Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac 500-Watt 0.75-HP Electric Duster

I just received my Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac and blew out one of the old Dell machines. Temps were 50-51 C before cleaning. Temps are 34-35 C after. I will never touch another expensive can of air. I highly recommend this item for cleaning.

Be careful when buying. On Amazon there is another model that is more expensive but is the exact same thing (according to reviews). I paid $51 shipped.

Oki Printer Drivers

Our trusty B6100 Oki does not have a driver for Windows 7-64. We use the network function of the printer with IP set to 192.168.20.184 (for my reference).

Choose the Oki C7100 (PS). Works fine.

Edit: the B4545 drivers did not work properly. The spooler world not clear completed job and would hang after one print job.
We tried the Oki B4545 (PCL) driver and it worked. (PCL = printer control language)

New Samsung HW-FM55C Soundbar Sweetness

My family gave me a great father's Day gift, A Samsung HW-FM55C Soundbar purchased at Costco for $309. I was looking for the Vizio 5.1 bar but they were out at Costco so they bought the Samsung. It is a 2.1 which is fine with be but I was a little worried.

I love it. Simple to set up but I suppose they all are. The sub was not in sync out of the box but in a few minutes it fixed itself. One thing that impresses me is I can always hear the voice channel. Bluetooth works fine.

I can rock the house when desired but if quietness is necessary, I don't lose the voices.

Connection is like this:

media hdmi out > hdmi in soundbar > soundbar hdmi out > hdmi in TV
choose hdmi on the soundbar with the soundbar remote source button
choose the TV's correct hdmi source
all should work

I needed to turn things off and on the first time and select the TV's hdmi more than once.

The sub seemed to be out of sync at first but shortly worked things out on its own.

Here is the manual.

Canon ImageClass Scanner

Setting up the Canon ImageClass is fairly easy but here are are few suggestions:

1. If setting up on a network use Printer's menu and set the correct IP settings before you install the drivers.
2. You will need the Toolbox as well as the drivers if you wish to scan.
3. If scanning over the network, push the scanner button on the printer and select "remote"

Get drivers here.

Silverlight Is Out of Date

I have been receiving "Silverlight is out of date" error messages in Chrome for awhile. Searching for a solution brings no help. Windows 7 64 bit. This would happen when streaming Netflix, etc. It was no big deal because I could select "play this time". But I hate not having things work normally.

Do this: type "about:plugins" in the address bar. Look for the Silverlight entry and you will find "download update" and install. I would give you a screenshot but after you do this, the Silverlight entry disappears.

Trying to download Silverlight in a traditional method never works and you will get a "Silverlight is already installed" message. It seems I could never find the 64 bit Silverlight through traditional methods.

I found this while looking for why my Shockwave was crashing, which is a whole other story.

TRENDnet 500 Mbps Powerline Ethernet

I have a pair of these coming for $66. Lost my Roku remote and need to use wire. I always wanted to try these anyway. Crap, just found my remote after ordering ... But finding the remote is good news.

ROKU Remote Online

http://remoku.tv/

This is a browser based remote for Roku with keyboard function. Cool factor is high but I still can't figure out how to get the wifi on Roku set up without the original remote which is temporarily missing.

Privacy On The Net

I may check these out later, not a high priority.

http://www.ghostery.com/

https://www.google.com/search?q=abine&oq=abine&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j5j0l2.1596j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=privacyfix&oq=privacyfix&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j0l3.7090j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

LG-55LM4600

Just bought an LG-55LM4600. Normally I drift toward the top on electronics but for $700 I figured what the heck. Picture is very good and sound is fine for TV speakers. I have not yet seen any evidence of 120 Hz and have read the HDMI will do it. Now I have RGB connection.

If I were to do this again I would get VIZIO M551d-A2R 55" 1080p 240Hz Razor LED

Inkscape

I don't use Inkscape very often but need a place to store links and hints.
Here is a good tutorial site for Inkscape.

Excel Macro Protect Unprotect All Worksheets

Protecting/unprotecting multiple worksheets within a workbook is tedious. Here is a macro for doing either for all the sheets at one time within a workbook.

If you have a workbook open that contains one macro, that macro will be available to other open workbooks or worksheets if macros are enabled in that workbook.

I have copied the information from here in case his site goes south.

If You've Never Run Macros Before
By default, Excel is set to prevent macros from running. You will have to use the following steps once to allow macros to run.

• In Excel 2010:
Choose File, Options, Trust Center, Trust Center Settings, Macro Settings, Disable All Macros with Notification

•In Excel 2007:
Choose Office Button, Excel Options, Trust Center, Trust Center Settings, Macro Settings, Disable All Macros with Notification

• In Excel 2003 and earlier:
Choose Tools, Macro, Security, Medium

Switch from Excel to the VBA Editor
Every Windows version of Excel since 1993 includes a powerful VBA development environment lurking behind the worksheets. You can use VBA code to add new functionality to Excel. To get to the VBA environment, follow these steps:

1. Type Alt+F11

2. From the VBA menu, select Insert, Module

3. Press Ctrl+R to display the Project Explorer

You should now see a blank white canvas where you can enter VBA code on the right and a list of worksheets and your new module on the left, as shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1

Paste the Macro
Copy and Paste the following lines into the VBA editor:

Sub ProtectAllSheets()

    For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets

        ws.Protect Password:="secret123"

    Next ws

    MsgBox "All Worksheets Protected"

End Sub

Sub UnProtectAllSheets()

    For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets

        ws.Unprotect Password:="secret123"

    Next ws

    MsgBox "All Worksheets Unlocked"

End Sub

At the two spots indicated in Figure 2, type the real password that you would like to use. The password in both macros should match.

Type Alt+Q to close the VBA editor and return to Microsoft Excel.

Lenovo Batteries

When ordering Lenovo replacement batteries be sure to check the numbers on the battery itself. You can not simply order a T400 replacement and expect it to fit.

Our T400 on one is
11242T4752Z1ZHFE12VF5L (42T4752 should be enough to identify)
Google results

Our T400S is 42T4691 Google results

If needed for spec., Lenovo site for batteries.

Fix File Associations For Microsoft Office

If Microsoft Office does not associate properly with an xlsx file, here is a little program that will fix it. It will fix other associations also but I recently had a problem after installation of Office 2010 and later uninstalling Office 2003.

Program here: Nice little stand alone program. I suppose there is a way to fix the association without the program but it defied my attempts and I ran out of patients.

Go to "File Type Settings" and on the bottom left choose "Change 'Open with' programs. Then find xlsx extension and choose next. Now Excel 2010 should appear as a choice. Windows refused to show Excel 2010 as a choice without this little program and manually locating Excel and choosing it from within Windows would not stick so this little guy is doing something special.