Fresh Windows7 installs failing to update?

Follow these instructions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFfc22x3I_s

Takeaways:

Get the two manual updates, but STOP the windows update service BEFORE you install them.
Restart in between.
Then let Windows update continue as normal. - Give it time.

Good luck

How to format a USB drive to EXT4 - so that it reliably writes more than once from a Readynas 

Get these tools:
to create an ext4 partition
http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition
(freeware)
to be able to read it on Windows
http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/extfs-windows.html
(requires registration)
Paragon can be loaded just as required (don't integrate unless needed.
No reboot was required to install these two and use them on Win7 Pro :)

(or use http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
or
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/files/latest/download
neither of which I have tried)

IE10 breaks RWW

Guess what? A recent update of IE from 9 to 10 stops Remote Web Workplace from working!
One solution is to click the compatibility mode button and thus lets you connect.
However, my rww opened with scroll bars bottom and right - so I assumed it was not a 100% fix.

(I had forgotten to run IE at 100% zoom - as any other zoom will cause the remote page to load with scroll bars - even when set to Full Screen).

So I UNinstalled the IE10 update (Hint: Use the Search box on the Installed Updates to quickly find the "Internet Explorer 10" update.)
Voila.
Here's a picture of the cause and the effect ;)

Oh, and you may need to HIDE the IE10 update form Windows Updates or else it will rise like a Phoenix to haunt you!

(This screenshot shows the AutoUpdate of IE10 and later Unticked..but it was ticked by defaulkt when I first encountered it)

Steps to get RWW working

The first time you run a RWW site that needs the Activex you should get prompted



Then you right click the yellow area to accept the diag



Then you'll get the login, BUT NOTE THE RED CERTIFICATE ERROR in all the above screens so far!



This means you need to run the InstallCertificate app from the folder where the certificate is that you issued from your SBS2008 server and copied to the local PC:



(Note - you may have needed to reissue the certificate on the server - see this post )

Now you can finally connect to the local PC including mapping local printers and clipboard. Note the address bar is no longer red..

Job done. :D

Moving email and contacts from OE to Outlook

Moving from XP to Win7?

One of the tricky bits is getting email from Outlook Express to Outlook proper.
Copying the dbx files to the new pc is easy enough.
Then from WLM simply Import OE v6 Mail and Contacts (altogh the contacts don't come through).
An important step is to MOVE the imported mail from the Storage Folder called Imported Files into folders you have created in WLM. This takes time when there are a lot of folders containing large amounts of email.
Then from Outlook, you import mail and it detects the WLM store.

I don't bother exporting or importing the Mail Account settings, even when there is more then one. A few screengrabs of the various config screens copied across to the new PC are all that is required (along with the password/s). Make sure you look at all the screens, especially if the Outgoing "Logon Using" is ticked.

Contacts is almost as simple (when you know how:)

Copy the wab file to the new pc. Double click it, which will [somewhat presumptuously] import all the contacts into Windows Contacts folder.
Then from Outlook you can choose the Open > Import Messages & Contacts (choose contacts only) in the WLM format.. as described correctly here:
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/382
This process took longer to import than the messages, but may have been because Outlook was "preparing to Send and Receive"...

A tip therefore is to force all the Email clients to work offline, by either disconnecting from the network, setting the clients to Work Offline, or in my case, leaving the passwords blank until the work was done.

Sending photos by WindowsLive email is now near impossible... SOLUTION

It was a great leap forward once the ability to downsize any selection of photos directly from explorer was included in Windows (without having to find a separate down-sizer). Even Nanna and Poppa could do it..
XP and OE come to mind. They had their issues, but eventually were ironed out over the years.

Then came WLM
Windows Live Mail 2011 has caused a lot of users to tear their collective hair out trying to the simplest of things.. send a few down-sized photos as an email attachment...

The most succinct post (of many) describing the solution is:
http://www.winvistatips.com/re-sending-pictures-wlm11-t830132.html

In summary - WLM sends just a thumbnail of the images you want to send, and uploads the full high resolution image to the user's Skydrive - available to all Windows Live accounts. The recipient of the email can then view the "Slideshow" by clicking on a link to look at the online version of the full size images stored on Skydrive.
We all know NOT to click on links in emails....

The SOLUTION?

Right-click on the selected photos as usual, select send to mail recipient and re-size as wanted
Once it comes up as a photo e-mail – here's the trick - hit view slideshow in the e-mail window

A Photo album tools tab will now appear. Hit the format tab. Click on the paper-click (attachment) icon, and they will now be switched to attachments, at their re-sized resolutions

Here's the kicker:
You need to have a WindowsLive account setup and logged in once for this to work.
[caption id="attachment_378" align="alignright" width="575" caption="Click on the paperclip once you have logged in to WL to attach photos the old fashioned way :)"][/caption]
To use the plain WindowsLive email program, no Windows Live account is needed, but without signing up to yet another service, sending photos becomes near impossible - to the point of completely jamming up the outbox - with an error that requires you to delete the "Email Photo and try again"!

Grrr..

Making "full" use of a Telecom=locked THOMPSON TG585v7

Ah, that little white box so full of promise, until you plug it in and find there's nowhere to go...

With no adsl phone line connected, you get the following unhelpful screen that seemingly can take you no further. Typing in the default ip address of 192.168.1.254 annoyingly resolves to dsldevice.lan and nothing more seems to be possible..


All is not lost, however, somehow I came across two methods to get a bit deeper (despite rumours that there is a secondary lan range and/or password kept top secret and known by only those who rub shoulders with Theresa Gattung (or whoever her current replacement happens to be ;)



Step one: use this url
http://dsldevice.lan/cgi/b/lan/?be=0&l0=3&l1=-1

This allows the more familiar setup screens of old, complete with blue text hyperlinks to everything, most importantly the
Configure link

Step 2.
Change the logon credentials for the administrator.
The current default is a blank password, and the login is Administrator (with a capital) - which is important for the telnet step below.
But don't panic reading about telnet (yes, it's there in Win7, just needs to be enabled (ticked on) under Windows Programs)
The web interface will immediatly prompt you for the credentials when you change them successfully, so you are IN.
Then mosey over to Internet settings, and put in your adsl userid and password (even if its not xtra, gasp)!
There is no Save button, but fear not, it does save, somehow.

Now comes the telnet bit. Should it not save, you apparently can save the config file using cli (command line in telnet) using this:
config save filename = myset.ini
Edit this file to reflect your login (the file is hard to find buried somewhere deep in c:\windows...???)
Then upload it to the modem using
config load filname = myeditedset.ini

You'll know you're in when you see some ascii art (which takes me back:)



For the record, here are my router's specs

System Information
This page summarizes important information on your Thomson Gateway. You may need this information when you contact your helpdesk.
Product Name: TG585v7
Serial Number:CP0922SFxxx
Software Release:7.4.2.7
Software Variant:ES
Boot Loader Version:1.0.0
Product Code:36588280
Board Name:CANT-P

Internet Radio - how to get it

When it comes to Internet Radio you can set your PC or laptop to stream stations, but let's be honest, who wants the laptop next to your bed, or on the kitchen shelf. Or next to the tv? For these applications, a dedicated box that does just one thing, and does it well is what's required.

I started researching devices for listening to internet radio. (The last - and only - model I have sold is unfortunately no longer available - Freecom's MusicPal. Which is a shame as it was exceptionally easy to use, and, it just worked. And came in at a good price.



I even shot my own review video, but before I could upload, found a more than adequate description by Freecom themselves:


Oh! I see that I did actually get around to uploading my review and have had a massive 454 hits (please don't watch, my head might swell).  A more independent review by Micheal Sherlock describes it's functionality well.

What's new in the current iteration s the ability to access podcasts - which takes the radio concept further to an on-demand radio - sort of like a tape recorder ;)

However, for a better sound quality device, I would have to look further into the Squeezebox:





or the Livio Radio.

Reading around this topic of choosing a device, it seems that the important thing is not to tie yourself in to a particular portal for accessing the stations, as they inevitably will either charge at some stage, or will cease to exist. Look for the DAB+ certification - this ensures you can get to the current popular standard and lots to choose form see  Digital Audio Broadcasting Plus.

It also seems that most are running on the same basic chipset, and its just the housing, speaker, connectors and firmware that vary in quality.

And most are NOT available in New Zealand..

So while casting around for alternatives, I see that its no longer fashionable to restrict one's self to a device without a screen, even when just listening to the radio. There are a multitude of "tablety" devices with varying screen sizes that can pretend to be radios.

How many of which we can locally, and whether they will still work next year without requiring firmware updates is another question.
I found a few that I had no idea were competing with the iPad. (Don't get excited, there are likely not available here, and the prices are US$.) To see these reviewed just search on tablets at http://reviews.cnet.com/

(Not to mention the new kindle)

Where to from here?

Experiment with internet radio on your PC, where your beloved can hear it, and might get interested. Then you can casually comment that "the iPad can do that internet radio stuff, too" !? (Internet Explorer has been trying to lure us there for ages - their default bookmarks includes the MediaCenter-centric link to http://www.windowsmedia.com/radioui/home.aspx, but there are many others.

No, I don't work for Apple. Unfortunately.

Back to the dark side (where I am more comfortable!), you could go for Windows7 's killer app, the Homegroup - which when it catches on, will make keeping and finding media content in the household a breeze. At the moment, its just too hard. We all have Gigaturdes of stuff, but can never get to it or find it - let alone share it reliably.

Mark my words!

Thunderbird to Windows Live Mail

Migwiz really is a Wizard. It just works

Have a I mentioned how much I like the migwiz? Easier to type than "Windows Easy Transfer"

Just make sure the Old Computer has email in OE, Outlook or similar first. (Export it to that if need be). Getting it in in any other format is doable, but tricky.

But if you don't use OE

Here's how to get out of Thunderbird and into WLM (Windows Live Mail - and presumably Window Mail for those poor Vista straglers).

On the OPC (Old Computer), install and run the quaint little program. (gotta look it up again..) Watch out - it appears to fail on first run, but succeeds after a few tries. Found the HowTo here. The process is an export to .eml files using Tbird2OE and then import into Mail using OEImportEml. Both need to be installed. The import failed for me as I think there were some dodgy and/or large email files, so I manually dragged the files by folder (as described below) ..

Then copy all the resulting folders and files across to the NPC. (New PC)

Create the same folder structure in WLM. Select all the .eml files and drag and drop into the respective folders, (or just lump everything into the Inbox and forget about folders - who needs 'em?!

It might pay to use a dos batch file to move all the .eml files into one folder (eliminating the folder structure altogether) if you are not going to use folders in Mail.

Hang on, you can't do that as the .eml files are named 0000001.eml, 00000002.eml .. in each folder. You could rename them in the batch file  I suppose - didn't try that.

(Don't worry, they translate OK back to meaningful subjects, to and from etc as they were originally).

I have to say that this is one case where drag n' drop really does work.  (In fact I'm not sure there is another way to get the files into Mail)! Import is available on the file menu, but specifying the source each time would be a pain.

A interesting "by the way"

From a second hand PC, I have seen it pull in the complete email profile from the former owner! The current owner had no idea that info was on there - and I bet the former owner would not have been pleased either...

Another FYI, use the Win7 version of migwiz (copy it onto a  usb stick and run from there on the OPC) Don't use XP's version.

Hallelujah - all praise be to win7 (and free apps that really work)

Windows 7 needs more than 40GB on C

Just an FIY (or should that read Just a FYI (?)

Being too clever by half, I partitioned a 160GB drive into a 40GB C drive so that I could have two more 60GB partitions.

Long story short  - this is NOT enough space for Win7 Pro. (Not sure what all is taken up by all those giga flops!??!)

The good news is that there is an easy fix.

Disks can be resized, but using Windows 7's disk manager, only onto contiguous space (free space adjacent to the partition you want to change).

To resize non contiguous partions, I found a neat little gui that allow you to move (by sliding) any drive in the way across to the right a bit. A reboot and not-too-long nervous wait completed the process.

Found here: http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-67251-how-to-merge-windows-partition-to-increase-c

and the program is  Easeus Partition Master Home Edition here (http://download.cnet.com)

Hallelujah - all praise be to win7 (and free apps that really work)