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Advanced 7-Zip SFX creation
by lunarg on May 31st 2010, at 10:57

By default, 7-Zip SFX (self-extracting executable) creation only has basic configuration options. With 7-Zip SFX Maker, you can expand those options with a whole lot more.

This piece of software allows the creation of customized SFX, taking 7z files as input. Things like changing the icon, captions, default extraction path and more, are all implemented. This makes 7-Zip SFX Maker a handy tool when you require a little more than a standard SFX but less than a fully-fledged installer.

Download link: http://teejee2008.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/7-zip-sfx-maker-v20-2/.

 
Remote Desktop Connection: enable redirection of DOT4 printer
by lunarg on May 31st 2010, at 10:51
Printers that use ports that do not begin with COM, LPT or USB are not redirected in a remote desktop or terminal services session. To force all ports to be redirected, the filtering type has to be changed. This is done in the registry.

Do a Start, Run, type in regedit and press Enter. This starts the Registry Editor.

Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default\AddIns\RDPDR.

Right-click in the right pane, choose New, then DWORD value.

Name the value FilterQueueType, press Enter.

Double-click the newly created entry, and set the value to FFFFFFFF, click OK.

Restart the client, log in to your session, and all ports should be r  ...
 
Licensed to radio
by lunarg on May 27th 2010, at 19:57
Yesterday, I did my exam for a radio-license. This license officially gives me permission to use a radio in aviation. The exam took place in Brussels at the office of B.I.P.T., civil aviation branch.

The exam itself was pretty simple compared to what we have been practising during the course; it was much more complicated then, but that's a good thing (of course).
Aside of the obligated part about theory (regulations etc.), there was a short pratical exam in which a "virtual flight" has to be made, during which you have to follow the right radio procedures and aviation regulations.

Now, all that's left is to send the necessary forms and the license will be officially a  ...
 
EDPnet keeps classic dial-up available
by lunarg on May 18th 2010, at 10:41
EDPnet is currently the only ISP in Belgium to retain the classic dial-up services. EDPnet keeps to servicing those that only require internet occassionally for checking their e-mail. For this purpose, Free EDPnet is provided.

Similar to a classic dial-up subscription from the old days, Free EDPnet requires an analogue dial-up modem or ISDN dial-up modem. Most systems no longer have this by default, although external USB variants (e.g. US Robotics) still exist.

Free EDPnet requires no registration or activation costs, other than the fee you pay your telephone company for the duration of the connection. There are several (national, no longer regional) numbers available for Belgium, Nethe  ...
 
Exam for passenger license
by lunarg on April 26th 2010, at 22:32

Over the last year I managed to gather my required 50 hours of solo flight time, and yesterday was a good time as any to take my exam for a passenger's license.

The exam itself was basically a revision of most elementary flight manoeuvers (stale turn, high turn, stalling, etc.), accompagnied with an additional back tow (i.e. when the cable does not release).

While I succeeded in my exam, it goes to show that even those things really have to be maintained; I was a bit rusty in performing some manoeuvers. Guess I'll be practising them a bit more.

 
I don't want no SEO
by lunarg on April 26th 2010, at 22:24
SEO companies ocassionally use my contact form to offer me to get my website on the first page of Google.

Quote
We would like to get your website on first page of Google.

All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.

Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal.

Are they serious? I'm not a commercial organisation, nor do I care about SEO. This site is merely a personal blog site, and was designed for little more than that (which is also clearly stated on the About page). Apparently, these SEO companies don't really care about that, so I'm sta  ...
 
McAfee's take on svchost.exe
by lunarg on April 23rd 2010, at 20:42
One of my clients at work was also a victim of the latest McAfee false-positive trouble. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, read the official statement (and remedy): https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?id=KB68780&page=content.
Basically the issue is that McAfee wipes svchost.exe from your system because it thinks there's a virus in it. And this file is in fact quite critical for Windows to function properly.

My client managed to skip by the worst part of the trouble, and only had this issue on two of their desktop computers (running Windows XP SP3). Their systems were not entirely crippled as they would still boot and log in, but they were otherwise unable to use networking, s  ...
 
Print server properties in Windows 7
by lunarg on April 20th 2010, at 13:36
The print server properties have been misplaced a bit in Windows 7. Before, you could right-click in the window showing your printers, then choose the dialog from the menu. In Windows 7, this no longer works, as they've kicked out that particular menu entry.

But all is not lost: it still exists, but is not directly accessible anywhere. You need to use MMC, add the right snap-in, and that one provides you with full acess to the server properties.

Start mmc (start -> run, type in mmc);

From the menu, choose File, then Add/remove Snap-ins

In the available snap-ins list, scroll down until you find Print Management, click the Add > button, then click OK.

In the following window, click   ...
 
Avast Internet Security trouble
by lunarg on April 16th 2010, at 10:52
Had a problem with an XP (SP2) computer and Avast Internet Security. Upon installing the product (and its subsequent reboot), the computer freezes right after startup. The mouse still moves, but keyboard does not respond, no applications get started.

After a search on the Avast forum, I came across this post, claiming there's a problem with certain applications and Avast on XP:

Quote
This is caused by a bug in Windows XP function ImageEnumerateCertificates( ) which is being called by firewall service when a process tries to access the net. This function (unpatched in all version of XP) hangs with certain corrupted files and LogitechDesktopManager.exe is one of them.

It will be fixed in th  ...
 
Change max message size in SBS 2008 POP3 connector
by lunarg on April 14th 2010, at 20:54

To change the maximum message size in SBS 2008's POP3 Connector, it is not enough to change the Exchange maximum send and receive limits. The POP3 Connector's limit is specified through the SBS Fax Sharepoint Receive. Setting the receive size of that specific connector will set the POP3 Connector's maximum allowed message size.

 
Get rid of sending winmail.dat attachments
by lunarg on April 14th 2010, at 20:31
When you yourself are sending out e-mail to others, your recipients might complain about them not being able to open this e-mail. This is because you're probably using Outlook (with Exchange) and are sending e-mail in RTF-format.
Using RTF in a mail is generally a bad idea, because it's not an internet standard for e-mail layouting. RTF was introduced a while back by Microsoft, but has since been superseded for the widely adopted HTML; even Outlook 2007 now defaults to HTML.

So, to get rid of the winmail.dat, simply set your mail format to HTML (instead of RTF).

In Outlook, on the Tools menu, click Options.

Click the Mail Format (or Send tab).

See the message format list. Change it to ei  ...
 
Maximum message size in Postfix
by lunarg on April 14th 2010, at 20:22

Like any other MTA, Postfix has a maximum message size that it allows to pass through. By default, when not defined, it is set to 10 MB.
To change it, add/change the following in main.cf:

message_size_limit = 15728640

This sets the limit to 15 MB. To make it unlimited, set it to 0.

 
Netscreen SSG5: clearing sockets
by lunarg on April 14th 2010, at 20:16
With firmware 6.00 in a Netscreen SSG5, I encountered an odd bug where available sockets for the management web interface run out, because they're not being freed properly.
Rather than rebooting the thing every once in a while, there's a way to free used sockets through the console.

Your best bet is to attach a serial cable to a server or something and use HyperTerminal (or another terminal application) to access the console of the Netscreen.

Once logged in, use the following to get a list of sockets in use:

get socket

This shows a list of in-use sockets, along with their ID. Sockets with the IP address of the Netscreen on port 80 will be the ones you want to clean up, along with their I  ...
 
php_flag vs. php_value
by lunarg on April 1st 2010, at 15:14
Had an issue where I was not able to change the post_max_size and upload_max_filesize through the Apache2 configuration.
After googling around, I finally found what was wrong: apparently, aside of php_flag, there's also a php_value flag to set configuration variables. The difference?

Use php_flag only when setting boolean values like 0 | 1, off | on.

Use php_value to actually set values other than boolean (like the filesizes of post_max_size and upload_max_filesize).

Thus, a working example looks like:

<Directory /var/www/> <IfModule mod_php5.c> php_flag register_globals off php_value post_max_size 16M php_value upload_max_filesize 16M </IfModule><  ...
 
STOP 0x7E when inserting USB flash drive
by lunarg on March 30th 2010, at 11:53
Had a rather odd problem with a laptop of a client: upon inserting any USB storage media, his Windows XP bailed out with a BSOD with STOP code 0x7E.

A look with windbg revealed it may be related to an issue with the USB driver (usbport.sys), but as there were no real USB drivers available for it, and he already had the most recent Windows Updates, a "regular" solution would not be an option.

So I went for the more irregular option. I knew that there's probably another Windows Update which had replaced one or more of the USB driver files (in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers) - the problem only surfaces until a month or so ago, but was unable to quickly assertain which one. I didn't fee  ...
 
Wine for Mac OSX
by lunarg on March 24th 2010, at 14:51

Wine now also has precompiled binaries available. Together with WineBottler (an application to prepare and pack Windows applications for redistribution with Wine), it is available here: http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/.

Wine is an application which allows to run Windows application on linux, BSD or Mac OSX. Rather than full emulation, it acts as a compatibility layer between the application and the OS.
Wine is not entirely foolproof just yet; there is still much to be done, but with each passing release, more and more applications are getting supported.

 
Condor patch 1.1.3 released
by lunarg on March 23rd 2010, at 22:12

The long awaited Condor patch v1.1.3 has been released. It fixes a critical bug with the newer nVidia drivers, and was particularly a hassle when running Condor in Windows 7.
Aside of the fix, an additional tow plane was added in the mix.

Download the patch: http://www.condorsoaring.com/downloads.htm.

 
Analyze wireless networks with inSSIDer
by lunarg on March 19th 2010, at 18:37
inSSIDer is a free tool to analyze wireless networks. While this tool may not be as extended as professional ones, it has a few nice features that make this thing a must-have. Add to it that it's entirely free, and you've got yourself a nice tool for troubleshooting wireless networks.

inSSIDer can be used to inspect wireless network and troubleshoot access points. It goes as far as viewing received signal (in dBm) over time, track channels in use, etc. There's also additional GPS support (NMEA v2.3) to locate access points, including support to export it to KML for viewing in Google Earth. The tool uses the native Wi-Fi API and uses a current wireless network card, without actually claiming  ...
 
Flying season 2010 official kick-off
by lunarg on March 14th 2010, at 00:43
And so the flying season has started again, pretty much in the same way it ended: it was a dark damp and cold day, and not at all without technical difficulties.
The issues with our tow plane that were supposed to be fixed weren't really fixed. Our backup did perform flawlessly (a luck we did not have at the end of last season).

All of the little troubles and discomforts did not thwart the pleasure of having done about a dozen flights, most of them check flights to sign on after a long winter's break. Although having flown last week, it feels good to have flown a succesful tow and subsequent flight and landing on our own field. Kinda reminds me of last year's start and all.
The winter is ru  ...
 
Configure battery packs on your APC UPS
by lunarg on March 3rd 2010, at 17:48
Suppose you have an APC UPS and have just purchased a battery pack to go with it. Connecting the battery pack is pretty straightforward, but did you know you need to tell your UPS that an additional battery pack has been installed? Setting this in your UPS, optimizes the usage of the entire battery capacity.

If you are using PowerChute software, and have connected the UPS to a computer using serial, USB or network interface, you will be able to set this parameter in the software.

Log into the management card using your web browser (default user and password: apc).

Navigate to UPS, and inside Configuration, select General.

Set the correct battery pack number and click on the Apply button   ...
 
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