Friday, January 16, 2009

Blackberry Trackball does not work

Here's something to try if the trackball on a Blackberry stops working:
  1. Place flat piece of corrugated cardboard from a packing box on a table or desk.
  2. Put a sheet of white paper on top of the cardboard.
  3. To not scuff the screen, hold a piece of soft cloth over the Blackberry display. Do make sure that the trackball is not covered.
  4. Place the Blackberry face down on the paper.
  5. With light pressure, roll the Blackberry around on the paper in figure eights using the trackball as the "wheel."
This procedure often will free up the trackball and fix the Blackberry.

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www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The security log on this system is full. Only administrators can log on to fix the problem.

In XP or in Windows Server 2003 when a user who is not a member of the Administrator Group tries to login, they receive this error message: The security log on this system is full. Only administrators can log on to fix the problem.

To solve this problem:
  1. Login to the local machine as the Administrator or as a user who is a member of the Administrator Group.

  2. START > CONTROL PANEL > ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS > EVENT MANAGER
    (To see ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS, you might need to click on SWITCH TO CLASSIC VIEW in the upper left of CONTROL PANEL.)

  3. In the left pane, right click on SECURITY and then select CLEAR ALL EVENTS.
    (SAVE only if you want a copy of the logs.)


To prevent the problem from happening :
  1. In the left paneof EVENT VIEWER, right click on SECURITY and then select PROPERTIES.

  2. Change WHEN MAXIMUM LOG SIZE IS REACHED to OVERWRITE EVENTS AS NEEDED.






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    www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com

    Thursday, November 6, 2008

    Access to the path is denied error for ASP Page on Windows 2003 Server

    An ASP Page on a 2003 server got an Access to the path is denied when it tried to write to a file. I gave user ASPNET write permission, but that didn't solve the problem.

    I posted this code as a Page named identity.aspx in the troubled directory. It seemed that the identity of the ASP user was
    NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE

    In IIs, I navigated to the particular Web Site, and then to the directory. I right clicked on the folder and then selected PERMISSIONS > ADVANCED > ADD > ADVANCED > FIND NOW. I added NETWORK SERVICE as a user and then provided write access. That solved the problem.

    - - -

    identity.aspx

    <%@ Page Language="VB" %>
    <%@ Import NameSpace = System.Security.Principal %>
    <script runat="server">
    Sub Page_Load()
    Dim tmp As String = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent.Name()
    Label1.Text = tmp
    End Sub
    </script>
    <html>
    <head>
    <title>WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent.Name()</title>
    </head>
    <body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
    <asp:Label ID="Label1" Runat="server" Text="Label"></asp:Label>
    </div>
    </form>
    </body>
    </html>

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    www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com

    Monday, November 3, 2008

    Installing XP on a computer with a smart card reader

    I installed XP on an Hewlett Packard Pavilion a450n. This HP has a built-in smart card reader for 4 different sizes of cards. On the first try, XP installed the boot drive as the I: drive.

    Disk Manager can't change the letter of the boot drive. When I tried changing the boot drive to C: by editing the Registry, I wound up with an OS that wouldn't start.

    I removed the power cord and discharged the motherboard by pressing the on/off button. Then, I disconnected the smart card reader cable from the motherboard. The XP install then configured the boot hard drive as the C: drive. After the XP install completed, I again removed the power cord and re-attached the smart card cable. When XP restarted, the boot drive was still the C: drive.

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    www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com

    Friday, October 31, 2008

    Blackberry Cheat Sheet

    E-Mail
    From the main e-mail messages screen:
    - Typing “c” will put you into the address book to compose an e-mail.
    - Typing “p” will jump to the top of the previous day’s e-mail messages (newest message for that day).
    - Typing “n” will jump to the top of the next day’s e-mail messages (newest message for that day).
    - Typing “t” will put you at the top of the e-mail screen (newest day and message) or a message.
    - Typing “b” will put you at the bottom of the e-mail screen (oldest day and message) or a message.
    - Hitting the spacebar will go down the message screen one page at a time and holding the “cap” key and hitting spacebar will go up the message screen one page at a time.
    - Within an e-mail message, typing “r” will bring you to the reply screen.
    - Within an e-mail message, typing “f” will bring you to the forward screen.
    - Within a received an e-mail message, typing “p” will bring you to the previous message.
    - Within a received an e-mail message, typing “n” will bring you to the next message.
    - Within a received an e-mail message, typing “j” or “k” will let you jump to the next or previous message in that message thread.
    - To capitalize a letter, hold down the letter for about 2 seconds.
    - To use letters with accent marks or special characters, roll the wheel while holding down the letter.
    - To copy text, hold down the “cap” key and roll the wheel until the text is highlighted, then push the wheel in and choose “Copy”. If you let go of the “cap” key, you can copy the whole line instead of letter-by-letter.
    - If you want to delete all messages older than a certain date, scroll to the most recent date (where you want to start deleting) and push the scroll button in and select “Delete Prior”.

    Phone
    - From the home screen, hitting the green telephone key brings you to the phone screen. You can also start dialing a phone # from the home screen and you’ll go right into the phone screen.
    - If you have a phone # with letters in it (i.e.: 1-800-GO-FEDEX), Just hold down the “alt” key while in the phone screen and dial the letters and the phone will translate for you. It also works while you’re already connected.
    - To End a call, hit the red phone key.
    - To mute the phone, press the mute key on top of the phone (next to the power switch).
    - You can store an extension with a phone # by putting an “x” next to the phone number. After you dial the number, the phone will wait for you to choose to dial the extension. Just hit enter or push the wheel in to dial.

    Calendar Tips
    - To type in an appointment quickly, scroll to the time of the appointment and start typing the subject. You can change the time (if not on the hour) by hitting enter and edit the appointment details.
    - You can change the month, day, year or time of an appointment by rolling to the area you want to change, holding down the “alt” key and moving the wheel or trackball up or down to make the change.
    - To type in a reminder, just add the subject and inside the appointment, scroll to the “All Day Event” check box and hit the space bar. It will show up at the top of your calendar.

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    www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com

    Wednesday, October 29, 2008

    Computer noise

    Cheap power supplies often make noise when the computer is turned on in a cool room. The noise will go away as the machine warms up. This kind of computer noise, though a nuisance, is not serious.

    Other computer noises are a sign of a serious problem.

    Click HERE to learn more about computer noise.

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    www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com

    Monday, October 27, 2008

    Laptop screens

    Laptop screens are easy to replace, but the part is very expensive. It's just not worth buying a new one from the manufacturer. You might as well buy a new computer.

    As laptop screens wear out, don't bother looking for a used one. A used screen might very well be about to fail.

    There are dealers that offer good buys on new equipment. Each model of laptop uses a different screen. Sometimes the part changes even within production runs. It's not unusual to find that a new screen has some small difference that makes it unusable.

    If a laptop screen does not light, first check that the computer is not set to display only on external screen.

    If the display on the notebook computer has indeed gone dark, the entire screen needs to be replaced. There's no way to change just the bulbs.

    To recover data -- or just get by -- a laptop with a non-working screen can be used with an external monitor.

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    www.COMPUTERCRAFT.com