Adventures in stupid technology
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Disable HDMI hot plug detection in Windows 7
Whether you’re running Windows Media Center or another homebrew HTPC/DVR where Windows 7 is the underlying operating system, you may have noticed that HDMI hot plug detection can be extremely annoying. New receivers that allow you to switch between different HDMI connected entertainment devices, often also register an HDMI hot-plug or auto-detect event in Windows…
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Outlook 2013 cannot open default OST file
Microsoft Outlook 2013 can be finicky with add-ins. IMHO it’s more touchy about them than Outlook 2010, but that’s open to debate. Long story short, Outlook 2013 on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 can run into issues where it doesn’t terminate all processes after a user closes the program. Consequently, the user no longer sees…
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There is a problem with Adobe Acrobat/Reader 1014
If you’ve got Adobe Acrobat X (10) Standard already installed and accidentally install Adobe Reader 11 (because it came bundled with some scanner/printer you bought), you may start to see this error in Internet Explorer when trying to view PDF documents. UPDATE: This issue has been shown to affect versions 10 and 11 of Adobe…
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A review of LastPass
My memory isn’t what it used to be and there seems to be an ever increasing number of passwords to remember. Also due to an identity theft scare a few years ago I’ve made it a habit to change my passwords for sensitive accounts every 6 months to a year, but I always ended up…
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Office 2013 will not launch or repair
If Microsoft Office 2013 or Office applications part of your Office 365 installations will no longer launch and both the Quick Repair and Online Repair have failed, a complete re-install may be necessary. Here’s how to do this: [requirements] Internet connection Product key for Office 2013 or Office 365 Microsoft Account username and password [the…
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Deploying the Java JRE to workstations using a GPO
Java updates the JRE about once a month and it’s a good idea to keep java up-to-date. But what if you want to deploy Java to workstations in your active directory domain? And what if you want to disable java update/download notifications that cause users install the ask toolbar or McAfee Security scanner? Then you’ll…
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Managing multiple office 365 instances with powershell scripts
I’ve migrated a lot of customers to Office 365. The web-based partner administration for Exchange, Sharepoint and Lync works well, but some things are just easier with with powershell. Here’s how I administer Office 365 instances with custom powershell scripts. I basically create a separate PS1 file for each office365 instance pre-configured with the admin…