David Vielmetter

Adventures in stupid technology

  • Reset your Plantronics CS55 Headset

    The Plantronics CS55 headset has been saving my neck since 2008. It’s the workhorse of many a call center and generally functions as expected. Every once in a while though it can get into a funk where you hear people but they cannot hear you. Here’s what to do to reset your CS55 headset back…

  • Printkey 2000 – An Oldie but a Goodie

    Printkey 2000 is really just another screen printing tool. It’s a bit dated in its design and I’ve had it crash on me a couple of times over the years, but it has some great features that are hard to find in other screenshot apps. Here are some of the reasons people may still use PrintKey…

  • Turn your Linksys E1500 into a Wireless Repeater

    Unfortunately the wireless router that came with my new FIOS connection only covers half of my house. To get wifi coverage in the yard and the whole house, I decided to re-purpose my Linksys E1500. Here’s what I did: First I installed the DD-WRT firmware and with it turned my router into a Wireless Repeater…

  • Javascript errors during Adobe Flash Player update

    If you’re still running Windows XP and haven’t updated your Flash Player in a while, you might get some Internet Explorer script errors when you try to update the player. Here’s two ways to resolve the problem. [the problem] [the solution (in two acts)] The easy way: [step 1] Download the full Adobe Flash Player…

  • Location of the Outlook Temporary OLK folder

    The location of the temporary files location Outlook uses to store files when you double-click an attachment (also known as the OLK folder) is different on each windows system. Depending on your version of Office, a registry key will reveal the exact path of this folder. Here is a list of versions of Microsoft Office…

  • Crimping a proper Ethernet patch cable

    This article covers the steps necessary to properly terminate an Ethernet cable. There are several ways to do this and each has benefits for a given application. First we’ll cover the male adapter or RJ-45 plug: [requirements] Crimping/Crimp tool – available at most computer/electronics retailers CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable RJ-45 plugs – also available…

  • Batch encrypting PDF documents in Acrobat Professional

    The other day a customer asked me how quickly apply some sort of protection to thousands of PDF files so that they could not be changed or printed. Challenge accepted I said. Here’s how: [requirements] Adobe Acrobat Professional [procedure] [step 1] Open Adobe Acrobat Professional. Then click File->Action Wizard->Create New Action [step 2] Expand the…

  • 10 Reasons to love the new Outlook.com

    I’ve been beta testing Outlook.com for a month now and I like it. Finally Microsoft got it right with a simple and uncomplicated web based email experience. Best of all, now anyone can experience Outlook.com. Simply switch your Hotmail account over to the new UI or create a new account at Outlook.com. Here are the…

  • Keep your garbage can clean with cat litter

    If you’re like me, that little bit of OCD in you absolutely loathes the nasty sticky mess at the bottom of the garbage can. I had to clean my garbage cans recently because a bag tore open and leaked gross stinky garbage liquid all over the bottom. Since that cleaning, I vowed to never do…