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I was troubleshooting a printing issue recently for a remote user. She connects to the network over AnyConnect VPN and then RDPs to a terminal server. Her local printers needed to be mapped through to the server so that she could print during the day. The problem was that the printers would show up, but it wouldn’t print. After considerable troubleshooting (including removing and re-adding printers and drivers) I stumbled upon a breakthrough. On the terminal server, the file ntprint.inf in C:\Windows\System32 was missing. Replacing this file from another server 2008 R2 machine allowed her to print successfully.

A user was having problems printing out of Adobe X.  Anytime she would trying printing, Adobe X would crash, and the File ->Print option was greyed out. After doing some research, I found out that if you go to Edit ->General Tab, and uncheck “Enable Protected Mode at startup” it fixed the problem and the user was able to print again.

We often find the need to document the steps we take towards solving a particular problem – whether that solution be to help a customer with a similar problem, or to keep track of how to make tricky changes we don’t want to have to “re-figure out” in the future.

These HOWTO documents are invaluable to have and maintain, but are very often a hassle to make. It looks like Microsoft ran into the same problem and decided to create an application called “psr.exe” (Problem Step Recorder) to help one create these documents with minimal effort, but with excellent formatting.

To use this tool, just click “Start” and search for “psr.” Then, you can run the executable and start recording. This tool records every mouse-click and keyboard input, capturing a screen shot at every step. You also have the ability to add your own comments to each step of the process.

Then, we you are finished recording, you can click “Stop Record,” and you will be asked to save the recorded steps as a zip folder. Then, just open up the folder to find the MHT document (that contains all the steps you took) that will open in a web-browser.

This document can then be saved or distributed as needed. Needless to say, this tool can save everyone time since you just have to follow the steps once and the application will create the HOWTO document for you. As mentioned above, this tool can create HOWTO documents, but can also be used for other purposes, such as having a customer show you exactly what they do to create a software issue.

In my opinion, ClearType text looks fuzzy and I like my text crisp and sharp. I have found that just turning ClearType off does not always really keep it turned off. On Windows 7 there is a ClearType Text Tuner dialog where you keep selecting which box of text looks best. Even though clearing the checkbox immediately seems to turn off ClearType, it does not stay off. You have to go through all the dialog boxes and select that last Finish button. You may need to close and reopen some applications or even log out and back in again.

I recently helped a customer having trouble with FaceTime and iMessage not working with his iPod touch. He was able to browse the web and get to the App Store, but the FaceTime and iMessage applications would not work. I connected my cell phone and was able to use FaceTime, a WiFi only application. I assumed this meant the problem was with his iPod, not his wireless Internet. However, his iPod worked correctly when he connected to a different wireless network. The problem fixed itself for about a week at his house, then started happening again. I did some reading and found that this could have been caused by DNS. I changed the DNS servers on his router to use different DNS servers. Immediately the problem was fixed.

Thinking back on my testing, I did not take into account that my phone could have been using 3G DNS servers during the first test. The lesson here is to be careful when using cell phones to test wireless connectivity.

A while ago, I was flying back into Lubbock after a weeklong trip and realized, when I got onto the plane headed for Dallas, that I had left my Kindle in a seat back pocket of the previous plane. After getting over that initial shock, I started looking for what I needed to do. I called Amazon Kindle support and they kindly deactivated my Kindle (so that others couldn’t make purchases using my credit card) and even put a flag on the account so that the device was unable to be used by anyone else. I then called the airline’s lost and found service and filed a claim for my missing Kindle. They told me it would be a couple of weeks before I probably heard anything so I figured that was all I could do. [more]

Fast forward to last week and I had purchased a new Kindle Fire to replace the one I had left behind (and to play with the new Fire) when I get a phone call from Josh H. with Amazon Kindle Lost & Found. Apparently, someone had found my Kindle and sent it back to Amazon. He called me up and verified my shipping address and email address and informed me that they would be shipping my Kindle back to me, free of charge, via UPS ground. A few minutes later, I get the tracking number and everything is good in the world again.

Moral of the story is: Amazon Customer Support is really quite astounding in how they take care of their customers. If you have a legitimate problem, they seem to go out of their way at times to take care of you.

Recently we had a team change the inside interface of one of our ASA’s to be a trunked port so we could support multiple VLANs.  To do that, we needed to move the “nameif Inside” command and IP address from the physical interface (Eth0/1) to a new subinterface (Eth0/1.4094).  In doing so I came across a few gotchas: [more]

Problem 1:

When you remove the nameif command from an interface, all associated configuration is removed from the running-config. 

Solution:

There isn’t an easy way to migrate the nameif command from one physical interface to a new one.  Once you make the change you have to reenter any configuration that included the interfaces nameif name.  The alternative is to create a new startup-configuration with the changes and reboot to that startup file.

Problem 2:

After moving the nameif command to a new sub-interface I couldn’t SSH to the device via that interface.

Solution:

Basically, the SSH daemon needs to be restarted.  I was remotely making these changes via SSH so my only option was to reboot the ASA. 

Below are the steps to reset the passcode on an iPhone.

Warning: this will wipe all files, settings, and apps from the iPhone, including the passcode 

1. Need computer (with iTunes) and USB cable
2. Make sure iTunes in running on your system
3. Press and hold the Home and Power button at the same time until the iPhone turns off
4. Release the Power button, but continue to hold the Home button
5. Plug the USB cable into the computer & iPhone (while holding the Home button)
6. Continue to hold the Home button until an alert message in iTunes appears that reads “iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode.  You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.” – click OK
7. In iTunes, under “summary” tab, click the “Restore” button to restore the iPhone

Ever since upgrading my iPhone 4 to OS5, my battery doesn't seem to last as long as it used to. When I find suggestions for extending battery life, I try it, but it doesn't seem to help. I found another solution, and for some reason, this seems to have helped more so than any other suggestions.

As most iPhone users know, when you double click the home button, it brings up the most recently used apps. If you hold your finger on one of those apps to make it wiggle, they will do that "jig" that they typically do. The difference is there is a minus sign instead of an x. If you click on the minus sign and close each of these apps out, it helps to extend your battery life. MAKE SURE IT'S A MINUS AND NOT AN X, or you're going to delete your app completely from your phone rather than just from your recently used apps.