File association hell - File Types Change Grayed out

Ever encounter a really screwed up system where the file association sucks? For example, opening a ZIP file, it goes ahead and launches Acrobat reader... Ya, I think you know what I mean. And worse of all, not everyone has the power to go change it in the registry and ever so it may not solve the problem at all.

According to various forum, one way to save it is to set:

"NoFileAssociate" value DWORD=0
at these two keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explore
r
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\policies\Explor
er


But if you notice, when you run regedit in admin mode, the current_user is admin, and not whatever user you may be. Also, let's say you do not even have admin right, then what? Come to think of it, how the hell did you manage to mess it up so badly?

If you are not admin and you manage to mess it up, it can only mean that you have the power and thus the responsibility to set it right. I am going to show you one of the way which I found out that works.

Find one of those file you need to associate. Create a fake one if you have to. Right click on it, Property.
Now, do you see the change button there? I had tried even in non-admin mode that the button is not disabled. So go ahead and use that to change it to whatever you need.

Another way which did not work for me is to go to any explorer window. Tool->Folder Option. Click on the File Types tab and there you can see the buttons Change as well. But for my non-admin case, the button is disabled and getting it enable is more trouble than worth it.

In any case, I hope this helps you. Drop me a comment if you find it useful.

Enable tab auto complete in command prompt

Often I come across PC which does not have the "tab" auto complete enabled and it can be very frustrating to work with. Actually I just realized that Microsoft even has a KB to guide you through getting this fixed.

Enable "tab" autocomplete in (DOS) command prompt:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310530

I figured its better for me to blog it here so that I can easily access this information when I need it.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. To enable automatic completion for the computer, locate and click theHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor key.
3. To enable automatic completion for the current user, locate and click theHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor key.
4. For folder name completion, double-click the CompletionChar value. Type in hexadecimal the control character that you want to use.
   
   For example, if you want to use the TAB key as the control character, the control character is 0x9 (type 9 as the value; Windows converts it to hexadecimal). If you want to use the same control characters that you use for a single command session, type 0x4 for CTRL+D and 0x6 for CTRL+F. You can use the same control character for both folder and file name completion.
5. For file name completion, double-click the PathCompletionChar value. Type in hexadecimal the control character that you want to use.
   
   For example, if you want to use the TAB key as the control character, the control character is 0x9 (type 9 as the value; Windows converts it to hexadecimal). If you want to use the same control characters that you use for a single command session, type 0x4 for CTRL+D and 0x6 for CTRL+F. You can use the same control character for both folder and file name completion.
6. Quit Registry Editor.

Flash Player 11 download fail at 12% AGAIN

It seems that that download issue for Flash Player still haunts some of of us. I had talked about it for Flash Player 10:
http://nemesisv.blogspot.com/2011/08/12-timeout-downloading-adobe-flash.html

The most direct solution is to download the full version from Adobe's website:
http://www.adobe.com/special/products/flashplayer/fp_distribution3.html

Here are the direct links:
64 bits - IE
http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_11_active_x_64bit.exe
64 bits - Plugin
http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_11_plugin_64bit.exe

32 bits - IE
http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_11_active_x_32bit.exe
32 bits - Plugin
http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_11_plugin_32bit.exe

Again, I stress this is for Flash Player 11 ONLY. Once a newer version is out, I strangly suggest you find an updated link.

Symantec Endpoint Upgrade Error "A necessary file could not be loaded: SAVCProd"

While upgraded my Symantec Endpoint from some old version to the latest 7000 series, all a sudden I get this weird errror :

A necessary file could not be loaded: SAVCProd

It turns out its due to the email component begin changed from one folder to another causing it to be executed from the wrong place. The details can be found on the official website:

http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/necessary-file-could-not-be-loaded-savcprod

So, just take their recommendation and disable ccApp.exe to boot up and everything is fine. 

Even Java now installs spyware

Do you get a surprise when you install the latest version of Java Runtime for your browser?

Don't be. Its a documented "feature" on Sun's webpage.
http://java.com/en/download/faq/ask_toolbar.xml

Well, looks like even Java cannot be spared from bundling with spyware in order to obtain "statistic" from user. Well, they do say that there is no free lunch. Especially not from Sun.