Month: December 2013

Adobe PDF Prints junk characters

Sunil PadmanabhanLeave a comment

Applies to Adobe Professional Version 9 / 9.5 using Windows 7 – 64-bit

If other versions of Adobe / Windows OS have the same problem; kindly do put up a comment on this post

  1. Select Devices and Printers from Windows Start Menu
  2. Right-Click Adobe PDF and select Printing Preferences
  3. As per below illustration; uncheck the tickbox that says ‘ Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts‘
  4. Click and Ok
  5. Try converting any document to PDF and you should manage to get it working without any Junk Characters

adobe_printing_preferences

Remembering Sharepoint Password in Internet Explorer

Sunil PadmanabhanLeave a comment

How do I avoid SharePoint from asking for my password?

Use the below steps to save the password in Internet Explorer

  1. From Internet Explorer Menu – Select Internet Options
  2. Security – Custom Level
  3. Scroll to the bottom and check ‘Automatic logon with current user name and password’
  4. Click Ok and close Internet Options

IE_Security

Konica Minolta bizhub C203 / C253 / C353 – Scan to email error

Sunil PadmanabhanLeave a comment

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From Address is not set. Unable to transmit. Please specify the from Address

konica_minolta_scan_to_email

You can get through this error if you have defined an administrator email address for your Printer. If not, you can get assistance with the basic setup with the below Youtube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdUL5-vTSpk

Steps to resolving the Error

  1. On the machine; click the Communication Settings button as illustrated in above screenshot image of the Printer
  2. Click on Email Settings
  3. Click on From Address
  4. Click on Administrator Email Address
  5. Click ok and Scan

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IMAP – Unable to view all Server Folders in Outlook

Sunil PadmanabhanLeave a comment

Applies to Microsoft Outlook 2007 / 2010 / 2013

Under IMAP Setup there is a concept of Subscribed and Unsubscribed folders. The folders that are not visible are presumably those not subscribed

From the left pane of your Outlook; right click the account and select IMAP Folders

IMAP Options

Untick the checkbox “When displaying hierarchy in Outlook, show only subscribed folders”

IMAP Folders

 

You should now see all folders under your IMAP Account

Install Pre-Requisite Software on Windows Mobile before installing Applications

Sunil PadmanabhanLeave a comment

This is applicable for Windows Mobile 5.0 and earlier.  Windows Mobile version 6 already has the functionality built into the platform

Before you can install applications on Windows Mobile Devices; you would be required to copy or install pre-requisites. These files are usually CAB and REG files as given below

  • sqlce.ppc.wce5.armv4i.CAB
  • sqlce.repl.ppc.wce5.armv4i.CAB
  • NETCFv35.wm.armv4i.cab
  • NETCFv35.Messages.[language].cab

Download and Install below softwares onto your PC and then copy the required CAB files as suggested by the Application requisities onto the Mobile Device

  1. Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 1
  2. Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5

You may also seek assistance from below  Microsoft Post

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb986876.aspx

Unlock your Nokia Phone – Enter Restriction Code

Sunil Padmanabhan2 Comments

With the Smart Phone Era; this post may seem like a far cry; but still could be a relief to some who are happy with their simple Nokia Handsets

In certain countries; the Phones you purchase from Authorized dealers could be locked for use with SIM Cards of Service Providers in other countries. This could land you in a soup when travelling and have to use a local SIM on your existing phone. This is when you may need to unlock the phone to have the restriction removed.

The below website is an excellent guide to help you through. But sadly there is no guarantee; that your Nokia can be unlocked with their instructions. Try your luck.

http://unlockitfree.com/unlock.php

Splwow64.exe error (The program cant start because dll is missing from your computer)

praveenh12 Comments

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I do not know how many of you have ever encountered this error.  I’ve started facing this error quite frequently. This started happening when we had installed Xerox Workcentre 5890 machines in our office. The driver of this machine has been causing some issues on some of the 32 bit workstations. I guess this happens to some other drivers too ( I mean of other manufacturers). But as always there is a solution to every technical issue.

Please follow the steps below to sort out the issue:

  1. Click Start and type in regedit and press Enter. Alternatively press Windows button and R key at the same time and this opens the Run command. Type in regedit and press Enter.
  2. Scroll down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers
  3. When we expand the Drivers key, we should find the key Version-3.
  4. The sub-keys after this should contain the printer driver configuration information. Delete all the sub-keys that comes under it. At least delete the key that contains the name of the Printer model that is causing issues.
  5. Press Windows button and R key and press Enter. Type in “cmd” and press enter. This would open the command prompt window.
  6. Type in the command net stop spooler . Please note that this is equal to going to Service from Control Panel and stopping the print spooler service.
  7. Navigate to “C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\printers\” and delete files in this folder, if there are any. Normally you might not find files in there, but if there are any, delete them. The folder is so significant because this is where the print spooler stores print files.
  8. Navigate to “C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\x64\3” and delete all the files and sub-folders in here.
  9. Go to the command prompt window again and type in the command net start spooler or just right click on Print Spooler and press Start.

This should solve the issue once and for all.

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Add 32-bit drivers on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2

praveenhLeave a comment

Cannot add 32 bit print drivers on Windows Server 2008 R2

This has been one of the most difficult issues that I have dealt with having been an administrator myself. Windows Server 2008 R2 is such a treat to have in one’s organization. But it starts to become a pain when you decide to make it your print server. Wait! Do not ditch your plans to upgrade you print server OS yet.  There is a work around, a very simple one though. But this is being done in different ways according to how stringent are your company’s security policies.

The scenario that I’m talking about here is when each time you try to add a 32 bit driver to your server, the server tries adding the printer driver and in the final stage it comes with a pop up window asking for “i386” files.

I386

It certainly is looking for ntprint.inf files without which it cannot install the 32 bit drivers. All the happiness that I had of installing this OS had all gone down the drain, the moment I saw this pop up. I encountered this issue when we were trying to add the printer driver for a Xerox WorkCentre 5890 machine that we had in our work premises (I’m sure that you don’t encounter such issues with all the printer drivers).

I had gone through a lot of posts which had suggested that the 32 bit driver be added to a 32 bit workstation in the network and then have it pushed to the server. But this scenario was not going to work in my case because our organization had group policies enabled whereby sharing or pushing files from any workstation to another workstation or server was just out of the question. So I really had to look for a workaround.

That’s when I read somewhere in a Microsoft Technet blog where a lad had written a very simple method when a dozen of others had talked about a lot of other tricks and techniques. The trick is a simple one. On one of the 32 bit Windows 7 or Windows Vista workstations that you have in your network, copy the folder starting with the name “ntprint.inf_xxxxx” from the location C:\Windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ntptint.inf_xxxxx to any location of the server (Desktop of the server would be fine too) where you are trying to isntall the 32 bit printer driver. Once done, run the “Add Driver” again. The moment it asks for the i386 thingy, just click on “Browse” and point it to the location on the desktop where the folder was copied.

Alternatively if your company security policies allow you to share a folder from a workstation, you needn’t even copy these files to the server. You can just copy them to a different location on the same workstation and share it there. Go back to the server and reach the point where it asks for the ntprint.inf files and point it to this shared location. I haven’t tried this since our group policies never entertained such tricks.

There you go!! It installs cleanly without any hassle.

After having found this work around I had taken up a project whereby every branch server in our network had to be upgraded to Windows Server 2008 R2 and boy didn’t I have a great time? Yes, I did. Indeed!!

Install Cyanogenmod on your Android Device

praveenhLeave a comment

I have always looked for an answer to this question myself. A few years back, writing on how to have Cyanogenmod installed on your Android device would have been a very difficult thing to do. Be it Samsung or HTC or any other Android device, the first thing that rings alarm bells on every users’ minds would be voiding the warranty of their devices by doing so. Ok, so for all those users (new ones especially) what is Cyanogenmod? According to Wikipedia, “CyanogenMod is an open source replacement distribution for smartphones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. It is developed as free and open source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added original and third-party code”. You can read more about this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanogenmod .

In short, Cyanogenmod is not the normal thing that you see on your Android devices when you purchase it. Cyanogenmod according to me is the original Android with a bit of  tweaks by the developers. What difference does it have with that of the normal phones? Well this is the tricky part. Devices like Samsung, HTC or LG all come pre-loaded with their custom user interfaces and features. For examples features like S-Pen, S-View etc in Samsung and Beats Audio, Blinkfeed with HTC One all are customized by the manufacturers themselves. Howerver Cyanogenmod will be a clean and stripped down version, say Pure Android, but without any of those luxuries provided by the manufacturers. So the question will be why in the hell are we installing Cyanogenmod on these brand new devices. There are some techie freaks who simply love Cyanogenmod and care less about the bloatware that the manufacturers add to their phones which gradually reduces the performance of the devices over time. Cyanogenmod helps particularly for older devices. Devices such as Samsung Galaxy SII or any other device which according to their manufacturers cannot be upgraded to any of the lastest Android versions. This is probably because the hardware of these phones would have gotten outdated and will not run all the extra features that the manufacturer would want to add.

I have a very good example of such an instance. Samsung Galaxy SII , the phone that really changed the way that consumers looked at Samsung phones. I bought this phone when it was the best phone in the world. It was such a hot product in the market. But 2 years after it’s launch, Samsung closed the doors on it saying that it’s hardware couldn’t take any more of the Android updates because of the new features that were being included by Samsung having Galaxy SIII in mind. This really saddened all those hardcorde SII fans, but this was always going to happen. The previous update, Android 4.1.2, had started taking a heavy toll on my SII device. It had started getting painfully slow. This is when I decided to purchase a better phone. An year later, Cyanogenmod announced themselves as a new company with an app in the Play Store to enable installation of Cyanogenmod on devices that it supported. It longer required rooting of your device or any other circus that needed to be performed to have a taste of Cyanogenmod. I downloaded the app successfully installed Android 4.2.2 on my SII and it’s so smooth and fast now.

Cyanogenmod, according to me, fires a new life into the older phones whom their own makers have left to rot. Cyanogenmod too have a  list of devices that they support for which developments are going on. If you have an old warhorse whom you don’t want to or don’t feel like parting with yet,then I would welcome you to the world of Cyanogenmod!

While some may not be of my opinion, I’m not a techie freak or an expert in the world of Android and the devices that it supports, I’m of the opinion that our older devices still have a chance. So let’s breathe a new life into them.

PS: The cyanogenmod is no longer available in the Play Store. You can always go back to http://beta.download.cyanogenmod.org/install and follow the instructions given here.