Phil Bradley's Top 10 Useful Web Tools

A terrific list. I use many of Phil's choices, but Netvibes and PageFlakes are new to me:

Phil Bradley's weblog: Top 10 Useful Web Tools from Pandia:

...Netvibes is their preference for a start page. I use Netvibes as my backup system on Internet Explorer, but I'm very firmly in the PageFlakes camp here. More flexible, better options, easier to use, larger user base ...

I use Picasa Web Albums instead of Flickr -- though lately Picasa WA has really been annoying me. Otherwise I'm aligned with Phil in all tool choices.

Fixing a broken Windows XP Remote Desktop Connection install

This was so much harder than it should have been.

My home copy of XP Pro no longer had a Program shortcut to Remote Desktop Connection. It wasn't in Programs\Accessories\Communications or anywhere else I could find.

On the other hand RDC was installed. I tried reinstalling from the XP CD (see help for XP) but it said a newer version was already in place.

I tried looking for a way to uninstall RDC thinking I could then reinstall and retrieve my shortcut - I couldn't find any way to do that.

I tried searching my hard drive for the file and navigating windows folders, but I couldn't find it.

Eventually I found Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP (KB925876) and installed that. It went well, but it didn't create a favorite/shorcut!

Well, it turns out that c:\windows\system32\mstsc.exe is the remote desktop client (tsc probably stands for terminal server client).

Isn't that pretty bloody obscure.

So I created a shortcut to that and now everything is fine. Presumably I accidentally deleted the original when cleaning up my start folders (specifically, I moved a lot of stuff out of the "all users" folder to protect it from the children).

How did I figure this one out? I had to find another XP machine and identify where the shortcut went on that machine. There was no other way.

Incidentally, mstc.exe has some very obscure command line options:

Parameters

ConnectionFile : Specifies the name of an .rdp file for the connection.

/v:server : Specifies the remote computer to which you want to connect.

/console : Connects to the console session of the specified Windows 2000 Server.

/f : Starts Remote Desktop connection in full-screen mode.

/w:width /h:height : Specifies the dimensions of the Remote Desktop screen.

/edit : Opens the specified .rdp file for editing.

Remarks ...

.rdp files are stored for each user as hidden files in My Documents.

When I use RDC on a dual monitor setup, full screen mode is limited to the size of my primary monitor. I wonder if I could use the /w and /h options to set it to the size of my larger secondary monitor ...

Searching: Google and Yahoo are very different from Microsoft

Today a quite heavily used and very senior Mac site noticed that almost all their search referrals come via Google:

TidBITS Inside TidBITS: Google Used 70 Times More than Yahoo:

... What could possibly account for Google's utter dominance in our statistics? I know the crawlers come through all the time, and indeed, searching Yahoo and the others for the same keywords used in the popular Google searches brings up our articles. Do users of Yahoo and the others just not like us?

Very strange. My first guess is that Google Analytics has a bug in it, but that would be one heck of a bug.

In any case I'm posting on this because I noticed something curious the other day that could be related.

I used the search string "Gordon's Tech" on Microsoft Live Web search. My blog didn't appear anywhere in the first few pages. Oh well, I thought, I can just type the URL. I have no delusions of fame after all.

On impulse though, I tried "Gordon's Tech" (phrase search, so with the quotes) on Google. The blog is the number one result. It's also, for that matter, the number one result on Yahoo (albeit with an older URL that still works).

I don't think this accounts for the TidBITS oddity, but it is a worthwhile reminder that Microsoft's search results can be very different from those of Google or Yahoo. So if you don't find what you expect on Google, try Microsoft.

Of course you can guess which search engines I approve of.

Word processing on OS X: my personal choices

A colleague asked me about what I use for word processing on the Mac. I started to respond, then realized it could be a quick post.

Briefly, I use Nisus Writer Express (NWE). It uses .RTF or .DOC as its native file format; that one absolute requirement of mine wiped out all the alternatives except Microsoft Word -- and I don't like Word. NWE is Cocoa native and works well with OS X services, it does the basics well. It has a great UI and has been fast and reliable in my experience. My wife uses it without any problems.

I haven't written any very long documents with it however.

Nisus has recently released Pro version of NWE. I'll eventually upgrade to, but it's a low priority for me. If the Pro version had a true outliner I'd probably have done it by now.

Nisus does a fair job importing simple Word documents, but even the Pro version can't import a Word Table of Contents. That's disappointing, since I use Word TOCs quite a bit. Nisus is, however, a much more agreeable word processing tool than Word. For one thing, the Styles actually make sense.

OS X 10.4 ships with TextEdit which uses a "package" version of RTF, but it's too feature sparse. The version in 10.5 is said to be closer to a true word processor and it has support for Microsoft's XML and the ODF file formats (inherited from 10.5). I've no experience with 10.5 though -- and I won't for months to come.

Pages, part of Apple's iWork suite, uses a proprietary Apple XML file format. That rules it out for me.

The only remaining alternatives are Word for Mac or Word 2003/2007 running in a Win2K or XP VM (VMWare or Parallels).

If all my machines were MacTel and I didn't use Nisus, I'd probably run Word 2003 in my Win2K VM. The tyranny of the .DOC file format should not be underestimated.

Update 2/28/2008: I've unfortunately become aware of Nisus Achilles heel. It can't compress embedded images. So a 3 MB JPEG embedded in a Nisus document produces a 20MB file -- Nisus stores the image as an uncompressed bitmap. Word compresses embedded images, and allows them to be clipped. I'm curious to see what Pages does.

Update 10/13/2008: When I moved my machines to 10.5 I also upgraded to Nisus Writer Pro. I haven't tested to see if it still has the bitmap problem, but it does have other issues. In a document where I used huge fonts (visually impaired user) Nisus was slow to redraw some pages. An image positioned using Nisus Writer Pro vanished when the document was opened in an older version of Nisus Writer Express. I have also become aware of how much I miss a drawing tool layer. AppleWorks drawing tools were particularly good, they really played to the strengths of AppleWork's compound document model. I might take another look at iWork, though that is a return to proprietary document formats. I do wish the rest of the world cared more about document longevity!

Apple's temperature problems: iMac again

This is very disappointing. The 1st generation flat panel iMacs had very serious heat problems, but Apple did come up with a passable redesign. The Intel switch was supposed to make this a thing of the past.

It appears that Apple forgot that lesson rather quickly:

AppleInsider | Freezing iMacs may be victims of hardware, not software

...This and other reports provide increasing support for beliefs that the lockups and related symptoms are caused by excessive heat inside the all-in-one chassis. Users often report graphical corruption in the operating system as a precursor to the freezes -- a sign some PC users recognize of a video card pushed beyond its safe operating temperature. In some instances, the visual artifacts become increasingly likely as time goes on....

Once again, proof that you never want to buy the first generation of any Apple hardware or software product - no matter how glowing the reviews. Apple does not have a "culture of quality" -- so customers need to wait for early adopters to do basic quality control.

SpiderOak: online backup for Mac and Windows

SpiderOak provides online backup, unlimited public file share and differential backup (only changed parts of files). Cost $10/month but limited to 20 GB. Requires a proprietary client.

Interesting, but I don't trust their software enough to expose my machine to it. I'll keep an eye on them though, maybe when they've been around a while ...

It's a bit odd that they don't tell you how to sign up for their free 2GB service. I suspect it's done through the client but they might mention that. I suspect they'll clarify that omission pretty soon.

Microsoft LifeCam software progress: now the blue screen can't be read

I bought a Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 over a year ago. That was before I realized the quality consumer desktop videoconferencing market was dead on Windows. (Ok, there may be an rare exception.)

At the time it installed without a problem on my home XP machine, but on my Dell Latitude D620 it was another story:

Gordon's Tech: Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 - personal impressions

... On my pure, clean, office laptop however, it produced the XP Blue Screen of Death (STOP error) on launch. I don't remember ever seeing the XP BSOD. I think it's produced by an 'inner ring' memory error, something that only device drivers can do...This is what one sees in white on blue text:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer ...
STOP: VX6000xp.sys
kmixer.sys

Happens every time on launch of LifeCam (is it doing some kind of dynamic device driver hack?). When you get these errors, btw, you get to file a special bug report with Microsoft on system restart.

I restored the system to health per Microsoft troubleshooting recommendations:

System restore: restored to the point set by the LifeCam install.
sfc /scanonce: ran sfc.exe to verify core XP files were intact. See xp resource kit, system file tools

I'll try again in September when Microsoft says they'll put the installer files online.

Well, I didn't get back to it in September 2007, but I tried again today, 13 months later. I downloaded the latest XP SP 2 LC 1.4 installer.

I'm pleased to report that Microsoft has made a lot of progress in the past year. Now the blue screen vanishes so quickly it can't be read, and the system doesn't let me generate a bug report on restart.

I think there's something buggy with the video in my Dell laptop. Once again I miss my Macs.

I wonder if Microsoft is going to decide they need to buy Dell and emulate Apple ...

Windows Live Writer is out of beta

The best blogging tool on any platform is now out of beta:

Finally Final! « whateverblog

We’re thrilled to bring you the final version of Windows Live Writer 2008–our first non-beta release!

It's an excellent product. Ecto 3 beta is probably the closest OS X alternative, and it's much less robust than WLW (editor is buggy, it doesn't download a full tag set, etc).

Free, too. I use it extensively with Blogger and Sharepoint 2007.

Don't miss the Firefox integration. (Unsurprisingly that doesn't appear on the Live.com page, but surprisingly it does exist.)

OS X 10.5 Leopard firewall really is broken

I thought the early reports might be exaggerated, but it really is broken:

TidBITS Safe Computing: Leopard Firewall Takes One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

...These are all problems Apple is perfectly capable of fixing and I'll be surprised if they don't address them sooner rather than later. Until then, I still recommend you activate the firewall in Block All Incoming Connections mode so you don't break applications. If you need to enable file sharing or other remote access, you'll need to either select the Set Access method, or turn your firewall off. One last option is to use ipfw and manually configure firewall rules, or use a GUI tool like the free WaterRoof, and skip the Leopard firewall completely. In WaterRoof, just click Rules Sets to pick your rules, and then go to Tools > Startup Script and install a startup script to run those rules when you reboot.

I originally thought I'd go to Leopard with 10.5.1, but now I'm settling in for a significantly longer wait. Maybe 10.5.3. It looks like I was right last February when I guessed they were a year away from ready.

iPhoto 7.1 (iLife 2008): better except for the red eye

After a few months of intermittent use and two weeks of regular use, I think  iPhoto 7.1 is quite a nice upgrade. Apple fixed a lot of iPhoto annoyances, though they again decided not to support Library merges.

There's one odd regression however. Red eye correction in previous versions of iPhoto was great -- significantly better than Aperture in my hands.

Now it closely resembles Aperture's red eye correction -- and I don't like it. Pupils are showing odd dark gray blobs rather than a reasonable facsimile of their true form and color.

Ouch. That's a heck of a regression.

Leopard Tip: How to create Mail To Dos from messages

Leopard Tip: How to create Mail To Dos from messages

Reasons to wait for OS X Leopard 10.5.3

Rob Griffith has five reasons to install Leopard now and 5 reasons to wait. He works in the Mac business, so he's obliged to pretend it's an even proposition.

He's not trying too hard though. It's clear that the scale tips to waiting, and he didn't even mention the inevitable OS bugs that we're only starting to discover (see update 10/5/07). Indeed, reading his review, I'm thinking 10.5.3 sounds pretty good. That would probably be the summer of 2008.

I was familiar with most of his list, but surprised by some of the loss of customization he describes (emphases mine):

Macworld: Editors' Notes: Upgrade or not?

... More so than any other OS X release, OS X 10.5 controls the users’ ability to customize their environment. Consider many of the interface elements I’ve listed above. Given that some of these are polarizing features, it would be nice if users had control over them. But they don’t. Don’t like the 3-D dock? Sorry, you’re stuck with it, unless you move your dock to the side, where it morphs into a 2-D dock....

Want larger text in the Finder’s sidebar, because you’ve got a high-dot-pitch screen? Sorry, can’t do that. Do you prefer Tiger’s docked folder behavior over the new Stacks in OS X 10.5? Sorry, not an option. (Hint: if you like the old behavior better, check out DragThing, which lets you easily create hierarchical folders in docks.)

Want Time Machine backups to run more often or less often than hourly? Nope, not easily possible. Want to view more than the Name, Kind, and Date Modified columns in your Spotlight search results? You got it, not possible. Dislike the spacey 3-D interface on Time Machine, and wish you could have something without a flying star field? Get used to hyperspace, as it’s here to stay. Dislike the blue-gray folder icons? You can change them one at a time, as you could in previous OS X releases. But changing the default folders takes much more work and help from a third party. Mail has a cool new notes feature…but if you create a to-do out of something on that note, that entry is then highlighted in a garish orange color. Hopefully you’re a fan of garish orange, too, because you can’t change it. Want to change the size or typeface of the fonts in iChat’s Buddy List window? You got it—nope...

When 10.5 was delayed from Feb 2007 I was pretty darned sure it wasn't going to be ready until Feb 2008. When a project that big slips, it usually slips by at least a year. So I was very surprised when 10.5 shipped in October 2007 -- as predicted and to pretty good reviews. Apple's developers must have busted three guts to hit that date. I'm hoping the missing user options is a sign of smart engineers throwing everything non-essential overboard, rather than deluded product management. If it's indeed a measure of informed desperation we will see better user support by 10.5.3.

The inability to adjust font sizes particularly bothers me. Every year there are more decrepit boomers with crummier vision, and more LCDs with finer dot pitch. We need as much font adjustment as we can get. It looks like we're still at least a year away from resolution independent UIs in OS X, so Apple shouldn't be locking their font sizes.

I'll add yet another 10.5.3 motivator to the list. Tiger has long had marginal support for Windows file shares. The UI for specifying a workgroup is very obscure [1] and the SMB browser often fails [2]. OS X 10.5 was supposed to do much better, but in 10.5.0 it's about the same:

Special Report: Mac OS X Leopard Cross-Platform Issues:

Daniel Hoit:

"Samba based services are updated to reflect revisions to the open source Samba project in Leopard, and are not a step backwards. The addition of packet signing alone is a huge and welcome addition. As for the poster's complaints regarding WINS workgroup and Finder browsing, the options are still there in Leopard. You can configure the WINS information in System Preferences/Network/ Advanced/WINS section. Choose a workgroup, and choose a wins server if you have one on your network. The sidebar also has an 'All...' option that should be the equivalent of Tiger's 'Network' browsing option in the Finder. In my experience, network browsing has always been a little iffy. Its almost always been more reliable to access SMB servers through a command-K connect to server dialog, and then bookmark the server for easier access later. YMMV, but in the least Leopard doesn't downgrade anything in the SMB services area....

I'll probably have to upgrade FileMaker Pro 8 when I go to 10.5, so it's going to be an expensive proposition. The cost of updating older but perfectly functional apps is another reason to wait for 10.5.3.

Now I do really want the 10.5 screen control features, but I've noticed that nobody boasts about how fast and elegant this is, and nobody compares this to Microsoft's superb Remote Desktop Protocol. That tells me the performance is as crummy as every other VNC implementation I've seen. VNC is a joke compared to RDP [3]. So it's still going to be very good for maintaining my mother's Mac Mini, but it's not absolutely compelling (yet).

Now I think 10.5 will be a terrific OS, but 10.4.10 is pretty darned good. Unless Apple does something amazing with iPhone-specific features in 10.5 I'll keep moving my upgrade date further into 2008.

Footnotes.

[1] Utility:Directory Access application

[2] You have to hit Cmd-K in Finder and create an SMB shortcut: smb://abaton;jfaughnan@montreal/c$ is the shortcut for accessing my C: drive in Workgroup "abaton" machine "montreal" with username "jfaughnan" - keychain remembers the password but you can also add it cleartext in the shortcut.

[3] I think there's some relationship to Citrix code in there somewhere. Citrix/RDP are two areas in which the Windows world spanks OS X. Windows has some other advantages: speech recognition software and server virtualization. That's about the end of the Windows advantage list however.

Update 10/5/07: Speaking of bugs to be discovered:

In a quick test here at MacInTouch, we have confirmed a critical data-loss bug in Leopard's Finder.
In our test, we used Command-drag to move several large folders from a MacBook internal drive to an attached FireWire 800 external drive. While the folders were copying, we disconnected the FireWire cable. The folders disappeared from both drives...
This bug was documented by Tom Karpik...

Yep. 10.5.3.

Update 10/6/07: Macintouch has more details on the move bug. They'd found a similar bug in a version of OS X 10.1. Hmm. 10.5.4?

Removing the Adobe Acrobat Toolbar from Outlook

Adobe products are reasonably obnoxious bits of software. I've removed all traces of Adobe Acrobat from my Macs, but I use Acrobat extensively on my XP boxes. So I need to live with Adobe's insanely broken updater there, but the stupid Adobe toolbars drive me batty. It appears in odd places in Outlook and IE, eating up precious vertical space.

You can't use the Add-In control to eliminate this sucker, and Adobe obnoxiously refuses to respect the "toolbar off" setting. (Could be Microsoft's flaw too -- MSFT can't do toolbars.)

Here's how to remove it:

Removing the Acrobat Toolbar from Outlook

Tip: you can use this method to remove other toolbars, such as the Avery toolbar (AveryAddIn.Connect).
When you install Adobe Acrobat, a toolbar is added to Word and Outlook. This toolbar can prevent you from rearranging the toolbars in Outlook (your arrangement won't stick between restarts) and for most people, serves no useful purpose. You have two ways to deal with this...

The Add/Remove modify install option is the standard, but the article describes regisry edits that may work for other obnoxious products.

Python has Apple Events support - from Apple

AppleScript: Scripting Bridge is an Apple product for sending Apple Events from Python.

I wonder how Python compares to AppleScript now as an OS X scripting language. I certainly prefer Python's syntax and scoping rules.

Also, Apple has at last updated their AppleScript documentation site. It was about 8-10 years out of date until recently. I'd assumed Apple was giving up on AppleScript, perhaps replacing it with an Apple version of Python. They've obviously decided to make another go of AppleScript, but it will be interesting to see how well Python and Scripting Bridge work.

Update: Be sure to check out the comments on the historic third party support for Python Apple Events and the associated links.

Geek prn: Annual iPod and iPhone buyers' guide

I like the pictures.

Download Now: Our 2008 iPod + iPhone Buyers’ Guide