Java 7 update 51 blocks Citrix receiver for Java

Reports of users being unable to use the Java client for Citrix from Citrix Access Gateway (CAG) are caused by a security update Oracle have applied to Java.

Information available from the Citrix forums here:
http://discussions.citrix.com/topic/346128-java-7-update-51-due-for-release-in-january-2014-will-block-receiver-for-java-101/

Citrix have release a patched version (v10.1.007) which is available here:
http://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver/other-platforms/receiver-for-java-101.html

Kasperky AV support for Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1

This is now supported in Kaspersky Endpoint Security 10 Maintenance Release 1.
More info (and download) here:
http://support.kaspersky.co.uk/10578

Word KB2837593 patch causing 100% CPU useage

Updating an image for a VMWare View VDI Desktop, I applied all of the recent Microsoft Office 2010 patches. However, when the desktops were refreshed, all started three copies of Winword.exe running under the System account. One of these copies of Word was using 100% which created mayhem on the VDI platform.

I've removed KB2837593 from the VMWare View VDI desktop image and the platform seems to have stabilised. We aren't seeing this on our Citrix XenDesktop platform, but this also doesn't have the KB2837593 patch applied yet.

Has anyone else seen this? Please feedback if you have.

Unity Tweak now available for Ubuntu

Running the following commands will install Unity Tweak into Ubuntu for you: 

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freyja-dev/unity-tweak-tool-daily

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

Thanks to OMG Ubuntu for the instructions:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/02/introducing-unity-tweak-tool

Thanks to PupptLinuxWorld for the heads up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SWM4YFO2gA

Matching users from a CSV against Active Directory using PowerShell

I am trying to match users I have in a CSV with two columns (givenName and sn) against active directory.


The following script produces no output at all, not even an error:
Import-Csv input.csv | foreach {Get-ADUser -LDAPFilter "(&(givenName=$_.givenName)(sn=$_.sn))"}


The components work individually:

• Import-Csv input.csv
• Get-ADUser -LDAPFilter "(&(givenName=karl)(sn=foley))"
• Import-Csv input.csv | foreach {write-host $_.givenName,$_.sn}

I've also verified that there are no extra characters in the csv using:
Import-Csv input.csv | foreach {write-host $_.givenName,$_.givenName.length,$_.sn,$_.sn.length}


What am I doing wrong please?

[all variants] AMD/Intel Hybrid Graphics works

How to setup AMD\Intel Hybrid graphics for Ubuntu:

[all variants] AMD/Intel Hybrid Graphics works:


'via Blog this'

Win8/Hyper-V: “What Works and What Doesn’t” Edition | Rob Seder's Blog - ARCHIVE

Win8/Hyper-V: “What Works and What Doesn’t” Edition | Rob Seder's Blog - ARCHIVE:

Allow Hyper-V on Windows 8 to share your WiFi adaptor for network access.
1. Create an internal switch.
2. Allow the WiFi adaptor to be shared.
3. Connect the WiFI adaptor to the internal network switch.

'via Blog this'

How To Integrate Dropbox & Google Drive Into Office 2013

How To Integrate Dropbox & Google Drive Into Office 2013:

'via Blog this'

Install vmwaretools on SLES 11 | BioliZards.be

Install vmwaretools on SLES 11 | BioliZards.be:

Key commands to run before the main install:

    yast2 -i gcc
    yast2 -i kernel-source

'via Blog this'

UbuntuUpdates - PPA: GetDeb Apps

UbuntuUpdates - PPA: GetDeb Apps:

I had some problems getting the new version of Vuze to run on Ubuntu 12.04 and after having tried many things came across teh following PPA information.

Vuze wouldn't display web or search content because of missing libraries and misconfiguration. The following lines allow you to install Vuze5 as a package:

wget -q -O - http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu precise-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'"

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install vuze

More info here:
http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/getdeb_apps?dist=precise

'via Blog this'

Disable Autodiscover in Outlook

I guess if I was to decribe my email setup in the terms of a relationship, then "it's complicated" would be an apt description.

One major issue that I have is Outlooks Autodiscover feature which is supposed to help Outlook discover the correct Exchange servers to connect to.

This works fine if I am connected to my work LAN or VPN, but if I want to look at my offline cached email, Outlook insists on connecting me to my organisations main email servers. Problem is, my email account is not there, and I have no valid Exchange login for there, so Outlook continually prompts me for credentials which will never work, oh, and the button to "never ask for these credentials again" doesn't work either.

Best or only option I have found for stopping this prompt is to enter a fake autodiscover address into my local hosts file. I enter the following line:

127.0.0.1    autodiscover    autodiscover.myworkdomain.com

You'll have to replace "myworkdomain.com" with whatever matches your work email address.

How does that work for you?

Re: FAQ(16): Using HTTP protocol in SDM - HP Enterprise Business Community

Re: FAQ(16): Using HTTP protocol in SDM - HP Enterprise Business Community:

This post explains how to force the use of HTTP with HP SoftPaq Download Manager (SDM) instead of the default passive FTP.

Use the switch /FORCEHTTP.

This solved the errors I was getting with SDM saying it could not access ftp.hp.com with v3.4.10.0.
It immediately downloaded v3.4.11.0, so maybe it's fixed in this version anyway?

Wireshark showed the passive FTP failing with v3.4.10.0.

'via Blog this'

Pidgin with OTR - Secure Instant Messaging | Security In A Box

Pidgin with OTR - Secure Instant Messaging | Security In A Box:

'via Blog this'

Windows Reading List 0x80073cb

Can't install the Windows Reading List update from the Windows Store in Windows 8.1 Preview.
I'm not sure what it is, why I need it, or why it won't install.
Anyone?

Windows 8.1 Preview - Google Talk will not connect

I use two factor authentication with my Google Apps, and while Google Talk was working fine before the install of Windows 8.1 preview, it stopped after it was installed.

Going to accounts.google.com and generating a new passpharse didn't help, but I found this:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1_pr-performance/windows-81-preview-google-talk-will-not-connect/9ec2038f-2dad-444b-a280-1e599cd1900e

I uninstalled Google Talk, and Google Talk plugin for Chrome and re-installed Google Talk from here:
http://dl.google.com/googletalk/googletalk-setup-en-GB.exe

I also reinstalled the Google Chrome voice and video plugin by starting a video call with a contact.

All seems to be working fine now.

Windows 8.1 Preview with Intel Express 4

Looks like Microsoft removed support from Intel Express 4 laptop graphics with the new Windows 8.1 preview as all I was able to get was a standard video adaptor.

I lived with the crippled Intel Express 4 graphics support in Windows 8, as any attempt to run DRM videos failed with the hacked Windows 7 drivers available out there.

However, I tried again and Sky and NetFlix are definately working fine. (Although I'm not to worried about Sky having fallen out with them regarding Sky Go and thier decision to charge for it!)

Thanks to the guys at Eight Forums for the answer:
http://www.eightforums.com/graphic-cards/4418-mobile-intel-series-4-intel-hd-graphics-1st-generation.html

I wouldn't recommend removing the Test Mode logo - That looks like it is designed solely for Windows 8.

Install Windows 8.1 Preview - 0xC1900101 - 0x4000D

Trying to update on-line or with a downloaded CD of Windows 8.1 preview gave me the following problem - Bluescreen on startup follwed by system reverting to Windows 8.

This blog post pointed me in the right direction:
http://iampaulh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/windows-81-preview-fails-to-install.html

This site pointed me to an uninstall option for AKSDF.SYS:
http://www.pulsonix.com/faq.aspx?KB090025

 I'm not sure when this was installed (this was originally an update from Windows 7) but the following applications were installed on the same day:

• Microsoft Expression 4 video encoder

• DVD Flick (Open source DVD Authoring)

• Pinnacle video drivers (to support Pinnacle studio on the iPad)

Removing these applications didn't remove the Sentinal SafeNET driver, but thanks to the Pulsonix site, I was able to find a command line uninstaller.

1. Visit the SafeNet Downloads site
2. Download the Sentinel HASP/LDK - Command Line Run-time Installer
3. Extract it
4. Open a CMD prompt as an administrator
5. From the extracted files directory, run haspdinst -info and you should see the installed version you have, and the installer version enabled
6. Run haspdintst -r to remove
7. Run haspdinst -info again to confirm removal

I didn't try the upgrade by upgrading the SafeNet driver, just removing it.

I'm not really sure what the SafeNet software does, it's all rather vague on the site - Anyone know?

"SafeNet has more than 25 years of experience in delivering innovative and reliable software licensing and entitlement management solutions to software and technology vendors worldwide. Easy to integrate and use, innovative, and feature-focused, the company’s family of Sentinel® Software Monetization Solutions are designed to meet the unique license enablement, enforcement, and management requirements of any organization, regardless of size, technical requirements or organizational structure."

Now, just the Intel Express 4 Video driver issue to crack.

Installing AWS Toolkit For Eclipse (Eclipse v3.8)

I found a couple of pre-requisites for installing AWS SDK for Eclipse 3.8.
Just add the following as software update sources for Eclipse (Help > Install new software...)

Android SDK Plugin for Eclipse:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

Data Tools Plaftorm Enablement Extender SDK:
http://download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo/

You can then install AWS Toolkit for Eclipse:
http://aws.amazon.com/eclipse/

Can't connect facebook to online accounts in 13.04 - Ask Ubuntu

Looks like Facebook are pushing external messaging clients to a non-https page for authentication - Not good!

As a workaround, you can add the following line:
<setting name="AllowedSchemes" type="as">['https','http']</setting>

To the file:
/usr/share/accounts/providers/facebook.provider

I suggest you save a copy of the original file first as any small typo will break it forever.

My file now looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<provider id="facebook">
<name>Facebook</name>
<icon>facebook</icon>
<translations>account-plugins</translations>
<domains>.*facebook\.com</domains>
<plugin>generic-oauth</plugin>
<template>
  <group name="auth">
  <setting name="method">oauth2</setting>
  <setting name="mechanism">user_agent</setting>
    <group name="oauth2">
      <group name="user_agent">
      <setting name="Host">www.facebook.com</setting>
      <setting name="AuthPath">/dialog/oauth</setting>
      <setting name="RedirectUri">https://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html</setting>
      <setting name="Display">popup</setting>
      <setting type="as" name="Scope">['publish_stream','read_stream','status_update','user_photos','friends_photos','xmpp_login']</setting>
      <setting name="ClientId">302061903208115</setting>
      <setting name="AllowedSchemes" type="as">['https','http']</setting>
      </group>
    </group>
  </group>
</template>
</provider>

Kudos to Ankit Shah at:

Can't connect facebook to online accounts in 13.04 - Ask Ubuntu:

Not really a long term answer, Facebook need to sort it!

'via Blog this'

Internet Explorer 9 Navigation blocked due to invalid certificate 1024 bit

Had a problem where IE9 would not open a web page, whereas IE10 would. Web page is the management site for an HP StorOnce B6200 appliance.

Looks like the StorOnce appliance is using a 1024 bit public key, and IE9 doesn't like this. The certificate is self signed, and you get the normal error, but the "Continue to this website (not recommended)." link is not available:

I did some Googling and found this.

I ran certutil -setreg chain\EnableWeakSignatureFlags 8.

I didn't have to reboot, just logged out and in, and the Web page changed:

I will investigate a longterm fix of adding a proper certificate (we have internal certificate servers) or public certificate. I'll also approach HP about icreasing the public key length from 1024 to 2048 bits.

How IE8 catagorises Top Level Domains

Found an interesting issue between IE7 and IE8 (and above) to do with how IE categorises Top Level Domains (TLD).

Why does this list matter? Because it controls what domains you can use with wildcards in site to zone assignments within group policy.

If your domain is on the list - You can't use it with a wildcard.

You can see what the list is by using the following URL in IE8 or IE9:
res://urlmon.dll/ietldlist.xml

Does anyone know what it is in IE10?

Thanks to the following article for helping us along the road of discovery:
http://blog.gerv.net/2009/11/ie_8_and_the_public_suffix_list/

CentOS disable c6-media repo

How to disable CentOS c6-media repo:

http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=33037&forum=56


Link:

https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=32282&forum=55&post_id=138053#forumpost138053

Answer from TrevorH:

Edit the file /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Media.repo and make sure that the line enabled = says 0

Remove old kernels from Redhat

Found this useful article:
http://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2012/delete-remove-old-kernels-on-fedora-centos-red-hat-rhel/

It shows how to remove old kernals manually and automatically from Redhat based distros.

Reason for un-mountability: the original volume has some extents online

I've raised a support request, but thought I'd post this here to see if anyone else has seen the same issue on ESXi 5.1,914609.

We are implementing an HP Cloud Matrix system with ESXi 5.1 as one of the supported Hypervisors. Part of the delivered solution is HP Matrix Recovery Management which allows us to failover services to a DR site that has the VMFS volume synched across two 3Par V400 SANS.

As we understand it, the HP official guide to passing changes from the primary to DR site is to export the configuration, failover the storage, and then import the conifguration at the remote site. There is another way of doing this through the use of storage snapshots (we have tested this fine with Hyper-V):

1. Create a RW Virtual Volume copy of the RO LUN at the remote site
2. Unexport the RO LUN from the remote VMWare hosts
3. Export the RW LUN to the remote VMware hosts
4. Mount this RW LUN
5. Import the configuration
6. Unexport the remote RW LUN
7. Export the remote RO LUN
8. Delete the RW LUN

This process works fine on Hyper-V using CSV disks, but has the following problem on ESXi 5.1; When the LUN is changed, it is detected as a snapshot (as expected), but the snapshot is not mountable because the VMHost thinks it is already online:

~ # esxcli storage vmfs snapshot list
51128c21-f07c4a24-4e24-00215a9b20f7
   Volume Name: Vv_prim_vmfs_cloud_repl.02
   VMFS UUID: 51128c21-f07c4a24-4e24-00215a9b20f7
   Can mount: false
   Reason for un-mountability: the original volume has some extents online
   Can resignature: true
   Reason for non-resignaturability:
   Unresolved Extent Count: 1
~ # esxcli storage vmfs snapshot mount -l "Vv_prim_vmfs_cloud_repl.02"
Unable to mount this VMFS volume due to the original volume has some extents online


The only solution we have found is to reboot ALL the VM hosts in the remote cluster. They ALL then report the following, and can mount the volume:

~ # esxcli storage vmfs snapshot list
51128c21-f07c4a24-4e24-00215a9b20f7
   Volume Name: Vv_prim_vmfs_cloud_repl.02
   VMFS UUID: 51128c21-f07c4a24-4e24-00215a9b20f7
   Can mount: true
   Reason for un-mountability:
   Can resignature: true
   Reason for non-resignaturability:
   Unresolved Extent Count: 1
~ # esxcli storage vmfs snapshot mount -l "Vv_prim_vmfs_cloud_repl.02"
~#

We have tried various vmkfstools commands to release the LUN etc, but they don't seem able to see the LUN even though we can see the device for the volume.

Is this something you have seen before?

Is there anything you can suggest?

chown root:root boinc *

Spot the deliberate mistake!

• cd /usr/bin
• sudo chown root:root boinc *

Probably not a good idea to try updating boinc on your Linux Ubuntu 12.04 LTS server when you can't sleep but are so very tired. Good one to know that chown also removes all setuid and setgid bits. :(

I booted a Live CD, and from what I can see, these are the default permissions and owners in /usr/bin:

Please let me know if anything is wrong.

User mailbox quota limit changes may take up to 2 hours to take effect… « N3ilb's Weblog

Nice article on why Exchange 2007 can take up to two hours to effect quota changes - Thanks!

User mailbox quota limit changes may take up to 2 hours to take effect… « N3ilb's Weblog:

'via Blog this'

Memory and Handle Quotas in the WMI Provider Service - Ask the Experts

I've had lots of problems with WMI running out of memory when used to manage and montor systems. This article talks about how to change those settings.

Memory and Handle Quotas in the WMI Provider Service - Ask the Performance Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs:

'via Blog this'

@benguild | On iOS 6? Get a rough version of Google Maps with the original icon via the web.

Thanks to Ben Guild for these two profiles to enable Google Maps and Youtube in full screen on theiPad/iPhone in IOS6.

@benguild | On iOS 6? Get a rough version of Google Maps with the original icon via the web.:

'via Blog this'

VMWare Mouse Stuck in Bottom Right Corner

Had a problem with a mouse stuck in the bottom right corner of the Window of a VMWare virtual machine. This machine was P2V'd many moons ago and we had to access the VMWare console instead of accessing it via RDP as we normally do because we'd started up another instance.

Registery edits to fix it dound at the link below:
http://blog.dhampir.no/content/vmware-mouse-problems-mouse-stuck-in-bottom-right-corner

Using Regedit, remove the msvmmouf value from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96F-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

Leave the other values alone!

Windows manager for iOS: Quasar video-demonstration

High speed undertake and near miss

KY60 JXF No Indicators?

ND60 MWY On The phone

GK60 SXV BMW Cut Up

Lorry vs Car Copdock Roundabout

Bang, bang, bang!

S60 GHC fail to give way and DG03 JDJ taxi parking, Felixstowe

Model Railway Show Parking, Felixstowe, 09/06/12.

How to install TeamSpeak 3 server on Ubuntu 12.04

I had an interesting request from Tom to setup a Teamspeak3 server. It appears the Ubuntu packages are only Teamspeak2, so I downloaded the binary packages from the Teamspeak site:
http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads

We have a 12.04 server, but I was able to follow this fairly simple guide:
Howto install TeamSpeak 3 server on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) | Robert Penz Blog:

'via Blog this'

Proposed Olympic Torch route for Felixstowe, 5th July 2012

Cut the corner, Felixstowe, 09/06/12 at 08:54

How (not) to park in Felixstowe, 09/06/12 at 09:07

Windows 8 error 0x800f0906 while enabling Microsoft net framework 3.5

Had a problem with the Citrix receiver requiring .Net 3.5 but being unable to add it dynamically or through control panel. Downloading from Windows update failed.

James Massardo helped me find the solution:

1. Mount the Windows CD as an ISO or physical disk
2. Make a note of the Windows ISO or disk drive letter
3. Run a command prompt as an administrator
4. Run 'dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /Source:d:\sources\sxs' replacing d: with you disk or ISO drive letter

How to configure Ubuntu to use postfix against gmail domain with application password

I followed the proceedure here:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Postfix_configured_with_Gmail_SMTP

Only changes I had to make were:

1. Make sure to append the Equifax certificate to the /etc/postfix/cacert.pem
2. Run the postmap commands in the /etc/postfix directory or use the full paths
3. Create an application specific key for postfix from accounts.google.com

How to configure Ubuntu for automatic updates

Nice article here on how to configure Ubuntu for automatic updates:
https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/automatic-updates.html

I had autoupdate installed already, but it just told me that updates were available. The URL tells you how to get them installed automatically.

SSL Error 61 on Citrix Access Gateway with Linux Client

I got the Linux client installed in the previous post, but got some SSL errors when trying to launch apps.
Our certificates are issued by Comodo, and the Linux Citrix client didn't support the root server for some reason.

• I used Firefox to view the certificate by clicking on the blue part at the start of the URL.
• Click 'More Information'
• Click 'View certificate'
• Click 'Details'
• Click the Root Certificate at the top of the heirarchy
• Click 'Export'
• Save the certificate as type 'X.509 Certificate DER'
• Save the certificate as 'RootCAName.crt' (Replace RootCAName with actual name)
• Copy the certificate to /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts.

I have read that you can copy the CACerts from Firefox, but I haven't tried that.

Thanks to http://www.itswapshop.com/tutorial/how-install-citrix-receiver-linux-120-opensuse-121 for the pointers.

Citrix Receiver 12.1 on Ubuntu 12.04 x64

I've been playing with a few other operating systems since I hosed my Windows 7 install on my laptop.
We're a commited XenApp house, so I decided to take another stab at getting the Citrix receiver working on Unbuntu 12.04 LTS.

Here's what I did:

Followed the Ubuntu CitrixICAClientHowTo here:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CitrixICAClientHowTo

The above didn't quite work, so I modified it slightly:

• Download the latest libmotif3 from:
• http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/o/openmotif
• Currently libmotif3_2.2.3-4_i386.deb
• Install libmotif3 using 'sudo dpkg -i libbmotif*i386.deb'
• Link it using 'sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libXm.so.3 /usr/lib/libXm.so.4'
• Download the Citrix Receiver 12.1 client and the USB support package:
• http://www.citrix.com
• Downloads
• Citrix Receiver
• Linux
• Download the two x64 packages
• Install both packages. This will generate errors:
• The icaclient will complain of an error 2 in post configure
• The ctxusb package will complain the the icaclient hasn't been configured
• I found this fix to the error here:
• http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=306353
• You need to edit icaclient.postinst:
• 'sudo vi /var/lib/dpkg/info/icaclient.postinst'
• Replace 
• 'echo $Arch|grep "i[0-9]86 > /dev/null' with
• 'echo $Arch|grep -iE "x86_64" > /dev/null'
• Run 'sudo  dpkg --configure icaclient'
• Run 'sudo dpkg --configure ctxusb'
• Added a couple of extra packages as suggested:
• 'sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer'
• 'sudo apt-get install curl'
• Running 'sudo ./opt/Citrix/ICAClient/util/hdxcheck.sh' generated errors about missing libs
• These missing libs all appear to be in /lib/i386-linux-gnu and the client works so...
• I didn't run 'sudo apt-get install libmotif4:i386' as I have no plans to run wfcmgr.

Running through our CAG - I get some SSL errors - I'll explain how I fixed this in the next post

Please let me know if you have any luck or not with the above!

How-to Seti@Home on Cloud Ubuntu CLI

I needed to test the performance of a bunch of cloud machines this weekend, and what better way to do that then by running up a whole load of Seti@Home instances.

I did this by following these steps:

1. sudo apt-get update - Some cloud images were out of date and produced errors if this wasn't run before installing any software.
2. sudo apt-get install boinc-client - Some Clouds had 12.04 which needed about 350MB of downloads, some had 11.10 which only needed about 250MB.
3. sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart - Not sure this was really required, but it was a nice check to see that it was installed correctly and would stop and start again.
4. boinccmd --lookup_account http://setiathome.berkeley.edu email@address password - This returns the authentication code which you need for the next step.
5. boinccmd --project_attach http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ authentication_code - This attaches the client to the project. Use a different URL for a different project. This also assumes you have a project username which you used in the previous step.
6. boinccmd --set_network_mode always - Allows transfers to happen any time. Not sure if this is persistent.
7. boinccmd --set_run_mode always - Allows the client to run all the time. Again, not sure if persistent.
8. boinccmd --get_state | more - Make sure that the project has been registered correctly, and that it is getting work-units and tasks.
9. sudo apt-get dist-upgrade - Most cloud images seemed to have an out-of-date kernel and needed some other stuff after the large download earlier.
10. sudo reboot - After all that patching, make sure the machines are clean. All the cloud images I was testing had persistent images, so no problems restarting them.

I now have 35 cloud instances of Seti@Home running in addition to my small local server. It was very apparent how much difference there was in each instances performance, with some virtual machines taking 3 time longer to set-up than others.

I've been using the remainder of the £50 credit I got for Infiniserv, and 3 beta instances on the HP cloud.

Have you guys had and differing experiences?

Lygoworld, poor Turtlebeach repair experience

My son bought a Turtlebeach headset from Amazon with his Christmas money. He pretty much spent all of it on this ~£100 headset only to have the microphone fail a month later.
Lygoworld handle the headset repairs in the UK, and they insisted we send them £25 to cover the damage in addition to the £7 it cost us to send the headset back.
More details once we get the headset back after nearly a month so far.
I'll also be interested to see what Amazon and Turtlebeach themselves say.

High CPU Ready, Poor Performance

High CPU Ready, Poor Performance:

A nice article on what VMware CPU ready is and should be. 'via Blog this'

Suffolk School Closures Update Page

Suffolk now has a dedicated school closure website.
Need to check this tomorrow morning:

Suffolk School Closures Update Page: 'via Blog this'

Evening Star needs a new Google Maps API Key

This popup keeps appearing on my local newspaper's website:

Guess I'd better tell them.

Infinserv - FAIL

I got a voucher at the recent Euro Cloud Expo to try Infiniserv's cloud offering.

Signed up today, only to be met with this:

To be fair, the management side looks fairly straight forward, with clear pricing and licensing details, but why would I use an IAAS company who can't provide any Infrastructure when I need it?

Getting Started with Ubuntu Orchestra — Servers in Concert! | Ubuntu Cloud Portal

How to start building a cloud with Ubuntu Server 11.10.

Getting Started with Ubuntu Orchestra — Servers in Concert! | Ubuntu Cloud Portal: 'via Blog this'

Interesting Virginmedia links

I was investigating intermittent speed issues on my VM line, and I came across this thread.

One of the posters, apcyberax, had some interesting links in thier signature:

• UK Internet Report
• CMTS Ping Graphs
• MyUBR
• My DS Power levels
• Multi Location Site Checker

They also seem to be collecting ratings on UBR performance, which was also interesting.

How to re-create the Show desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows XP

To re-create the Show desktop icon yourself, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type notepad in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Carefully copy and then paste the following text into the Notepad window:
          [Shell]
           Command=2
           IconFile=explorer.exe,3
           [Taskbar]
           Command=ToggleDesktop
3. On the File menu, click Save As, and then save the file to your desktop as "Show desktop.scf". TheShow  desktop icon is created on your desktop.
4. Click and then drag the Show desktop icon to your Quick Launch toolbar.


How to re-create the Show desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows XP:

'via Blog this'

Google is A-OK with Oklahoma - Video - Technology

Does Google have any data centres in the UK.

Looks like a fun place to work...

Google is A-OK with Oklahoma - Video - Technology: 'via Blog this'

MSDN Blogs

How to video stream with Expression Encoder:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jitghosh/archive/2007/11/30/demo-live-streams-in-silverlight.aspx

'via Blog this'

CES 2012: Windows 8 Demo - YouTube

CES 2012: Windows 8 Demo - YouTube: 'via Blog this'

Issue 24250 - chromium-os - Facebook.com: webcam doesn't work - Chromium OS - the open source project behind Google Chrome OS - Google Project Hosting

In the latear Beta Chromebook OS, access to the built in Webcam\Microphone is proving tricky for flash. You can change your flash security settings in order to ebable certain websites access without asking.

Visit:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager06.html

Issue 24250 - chromium-os - Facebook.com: webcam doesn't work - Chromium OS - the open source project behind Google Chrome OS - Google Project Hosting: 'via Blog this'

Linksys SRW Switch CLI | tepasom.com

Hidden CLI for Linksys SRW switches:

1.) ssh, telnet, or console into the switch as you normally would. Do not use the http/web interface.
2.) Log in with the menu system, using a valid, existing, account.
2.a) Provide the username and password, then "execute".
2.b) The "Operation complete" response is received. Press any key.
3.) At the "Switch Main Menu", Press CTRL+z.
4.) A carrot > command line will appear. Type in "lcli" (Light-weight Command Line Interface?) and press Enter.

Commands available are:

clear Reset functions

clock Manage the system clock

configure Enter configuration mode

copy Copy from one file to another

crypto Cryptographic commands

debug-mode Exit from the EXEC to debug mode

delete Delete a file from the flash file system

disable Disable privileged commands

dot1x 802.1x EXEC commands

exit Exit from the EXEC

help Description of the interactive help system

login Exit from the EXEC and Log in

no Negate command

ping Send echo messages

reload Halt and perform a cold restart

resume Resume telnet session.

set Set System Parameters

show Show running system information

telnet Open telnet session.

terminal Set current session functions

test diagnose

traceroute Discover the routes to destination

Thanks to:

Linksys SRW Switch CLI | tepasom.com: 'via Blog this'

The mcli password 'adminmcli' was found here:
http://lcli.wikidot.com/mcli

All old blog posts now redirected

I spent a bit of time today redirecting all the old blog posts (from my local Community Server install) to their new location (custom domain on Blogger).

I eventually decided to stop the existing Community Server site and run a blank website in it's place.
I then used the free version of Helicon Tech's ISAPI_Rewrite to redirect all the old Community Server paths to the new Blogger location, a simple robots.txt refirect, and then threw in  a wildcard redirect at the end to catch any other links (including comments that I didn't copy across).

It was actually quite easy to do in the end but needed to be done as adsense was still showing 10x more visits to the old blog as opposed to the new one. Also, since the fit of the new 100Mb line, I haven't had the port forwarded to the old server.

I'll run it for a while until all the search engines are updated and I can then finally drop my local server.

The product can be found here:
http://www.isapirewrite.com/

Handbrake Video Transcoder

I found this open source application when trying to find some software to transcode videos to an iPad.
I didn't need it in the end, as the paid for software I have by CucuSoft was quicker.
Still, looks great for free.
http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php

DVD Flick

Nice little open source program to create DVD's.

Used this instead of Windows DVD maker as it allowed me to create a dual layer DVD and automatically adjusted the bit rate of video and audio to allow me to fit a given number of videos on the disk.

Here's the about:

About DVD Flick

DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks, subtitles as well as a menu for easier navigation.

Features

• Burn near any video file to DVD
• Support for over 45 file formats
• Support for over 60 video codecs
• Support for over 40 audio codecs
• Easily add a menu
• Add your own subtitles
• Easy to use interface
• Burn your project to disc after encoding
• Completely free without any adware, spyware or limitations

For a more detailed list of features, see the Features page.

http://www.dvdflick.net/

The CD drive or the DVD drive does not work as expected on a computer that you upgraded to Windows Vista

I had a problem with the DVD drive on my laptop with Windows 7 and Kaspersky.

I kept getting an error 19 in device manager.

It didn't appear to like the Kaspersky filter or Gears ASPI filter.

I think it was probably the Gears filter as this didn't return and the DVD drive appears to be working again.

The CD drive or the DVD drive does not work as expected on a computer that you upgraded to Windows Vista: 'via Blog this'

Crazy: 90 Percent of People Don't Know How to Use CTRL+F - The Atlantic

Crazy: 90 Percent of People Don't Know How to Use CTRL+F - The Atlantic

Google SketchUp - Competitions

Something to keep the kids busy? Google SketchUp - Competitions:

'via Blog this'

BBC News - Valve's online game service Steam hit by hackers

With Valves Steam being hit by hackers - it might be an idea to change your Steam password? BBC News - Valve's online game service Steam hit by hackers:

'via Blog this'

Win32k TrueType font parsing and Duqu fixit

Microsoft have released a temporary fix to overcome the vulnerability that is distributing Duqu.
It works by denying access to the Win32k TrueType font parsing engine. The fix doesn't appear to be on Windows update yet, you have to enable\disable it from here.

Open Source Procurement Toolkit | Cabinet Office

This toolkit supports this statement: 'The Government ICT Strategy states that “Where appropriate, Government will procure open source solutions.”' Open Source Procurement Toolkit | Cabinet Office

Ok, Google+ is now available for Apps users. Let's see what this is about?

Ok, Google+ is now available for Apps users. Let's see what this is about?

iPad2 Magnet unlock bug to be fixed in IOS v5.0.1

Looks like the "Magnet unlock" bug will be fixed with the upcoming IOS v5.0.1. It doesn't allow the screen to be unlocked whilst on the power screen.

For the moment, you either have to disable the unlock feature, or educate the users not to leave apps in the foreground.

http://9to5mac.com/2011/11/02/apple-fixes-ipad-2-smart-cover-passcode-security-flaw-with-ios-5-0-1/

UK Government seeking bidders for 'G' cloud

Interesting article at The Register. The UK Govenment is seeking bidders to provide a cloud for us by public bodies. reg.cx/1Rpg

Ellie Goulding - Lights - WebGL/HTML5 Demo

Ellie Goulding - Lights:

Nice song, and nice psychedelic graphics!
You'll need Chrome or another WebGL enabled browser (are there any?) to view this.

'via Blog this'

divide.com

This allows you to separate Work and Personal stuff on the same device. Shortly to be released on Android, it is currently available in beta. Looks like it will also be released for IOS devices. http://divide.com - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Remote control for Chrome

Now, users of the Chrome browser can remote control any other computer running Chrome using this extension. Chromebooks don't support sharing yet but I've found the video response to be good and video scaling works well even if there is no support for sound.

Give it a go by downloading the extension for Chrome:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en-GB&hc=search&hcp=main

Unable to launch Citrix applications from Desktop

I had a problem launching short-cuts to applications delivered by Citrix to my Windows 7 desktop. Double-clicking an application showed a message saying that the program had been downloaded from the internet, and did I want to open it.

Problem was, it hadn't! It was a shortcut to the Citrix PNAgent to run a Citrix delivered application.
After trying a few things such as a group policy edit to classify .lnk files as moderately safe (didn't work), or changing IE9 to allow executables to run from the Internet Zone rather than prompting (worked but generated Internet Explorer security warnings) I hit on a similar issue.

I ran the following command to remove the warning:
icacls "C:\Users\Username\Desktop" /Setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)M

Minecraft - Pocket Edition - Android Market

Minecraft - Pocket Edition - Android Market: 'via Blog this'

I think you'll like this Tom?

Virtio balloon | Richard WM Jones

Virtio balloon | Richard WM Jones: 'via Blog this'

A nice explanation about Linux Virtio memory ballooning.

Want to see inside Microsoft’s global datacentres? - UK TechNet - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Want to see inside Microsoft’s global datacentres? - UK TechNet - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Ask Slashdot: What Will IT Look Like In 10 Years? - Slashdot

Ask Slashdot: What Will IT Look Like In 10 Years? - Slashdot

DK: 25,000 hospital staff Copenhagen region to use open source office suite —

DK: 25,000 hospital staff Copenhagen region to use open source office suite —

Chromebook screen corruption

I'm running the latest dev build on my Chromebook (14.0.835.98) and seem to have an occasional screen corruption issue.

I have reported it as a bug, but due to a known issue with this build, I was unable to attach a screenshot.

Google Plus for Google Apps in the coming months - wellsb.com

Google Plus for Google Apps in the coming months - wellsb.com

It's getting a little annoying not being able to use Google+.

According to this post (made at the end of June), it should be available in the next few months.

That should hopefully be by the end of August then?

Chromebook

I'm really interested in buying one of these to replace my Macbook Air, which I currently use to email and browse the web at home. I don't take my Macbook mobile because of it's dreadful heat issues, so I use an iPad for that. I think the Chromebook could replace both of these quite happily.

Problem is, I want to see one in the flesh before I commit to buy.

Amazon and PC World have them for mail order, but I just need to see one first!

VMware KB: VMware Data Recovery Integrity Check fails with the error: Trouble reading from destination volume, error -2241

VMware KB: VMware Data Recovery Integrity Check fails with the error: Trouble reading from destination volume, error -2241

Store contains either a STORE.LCK folder or you have corrupted backups.

You need to either remove the STORE.LCK folder or mark the corrupted backups for deletion.

Then run a manual integrity check.

I think this happens because of a power outage or storage server shutdown.

VMware KB: Running a manual integrity check on a VMware Data Recovery deduplication store

VMware KB: Running a manual integrity check on a VMware Data Recovery deduplication store

NHS Trusts in the dark over CfH licence transfer

How very, very, true...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/17/nhs_trusts_/

Virgin Media - Faster upload speeds

Virgin Media are rolling out upload speeds of 10% of your broadband download speed.
Ipswich (including Felixstowe) are due to get it next month.

More info here:
http://shop.virginmedia.com/help/discover-broadband/broadband-speed/upload-speeds.html?buspart=DD_31

Looks like we're due to get 100Mb downloads in September :)
http://shop.virginmedia.com/content/dam/allyours/pdf/100Mb%20rollout%2003%2006%2011.pdf

Disk and File Recovery Tools

I've used R-Studio in the past (Commercial):
http://www.r-studio.com/

But recently, I've been using TestDisk (Open Source):

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

The best bootable USB\CD version I've found is SystemRescueCD (Open Source):

http://www.sysresccd.org

There are plenty of guides on how to use it on the site, but be careful, it can make changes to your disk that make the problems worse! If you're unsure, read the documentation and seek advice in the forums.

Search Amazon.com for data recovery

Lulz Security on the NHS

Looks like the NHS is the next target?

More details here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13712377

Unable to send document as attachment from Office 2010

On a Windows 7 x64 machine with Office 2010 x64 installed, I had an issue with not being able to send documents via email.

After looking around for a while, I found this thread:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/outlook/thread/0aefa8d4-a5e5-4295-bea6-6bd48b6d80e6

The fix for me was to:

• Click Start
• Type Default Programs
• Click Set Your Default Programs
• Click Microsoft Outlook
• Click Set this program as default

I can now Save&Send documents as atrtachments.

Extra space on Dropbox for free

If you want cloud storage, then Dropbox will give you 2GB for free.
In fact, if you sign up using the below link, both me and you will get extra space.

http://db.tt/2RlbzsG

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

IOS update 4.3.3 allows more control of location tracking

I've blogged on this before, but a new update seems to allow control over how much location information your iPad or iPhone collects. Here's what I collected using iPhone Tracker before the update was installed:

All Time

21/04/2011

28/04/2011

05/05/2011

When I connected to iTunes today I was offered IOS update 4.3.3:

Quote:

IOs 4.3.3 Software Update

This update contains changes to the IOS crowd-sourced location database cache, including:

• Reduces the size of the cache
• No longer backs the cache up to iTunes
• Deletes the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off

I've not verified the last statement as I use the location services a lot, but iPhone tracker certainly can't see the locations in the iTunes backup now:

I'm also not sure if this is new. The Location Services option in Settings shows an arrow next to any application that has used location services in the last 24 hours:

Liberal democrats lose three seats in Felixstowe West

Nice result! I think one Liberal Democrat stood down, and the other two lost thier seats.
I would have preferred to have had a choice of candidates other than the the three major parties.
I'd be prepared to vote for an independent candidate or some of the minor parties...

http://www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk/yourcouncil/elections/may2011/district/default.htm


FELIXSTOWE WEST (3 seats) - CON GAIN, LAB GAIN 2  Stephen Gerald BEEDLE - Conservative (546 votes)
 Stuart Michael BIRD - Conservative - ELECTED (590 votes)
* Henry James DANGERFIELD - Liberal Democrat (547 votes)
 Jeremy Robert MOORE - Conservative (503 votes)
 Margaret Anne MORRIS - Labour - ELECTED (574 votes)
John MULLEN - Labour (535 votes)
 * Michael Robert James NINNMEY - Liberal Democrat (479 votes)
 Michael John SHARMAN - Labour - ELECTED (590 votes)
Peter Robert WOODS - Liberal Democrat (454 votes)
 Turnout: 37.3%
 Electorate: 4,840

*Indicates defending councillers

All posts transferred from old Blog

I've now transferred all my posts (by hand!) from the old blog to this one.

Next steps are to transfer selective comments over and then create some permanent redirects from the old blog to here.

I guess I'll leave these redirects on for a few months before I then trash the old blog completely.

Blackberry Playbook - A pretty damming review

I'm not sure this review is completely fair, and I've yet to get my hands on a Playbook to see for myself. This guy sure didn't like it though:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/rim-blackberry-playbook-unfinished-unusable-534

The requirement to have a Blackberry isn't going to be so bad if you already have one for work though? The Playbook just gives you an alternative presentation method for you existing data. I don't currently like duplicating my email accounts across all the devices I use anyway.

New battery charging technology

This new battery charging technology allows Lithium Ion batteries to charge in minutes, and Nickel Metal Hydride batteries to charge in seconds. It has far reaching implications! http://geekbeat.tv/two-minute-rechargeable-batteries/

Flipboard for iPad

I'm really loving this free App for the iPad - http://flipboard.com/.
It presents Facebook, Twitter and other stuff as a magazine feed which makes it so much easier to read. Also makes it very easy to get to the original story. Still hampered by the iPads lack of support for Flash when the obect is a Flash video or game though.

The title screen rotates photos from your feeds:

The contents page gives you a summary of your feeds and again rotates the stories:

Here's an example Facebook page:

Here's an example Twitter page:

Letter from Therese Coffey MP on Health and Social Care Bill

Dr Therese Coffey MP

Member of  Parliament for Suffolk Coastal

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

020 7219 7164

therese.coffey.mp@parliament.uk

07 April  2011

Dr Mr Foley,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Government's Health and Social Care Bill.

The Government's plans to modernise the NHS retain the underlying principle - to ensure everyone is provide with great healthcare, free at the point of use and based on need and not ability to pay.

However, when the NHS faces the twin pressures of an ageing population and of advances in medicine, we must always be looking to modernise and improve our NHS services, starting now.

Additional funding was put in over the last 13 years and at the last election, the Conservative Party was the only party to pledge real increases for the NHS budget each and every year of this Parliament - and we have kept that pledge.

Despite the years of extra funding, productivity in hospitals has declined by 15 per cent over the previous 10 years. Despite the best efforts of its staff, the NHS doesn't achieve the best outcomes. Someone in this country is twice as likely to die from a heart attack as someone in France, survival rates for cervical, colorectal and breast cancer are amongst the worst in the OECD and premature mortality rates from respiratory disease are worse than the EU average. Despite previous reforms, the number of managers in the NHS doubled under the previous Government and whole tiers of bureaucracy continue to restrict the decisions of doctors and nurses.

The new Health Bill will give responsibility for the majority of the NHS budget to frontline family doctors - instead of remote Primary Care Trusts - so that they can shape services according to the needs of the patients they see every day. This key change to the bottom-up, patient-centred approach in the NHS was in the Conservative Party manifesto and in the Coalition Agreement.

The changes we are making are clear:

• Shifting power and resources from the back-office to frontline staff and communities
• Devolving decision-making power from bureaucracy to doctors and nurses
• Giving patients more information and choice about where they are treated
• Introducing local accountability with a new powerful role for local Government

As a result of these modernisation plans, the NHS will be able to save £5 billion by reducing the unnecessary administration in the NHS over this Parliament. Because the Government is protecting the NHS budget, all of these savings will be reinvested where they should be - in treating patients.

We are making real progress:

• Since the General Election, there are 3,000 fewer managers (beginning to reverse the doubling in the number of managers under Labour) and 2,500 more doctors - and our new 'Health and Wellbeing Boards' to drive integration and democratic accountability in the NHS are being established in 90% of the country
• Groups of GPs from over 6,500 practices now cover 45 million people in our 'pathfinder consortia', taking the lead in improving local NHS services
• We are being more transparent about hospital performance: on things like hospital-acquired infections, and the number of times patients are placed in mixed-sex accommodation

But we also recognise there are some big questions about what we're doing. Patients and carers want to see how our changes will improve services for them. Doctors and nurses are asking about what are plans will mean for them. We hear that - and we want to continue to work with them.

Concern has been expressed on timing and suggestions are being made that GP commissioning is untested. This is not the case. GP commissioning already exists today and there are a large number of doctors across Suffolk who have formed consortia as Pathfinders. Learnings will be taken from them and used across Suffolk and the country to make the transition.

Now that the Health and Social Care Bill has successfully completed its Committee stage in the Commons, we're going to take the opportunity of a natural break in the legislative process to pause, listen reflect and improve. This is a genuine listening exercise: where there are good suggestions to improve the legislation and the implementation of our plans, changes will be made.

The Government is shortly launching a website - www.dh.gov.uk/healthandcare - which will allow everyone to have their say. A series of events will be staged to hear from the NHS directly and a team of frontline doctors and nurses are to be recruited to act as expert advisers - the NHS Future Panel - on our modernisation plans.

I can assure you that this is not about the NHS being privatised or other incredible suggestions. It is about having an NHS that truly puts the patient at its heart, has confidence in GPs making clinical decisions and together deciding how tratment can and should be made.

Yours sincerely,

T. Coffey