Age limit on IT

Today I asked myself as very valid question – “Should there be an age limit on someone using IT equipment?”

This was as a result of a combined call time of 1H 18M to the Silver Fox to get his Netgear TA612V VOIP adapter up and running after I unlocked and flashed it for him.
I was under the impression that I had already configured the Lan and Wan ports to match his subnet and what they needed to be, which would of made a remote session a doddle.

Unfortunately it would appear not! So I tried to add another subnet to his network card so that I could configure it that way but that didn’t want to work either!

Next I asked him to get his laptop out and plug a network cable in the back of the laptop and then in the Ethernet port of the TA612V, that’s the Ethernet port not the Internet port. After clarifying that point a couple more times we had it connected how we wanted it to be.

Things were made even more difficult as the laptop was on the floor and he was sat on the chair and every time he leant down to do something in the laptop he had his deaf ear pointing towards the phone! Could this get any worse?

I got him to check what IP the TA612V had given him, hoping to login and make some changes, only to find that the laptop had a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address. So I get him to reset the device and wait for it to all come back up and settle down. This time he has the expected IP address, so I get him to logon to the web interface and click on the Wan settings.

I tell him what to put in and then save it. We then wait for it to reboot and then come back up. Next I tell him to go to the Lan interface and enter some more details and save again. I then tell him to plug it back into the network and turn it on.

I then connect to the Lan interface, log on and set up his VOIP connection, save and then let it reboot. It takes a few seconds to come back up and register the VOIP connection with Sipgate.

Great so its all working, I make a test call and the phone rings but there is no voice from me!? I log back in and check the settings. Correct ports entered and the settings match my TA612V that works fine. So I suggested a reboot again and see what it does. Up it comes and registered in a few seconds. I make another call to him and get the same problem.

I then, by pure fluke, click on the Wan settings only to find a few digits missing from the IP address and the Subnet Mask! I correct the errors, save and reboot. Once registered I make a call again and hey presto it all works ok.

I told him what was wrong, and I got in response “I put in exactly what you told me to put in. I would not of thought those being missed off would of caused a problem”

I left it at that, making a mental note to myself to check and double check what settings he puts in for me next time!

IE10, desktops.exe and noframemerging

Today I upgraded my Windows Server 2008 R2 server to IE10.
Having used it on my work pc and my various Windows 8 installations for a while I thought it’s time to upgrade my server.
A quick install and reboot and it’s all done.

As I use my server for most of my work, it’s on all the time as it hosts Yodacam and is accessible remotely, it is a god send to have it all there when you need it.

I use Desktops from SysInternals to split up my work on to 4 separate desktops to keep the clutter to a minimum. My desktops are split into the following

Main Desktop – various email accounts, web browsing, Excel, Word etc
Development Desktop – php/asp.net websites, mysql and any think VB.net
[Undisclosed] Desktop – used for an [Undisclosed] task
Remote Access Desktop – for RDP/TS sessions to various computers and servers

I was working away on the Main Desktop and the Remote Access Desktop when i needed to do some work on some php files. Loading up a IE10 browser windows resulted in nothing showing. So I clicked it again but still nothing. I checked Task Manager and could not see anything that looked like a hung iexplore.exe process but there was nothing.

I then switched to the Main Desktop only to find several new IE10 windows open on the desktop. It would appear that every time I clicked the IE icon it would open a new window on the main desktop, which is not how it was in IE9.

I done a bit of digging and found a switch for IE10, `-noframemerging` which said `Internet Explorer 8 and later versions. Prevents Internet Explorer from opportunistically merging new frame processes into existing frame processes.`

I created a new shortcut to IE10 and added the -noframemerging switch to it. Now every time i load up a IE10 window it opens on the correct desktop.

Oh and Yes i know other browsers are available to use and I now there are other multiple desktop programs out there, but I am used to using IE and Desktops.exe and will continue to do so. GOI