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IT Manager and Systems Administration Technical Solutions Journal
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| 1/9/2012 7:42:05 AM | | | |
| How to get rid of the annoying Favorites button in IE8 classic view |
If you have someone that likes to use Internet Explorer in classic (non-tabbed) mode and make the most out of usable screen space, you've probably run into trouble trying to get rid of that lone Favorites button. Not the bar, just that annoying button that refuses to go away, no matter what bars and buttons you select to show or hide. Fortunately, there is a way to make that stupid button go away. Unfortunately, it also has the side-effect of disabling tabbed browsing, since where that button is acts as a placeholder for the tabs. Making it go away (and come back) is as easy as creating two new keys and a DWORD value in the registry. Here goes:
1) execute RegEdit
2) Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\POLICIES\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER
3) Navigate to TOOLBARS, creating if necessary
4) Navigate to RESTRICTIONS, creating if necessary
5) Add a DWORD value "NoCommandBar" and set its value to 1
6) Exit the Registry and restart Internet Explorer.
That's it! |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 11/1/2011 7:59:17 AM | | | |
| Breaking the unbreakable mirror in Windows Server 2008 |
 Some tasks are made tedious or difficult by "Are You Sure" messages, or even "You need to click this button if you really are in charge of this computer" messages. Others are just made impossible with red-ex enforced "You can't get there from here" messages. Such is the case when you try to break a mirror in Windows Server 2008. You open the Disk Management tool, select the mirror to break or remove, right-click, and try to break the mirror. The system replies with "The specified plex is a current system or boot plex." What to do?
The brutal way would be to open the box and pull the mirrored drive you don't want to boot to. There is a better solution, however.
1) boot to the drive you want to retain
1) open a command prompt with Admin authority
2) execute DiskPart
3) Use LIST VOLUME to see which volume you want to remove as a mirror
4) Use SELECT VOLUME to select the appropriate volume
5) Use LIST DISK, SELECT DISK, and DETAIL DISK to determine the ID of the disk currently booted to
6) Use BREAK DISK=id to break the mirror you are not currently booted to.
That's it! Now the mirror is broken, and you have two Simple Volumes. |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 9/2/2011 9:45:53 AM | | | |
| Avoiding the pesky download-crashing IE information bar |
If you've written JS scripts for downloading files, and have run into a dead-end with Microsoft's download-crashing information bar, this tip is for you.
A user clicks on a button to download a file. The file must be updated or prepared (in the case of our FileBox FileLoader, large files are automatically compressed prior to download), or perhaps display a message to the user about their download. In any case, a common way to do this is to have the click run some JScript which opens a new window to prep the file or show the message, and then a "setTimeout" event is used to request the file. Unfortunately, this operation is "asynchronous", and IE thinks you're trying to "push" a file to the user. To make matters worse, if the user clicks the bar and accepts the download, your webpage reloads, causing the user to lose his place, resubmit already submitted data, or some other malfunction.
The solution? Well, you could try instructing your users to disable a security feature in IE, but half of them won't do it, and the other half will blame you the next time they get a virus.
Instead, put a hidden iFrame in your page. When the user clicks, document.open, document.write, and document.close the contents of the iFrame with the form to submit. Set the iFrame visibility to visible, and frame.document.form.submit() to submit the form. Using hidden variables, and a visible message, you can inform the user of what's going on, while the form is being submitted to the server-side to request the file. The file Open/Save dialog will appear, and the user can then save their file. Finish off with a setTimeout to set the visibility of the iFrame to hidden, and that's it!
The button:
<A HREF='' onClick='jsfGetFile(filename);'><IMG SRC='downloadbtn.gif'></A>
The iFrame:
<DIV NAME='divGetFile' ID='divGetFile' STYLE='position:absolute; visibility:hidden; width:500px; height:140px;'> <IFRAME NAME='fraGetFile' ID='fraGetFile' SRC='' > </IFRAME> </DIV>
The JScript (some variables and styles omitted for brevity):
<SCRIPT>
function jsfGetFbxFile(SubmitVal) {
// -- create form doc inside iframe -- //
fraGetFile.document.open();
fraGetFile.document.write('<HTML>');
fraGetFile.document.write('<BODY>');
fraGetFile.document.write('<FORM ACTION='dlpage.aspx METHOD='post'>');
fraGetFile.document.write("<INPUT TYPE='hidden' NAME='SubmitFor' VALUE='btnGetFile'>");
fraGetFile.document.write("<INPUT TYPE='hidden' NAME='SubmitVal' VALUE='" + SubmitVal + "'>");
fraGetFile.document.write('Preparing for download...<BR />');
fraGetFile.document.write('</FORM></BODY></HTML>');
fraGetFile.document.close();
document.all.divGetFile.style.visibility = 'visible';
fraGetFile.document.f1.submit();
setTimeout("document.all.divGetFile.style.visibility = 'hidden'; ", 30000);
}
Now you have a synchronous operation, and no download interruption! |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 7/29/2011 11:47:34 AM | | | |
| How to upgrade your Ultra 33046 UPS to give you longer run-time in a power outage |
 When the power goes out, one of two things happens. Everyone in the office groans because they refuse to save their work often and just lost an hour or more worth of work, or they just keep chugging away as if nothing were wrong, until their UPS battery peters out, and then commence with the groaning.
I try to keep everyone (including myself) ready for a power outage. First, by making sure all workstations are protected with a UPS. Second, by reminding staff to save work often, and if there is a power outage, to quickly stop and save all work, and shut the system down gracefully.
Most desktop-size uninterruptable power supplies only last a few minutes, especially as the battery ages.
My favorite UPS is Ultra's 33046. It runs on 24v, two 12v SLA (sealed lead-acid) batteries mounted inside the case. As I took a few of them apart to replace their aging batteries, I noticed that there are extra battery terminals on the board (see here). I drilled a hole in the case side and inserted a grommet (click), made a battery cable set using scrap wire and 0.25'' quick-connects, and purchased additional batteries from McMaster-Carr.
The result is a UPS with nearly 3x the run-time, powering the same workstation as before. The extra batteries sit neatly to the side or atop the case. This gives even the most stubborn individual time to save their work and shut down their system before the UPS runs out of juice and gives up. |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 6/23/2011 11:28:15 AM | | | |
| How to get rid of a pesky duplicate record (row) in SQL |
I recently created a SQL database, with plans to import a tab-delimited file into it with a script that would also verify field contents. I wanted to make sure my data was going to transfer into the table properly from the script I had written, so the first time I ran it, I only let it loop through the first record. That worked, so I ran the script again against the whole file- forgetting to remove the first record I'd written to the table!
Logging in to SQL Server Management Studio to take a look, I noticed the duplicate record. "Oops," I thought, "I'll just right-click the row and delete it." ERROR: the row value(s) updated or deleted do not make the row unique or they alter multiple rows. What to do?
Create a unique field (column) and set it up as an IDENTITY. The process will establish a UID (unique ID) for each row. You can then delete the offending row, and then delete the temporary column.
create UID column
ALTER TABLE tablename
ADD TempID int IDENTITY(1,1)
click on duplicate row to delete it, and click DELETE
drop the UID column
ALTER TABLE tablename
DROP TempID
That's it! And, of course, be more careful about creating duplicate records in a SQL DB. |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 6/16/2011 7:58:49 AM | | | |
| Happy 100th Birthday to International Business Machines (IBM) !!! |
 Wow, can you believe it? A company founded as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation by merging together four smaller companies in 1911, then in 1924 taking on the name International Business Machines. This company is now ranked as the 18th largest firm in the US, according to Fortune Magazine (along with being the 7th most profitable). Not to rest on their laurels of being a time-clock and scale manufacturing company, IBM now holds more patents than any other US-based tech. company! If you think you don't have much to do with IBM, you might do well to remember that one of their many inventions was the Universal Product Code (aka barcode) in 1973, that you see on every item for sale at your local retailer. Currently, IBM has their tentacles in all kinds of technology projects, including solar power (CIGS thin-film PV modules) and DeveloperWorks, a useful IT community and development website.
Happy 100th Birthday, IBM! |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 5/28/2011 8:07:15 AM | | | |
| FTP on IIS 7 generates new capabilities... and a 530 Valid Host Name Required error |
Yes, we've finally upgraded our FTP capabilities! We can now do FTPS (like HTTPS, it encrypts communications for security) and SFTP (Secure Shell file transfer, for even greater security, but with a speed compromise).
We un-installed IIS 6 FTP, and installed IIS 7.5 FTP, which is seamlessly integrated into the rest of IIS 7, making it easier to manage FTP and WWW sites in the same location and with the same interface. Upon attempting to log into the "new" FTP server, I immediately ran into the error:530 Valid Host Name Required trying to enter my user name. I knew the user name and host name was valid. I knew I had added the correct host binding that reflected the existing FQDN. And what's more, I fully tested the install on our backup server just a few days before!
The solution: You must have the [blank] host name bound! I did this without even thinking about it when I set it up on the backup for testing, but not when I set it up on the production server.
Additionally, if you have more than one FTP host on the same server, you need to transmit the user name as hostname|username. If you only have one FTP host, you can just leave the host name blank in the bindings, and all requests fall to that bound site.
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| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 5/23/2011 11:47:31 AM | | | |
| We're on such a tight budget, we're removing hyphens from the word E-MAIL |
Jokes about the economy aside, this is widely seen as a good move, and I can't really disagree. The word e-mail has been around since about 1982, shortened from the pair of words electronic mail. Since the explosion of the World Wide Web, e-mail has become more commonplace in the lexicon of the average American. So much so, it has its own dictionary definition (which often already shows the hyphenless spelling). Now, the DMA's EEC (Email Experience Council) is in on the game, applauding the AP (Associated Press) decision to remove the cumbersome dash from their own use of the word. Says the EEC's Jeanniey Mullen, "...email marketing has grown from a marketing and consumer novelty to a critical lifestyle management and communication vehicle."
As we give our website a facelift here in the new future, we'll make sure to use the word email instead of that old-fashioned version. |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 5/5/2011 2:45:33 PM | | | |
| What time is it? Network share access issue from Win7 to Win2k |
One of our Windows 7 workstations we have set up for removable storage backup, was having trouble accessing a Windows 2000 data processing workstation. Login and password were correct and valid on both machines, yet the login failed, with "unknown username or bad password." NTLM settings? Nope. Network issue? Not that, either. Finally, I thought about looking at the system clock on both machines, remembering that I once had trouble downloading Windows Updates because of the time being set wrong on a PC. The time was within 1 minute on both machines, but, looking closer...
Turns out, the Win2k workstation was set to Pacific time zone (PDT), and the Win7 system was set to CDT. Changed the erronous time zone, corrected the clock, and now the user can back up his data. |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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| 4/28/2011 12:16:33 PM | | | |
| Creating a dynamic volume with DiskPart using a script |
So I'm in Windoes PE, running DiskPart.
On the command line, I can do this:
select disk 0
clean
convert dynamic
create volume simple
format fs=NTFS Label="Computer" quick compress
assign letter=C
but if I put the same commands in a script, I get a "file not found" error when trying to format (or assign, if I try swapping those two steps).
The script does work, though, when you set it up like this:
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary
format fs=NTFS Label="Computer" quick compress
convert dynamic
select volume 0
assign letter=C
I looked around quite a bit for an answer before coming up with my own solution, which is why it's being posted here. |
| ~I.T. Mgr. | |
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