NOTIFICATION PROTECTION EXPIRED - Hoax Skype Caller

Hi everyone.

I just got a call from an unknown party on Skype with the name NOTIFICATION - PROTECTION EXPIRED.

I answered it the hope that it was someone trying to tell me I have viruses and that I should pay them money to remove them.

I was close as it turned out to be a recorded message telling me that my essential security software was out of date and told me to go to http://www.helpgw.com

Like a kid in a candy store I immediately went there with my MAC and that is where I was confronted with this wonderful screen:

As you can see, this is a lovely picture of a Windows XP desktop. Nothing like my MAC at all.

If you are encountered by this Skype Caller, answer if you want, but

DO NOT DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN BLOCK THE CALLER AND REPORT AS ABUSE!!!

Just remember, if you are unsure about anything, speak to someone you know and trust.

If you don't have anyone then call me.

Need a GUID? Use PowerShell!

Need to generate a new GUID but don’t have any developer tools installed?

This is easy with PowerShell.  Just enter the following command:

[System.Guid]::NewGuid()

You will get an output similar to:

Guid
----
3ca14ab2-21c9-4c16-956a-55f303f2fbb7

Of course if need be you can assign the new GUID to a variable and use it from there in your scripts.

Enjoy.

MS Project 2010: Camera Icon (Where is it!!!)

Previous versions of Microsoft Project had the little Camera Icon that let you save the Gannt chart as a JPG picture.

The camera icon is removed in Microsoft Project 2010 and has been replaced with the non-intuitive "Copy Picture" command located in the Copy Sub Menu of the Ribbon an the Task Tab.

That took months to find!!!!

Error in Site Data WebService

Just recently I was trying to track down an indexer issue on MOSS 2007 in the Shared Services Provider (SSP). The error was "Error in the Site Data Web Service" in the location of http://<ssp web host>/ssp/admin/Content.

After digging around in the logs I found an error to the call: GetWebDefaultPage. After pointing SharePoint Designer at this Content sub site (which hosts the BDC entity display template pages) in the SSP host, I found out that there is no default page (default.aspx).

You can do 4 things to solve this problem.

1. Ignore it


2. Create a crawl rule to skip this site completely


3. Create an empty Default.aspx in the site


4. Remove the SSP host from the Local SharePoint Sites Content source.

I am not convinced Option 2 is a good idea as it could lead to strange searhc behaviour especially with BDC applications.

In our environment, we decided on Option 4 as we had no need to index the SSP at the moment.

I hope this helps.

Nate

SharePoint 2007 and Event Id: 6482 and 6398

I recently ran into 2 strange errors when deploying a SharePoint server. It so happens that this error occurred just after deploying the Adobe x64 iFilter pack.

Event ID: 6482 - Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (GUID).

Reason: Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040D1B

And

Event ID: 6398

The Execute method of job definition Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.IndexingScheduleJobDefinition (GUID) threw an exception. More information is included below.

Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040D1B

As a result, I was unable to navigate to the Search Settings in the default SSP.

It turns out that I had 2 duplicate entries in the registry for the Adobe PDF file type.

Check out the registry key:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office Server\12.0\Search\Applications\GUID\Gather\Portal_Content\Extensions\ExtensionList

I removed one of them and we were off again.

This will happen when you add the file type by hand in the registry and then add it as a File Type in the SSP Host web application.

I hope it helps.

Font 'Segoe UI' does not support style 'Regular'

I came across this error just recently.  It all started when the installation of VS 2008 on my laptop (Vista 32Bit)  seemed to fail. My symptoms were:

1. The properties window in VS2008 would not show the properties of selected objects in the designers.  (It did show the properties of the files - only not very well).
2. When I would click the "Show Alphabetical" icon in the properties window, Visual Studio would crash.

I did notice just in the last 2 weeks that my system fonts changed to an Italic font. I didn't understand what set this, but I did think it looked cool so I left it. (I believe the change occurred when I set the Aero colour theme).

It turns out that VS 2008 was having issues with the font Segoe UI.

I fixed this by going to the "Font and Colours" section of the Options pages and changing fonts marked as "Segoe UI" to Calibri and setting the "Environment" font to Calibri as well (From Automatic).

This seemed to have fixed the issue.

Post Update:

Since posting this article, I also found the same issue with the SQL Server Management Studio.

So I changed my fix. I reset the font and colours in VS 2008 to their defaults.  Then I changed the Segoe UI font to Calibri in the Vista system settings for Windows Colours and Appearances.  I changed the fonts for the Aero colour scheme.

Everything appears to work again.

Buyer beware - Not is all as it seems

While browsing around my local DSE store this evening, taking advantage of the really late night shopping, I noticed an interesting display in the entertainment section.

This display was for "Monster" Brand AV cables, in particular the Monster brand HDMI cable.  The display had 2 Samsung 56cm LCD TV placed side by side and both playing a synchronised feed of the movie "Cars". Behind the TVs was a cardboard backdrop advertising the Monster Brand HDMI cables and why they are the most superior. Above the right TV was a sign that said "Monster Cable" and above the left TV was a sign with "Standard Cable" printed on it.
I noticed that the right hand TV had an extremely richer picture than on the left.

The curious person I am started looking at the back of the TVs. On the right - a Monster Brand HDMI cable was plugged into the HDMI port.  On the left TV a cheap, low quality composite cable (it was actually one of the cables from a stereo RCA audio cable) was plugged into the "Video In" port of the TV.

When questioned about the point of the display, the clerk said that they are showing how HDMI is better that composite.  I explained to him that the display was a little misleading, using the term "Standard Cable" in a display that is selling the benefits of a Monster Brand HDMI cable.  The Clerk did say they were clearly labelling it as a standard composite cable - Yeah right!  I can just see it now.  A customer that doesn't have the understanding of the different AV connectors, buys a brand new HD TV and a Blue Ray DVD player.  When looking for a HDMI cable to connect the two together, they see this display and say "Geez, the colour is a little washed out with the standard cables, I better get the Monster brand" - And they part with $200-$300 on a cable they don't necessarily need.

Buyers, watch out. Make sure you are 100% comfortable.  If something doesn't seem right, then question it. Just remember, you are in control of the situation. You can walk at any time. When shopping for TVs and cables and DVDs etc don't be scared to swap the cables around, change the channels on the display units even eject the DVDs playing to ensure they are the real deal just so you can be sure there is no trickery going on.

FYI - I connect my Media Centre to my plasma with a $40 DVI -> HDMI video cable (from Radio Parts Group) and get superb picture quality at 1080P.