Monday, 5 December 2011

Update Your Retail Mac OS X Lion App to 10.7.2


The original installation media for Mac OS X Snow Leopard was a 10.6 DVD. The DVD was only updated once to version 10.6.3. In order to provide more frequent updates to users, Apple is now slipstreaming the latest version of Lion directly into the download. Upon fresh installation, no updating is necessary!

If you purchased Lion from the App Store prior to October 12, 2011, you have either 10.7.0 or 10.7.1. To re-download and update your App to 10.7.2, follow this simple procedure.

     1. Delete your existing copy of Install Mac OS X Lion.app from Applications folder.
     2. Hold down the alt/option key on your keyboard, and click the App Store icon.
     3. With alt/option key held, click on Purchased
     4. With alt/option key held, click on OS X Lion
     5. With alt/option key held, click on Install

The Installed button should change to Install, allowing you to re-download Lion. When the download finishes, the app will automatically open. The updated 10.7.2 Install Mac OS X Lion App can be found in the Applications folder.


If this doesn't work for you, try creating a new User account. You can delete it later.

     1. Open System Preferences
     2. Click on Accounts
     3. Click Lock Icon
     4. Click (+) to add a new User
     5. Create a new Admin User
     6. Log out, and log into new User
     7. Proceed with steps above.

Sunday, 27 November 2011

How to save a FLASH or HTML5 video to your desktop



This little tip lets you save those HD videos from places like YouTube and Vimeo to your computer for later playback on your smartphones or tablets or any such devices.

This technique uses Safari. This won't work for other browsers. You can get Safari for FREE with iTunes.


What you will need

Safari
Quicktime
iTunes


Instructions
  1. Open up Safari and navigate to a video of your choice click here for example
  2. Press play and enjoy the video.
  3. Now comes the good bit, press cmd+alt+a (Mac) or windows+alt+a (windows pc)
  4. The activity window will pop up.
  5. Scroll down and look for the line "http://player.vimeo.com/play_redirect …"
  6. Now double click that line of text
  7. A window will open in safari
  8. Goto Safari's address bar and copy the video address
  9. Now open Quicktime
  10. Click on the menu bar and click on File > Open Location ..
  11. Paste the address you copied from step 8
  12. The video should start playing in Quicktime.
  13. Now click on the menu bar again and click on File > Export
  14. You will be asked for a filename and location to SAVE the file to.


Voila! you just saved a video file to your computer for playback later.


The YouTube Method

  1. Open up Safari and navigate to a video of your choice click here for example
  2. Press play and enjoy the video.
  3. Now comes the good bit, press cmd+alt+a (Mac) or windows+alt+a (windows pc)
  4. The activity window will pop up.
  5. Look for this line "http://o-o.preferred.lhr14s07.v22.lscache3.c.youtube.com/ … "
  6. Find the file with the largest filesize - this one is 30MB
  7. Double click that line
  8. This will open another window in Safari
  9. Copy the website address
  10. open Quicktime
  11. File > Open location and paste the address you copied in step 8
  12. The video will load in Quicktime
  13. File > Export and save the file to your computer


END.

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

FreeNAS fix for AFP connection issues with OSX Lion


The problem
I tried to connect to my FreeNAS box with Apple MAC OSX Lion over the AFP protocol and got an error message..  

There was a problem connecting to the server

The version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supported. Please contact your system administrator to resolve the problem.


The Solution
Apple disables support for the “DHCAST128″ in OS X 10.7 LION , which is commonly used by NAS boxes. Apple thinks it is insufficiently secure. So all the Vendors must work with Apple for Lion compatibility. However there is a workaround. You simply turn on or enable, DHCAST128 in Lion. Heres how you do it ..

To turn on “DHCAST128″ in Mac OS X Lion:-
1)  Launch terminal /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and do:

  • sudo chmod o+w /Library/Preferences
  • defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleShareClient afp_host_prefs_version -int 1
  • Now restart your computer.

2)  From Finder, select an AFP server, or use “Connect To…”.  This will cause the AFP Client to create the full preferences file
3)  Launch Terminal again and do:

  • sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleShareClient afp_disabled_uams -array “Cleartxt Passwrd” “MS2.0″ “2-Way Randnum exchange”
  • sudo chmod o-w /Library/Preferences
  • Now restart your computer.

Now try connecting to FreeNAS over AFP protocol - voila! all fixed. Until FreeNAS has been updated this workaround should be sufficient. I know it's less secure than Apple wants, but at the moment NAS boxes aren't ready for the enhanced security features of OS X Lion. I will be keeping an eye on the FreeNAS forum. When a fix has been released by the experts, I will update this post.


Note:  To add a “DHCAST128″ to the disable list, use
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleShareClient afp_disabled_uams -array-add “DHCAST128″

Highlight code in blogger posts

I wanted a way to highlight code in my blog, I've seen it on other blogs and couldnt find it here in blogger pin the editor.


Heres how to make this work on blogger, do the following


  1. Download SyntaxHighlighter here
  2. Unzip and upload the following files to your webspace (googlepages is a great place)
    1. SyntaxHighlighter.css
    2. shCore.js'
    3. shBrushCpp.js (or whatever code you wish to use on your blog)
  3. Go to your Dashboard/Layout/Edit HTML
  4. Add the following code right after the tag

How to Reset iPad

If something isn’t working right, try restarting iPad, force quitting an application, or resetting iPad.


Restart iPad:

Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears.
Slide your finger across the slider to turn off iPad.
To turn iPad back on, press and hold the Sleep/Wake until the Apple logo appears.

Force quit an application:

Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on top of iPad for a few seconds until a red slider appears, then press and hold the Home button until the application quits.

If you can’t turn off iPad or if the problem continues, you may need to reset iPad.
This should be done only if turning iPad off and on doesn’t resolve the problem.

Reset iPad:
Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.


iPad Still Doesn’t Respond After Reset
Reset iPad settings. From the Home screen choose Settings : General : Reset : Reset All Settings. All your preferences are reset, but your data and media aren't deleted.

Resetting iPadReset all settings: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset All Settings.


All your preferences and settings are reset. Information, such as your contacts and calendars, and media, such as your songs and videos, aren’t deleted.

Erase all content and settings: Choose General : Reset  then tap “Erase All Content and Settings.” This resets all settings to their original values and erases all your information and media.


Reset network settings: Choose General : Reset, then tap Reset Network Settings.

When you reset network settings, your list of previously used networks and VPN settings not installed by a configuration profile are removed. Wi-Fi is turned off and then back on, disconnecting you from any network you’re on. The Wi-Fi and “Ask to Join Networks” settings remain turned on. To remove VPN settings installed by a configuration profile, choose Settings > General : Profile, then select the profile and tap Remove.

Reset the keyboard dictionary: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary.


You add words to the keyboard dictionary by rejecting words iPad suggests as you type. Tap a word to reject the correction and add the word to the keyboard dictionary. Resetting the keyboard dictionary erases all words you’ve added.

Reset the Home screen layout: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset Home Screen Layout.


Reset the location warnings: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset Location Warnings.


Location warnings are the requests made by applications (such as Maps) to use Location Services with those applications. iPad stops presenting the warning for an application the second time you tap OK. Tap Reset Location Warnings to resume the warnings.

Updating and Restoring iPad Software

About Updating and Restoring Software

You can use iTunes to update or restore iPad software. If you update, the iPad software is updated. Your downloaded applications, settings, and data aren’t affected.
Note: In some cases, an update may also include restoring iPad. If you restore, the latest version of iPad software is reinstalled, settings are restored to their defaults, and all data stored on iPad is deleted, including downloaded applications, songs, videos, contacts, photos, calendar information, and any other data. If you’ve backed up iPad with iTunes on your computer, you can restore data from the backup at the end of the restore process.
Deleted data is no longer accessible through the iPad user interface, but isn’t erased from your iPad.
Updating iPad


Make sure your computer has an Internet connection and that you’ve installed the latest version of iTunes from Apple website
Update iPad:

1 Connect iPad to your computer.
2 Select iPad in the iTunes sidebar, then click the Summary tab.
3 Click “Check for Update.” iTunes tells you if there’s a new version of the iPad software available.
4 Click Update to install the latest version of the software
iPad recovery mode

With the iPad powered off, press and hold the Home button, connect the USB cable from PC/Mac to iPad.
Continue holding the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen, then release the Home button.
Open up iTunes to see iPad in recovery mode.

How to secure your FreeNAS server

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

How to Reset iPad


If something isn’t working right, try restarting iPad, force quitting an application, or resetting iPad.

Restart iPad:

Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears.
Slide your finger across the slider to turn off iPad.
To turn iPad back on, press and hold the Sleep/Wake until the Apple logo appears.

Force quit an application:

Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on top of iPad for a few seconds until a red slider appears, then press and hold the Home button until the application quits.

If you can’t turn off iPad or if the problem continues, you may need to reset iPad.
This should be done only if turning iPad off and on doesn’t resolve the problem.

Reset iPad:
Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.




iPad Still Doesn’t Respond After Reset
Reset iPad settings. From the Home screen choose Settings : General : Reset : Reset All Settings. All your preferences are reset, but your data and media aren't deleted.

Resetting iPad Reset all settings: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset All Settings.


All your preferences and settings are reset. Information, such as your contacts and calendars, and media, such as your songs and videos, aren’t deleted. Erase all content and settings: Choose General : Reset  then tap “Erase All Content and Settings.” This resets all settings to their original values and erases all your information and media.


Reset network settings: Choose General : Reset, then tap Reset Network Settings.

When you reset network settings, your list of previously used networks and VPN settings not installed by a configuration profile are removed. Wi-Fi is turned off and then back on, disconnecting you from any network you’re on. The Wi-Fi and “Ask to Join Networks” settings remain turned on. To remove VPN settings installed by a configuration profile, choose Settings > General : Profile, then select the profile and tap Remove.

Reset the keyboard dictionary: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary.

You add words to the keyboard dictionary by rejecting words iPad suggests as you type. Tap a word to reject the correction and add the word to the keyboard dictionary. Resetting the keyboard dictionary erases all words you’ve added.

Reset the Home screen layout: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset Home Screen Layout.

Reset the location warnings: Choose General > Reset, then tap Reset Location Warnings.

Location warnings are the requests made by applications (such as Maps) to use Location Services with those applications. iPad stops presenting the warning for an application the second time you tap OK. Tap Reset Location Warnings to resume the warnings.

Updating and Restoring iPad Software

You can use iTunes to update or restore iPad software. If you update, the iPad software is updated. Your downloaded applications, settings, and data aren’t affected.

Note: In some cases, an update may also include restoring iPad. If you restore, the latest version of iPad software is reinstalled, settings are restored to their defaults, and all data stored on iPad is deleted, including downloaded applications, songs, videos, contacts, photos, calendar information, and any other data. If you’ve backed up iPad with iTunes on your computer, you can restore data from the backup at the end of the restore process.

Deleted data is no longer accessible through the iPad user interface, but isn’t erased from your iPad.

Updating iPad

Make sure your computer has an Internet connection and that you’ve installed the latest version of iTunes from Apple website

Update iPad:

1 Connect iPad to your computer.
2 Select iPad in the iTunes sidebar, then click the Summary tab.
3 Click “Check for Update.” iTunes tells you if there’s a new version of the iPad software available.
4 Click Update to install the latest version of the software

iPad recovery mode

With the iPad powered off, press and hold the Home button, connect the USB cable from PC/Mac to iPad.
Continue holding the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen, then release the Home button.

Open up iTunes to see iPad in recovery mode.

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Windows 7: Create a Recovery Partition


This tip will help you easily create a "recovery" partition: 

After some testing with Windows 7, it is probably possible to create a hidden partition, allowing access to all repair tools, and the ability to completely reinstall the system,therefore no need to use DVD or USB key. 


To begin with, you'll need: 

  • A PC functional 
  • A blank hard disk, (that intended to receive the recovery partition)
  • Your DVD of Windows 7. (or iso file to extract the content) 

Preparation of hard disk

The disk drive must be partitioned into two. Consider a partition of about 3.5GB, at beginning of the disk, so that this partition can contain all the files from the DVD and one for the system partition. 

Copying files



Once the partitions of 3 to 4 GB created, simply just copy the entire DVD on this partition, and make this partition bootable.

Prepare of the partition to make it bootable

Open the command prompt and run this: 
  1. x:
  2. cd /boot
  3. bootsect /nt60 X:
  4. (x being your partition) 
A message "boot code was successfully updated on all targeted volumes" should appear. 
Then check that the partition is marked "active" in disk management. 
If necessary, right click on the partition and "mark partition as active" 

Now mount the HDD in the PC and boot.
  • The PC will automatically launch the installer from the partition and add an entry "Windows setup" in the entries in bcd. (so no need to use third party software to edit the boot entries)
  • Everything is done automatically!
  • You now have a PC with a recovery partition that lets you reinstall new Windows 7 in case of problems.


Saturday, 18 December 2010

How to clone a hackintosh hard drive on a mac

I have found that CLONING a hackintosh hard drive is a little difficult compared to cloning a PC hard drive. With a PC I can simply clone the drive with things like Ghost or Acronis tools. These are my favourites, but by no means the only method..

Tools needed for the job

  • iBoot bootable CD
  • Multibeast
  • Retail Copy of Snow Leopard
The first thing we need to know is that on the Snow Leopard bootable DVD there is something called Disk Utility. This little app is all you need to CLONE your hard drive. 

.. Yeah I know, I was shocked at that little gem of wisdom too!

With Disk Utility you can create an image of the whole hard drive. There is one very important step you need to take to make your CLONE work properly. In the toolbar click on Images > Scan image for Restore. This one single step, makes the image hardware independant. In other words you can restore your CLONED hard drive to any Mac regardless of the hardward used when the image was created!

Back in a sec ..

How to build a Hackintosh on an ASUS P5Q Motherboard

Download these files:

Retail Copy of Snow Leopard 10.6.3
Latest Apple Combo Update
Kext Helper b7.zip
MultiBeast.zip
AttansicL1eEthernet_0418_64.zip
ALC1200_1063.zip
iBoot.zip

Extract iBoot.zip and burn iBoot.iso to CD

Get a Flash drive or external usb hard drive ( at least 2GB ) and copy these files onto it.

Latest Apple Combo Update
Kext Helper b7.zip
MultiBeast.zip
AttansicL1eEthernet_0418_64.zip
ALC1200_1063.zip

Restore the Snow Leopard Retail Install DVD 10.6.3 to USB Flash drive using Disk Utility on a MAC.

Setup BIOS as follows

Restore BIOS to Setup Defaults
Set to boot from CD first
Set power management to S3
Set ACPI mode 2
Set ALL hard drives to AHCI mode

Insert iBoot CD from step 1 reboot the computer. Once in iBoot insert your USB Flash Drive with Snow Leopard Retail 10.6.3 and hit F5 on the keyboard. You should see another icon appear after a few seconds. Select this icon and it enter to start the installation process. Fill in all the options as required. I un-tick all extra options like printers X11 etc. You can install this lot later. Once the install completes the computer will restart.

Once the computer has rebooted into iBoot, you will see another icon which is your newly created Mac installation. Select it and boot into Mac OS X Leopard. Setup the Mac as you want it. Don't worry about applications yet.

Open MultiBeast and install the Combo Update 10.6.5 from the flash drive ( step 2 ) DO NOT REBOOT YET ! Once the installation of the combo update has completed, click on MultiBeast and run it. Do not reboot yet!

Extract AttansicL1eEthernet_0418_64.zip and ALC1200_1063.zip to the desktop. Open Kext Helper and drag both the extracted kext files onto Kext Helper Type in your Mac password and run it.

Now take out the iBoot cd and reboot. You should now boot straight into Mac OS X Leopard.

Congrats! you are done.

Monday, 13 December 2010

[PC] Codemasters F1 2010 Replay Mode

The new patch v1.01 for Codemasters F1 2010 game allows you to save your replays in .f1player format and replay them at your leisure. 


Heres how you do it:

This is exactly how it should look in the target path box:
"C:\Program Files\Codemasters\F1 2010\f1_2010.exe" -savereplay
"C:\Program Files\Codemasters\F1 2010\f1_2010.exe" -replayui


The only space is after the .exe" and before -savereplay and -replayui

Friday, 12 November 2010

How to get AirPrint working on Apple update v10.6.5

Apple released Mac OS X v10.6.5 which was supposed to bring AirPrint to any printer connected to your Mac. Only problem is, a last minute issue (due to patent trolling?) has caused them to pull support for AirPrint in OS X.


Don't panic! You can return it, but you're going to have to pull some files from a prerelease version of 10.6.5.


The files you need are:


/usr/libexec/cups/filter/urftopdf
/usr/share/cups/mime/apple.convs
/usr/share/cups/mime/apple.types
If you migrate those from a 10.6.5 prerelease build (there seem to be many floating around torrent sites and file sharing sites - build 10H542 works; naturally I can't link you to the files themselves, sorry!) to your machine you're just one step away from having AirPrint working.


The final key thing is you have to remove and re-add your printer in the Print & Fax preferences pane. Once you do that (and share your printer in the Sharing preferences pane) it should show up on any iOS devices that support AirPrint.


Nerdy extra info: Basically, doing this should add the image/urf mimetype to your shared printer, and a new Bonjour field 'URF'. Once you have those, it should work. Theoretically, there's no reason someone can't write a server application that broadcasts said Bonjour info and prints for you, so you don't have to use files from a prerelease build. I would expect something like that to appear over the next few weeks.

Thursday, 11 November 2010

Hotmail on the iPad

Microsoft has enabled POP access for all Hotmail accounts; Accessing Hotmail on your iPad is very easy .. Use @hotmail.com, @hotmail.co.uk or @live.com as part of your username


Incoming Mail Server
Host Name: pop3.live.com
User Name: ***@hotmail.com


Outgoing Mail Server
SMTP: smtp.live.com


The advanced settings
Delete Messages
Remove: After one week


Incoming Setting
Use SSL: ON
Authentication: Password
Delete from server: Never
Server Port: 995

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Safari Web Browser Full Screen Trick

One thing that bugs me about Mac's is the lack of Maximize Window. The plus button does not resize the screen to the maximum available space, unlike windows.

Like wise Safari has no FULLSCREEN view.. until now

Drag this link to the favourites bar..


This one resizes the window to 1024x768, try it ..



Source: jydesigns.com

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Move Your Steam Install

Move Your Steam Install

Update:There is an “official” Steam post on how to do this. While the steps below will work, you can also use this method. However it will require you to reinstall steam/update the client. The method below still works and requires no downloads/updates/installs.

Moving your steam install? How? This question was raised after I installed Steam and downloaded Half-Life2, Episode One, Lost Coast, and Team Fortress 2 and fully patched them all. I installed Steam to my C: drive and figured that I would get to chose where each purchased game is installed to. Not true!
Steam runs all of its games as subsidiary applications of Steam. Each of the newer Steam based games stores all of its data files and executables under the same directory structure as the Steam client install!
For me, I have one disk for windows and a raid array for games. Having my games run off of my windows drive was getting to me as I know I could have faster load times. After some Googling, I found out how to do it! I compiled directions from a few sources as well as from my experience doing it!
It worked flawlessly for me! However, if you mess it up its your fault and you can just do a fresh install to fix things (you will just have to wait for the dl again though).

Rules!
  1. Steam and all games must stay in thier current directory strucutre
  2. That means you can’t split games and steam up across drives
  3. You can only have 1 active steam install
  4. This will break all shortcuts for games/steam. You will have to manually recreate or fix them. (not hard)

Steps: Moving The Install
  1. Shut down steam if it is running (right click system tray icon => exit)
  2. COPY the steam directory from the original location to the new one.
  3. Rename the original directory. (e.g C:/Program Files/Valve => C:/Program Files/Valve_ORIG or C:/Program Files/Steam => C:/Program Files/Steam_ORIG)
  4. In the new directory (not original), delete the file named “ClientRegistry.blob”.
  5. Manually run “steam.exe” in the newly copied directory.
  6. Watch steam “update” a.k.a verify itself. It won’t download anything/need to reinstall.
  7. Run a game to verify it works
  8. Delete the ORIGINAL install (e.g. C:/Program Files/Valve => C:/Program Files/Valve_ORIG or C:/Program Files/Steam => C:/Program Files/Steam_ORIG )
  9. Done, except for fixing short cuts on your desktop/start menu (see below)
Updating the Shortcuts
  1. Find the short cut that needs to be fixed either on your desktop or in the start menu
  2. Right click it
  3. Chose “Properties”
  4. Change the “Start in” property to reflect the new drive & directory path (e.g “C:\Program Files\Steam\” => “X:\Program Files\Steam\” )
  5. Change the “Target” value to use the new drive & directory path. The STEAM shortcut can’t have i its target edited, don’t worry it will work! (e.g “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe” -applaunch 440 => “X:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe” -applaunch 440 )
  6. Click Apply, Click Ok
  7. Repeate