tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19074872615762180022024-03-13T20:59:40.422+00:00Memory SieveNuggets and Leakage from the front line of IT Supportredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-75509717618923463042022-04-12T13:13:00.004+01:002022-04-12T19:10:44.794+01:00Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 17.0 keeps re building content and effects at startupEvery time you start Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2019 (this is version 17.0 build 20180830.m.125874) you get a message and progress bar showing Building Content and Effects. This can take 2-3 minutes to complete and PhotoShop Elements isn't responsive until it completes. Almost looks like the app has frozen at times. It completes and you can work on your image, but it will repeat the same process redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-267206566821369692021-10-23T14:21:00.001+01:002021-10-23T14:21:08.813+01:00Adding a Mitel 5201 phone to a 3300 controllerPreviously we've been able to just change the MAC address on the 3300 controller when we swapped out faulty phones, but had some problems with that recently. The phones were appearing on DHCP and in the unprogrammed IP phones list (see under Maintenance > IP Telephone Inventory) but weren't actually picking up the extension number.The phones start up normally, light flashing for a minute or soredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-85131170602760839352021-10-13T09:53:00.000+01:002021-10-13T09:53:30.189+01:00Dell OptiPlex 7070 external speaker humming with Realtek audio driverThe external speaker on my Dell OptiPlex 7070 SFF starts humming every few minutes. A quiet low level, deep hum. Sounds a little like the speaker is vibrating on the desk. You can clear it by playing some audio or clicking the volume control button to make it ping. This is happening on Windows 11.The installed driver is the latest one from Dell using the Command Update software. Its listed as redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-88348456565948095402021-03-05T13:26:00.000+00:002021-03-05T13:26:02.716+00:00HP ProDesk 400 offline missing ethernet network adapterPossibly the strangest call for a while ... a cat stepped on the keyboard and the computer went offline! Tried all the obvious fixes for airplane mode, reset network, troubleshoot network, BIOS, etc, then spotted there was no ethernet device in the Network Adapters section of the Device Manager. Just the WAN Miniport drivers. You can see in the image a typical list - the Realtek is the ethernet redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-75305543229090373712019-06-06T18:50:00.000+01:002019-06-06T18:55:05.691+01:00Outlook 2016 with Gmail keep getting prompted for "Sign in with your Google account" IMAPOutlook 2016 loads up with a Google Gmail or Googlemail account configured and imediately prompts with a Sign in with your Google account prompt. It happens as soon as the Send/Receive runs to download new messages.
You might see error 0x800CCC0E Outlook cannot synchonize subscribed folders.
If you login, it prompts to authorise Microsoft, which you can do. It just doesn't seem to retain that redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-58601203006933905512019-03-19T15:31:00.001+00:002019-03-19T15:31:32.820+00:00Bootrec rebuildbcd or scanos - total identified Windows installations: 0We've just had a Windows 8.1 Lenovo laptop that stopped booting. It reported attempting Automatic Repair and kept failing and rebooting through the same cycle.
The advanced options after that has failed also gave you you a startup repair option. That wasn't able to fix the fault either.
The usual fix under those circumstances is to go into advanced options, choose command prompt, then load redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-85412721183987012352018-12-09T10:26:00.000+00:002018-12-09T10:26:24.861+00:000x800F081F can’t install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 10Had a few instances of installing specific business software or older programs that get a prompt in Windows 10 that .Net 3.5 will be required. They'll either try and add it and fail or you'll attempt to manually install it from the Windows Features section of Control Panel > Programs.
Often you get error 0x800F081F saying that the source files could not be found.
We've regularly seen this inredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-50641295210507468662018-08-01T10:41:00.000+01:002018-08-01T10:41:09.146+01:00Buffalo DriveStation backup error on SBS Server 2008 (msexchangeis 9782, error code '2155348010')Attaching a new Buffalo Drivestation 3TB Velocity USB 3.0 backup drive (HD_LXU3) to an old Windows Server 2008, which is part of Small Business Server 2008, reminded us of an error we'd not seen for a few years.
The standard Windows Server backup failed to run within a couple of minutes, despite having been configured for the new drive.
The Event Log showed an Exchange error from source redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-65278219154144422172018-07-05T17:17:00.000+01:002018-12-09T07:55:08.044+00:00Avastclear gives error 'stub cannot run installer / updater ...'We've had a few license warnings for Avast Business Antivirus Cloudcare recently. Usually when upgrading, eg from Cloudcare 4.2.x to 4.3.0. To fix the licence warning you usually need to uninstall the current version, reboot and reinstall the latest. Even then it doesn't always work and using avastclear, the official uninstaller program from Avast / AVG is the way to go. Note that this should be redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-12956957938830762462018-05-29T14:42:00.005+01:002021-01-10T07:23:59.571+00:00Update: Lost or forgotten iPad Parental Restrictions PIN codeA quick update to a popular post from a couple of years ago. We talked about recovering the Apple parental control restrictions PIN from an iPad backup file.
Just had to repeat the exercise on another iPad. There's a newer, more useful article at igeeksblog that links to a Windows program called pinfinder.
You can download pinfinder from here
https://github.com/gwatts/pinfinder/releases/redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-59761238329838386712018-03-20T22:34:00.000+00:002018-03-20T22:34:14.133+00:00How to remotely read a Dell Optiplex Tag number (serial no) via command promptThere are plenty of management tools that will gather the data for you, but if you're on a domain network and just need a quick way to gather some serial numbers for known computer names, try this method using the command prompt shell.
Dell support have a useful document telling you how to use the command
WMIC BIOS GET SERIALNUMBER to retrieve the Dell serial number, aka Tag Number.
Often that redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-36726818377727968182018-01-25T11:07:00.000+00:002018-01-25T11:07:24.767+00:00ACT spell check cannot be performedAn ACT Premium v19.2 user logged into a new PC couldn't run the spell check on a letter created in ACT with one of the document templates. They got the error shown below;
Spell check cannot be performed because the main dictionary was not found
In ACT, look under Tools > Preferences > General. Then under Locations change to Spelling Dictionary, to see the folder where the dictionary was redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-30121268166933539722017-12-06T13:38:00.000+00:002017-12-06T13:38:26.980+00:00Can't type username in ACT Premium Web login (greyed out)We had an ACT v19.2 client unable to use the remote internet login via ACT Premium Web access. When they got to the sign-in screen for ACT it showed the database name correctly, but the username and password prompts were greyed out. You weren't able to type anything in those fields and consequently were unable to login.
At first we suspected some Microsoft updates to .NET that had been loaded redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-52020131109923631772017-11-17T17:35:00.002+00:002017-11-17T17:35:54.621+00:003 PCs missing from AVG Avast Cloudcare Console
Strange problem at one site with AVG CloudCare v3.6.4. Only one of 3 particular PCs would ever appear in the console at once. Lets call them PC26 (Maint), PC29 (Chef) and PC31 (Accts). This week PC29 was listed, status ok, updates ok. It even had the correct label name against it showing that is was Chef's computer. I tried reinstalling PC31 which succeeded, but it appeared on the list with theredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-78840059560449164422017-07-03T22:02:00.000+01:002017-07-03T22:02:06.955+01:001and1 Cloud Virtual Server outgoing smtp email blockedGot a new VPS hosting server with 1&1, its one of their Cloud Virtual Servers based on SSD, nice and speedy. Obscure problem with the first WordPress site which wouldn't send outgoing email using phpmail.
Went through all the firewall policy, server settings, Plesk, OS, WordPress - nothing obvious. All you can see is emails queuing in the outgoing queue in Plesk. Look under Tools & redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-23014005309165075932017-06-23T19:50:00.001+01:002017-06-23T19:50:42.976+01:00Dell Optiplex 7040 Realtek clicking popping audio soundsLooks like the latest audio driver from Dell has fixed a sound problem where you could hear clicking and popping, sometimes interference, sounds whilst playing music or adverts. It was most obvious on Spotify. This is using the built-in Realtek Audio hardware.
Previous driver was 6.0.1.6111 dated 12 Aug 2016 and the update is 6.0.1.6117 dated 19 Dec 2016, listed as Dell revision A07. Download redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-57647719722744752892017-05-31T10:44:00.000+01:002017-06-23T19:51:24.609+01:00Draytek Vigor 2760n dial-in VPN updateJust spotted a useful firmware update from Draytek for their Vigor 2760 / 2760n / 2760Vn range which adds an important VPN feature.
In a previous article on the Draytek 2760 I mentioned that although the early revision of the hardware (which uses firmware 1.x) has dial-in VPN support (PPTP, L2TP) the later hardware revision with firmware 3.x didn't provide dial-in VPN. Got caught out by that redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-1415531133873488212017-03-26T19:23:00.001+01:002023-11-01T10:41:31.313+00:00SBS 2008 Best Practice Analyzer (SBS BPA) out of date, error ocurred trying to access the webThe Best Practice Analyzer (BPA) for Small Business Server 2008 (SBS2008) reports 'An error occurred trying to access the web' when it tries to update.
If you click on the 'About the Best Practices Analyzer' link you might see an older update than Configuration File version: 2.1.60.0
[ We had an SBS 2008 server that blue screened and had to be restored using a SystemState backup and redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-35214686307722713162016-10-01T07:11:00.000+01:002016-10-01T07:11:06.705+01:00Sage 50 Accounts: Email Invoice / Purchase Order / Statement and save in Outlook Inbox not DraftsWhen sending an email copy of an invoice or statement or purchase order from Sage 50 Accounts v22 (2016), the customer wanted the email to be held in Outlook before dispatch. That allowed an extra check and for them to be certain it was transmitted.
In Sage, under Settings > Email Defaults, you can specify for each type of attachment (Invoice or Sales order or Statement or Purchase Order orredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-50375487495839657352016-09-05T14:47:00.001+01:002016-09-05T14:47:14.415+01:00Dell Vostro 3300 fails to upgrade to Windows 10, error 0xC1900101 - 0x30018A Dell Vostro 3300 laptop failed to upgrade to Windows 10 on several different attempts. Interestingly after fitting a new hard drive and performing a clean install of Windows 10, it completed without issue - suggesting that there was a driver issue with the existing Windows 7 configuration.
After much troubleshooting, we pinpointed the issue to the ExpressCard port. Simply disabling this inredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-14158340986786470152016-08-08T17:51:00.000+01:002016-08-22T17:52:50.985+01:00Cheaper TomTom Maps for Mazda NB1 SatNavNot the usual IT support problem - TomTom Home (v2.9) wouldn't connect to the shop using Windows 10, so I couldn't actually pay for the maps upgrade. This is for a Mazda NB1 satnav fitted to a Mazda CX-5. That started me looking at alternatives. The same version on Windows 7 was ok, connecting to the shop and quoting £59.95 for 12mo updates (ouch!)
I tried looking at the TomTom website to redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-20603272132428292882016-07-09T11:09:00.000+01:002016-07-09T11:09:43.189+01:00SQL Server Express 2008 error -2146893007, service won't start for Microsoft Office Accounting 2009Just discovered the old accounts package, Microsoft Office Accounting 2009 won't load. It reports ExecuteRestricted.exe crashed, then tries to load MS Office Accounts again and prompts to start a new company. After a bit of digging through Event Viewer for useful error codes we found that trying to start the SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS) service failed, reporting error -2146893007.
Event Viewer redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-36232064140014920702016-06-29T18:28:00.000+01:002016-07-06T18:45:47.427+01:00Dell Vostro 3550 blank screen during Windows 10 upgrade - Intel HD 3000We're seeing a few interesting Windows 10 upgrade issues as everyone takes advantage of the free update before the end of July. We've got a pretty packed schedule updating businesses before the deadline. Its definitely worth doing, especially from a performance and security point of view.
Just had a Dell Vostro 3550 which was on Windows 7 Pro. Initial stages of the update progressed normally butredleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-7319923150673666852016-05-17T16:02:00.001+01:002016-05-17T16:02:10.504+01:00Office Accounting 2009 - how to delete a saved report
Not obvious this one, so needs documenting really. In Microsoft Office Accounting 2009 you can modify a report, so typically change the dates or columns or how the nominals or companies are summarised. Its pretty flexible and very easy to do.
At that point you might save the report. These customised reports are in the Reports > Saved Reports menu. We found after a while we ended up with a redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907487261576218002.post-74781204376053269792016-04-29T13:57:00.000+01:002016-04-29T13:57:07.248+01:00Dell 725 inkjet printer and Windows 10 driver The most popular blog entry out of the 100+ on here, is the one about getting the Dell 725 inkjet printer to work with Windows 8 64-bit. That was exactly two years ago. We've just updated the same computer to Windows 10, which went very smoothly.
But guess what, it failed to load the printer, errors and crashes all over the place. Print Spooler keeps stopping, Print Preferences stops responding.redleghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05019701842539662275noreply@blogger.com0