Vista Enterprise troubles

Edit: You can run “chkdsk /f” instead of “chkdsk /r” – it’s much faster.  Post updated.

Twice now my laptop has refused to boot into Vista.  I just get a blinking cursor right after the BIOS prompt.  I’ve managed to fix it by booting up the install disc into recovery mode, launching the command-line, and running the following commands:

1. chkdsk /f
2. bootrec /fixboot
3. bootrec /fixmbr

You don’t need to enter the BitLocker keys, since these commands run on the unencrypted boot drive.

This fixed it both times, but the problem, obviously, returned.

Automatically log into Vista

I keep meaning to do this for my VHD, but finally remembered!  This way I don’t have to enter passwords to access shared volumes on my main install.

http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2007/02/20/configure-vista-for-automatic-logon/

Over the past few years, many technology vendors have put their focus more on security. Microsoft is no exception as is evident with the security enhancements in Vista. However, in some cases, all the security options may be overkill, especially if you are the only one who uses the computer.

If you do not share your computer with any other users and no one else has access to it, you can configure Vista to log you on automatically.

To do so, click Start and type netplwiz in the Search field and then press Enter. Click Continue when the User Account Control window appears. From the User Accounts window that appears, verify that your own user account is selected. Clear the Users must enter a username and password to use this computer option and click OK. Provide the password for your user account when prompted and restart your computer. Vista will automatically log on with your user account.

Why not recycle electronics if it’s free?

There was an article a few months back in National Geographic (yes, I read it) about the black market for electronics waste.  Basically, old computers, etc. (often those that are donated) are shipped overseas, stripped of their precious metals, and then dumped unceremoniously.

Anyhow, now the excuses for not recycling many devices are gone!  Free recycling by mail costs only a little bit of your time:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/recycle_electronics_free_by_mail

Cleanup after Vista SP1 install

Not that I’ve been able to successfully install SP1 yet, but when I do…

If you upgraded to Vista Service Pack 1 when it went live earlier this week, Windows left behind several files system files from your pre-SP1 install that aren’t being used any longer. The files are left taking up space on your drive so that you can roll back SP1 if you wanted to, but since you’re unlikely to grow sick of all those improvements, weblog Digital Inspiration details how to remove the unneeded junk files and free up space on your hard drive.

There are no manual steps involved. Just open your Windows command prompt and type vsp1cln.exe (short for Vista SP1 Cleaner). It takes less than a minute to execute.

Just remember, once you execute the SP1 cleaner, you won’t be able to roll back, so make sure you’re happy with SP1 before you start freeing up space.

Finished Installing Windows Vista SP1 ? Now Remove All The Junk Files [Digital Inspiration]

http://lifehacker.com/370321/get-rid-of-the-junk-left-over-after-you-install-vista-sp1

Using [Today] and [Me] in SharePoint calculated columns

Once again, I have nothing to add to this great tip:

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mkruger/archive/2007/06/26/using-today-in-a-calculated-formula-birthday-lists.aspx

1. First, create a new column in your list with the column name of “Today”.  
   Click “OK”.  (It doesn’t matter what type of column or data it is, this is
   just a place holder and will be removed later).
   MK Note: Create column called Today… I also created a column called DOB (date field) where I will enter the birth date.
2. Next, create a column with the data where you would like to use “Today” as a
   reference to today’s date.  The column type should be “Calculated”.  In the
   formula field, create your formula using “Today” as if it held the column date/time.
   SharePoint will calculate the formula based on the assumption that you will
   be using “Today” as a reference to the new column you just created.
   MK Note: I created a column called MonthCheck with the formula shown below:
   =IF(MONTH([Today])=MONTH([DOB]),”Birthday”,”NotBirthday”)
3. Next, edit the new column named “Today” that you created in the first step.  
   On the very bottom of the page, click “Delete”, to delete the column.  In
   your formula, SharePoint will keep the reference to “Today” but it will
   change from referencing your column, to a reference to the current date.
4. MK Note: Now you can create your new view in the list to display “This Month’s Birthdays“.  Just apply a filter to Show only when the following is true: MonthCheck is equal to Birthday
   I’ve also created a BirthDay Column (Capitalized the “D“ to note the difference) as well that is a calculated column: =DATE(YEAR(Today),MONTH(DOB),DAY(DOB))
   You can then create a view to display Today’s Birthdays by filtering to Show only when the following is true: BirthDay is equal to [Today]

Multiple Authentication Prompts in SharePoint 2007 (aka 3.0)

I couldn’t have said it any better than this person:

Problem: I can not save my user credentials (username and password) for my SharePoint site when I’m using Internet Explorer 7.0. I keep clicking the check box next to “save password” but it doesn’t seem to work and I’m constantly prompted to re-authenticate when I access the site or move between areas with different permission schemas.

Solution: Remove your site from Trusted Sites if you had added to this list and then change one security setting for the Internet Zone in IE 7.0. Follow the steps below -

1. If you have added your site to “Trusted Sites” in Internet Explorer remove the site from the list by going to Tools>Options>Security Tab>Trusted Sites>Remove your site URL.
2. Return to the Security Tab>Select the Internet Zone>Custom Level>Scroll all the way to the bottom of the list. Under User Authentication check “Automatic logon with current username and password.” Click OK twice and return to Internet Explorer.

Close all instances of Internet Explorer and then reopen Internet Explorer, return to your SharePoint site, authenticate and save your username and password. This will clear up your problem.

Warning: Even though this solution will get rid of the annoying re-authentication prompt its not always a good idea and 100% safe to cache your credentials, or anything for that matter in your browser. – Thank you to Chris Hayashida at Prosum for raising this important point.

ScanPST.exe location

I just upgraded to Vista Enterprise SP1, and I found that my backup PST was corrupted.  Outlook told me to run ScanPST.exe, but didn’t bother telling me where it was.  According to the KB article, it’s located in the Common Files directory.  However, with Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise, I found it here:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12

Obviously this isn’t an insurmountable obstacle, but hopefully this will help.

UPDATE: One commentor found it in yet another location. C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

UPDATE #2: For x64, substitute “Program Files (x86)” for “Program Files” in the above paths.  Thanks, Travis!

PocketMod – pencil PDA template

Frankly, this is probably more than enough for most people, assuming you can read the writing.

http://www.pocketmod.com/v2/

Rubbish in filtered dropdownlist from calculated field

I’d love to create a filtered list from a calculated field, but I’m hitting a problem where it is prepending “string;#” to every stored value.  This is similar to this post:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2427800&SiteID=1

Of course, try searching for “string;#” in any search engine.  They all strip off the semi-colon and hash symbol, leaving the search pretty worthless.

The code snippet is:

<SharePoint:DVDropDownList runat=”server” id=”ff1{$Pos}” DataSourceID=”fdsConsultants2DS” DataTextField=”ConsultantName” DataValueField=”ConsultantName” selectedvalue=”{@Title}” __designer:bind=”{ddwrt:DataBind(‘i’,concat(‘ff1′,$Pos),’SelectedValue’,'SelectedIndexChanged’,'ID’,ddwrt:EscapeDelims(string(@ID)),’@Title’)}” /></td>

Where DataValueField is the calculated field in the lookup table (and SelectedValue tells it to store DataValueField).

Setting up HDHomeRun for QAM in Vista Media

The HDHomeRun is a network-based dual-ATSC tuner device.  While the fact that you can keep the tuners outside the PC box is intriguing, the real power of the HDHR is that it was the first ATSC tuner to create a BDA-wrapper to allow you to record unencrypted-QAM in Vista Media Center (it also works with Windows Media Center 2005).

The instructions are a bit lacking, so I’ve done a detailed step-by-step.  Part one is setting up the tuners with the HDHR Setup application.  Part two is setting up Vista Media Center.  Check out part one after the break.