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 David Johnston
Windows
Another Problem with Vista's Updater
November 28, 2007
I had problems again this week with the Windows Update control panel in Vista. Try as I may it would keep failing, reciting the error number 8024400D. The fix, whilst simple, is somewhat odd and is one that I don't understand. You simply have to visit the "old" Windows Update website in Internet Explorer, which then kicks you back to a working Windows Update control panel.
What the heck does the website do to my computer that the control panel can't do? People more paranoid than myself may be worried by such a thought. And why would a functioning Windows Update spontaneously decide that it didn't want to work anymore? Ah... the mystery that is Windows continues with Windows Vista.
Update! After further investigation I think this problem is caused by deleting a particular cookie. By revisiting the Windows Update website, the cookie is resent.
Windows
Enable Hibernation in Vista
November 18, 2007
If you somehow managed to switch off hibernation in Vista, probably by deleting the hiberfil.sys file using Disk Cleanup, here's how to switch it back on.
  1. Press the Windows key and type cmd followed by Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open in administrator mode.

  2. Authenticate as an administrator by clicking continue or entering your administrator password (if UAC is enabled).

  3. In the Command Prompt window, issue the command:

    powercfg –h on

  4. Close the Command Prompt window and restart.
Of course you can switch hibernation back off again by changing on to off in the above command.
Windows
Repair Vista's Icons
November 8, 2007
Yesterday my icons in Vista became all messed up. In versions of Windows previous to Vista, I'm used to using the "repair" feature in Tweak UI to repair icons. Microsoft has not released a version of PowerToys for Vista, not yet anyway, of which Tweak UI would be a part of. Well there is really easy fix that does not require any extra software.
Right-click the desktop and select...
Personalize -> Window Colour and Appearance -> Open classic appearance properties
Once there switch to "Windows Classic" and then back to "Windows Aero".
Apple
De-shelf Leopard's Dock
November 2, 2007
The Finder in 10.5 feels "snappier" than it did in 10.4 except for one thing—the Dock in the bottom position. I guess it is slowed down by the reflections seen in the shelf. If you move the dock to either side the shelf disappears, replaced by a neat looking dark translucent background with a light grey border. To enable this same appearance in the bottom position, enter the following into Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean yes
And then restart the dock using:
killall Dock
The behaviour is reversed by changing yes to no in the first command and then restarting the dock.
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