rob's blog » vista http://banagale.com because, it is better. Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:40:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Copy This Path – Windows Shell Extension http://banagale.com/copy-this-path-windows-shell-extension.htm http://banagale.com/copy-this-path-windows-shell-extension.htm#comments Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:35:26 +0000 rob http://banagale.com/copy-this-path-windows-shell-extension.htm

copy this path useful windows shell extension creates a context menu itemI use this utility called Copy This Path all the time. It allows you to right-click a file in windows and choose “Copy This Path” from the context menu. This places the complete path in your clipboard, allowing you to paste it into the either email attachment text boxes, or on a webpage file upload option.

There are a number of utilities out there that offer to do this, but I like Camtech’s the most. Their new one requires you to install a suite of other little context options.

I’ve uploaded a copy of the original here for your convenience. It is a must have for any Windows power user. Many thanks to Jerry Campbell who wrote and released it originally as Freeware.

Download Copy This Path

]]> http://banagale.com/copy-this-path-windows-shell-extension.htm/feed 0 I am Downgrading Vista to Windows XP http://banagale.com/i-am-downgrading-vista-to-windows-xp.htm http://banagale.com/i-am-downgrading-vista-to-windows-xp.htm#comments Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:36:21 +0000 rob http://banagale.com/i-am-downgrading-vista-to-windows-xp.htm vista downgrade to windows xp sp2I’m very disappointed with Microsoft Windows Vista and am on the verge of downgrading to Windows XP. I started as an advocate for Vista when I rebuilt my machine in February. However, eight months later it is clear that making the leap was a mistake.

Vista presented an enhanced interface where everything looked nicer. This had a big impact at first because it also seemed to operate at the same efficacy of XP. Over time, I have seen a substantial performance degredation. The shell, Explorer, crashes frequently and the entire OS becomes unresponsive.

Some small but staying problems I encountered:

  1. Vista does not allow access to wave out as XP does. For whatever reason the drivers for my sound card do not allow it to be captured even using this tutorial as a workaround.
  2. Vista does not maintain folder view information. Common sortable column headings such as date modified, type, and size won’t stick. If Vista sees mp3′s in a folder it tries to display totally irrelevant meta information such as “author.” I am tired of adding the correct column information such as Date Modified and having it disappear again and again.
  3. Speed. I liked Aero, but I put a pretty decent processor in there. The Intel Core Duo E6600 coupled with high-speed RAM should have applications flying open. This just isn’t the case, it feels slow.


I made the right decision having Windows XP SP2 put on my new Dell D630 laptop, which exhibits stability and great speed running a T7600. The E6600 in my desktop is actually slightly stronger than the mobile chip, so I have great expectations for the downgrade.
I’m expecting some pains in the downgrade. One is finding a legit copy of XP to install, then having to call Microsoft after the installation for an activation key. It almost seems easier to use one of the leaked enterprise copies out on a torrent network, but since I am legally entitled to a copy I might as well stick with going legit.

If you are also dissatisfied with Vista, I suggest this Vista to XP Downgrade FAQ which covers important points of the process.

]]> http://banagale.com/i-am-downgrading-vista-to-windows-xp.htm/feed 0 Manually Installing Windows Media Player Plugin for Firefox in Windows Vista http://banagale.com/manually-installing-windows-media-player-plugin-for-firefox-in-windows-vista.htm http://banagale.com/manually-installing-windows-media-player-plugin-for-firefox-in-windows-vista.htm#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2007 02:24:14 +0000 rob http://banagale.com/manually-installing-windows-media-player-plugin-for-firefox-in-windows-vista.htm Surprise, a complete install of Windows Media Player in Windows Vista does not provide the necessary .dll files needed to play WMA or ASX files in Firefox. This means that if you do a fresh install of Windows Vista and Firefox 2.x and try to listen to an archived program on kexp.org you’re going to get that this ugly little window:

Missing Windows Media Player Plugin in Firefox Manual Install Dialog Box

Your first instinct is to let Firefox figure it out, by clicking the Install Missing Plugins. But then it says you have to manually install the plugin and you get directed to install the full Windows Media Player (WMP). Only this won’t solve the problem. What you really need is to download three .dll files and copy them into your C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins directory.

These dll files are:

According to W3C, Firefox is in at a full 31% of the browser market! I can understand why Microsoft wouldn’t make it easy for Mozilla users, but you have to wonder about this. Microsoft has a desire to hold on to as much browser market as it can. But more importantly it wants people to use its encoding scheme for audio and video. Controlling a media format can mean a dynasty for a company, (think Adobe’s PDF). If Microsoft wants to encourage publishers to encode in their audio/video codec they need to start making it easier for people using alternative browsers to view their content.

Here is a link to the MozillaZine Knowledge Base entry on this topic. For most users, I would think the table of contents at the top is enough to make them give up on getting the plugin installed. I was prompted to finally figure this out while trying to play an archive copy of homeboy DJ Riz’s Expansions show on KEXP. Listen to Riz, he is the man.

Update 5/16/2008: I recieved this comment that the dll links were out of order, so I fixed them and also downloaded/bundled the dll’s into a single Zip file to make things just a bit easier.   Have a great day. :)

]]> http://banagale.com/manually-installing-windows-media-player-plugin-for-firefox-in-windows-vista.htm/feed 12 Add “Open With Notepad” to Your Vista Right-Click Context Menu http://banagale.com/add-open-with-notepad-to-your-vista-right-click-context-menu.htm http://banagale.com/add-open-with-notepad-to-your-vista-right-click-context-menu.htm#comments Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:23:23 +0000 rob http://banagale.com/add-open-with-notepad-to-your-vista-right-click-context-menu.htm Compressed File, and Copy This Path almost every day. This little registry hack adds an Open With Notepad option to your right click context menu. As Zeus attests, you don’t know blankity-blank about computers unless you open notepad [...]]]> I’m a big fan of right-click context menu choices. I use Enqueue/Play In Winamp, Send To -> Compressed File, and Copy This Path almost every day.

This little registry hack adds an Open With Notepad option to your right click context menu. As Zeus attests, you don’t know blankity-blank about computers unless you open notepad at least five times a day.

To do this hack, copy and past the following into Notepad. Next you need to save it as a .reg file and then import it into the windows registry by clicking on it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with Notepad]
@=”"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with Notepad\command]
@=”notepad.exe %1″

I picked this up from Tweak Vista.

Update: There is a way to do this using the Send To sub-menu that doesn’t require a registry edit, see comments below.

]]> http://banagale.com/add-open-with-notepad-to-your-vista-right-click-context-menu.htm/feed 19 Common Errors When Installing postgres SQL and Ruby on Rails http://banagale.com/common-errors-when-installing-postgres-sql-and-ruby-on-rails.htm http://banagale.com/common-errors-when-installing-postgres-sql-and-ruby-on-rails.htm#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:43:24 +0000 rob http://banagale.com/common-errors-when-installing-postgres-sql-and-ruby-on-rails.htm I was setting up my local development environment for Podcastinople on my new Vista install and ran into some problems that I was able to find hidden deep in Ruby and Postgres forums and list archives.

One problem I had was that when I was creating some of my local postgres databases using a normal windows command prompt, this would cause it to spit out: psql: FATAL: password authentication failed for user ‘Rob’. ‘Rob’ is the name of my Windows Vista username, and shouldn’t have been a part of any postgres SQL operation, so I was confused.

Then I realized that I needed to be running psql to ‘postgres’ which is an installed shortcut with postgres.

The next problem I ran into was that postgres was reporting that I already had users in my database, specifically the default user: ‘postgres.’ The problem is that I had performed a full uninstall using the Control Panel, so I figured that the users should have been cleared out, they weren’t.

Vista did not report these users, but I was able to view them using the “net user” command from the Windows shell. Specifically, I used “net user postgres /delete”. I’m not sure how you are supposed to view users from this net command in Vista. I got this answer from this forum thread.
Another problem was that postgres was saying:

If you have an existing database with the same major version number, you do not need to initialise a database cluster.
If you have an existing database with a different major version number you need to backup your old database and create a new one.

The answer to this one was that you need to delete c:\program files\postgresql\8.x\data folder before you reinstall. (Or during. If you delete the folder and then click next on the setup dialog box it will go through.) The answer to this one was here.
Yet another gotcha came from trying to rake, which caused me to get a “No such file to load — postgres” error. The suggested solution to this was to make sure that the PostgreSQL bindings were installed using “gem install postgres”. This didn’t work–I actually had these installed already. The actual answer was to install the pure Ruby interface to PostgreSQL using “gem install postgres-pr”. The answer to that was found here.

Another problem is that my rake.bat file was using a require_gem command which is deprecated. It was shooting a warning: “require_gem is obsolete. Use gem instead” The solution to this was to go into the rake.bat and change the require_gem command to just gem. That answer was here.

Next in line for problems was that imagemagick was causing a big ugly error during the course of the rake, specifically: “This application has failed to start because CORE_RL_magick_.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.” The answer to this was to check and make sure that the imagemagick folder was in my system path. That answer is here.

Finally, I got an error that my imagemagick and rmagick versions were incompatible. It turns out that rmagick packages a .msi installation with imagemagick, and that you need to install that version. Not the latest on the imagemagick website. So, be sure to do that.

What does all this show? Installing a development environment for Ruby and PostgreSQL with Imagemagick can be a painful experience. Especially if you botch the installation once. You don’t want to do that.

Anyway, you either found this using a search engine and it was exactly what you were looking for or this was a totally nonsensical post to you. Good luck with postgres/RoR!

]]> http://banagale.com/common-errors-when-installing-postgres-sql-and-ruby-on-rails.htm/feed 3 Changing Your System Path in Windows Vista http://banagale.com/changing-your-system-path-in-windows-vista.htm http://banagale.com/changing-your-system-path-in-windows-vista.htm#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2007 05:14:34 +0000 rob http://banagale.com/changing-your-system-path-in-windows-vista.htm dos promptDon’t forget to follow me on twitter.

[Note: Since this was written, I downgraded from Vista (because it wasn't stable enough) and went back to XP.  These days I'm looking much harder at moving to a Mac.]

One of the things I really like about Vista is the help. So far it has delivered the goods as I get adjusted to the changes from XP. One of the things I didn’t find easily in Windows Vista help was how to change my system path.

A system path is an environment variable and has been around since the DOS days. Back then you wanted to be able to execute certain files from anywhere in your file system. Now-a-days there isn’t much emphasis on maintaining a good system path because people generally create shortcuts directly to the programs they need (or the installation software does it for you). Also most people don’t use the command prompt at this point.

Our local development environment for Podcastinople is pretty complicated. It uses a lot of Ruby on Rails components, ImageMagick, Rmagick, Tortoise SVN and Posgres SQL. I had to get all these installed and set up because of my migration to a clean install of Vista, and one of the steps is a manual change to the system path.

So when Windows Vista Help let me down I searched G for system path windows vista and came up with nothing. A little guessing based on a guide for XP and I was able to find it. There are two ways to do this.

The easy way:

  1. Click Start and choose Control Panel
  2. In the Search box on the top right of the window type “system path” (no quotes)
  3. Click “Edit the system environment variables”
  4. Begin at step 4 below.

The hard way:

  1. Click Start and choose Control Panel
  2. Click System, on the right you’ll see “View basic information about your computer”
  3. On the left is a list of tasks, the last of which is “Advanced system settings.” Click that.
  4. The Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog box is shown. Click the Environment Variables button on the bottom right.
  5. In the lower box titled “System Variables” scroll down to Path and click the Edit button.
  6. Change your path as need be.
  7. Restart your system. Vista didn’t pick up the system path environment variable change until I restarted.

I go back and forth between Windows and Unix enough that I find myself typing “ls” the directory listing for Unix/Linux based systems when I meant to type “dir”. To fix this I add a file called ls.bat to a folder that is in my system path that contains the dir command. This saves me a few oops commands on occasion.

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