Weird Firefox bug: can't uninstall incompatible Add-ons

This is a weird bug. I'm surprised it persists.

Firefox 3 won't run Add-ons that aren't compatible with it.

That's fine, but it won't let you uninstall or remove them either. I think FF 2 did, so this is a new bug.

It's a cosmetic annoyance since the incompatible add-on isn't doing anything, but I'm surprised it hasn't been fixed. It's not exactly subtle.

Outlook's persistent problem with closing the outlook.exe process

I frequently run into problems where Outlook 2007 is behaving oddly - including not sending mail, not responding to some instructions, using up CPU, etc.

On inspection I often find several instances of the Outlook.exe process running. Terminating them all fixes the problem.

This multiple-instance non-existing process problem is longstanding. It's easy to find reports for Outlook 2000 to 2007. Part of the problem is that Outlook's COM add-in infrastructure smells like raw sewage.

This Slipstick page gives a good overview of known causes and management options: Microsoft Outlook: Outlook.exe won't exit.

Other more or less useful references all illustrate how damned problematic Outlook is:

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954642/en-us: Microsoft’s own Office Communicator is a bad actor.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948733/en-us: More Communicator problems. Mercifully, I killed that foul spawn.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957909/en-us: The post-SP1 hotfix may help, but most of us will want to wait for Office 2007 SP2.
• http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/rtrent/archive/2008/06/07/its-not-better-to-shut-down-windows-before-shutting-down-outlook.aspx
• http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsto/thread/bfced604-c52c-433a-86f6-73bea924a2bf/
• From 2005, but still valid: Note in comments Outlook's iTunes add-in is a potential bad actor. I killed that one, but it didn't help. There are a lot of Add-In issues out there, I don't think it's possible to write a safe Outlook 2007 add-in.

Using File:Exit rather than Alt-F4 helps some people. Certainly everyone should be very cautious about installing any Add-Ins to Outlook -- not least Add-Ins authored by Microsoft.

Note that many corporate customers cannot turn off antiviral scanning of Outlook, a common problem that I suspect occurs when PST files get large (mine are GBs).

Rumor has it Office 2007 SP2 will fix these problems, but the Outlook shutdown and COM architecture problems have been around for over 9 years. They won't go away easily.

Update 12/23/08: In comments William Lefkovics points us to more optimistic  spin on SP2. Microsoft will cut off dangling references – whether the Add-ins are ready or not.

My cynical suspicion is that Microsoft will find they’re going to kill large pieces of their LiveMeeting/Sharepoint/Communicator platform by doing this. I’m also a bit skeptical of Ryan’s explanation; the problem is not only that the processes hang, it’s that on relaunch Outlook creates a new process rather than reconnecting to the running process.

Google Video Chat - a status report - Grade B-

I've been updating my initial post on Google Video Chat, but I think I've enough experience now to offer a status report. I've been testing XP to XP, and XP to OS X connections using Firefox.

1. It takes a lot of CPU capacity. Practically speaking I think you want a dual core machine. It takes a lot of CPU capacity on OS X machines. On XP, compared to other video solutions, it's relatively efficient. It's Intel only of course, so G5 need not apply.
2. The XP connections are pretty stable. If there's a nasty firewall involved, especially a nasty firewall with lousy bandwidth (some hotels for example) things get choppy and sound lags. If the connections are decent the results are quite good.
3. OS X to XP connections are unstable. They work within a LAN, and they may work point-to-point with reasonably good connections, but when you add firewalls and VPN into the mix it falls apart.
4. Google's Chat Help Forum is pretty worthless and so is their FAQ. I can't find any significant documentation.
5. The workflow for establishing a "trust relationship" so that chat is possible is awkward and cryptic.
6. The Chat contacts list UI is a mess, don't bother with it. Things work best if you type the gmail address of the person you wish to contact. Searching for a name then reviewing the menu of options isn't too bad.
7. The Gmail integration is awkward.
8. Google's notification / availability status workflow is a mess.
9. Be sure to use the Settings menu of Gmail -> Chat Settings -> test connection.

I'd grade Google's Video Chat effort as C+. That sounds bad, but the rest of the class is B- to F, and the B-kids are trending downwards and might drop out of school.

I'll update the grades in a month or so.

Update 1/6/09: I bumped the grade in the post title to B-. We've been doing more corporate testing and have found:

1. The voice quality when used with our Logitech Vision Pro (OS X, but we use them on XP machines because they don't require drivers and don't burden the CPU to do light correction and focusing) webcams is superb.
2. Even on our creaky Dell laptops and feeble VPN network connections we can run both a point-to-point video conference and a LiveMeeting 2003 screen sharing session at the same time. Video degrades gracefully and audio remains excellent. This is actually pretty amazing, if you try to use LiveMeeting's native low quality video alongside LiveMeeting screensharing the video simply dies.

All the other problems persist, but the fundamental technology on XP is truly amazing.

Now if they can fix their OS X problems and come up with a $#!Now if they can fix their OS X problems and come up with a $#!$&^ notification solution ...
amp;^ notification solution ...

Update 2/24/09: Grade A-: The OS X client now seems comparable to the Windows client. Both drop sessions every hour or so. The quality can be astounding. Usability is astoundingly bad however. Still, beats Skype and iChat easily.

Update 10/29/09: We had too many connection drops for this to be really feasible for use at work. We're retrying with 'nice to have' non-critical video only connections. We assume this is more issues with our network than with GVC. I have discovered a way to separate the chat from the image; if you have Google Talk installed (XP only) you have an extra chat window, so that can be managed separately from the video-associated chat box.

Mac OS 10.5.6 problem - the quick summary

The 10.5.6 installer was screwed up. It may be fixed now, but most geeks will download the entire 700MB+ Compo Update.

There are other things broken however ...

Mac OS 10.5.6 problems? Apple suggests shampoo | Register Hardware

.... It should also be mentioned that Apple's 'advice' doesn't address any of the other problems experienced by 10.5.6 updaters, such as dropped network connections, audio 'pops' upon restart, Mail.app refusing to quit or failing to connect, problems with Apache and Contribute, and iSights going blind. (Oh, and if this last one has happened to you, make sure to reset both the SMU and the SMC.)...

I'll wait another week.

Google -- please give me those backlinks ...

Come on Blogger, please give me backlinks ...

Gordon's Notes: WordPress's possibly related posts -- I want this from Blogger

.... This feature is core to my memory extension strategy ....

I want a Google Blogger "possibly related posts" feature that follows links and tags and, heck, textual analysis to create entries -- and that lets me choose whether to restrict to my own domains or open it up....

Google, I'll give you money if you do this.

Pretty puh-lease?

PS. Oh, yeah. And fix BlogThis, and give us label (tag) feeds, and emulate Yahoo Pipes! and ...

Update for the PS - 2/2/09: Damnit, there are label feeds -- it's just not documented.

Blogger is not updating web pages correctly -> the fix

I've just discovered that nothing I've published since Dec 11th is appearing on the primary web page (front page) of Gordon's Notes.

My posts are all visible in Blogger, they are being published, they are appearing in the monthly indices, they show in my feeds, but the main page isn't displaying them.

Weird Blogger bug. I'll see if I can fix it by switching templates.

Update: It was easy to fix. I made some small edits to the most recent post that displayed on the main page, then saved it as draft. All the missing posts then appeared on the front page. I then republished the "bad" post and all seems well. If that hadn't worked I would have tried editing the oldest "hidden" post.

Macintouch - scanning tips

I'm reasonably good with a scanner, but I still appreciate these tips ...

Macintouch - Scanners

... Just to give an upper bound on the required resolution, standard 35mm film has a resolution of approximately 4000 lines per inch. Printed material is lower resolution, though I do not happen to know it off hand.

If you are scanning slides or negative, there is no point at scanning the film at more than 4000 pixels per inch; there simply is no additional information beyond that resolution.

For printing, a quick rule of thumb is the image resolution should be three times the printer resolution. If you have a 100 line per inch printer, then your image should be 300 pixels per inch after any size conversions (e.g. an image that will be 4x4 inches on a page should be 1200x1200 pixels for a 100 line per inch printer).

Note that on a typically 72 dpi monitor, the same image will only need to be 288x288 pixels)...