FAT32 is not fat enough

FAT32 is making its days.

If you frequently exchange data between Windows and Mac you should be aware of a relatively new file system called exFAT that extends FAT32 features.
As many of you know, NTFS would be the best choice but OS X cannot natively write on NTFS formatted volumes.

Windows prerequisites: Windows Vista onwards

Windows XP with this update Update for Windows XP (KB955704)

Mac OS prerequisites: OS X 10.6.5 onwards

More in depth explanation and links on exFAT from Microsoft knowledge base

In OS X use Disk Utility to format an external drive as exFAT.

IE8 misbehaves on virtualized Windows XP SP3 inside Virtual PC 7.0.2

A few months ago I subscribed to Microsoft TechNet Standard.

Today I installed Microsoft Virtual PC 7.0.2 onto my glorious PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz/1.5 GB, to test Windows XP Professional SP3.

The installation took quite a long time but in the end all went fine. Running XP on a PowerPC G4 is not the fastest experience, but acceptable anyway.

Next step, I updated Internet Explorer from version 6 to version 8.

I run IE8-WindowsXP-x86-ENU.exe, restarted the virtual machine, launched IE8, went along the first time run questionnaire. I don't like automatic updates, so I opted for not to let the system check for updates for IE.

Everything was in place. Time to test internet sites. I typed in the first URL that came to mind, hit return and waited for the page to load. I could see, on the status bar, the loading page progress, but I got nothing but a blank page. Tried a couple of other URLs. Same results.

What I discovered after some Google searches was that, I wasn't alone.
At first, the only resolutive suggestion I found was to uninstall IE8 and install IE7. I didn't like the idea. Tried harder and I came across this MacWindows.com post.

Now I knew that an IE patch would have fixed the issue. But which one?
Back to Google search engine I entered "Cumulative IE8 updates" into the search box. As expected, I got in return a plethora of links. I went for the first one in the list 

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP (KB969897)

and, YES, that did the trick :-)

Preventing iTunes to automatically backup your iDevice

I don't know about you, but I get very annoyed when I have to wait for iTunes to finish the backup of my iPhone or iPad. There is no option in iTunes to disable automatic backup.
Follow along this post explain how to accomplish that.

• Quit iTunes
• Open Terminal
• Type or copy and paste the line below

defaults write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

That prevent backup to happen, but allows you to manually do it at your own will 'ctrl clicking' the device icon, like in the picture

To revert the original backup behavior

defaults write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

or completely get rid of the key AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled added with defaults write

defaults delete com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled

What about if you don't even want to be able to perform a manual backup?

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

To revert the original backup behavior

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

or completely get rid of the key DeviceBackupsDisabled added with defaults write

defaults delete com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled


Footnote
I tested this hack on a Macintosh with iTunes 10.5.2 and worked as expected with iPhone 4, iPad and iPad2.

Enable FTP service in OS X Lion

OS X Lion does not have anymore the option in System Preferences, to activate the FTP server.
Fortunately the daemon is there, just dormant.

To wake it up launch Terminal and type

sudo -s launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

You can disable FTP anytime typing the following command

sudo -s launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

Enable Administrator in Windows 7

To enable the Administrator account in Windows 7, the quickest way is running a Command Prompt session with Run as administrator

At the prompt type

net user administrator /active:yes

At this point it is recommended to assign a good password.

To disable the Administrator account

net user administrator /active:no

Cables. Who cares?

A few days ago I was struggling with a desktop multifunction Samsung printer.

Everything was fine except, the scanner.

The MFP was hooked up to a PC with a USB cable.
Whenever I tried to scan a document, an error panel appeard saying Hardware I/0 error.
I removed and downloaded the latest drivers from Samsung support site without luck.

Changing the USB cable with a new, good shielded, not too long one, removed the impediment.

PowerMac G5 DP using one processor

Suddenly a PowerMac G5 Dual Processor started having kernel panic after a few minutes from start up.

It turned out that one of the two processors was faulty.

A Google search reported that in a DP PowerMac, if the first processor is damaged, usually the computer does not even boot up.

While, if it is the second, it shows the behavior I experienced.

I was able to circumvent the problem leaving the processor in its place.

To do so, you must enter Open Firmware.
Immediately after the startup sound, press and hold the key combination Command-Option-O-F
Release the keys when you see a white screen that says "Welcome to Open Firmware."

At the prompt type

setenv boot-args cpus=1

and hit return. If the syntax was correct you got an OK result.
Now type

mac-boot

hit return and the operating system boots.
I tested the reliability of the new mono PowerMac :-) by running Grapher, find the program inside Utilities folder, with a few windows drawing 3D animations for more than two hours and no crash at all.

Beware! Reissue the Open Firmware procedure if you reset PRAM