Lotus Notes is very wary of its database files, also known as .NSF-files, becoming corrupted. So much so, in fact that IBM has created a whole class of files designed to recreate these files. This class of files is called .NTF files.
Blog
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Learning to love Notes’ .NTF files
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WLAN problems after Windows Update
I’ve been seeing a problem lately with a few computers. After installing the latest security updates, their WLAN card stops working. It is unable to acquire a dynamic IP address from any router, and setting a static IP address does not work either. -
Spelling it out – using the NATO phonetic alphabet to our advantage
When instructing a user to type something, when reading a serial key or when spelling anything via a phone line, radio connection or similar, a problem arises at times; the person on the other end either does not understand what is being said, or understands what is being said as something different to what is actually being said.
This is easily remedied by replacing each letter with a word. The problem is, not all words are suited for this. Many attempts to standardize what words to substitute has been made, but the scheme I have found the best, most logical and easy to understand, is the NATO phonetic alphabet.
Since I adopted it, I have only seen three instances where it has failed me, all of which were due to the recipient having a preconceived notion of what I was about to say. It is clear, simple to learn, and easily understood. -
Resolving "NTLDR missing" and "Non-system disk or disk error" error messages
I thought that this solution was common knowledge all around, but it seems not to be, so here’s how. First off, the problem. When you boot your computer, an error message pops up, saying one out of two: (more…)
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Lotus Notes: Resolving “Toolbar configuration not found” errors
A user called in with an error message I see from time to time in Lotus Notes. The error message in question is the not very informative “Toolbar configuration not found”. Though not overly informative, this error message is simple enough to resolve.
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Windows Vista SP1 – First impressions
So, I finally bought a new computer. It’s a pretty smooth bit of kit if I might say so. It’s a HTPC, with a 3GHz CPU and 4GB RAM. It also runs Windows Vista Ultimate, and is my first real day-to-day encounter with said OS.
The computer arrived at my place a little more than a week ago. Setup was quick (quicker than the setup of a preinstalled Windows XP machine) and simple (simpler than the setup of a preinstalled Windows XP machine). It boots quickly (well, it’d better with the amount of CPU and RAM I got for it), and seems stable.
I went for Vista Ultimate, because I wanted all the bells an whistles of Vista, and so it seems I have got. First off, is visually very appealing. Windows Vista is pure eyecandy, no doubt about it. When that’s said, most of the tips, tricks and hotkeys I know for Windows XP Professional, seems to work in Vista as well.
Vista has a handfull of new features, compared to Windows XP. Though I haven’t tried them all out, I have found the following particularly useful:
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Why restarting your computer resolves many problems
As a Desktop Support Technician, one of my most common answer to a problem a user is having is “Reboot the computer, call me up if that doesn’t clear it for you.” The reason for this is as simple as it is self-evident. It usually does the trick. Why it works, now that’s another matter altogether…
There are several reasons that rebooting your computer, either a hard or soft reboot (the difference is whether you use the “restart” or “shut down” options) helps resolve software related problems. Off the top of my head, here’s a few:
A reboot: (more…) -
Firefox saving your tabs
With the release of Firefox 3, users have gotten a few nifty little tools to use, a few of which I noted in a previous post. Another tool, which I had missed was the ability to save the tabs of your current session, so that they’d open the next time you’d open Firefox. Before Firefox 3, to achieve this, you’d have to open the Windows task manager and kill the process.
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Lotus Notes 8 – a Quick overview
For one reason or another, I have a stated preference for using webmail over some sort of locally installed client. There are many reasons, but the main one is that I want to be able to read mail wherever, whenever.
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Renaming your wireless network connection
Being one to muck about quite a bit with my computers, my wireless network connection is now called “Wireless Network Connection 5”, like so:
Annoying though it may be, it is, however, really easy to remedy. Here’s how:
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