Internet connection issues?

In a previous post I talked about using commands like ping and tracert to test your internet connection and its speed.

Here are some more things you can use — SpeedTest and DownForJustMe.

SpeedTest

SpeedTest (http://www.speedtest.net/)  lets you test your connection speed and shows you the results compared to your ISP’s average and compared to other places in your state, country and the world.

Snapshot of my results

Australia compared to other countries

You can also view and download a CSV file of your results over time if you need to ‘prove’ that your connection is doing strange things (the screen shot below shows my results over a few hours — the red box is the slowest speed and the green box the fastest).

Results over time

Down for everyone or just me?

Another tool for checking a slow or non-responsive connection to a website is the Down For Everyone or Just Me? website (http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/).

You enter the URL you’re having trouble with, then press Enter or click the link.

Enter the URL in the box

After a very short time (less than one second?), you’ll get your answer:

Looks like there's nothing wrong -- it must be at my end

If there is something wrong, they’ll tell you that too. You don’t get a lot of information, but you get enough to ‘prove’ that it’s not something at your end. (In the example below I entered a fake URL just to see what the response would be.)

And if it's not working, you get this

[Links last checked August 2009]

Change the keyboard shortcut for an application

My HP laptop has an application on it called HP Health Check — it’s a diagnostic thing. How do I know this? Because whenever I tried to copy formatting in Word using Ctrl+Shift+C the formatting wouldn’t copy and HP Health Check opened!

At first I thought HP Health Check was scheduled to open, then I realized that Ctrl+Shift+C was opening it. No wonder I couldn’t copy formatting!

To add, change or remove a keyboard shortcut from an application:

1. Right-click on the application’s name, then select Properties.
2. Go to the Shortcut tab.
3. In the Shortcut key field, you can:
   • Enter a new key combination if one isn’t associated with this application
   • Change the existing key combination to something that doesn’t conflict with your existing commands
   • Delete the existing key combination (it will then display as None).
4. Click OK.

Add, edit or delete a keyboard shortcut for an application

BTW, I put in a call to HP Support before finding this solution. Their answer? “You must have assigned this keyboard combination in Word” (no, it’s a default!), and here’s how to disable the Word keyboard shortcut (but I don’t WANT to do that — it’s a shortcut I use ALL the time as I mentioned in my support call!). How arrogant of them — most other programs do not have a keyboard shortcut assigned to them, let alone one that’s a standard in an Office program.

Bypassing the server to get to the internet

Recently, my server went into meltdown (the hard drive fan failed causing the hard drives to overheat and shut down without warning). I had to send it to my PC Guru guys to diagnose and fix (new fan, one new hard drive — the other was OK). But I still needed to work, which meant I still needed internet access.

Here’s what I had to do to get internet access on all my computers without using the DHCP settings on the now-out-of-action server:

1. On each computer, open Network Connections (Start > Control Panel > Network Connections).
2. Right-click on Local Area Connection then select Properties.
3. On the General tab, scroll down to Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (TCP/IP v4 on Vista) and click on it.
4. Click Properties to open the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) dialog box. My settings were all set to obtain an IP address and DNS server address automatically — these are what I had to change.
   

   Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) dialog box

5. Select the Use the following IP address option.
6. In the IP address field, enter an unused IP address for this computer (for example, I used 192.168.0.250 for one machine, 192.168.0.249 for another, 192.168.0.248 for yet another etc.).
7. The Subnet mask field should populate automatically with 255.255.255.0 after you finish entering the IP address. Leave these settings as they are.
8. In the Default gateway field, enter the IP address allocated to your modem/router — e.g. 192.168.0.1 (Note: your modem/router IP address will probably be different to this).
9. Select the Use the following DNS server addresses option.
10. In the Preferred DNS server field, enter the IP address allocated to your modem/router — e.g. 192.168.0.1 (Note: your modem/router IP address will probably be different to this).
11. Click OK.
12. Click Close to close the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) dialog box.

You should now be able to connect to the internet directly.

When I got my server back and all connected and powered up, I just had to set these settings on each computer back to Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically and that was it — I was back connected to the internet and to the files on my server.

Thanks to the PC Guru guys for walking me through what to do.

Windows: No to all

If you copy multiple files to another location and files with those names already exist, you get asked to overwrite the existing files. Typically, you have the options of Yes, Yes to All, No, and Cancel.

But there’s usually not a No to All option, yet there are times when that option is exactly what you want. Sure, Cancel works fine in many of these situations, but not always. Sometimes you just want a No to All option.

The good news is that you can get it! It’s a hidden ‘feature’ in Windows. All you have to do is hold down the Shift key as you click No and Windows behaves as though you clicked the (non-existent) No to All button.

Vista: Rebuild indexes

If you can’t find recent emails etc. when doing a search in Vista, it’s possible that the Vista indexing service has not caught up with the newer items. You can force Vista to rebuild the index, which should solve this problem.

1. Click the Start button, then type indexing options in the Start Search box.
2. On the Indexing Options window, click  the Advanced button. Click Continue if you are asked for permission to access this area.
3. On the Index Settings tab, click Rebuild in the Troubleshooting section.

Vista: Classic Windows Explorer view

One of the things I’m still trying to get used to in Vista is the way that files and folders are displayed. I don’t find there’s enough space for deeply nested folders on the left so I have to resize the ‘Explorer’ window regularly. And I’m not sure I like everything under ‘Desktop’ — including all my network connections. I’ll persevere.

But if you’re not the persevering type and really want your Vista ‘Explorer’ to look like it did in Windows XP, then you can. Here’s how:

1. Click the Start button, then click Computer to open Vista’s ‘Explorer’
2. Click Organize > Folder and Search Options (OR press Alt to display the menu bar — yes, it’s hidden by default! — then go to Tools > Folder Options).
3. Go to the General tab.
4. Select the Use Windows classic folders option.
5. If you want to always display menus go to the View tab and select the Always show menus check box.
6. Click OK.

Setting classic folder view in Vista

Vista: Setting TXT file association for EditPlus

I use EditPlus as my text editor. I needed to associate TXT files with EditPlus so that they also opened in EditPlus. But this is not quite so simple in Vista, until you know how!

1. Click the Start button and find EditPlus — do not open it.
2. Right-click on EditPlus and select Run as Administrator.
3. Click Continue if asked about permissions.
4. Go to Tools > Preferences on the EditPlus menu.
5. Under File, select Settings & Syntax.
6. Select Text in the list of File types.
7. Select the Associate with Explorer check box.
8. Click OK.

Vista: Display the menu bar

Do you miss the menu bar in Vista? Well, you can get it back temporarily by pressing the ALT key.

Simple.

Interview with Mary Jo Foley

Interview with Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley was interviewed by Matthew Ellison for the first session on Day 2 of the 2009 WritersUA Conference. Mary Jo is a journalist who specializes in following the goings on at Microsoft. Her book — Microsoft 2.0: What to expect in the post-Gates era — was also the title of this session. Here are my notes on what she had to say; they’re sort of in the order of the interview, which was wide-ranging and which covered a lot of ground in the 75 minutes allocated.

• Data gathering: Yes, she used to ride the Microsoft employees shuttle bus to gather information, until they found her out and posted her photo around the bus station!
• One time in the very early days when she was interviewing Bill Gates at a trade exhibition, some guy came up and started talking to him. She interrupted and said she was doing an interview. Bill Gates said to her: “Do you know who that was? That was Steve Jobs!”
• In the early days, Bill Gates was rough around the edges, nasty to journalists, incredibly competitive, a methodical businessman. His employees would quake in their boots if they had a Bill Gates interview.
• Ray Ozzie (current Chief Software Architect ["Chief Nerd"], which was Gates’ old job) came via LotusNotes and another company. Gates had always wanted him at Microsoft and bought the company he was with in 2005 just so he could get him on board. He sets the strategic direction for Microsoft and its products, and despite his shyness, is the new public face of Microsoft regarding products etc. He is more amenable to open source and collaborative stuff, but is very shy — ‘an engineer’s engineer’. In Oct 2005, he sent out a now-famous Internet Services Memo detailing the focus on an open, not closed shop. Mary Jo believes Microsoft is now following the ideas set out in that memo.
• People to watch if/when Steve Ballmer leaves: Kevin Turner (COO; ex Wal-Mart; not popular with staff); Robbie Bach (sp?) (Entertainment division and Windows Mobile); Steve Illa (sp?)(Office). Mary Jo thinks that Microsoft may look outside for a replacement. Ballmer has said he’ll stay at least another 10 years.
• Mixture of arrogance and paranoia amongst Microsoft’s 95,000 employees. But good paranoia like they will ask others “How do we suck?”; the older guys are more arrogant.
• Change of focus since Gates: From science to business; emphasis on design and usability; now more translucent than transparent — want to be more like Apple where secrecy surrounds new products until their release.
• Believe that if they can sell products to consumers that business sales will follow. Big breakthroughs are happening on the consumer side (e.g. social networking), then transferring to the business world.
• Anti-trust constraints are affecting Microsoft’s ability to integrate — they are aware that if they put too much in, they will be sued. e.g. Windows 7 will have option to unbundle features like the browser, Windows Media Player etc.
• Instead of focusing on software as a service, Microsoft is following the path of software + services to preserve their user base. They don’t want to be a full internet company as they make money from software (esp. Office). They would prefer to have product on the desktop + Live services. Mary Jo believes this is a good strategy as businesses won’t want to put all their data in ‘the cloud’.
• IPTV (TV programs on demand over the internet): They’ve spent 10-15 years trying to get there but it’s never really gone anywhere.
• Windows Mobile: Fastest growing part of the business and key to their future. But they are struggling to get the mobile strategy working and a lagging behind the iPhone. Mobile 7 is due out in 2010, but they have a lot of catching up to do.
• Ballmer is obsessed with Google. Google has obliterated Microsoft in the online world, especially search and advertising/publishing tools. Mary Jo sees less of a collision in the Office space (Google is a side annoyance to Microsoft in this area, at this stage). Microsoft (Ballmer) is focused on crippling Google in the search area.
• Are Microsoft spreading themselves too thin? It’s a very diverse business — should they be saying ‘no’ in some areas?: analysts say they should step away from search, but Ballmer is stubborn! Mary Jo predicts Microsoft will continue to throw money and resources at it.
• The overwhelming cash cow is the operating system and Office — how can they maintain interest in those?: This is a scary time as so much is moving online. Office 14 will have web applications within the Office suite (e.g. PowerPoint etc. will work on the internet). Windows 7 will NOT be the end of Windows.
• Backward compatibility: Big issue for businesses; possible solution is virtualization, with emphasis on client and server.
• Revenue streams: Advertising is a possibility. They are experimenting with that in Office (e.g. monthly subs model; ad-subsidized so that Office is free; etc.)
• Is the empire still evil?: Microsoft has not lost its competitive nature; Ballmer is not going touchy-feely.
• Developing world: Attractive pricing models; not purely altruistic.
• Apple everywhere in colleges and schools — won’t graduates want to work with Apples when they enter the business world?: Microsoft trying to address this issue; e.g. current ‘I am a PC’ campaign.
• XML v. ODF: People feel that Microsoft tried to ram their proprietary standards down their throats.
• How many more features can they put into Office?: Looking for other ways to add functionality — e.g. Live services.
• Office for horizontal/vertical markets: e.g. ‘Office for Sales’ or ‘Windows for Kitchens’ is possible, but no-one’s talking.
• What is Microsoft’s most exciting innovation at the moment?: They are excited about touch interface, i.e. surface computing. Mary Jo is not so sure.
• Ribbon has mixed popularity — she said that Microsoft always says they use customer research before making big changes like this, but there have always been queries about the validity of this research.

Phew! It was an information-packed session, but was delivered in such effortless style by both Mary Jo and Matthew that it was hard to believe it when the 75 minutes was up.

My other conference links:

• WritersUA 2009: Day 1 (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/writersua-2009-day-1/)
• Interview with Scott McCloud (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/interview-with-scott-mccloud/)
• WritersUA 2009: Day 2 (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/writersua-2009-day-2/)
• User Assistance in Web Forms: Luke Wroblewski (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/user-assistance-in-web-forms/)
• WritersUA 2009: Day 3 (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/writersua-2009-day-3/)
• I just spotted a one-legged woman… (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/i-just-spotted-a-one-legged-woman/)

Related links:

• http://www.writersua.com/articles/news/foley_interview.htm
• http://ffeathers.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/writersua-2009-day-2/

[Links last checked April 2009]

Vista: Find the program running a process

Here’s a neat Task Manager trick in Vista — you can find the location of a particular process and see what program is running it.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del then select Start Task Manager.
2. Go to the Processes tab.
3. Right-click on a running process, then select Open File Location. This will show where the process has come from and typically what program is running it.