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PROBLEM: COM port redirection is not fully functional via ICA connection. The COM port redirection was occurring (determined by running a net use cmd within the Citrix session) and print was being sent to the printer, but the output on the printer was gibberish – symbols, etc.  In troubleshooting the issue, it was discovered that the COM port redirection was completely functional via an RDP session, and the COM port redirection was fully functional within an ICA session once an RDP session was initiated and information was sent to the redirected COM device. However, upon reboot of the client device, COM port redirection was no longer fully functional within an ICA session.[more]

CAUSE: According to the KB article, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/112841/en-us, the COM port settings for a device can be stored in two different locations – within the Control Panel and within the Command Prompt interface.  The settings used by the device will depend on how the application communicates with the port – via the Control Panel\registry or directly with the COM port via the command interface.  The settings are not dependent on each other and can be changed independently of one another.  COM port redirection via ICA and RDP use the settings set within the port itself.  To add to the complexity, it appears that the RDP protocol automatically sets the client device port settings when a session is initiated to match the settings for the COM port on the host server.  This was the reason that the application was working via RDP and any subsequent ICA session.

MODE.COM queries the port directly.  Default settings (Windows XP, 7E) are the following (MODE.COM did not seem to be available within XPe):

Status for Device COM1:

• Baud: 1200
• Parity: Even
• Data Bits: 7
• Stop Bits: 1
• Timeout: OFF
• XON/XOFF: OFF
• CTS handshaking: OFF
• DSR handshaking: OFF
• DSR sensitivity: OFF
• DTR circuit: ON
• RTS circuit: ON

Applications reset the mode of the COM port(s).  If, for example, you start Terminal and reset COM1 to 14400 baud, 7 data bits, odd parity, then exit Terminal, the new settings remain in effect until the computer is shut down.  Upon rebooting, the default settings are once again in effect.  The Control Panel settings, on the other hand, affect the registry.  An application that is appropriately written can query the registry for these values and use the Control Panel settings.  The default settings in the Ports option of Control Panel\Device Manager are:

Settings for COM1:

• Baud Rate: 9600
• Data Bits: 8
• Parity: None
• Stop Bits: 1
• Flow Control: None   

SOLUTION: You can manually set the COM port settings by using this command: “Mode COM1: 9600,n,8,1”. However, when you restart the system, you will find the settings revert back to the default. To resolve the issue, create a startup task or place a batch file in startup that sets the COM port to the required settings. 

Example: C:\windows\system32\mode.com com1: 9600,n,8,1

My Android phone was frequently losing the connection to the SIM card, causing me to miss calls and text messages. Several online forums point to battery and system monitoring apps as causing the problem. I had one of these apps installed, so I uninstalled it, but the problem remained. I even tried resetting my phone to factory defaults, but that did not work either. The solution turned out to be really simple. I found a forum a few months later that suggested removing the SIM card tray and placing a small piece of tape over the back of the SIM card to hold it more securely in the tray. I did this over a month ago and have not had the error happen since then.

A monitoring service reported an Asigra DS-System running low on available disk space. Looking at our storage reports, I was unsure as how we had filled up so much space so quickly. The answer comes from the “Trash” that Asigra creates. When Asigra expires backup data either due to the max generations or retention policies being met, it doesn’t immediately remove the data from the DS-System. Instead, this data is moved to the Asigra  equivalent of the Windows Recycle Bin before being purged. By default, a scheduled job runs monthly to remove data from Trash that is older than 30 days.  This means that data could be in there for potentially 2 months before being removed permanently.  You can run a job to purge the data manually or you can alter the schedule to run more frequently if needed.

1. Open the Exchange Management Console
   • Make sure you are using an Administrator account
2. Open the Web Management Interface
   • Click Toolbox > Message Tracking
   • Use the same Administrator account details to login
3. Choose the User to manage
   • In the top-left corner you should see a link that says 'Manage My Organizaiton'; hover over this link and click on 'Select User' from the drop down
   • From the list, search and select the User's name
4. Edit the user's out of office message
   • A new window/tab should open with basic management options for that user; on the right-hand-side there are a list of shortcuts, click 'Tell people you're on vacation'  This will give you access to both internal and external messages
   • Once complete, remember to save everything and log out

 Spiceworks Article: http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/8375-edit-another-user-s-out-of-office-message-in-exchange-2010-without-editing-permissions

Versions of Outlook prior to 2013 would allow you to create an HTML signature with references to local images (e.g., logo, etc.) that would be converted to embedded images when you sent the email message.  As of Outlook 2013, the links to the images are not converted so, if the image is not accessible to the recipient (such as in a URL or shared file on an internal network), the recipient will only see a broken link reference.

This can be remedied by using the Outlook editor to create the signature with images but the editor doesn't always give you the HTML you would prefer.  An alternative is to make the allowing registry entries to have Outlook embed images like it used to.

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options\Mail
Value type: REG_DWORD
Value name; Send Pictures With Document
Value: 1

On newer model Cisco small business switches, the interface VLAN mode designation is different than what you might expect:

1. The default mode is "Trunk".  This is not the same as "switchport mode trunk" on enterprise Cisco switches.  This mode can be left as is for plugging in a host, but is actually best used when setting up link aggregation.
2. The "Access" mode is similar to the "switchport mode access" command on enterprise Cisco switches and is the mode that should be used when setting up multiple VLAN access on a switch.
3. The "General" mode is comparable to the "switchport mode trunk" command on enterprise Cisco switches.  This is the mode an interface should be set to when Dot.1Q VLAN tagging needs to be configured.
   

We all think of Microsoft Excel as a fantastic tool for data manipulation and calculation, but few of us have experienced it as an artist palette.  A Japanese man has taken up the challenge, and has created masterpieces using the graphics capabilities of Excel.  You can see and read about his work at this url: http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/

 

I have an external drive I use from time to time with various types of files.  I thought it would be interesting to see how Windows indexing would handle files and information on the external drive, so I checked its checkbox in the indexing options and let it index the drive.  Sometime later, I noticed my system disk space was dropping precipitously.  I looked at the disk space use and found the windows.edb database file had grown to more than 100GB.  After I unchecked the external drive in the indexing option and had Windows rebuild the index from scratch, my disk space was back to normal.

If you ever look at your logs on your Cisco router or switch and they don't seem to match the actual local time of your device, you may need to run the following command to set the logs to use the device's local time: service timestamps log datetime localtime