Microsoft

Google Desktop and Microsoft Spyware Updates

It looks like the Google Desktop software has been updated recently as now the index status does not show how much of the index has been completed (or it has finally indexed the computer). The status on this computer is normally stuck at about 20% complete but this information no longer appears on the status page. However the cpu usage of the desktop search does seem to be often pegged around the 50% mark so something is still not quite right there.
The Antispyware software also seems to have been updated as the nightly scan that ran last night picked up Ultravnc as potential spyware even though it has been installed on the pc for about 2 months and I had previously flagged it as ignore.

Error 403 when using firefox and Visual Web Developer Beta 2.

I tried my first web page in .net using the visual web developer beta 2 (why am I a sucker for trying out beta software?) and it didn’t work – returning an error message http error 403 Forbidden. Oddly enough, if I opened the same page in Internet explorer it worked ok. From my experience with IIS I knew this was something to do with NTLM authentication but trying to find out where this was configured was rather bewildering. In the end, the post on the microsoft forums gives the answer – “Select the Solution Explorer view, and right click the very first element of the tree (the project itself). Choose property pages and select Start Options. On the Server section, clear the NTLM checkbox and save the configuration and it now works in firefox. MS’s official response is that this is by design to ensure websites are secure. Personally I just wonder how many websites on the internet insist on using NTLM authentication…..not many I guess so I’m afraid this excuse doesn’t ring true to me.
As a side note, I can’t see how you are meant to permalink to the individual post in the forum – there doesn’t seem to be any visible anchors to use. I had to use the WebDevelopers Extension to display the anchors. I’ve logged a bug in the forums on this point too.

Ubuntu under Virtual PC

I downloaded Ubuntu this afternoon and tried it out as a virtual machine. Unfortunately the screen was garbled as the default installation uses 24bits for the screen resolution andVirtual PC can’t cope with that.
It can be fixed (each time you boot the virtual pc) by doing the following that I have added to the Ubuntu faq

  • Press Ctrl Alt and Backspace at the same time. This will kill the xserver and drop you down to the console.
  • cd /etc/X11
  • sudo vim xorg.conf
  • Now, scroll down to Section “Screen” and find the entry named “!DefaultDepth”. Change the setting you find there from 24 to 16.
  • Move the cursor to the “2” in 24.
  • Hit the D key. Spacebar key. (You now deleted the “2”.)
  • Hit the D key. Spacebar key. (You now deleted the “4”.)
  • Hit the I key for insert. Type “16”. Hit Ctrl-C to stop inserting.
  • Hit a colon, cursor jumps to bottom left. Type a “w” as the command and press Enter. This saves your changes.
  • Hit a colon, type a “q” as command and press Enter. You are now back at shell prompt.
  • startx to get back to the xserver screen.

Note that you will have to do this each time you boot from your livecd.

Logmein

MS Antispyware decided that logmein was spyware last night due to the possibility of it being used for remote control from afar. I’ve had this software installed on the computer for several months and this is the first time that it has been detected. Naturally I’ve flagged it as “ignore always”

Firefox crashes after image upload

Grrr – firefox crashes after I’ve uploaded a file to a website. Happens on geocaching.com, this blog and on Microsoft’s site uploading a bug report. Very annoying as the whole browser crashes 🙁 Not sure what has caused this, probably some faulty extension or something. (It happens when the page you get after uploading a file is displayed). I’ve sent several reports back to Microsoft and the mozilla group, but the latter is annoying as most of the time the bug reporting application seems to freeze too 🙁