David Vielmetter

Adventures in stupid technology

  • Five steps to take for pretty good DL/DR protection

    I see a lot of small businesses unprepared for data loss prevention and disaster recovery. Implementing a DLP/BDR plan can be a daunting task if you start searching for solutions via Google both in terms of scope and finances as well. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. I’m not saying that BDR and…

  • Dllhost has gone haywire because of poweliks

    Dllhost.exe spawning multiple instances may seem suspicious but it is not necessarily a virus. Dllhost.exe is a wrapper application that is part of Windows 7 and can be used to run DLL files as applications and running some DLL’s as threads can be legit windows system activity. Last week, however, I had a workstation exhibiting…

  • VMWare guest time is incorrect

    By default, VMWware ESX/ESXi hosts setup guest virtual machines to sync the time with the host (or hypervisor). This is great if you’ve remembered to set the host up to sync itself with an external Network Time Protocol (NTP) server or NTP pool like pool.ntp.org. If you forgot, however, then you can be in a…

  • Locate which folder a found email is stored in

    Got a ton of folders/sub-folders in Outlook and want to know which one that email you found is stored in? Here’s how to do it: [step 1] Open the email message by double clicking it in the search result window. [step 2] Click File and note that next to the Move to folder button the…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Digital signage menu boards with Intel NUC

    I have a couple of customers in the restaurant business. In fast food, being able to change your pricing/menu offerings quickly is apparently key, so lots of fast food places have digital signage that can be updated quickly. This solution is slightly more clunky than a corporate managed signage solution, but it works, is relatively…

  • 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…