Tech Geek and More
Technology Explained for All
Technology Explained for All
Aug 10th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/windows_7 NULL.jpg) I have been asked by a few others who also have TechNet that they were expecting a single download for all the Windows 7 versions. The question as asked “ If Microsoft is selling the Retail DVD of all versions on 1 DVD, why is it split up on TechNet to a download per version? Is it possible to make it an All-In-One again?”
well here is the answer:
If you Open the ISO and browse to the Sources folder and remove ei.cfg and then burn the ISO. That will allow you to choose the version you want installed.
Aug 8th
In my last post I talked about RocketDock ( http://rocketdock.com (http://rocketdock NULL.com) ) as one of software programs that use on all my machines. Well for those who have not used RocketDock before here is a few of the reasons why I recommend it –
Like I said in my previous post, the task bar at the bottom (to me) is for all the programs and files I have open at any one time. That taskbar space is limited and if I use the Quick Launch bar or Pin programs to the task bar, that limits my space even more. Here is a sample of RocketDock from there website.
And the how to use instructions can be found at http://rocketdock.com/Help/English/ (http://rocketdock NULL.com/Help/English/)
Aug 8th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/rocketdock150x150 NULL.png)
I have been a big fan of RocketDock ( http://rocketdock.com/ (http://rocketdock NULL.com/) ) for a couple of years now. I like the easy access shortcuts on my desktop (Organized). Its especially nice since its a Freeware product meaning, its free and it doesn’t have any ads or spyware on the install (and I hope they can keep it that way).
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/rocketdockbar NULL.jpg)
RocketDock from there own website explain their software as
“RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. With each item completely customizable there is no end to what you can add and launch from the dock.”
Yes I know that in Windows 7 you can pin programs to your task bar (Like what the quick launch bar did in XP), but I use that task bar for all my open windows (which during normal pc use can be as many as 20 windows open at the same time), so I want to save as much of that task bar space for the open windows.
I was a little concerned once I installed Windows 7 – 64 bit edition because RocketDock shows that “X64 editions are not yet supported”.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/no64supportmessage NULL.jpg)
I downloaded Rocketdock and installed it, and yep as the warning said it did not work. However, since I don’t like to give up easy I tried something and discovered that yes you can make RocketDock work on a 64bit system. Here is what I did…..
1 – Downloaded and installed the latest version of RocketDock (v 1.3.5 in this case)
2 – I still have RocketDock loaded on a 32 bit Windows XP system. So from that system I copied the entire RocketDock folder located in C:\Program Files\RocketDock
3 – I copied the files to the 64 bit location (on my Windows 7 PC) that RocketDock installed which is c:\Program Files (x86)\RocketDock
That was it…..started RocketDock and it works just as it did when installed on a 32bit Windows PC.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/desktopwithrocketdock NULL.jpg)
***Note RocketDock website has some ads (provided by Google Ads), I am not recommending / endorsing using any of the Ads to “Clean XP” or Fix Windows” or anything else you will see on the RocketDock website.
Aug 8th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/windows7_icon NULL.jpg)
With the release of every new version of any software, it is common for changes to occur as to how the software looks on the screen and where everything is located. That is of course the case with Windows 7, and if your like me your more comfortable with the previous layout of Windows XP (Yes I know I could learn to like the new lay out, but for now I rather give Windows 7 that XP feel).
| Windows 7 looks like this once installed.
Note: Look at the lower left, and see the difference in the start menu. In the picture next to the new start bubble, I have Internet Explorer, Windows Live Writer and Paint open as well as Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player which are pinned to the task bar. |
I prefer the XP style since I normally have to many windows open at once that I like to see what is there without having to put my mouse over each icon to see what is open. So to get the changes in appearance you need to do that following.
1 – Right click on the task bar (The bar going across the bottom) and select properties. You will see the following window.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7taskbar NULL.jpg)
Now change the box that says “Taskbar buttons” to say Never Combine. Followed by clicking the box that says Customize in the notifications area.
2 – In the notifications window that pops up, put a check in the “Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar”. Then click ok.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/notificationwindow NULL.jpg)
3 – Now click on the Taskbar and Start Menu Window again and this time go to the start menu tab, then click on the customize button on the top right.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7taskbarstartmenutab NULL.jpg)
4 – Now you will see the customize start menu window.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7customizestartmenu NULL.jpg)
Here are the changes I’ve made to my system (you may experiment wit this one to find what you like).
**All other items listed in the customize start menu window, I left as is. No changes.
5 – Now on the taskbar (This is because I’m not a fan of the quick launch bar in XP) you will find IE, Windows Explorer and Windows Media player “pinned”.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7unpin1 NULL.jpg)
Right click on each one and select “Unpin this program from taskbar”
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7unpin2 NULL.jpg)
6 – Lastly, if you want the start menu to actually say start and not be the bubble go to start –> Control Panel –> System
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7systemproperties NULL.jpg)
On the top left corner click on Advanced System Settings. This will open the System Properties window.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/sysprop1 NULL.jpg)
Here click on the settings button on the top in the Performance window.
| Uncheck the last box that says “Use visual styles on windows and buttons. |
And with that You Windows 7 version will look and respond as close to XP as possible.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/w7modifieddesktop NULL.jpg)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/windows7modstartmenu NULL.jpg)
Aug 7th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/computer_associates NULL.jpg) One of the issues I have faced this week with a client is that they have CA A/V installed and on all 9 of their PC’s it would fail on update. You would get a message that says that “Package failed to install” then it would automatically try and download the update and try again. It seems that this can be a known CA issue (even though the CA solution did not work for me). Here is the solution from the CA support site:
Problem Resolution
1. If updates have never happened in the past on this PC, then do check if your system requirements meet minimum requirements (http://crm NULL.my-etrust NULL.com/login NULL.asp?username=guest&target=DOCUMENT&openparameter=3157) for CA Anti-Virus. (depending on your subscription)
2. Disable your firewall (http://crm NULL.my-etrust NULL.com/login NULL.asp?username=guest&target=DOCUMENT&openparameter=2636) to check if this is causing a problem.
CA Personal Firewall will not block your CA updates.
However, if you are not using CA Personal Firewall, and if updates are working with your firewall disabled, then add the following websites to the exception list of your firewall (your firewall vendor or firewall help manuals will help you with this step):
http://consumerdownloads.ca.com/ (http://consumerdownloads NULL.ca NULL.com/)
http://etrustdownloads.ca.com/ (http://etrustdownloads NULL.ca NULL.com/)3. If your computer is behind a proxy, then configure CA Anti-Virus with proxy settings (http://crm NULL.my-etrust NULL.com/login NULL.asp?username=guest&target=DOCUMENT&openparameter=1888).
4. Force Update (https://remoteassist NULL.ca NULL.com/supportbridge/jsp/selfserve/processScriptRequestOwnWindow NULL.jsp?divisionID=7&scriptID=160) the CA Anti-Virus using our hot fix (https://remoteassist NULL.ca NULL.com/supportbridge/jsp/selfserve/processScriptRequestOwnWindow NULL.jsp?divisionID=7&scriptID=160).
5. Replace signature files manually:
a) Delete or rename the following signature files (found in the location where you installed CA Anti-Virus):
C:\Program Files\CA\CA Internet Security Suite\CA Anti-Virus\vet.dat
C:\Program Files\ca\CA Internet Security Suite\CA Anti-Virus\vete.dll
C:\Program Files\ca\CA Internet Security Suite\CA Anti-Virus\isafeEngine.dll
C:\Program Files\ca\CA Internet Security Suite\CA Anti-Virus\caavresource.dll
C:\Program Files\ca\CA Internet Security Suite\CA Anti-Virus\caavproduct.dll
C:\Program Files\ca\CA Internet Security Suite\CA Anti-Virus\modules.txt
b) Empty your recycle bin
c) Right click on the CA Shield icon on the bottom right, and choose Update Product.
6. At this point, if the update fails, then please contact Technical Support through the additional support options below.
7. To fix this issue without contacting Technical Support, please follow these guidelines:
a) Go to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs list and uninstall CA Anti-Virus alone from here.
b) Go through the on-screen instructions to uninstall and restart the PC.
c) Download a fresh copy (http://crm NULL.my-etrust NULL.com/login NULL.asp?username=guest&target=DOCUMENT&openparameter=3111) of your product, from your online CA account.
d) Run the downloaded setup and follow on-screen instructions to install.
e) Once the installation is complete, restart your PC and your CA Anti-Virus will be up to date.
I did everything CA said step by step and even after the reinstall CA would not update. I even tried on 2 of the pc’s before contacting CA support with no luck. Once I spoke to CA support, I had about the same amount of luck as all they could say is that because CA was “broken” when Conflickr (Yep the same one) infected the pc’s on this network, that the only way to get CA to work again was to reinstall Windows. (Yes like I want to have to reinstall 8 different pc’s and then reload software including some custom applications that are from a different vendor and I had no clue about).
So I got an “old school” idea. Using the CA files already loaded and working fine from another pc. I went back in and uninstalled CA on one of the pc’s. Then rebooted to clear the last of the files …… The I went thru the following steps
a. To start Task Manager, take any of the following actions:
3. In task Manager – Highlight the following files and select End Process on each one.
4. Now go to c:\program files\CA\CA Internet Security Suite on the PC with a working copy of CA and copy all the files in the CA Internet Security folder (Note I said copy not cut) onto a USB flash drive or other storage area (If you know how to transfer via the network you can do that to). Once you have the files, go to the pc with the Bad CA, and paste all the files to the same c:\program files\CA\CA Internet Security Suite location on the broken CA pc. You will be prompted to replace files, say yes to all.
5. Now go to start – programs – CA – CA Internet Security – Update Product and then select the update button. CA will now update and prompt you that your Software is up to date.
6. Lastly reboot 1 more time and you now have a full recovered and working copy of CA.