This weekend, I took some video (of my son being blatantly facemasked with no penalty, and then gang tackled In flag football with a minor 5 yarder), and I wanted to share that video with some other parents. (Yes that’s the kind of guy I am

Anyway, I just needed to get it out of my camcorder and onto my laptop to edit and email, but I couldn’t find Windows Movie Maker to edit the clip under Start > All Programs > Accessories, where I KNOW it used to be.

I haven’t used WMM it in almost three years, and I don’t know where it went, but now it’s apparently no longer on ANY of the 4 XP pro machines our family owns. WTF?

Well it turns out it’s not really “gone” – just my menu item is – but it took seemingly forever for me to finally find this painfully slow video -
showing me how to get it started.

To get Windows Moviemaker “back” on your PC, Go to to the Start Button > Run – and then type moviemk – Press enter or hit OK, and it will open.

Need to make a shortcut?

(In Windows XP)   Right click an empty spot on your Desktop and choose “New > Shortcut”

Then just type (or copy / paste)  the path of the execcutable file – in this case, with Windows on your C drive just use this -

C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\moviemk.exe

Name is as you wish, and press finish

And you’ll get your shortcut back!

The last time I remember something like this happening was when “Microsoft Front Page Express” disappeared from Windows 98 after the version B updates.

If this method doesn’t work for you, then perhaps you simply never had it o begin with for some reason, and you can download the XP version here from Microsoft

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7, this won’t work, but you can download this Vista version that works on both Win7 and Vista, and is far better than this terrible Windows Live Movie Maker.

I wonder why the shortcut to Windows Movie Maker  was removed in the first place?

One of the clients I work with has a web developer that implemented Microsoft Live Analytics last year, and Firefox users are seeing an SSL error when they visit their site.

I’ve been remiss in even reporting this because I keep assuming they’re going to fix it, but nobody seems to have noticed, and it’s been two months now.

I have not yet used their Microsoft Analytics, because frankly, there’s already enough discrepancy between their two versions of Live Stats, (.asp .net) and their Google Analytics.

Regardless, did their Web developer miss an e-mail telling him he had to change the code, or is there something really wrong with the security certificate?

Here’s a copy of the message –

If you hit “Examine Certificate” you get this –

And if you look at the “Details” tab, you see this:

Dear Microsoft, any ideas?

Anyone know much about Live Analytics? Does it offer additional insights that can’t be found elsewhere? For example, will it tell show me the bounce rate by browser type?

Google Analytics does…

I can’t share this particular domain name here – Does anyone know of another website they could check this on that’s running Microsoft Analytics? I don’t.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I have avoided Windows Vista since it first came out.

Although I’m a Microsoft Action Pack subscriber and received my first version of Vista well over a year ago, I’ve continued to function in an XP environment not only because it works, but because I KNOW it.

I spend far too many waking hours using a computer to take the time to learn something new if it’s not a Macintosh completely necessary, especially when the majority of the world seems to agree that Vista pretty much stinks.

Just like I did with Windows ME, my intention was to skip it entirely, or at least wait a couple of years until Vista service pack 3 gets undoubtedly had things working properly.

Stuck with Vista for Christmas
Since my wife’s computer died about a year ago, she’s been happily using my laptop, which I rarely need to use myself.

This past few months though, I’ve been out of town so much that she’s really found it to be inconvenient to have to go into my home office to use my desktop. She’s mentioned in a couple of times now, so I figured, “Hey there’s a Christmas gift idea” so I’m happy to do it.

I began looking about two weeks ago for something I could buy, and my plan was to simply wipe it out and put on my own legal copy of Windows XP.

Unfortunately, of the four different sub $600 models which I had narrowed down , not a single one of them was compatible with Windows XP.

Had I been smart about it I would’ve pre-ordered something from Dell and paid the extra money to “downgrade” to Windows XP, but here it is December 20, and the time has come where Vista really is a necessary evil.

So, yesterday I got an amazing deal on a laptop with two gigs of RAM at Best Buy, with a 160 gig hard drive, and Intel Dual core Duo processor, and a 15+ inch widescreen. All that for 429 bucks – so this morning I set about the task of getting it ready to as a Christmas gift.

Since my initial plan to give it a Vista-ectomy was out the window, all I had to do was transfer all her data from her latest backup over to the new computer, then reinstall her software, and I’d be back in business.

It really should’ve taken less time, but there are quite a few things that are so dramatically different in Vista that it was quite a learning experience.

It’s no longer “Mine”
The first thing I noticed was that there is no more “My” anything. It took me awhile to get used to calling them My Folders, but I do, and I don’t intend to stop. I guess the reason they got rid of it was because it did sound pretty stupid when you verbalizr the name of a file in the “Scott’s My Documents My Datasources folder”, but I’ve gotten used to it

Workgroup Settings
Getting it on the wireless Internet was pretty easy, but getting it on my home network was a challenge. I used to know what I was doing in peer to peer networking, but in Vista, I felt completely lost.

In Windows XP, joining a network was simple, because “Network” did not mean your wireless home Internet connection. Apparently Microsoft has redefined what the average person thinks of as a “network”, so it took me a while to figure out how to change the workgroup name, to get the new computer on our home network for file sharing.

In the end, I was able to go to the… Umm… “Button formerly known as Start” – and highlight the word “Computer”, then right click Properties. Poking aroung there and finding network options got me nowhere, but I was able to click on a link called “advanced system properties”.

From there I was able to will go to the left tab, “Computer Name” and I could see the name of my workgroup that I wanted to change, and a button to “Change” the actual name of the computer. By deciding to rename the computer, by deciding to rename the computer, I accidentally stumbled across the way to change the name of the workgroup.

I’m sure this is not how Microsoft intended me to find it, but I found it and renamed it to our home network workgroup, and a subsequent reboot brought up all of my local network files computers and folders. Hooray!

File Structure Completely Changed – Again
Everything is in a different place with Windows Vista, and that’s extremely frustrating.

In changing from the Windows 98/98 environment to XP, Microsoft trained us to use what I call the “Documents and Settings” structure. I’m sure there’s an official name for it, but I think you know what I’m talking about.

In the old 95/98 environment everything was in one folder and was pretty simple to figure out.

Then in Windows XP, “Everybody’s stuff” got organized by user in the C:\Documents and Settings folder and from there you could get to each individuals documents, desktop, favorites etc.

There were suddenly multiple folders to hassle with, and although it made structural sense, you had to actually know how to UN-hide files in Windows to get to any individual Application Data or Local Settings.

The simple task of reinstalling and importing your old Outlook became a complicated IT task for newbies, but we accepted it because we had to. Fine.

Now along comes Windows Vista, where just like with Office 2007, they have made changes for no apparent reason, that so far, at least in my first couple of hours dinking with it, seem to benefit nobody.

It’s almost as if (again like Office 2007) things were rearranged because somebody had nothing better to do, and millions of people are forced to learn something over again for no reason.

So, the file structure in Windows Vista is c:/users/username, and all the file folders inside are named differently too, with “My” everything now missing. This means my elaborate and detailed pain free back up and restore software won’t work easily, and so I’m now manually moving all of her stuff over as I write this.

Luckily for me, my wife and I planned to spend the day shopping together, but we’re completely stranded at the bottom of a steep unplowed hill in a rare Portland snow & ice storm, and so have nothing better to do than learn Vista on this last weekend before Christmas.

Oh, the things we do for the ones we love… Merry Christmas.

This week, Microsoft announced the launch of “Live Mesh” which is going to be their answer to the ultimate computer-nirvana goal of accessing everything you have, from anywhere you may be.

Your files, email, pictures, documents, music, and basically your whole life, can be instantly accessible from anywhere you happen to be, as long as you have an internet connection.

There are already people doing this with other programs, but Microsoft sees another revenue opportunity, so the’tve launched the Microsoft Mesh website, and sent out some private invitations. Here’s a first look at Mesh by a brave pioneer.

The first thing I thought when I heard this was, “what marketing genius thought up that name?” Can’t you hear the inevitable jokes about people blaming lost information and missed appointments etc. on their “Microsoft Mess”?

The second thing I thought was, “Why would I put even more opportunity for frustration into Microsoft’s hands” ? Personally, if I were to get an invitation to this program, I’m afraid it’s one I would have to decline.

Time after time Microsoft has frustrated us all,  in my case most recently with the incredibly stupid office 2007.   The last thing I would ever want to do is to put even more reliance on the Microsoft operating system or any of their software.

Yes Microsoft was really the innovator that brought computers to the world, but because they were the only kid on the block, they’ve maintained an arrogant indifference to what users have complained about.

For years we haven’t been screaming for more features, we have been screaming for the existing stuff to just work the way it’s supposed to, for crying out loud!

(Did you ever wonder how virus and spyware prevention could NOT be an integral part of the Microsoft operating system? It’s because we let them, and because we had no other choice.)

“Computing from the cloud” means being able to access all of your data in all of your files no matter where you are, as long as you have an Internet connection.  Putting all of this responsibility into Microsofts hands seems like it would be a foolish choice on my part.

I have tried to give myself as much versatility as possible, and through a redundant series of file and document backups, I’m not only able to get back up quickly after disastrous computer crashes (link) but I’m also able to work efficiently from wherever I may be located.

I carry a small portable hard drive of 250 gigs in my laptop case, and I synch it nightly with my office documents folder.

However, that’s not computing from the cloud, and in my case, I’m still in the stone age. When I get back to my office, any changes I may have made to certain documents must be transferred.

Since I still use Outlook in a POP3 setup, any mail I have responded to or not consciously saved for my other PC will not appear at work until I synch things up again with a cable, exporting my sent items folder.

If I were really “computing from the cloud”, I could borrow anyone’s laptop and login somewhere that everything is available. Cloud computing means that no matter where you are, all of your documents, your files, your folders, and someday even your software applications will be accessible wherever you are.

On May 27th, Scott Hanselman will be presenting about cloud computing at the Oregon Computer Consultants Association meeting, which is free and open to the public (You should come).

When we originally discussed organizing a “cloud computing” program, Scott Hanselman came to mind because we knew from an earlier presentation that he had taken his whole family off of Microsoft Office, and put them into Google docs and GMail.

Now however, Scott works at Microsoft, so it will be interesting to see if he’s still an open-source proponent, or if he’s planning t oplace his family into Microsoft Mesh.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the day when I can REALLY be computing from the cloud, and before the end of the summer I intend to have a good handle on Amazon’s web services, and I’ll have a laptop installed with the gOS operating system, exclusively using word processor, spread sheets and presentation software from  Google Docs, I’ll use Google Calendar for all of my appointments, I’ll use the Firefox web browser, and not much else.  As soon as I can have a compatible Android phone,  then I’ll be pretty much done with Microsoft products.

Why don’t I fear placing all of my valuable data in Google’s hands, like I do with Microsoft?  Well, think for a minute… when is the last time you did something at a Google property that failed to work, or caused you to lose time or data?   Exactly.

Last night I was working ofn a few things on my wifes laptop while we were watching a TV show, and like always, I didn’t “put everything away” and I left a Notepad document open with a few notes, and a few browser windows.

This morning when I got up, I went to the laptop to “get my stuff” and found that Microsoft had seized control overnight and rebooted my computer.

This is because, like most people, I leave my computers set to update automatically. Most of my hard core tech friends scoff at automatic updates, but for me, I know they’ll just never get done otherwise.

I REALLY wanted to recover my work, so I had to sort through the browser history and try to remember and recreate what I was working on. What a pain in the neck.

Doesn’t it make you wonder why some updates are SO important that they have to shut down my computer without saving my documents? If I try to manually reboot while accidentally leaving a Notepad document open, Windows won’t even let me, but when THEY want to reboot me, too bad, goodbye document.

A different option could be chosen for auto-updates, but none of them give me what I need, which is, “download and install Windows updates, but don’t force a reboot of my computer”.

Long ago I ran across the somution to this problem, but had never implemented it on my wifes laptop. So, thanks to this article, here are the steps to performing the deed.

**WARNING*** – I take no responsibility for you hacking away incorrectly in your registry, but I can verify that it worked on my desktop.

Running any version of XP prior to Service Pack 2? Back up your registry, then add or change this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Policies\ Microsoft\ Windows\ WindowsUpdate\AU

If it doesn’t already exist, create the DWord value “NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers”. Set it to 0 if you want Windows to automatically restart, or 1 to prevent automatic restart. Then exit and reboot your computer. The result: As long as users are logged on the system, it won’t take matters into its own hands.

Post-XP SP2, one user reports success at disabling automatic restarting after updates on XP Home by:

1. Disabling Windows Automatic Updates;
2. Opening Task Manager (by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del);
3. Ending all instances of wuauclt.exe, then;
4. Making the registry changes noted above.

Once Service Pack 2 is installed, XP Pro, 2000 and 2003 users can stop automatic reboots by editing Group Policy. Start the Group Policy editor, select Windows Update in the Windows Components portion of the Administrative Template, and choose No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations.

* update 7/2008 - If you’re not sure how use Group Policy editor, I wrote another post on Stopping Windows Automatic reboots for users of XP Service Pack 2

This morning it looks like Microsoft is offering 44.6 billion dollars to buy Yahoo. Holy Cow. That’s a far cry from the usual things I see when I browse my morning Twitter feed.

Actually, I’ve been wondering what’s taken them so long, since it’s clear they’re not going to get decent market share any other way.

You can read the gory details here, while I go try and register Microsahoo.com…

I found something else to hate about office 2007 recently as I attempted to add a contact to Outlook, this time on a newly configured laptop.

Like I usually would, I right clicked on the e-mail address of the person who sent me the message, and chose “Add to Contacts”. I added the necessary information, and immediately upon attempting to save, I was greeted with this dialog box asking me to insert the area code of my location, which I had no use for.

When I attempted to cancel, the dialog box simply opened again, forcing me to enter the zip code. When I read the secondary dialog box more closely, it actually says “some applications will respond to canceling this box by immediately reposting it”.

Apparently, “some applications” would include Microsoft Outlook 2007, so anyone running a computer without an active dialup modem, (umm – like most people these days) will see this message.

It’s pretty funny to me that they would create a custom error message warning us of the potential problem I may have by canceling the action, as opposed to just fixing it.

In previous versions of MS Office, it was possible to modify your “save attachment as” dialog box with folders that you prefer, but in Office 2007, that option appeared to be gone thanks to this blog post I now know how to do it in the current version of Office.

All you have to do is browse to the folder you wish to add, then right-click in the blank area below your icons on the left, when “Add [Folder Name] will appear, and you can choose that option instantly adding it to your dialog box.

Since formatting my computer and reinstalling Office 2007, I’ve not been able to figure out this option, and been frustrated. I probably should have added it to my article, “things to hate about office 2007“.

By also right clicking and choosing “small icons” I can now more easily access my desired places to save things… Nice!

Sorry, here’s another quick thing that sucks about Office 2007, this time in Outlook. (There are so many things to hate in Office 2007 that I’ve added now added MS Office to my blog as it’s own subcategory of Microsoft for future rants.)

A client emails me back their end of month report – right click the attachment, choose “save as” and I get “Cannot Save The Attachment”

Why not? Who knows? I don’t have time to guess, Microsoft.

The file is not corrupt, I was able to rename it and save, but if I were the average user of Office in a non-tech industry, I’d probably have to call or email my IT guy, so he could tell me to:

right click – save as – append the file name before the extension with an edit – like…
filename.xls becomes filename-new.xls

Then , I might ultimately figure out on my own that it was because I had a document already open with that name, and that had wasted a bunch of time

Do you suppose many of the problems users have been experiencing with Office 2007 will be fixed now, with the release of the Office 2007 Service Pack 1 ? Call me a skeptic, but i’m not gettign my hopes up.

I am, however, downloading it as we speak, because at this point I’ll try just about ANYTHING to fix some of the things I hate about Office 2007

Live Search is finally showing backlink counts and locations again. In March of 2007, Microsoft announced that they were no longer able to support backlink checks through their search platform.

The reason (they said) was because they noticed too many automated queries, and they claimed that they would be “doing our best to get this back online as soon as possible…” but they never seemed to get around to it until now.

I’m not sure what they’ve done to eliminate automated queries, (and in fact to me it looks like they they didn’t do anything), but it appears to be fixed, although it operates just a little bit differently.
Tthe big difference? You now have to put a “+” sign in front of the link: or linkdomain: command and it’s now working again…

+linkdomain:domain.com or +link:domain.com

Nice! (or “big deal!” depending on the mood you’re in…

As I feared, I’m now in my hotel trying to download 26 megs of mail on my (far too slow) Verizon Wireless Broadband service. Before I left, I forgot to limit my file attachment size for download.

Once it’s finally done, I’ll do the following in Outlook 2007 to make sure I don’t get hung up like this again:

Choose Tools – Options – select the Mail Setup tab

click the Send/Receive rectangular button – select the group on the left, then select the Edit button.

By default, “Download complete item including attachments” is selected, but you can change the settings to Download only headers for items larger than X“

Pick the size you’re willing to tolerate for X, and save.

For now, I guess I’ll go down to the casino, because it’s going to be a long long time… (thanks Verizon)