Fix Windows Update Failure

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-updates-fail-to-install

Update Windows No Internet Connection

http://download.wsusoffline.net/

It's German but don't sweat it.

Just run the .exe and select the product you wish to update.

Simply check the settings you want. You may not want an iso.

The update files appear in "client" folder. If you also/or choose "iso" that will be in iso folder. I have not used iso so don't know how you use the iso updater after it is created. Perhaps it is a self boot?

Or you could try this update pack. Says can be integrated into win install.
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/45005-Simplix-Pack-to-update-Live-Win7-System-Integrate-hotfixes-into-Win7-distribution

Any Desk Another Remote Desktop

http://anydesk.com/remote-desktop

Works great.
1. Download the exe file.
2. Move the exe file to location you wish to keep it before starting.
3. After your first "trial" session it will ask if you wish to install - do it.
4. After install, I don't think you need the exe file anymore but shutting down the process in order to move or delete the file is advanced so it saves time for beginners.
5. You will be asked if you desire to run unattended and it will install the service.
6. Remember your address and password.

As of now there is no cost or limits. File transfer is simple right click, copy/paste.

The service uses 8180K of memory were as Ammyy uses aroung 2100K

Internet Connection Repair Utility

I just came across the Internet Connection Repair Utility.

This is a stand alone program. I don't know the effectiveness but worth a try.

Quickly Make An Icon

Quick Any2Icon is the fastest way to do it. Choose center for transparent blank space. Stand alone operation.

Makes an icon from any graphic or photo. Works great.

edit: link has been fixed

File Priority Saver

I may try Prio for bypassing the security prompt on portable programs I run. For instance, I use Everything search a lot. I have unsuccessfully tried bypass security through manual settings. I don't like that Prio installs and don't know the resources it takes yet.

I tried this but the UAC bypass remained grey and unusable. Not instruction could be found.

Ultimate Virus Killer Looks Good

Ultimate Virus Killer looks good and very versatile. Portable and uses third party scanners.

Additional list: (some can be accessed through UVK)
Kaspersky Rescue CD
Panda Cloud Cleaner Rescue, 
Malwarebytes to clean up any malware thats left behind, 
TDSSKiller for removing rootkit, if there is any on the system, 
ADWcleaner to remove the nasty toolbars, adware and junkware from the system. 
Roguekiller
Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

Watch Fox News Live

http://www.zahipedia.net/2009/07/01/watch-online-fox-news-live-free/

This one seems not to have opening advertising at the moment.

How To Resize VirtualBox VDI Disk

Yes the drives are supposed to dynamically resize but .....

Caution: I would use the second method.
Command Prompt in the VB program folder (I opened as admin. but don't know if necessary.)
Be sure to use the quotation marks
Be sure to use the two (2) dashes before "resize"

After resize success:
You will need to expand the partition with GParted (not done yet so not sure) You can virtual boot into live Gparted and still have the original live disk attached. All done in the virtual machine.

Syntax:
VboxManage.exe modifyhd "C:\Users\User Name\VirtualBox VMs\virtual disk folder \virtual disk name.vdi" --resize 15000

(Your user folder may not be on C:\ so adjust for your situation.)

So.... It didn't work but looked successful in command prompt. GParted run the way I described above shows the drive is still 8GB with no unassigned space. May need to create blank larger disk and copy/clone over then expand in GParted. Let's just forget the whole VboxManage.exe thing.

Not only that but I can no longer attach the vdi on which I ran the resize command.

I'll be back ....

FatDog64 Install Is A Trip

Fatdog64

Note: Interesting Puppy Linux Site Here
Pets are here

Installing to hard drive: (Why? I was curious.)

It can coexist with Windows 7 but the installation is not clear (at least to me) in any single online document. My explanation may not be any more clear than others but here it is anyway.

1. Use “EasyBCD” to create the NeoGrub Bootloader.

Then add the NeoGrub as a menu entry.

2. Then you can edit the menu.lst. Here is the entry for Fatdog64 files sitting on root of the second hard drive, first partition.

3. These are the 2 files from Fatdog64 and I got them from a Virtualbox install of FD64. I put them in Dropbox from VirtualBox. I could have opened the Live ISO with WinCDemu and copied them.

Once this is done Fatdog64 appears as an option in the Windows standard boot options and chain loads Grub that EasyBCD created and placed on C:\

I assume other versions of Puppy can be installed this way also. It must be the Frugal install done manually.

WiFi Takes awhile to scan the ssid broadcasts but eventually picks them up.

Num-lock starts off.

Odd Stuff:
Text files saved to Desktop do not appear on Desktop but are in the Desktop folder. In fact saving anything is a mystery yet to be solved. I can’t seem to direct the saves.

Certain items in the control panel hate click/double-click but enter works fine.

Unsettling:
I change the time zone through control panel and FD logged of and back on. Everything I had open was gone. No big deal but good to know.

Installs:
lxterminal in and old one out (no cut/paste).

Maybe more coming ....

My Linux Lite 2.0 Adventure

It's not much of an adventure yet but here goes.

Many of us have an old Dell or whatever sitting around.  Our old Dell Inspiron 1501 had 873megs of ram (which is what really) and an 80GB hard drive. It chugged along with Win 7 (upgraded from XP) but finally became intolerable. Time for Linux Lite.

(I first tried to install Puppy Slacko dual boot but trashed the file system somehow. They are serious about not installing Puppy to the hard drive but there is no need to be vindictive.) By the was, Slacko is wonderful when run from a USB stick and my go to Windows fixer at the moment.

So... I burned the linux-lite 32 pae (because I will use this again on a machine with more memory and the LLite guys recommend this for Steam over 64 bit) to a DVD (couldn't get Yumi to install correctly to multiboot) and booted the DVD (I didn't have a CD). Now let's connect to the internet. Typing the password for the WiFi I start getting numbers for some of the letters. What's up with that? Turns out LinuxLite starts with numlock on. That would normally be a good thing but not on a 15 inch laptop. Just hit the numlock key and turn it off. You can disable starting in numlock in settings -keyboard etc.

Next run update ... wow we have a lot of updates.

Then run "install additional software" (yes it is a menu item)... what shall we install first ... Google Chrome (I don't like FireFox and, now that they have made a political statement, I even like them less). Install Additional Software starts up a pre-configured Terminal with numbered selections. You can choose one at a time or several at once.

Next we install games. Oh well, my wife is going to complain about not having Hardwoods Hearts but maybe I can find something better than this little hearts game provided here. She uses this laptop now and then when her Lenovo or iPad is not within reach.

Time to reboot and see if Linux Lite has stepped up it's game from the LiveCD. LiveCD shut down was painfully slow but the installed shut down was a snappy 7 seconds. Installed boot up took 60 seconds to the feather (their desktop). Not bad on this creaky old machine.

Next I installed Dropbox. I did get Linux Lite and Samba working in Virtual Box but Samba setup is a black art and I can only get it set up when the moon is full and the stars are rightly aligned. I may get it working here also but let's not get overly confident. On second thought, I don't want Dropbox. I'm not leaving my account set up on this machine. Linux Lite also has Uninstall Additional Software that comes up as a terminal. Very handy so Dropbox is now gone.

Catfish File and Folder finder looks good until I learn a command to globally find files and folders through the terminal. This has alluded me as yet. Let's give her a spin. "smb.conf" nope ... "samba" nope. Ok, I could have NOT found those myself from the terminal. Maybe there is some secret.

Java browser plug-in because we want to give the hackers a chance. Restricted extras because you can never have too many codecs. Team Viewer because Ammyy doesn't do Linux. Deluge torrent client and you know why. Wine - maybe it has improved since I last tried it (I'm sure it was user error).

Done with those. It has GIMP already and VLC. I'm not familiar enough with Linux to know much else.

Now for that Samba setup. Can someone check the moon? But first (I can't face Samba yet) let's try to get Kwin going. I know, you have this snappy system now so why bog it down. I can always turn it off. I need to see those windows wobble at least once and don't even say the word Compiz around me.

So much for wobbly windows. I can't get Kwin working. Like Compiz, the packages are constantly changing so following any online instruction is futile. Besides that, most Linux users talk in jargon and almost never explain anything fully. Are they all 12 years old? Mathew Moore had a good video but the packages are no longer the same. But I installed them all and still don't have the control panel.

Good news on the Samba front. We have contact. Is it too early to say I'm getting the hang of it? I suppose you want to know the secret? To follow a time honored Linux user tradition I will give you a partial answer:
    1. Set up a Samba user name and password (I use the same as I used on the system). If Windows is asking you for a name and password, that is good news. It means you need to set one up.
    2. Don't expect the share to show up in the Windows network window. Access it from the Run command. And it is a mystery.
    3. Make sure the Linux share folder exists and is reflected in the smb.conf
    4. I think most smb.conf setup examples work but numbers one through three are not done right so we blame smb.conf instead.
    5. Oh, and make sure to restart Samba after changing anything. Linux Lite has a built in command so knowing the terminal command is essential on other distros.

In the end, I didn't change any word in the Linux Lite smb.conf file and it worked. I just made sure that the share folder name and location followed what they had in the smb.conf file. My Windows workgroup is named "WORKGROUP". I've always been creative with names.

I keep thinking of things with this Samba thing. LL had netbios = Lappy  and I wondered if I should change it and to what would use instead. I left Lappy and guess what. Windows sees it as Lappy. Ok, it doesn't see it, I need to use the run command but you know what I mean. I could have had netbios = Hitler and it would have worked.

Anyway, here is the awesome Linux Lite Network portion of their manual.
And here is a portion of that portion. How simple is that!

There you have it. By my explanation, unless you were already familiar with Linux and really did not need my instruction, you don't have a clue of what I just said. May I go to the head of the class now?

Sadly even before Samba was working Linux Lite recognized my Brother printer over WiFi but won't print to it. I have no clue about installing drivers for that printer although I supposedly found them. I need a print to pdf solution and put that Samba connection to use for now. Maybe there is an awesome printer install section of their manual also.

Here are some software notes to try:
ctl t drop down term
xordexkill
pulse audio
gnome disk utility
terminator
kde games look good
pinta
deluge
goobox
k3b
mediainfo
simplestreamrecorder
winff
alacarte menu edit
grub customizer
xsensors
gstreamer

I'll be back ...

Install Windows From the Hard Drive

Here is the link Thanks Steven Tylor

I'm copying the text here in case the link dies


Part 1: Preparing the HD with Windows 7 setup files.

- Connect the hard drive to another working computer.
- Format the hard drive to NTFS (Quick format works fine; multiple partitions also work).
- Copy the following from your Windows 7 disc:

    Boot
    Sources
    Bootmgr

Part 2: Making the HD bootable

Using Windows XP, Vista, or 7, open CMD as Admin (Windows key + R, type CMD, hit Enter)

Enter the following commands, (replace X with what applies to your hard drive):

diskpart
list disk
select disk X
list partition
select partition X
active
exit
X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 X:

(See picture for example)

Exit and shutdown.

Note: If you’re working on a 32-bit system, and you want to install 64-bit Windows, you may get problems trying to run the last command (X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 X:).
Solutions:

    Use a computer with a 64-bit version of Windows

OR

    A little trick that worked for me: If you have a 32-bit Windows 7 disc, you can copy bootsect.exe from that and replace the 64-bit one (boot\bootsect.exe).

Part 3: Booting and installing Windows

Place the hard drive back into the target machine. Make sure that the BIOS is configured to boot from the hard drive. If you did everything correctly, you should see “Windows is loading files” and setup will load (really fast, too, because it's loading from the hard drive). Install Windows as usual (but don’t format your drive this time in the installer – otherwise it will erase the Windows 7 setup files too!).

Part 4: Final steps/housecleaning

We’ll have to quickly edit the boot menu once Windows is installed.

In Windows 7, hit the Windows key + R. Type msconfig, and hit Enter.
Click to the Boot tab at the top.
Click 'Windows Setup (\windows)', and hit Delete.
Click OK.
Click 'Exit without restart'.

And lastly, delete the ‘Sources’ folder from your hard drive root (this will free up 2-3gb).

Puppy Linux: Network Share, Touch Pad, Screenshots ... and more

I just tried Puppy Linux slacko-5.7.0-PAE.iso I like it.

Network Share:
Lan gave me a fit for awhile. I'm not overly familiar with Linux and have never set up a Samba share before.

This is a good document but it took awhile to find what he was talking about.
This is also a good document to understand what is being set up. It takes the mystery out of what Simple Samba is doing behind the scenes.

The PPM to which he refers is Puppy Package Manager which is in the Setup Menu (the bottom left). Slacko will have Samba installed already but things will be much easier when you get Samba Simple Management. I couldn't get Samba to start without it. All my Samba-restart commands from terminal had no effect. I'm sure it would work eventually but why struggle when Simple Samba is available.

After installing, Simple Samba will show in the Network menu and look similar to below. Just run SSM and it will set the network share to work. You can change where files are shared but I would just use the defaults to stay consistent in later setups. Unfortunately while trying to get things working before finding this, I issued some commands that may have changed a few things so the default may look somewhat different. The server name of "NewPuppy" is one change and may be the only one. This was my second boot and I probably didn't change much before I found Siimple Samba on this boot.

Just remember the default log on for Puppy is user = root and password = woofwoof. You could change this but why? Are we really using Puppy when a secure share is essential? I have to say, this was wonderfully easy once you find the SSM program.

This is what SSM looks like unaltered

If following the directions in the second article it would look like this:

Yes, I did these screen shots in Puppy and grabbed them from the share folder through my Windows machine to post on Blogger. We are quite proud of ourselves. Really I didn't want to go through the whole double log in thing with Google to post them through Puppy.

Touch Pad and Screen Shot:

To set up the sensitivity and (more importantly) what the single finger tap does, open the Wizard Wizard.

Obvious Pick?

For screen shots just pick the Take A Shot from the Graphics Menu. At first it looks primitive but is very functional. To take a shot of the menu, which closes if you do anything, simply set a 5 second delay, take the shot and quickly open the menu to where you want it. If you did it before 5 seconds you will have the shot.

Choosing edit will open in a paint program. Drag select the portion you wish to keep and hit delete. Magically it is cropped. Puppy is wonderful.

Free Studio Converts, Burns, ISO

Here is an interesting Media handling suite.
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm#.U7vI5fldV8F

Sick of Chrome Text Garble

One of my PCs Chrome would start garbling text after being used for awhile. Shutting down all instances of Chrome and restarting would solve it temporarily. I am trying to clean every speck of Google from the computer and start over.

Logged on to Chrome account to be sure the settings were backed up.
Shut down every instance of chrome in task manager.
Remove all Google stuff through Add Remove Programs.
Win-R and type "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google" then delete the folder
Type the following text into a notepad and save as "remove.reg". Run the reg program to remove all Chrome entries from register.
You could also run reg clean in CCleaner.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; WARNING, this file will remove Google Chrome registry entries
; from your Windows Registry. Consider backing up your registry before
; using this file: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756

; To run this file, save it as 'remove.reg' on your desktop and double-click it.

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ChromeHTML]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\chrome.exe]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications]
"Chrome"=-


[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\ChromeHTML]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\chrome.exe]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications]
"Chrome"=-


[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Chrome]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Update\Clients\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Update\ClientState\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}]


[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Update\Clients\{00058422-BABE-4310-9B8B-B8DEB5D0B68A}]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Update\ClientState\{00058422-BABE-4310-9B8B-B8DEB5D0B68A}]


[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Update\ClientStateMedium\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Update\Clients\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Update\ClientState\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}]


[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Google\Update\Clients\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}]

I hate all the memory Chrome eats up but this is the minimum I can get by with for extensions.

Two or More Networks on One Modem

2 routers then 1 switch to modem does not work. The routers need to be cascaded in a series, WAN from router 2 (192.168.2.1) to LAN in router 1 (192.168.1.1). I have had this work flawlessly for years but when trouble does come it can drive you crazy on a larger system.

But this may be the answer. I have not tried this. Looks like 3 routers for 2 networks.
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-howto/24428-howtotwoprivlan?start=1
Not sure is is all that different, just an additional router.

SyncBackFree is the best backup program I have ever tried.

I use SyncBack every day. It just plain works. I back up accounting's files onto my computer daily and automatically. That way I am not working with their files in case I change something.

My home network drops to it's knees when I copy files through wifi from my laptop to the big desktop drives. I was dreading copying my picture files over and wondering how I would sync them because some of the files had already been copied over. I installed SyncBack and let it work. It took 54 minutes but I could not even tell it was using bandwidth. Super program.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html

Canon ELHP 330 Settings and Stuff

Some of the guys over at DPReview are taking such great pictures with the Canon ELHP 330 that I just had too get one. I have an ELHP 300 that takes an ok snapshot but nothing like what I see from the 330. The size of this camera is to convenient to pass up. On the shuttle, in the airport or at the restaurant, it can't be beat for a quick shot. I ordered a refurbished from Canon for $169.

Here are the setting brianj uses:

P mode

Metering CWA

EV -.3 (my default but can be lowered if needed)

Icontrast =AUTO

Contrast = +1

Saturation = 0

Sharpness = 0

Red = 0 (my silver camera) Red = +1 (black camera)

Green = +1 (silver) Green = +2 (black)

Blue = 0 both cameras.

WB = AUTO.

ISO=AUTO

Other picture related setting default.

Credit: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53957748

Charger (same as for ELPH 300) CB-2LV

Best Windows Wallpaper Handler

John's Background Switcher

Different wallpaper on each monitor. I always end up going back to a black screen but it is a great program.