do I really need to drain the battery for up to 10% and below if the laptop is new? Or can I charge it immediately on first use
- What if I charge the battery to about 25% then there's a sudden blackout and I'm not able to continue the charge would it decrease the lifespan of the battery?
- Does turning off the laptop while charging decreases its lifespan?
- Do I always need to full charge the laptop?
- Is there any application for windows that would deactivate windows aero and other battery draining features of the windows 7 OS when the laptop is not plugged in. And activates it when plugged in?
- Is battery care effective? http://batterycare.net/en/download.html
- Is it ok to interrupt laptop charging? For example, I'm at 20% charge, but then I need to move places, then continue charging again.
networking - Simplest way to check for dynamic IP change
What would be the easiest way to find, with a script, if my IP address has changed?
Background info:
I have a standard home cable modem connexion, and my ISP assigns me a dynamic IP. It changes every now and then, the DHCP lease times seems irregular.
Basically, I'm doing my own dynamic DNS thing, and can update the DNS records pointing to my home server with a click. The only thing remaining is to detect an IP change so I can fully automate the process.
Now there are several websites here which can return your IP address, and I could use a cron job to wget one of these pages and grep the IP address from it... But it seems overkill in terms of CPU / bandwidth usage, and it's not very KISS.
Am I missing some simple and elegant way to retrieve my public IP and check if it has changed?
Extra info: my modem/router is a cheap brick, it does nothing very interesting in that regard. My server runs with Centos 6.
Answer
Assuming you're behind NAT, the most elegant way I can think of is to run a cron job on the router itself, periodically checking ifconfig too check its current WAN address. This may even be possible on a 'cheap brick' if you are able to install custom firmware. However elegant, hardly simple.
As discussed here, on Windows, but the argument is equally valid for Centos, in polling the WAN IP from behind NAT, you run into the problem that you don't technically have an external address. Instead, you are routed through one at the router's discretion. Obviously, you would still have access to this information as long as the router is under your control, but there is no universal way of communicating this IP address to hosts on the local network. As a result, your server cannot simply ask the router for the external IP it will be using.
The most efficient alternative would be to just let the router do its magic and actually make the connection to an external server, then asking it to return the address the request originated from. A lot of webservers have been set up specifically for this purpose. For scripting, I can recommend http://icanhazip.com/, as it requires no further parsing on your part (only the IP is returned in plain-text).
If necessary, the answers to the question linked to before ought to provide plenty of tips on implementation.
crash - Why is my computer shutting down when under pressure?
I recently built a computer with the following relevant specs:
The problem that I am having is that whenever my computer is doing something resource intensive, it shuts down after a few minutes of it. For example, if I try playing Call of Duty 4/5, it will play fine for the first 10 minutes or so and then the computer will just shut down. While that made me think it was the video card, if I do other things like trying to encode videos through Adobe Premiere or something like that the computer only lasts for 1-2 minutes and then shuts down.
I have replaced the power supply (I initially used the 350W crappy one that came with the case but later switched to the 550W one listed), the graphics card (I RMA'ed the first one I got) and the memory cards (I have tried many others with the same results)
I am not great with the hardware side of computers but naturally the one thing everyone is probably thinking is that my computer is overheating. While I definitely think that is most likely the issue, I was wondering if there was any way to know for sure or perhaps run some sort of diagnostics on the whole thing. I have tried opening up my case and having a fan directly pointing at everything just to see how it behaves and it seems to last a little longer but still ends up shutting down. I've installed additional fans, put thermal compound on parts, and I am still getting the same results.
So, what could be the culprit?
Answer
I would have come to the same conclusion as you have. I would have thought that this was either related to power or overheating.
It is worth going in to System Settings > Advanced (not giving exact instructions as not sure if Windows 7/Vista/XP), and then under startup and recovery choose "Disable automatic restart on system failure" as this will rule out you getting BSOD's without knowing.
I often find that socket 775 fans are very hard to know if you have installed correctly. I personally put a flat head screwdriver in each of the four slots and strike the top of my screw driver with a hammer.
As soon as it shuts down, go in to the BIOS and take a look at temperatures / health settings and see if you can see anything unusual - typically if it is above 70, it most likely is that the heatsink is not on correctly.
This sort of issue is not easy to diagnose in this method without seeing the computer, but hopefully this has helped you.
Easiest way to find out if user has either Windows 7 or Vista (through telephone support)?
If you have to provide some initial troubleshooting support by phone [or email], and you don't have access to the user's PC itself, what is the easiest and most foolproof question one can ask of the user to find out if the 'dumb' user is using either Windows 7 or Windows Vista?
For example: determining if the user has either Windows XP or Windows Vista/7 is easy. Just ask the user if the button at the left bottom corner is (a) either square with the word 'Start' on it, or (b) it is a round button.
But how do you determine the difference between Vista and 7?
Edit: For all the existing answers the user has to type something, and do it correctly. Sometimes even that is already hard for a computer illiterate user. My XP example just requires looking. If it exists (although I am afraid it doesn't), I think a solution that is just based on something this is visually different between Vista and 7 would stand above all others. (Which makes Dan's suggestion to turn over the box and look at the label" not so stupid). Perhaps the small 'show desktop' rectangle at the right side of the task bar (was that present in Vista)?
Answer
Press CTRL + ALT + DEL it says so in the bottom and most people are aware of this shortcut (especially in corporate environments where people have to press CTRL + ALT + DEL to login).
vs
ffmpeg - How to display current time with the ffplay.exe?
I need to play video files by the ffplay (or the ffmpeg if is it possible) and display current play time.
Please tell me how can I see the current play time (as H:M:S) with ffplay?
OS = MS Windows 7
Answer
ffplay -vf "drawtext=text='%{pts\:hms}':box=1:x=(w-tw)/2:y=h-(2*lh)" input.mp4
If your build does not support fontconfig, then you'll have to add the
fontfileoption with the path to the font. See drawtext filter docs for more info.In Windows you may have to first set the
FONTCONFIG_PATHvariable (and/or other related variables).You can add
boxborderw=4if you want more padding in the box, but you'll need a relatively recent build. See the FFmpeg Download page.
What units does wget use for bandwidth?
When downloading, wget reports speed in "K/s". K...what? kilobits? kilobytes? 1024 or 1000?
Update:
wget -O /dev/null http://newark1.linode.com/100MB-newark.bin
produces "348 K/s". Meanwhile:
- nethogs says "343 KB/sec" for the entire Wi-Fi connection
- System Monitor says 364 "KiB/s" for the entire Wi-Fi connection
- Tomato says "3010.44 kbit/s (367.48 KB/s)" for the Wi-Fi connection (which is consistent with decimal kilobits and binary kilobytes).
So we know it's kilobytes, and probably perverse kilobytes, since the number would be bigger for decimal kilobytes.
Answer
I would guess K stands for kilobytes.
In the GNU Wget 1.12 Manual, K always stands for kilobytes.
performance - How to speed up the ftp upload process?
So why are FTP uploads soo slow? I am using filezila as a client.
I have like 10 mb in 1000 files and I can upload each individual file with 300-500kb/s yet the whole upload is incredibily slow due to the queueing process that occurs as files are uploaded. For every singe file the client performs all kind of commands and connection operations before actually uploading.
Is there no way to skip over these commands? I am new to ftp clients/uploads/websites etc Is this standard practice? Is this just the way ftp uploads work? Don't you get bored waiting like 20 minutes for 8-10 mb?
How can I efficiently upload 100 mb or more?
thunderbird filter for "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64"
I'm getting spam that has a consistent signature in the (raw) body of the text message (and it's only purpose is to obfuscate the text to get around filters. The common signature is:
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Can I write a filter for this signature?
Thanks - Doug
Answer
Yes you can. Go to the Tools menu and select "Message Filters". Click on "new" and under "match all of the following" click on the select box that says "Subject" and select "Customise ..." and enter "Content-Type". Click "Add" and then OK.
Now in the select box you will have "Content-Type" as an option and you can make the condition "is" and put "text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64" in the text box.
However other emails will almost certainly have the same header, so you want to look for other things from the email that can narrow it down further. Maybe the User-Agent or something else.
And even once you've got a fairly narrow filter be sure to check your spam folder regularly for a while to see if you are catching any good emails.
Personally I've had a pretty good experience with just marking messages as spam and having Thunderbird learn to recognise the spam. To do this, go into "Account Settings", select "Junk Settings" and tick the box next to "Enable Adaptive junk mail controls for this account".
Tuesday 4 February 2020
windows - Why is "127.0.0.1 localhost" needed in HOSTS file?
I disabled all my network connections and deleted 127.0.0.1 localhost in HOSTS file but cannot find what had I broken by it. My IIS and MS SQL Server 2008 R2 continues to resolve localhost just fine
Why does HOSTS file always contain 127.0.0.1 localhost ?
What had I broken by deleting this entry?
I am on Windows XP Pro SP3 writing here still without localhost in HOSTS file.
Should I put it back and how fast ?
The reasons of interest are many fold - for instance:
------ UPDATE05:
I am not changing the question! I add updates. Can I ask to stop deleting and editing it until I write that I fished with it? For ex., just now I wrote the same comment in all posts addressing the same point.
This is the essence of my question/doubt - that the DNS does not make any sense in relation to "localhost" or "127.0.0.222" or "(local)" names, synonyms, aliases, links, addresses, IDs, tokens, whatever.
They are hundreds synonyms to the same entity and they are internal and Windows-es know it without any resolutions since there is no sense to resolve between so many synonyms!
They are related to internal computer mechanisms while DNS is external (between various computers). How can internal IDs can depend on external ones?
All Windowses (including Home Editions) will have internal DNS server in order to function? and then replicate it when/if connected to network?
Well, the link from comments did not appear in Linked section, as I was told.
I forked a child subquestion:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3536351/is-localhost-host-resolved-to-127-0-0-1
Answer
The hosts file just associates canonical or fully qualified names to IP addresses.
For instance, I could have:
127.0.0.1 moes-bar-and-grill
Then anything connecting to moes-bar-and-grill would establish a connection to the loopback device, aka 127.0.0.1, commonly resolved as localhost.
I could also have (and this is quite common)
127.0.0.1 annoying-ad-server.com
Applications continue to work because they will connect to 127.0.0.1 (which is still a configured / up interface) if localhost does not resolve.
I'm not sure why you would want to disable the loopback address, but simply taking localhost out of your host file is not going to do that.
Edit
Well written software will make more than one attempt at resolving anything (resolving in a sense of working around problems, no pun intended) before it just dies and in some cases will continue to function even if things are not as expected. That does not mean that the software will work as advertised, it only means that it was written by a very defensive programmer.
Very defensive does not always mean helpful when it comes to telling the user that serious problems exist, for instance localhost not resolving. I can write stuff that passes tests no matter what a user does to their system, but that does nothing to promote the cause of "This won't work!". There is a stark difference between it runs and it works and you will only explore the difference between the two over time with every program that you run.
While everything seems to work, now, I think you may be headed for trouble later.
Disclaimer: I write software for a living.
windows 7 - How can I optimize the speed and lifetime of SSDs used in a RAID-0?
I have two SSDs in RAID-0 on a Windows 7, 64-bit system. Since it appears that TRIM still isn't supported with any RAID configuration of SSDs, what are some tips/workarounds that I can use?
Some things, but not limited to, that I would like to optimize are:
- file write sizes to each disk to best match each 'block' sizes that are erased by the SSD.
- speed of the RAID reads/writes
- overall health of the drives
- Settings of the RAID (i.e. stripe size)
- any other 'tips' that might be considered for a RAID of SSD's
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