Hilights of the New Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows 7 has introduced new shortcut keys.  Here are a few of them.

• Windows Key + Up Arrow:  Maximize active window
• Windows Key + Down Arrow:  Minimize active window
• Windows Key + Left Arrow: Maximize active window to left side of the screen
• Windows Key + Right Arrow: Maximize active
• Windows Key + X: Open the Windows Mobility Center.  Definitely worth checking out for laptops.

These last few are based off of the order of the programs pinned to the task bar.  The number corresponds to the number on the task bar.

• Windows Key + Number:  Starts the program pinned to this location.
• Windows Key + Ctrl + Number: Activates the last active window of this program.
• Windows Key + Alt + Number: Opens the jump list for this program

For a full list of keyboard shortcuts, search for "Keyboard Shortcuts" in Windows Help and Support found on the right side of the start menu.

Device Manager Reports Device Type: Unknown

One of my users called me with a computer problem.  When his computer booted up, the display went black but the computer was still running.  You could ping the computer, connect to remote shares, even connect through remote desktop.

Thinking it must be a hardware problem, I tried other video cards but that didn't change anything.  Using safe mode and remote desktop where the only ways to work on the computer.

Under device manager, the video card was reported as "Unknown" but the driver was installed. Reinstalling and updating the driver didn't help anything.  After hours of crying, I finally find the solution to my problem.  Some registry keys were delete.

To fix the problem, I had to run this registry key file after uninstalling the video drivers.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]
"Class"="Display"
@="Display adapters"
"Installer32"="Desk.Cpl,DisplayClassInstaller"
"TroubleShooter-0"="hcp://help/tshoot/tsdisp.htm"
"Icon"="-1"

If you don't know how to run this file, copy paste it into notepad.  When you are saving the file, at the save dialog, put a ".key" at the end of the file name and change the "Save as type" to "All Files".  Then double click the saved file.

After updating the registry key, I reinstalled the drivers and everything was back to normal!

Learn How To PDF

 Here are some common questions I am asked about PDF files.


What is PDF?
PDF is an acronym for Portable Document Format.  It is an open standard that was first developed by Adobe Systems.

What is the purpose of a PDF file?
When you turn change your document to the PDF format, then you are ensuring that on whatever machine it is viewed on, it will look exactly the same.  You don't have to worry about what it will look like on a Apple computer or on a Sun Solaris computer.  As long as the computer you want to view it on has a PDF viewer, you can view the document and it will look the same as the original.  Let me give you a few situations where using a PDF file is necessary.

• You chose a font to create your document because of its aesthetics.  If you tried viewing the document on a computer that did not have that font installed, it can not display the document correctly.  You would have to download the font, before the computer could display it.  If you converted your document to a PDF file, then it wouldn't matter what fonts where available on the other computer.  It would look exactly the same as the original document.
• Your friend sent you a document that was created in OpenOffice.  You have Microsoft Word installed and do not have OpenOffice installed on your computer.  You will not be able to open the document.  Even if you could convert from OpenOffice to a Microsoft Word format, there will still be subtle differences in the new file file.  College students face this problem.  A student might have a writing assignment that has to be a minimum of 5 pages long.  The student wrote his 5 page assignment in OpenOffice but has to print it out at school where the computers have Microsoft Word installed.  When he opens the converted document, he discoveres that his 5 page document turned into 4 pages.  No content is missing, but the document rendered differently in the new format.

 How do I open a PDF file?
A PDF Viewer is required to open a PDF file.  Here are two easily installable PDF Viewers:

• Adobe Reader
• Foxit Reader 

BEWARE:  Adobe reader is often packaged with other unnecessary software, like Internet Explorer toolbars, and Anti-virus Software.

Why would I want to turn a document into a PDF file?
Besides the above situations, another practical reason to convert your document to a PDF is to insure the integrity of the file.  Because there is no widely available software to modify PDF files, you can send and publish documents and know that they are not easily modified.

How do I turn my document into a PDF?
Depending on your situation you have a few options.  If you are using Microsoft Office 2007, you can download a add-in that will give you the ability to save your document in a PDF format.

•  The Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS Add-In Download Page 

However, if you are using an older version of Office or a different program entirely, you will have to install a PDF writer.  These work by adding a "virtual" printer to your list of available printers.  When you print to this virtual printer instead of making a physical copy of the document,  the PDF software converts the document to a PDF file and asks you where to save it.  There are two popular software packages that have this feature:

• Adobe Acrobat
  
• CutePDF
  

Adobe Acrobat is not the same as Adobe Reader.  Adobe Acrobat is going to cost more than 100 USD depending on what version you get.  CutePDF on the other hand, is free.

What is an XPS file?
An XPS file is a competing document format created by Microsoft. 

If I didn't answer your question, you can leave one in the Comments

AOL Search Data Scandal

For a 3 month period before August 2006, AOL monitored and recorded the search history for over a .5 million of its customers. This was initially meant for research purposes, but when the data was released to the public in August lulz ensued. Seven days after the release, AOL realized the mistake and removed to content from their web site, but it was too late. The information already spread to the farthest corners of the internet. The story was over when AOL was hit with a class-action lawsuit a month later. Here is the Wikipedia article on he scandal.

And for the rest of the Internet...
The customer search histories are hosted and made search-able by multiple sites. AOL Psycho has ranked the most interesting users for easy access to lulz. They even have a commenting system to aid in new lulz. AOL Stalker has a tagging system to help you find new lulz. And for those of you with too much free time on your hands, here is the raw data itself.

Examples
User named "AOL Trial User" first and last search was:

"how do i cancel my free trial of aol"

User named "Google.com" has a cat with a bad case of butthurt:

"my cat has a sore butt"
"what do i put on my cats sore butt"
"cat has sore butt"
"my cats butt is raw"

drug maker learns to make drugs:

"how to make extacy"
"what makes up extacy"
"what is in extacy"
"mdma"
"what is the drug mda"
"how were the black slaves aquired" // WTF???
"how to make exstacy"
"easy way to make extacy"
"totes how to make extacy"
"what is chemical make up of extacy"

Change the HP LCD Ready Message

I've rewrote yaakov's hpsetdisp.pl in Python. It's always a good thing to have on any April Fools Day. The HP PCL/PJL Manual can be found here

#
# Learn To Computer 2009
# http://learntocomputer.blogspot.com/
#
# hpsetdisp.py
#
# The famous April Fools Day joke for HP printers with a
# character LCD. Change the printer_ip and display_msg
# to suit your needs.
#
# Keep in mind the characters per line for your display.
#

import sys
import socket

printer_ip = '192.168.0.101'
display_msg = 'REPLACE FLUX CAPACITOR'

b = ''
b = b + '\x1b%%-12345X@PJL JOB\n'
b = b + ('@PJL RDYMSG DISPLAY="%s"\n' % display_msg)
b = b + '@PJL EOJ\n\x1b%%-12345X'

s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
s.connect((printer_ip, 9100))
s.send(b)
s.close()

Some action shots:

Don't bring your printer to the public swimming pool.



Shameless self promotion.

How to Test a PC Power Supply or PSU (The paper clip method)

It surprises me how people I talk to who have not heard of this test. If your car will not start, you might try jump starting it with a set of jumper cables, right? Then why do you just give up when your computer will not boot? Must be out of laziness, or ignorance...

This process can be used to verify that a power supply is dead. A tested power supply that works, may not be in fully operational.


Materials:
1 Conductive paper clip (no, plastic will not work)
1 PSU in unknown working condition.

Procedure:
First step, You must disconnect the power from all the devices inside your computer, e.g., hard drive, mother board.

Now, make sure the power supply is plugged in and if there is a hard switch on the back it is turned on (if the switch has a "I" and a "O" on it, put the switch on the "I", then go learn to binary).

Next, find the Main Power Connector (it's the one with either 20 or 24 pins). It looks like this:


Now find the green wire in the bundle. The green wire coresponds to the "PS_ON#" pin in the pinouts of this connector (Pin-outs found here on page 34). To turn the PSU on, this green wire must be grounded. This is where the paper clip comes in. All the black wires on this connector are labeled "COM". They are the common ground. You must jump the green wire to a black wire with the paper clip.


Unfold the paperclip and bend it where the ends are close to each other. Now, shove one end into the pin in the connector associated with the green wire. Take the other end, and plug it into any pin associated with a black wire.




Once you have the green wire jumped to a black wire, your power supply should turn on. You will be able to tell by seeing and hearing the fans spinning, or if there is an LED that indicates the PSU is on. If the power supply does not turn on, you are in luck; you now know the problem is broken power supply. Otherwise, you should start looking elsewhere for the problem.

How to get a list of printers in Microsoft Access

Someone ask me for help with a bit of VBA code. He wanted to get a list of all the printers so he could then set the default one. His method used Windows API calls to enumerate the printers. I then introduced to him the MS Access object named "Printers" and then removed 30 lines of code he had been working on.

Here is how I solved his problem:

Dim p As Printer
For Each p In Printers
Debug.Print p.DeviceName
Next

The Printers object is a collection of Printer objects. To set the printer that Access uses, you can set the Application.Printer object to the desired printer.

'You can use the DeviceName string as a key
'to look up a specific printer.
Set Application.Printer = Printers("Adobe PDF")