BlogAllAlong » OS

Disable Dim on Windows 7 Program Installation Confirmation

Bashar — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:50:42 +0000

There is something really annoying about Windows 7 when you attempt to install any program, and that is the screen dimming that happens before the program installation confirmation message. And while it’s meant to draw attention and avoid unintentional approvals, I see it as an overkill and really annoying when I’m in the middle of work. So to disable it, simply open the User Account Control Settings simply by hitting the Windows button, and typing “User Account Control Settings” then hit Enter.

You will most likely see the like this (the default).

Simply drag the scroll bar one level down to this.

I find this much better.

Rails finally working with Snow Leopard

Bashar — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:10:00 +0000

So far Snow Leopard have given me nothing but a hard time, crashes, and wasted hours that I could advise anyone not to upgrade, while I keep my ego and refuse to downgrade. After the 1 hour+ Snow Leopard upgrade, I’m getting slower login time, very frequent crashes upon uploading or downloading simplest of files in Firefox, TweetDeck occasionally, and even Safari, so don’t you be blaming someone else in your ads Apple.

The worst however was the expected, and it was Rails, until today. After the upgrade, running my existing sqlite based rails app gave me the error:

uninitialized constant SQLite3::Driver::Native::Driver::API

StackOverflow had the right advise to fix the problem:

sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby

Except it gave me the error

ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

Ruby on Rails blog gave the instructions to upgrade MacPorts and then all the ports installed.

$ sudo port selfupdate $ sudo port sync $ sudo port upgrade --force installed

The process however gave a “MacPort no suitable image found.”. I followed the advise here and downloaded a fresh MacPort install. You can get one here.

After that I was able to do the port selfupdate and sync, but the port upgrade failed saying:

C compiler cannot create executables

I tried several tricks here, Googled a lot with no luck. I had to leave it for sometime to finish some other work. When I tried today to repeat the three port update steps above, it worked just fine. After that, I just needed to redo the “sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby” and all went fine I’m happy to say.

Special thanks for TWG for their support on the matter. They did point out the problem as a bug in MacPort but I thought otherwise.

Hope that helps someone else out there.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Marathon

Bashar — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 07:13:13 +0000

Comparing it with the previous Windows Vista SP1 Upgrade, an official Microsoft Software Engineer (or so he was) has posted results about the Windows 7 Upgrade performances over machines with various hardware levels, and different data profiles in terms of stored data and installed apps.

Notice something? Windows 7 Upgrade results for what they call a Super User with 650Gb, and 40 applications running a mid end hardware could take up to 1220 minutes, that is more than 20 hours and approximately a whole freaking day! And nowadays, with terabytes hard disks, I don’t think bragging about a 650 Gb as a super user means anything, since lots of people have this amount of storage. True many maybe have it on an external media, but lots of users still have it on their main machine.

Leaving that apart, who doesn’t have 125 GB on his machine nowadays? My iPhone has 20 GB, and it’s only been with me for less than 2 months! They call a user with 125 GB a Heavy User, and if you are that user, and hold a high end hardware, then swipe that silly smile off your face, as you’re in for 3 hours upgrade time as well! Compared to the Snow Leopard of 1 hour or so, leaving aside all the issues inside ofcourse :). Clean installations it seems are quite fast, but hey, who want’s to reinstall all his apps and do all the config once more?

But the truth is, I really gotta take my hat off for those people who for once it seems did something quite courageous and honest, releasing performance benchmarks that could make sense in real life. So much better than this home-made browser comparison really.

[via arstechnica]

Have you got your Snow Leopard Pre-Ordered Yet?

Bashar — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:21:47 +0000

If you’re really waiting for it, Amazon have started taking pre-orders for the new Snow Leopard OS coming most likely this September. For the sake of trying to group packages together, I may wait until it’s released and place the order with other items on my list.

Ballmer for once says something right!

Bashar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:16:58 +0000

In an interview by CNET, Bill Gates without much information in hand yet was not so optimistic about the newly announced and upcoming Google Chrome OS saying ”In some ways I am surprised people are acting like there’s something new. I mean, you’ve got Android running on Netbooks. It’s got a browser in it.” .

While this might be true, so was a piece of news about Google launching a new browser, yet it changed the way people look at browsers. It made browsing experience much better for many from it’s time of launch. It showed that current browsers are not giving the best experience there is. The web has outgrown current browsers, and if we want to get the most of the web, we have to give it the tools it needs.

The hilarious words however, and as always, came from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, arguing that currently half of PC use is done off the browser. Let’s repeat that last sentence one more time. “PC users spend half their time outside the browser”. Hmmm, now let’s rephrase it. “PC Users spend half their time inside the browser”. Does that sound different? I wonder if Ballmer has a chart to support his words, and I hope his chart has historical figures as well. How much was that number just 3 years back? It must’ve been quite lower, and it keeps growing with more advances and richer sites. I for one now use the web for most of my time, and online project management, tasks, and Google Docs are giving me great experiences, that I stopped or decreased my offline tools dependancy to a great extent. I think offline word editing is the only thing of the three I do offline now.

Ballmer statement makes two things quite clear for all:

1- He admits to the fact of increasing browser time usage compared to non-browser time usage.

2- Microsoft still doesn’t, or more likely doesn’t want to, admit to the large role of browsers and the internet.

Well Ballmer, just because you can’t ride the big wave, doesn’t mean it’s any less of a wave. Ohh, did I just say Wave? Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you!

Tips to continue using Windows XP

Bashar — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:06:44 +0000

Windows Vista has made it finally into the market. Still many people are hesitating to upgrade to the new operating system. They like the existing one. There is certainly new bugs and incompatibility issues with the new Windows, as was the case always. While still having doubts about moving to Vista, Microsoft have announced their new OS called Windows 7, due in 2010! as per the expected development time-frame. Isn’t that insane? We are still using XP, having problems with Vista, and we have to prepare for a new OS?

I was shocked to see it being announced that soon. I know they have to start working, but don’t promise a deadline so close when we are still digesting your new OS. Many people, including me, are refusing to shift to Vista as they are happy with what they have. Problem is, some Vista users are so happy with the new Windows flips, 3D effects, transparency at all. Same features are also in Ubuntu and Mac now it’s becoming something trivial. Well, this post I came across gives tips and hints to people who want to keep using Windows XP for the next seven years. It lists down some cool tools that will aid the visual effects of current Windows XP. Hope you find it useful. I personally liked the Alt-Tab Replacement Tool. Gives thumbnail of application you are switching to. There is also another simple yet useful tool this article doesn’t target which is Taskbar Shuffle. Let’s you shuffle and arrange the stuff on your Windows Taskbar. Such simple feature I say should come by default.

Vista is not done until Google Desktop won’t run!

Bashar — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:08:42 +0000

History seems to be repeating it’s self with a new release of Microsoft operating system. When Microsoft was working back then on DOS 2 OS, an unofficial quote was reported off the record that “DOS is not done until Lotus won’t run”. Lotus was the best spreadsheet program back then and have killed the Microsoft attempt to enter the competition. Having control of the underlying ground (DOS) gives Microsoft the upper hand in this however, so their were rumors that they made some hidden bugs that would stop Lotus from running. After the release, Lotus really didn’t run and they were in so bad shape Microsoft finally took on the lead.

Well you don’t get away with it everytime. People are aware now and won’t let it go so easy. Microsoft have bowed to the Department of Justice following a complaint by Google that Windows Vista makes it difficult for end users to utilize non-Microsoft desktop search-software. Despite it’s denial in the initial stage, Microsoft have promised now to make it easier for end users to use non-windows desktop search-softwares, and to provide documentation and more information for developers on how to make smoothly running search programs.

The changes are due with Service Pack (A.K.A Disaster Pack) 1. Question remains whether Microsoft would be doing what they are supposed to be doing really this time, or are they having other tricks still up their sleeves?

Window Vista – Blue Screen Still Supported

Bashar — Sun, 06 May 2007 08:48:04 +0000

I’m glad they still have this feature.

Windows XP From A-Z

Bashar — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:29:18 +0000

This is although late, but still might be useful to many. Windows XP from A-Z is a nice site that lists small short hints on various Windows XP options, categorized from A-Z as the name says. While Vista is already out, I’m sure there are many people who still want to keep using XP than those who want to upgrade to Vista, temporarily at least until most of the hidden holes in Vista are exposed and fixed. Hope you find the link useful.

Windows Vista Under Zero-Day Attack

Bashar — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:59:07 +0000

The so-called most secured operating system ever, Windows Vista is seeing increased amount of attacks one day after Microsoft disclosed the security hole withing the the mouse cursor. The newly discovered vulnerability is in the .ani files that change the cursor into animation while loading programs. The hole allows malicious websites to use those files to install their code into visitor’s computer. Worth noting that Windows 2000 SP4, Win XP SP2 and some versions of Windows 2003 Server are also infected with the same flaw. This all comes soon after Microsoft started claiming credits for the world’s most secured system, which they say may not need Anti Virus! Wonder if we can sue them for it. More on the news here.

Hackers Enjoy, No Microsoft Patches This Month

Bashar — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:14:02 +0000

Isn’t it funny? Since Microsoft started their monthly security update back in 2003, only few of the known as Patch Tuesdays did not have Microsoft patches coming. Otherwise, it is scheduled that every second Tuesday of the month there is a security update coming from Microsoft. Last time Microsoft did not have Patch Tuesday was in September 2005 imagine! But does that mean things have been going smooth for the past month? Absolutely not. Microsoft are working on security patches for known vulnerabilities in IE7, Office 2007, Publisher 2007, ohh yeah and Windows Vista OS ofcourse. Lucky me I am not using any of those. The patches are not ready yet for release, so hackers will get more time of joy before they have to find new holes in the next patch. Lucky me I am not using any of those. More from PC WORLD.

Ubuntu – Linux as you’ve never knew it

Bashar — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:20:07 +0000

Last week was the first gathering for the Open Source community in Kuwait. I was kind of hesitating to go, as usual, but being an open source believer I gave it a shot. Two things really caught my eyes. The guy from KuwaitNet talked about the company experience, and how they completely have taken Windows out of the picture. Even the secretaries use Linux, I’d love to see that. Firefox and Thunderbird for browsing and email client. OpenOffice for office applications, though I wasn’t very impressed with it when I tried it. By doing this however, the guy demonstrated how the managed to cut down costs by thousands of dollars. Something really worth looking into isn’t it?

But isn’t Linux that old scary black screen with small text, and can only understand command lines from users. You need to do mounting for everything you attach, and complex procedure just to plug a USB device? Well this was the second BIG surprise. Ubuntu is the release of Linux that will change your whole idea about it. It has features that I don’t even recall from Mac nor Vista. Maybe they exist, I am not sure. But to see it in Linux is a big jump. I found this video link while browsing some blogs today. Watch it on YouTube and tell me what you think. Now ofcourse this is not everything. One has to consider stability and availability of softwares on it. I should give it a shot and see. Maybe it can run my PC better than Windows, who knows.

UPDATE: Just as I posted this article, I came across this site. The site is an Open Source contest, hosted by Sheikh Ali Jaber Al-Sabah. The content is about creating the best project using OpenOffice, and Open Source tools. It’s a nice step to encourage and educate the public about the open options they have. Registration is open for all, no location or nationality restriction. Registration is open until 15th May this year.

Tip For Windows Users: Check The Optional Updates

Bashar — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:20:25 +0000

A while back, I posted the Bye Bye Windows article, which got the most views and unique comments so far. The problem I had was that suddenly, my computer went on restarting every few minutes. I had no time to update, backup or do anything. Even Check Volume for errors could not finish successfully for most of the time. I am still looking for Leopard release of Mac Book Pro to move away from Windows, however for people who will keep using Windows, I got my part of the story to share for end user benefit. After several attempts of restore, and update, Windows Error Reporting finally gave back useful hints. I think they had it with my Send Error every few minutes so they decided to help me out. The problem turned out to be a conflict with my ATI Radeon X600 PRO video card. There was an optional update on Windows Update that was more crucial than all other critical updates, at least to me, and possibly other thousands of users around the world. Getting the update, after knowing it was tough by it self, since my PC kept restarting all the time, until I managed to get it right, and after then everything went fine.

This is awkward however. I had this PC for almost two years with no such incident, not that obvious at least. Why all of a sudden it started hammering me? Was it something I installed? Not manually definitely for the past few weeks. Checking the logs I noticed that one week back, Windows had two automatic mass critical updates, and logic conclusion is that, only those updates must have caused the problem. I had a habit of disallowing automatic updates, but using Firefox seems to have kept me safe so I let it go this time, and this was the result. The problem is, the only critical updates are Microsoft security patches, and Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), which is an anti-piracy program for Microsoft products. Question mark on why is that marked as critical, big question mark. They even give you an option to show you why this is useful upon installation! Anyhow, the problem is that, those critical service affecting updates are not marked by Windows as critical, but rather as optional, which most people will ignore. Specially those who has Windows set on automatic update. Right now, I switch it back to alert before install. I suggest all users to check all updates before installation, and see what they might affect. See also if there are related optional updates that might be needed.

The funny side of the story is, once I restored my PC to a working state, and had automatic Windows update disabled, Windows started threatening me that your computer might be at risk. Well I prefer to be at risk rather than safely offline!

Linux Challenges Ballmer Face to Face

Bashar — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 05:04:53 +0000

You have something to say, say it in the face. This is the message the Linux community is giving to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. Since Microsoft made the deal with Novell, Steve Ballmer has been making silent claims here and there that Linux are violating Microsoft’s intellectual property, and that Microsoft should be paid for those license. Now, the Linux community is not afraid and is challenging Microsoft and Steve Ballmer to Show Us The Code. As they state in their site: “Publicly pledge your support for Microsoft showing the public the code within Linux that violates their intellectual property by May 1st, 2007″. ShowUsTheCode are saying basically, that if by the appointed date, Microsoft can show the part of the code where Linux is violating their intellectual property, this will allow Linux developers to address the issue and modify the part of the kernel or operating system. If Microsoft however cannot prove anything by the appointed date, being a bluff will be a word that will hunt ballmer you for the rest of your life. More on Slashdot.

I am not really fully aware of all the details of the story, and how the Microsoft-Novell agreement does make Linux violating the intellectual property, but that call today made it clear. Linux are not afraid, and even if there are property violations, they are going to address it, and Ballmer’s dream of a world FREE of open source OS is not going to happen. I believe that’s why Ballmer didn’t want to go in the face in the first place, he doesn’t want them to resolve the issue, and rather wants to make Linux pay Microsoft shares. I will be waiting eagerly for that 1st May.

Bye Bye Windows

Bashar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:22:41 +0000

Soon, by God’s well, I will be using a new laptop. A laptop that does not have Windows in it. It will be a bit dark, I will no more see the BLUE sky. My visitors will also have to use the front door. Windows are no longer there for sneaking behind, and my Guards will also have more time to rest. It will be more solid as a rock, and I won’t need to call for help repairing my broken Windows. It will also be more quite and cold, without Windows hard workers noise will not reach my ear, and the heat will not step through my door.

People who know me know I am not a guy of luxury. I would spend however a lot of money for efficiency. Being a developer means I go playing with softwares all day long, configuring my development environment once and get going after then. The nightmare however keeps haunting me. Someone is going to jump right through my Windows, and I won’t be able to get him out, unless I build the whole house from scratch again. I buy the best piece of hardware, and be so careful with software. Yet, Windows keeps amazing me how fast it can make me cry. It is less than two years of careful PC usage and my Windows keeps restarting every few minutes. I tried everything from check disk, to disable all hibernate, sleep mode, and even Automatic Restart on Failure. They all failed. System Restore is another mystery from Windows that didn’t seem to make it out of Alpha. I don’t think I will live the day to see it working! I had it enabled with full Disk Space usage (I gave it faith) and it still fails to restore to any point. It does not give the single point of hint why it failed, and just asks you to try until you die. The Error Reporting is another disaster. The only time I got a reply was when a video player crashed, I sent the report and immediately got the response. Error Cause was that Video Player, resolution was to uninstall it!

Well Microsoft, what goes around comes around. The cause of failure is Windows and I am leaving it behind. I am welling to pay few bucks more than to live a slave for my PC. Within the last year, I got my brothers buying Toshiba laptop each as the best choice in the market, one of them had to format within a month to overcome a virus, and the other is already getting the blue screen in less than 3 months time of use. Linux was my second choice, but from what I’ve seen Mac is so much powerful and faster. That’s what I want. Recently, I have got Apple MacBook Pro for two of my friends, and I just can’t see them any happier. The difference in price is considerable, but if you are a heavy user, have lot of work and hate to hear those cranking sounds and wait few seconds just because you clicked My Computer, then it’s worth it. I will keep my computer running Windows for the family, testing, use it for some of the stuff that does not run on Mac, like video games (I just can’t quit adventure games that easy), but my real work is going to be residing on Mac. Here is the laptop I got my eyes on for your interest.

Palm and Windows Mobile Still Not Vista Compatible

Bashar — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:51:49 +0000

My brother in-law forwarded an email to me that he received from Epocrates, a mobile drug guide used by doctors. The email was a proactive information to the end user that currently Palm OS and Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) OS software applications, including the Epocrates applications cannot be installed or synced with Windows Vista computers as of now. The email urges users to postpone upgrade of Windows Vista until a solution is in place. The company also says they cannot commit to a deadline as the fix requires changes from both Palm and Microsoft. Below is a copy of that email:

” Dear …,
We think it’s important to let you know that many Palm® OS and Windows Mobile® (Pocket PC) OS software applications, including all Epocrates products, cannot at this time be installed or synced via computers with the new Windows Vista operating system.

We strongly recommend that if at all possible, you postpone installing Vista or upgrading to a new PC with Vista installed.

Since resolution of this problem depends upon software changes by both Palm and Microsoft, we regret that we cannot give you a firm date for a fix.
If you are already using Windows Vista, please review our FAQ for the latest recommendations from our customer support and engineering teams. Read FAQ »

Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
The Epocrates Team”

This is a really bad image for the new OS. New OS should be backward compatible as much as possible, and I do understand sometimes change is unavoidable. But with Windows Mobile, they should be more proactive to avoid such messages. Same thing happened with XBox 360 which was not backward compatible. I heard there are ways to make old games run, but still, it was not ready by it self to do so.

Microsoft strikes back at Apple

Bashar — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 14:24:46 +0000

Following the funny video ads that went on Apple site against Windows Vista, Bill Gates did not feel overwhelmed at all and is now enforcing the purchase of an expensive version of Vista to legally install it on Apple. While technically, you can use the Home Basic and Home Premium, and probably most people will anyways, you are legally not allowed to do this. More…

Bill Gates Blasts At Mac Anti-Vista Ad

Bashar — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:27:22 +0000

While Bill Gates him self made fun of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) to the press, he did not like at all the Mac Video Ad making fun of Windows upgrade to latest Vista. The ad shows a person on going a surgery for the upgrade, and he is afraid he just won’t make it out of it alive, and tells his will for the Mac guy. Bill Gates got so angry and fired at Macintosh in an interview with Daily News. Will Mr. Gates, guess what goes around one way or another, does come around. Read the interview here. And don’t forget to see the Ad it self.

Windows Vista did not steal Mac interface

Bashar — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 13:34:56 +0000

From the begin of the Windowing systems, people claim that Bill Gates copied Apple interface and credited it for him self. Now with Vista soon going in for public, many are also saying it’s a copy of Mac OS X, while the Microsoft fans are talking in pride about the innovative Vista interface.

New York Times have this video demonstrating the clear differences between the two, for you to watch and judge. Click here to watch it. Enjoy.

Microsoft to run Windows on OLPC

Bashar — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:42:40 +0000

Few months back, Mr. Bill Gates opened fire on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which is a charity project aimed at providing low cost $99 laptops for the poor children, to allow them access to the technology. Gates attacked the project, which is powered by their rival Google, saying in parts of his speech: “If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you�re not sitting there cranking the thing while you�re trying to type,� . Very strong comments that have certainly hurt the feelings of all those dedicating their time, effort, and money to that project, and all the poor children who were starving to reach their hands to it. His comments on the crank manual powering mechanism to overcome electricity shortage as a Wind Key made it even worse. The comments Gates made caused major criticism and as some people described it, it shows clearly that “Bill Gates loves the poor, but loves Microsofr more”. Details of his previous speech can be found here.

Now that the door is open, and Microsoft received their sample units of the project, they are trying to get Windows, which is hungry for resources on the laptop. Bill doesn’t know when to stop taking everything as a game that he has to win, even when it comes to serving the poor. When he wasn’t a participant, it was a total cranking machine, and now he wants to have his brand on it. More on the story here.

Windows Vista finally released

Bashar — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 12:41:13 +0000

It was 2002 when Bill Gates started talking about his vision for Windows Vista briefly, and the Widows File System WinFS that organizes the whole file system as database related files. Ofcourse it was 4 years later they realized they hava to give that major feature up, or else they will keep pushing the release date for ever.

Nevertheless, now that Vista is released for business mainly, geeks have already started playing, hacking, and comparing. For interested readers, I suggest you go by this comparison between Windows XP and Vista. It briefly touches on different areas of performance and security.

Now before moving on, you should be ware if you are planning to find a cracked Windows Vista version, as hackers have already started distributing a download that is supposed to be an activation for Windows Vista, being called “Windows Vista All Versions Activation 21.11.06″. The download however is actually a trojan carrier, Trojan-PSW.Win32.LdPinch.aze, that will install itself in the client PC. What makes the case worse is Microsoft’s official statement that Windows Vista is designed to allow third-party software to be easily included into the Vista installation DVD, and thus have warned that pirated copies could easily come with malware preloaded inside. apcmag has more on this.

BlogAllAlong » OS

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