I wrote recently about some correspondence I had with UPEK support to remove the “Encrypted Archive” menu items from the context menu of the whole file system. I thought it was a bit of a nuisance and wanted it removed, so UPEK immediately provided me with a registry key to delete that would solve my problem.

A couple days ago I noticed that although the registry fix effectively removed it from the menu when I right-clicked files, that fix apparently did not include the root drive context menu. If I were to right-click any of my drives in “Computer” (or “My Computer”), the menu returned.

So I eventually got around to contacting UPEK again, and once more they responded immediately. I must say I’m not used to this level of support. And I also appreciate not being coddled. I always hate dealing with support when they assume you know nothing about computers. I always have to assure them I’ve gone through all these troubleshooting steps. In this case I suppose there’s no troubleshooting to be done, but still the fact that they gave me a very straightforward registry edit made me very happy.

So here it is:

Delete the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\SafearchiveContextMenu" registry key.

It didn’t bug me until today but alas, it eventually got to me.

Windows Live Messenger on Windows 7 has a new home in the quicklaunch area and I’m not the only one who has found it annoying.

Want to put it back in the system tray (at the bottom right where other notifications show up)? All you have to do is go to the msnmsgr.exe in C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger and right-click it, then go down to properties, then click the compatibility tab.

Fill it out as above (Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows Vista), hit OK, and you’re done. The next time you start the program, it will return to the system tray where it used to be.

A fairly specific title, to be sure.

I recently wiped my laptop and used this opportunity to streamline much of my system as well as to officially upgrade to Windows 7.

One of my favorite features of my laptop – the Dell XPS 1530 – is the built-in UPEK biometrics fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, the dell-supplied drivers are incompatible with Windows 7, so I was forced to download the latest version directly from the site – which makes it sound like a bad thing but I actually prefer the “retail” version rather than the OEM stuff vendors get, so I was happy.

However, I eventually noticed something that always rather bugged me behind the scenes back on Vista as well with the OEM drivers/software. In the context menu (right-click) of any file, I was presented with two additional buttons: “add to new encrypted archive” and “add to existing encrypted archive”, neither of which I have used or will ever used. And if you’re like me, you prefer no clutter.

There’s an option inside the UPEK program to eliminate the “file safe” from the desktop and “My Computer” windows, but there is no option to remove the context menu. So I did what any responsible person with a complaint about a software product would do – I sent feedback to the developer. And I am quite glad I did, because their support staff gave me a response within just a few hours with the key to removing it. In this case, quite literally a key for the registry (I have no fear of the registry and had removed a number of UPEK-related keys previously, none of which worked – but I put them back).

To remove the FileSafe context menus just delete the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\SafearchiveContextMenu

Super easy, once you know where to look.

Thanks, UPEK. I’m very impressed with both your concise response and response time.

I’m a bit late to the game here, but after reformatting my computer to officially upgrade to Windows 7, and installing OpenOffice because I don’t want to deal with Office 2007 licensing, I realized how much I prefer the ribbon interface.

I looked around briefly to see if there was a “skin” or something similar for OO since it’s open source nature lends itself to that sort of thing. Alas, nothing to be found but rumors of Sun Microsystems working on a ribbon interface of their own.

Which was an enlightening discovery since reading the comments and reviews revealed almost universal rancor towards the ribbon interface – an attitude I fail to understand or agree with.

To me, the ribbon interface represents a logical solution to a big problem (especially with word-processors), namely feature-creep. There does not need to be a button for every function since there are so many. I don’t need four different visible buttons for left, center, right and justify. Of course I don’t believe the ribbon interface is necessarily appropriate for every suite and program available to the PC, but there is something to be said for a design standard.

So I guess for anyone reading this I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Today I remembered an old conversation I had years ago which involved looking for common but weird words. Some of these words weren’t weird until you thought about it. Like ‘spoon’. Then while remembering this, my brain turned it into a bizarre English lesson. Keep in mind all of this came to mind while driving home from work, and for some reason I was overwhelmed by the compulsion to document it for posterity.

Observe and despair at my brain in action.

Spoons is a weird word. This sentence is wrong because you can’t refer to a plural noun in the singular, and so it could technically read “Spoons are a weird word” but of course that doesn’t make sense either because we are not talking about a plural noun, but rather the word referencing the object – ‘spoon’. The exception to this rule is when abstracting a plural into a singular collective noun, such as “group” or “bunch”. However in this case you could not say “Spoons are a weird bunch” and get the same meaning as was intended in the sentence starting the paragraph.

Of course you might also say “Spoon is a weird word”, which removes the confusion resulting from the plural noun, but even this is incorrect because neglecting to quote a word makes it the refer to the object instead of the word itself. I found the plural form of the word ‘spoon’ especially highlighted the issue when read or spoken aloud. So to say “Spoon is a weird word” would also be incorrect because it would be stating that a spoon is a word, which it is not – it is rather a utensil used to assist in the act of eating.

The only valid form I can imagine is “’Spoons’ is a weird word”. Notice the single quotes around ‘spoons’ which excludes it from the rules associated with proper noun use, and abstracts the “spoons” into a singular quoted subject.

I started creating a program for a good friend of mine about a month ago in my spare time. Essentially it’s a territory assignment program that assigns specific addresses in a territory to be called on by a field service agent. This territory would be then un-assigned when completed and the agent would move on to the next territory. As an added bonus and an experiment, I thought it would be nifty to actually SEE where the addresses were, instead of simply cranking out the addresses in an ugly list. The results were… inconsistent. Any more than a few addresses and I’d get a popup saying the address couldn’t be found. Normally I wouldn’t think anything of it, but the addresses were different every time the page generated. And ultimately I discovered that all of the addresses could be found.

After a bit of struggling, the first person I thought of who not only had the know-how to solve the problem, but also the inclination to do so, was Ray Camden whose articles I read often and I knew took on questions from readers.

I hadn’t realized that the first step in geocoding was translating addresses to latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. Apparently if you send too many addresses to geolocate too close together, you get a 620 error from google maps and throws an error (or many errors).

Thanks again to Raymond Camden for his help, and here’s the article he wrote about it: http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2009/12/15/Having-trouble-with-too-many-map-markers-and-CFMAP

I recently came across a job posting that immediately caught my attention. Not because it was a ColdFusion posting – quite the opposite in fact – but because it appeared at first to be my resume read back to me. The job was so finely tuned to my experience, I looked closer just to verify it wasn’t any of my previous employers filling a hole I had previously left void.

It is here in my hometown which is already a big plus, the position deals mostly with big-picture stuff (without the distraction of handling every little workstation hiccup) and features a team that seems to hold the same values as myself. There’s even a foosball table and a theatre room.

The first interview went long, which was great. It flowed more like a conversation than an interview. In fact it was the first non-tribunal interview I’ve had in ages. I’d almost forgotten how much I preferred one-on-one. Three days later and I’ve already been called for the second interview. I’m very optimistic about my chances.

Of course I will not neglect any chance I get to do programming or learning on my own time, but the focus may veer slightly to more server technology related issues and solutions.

…Assuming I get the job. I suppose I tend to get ahead of myself.

I’m still looking for any ColdFusion work at all. I had some back-and-forth with a company in the Netherlands but that fell through. And that pretty much sums up my entire list of opportunities since September. Right now I’m beginning a career in pizza delivery – a job that pays the bills for now but is ultimately unsatisfying.

This is new territory for me since I’ve never experienced an almost universally complete lack of response from any employers. Things must be really bad. Like… really really bad.

My writing on ColdFusion will probably slow now until I have professional cause to work with it again. Perhaps I should start another site where I discuss pizza at length. Perhaps not.

I hate looking for work. I know everyone does, even at the best of times.

But times like these, when local jobs have polarized into high paying jobs or low paying jobs and nothing in between, and the local government (who counts for a large percentage of local jobs) has cut down its budget for external contracts to almost nothing, looking for work now feels less like looking for a good fit and more like I’m the victim of a mean-spirited game of “Pig In The Middle”. I’m sure I’m not the only one, either.

I’m starting to feel like I specialized in all the wrong things. Windows instead of linux or Mac.  ColdFusion instead of PHP or Java. Network administration instead of database administration. Technical college instead of a computer sciences degree. Programming instead of design. That, and I was born in the wrong country.

Frustration abounds, and I’ve been essentially out of paid work since July, which kills any relocation budget I might have had.

If anyone reading this has any overflow work or say a lead on a ColdFusion telecommute job or contract position, I’m all over it. Otherwise, thanks for reading anyway and I’ll post my progress.

I recently switched hosts to Media Temple, partly because of some service interruptions on our last host and also as a strategic manoeuvre. I can say without hesitation that this site is much zippier than before – I hope you notice as well. I mean obviously the site doesn’t do anything, but even so I think it’s noticeable. The added benefit to this new host is we now have ultimate power over it, even to the extend of being able to install our ColdFusion license on it.