Microsoft, and many other vendors have decided that due to the unencrypted nature of the telnet datastream and the fact that your username and password are also sent unencrypted over the wire, that telnet is a security vulnerability and should not be used.  Microsoft recommends you use an SSH client instead.

However, many existing devices, such as older routers and switches do not support telnet and must still be managed.  Thankfully for us, Microsoft has included Telnet with Windows 2008, but simply did not install or enable it by default.

Enabling Telnet on Windows 2008 Server

Open the Server Manager.  Click Start -> Server Manager.

From the left pane, click on Features.

Click on Add Features.

From the available features pane, click on Telnet Client, and then click Next.

Click on Install.

Windows 2008 Server will start the initialization process…

and then install the Telnet Client.

Installation will finish.  Click Close.

Finally, you can drop the the command prompt and successfully execute telnet.exe.

That’s all there is to it!

More often than not, the phone connects and everything seems fine, but iTunes can’t connect to it.  You’re not alone.  Many users have reported this problem.  The problem seems to stem from the Intel P55 chipset, but not always.

Solving the 0xE8000065 “unknown error”.

The solution that seems to be working for most people is to disable Windows 7 USB power management.  In Windows 7, the operating system tries to control devices and “turn them off” when not used.  This feature is not necessary and it seems the Windows 7 P55 chipset drivers are faulty so it won’t work anyway.  The solution is simply to turn off that feature.

Disable USB Power Management in Windows 7

First, click the start button, and type devmgmt.msc followed by the enter key.

Under Universal Serial Bus Controllers, you will find one or more USB Root Hub devices.  You’ll need to follow these steps for each one listed (unless you know the exact one your iPhone is connected to).  Right click the USB Root Hub device and then click properties.

Under the Advanced tab uncheck the box next to Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.  Click OK and close everything.  Reboot your computer.

From what we’ve seen, this solves the 0xE8000065 “unknown error” on about 90% of the machines out there.

Securityd is the Macintosh OSX process that handles and maintains security contexts and arbitrates cryptographic operations and Security Authorizations.  I know I know, what does all that really mean?

Your Macintosh saves passwords on what is called a Keychain.  Have you ever told OSX to remember your username and password when connecting to a network  resource?  If you have then you’ve been using what’s referred to as the OSX Keychain.  Securityd is the process that is the gatekeeper for all things Macintosh security related.  It keeps your username and specifically password from being stored anywhere on the system (including in memory) in an unencrypted state.

Securityd is one of the many ways OSX helps to keep you and your data safe from spyware, malware, viruses and hackers.

NTPD is the Unix (or in this case Macintosh OSX) Network Time Protocol Daemon.  NTPD is the service that your Macintosh computer uses to keep the time up to date (assuming you are using the system default setting – Set Date and Time Automatically).  Occasionally your Mac will ask time servers on the Internet for the current time and adjust your clock and calendar appropriately.  Of course this assumes you have active Internet Connection.

Setting the Date and Time automatically in Macintosh OSX System Preferences

Of course, you can always disable this by unchecking the box.  This will remove NTPD from memory and your Mac will no longer get automatic date and time updates.  This is however, not recommended.

OSX is a an incredible operating system, and I would go as far to say vastly superior to anything coming out of Redmond.  That includes Windows 7.  What I find even more interesting is that Windows 7 has in many ways copied the look and feel of the Mac OSX dock.  That being the case, I feel like this question will get asked less in the coming months or years as people learn the Windows 7 interface.

Let’s take a look at the Mac OSX Dock.

The picture above is a picture of my OSX Dock (yes, I run Mac exclusively, although I do run Windows XP, Vista, and 7 in a VMware Fusion installation to help me with Windows articles and support).  In my Dock (the portion showing in the picture) I have Finder, Screen Sharing, Dashboard, TextWrangler, FireFox, iPhoto, Spaces, Expose, and the System Preferences application “pinned” to my dock.

If you’ve been running Windows XP or Vista, you’re likely familiar with the Windows Taskbar.  The Taskbar only shows programs that are open and/or active.

With Macintosh OSX (and Windows 7), what is shown on the Dock (or Taskbar in 7) are nor necessarily running, open and/or in use.  The Dock is more of a shortcut bar.  A list of applications that could be running.  One thing to keep in mind on the Mac though is that if an application is running it will always be on the Dock, with few exceptions.  However, it also true that just because a program is on the Dock does not mean it is running.

So how do we tell if a program is running on the Mac?

The answer is a lot simpler than you might think.  Let’s look at this picture above again, only let’s focus on three applications “pinned” in the dock.  TextWrangler, FireFox, and iPhoto.  Do you notice anything different about TextWrangler and FireFox, as opposed to iPhoto?  I know what you’re thinking. “Mac makes things easy, why isn’t this glaringly obvious?”  Well, its a throwback to previous versions of the Mac OS that kept getting “improved” upon with each new release.

I bet the second you looked at that last picture, a huge lightbulb came on in your mind.  “OH I GET IT!”  You would be correct.  The glowing dot below the applications dock icon is how you tell if a an application is actually open and consuming resources.

How do I close an application in Mac OSX?

Good question!  You’ve likely noticed when you click the red dot in the top left corner of an application that it disappears from your screen.  You’ve likely also noticed that 90% of the applications you close in this manner still have the little glowing dot below them.  You would be correct to assume that clicking the red dot in Mac OSX is not the same as clicking the red X on a Windows application.  You are only hiding the running application, not closing it, with few exceptions.

To actually close an application and remove it from memory (and stop if from consuming CPU and other resources) you have two options.

Option 1:

First, make sure the application you want to close is in focus and showing on the menubar at the top of the screen.  You can either click COMMAND-Q, or click the name of the application on the finder and select Quit.  See the following picture for an example of closing FireFox.

Option 2:

Sometimes, you don’t want to bring an application into focus, you simple want it out of memory without changing your screen layout (or the focus of the running application).  To do that, simply right click (or long click if you have “secondary click” disabled in the system preferences), or CTRL-click the icon of the application you want to close, and then simply select quit.  See the picture below for an example of this.

I hope I was able to give you a little more insight into the uniqueness of Mac OSX and that you come to love and enjoy using the Mac as much as I do.  Feel free to leave questions and comments below!

Note: This process disables the Offline Files feature which is not available in Home versions of Vista or Windows 7

What Is It?

Mobsync.exe is a process that belongs to Microsoft Sync Center and the Offline Files feature. It’s associated with a device like a Windows Mobile phone with ActiveSync, a SQL Server installation, or if you have Internet Explorer (a feature in IE 6 not in IE7 or above) set to synchronize pages for viewing offline. The process is not a threat and shouldn’t be deleted if you’re using the feature. If you go into Control Panel, you can launch Sync Center and manage its settings.

If it gets activated for using Offline Files, it will show up in the taskbar in Vista and Windows 7.

How Do I Turn it Off?

So you’re  not sure how the heck it got turned on, and want it off. You could go into Task Manager each time and end the process, but that is extremely annoying.

Disable mobsync.exe in Windows 7

Click on the Start Menu and enter offline files into the search box and hit Enter.

In the Offline Files window click the Disable offline files button then click Ok.

You’ll need to restart the computer for the new setting to take effect. After a reboot, the Sync Center icon should be gone and not be running in Task Manger.

Disable in Vista

Open Control Panel and select Network and Internet.

Next click on Offline Files.

In the Offline Files window, click on the Disable Offline Files button and click Ok.

A restart is required and after that, it should be disabled and you won’t see it in the Taskbar or running in Task Manager.

If you have a home version of Vista or Windows 7, you will see mobsync.exe running in task manager, but closing out of Sync Center should stop the process. If you were using Sync Center and ActiveSync to manage a mobile device and no longer need it, you can uninstall ActiveSync software and it should stop mobsync.exe as well.

I’m sure you’re familiar with selecting multiple files in Explorer by holding down the “Shift” or “Ctrl” key while selecting them with your mouse. Holding down the “Ctrl” key allows you to select multiple single items. Holding down “Shift” lets you select a series of multiple files or folders.

Enable Check Boxes

To enable check boxes, click on Start and and type Folder Options into the search box and hit Enter.

In the Folder Options window click on the View tab, and scroll down under Advanced Settings and check the box next to Use check boxes to select items, the click Apply and Ok.

Now you’ll notice a small check box shows up on next to the item you want to select. With this enabled you don’t need to hold any key on the keyboard, just click to place a checkmark in the box.

Also notice there is a box under the menu bar that will select all items.

It also works for folders…

And on the desktop you can check icons, folders, and files that you want to move to another location.

The check box feature is also available in Vista following the same procedure…enabling them in Folder Options.

This is a neat setting that lets you select multiple items using the mouse without worrying about holding down the correct key on the keyboard. It will work with any view in Explorer but seems to work best with Detailed View

Note: This process uses Local Group Policy Editor which is not available in Starter or Home versions of Windows 7.

Disable Shutdown, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate Buttons

To open the Local Group Policy Editor on Windows 7, click on Start and type in gpedit.msc and press Enter.

In Local Group Policy Editor navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar and double click on Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands.

Now you want to enable this setting and click Apply and OK. You can leave a note to yourself in the comment box, which I find comes in handy when changing a lot of settings in Group Policy.

Now when you look at the Power options in the Start Menu, the only options available are Log off, Switch user, and Lock.

The setting goes into effect right away for all users of the machine. The button to turn off the computer if the user hits Ctrl+Alt+Del will be gone as well.

Track-At-Once

This is the first option that was introduced when CD duplication software was first created. With this mode, each time a track is finished burning, the laser recording the information stops. When it stops, two run-out blocks of data are written. After that, one link block and four run-in blocks are written when the next track begins to record. With track-at-once, you may burn both data and audio on the same disc. These blocks in between tracks are not a problem when data is being read, but you may hear a click on some CD players when playing back audio. This is something that may cause you problems if you are having your disc mastered and duplicated or replicated at a professional facility. In that regard, track-at-once is best suited for CDs for personal enjoyment.

This burn mode takes all of your data, be it audio data or regular data, and burns it all to disc in one big block. No gaps are added between tracks, the laser never stops burning the data to disc. This is a newer feature, which should be an option in most modern CD burning software. One option you have with disc-at-once mode, which is kind of interesting, is that you can place allows any amount of audio data (or no data at all) to be written in the “pre-gaps” between tracks. With this option, you can place track introductions between each song. This is cool, because you can create “hidden tracks” on the CD in the pre-gap areas, that are only accessible by rewinding backwards into the pre-gap area. This is the ideal choice for CD masters that will be going to a CD duplication or replication house.

I hope that this fully explains these two different CD burning modes for you, or at least explains it enough for you to successfully create your next CD mix or master. I was going to leave out explaining burn speed for another article, but it really is simple enough to explain at the tail end of this article. Basically, your burn speed should be15-30% of the drive”s maximum capacity. I.e. For a 52x burner, the optimal burn speed would be from 12-16x. It’s as simple as that. Thanks for reading this article, and best wishes on your next project!

What it is, is a simple little process that runs all the time, just to check once a week, or once a month to check if there is a Java update available (from Sun Microsystems, who makes the Java VM). The whole rest of the time it is running, it simply wastes memory on your machine.

If you’re like me, then you hate wasting memory on your machine. Espcially on a Windows based machine. So let’s get rid of it!

What you’ll need to do is open up Control Panel, and then if you are in XP you can click on the Java icon, or in Vista you can click on Additional Options, and then click on Java.

Once you have the Java Control Panel open, select the Update tab, and then uncheck the box for “Check for Updates Automatically”

You’ll receive a warning message stating that if somebody finds a security hole in Java that it will take up to a month before you are protected from it:

After you click the Never Check button above, you’ll probably receive this error message if you are in Windows Vista, stating that it also hasn’t been properly certified to work with Vista in the first place. Just click that it works correctly.

That’s it, you’re done. Kiss jusched.exe bye! Now, just remember to go to Java.com every so often and check for an update. I’d suggest once every couple of months will be fine.