FAQforge provides answers for frequently asked questions for the Linux-, MAC and Windows operating systems.
Switch between multiple desktops on Windows with Sysinternals
Surely you have witnessed this feature on a Linux system before: with a simple key combination the user is able to switch between multiple instances of the same desktop to reduce the clutter that you get when you open everything on just one desktop. That way, you can have your mail client open on one desktop, switch to another to surf the web and to another one to chat with your pals.
This feature is also accessible on any version of Windows and the only thing we need for that is a little tool that comes with Microsoft’s SysInternals Suite which is a package downloadable directly from their website filled with handy executables, most of them used to troubleshoot problems on your computer.
You can download the SysInternals Suite here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/sysinternals/bb842062.aspx
After you have acquired it, start the program called Desktops that came with it. There, you can define the key combination that switches between the different desktops – of course you can also do that manually with the help of the tray icon. You can also set it to launch on system start-up which you should do if you are planning on using it regularly.
Desktop is also compatible with the new Windows 8 user interface. One desktop is unaffected by another one with the Windows 8 UI open.
Fix “System error 1290 has occurred.” error on Windows
This error usually comes up when you try to start a new service that would get the same service ID as another service in the process:
System error 1290 has occurred.
The service start failed since one or more services in the same process have an incompatible service SID type setting. A service with restricted service SID type can only coexist in the same process with other services with a restricted SID type. If the service SID type for this service was just configured, the hosting process must be restarted in order to start this service.
It can be circumvented by giving the new service its own process. To do that, open a new command prompt as administrator and enter the following (replace [command] with the command’s identifier):
sc config [command] type= own
For example, if you want to start the w32time command, enter:
sc config w32time type= own
Mount disk images in Windows 8
If you did not yet notice: There is a new feature in Windows 8 concerning disk images. Instead of using third-party software for it, you can now mount .iso files and more with a native Mount function. To access it, just right-click the image file in an explorer window and select Mount – or left-click the image and get there via the ribbon menu: after clicking it, select Manage from the Disc image tools menu point and click on Mount.
The disk image will then be mounted in a virtual disk drive (which will also be listed under My Computer) and you will be able to see all of its contents. To unmount the virtual drive again you can either do it with the ribbon menu just as before or just do it as you do for any other drive by right-clicking the drive and selecting Eject.
Close Windows 8 fullscreen apps
Since Windows 8 applications do not have any obvious means of minimizing or closing them, most people might just leave them opened and continue working with lots of apps opened in the background. You can check if and how many apps you have currently running by pointing your mouse to the upper left corner and swiping it down afterwards. A sidebar will open with all your running apps in it:
To close an app, bring it up and go to the top of the screen where the cursor will change into a hand symbol. Now click and hold the left mouse button and drag the window to the bottom of the screen:
Release the mouse button and the app will close!
Map SkyDrive as network drive in Windows 7
SkyDrive is a cloud service native to Windows 8 and can be accessed right on if you are logged in with your Windows live account. Since you don’t do that naturally on Windows 7, accessing your SkyDrive from the Windows explorer is a little harder than in Windows 8. However you can still map it as a network drive if you know how (this is also possible in Windows 8 if you prefer using it as network drive instead of going in with the Windows 8 interface).
To link your Windows 7 account to your Windows Live account, you need to download and install an “Online ID Provider” which in our case comes with Windows Live essentials. You can download it easily in the Control Panel’s submenu User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts > Link online IDs. Click on the Add an online ID provider panel:
You will be directed to following website where you can download Windows Live Essentials:
After installation,WindowsLiveID should be listed as online ID provider:
After you have arranged that, head to the SkyDrive homepage where you log in with your Windows Live credentials. When you get to see the contents of your SkyDrive, take a look at your browser’s URL bar. It should have a cid in it (I will examplarily use 5555555555 as my CID from now on):
Note that CID, because you will need it in a second. Head back to My Computer where all your drives are listed and click on Map network drive:
A window will open where you need to specify a drive letter and the folder which the drive shall be mapped to. Select an unused drive letter, enter the following into the folders path and click the Finish button (replace my examplary CID with yours):
\\d.docs.live.net@SSL\DavWWWRoot\5555555555
You will be asked for your Windows Live credentials once more. Once you entered them, the drive will be available among the listed drives and can be accessed the same way as one of your hard drives:
If you want to do the same for Windows 8, you basically only need to map the drive, since you are connected with your Windows Live account all the time.
Getting information about your system from dxdiag on Windows
DirectX Diagnostic tool dxdiag is a useful tool on Windows that gives you loads of information about your system, such as GPU, CPU and BIOS info. It is common that tech support asks you to attach your dxdiag report to support requests since it helps to narrow down the problem.
Before Windows 8, dxdiag was installed whenever you installed any version of DirectX – in Windows 8, it is installed right on with the operating system.
To open the Diagnostic tool, press the Windows button to open the main menu and type run. In the Run prompt, enter dxdiag, hit Enter and the tool will open. You can now browse through the tabs as well as save a report on your system as text file by clicking on the Save All Information… button. This report is what is requested by tech support when you are asked to ‘attach the dxdiag output’.
Restore missing d3dx9_26.dll file on Windows systems
Errors concerning a missing d3dx9_26.dll usually come up in connection with games and have to do with DirectX. If you are facing such an error, there are two steps you can try out to fix the issue. Before we get to these however, be warned:
Do not download any dll files separately from websites offering dll downloads. It is not safe to do this! Here are the steps you can try out to make things work:
1. Install the version of DirectX that comes with the game you try to play. In most cases, some version of DirectX is included on the game disk. Usually these are versions that have been tested for compatibility with the game they come with and contain everything you need.
2. If there is no DirectX installer included on the game disk or the error comes up in a different context, you can just try to update DirectX from Microsoft’s website. This way you can be sure you are downloading safe content that usually gives you a complete package of the dlls you need.
Solution for amavisd error – TROUBLE in process_request: Error writing a SMTP response to the socket: Broken pipe – on OpenVZ server
If you get error messages from amavisd similar to the one posted below on a server which is virtualized with OpenVZ:
Mar 5 09:09:02 v100 amavis[17378]: (17378-14) (!!)TROUBLE in process_request: Error writing a SMTP response to the socket: Broken pipe at (eval 100) line 987, <GEN44> line 31.
then the issue can be caused by the NUMTCPSOCK value in the openvz limits. Even if the barrier of this limit was never met in /proc/user_beancounters, the above error occurs when more then 25% of all TCP sockets were used. The solution is to set the NUMTCPSOCK barrier and limit to a high value in the openvz container configuration file. Here a value that worked for me on a moderately used mailserver:
NUMTCPSOCK=”2000:2000″
Finally restart the OpenVZ VM to apply the new limit value.
Apache mod_security settings for WordPress and ModX
If you use the apache mod_security module on your apache server, you might encounter wrong 403 errors for several URL’s of the cms systems. Here are some exception rules to avoid that:
For WordPress Blogs
<locationmatch "/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php">
SecRuleRemoveById 300013
SecRuleRemoveById 300015
SecRuleRemoveById 300016
SecRuleRemoveById 300017
</locationmatch>
<locationmatch “/wp-admin/page.php”>
SecRuleRemoveById 300013
SecRuleRemoveById 300015
SecRuleRemoveById 300016
SecRuleRemoveById 300017
</locationmatch>
<locationmatch “/wp-admin/post.php”>
SecRuleRemoveById 300013
SecRuleRemoveById 300015
SecRuleRemoveById 300016
SecRuleRemoveById 300017
</locationmatch>
For the ModX CMS
<LocationMatch "/manager/index.php">
SecRuleRemoveById 300016
</LocationMatch>
<LocationMatch “/connectors/resource/index.php”>
SecRuleRemoveById 300013 300014 300015 300016
</LocationMatch>
<LocationMatch “/connectors/element/tv.php”>
SecRuleRemoveById 300013 300016
</LocationMatch>
Add these rules inside the vhost file of the website. If you use ISPConfig to manage the server, then add the rules in the apache directives field of the website settings in ispconfig.
Many thanks to PlanetFox for providing the rules.
Select default programs to open files with in window mode in Windows 8
Windows 8 has set some file types to open in full screen Metro applications which can be really annoying, especially if you just wanted to have a quick look at a photo or something. To stop this, you can determine certain applications to open all types of files they are able to open (e.g. Windows Photo Viewer for picture files – jpg, png, etc.).
To do so, hover your mouse over the top right corner to open the Charms menu and open the Search charm. Enter default programs into the search bar and open the search result with the same name. In the appearing window, click on Set your default programs (the first menu option).
In the new window, select one of the programs on the left that you want to use as general default options for pictures, videos, music or another type of files and click on Set this program as default afterwards:
Your files will now be opened in comfortable window applications!