1) If roles will be used, make sure <rolemanager enabled="true"> is set in Web.config.
2) Set Internet Explorer as your default web browser. Stupid, but necessary.
3) Click on Project->ASP.NET Configuration.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Getting the Alt Key to Activate Menus in a Solaris 11 Guest Under VirtualBox
System->Preferences->Windows
Change Movement Key setting to "Meta."
Change Movement Key setting to "Meta."
Monday, April 11, 2011
My Favorite Applications
This list will be expanding as I get time.
Cropper
http://cropper.codeplex.com/
This is a handy tool for taking screen shots when you don't want the entire screen in the shot. You basically crop the screen before you take your snapshot, hence the name. It allows you to output the snapshot to a file (in various formats), to the clipboard (very handy) or directly to the printer!
It's written in C# (my favorite language) and it's totally free, light-weight and open-source. It's very handy for blogging or posting stuff on facebook when you only want to capture part of the screen (or a window).
Cropper
http://cropper.codeplex.com/
This is a handy tool for taking screen shots when you don't want the entire screen in the shot. You basically crop the screen before you take your snapshot, hence the name. It allows you to output the snapshot to a file (in various formats), to the clipboard (very handy) or directly to the printer!
It's written in C# (my favorite language) and it's totally free, light-weight and open-source. It's very handy for blogging or posting stuff on facebook when you only want to capture part of the screen (or a window).
Also of note: Since this tool captures just about anything on the screen, it can be used quite effectively with guest operating systems running in VirtualBox's Seamless Mode to capture images of it's windows, straight into the host operating system.
Getting Lucky with the AwesomeBar
I used to use the Google toolbar in Firefox, back in the day. It had a nice feature that allowed you to type a search into the box and press a modifier key (may CTRL?) when hitting return to get an automatic "I'm feeling lucky" Google search. The benefit to this was that if you knew for sure what you were entering was sufficient to get the page you wanted as the first result, you could skip Google all together and go straight to the site. I loved this feature for things like Wikipedia.
You can (almost) always do a Wikipedia search from Google simply by prefixing your search with "wiki." For example: "wiki bon jovi" in a Google search box shows Bon Jovi's Wikipedia page as the first result. Combining this with the shortcut that I mentioned earlier and you're got yourself a Wikipedia search box on your web browser for zero screen real estate. This holds true for other things as well–"foxnews tech" would take you straight to the FoxNews Science & Technology page, for example. It's been a long time since I've had the Google toolbar (Google stopped developing it years ago) and I have missed this feature. Today I just enter my search into the Firefox search box and bring up the Google results page.
There's a feature of modern browsers that I, as an old-school purist, have never liked. It is the feature that allows you to type a non-URL into the address bar of modern browsers and have a search done by default. I used to turn this feature off because, as a purist I felt that the address bar was for URLs. If I typed an invalid URL into the address bar, I expected to see a 404 error. Overloading it with search functionality (while it made it easier for computer novices to get around the web) didn't make sense to me–the address bar was for addresses, the search bar was for searches. Google, with their Chrome browser, has abandoned the idea of a separate address bar and search bar. Firefox has also adopted this model as well but still sports a search box by default, probably to make people like me feel more comfortable. Also, as they allowed the user to turn off the "AwesomeBar" functionality (as they call it), a search box would make a lot of sense.
Well, today I decided that I wanted my "I'm feeling lucky" shortcut back, and I set out to find a way to add the functionality back into the search box. The Firefox search box is not nearly as powerful as the one that the Google Toolbar provided, but I had hoped that there was a modifier key (shift, control, alt, etc) that would do an "I'm feeling lucky" search. Alas, this was not the case. I did, however, stumble across a way to achieve the result I was looking for. Sadly, it involves the AwesomeBar. *sigh*
OK, so here's the deal. The AwesomeBar does a search by default when you enter a non-URL. The thing is, you can modify the parameters of the search by changing some things "under the hood" of Firefox. Using this, we can instruct Google to return not the results page, but rather the first result, exactly what we want! While I still have issues (as a purist) with overloading the address bar like this, I can live with it if it means getting my "I'm feeling lucky search box back.
Here's a page that describes how to achieve this will all browsers:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=25cf5ea2bc5a2744&hl=en
It erroneously states that Firefox provides this by default, but this did not appear to be the case with mine, so I changed the "keyword.URL" setting (in about:config) to the following:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&gfns=1&q=
The key seems to be the "gfns=1" setting. The previous setting for my installation was:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&q=
So now when I type "wiki bon jovi" into my address bar (oops, I mean AwesomeBar), I get my Bon Jovi Wikipedia page. Whew. And... if I hold down the "Alt" key while pressing return, my "lucky" page opens in a new tab–the same functionality as with URLs.
I'm posting this as a blog entry so that it will forever be findable on the World-Wide-Web, for when I re-install my system, forget how to set this up again and can't find the aforementioned page. That and in the event that anyone else out there is as lazy (or efficient–as I like to claim) as I am. :-)
You can (almost) always do a Wikipedia search from Google simply by prefixing your search with "wiki." For example: "wiki bon jovi" in a Google search box shows Bon Jovi's Wikipedia page as the first result. Combining this with the shortcut that I mentioned earlier and you're got yourself a Wikipedia search box on your web browser for zero screen real estate. This holds true for other things as well–"foxnews tech" would take you straight to the FoxNews Science & Technology page, for example. It's been a long time since I've had the Google toolbar (Google stopped developing it years ago) and I have missed this feature. Today I just enter my search into the Firefox search box and bring up the Google results page.
There's a feature of modern browsers that I, as an old-school purist, have never liked. It is the feature that allows you to type a non-URL into the address bar of modern browsers and have a search done by default. I used to turn this feature off because, as a purist I felt that the address bar was for URLs. If I typed an invalid URL into the address bar, I expected to see a 404 error. Overloading it with search functionality (while it made it easier for computer novices to get around the web) didn't make sense to me–the address bar was for addresses, the search bar was for searches. Google, with their Chrome browser, has abandoned the idea of a separate address bar and search bar. Firefox has also adopted this model as well but still sports a search box by default, probably to make people like me feel more comfortable. Also, as they allowed the user to turn off the "AwesomeBar" functionality (as they call it), a search box would make a lot of sense.
UPDATE: Upon further research, I discovered that there are some things that you can only search for from the search box (or going to the Google homepage) with Firefox. This is not the case with Chrome's "Omnibox" (their version of the "AwesomeBar"), it allows you to do this type of search within it. I'm referring to any search which contains a colon (:). For example, if you type (in a Google search box) "define:NAS" you will be taken to the Google definitions page for "NAS." Also, the "site:" tag that's used to search a particular domain will not work. This is because Firefox considers anything with a colon to be a transport protocol specifier. Again, this is why I always thought that address bars and search bars should be separate. I'm not sure what algorithm Google uses to overcome this, but it can't be simple.
Well, today I decided that I wanted my "I'm feeling lucky" shortcut back, and I set out to find a way to add the functionality back into the search box. The Firefox search box is not nearly as powerful as the one that the Google Toolbar provided, but I had hoped that there was a modifier key (shift, control, alt, etc) that would do an "I'm feeling lucky" search. Alas, this was not the case. I did, however, stumble across a way to achieve the result I was looking for. Sadly, it involves the AwesomeBar. *sigh*
OK, so here's the deal. The AwesomeBar does a search by default when you enter a non-URL. The thing is, you can modify the parameters of the search by changing some things "under the hood" of Firefox. Using this, we can instruct Google to return not the results page, but rather the first result, exactly what we want! While I still have issues (as a purist) with overloading the address bar like this, I can live with it if it means getting my "I'm feeling lucky search box back.
Here's a page that describes how to achieve this will all browsers:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=25cf5ea2bc5a2744&hl=en
It erroneously states that Firefox provides this by default, but this did not appear to be the case with mine, so I changed the "keyword.URL" setting (in about:config) to the following:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&gfns=1&q=
UPDATE (20 Apr 2011): I later discovered that it worked on my laptop, I don't know why the configurations were different.
The key seems to be the "gfns=1" setting. The previous setting for my installation was:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&q=
So now when I type "wiki bon jovi" into my address bar (oops, I mean AwesomeBar), I get my Bon Jovi Wikipedia page. Whew. And... if I hold down the "Alt" key while pressing return, my "lucky" page opens in a new tab–the same functionality as with URLs.
I'm posting this as a blog entry so that it will forever be findable on the World-Wide-Web, for when I re-install my system, forget how to set this up again and can't find the aforementioned page. That and in the event that anyone else out there is as lazy (or efficient–as I like to claim) as I am. :-)
-Tom
UPDATE (12 Apr 2011): Here's a potentially handy tip: "man {command}" for Linux man pages or "solaris man {command}" for Solaris man pages. Ex: "solaris man ls"
UPDATE (8 Aug 2013): Firefox hasn't been honoring the setting in the latest versions. I had to create a custom search provider using Ready2Search. I called it "I'm Feeling Lucky." Seemed appropriate.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Note to self (and anyone else with a stubborn, stuck print job).
To get rid of a stuck print job that won't delete:
On the computer hosting the printer (not the client if this is a shared printer), restart the Print Spooler service. That's it!
If you need help with restarting a service:
On the computer hosting the printer (not the client if this is a shared printer), restart the Print Spooler service. That's it!
If you need help with restarting a service:
- Click "Start" or the Windows logo if you're running Windows 7
- Type "services" and press enter
- Find the "Print Spooler" service in the list
- Right-click and select "Restart"
- Close the Services window.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Recommended Adobe Reader Security Settings
I highly recommend that anyone reading this that runs Adobe Reader on Windows (just about everyone running Windows) take the following steps to protect themselves from un-patched security vulnerabilities in the product. These are being actively exploited by malicious websites.
You can launch Reader through the Start menu in Windows XP by clicking on the All Programs link and selecting it in the menu. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, just press the Windows key (or click on the Windows logo in the bottom left corner of the screen) and type "Adobe Reader" and press return. Alternatively, you can just open any pdf document on your system, assuming of course that it's not from a questionable source.
Both of these settings are in the Preferences dialog box that's accessed by pressing CTRL-K while running Reader, or by selecting "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu.
1: Disable JavaScript
Note: If you open a document that has features that require JavaScript, I recommend that you only enable JavaScript while using the document. This of course assumes that you trust the source of the document.
To disable JavaScript in PDF documents, select the JavaScript entry from the list along the left side of the windows and un-check the first item. The dialog should look like the following when you're done:
2: Disable opening of non-PDF attachments
Click on the "Trust Manager" item in the categories list and un-check the first item:
There are many other things you can do to help secure your computer but I wanted to make sure that everyone I know at least took care of these. Adobe does not seem to be serious about security or keeping their products patched on a timely basis, so until we can stop using their products, we need to take matters into our own hands.
If you'd like to stop using Adobe Reader all together there are several free (and in some cases open-source) alternatives to Adobe Reader, just do a Google search for them.
I should mention that these suggestions come from Steve Gibson (GRC.com). I highly recommend his Security Now! podcast on the Twit network. You can get it on iTunes or from twit.tv/sn. If you have spare time, go back through his older shows.
Until next time.
Thomas Couey
CompTIA Security+ Certified Professional
CompTIA A+ Certified Service Technician
You can launch Reader through the Start menu in Windows XP by clicking on the All Programs link and selecting it in the menu. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, just press the Windows key (or click on the Windows logo in the bottom left corner of the screen) and type "Adobe Reader" and press return. Alternatively, you can just open any pdf document on your system, assuming of course that it's not from a questionable source.
Both of these settings are in the Preferences dialog box that's accessed by pressing CTRL-K while running Reader, or by selecting "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu.
1: Disable JavaScript
Note: If you open a document that has features that require JavaScript, I recommend that you only enable JavaScript while using the document. This of course assumes that you trust the source of the document.
To disable JavaScript in PDF documents, select the JavaScript entry from the list along the left side of the windows and un-check the first item. The dialog should look like the following when you're done:
2: Disable opening of non-PDF attachments
Click on the "Trust Manager" item in the categories list and un-check the first item:
There are many other things you can do to help secure your computer but I wanted to make sure that everyone I know at least took care of these. Adobe does not seem to be serious about security or keeping their products patched on a timely basis, so until we can stop using their products, we need to take matters into our own hands.
If you'd like to stop using Adobe Reader all together there are several free (and in some cases open-source) alternatives to Adobe Reader, just do a Google search for them.
I should mention that these suggestions come from Steve Gibson (GRC.com). I highly recommend his Security Now! podcast on the Twit network. You can get it on iTunes or from twit.tv/sn. If you have spare time, go back through his older shows.
Until next time.
Thomas Couey
CompTIA Security+ Certified Professional
CompTIA A+ Certified Service Technician
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