Quick [tech] Questions Thread

[Salamok]

Except I'm not trying to opt out of the intended changes; my text doesn't look like it does in their example picture.

Do you use the no script FF plugin?  If so check it's options and enable @font-face.

[Rendakor]

Except I'm not trying to opt out of the intended changes; my text doesn't look like it does in their example picture.

Do you use the no script FF plugin?  If so check it's options and enable @font-face.

This fixed it, thanks a lot.

[Hawkbit]

I've needed a password manager for awhile and after this week it's obviously overdue.  I'm looking at Lastpass and Keepass, should I be looking at any others? 

Initial overview of Lastpass seems to yield a few issues with security.  Being tied to the web seems to defeat the purpose of a manager.

[Lantyssa]

I like Password Safe.

[Trippy]

I use 1Password on PC, Mac, and iOS sync'd with Dropbox.

[Salamok]

This seems to be a fairly handy feature of lastpass:
http://lifehacker.com/lastpass-now-tells-you-which-heartbleed-affected-passwo-1561522244

I guess the upside of an online manager is it is easier for them to notify you of stuff.

[Yegolev]

I use 1Password on PC, Mac, and iOS sync'd with Dropbox.

What changed your mind about running Dropbox?

[Trippy]

Convenience. Also I only use Dropbox for 1Password which encrypts the 1Password data file before writing to disk so I don't have to worry about Dropbox giving my passwords to whomever it pleases.

[Nebu]

Anyone know why this file (below) would get put into my registry whenever I run a specific program?

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.2

Tried looking on Google, but all it said was that it might be associated with a trojan.  I've used CCcleaner, Malwarebytes, and superantispiware professional and they all find nothing but this bad registry error.  Hijack this says that it's a scary file, but I can't seem to figure out why a clean file keeps creating it.

Thanks.

[Trippy]

What program is adding that to the registry?

[Nebu]

What program is adding that to the registry?

It happens when I mod WoT with XVM.  The xvm file isn't corrupted, so I don't know why the registry is being created.  All I know is that as soon as it shows up in my registry, I can no longer access the XVM site and the mod crashes my game.

[Lantyssa]

You could make a batch file that clears the key.  Now that doesn't answer why it happens, which you probably want to solve in the long run, but to avoid having to hand-edit it all the time:

@echo off
REG DELETE HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.2

[Nebu]

CCCleaner takes care of the file.  I'm more interested in the reasons behind why such a file would have been generated in the first place. 

[Lantyssa]

Registry entries aren't files.  They're lines that Windows, and unfortunately other programs, use for all kinds of information.  If permissions aren't locked down, they're as easy to add or change as that one line I posted.

Because of that, and terrible programming practices, people stick all kinds of shit in the registry that shouldn't go there.

(I really, really want the Windows registry to go away.  I wouldn't mind a master file that lets you know where to find settings, but it should be a reference and not a control.)

[Nebu]

Thanks Lantyssa.  I need to be more careful with the terms that I use. 

I'm just interested in finding the source.  I think I've solved the issue but would like to better understand the process by which it occurred in the first place.  I've been reading a lot of tech support forums over the past week and it's shown me that there are a lot of similar issues out there with no real solution... it's a world of work-arounds.

The whole thing makes me glad that I'm not in the programming/coding world.  What a mess.   

[Chimpy]

I am pretty sure there are ways to audit what is being written to the registry by what program when it is done, but as far as I know it is not straight forward.

[Nebu]

I am pretty sure there are ways to audit what is being written to the registry by what program when it is done, but as far as I know it is not straight forward.

While it may not be related to the issue I'm having, I've been trying to learn more about python logs for this reason.  I'm hoping to better understand the process behind how things work or at least the order or operation.  This stuff is pretty fascinating.

[Fordel]

What's a decent anti-virus replacement for MS Essentials on old and bust XP systems? Both my father and sister are still on XP and are unlikely to get a newer version of windows any time soon.


Also, are any of those parental control programs actually worth a damn at all? Apparently my nephew is googling naughty things already  .

[Chimpy]

MS is still going to release definition updates for MSE on XP until July 2015.


Malwarebytes is pretty good and if you pay for the full version it will do active scanning.

[Rasix]

I need new headphones.  My shitty steelseries ones are starting to completely die now.  Previously, I could get them to work by wiggling them a bit in the socket, but now they're just completely fading out.  My other standbys are complete ear rape and I dislike using earbuds for an extended period of time.

I've had the Logitech G35's recommended to me by a couple people.  I mostly just care about comfort and the option to use a semi-decent mic. I don't talk much on voice coms in games (my house has thin walls and my voice carries well), so that's not super important quality wise.  Sound quality isn't something I need to pay a premium for, as I'm not much of an audiophile.

Any other suggestions?

[Salamok]

These are slightly above the price point of what I would consider "cheap" I have not tried them but I am tempted:
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Stereo-Headset-Playstation-3/dp/B0053OLY9O/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_i

Generally whenever I buy Sony headphones my expectations are exceeded, of course when I do buy Sony headphones my expectations are not in the "omfg these are gonna be awesome" range.

[Miasma]

I like my terribly named (G4ME) Sennheiser headset.  I don't think I'd buy them again however as they cost too much, I bought them at the time because they were one of the first headsets to cover the entire ear which was a huge step up for comfort.  That logitech set looks like it would do the same thing for less money.  I don't trust usb based sound and think the fake leather padding would be sticky and uncomfortable though.

[Chimpy]

If you are looking for headphones without a mic, the MDR-7506 by Sony is still one of the best you can buy. The cheaper MDR-V6 are also decent but they are not quite the same build quality (I use them at work) as the 7506.

[Trippy]

I use the G35 too. I have an older model Corsair Vengeance 2000 as well but that isn't as comfortable on my head.

[Yegolev]

I was watching my son this evening and I believe that the Sony headset cord is possibly delicious.

[Engels]

I have the MDR-V6 Sony monitor headset and other than not having a mike and a rather cumbersome telephone style coiled chord, the sound quality is truly fantastic. Note that it is not USB, and that can confuse the living crap out of your system's board if it can't tell the difference between a headphone jack and your speaker jack.

[Phildo]

Help me with a nagging Exchange problem!  I have a client whose mail is syncing fine between the server, her Outlook and her iPhone.  Except that when she reads a mail in one, it still shows up as new in Outlook or the iPhone.  Webmail is seeing that they have been read, but not passing that information along to anything else.  What gives?

Relevant specs:
Exchange Server 2010 running on Small Business Server 2011 x64
Outlook 2010
Not sure which version of the iPhone, unfortunately

[Rasix]

Web mail is reading from the server, whereas the Outlook and iPhone are downloading the messages to the device itself.  The state of being read is going to be particular to the device reading it.  I'm not sure there's  solution for this if they're going to be using all devices simultaneously.  

At least, that's my understanding of it.  My father-in-law had the exact same issue, and that explanation seemed to suffice for him.

disclaimer: I don't do this for a living. 

[Trippy]

With IMAP the read/unread status gets sync'd up on the server but who the fuck knows what Microsoft is doing with it's own stuff.

[Chimpy]

Is cached exchange mode turned on in the Outlook desktop client?

[Phildo]

Yes to cached exchange mode.

Rasix, the trick here is that normally, you can tell when an email has been read on another device/webmail.  Exchange shares that information.  In this one instance, however, it's not passing that part along even though it's sending the emails through and deleting them off everything when, say, the phone deletes an email.

[Chimpy]

Have them turn cached exchange mode off on the desktop client and see if that changes any behavior.

Also, did they add the exchange account to their iPhone by selecting the type "Microsoft Exchange" (which uses ActiveSync)?

Sometimes removing and re-adding the account to the phone resolves weird issues.

[Ironwood]

Outlook and Webmail shouldn't be having those types of problems.  With the IPhone I'd suggest the wrong type of synch was enabled, but if it's happening between webmail and Outlook, something is very fucked.

You can try turning of cached mode, of course, but that's basically turning outlook into a webmail client at this stage and probably won't be much use, unless it's really not synching THERE either, in which case, I refer you to the very fucked.

Let us know.  We have a lot of Exchange people here and I regularly get shite like this with the 365 stuff due to mobile devices.  Blackberry in particular is the fucking devil.

[Chimpy]

Speaking of Blackberry being the devil, I got an email this morning letting IT pros on campus know that there are 400 devices in the campus BES not seen in over 6 months which are causing huge server load issues because BES checks every device stored in the database sequentially (and I think that may be by creation date  ) and waits for it to time out before going on to try the next one. Apparently syncs for the like 12 people left on campus using a Blackberry are behaving more like Phildo's iPhone scenario. 

[Phildo]

That's funny, because most of my attempts to Google my issue have resulted in Blackberry forums links.

Update: The issue doesn't happen in cached exchange mode, and in cached mode if Outlook receives the email initially marked as read (ie I read it in the web app while Outlook is closed, before Outlook has seen it at all) then it appears as read.  I'm cleaning the crap out of the associated data files right now.  Rebuilding the profile didn't help.

I feel like there's a deeper exchange setting at fault here.