Bits of Tech

After loading Windows 7 RC on my MacBook in BootCamp, I noticed that the partition shows up on the Mac OS desktop. I leave the icons for hard drives on the desktop, but since I don’t use the Windows partition from inside OS X, I was looking for a way to hide it from the desktop.

After digging around on Google a bit, I found a few ways to do it. The easiest of which is to simply log into your Windows environment and rename the C drive to something like .Windows. This works because UNIX- and Linux-based systems assume that any file or folder beginning with a . (period) are meant to be hidden. The advantage to this method is the change doesn’t cause the partition not to be mounted, so it’s still accessible if you want to copy files from the NTFS partition.

Another method, which I came across on Chris Brewer’s Garbage In, Garbage Out blog, uses a command line program from Apple’s developer tools called SetFile to hide the partition. Have a look at the post here: BootCamp: Hide a Windows XP volume on Mac desktop. Keep in mind that to use this method, you will have to install Apple’s Developer Tools, available for download from Apple’s website or from the DVD’s that came with your new Mac.

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This afternoon, Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update. It is now available via Software Update and as a standalone installer in the Downloads section of the Apple website.

From the Apple website: The Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update is recommended for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. For detailed information about security updates, please visit this website.

I started to download the update via Software Update, but the download was fairly slow—it would have taken roughly 2 hours to download. I quickly gave up on Software Update and grabbed the update from the Apple Downloads site. This download was very quick. I averaged 2.0MB/s—yes, that’s Megabytes—on my 20Mbps cable modem. The update from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7 weighs in around 440MB, so if you’d like to get it installed this evening, I’d suggest using the Apple Downloads site. Links provided below.

About the Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3397

Standalone Update (from 10.5.6):
http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_7_Update

Standalone Combo Update (from any previous 10.5 version):
http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_7_Combo_Update

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Anyone who uses a computer for work or personal use on a regular basis has a group of preferred programs to use. Some of us have some programs mandated by our employers, and some of us are free to choose what programs—or even computing platforms—we use. I’m lucky enough to be employed by a company that allows employees to choose what programs they use for the most part.

In no particular order, here are the 10 programs/software packages I absolutely cannot live without. I use both Windows Vista and Mac OS X, so you’ll find programs from both platforms in my list. To keep this post short and not take up too much of your time reading it, I won’t go into too much detail as to why each program has made it onto this list. You can rest assured though, I will save that detail for individual posts later.

1. Microsoft Outlook 2007 (Windows)
   While we use Microsoft Exchange 2007 as our email server platform at work and Outlook is the best way to go for an Exchange client, I could use any POP3/SMTP or IMAP capable client to check my email. Even given this choice, I stick with Outlook 2007. I prefer Outlook because of the tight integration with Exchange, and because it has everything I need—email, calendar, tasks, and notes—all in one package.
2. Trillian (4.0 beta) (Windows)
   I have been a Trillian user since their early days, and haven’t bothered with other IM clients. Trillian Pro allows me to use my two primary instant messaging platforms—AIM and Yahoo!—without having two programs running. I’ve been testing 4.0 (Astra) since it entered alpha stage, and now in it’s beta stage. Even in it’s alpha form, Trillian 4 has proven itself a stable and full-featured IM client.
3. Windows Live Writer 2009 (Windows)
   While I’ve only just started blogging, Windows Live Writer has quickly become my remote publishing client of choice for my WordPress blog. It’s clean interface and ease of use has claimed it spot on my most frequently used programs list.
4. PuTTY (Windows)
   I use PuTTY to manage all of the Cisco network gear I work with, as well as to log into the Ubuntu server in my office. It’s a very simple, yet powerful SSH client that just works. It has the ability to connect to telnet, SSH, and even Serial clients, and also has the ability to save connection profiles.
5. Launchy (Windows)
   Launchy is an open-source Windows alternative to the Mac app, Quicksilver. It allows for keyboard launching of programs, opening documents, and even custom triggers. It has a plug-in architecture and there are quite a few useful plug-ins available. I use it in conjunction with the PuTTY plug-in, which allows me to open an SSH session to a host using the keyboard shortcut to invoke Launchy and then type ssh hostname followed by the enter key. I also use a custom trigger that allows me to launch Microsoft Remote Desktop connections via the Launchy interface.
6. Quicksilver (Mac)
   Quicksilver is a very powerful keyboard launcher for Mac. At the moment, I haven’t delved too deep in setting it up on my machine. I’m only using Quicksilver as a keyboard launcher. I have quite a few applications that I don’t keep in my dock, but use somewhat regularly. It’s handy to be able to easily launch an application by invoking Quicksilver and typing the first few letters of the name. I’m sure it’s capable of much more, but I haven’t really played with it beyond that.
7. Tweetie (Mac)
   Tweetie is by far my favorite Twitter client out of all of the options available for Mac and PC. It’s slick interface is both great looking and easy to use. Multiple account support is great, and you can choose from a number of URL shortening and picture sharing services. All in all a great looking, feature packed client. The folks at Atebits definitely put a lot of thought into this app.
8. Firefox (PC & Mac)
   Firefox is my browser of choice, though Internet Explorer 8 is a close second. The extensibility of Firefox is the clincher for me. Having the ability to add functionality to the browser via extensions is an enormous advantage over IE. A few of the extensions I use are GMail Notifier, Greasemonkey, Right-Click-Link, Google Redesigned, Extended Statusbar, Delicious Bookmarks, and PDF Download.
9. VNC (PC & Mac)
   I use UltraVNC on my PC, and Chicken of the VNC on my Mac. Having the ability to remote control PC’s is an absolute must in my job. We load UltraVNC Server on each of the desktop and notebook PC’s at my company, and we use OSXvnc as the VNC server on the single Mac at each location. Being able to control PC’s or Mac’s from either platform is a big help as well, so I don’t have to have a particular computer with me to provide support.
10. SplashID iPhone & Desktop (iPhone, PC, Mac)
    Between my personal data from online banking, credit card websites, forums, and other sites, to my business needs for multiple logon accounts, service accounts, and other passwords, SplashID remembers them all. I have a copy of the desktop version on my PC and another on my Mac, and I routinely sync between the three. I got hooked on password managers back when I used CryptMagic on my old BlackBerry, but since moving to the iPhone, I settled on SplashID since it most closely resembled CryptMagic. The fact that it’s available on both Mac & PC was the deal-maker for me, as I routinely use both platforms.

So there you have it, my list of the 10 programs/software packages that I can’t live without. If there’s a piece of software you can’t live without, I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment and I’ll be sure to check it out.

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After Microsoft released Office 2007 Service Pack 2, I wanted to avoid having to install Office 2007 and then perform another installation for SP2. Luckily, Microsoft has made this very easy to do with Office 2007 as compared to earlier versions. No special tools required!

A little information about how this works: Your Office 2007 media has a folder called Updates in it. Any *.msp update files copied into that folder will be installed during the Office 2007 install, but after the suite is installed. The SP2 “fullfile” installer is just a self-extracting archive containing all the source *.msp files needed for the update. So, by copying these files into the Updates folder, you’re getting an Office 2007 install with SP2 integrated.

To integrate SP2, first you need to copy your install media to a local folder. To do this, create a folder in your C drive called Office 2007. Now, copy everything from the root of your Office 2007 install media to C:\Office 2007. Your Office 2007 folder should look similar to the image below.

Now, you need to obtain a copy of the SP2 installer. You can download the service pack from the Microsoft Download Center. Save the installer to the root of your C drive. Once you’ve downloaded the file, integrating the service pack is as simple as running one command from the command line.

Open up the command line, navigate to your C drive, and enter the following command. If you saved your Office 2007 install media and/or SP2 file to a different path, make sure you make the appropriate substitutions. Also, if there are spaces in your path, be sure to enclose the path in quotes, as shown below.

office2007sp2-kb953195-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:”C:\Office 2007\Updates”

Hit enter, then you’ll be prompted to accept the license agreement. If you agree to the terms, check off Click here to accept the Microsoft Software License Terms, then click Continue.

When the files have been extracted, click OK on the window notifying you that the installation is complete. Navigate to C:\Office 2007\Updates. Your folder should look similar to the image below.

You’re almost done! All that’s left now is create your install media. If you’re going to be installing from a network point, just copy your Office 2007 folder to the network share you plan to install from. If you plan to install from DVD—the resulting folder will likely be just over 800MB—you’ll need to create a new DVD project in your favorite DVD burning software, then drag the contents of the Office 2007 folder into your DVD project. Burn your disc, and you’re ready to install Office 2007 with SP2 integrated.

If you’ve found this post helpful, please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Bits of Tech! My name is Bill, and I’m an IT Infrastructure team member working for the North Atlantic Region of a Fortune 500 company. I’ve decided to start this blog to share tips & tricks that help make my job easier, solutions to problems I’ve encountered, and other general IT-related information.

I know there are tons of other IT and computer-related blogs out there, but I feel one can never have too much information at their fingertips, and I love to share knowledge so I’m joining the fray. I hope in the coming months I can provide readers with valuable information that will be helpful with home and work computer projects and tasks.

If you share my passion for all things electronic and would like to contribute to Bits of IT, please feel free to shoot me an email at bill (at) bitsoftech.net.

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