Blogs
nirsoft_installer 1.34 has been released (31-Dec-09)
Submitted by ross on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 11:56nirsoft_installer is an NSIS installer I whipped up to download and install most of the wonderful utilities found at http://nirsoft.net.
You can download the binary here and the binary with the source code here.si_installer 1.13 has been released (31-Dec-09)
Submitted by ross on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 11:55si_installer is an NSIS installer I whipped up to download and install most of the wonderful utilities found at http://sysinternals.com.
You can download the binary here and the binary with the source code here. Here's the changelog.txt:si_installer 1.13 has been released (announcement)
Submitted by ross on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 10:59Details at http://smithii.com/si_installer.
This seemingly duplicate entry has been created as some RSS readers, such as Google Reader, do not display updates to existing blog entries, even if the update date was changed. This entry will be deleted in a week or so. Therefore, please do not post comments to this entry. Post them to the above URL instead. Thanks!
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nirsoft_installer 1.34 has been released (announcement)
Submitted by ross on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 10:56Details at http://smithii.com/nirsoft_installer.
This seemingly duplicate entry has been created as some RSS readers, such as Google Reader, do not display updates to existing blog entries, even if the update date was changed. This entry will be deleted in a week or so. Therefore, please do not post comments to this entry. Post them to the above URL instead. Thanks!
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Why are Eclipse's error messages so unhelpful?
Submitted by ross on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 16:27Creation of element failed. Reason: Build path contains duplicate entry: 'C:Program Files/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.php.core_2.1.0.v20090617-2341/Resources/language/php5/' for project proactiv08
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HomeAway's iCAL URLs don't work in Google Calendar
Submitted by ross on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 21:21Dear HomeAway customer support:
When I visit
https://www.homeaway.com/owners/index.cfm?fuseaction=availability&pro_id=3020695
and click the [Google Calendar] link at the bottom of the screen, I am offered this link to cut-n-paste:
https://connect.homeaway.com/icalendar/hacalendar.htm?cid=89d5c6d06a2649c1978a09d450235777
When I use Google Calendar, click the [Add] link, and paste in the above URL, I receive the error:
Could not fetch the url because robots.txt prevents us from crawling the url.
This is due to the following text in http://connect.homeaway.com/robots.txt :
User-agent: * #Disallow: /search/refined/ User-agent: wegobot Disallow: /
Google is interpreting this as:
User-agent: * User-agent: wegobot Disallow: /
Which Google thinks means DON'T INDEX YOUR SITE AT ALL!!!!!
The fix is to either remove
User-agent: * #Disallow: /search/refined/
or move it to the end of the file, where it will not be mis-interpreted.
How about giving me an extra year for taking the time to diagnose, and inform you of this SERIOUS issue with Google, the most used search portal on the internet!!!
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SubversionException: ("Can't open file 'c:\svn\repos\db\current': Access is denied. ", 720005)
Submitted by ross on Sat, 09/26/2009 - 11:44
SubversionException: ("Can't open file 'c:\\svn\\repos\\db\\current': Access is denied. ", 720005)
I'm not sure yet, but I think the culprit was committing changes using Cygwin's svn command and the file: protocol. For example:
c:\src> svn co file:///c:/svn/repo/mana c:\src> cd mana c:\src\mana> svn ci -m 'from heaven'To fix it, I ran the following commands:
cacls c:\svn /T /E /G Administrators:F cacls c:\svn /T /E /G SYSTEM:F cacls c:\svn /T /E /G Users:RFor some reason
cacls c:\svn /T /E /G %USERNAME%:Fgave the error:
The data is invalid.To work around this issue, I executed:
cd /D c:\svn for /R %i in (*.*) do cacls %i /T /E /G %USERNAME%:FUsing the svn: or http: protocols probably do not suffer from this issue.
Paymo is good, but needs some work to be great
Submitted by ross on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 10:26Entering Time
- If you enter 9 AM as the first time, and then an hour of 1 to 8, or 12 for the the 2nd time, it should assume this is PM, and not AM.
- The system should allow for military time entries.
- When I tab out of the Start Time or End Time fields, the calendar should immediately disappear.
Time Entries
- Sort order should be ni reverse chronological order. Otherwise, by Wednesday, every time the page is refreshed, I have to scroll to see the most recent time entry. At the very least, this should be an option.
- There is no way to change the project or task on existing entries (unless you use the desktop widget).
- There is no easy way to tell if there are overlapping time entries. Overlapping time entries should stand out with some sort of visual indication.
Reports
- "Presets" were not storing the settings properly. This appears to have been fixed.
- No easy way to update an existing preset.
- The detail report should use as the start time, the first date of the detail line items, instead it uses the start date entered on the Reports query page. This will confuse clients if you simply use the default start date, which is the first date *any* entries were entered into paymo.
- When I tab out of the Start Time or End Time fields, the calendar should immediately disappear.
Invoices
- There is no way to remove the "Tax" line.
- There appears to be a place for a graphic in the upper left hand corner, but no way to add a graphic.
Time Tracker/Desktop Widget
- I've lost time entries several times.
Google Voice beats Gizmo, Magic Jack, Ooma, Skype, Vonage, etc.
Submitted by ross on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 00:04QuickBooks 2009 and the dreaded "There are no new transactions. Please check again tommorrow" message
Submitted by ross on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 18:19Dear QuickBooks Technical Support,
I have been downloading transactions using the DirectConnect feature for months now.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to do so any more. I get the message
"There are no new transactions. Please check again tommorrow"
I followed the instructions at:
and was able to import the transactions using DirectConnect into another file, just fine
I have called Bank of America, and QuickBooks Technical Support several times. I was advised to try:
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticle/1007174
but that didn't fix it.
I've also tried
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/Pages/KnowledgeBaseArticle/1002282
I've also tried downloading via WebConnect, but I get the same error.
I have spent over 8 hours on this, and have reached my wits end. I don't know what else to try.
Please help!
Thanks!
Ross Smith
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Eclipse PDT 3.5's build is broken
Submitted by ross on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 13:11I downloaded the latest Eclipse PDT 3.5 (Galileo) from http://www.eclipse.org/pdt.
Unfortunately, I found a bug in the Remote System Explorer. I fixed it by downloading RSE-runtime-3.1.zip from http://download.eclipse.org/dsdp/tm/downloads/drops/R-3.1-200906171400/index.php.
Hopefully, they'll fix this issue soon.
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Accessing KDE desktop via VNC
Submitted by ross on Sun, 07/05/2009 - 18:28I wanted to be able to connect to my Linux system's boot up screen remotely using VNC.
To do that, I needed to install x11vnc. Since I'm running Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu, I simply typed:
$ sudo apt-get install x11vnc
After poking around I found the xauth file in /var/run/xauth, so to start x11vnc, I typed
$ XAUTH=`ls -t /var/run/xauth/* | head -n 1` $ nohup x11vnc -display :0 -auth $XAUTH &
Since x11vnc complains there is no password, I could have instead used:
$ XAUTH=`ls -t /var/run/xauth/* | head -n 1` $ nohup x11vnc -passwd insert_password_here -display :0 -auth $XAUTH &
I tried:
$ XAUTH=`ls -t /var/run/xauth/* | head -n 1` $ x11vnc -usepw -display :0 -auth $XAUTH
and even
$ x11vnc -storepasswd insert_password_here $HOME/.vnc/passwd $ XAUTH=`ls -t /var/run/xauth/* | head -n 1` $ x11vnc -passwdfile $HOME/.vnc/passwd -display :0 -auth $XAUTH
but couldn't get either to work.
When I was done with this VNC instance, I removed it from memory via:
$ killall x11vnc
This doesn't kill the actual desktop, just the x11vnc instance in memory.
To create a new virtual KDE desktop, I installed vnc4server via:
$ sudo apt-get install vnc4server
and then created the desktop with:
$ vnc4server -geometry 1024x768 -depth 24 :1
For -geometry, I can effectively use any values I want, but I generally use smaller values, as a larger desktop takes longer to repaint.
For -depth I usually use 24, or 32.
When I was done with this desktop, I removed it from memory via:
$ vnc4server -kill :1
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aria2 1.3.3 for Windows has been released (updated 12-May-09)
Submitted by ross on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 12:29aria2 is a download utility with resuming and segmented downloading.
Using the makefile aria2.mak, I successfully ported aria2 to Windows using the Debian MinGW cross-compiler. While aria2 compiles under native MinGW and Cygwin, the resultant executable was buggy using the supplied gcc version 3.4.5, and numerous unit tests fail.
After installing gcc 4.3.0 in MinGW using get_mingw.cmd and am now able to produce working binaries in my Windows environment. This leads me to believe that gcc 3.4.5 is not reliable under MinGW.
The latest MinGW binary, and source code is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/aria2/files/.
Automatically Slipstream Windows XP with SP3 and All Post-SP3 Security Hotfixes with a Single Command (Updated 03-May-09)
Submitted by ross on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 08:25For information about slipstreaming Windows XP SP2, visit http://smithii.com/slipstream_xpsp2.
I've written the batch file xpsp3.cmd (updated 03-May-09) to automatically download and slipstream a standard Windows XP boot disk with Service Pack 2 and all post-SP3 security hotfixes.
It uses wget or curl (if either are found in the PATH), or your installed browser to download the updates. I have tested this with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera. Other browsers should work, as well. The batch file xpsp3local.cmd (updated 03-May-09) will update the copy of Windows XP that is installed on the computer you run the command on. You may wish to do this, if you do not have, or want, the machine you want to hotfix connected to the internet, or if you are unable to run Windows Update for some reason (for example, if Internet Explorer isn't installed, or doesn't work properly, due to a virus or similar mishap). To slipstream the hotfixes, and burn the slipstreamed disk, I've created the makefile xpsp3.mak (updated 03-May-09). Details on usage below.Automatically Slipstream Windows XP with SP2 and All Post-SP2 Security Hotfixes with a Single Command (Updated 03-May-09)
Submitted by ross on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 08:25For information about slipstreaming Windows XP SP3, visit http://smithii.com/slipstream_xpsp3.
I've written the batch file xpsp2.cmd (updated 03-May-09) to automatically download and slipstream a standard Windows XP boot disk with Service Pack 2 and all post-SP2 security hotfixes. It uses wget or curl (if either are found in the PATH), or your installed browser to download the updates. I have tested this with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera. Other browsers should work, as well. The batch file xpsp2local.cmd (updated 03-May-09) will update the copy of Windows XP that is installed on the computer you run the command on. You may wish to do this, if you do not have, or want, the machine you want to hotfix connected to the internet, or if you are unable to run Windows Update for some reason (for example, if Internet Explorer isn't installed, or doesn't work properly, due to a virus or similar mishap). To slipstream the hotfixes, and burn the slipstreamed disk, I've created the makefile xpsp2.mak (updated 03-May-09). Details on usage below.