Auxiliary Memory

This error occurs on Windows (Win7 64-bit in my case) after an iTunes update.  I have had to fix this two or three times now.  I do the install, but on the next reboot I get a popup titled AppleSyncNotifier.exe – Entry Point Not Found.  The message in the popup is:

The procedure entry point sqlite3_clear_bindings
could not be located in the dynamic link
library SQLite3.dll.

To fix it, copy SQLite3.dll from

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support

to

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support

It looks like other people might get slightly different errors, so you may need to copy other DLLs also.

My guess as to what is happening here is that putting a copy of the DLLs with the Apple software causes the Apple software to use that copy.  Otherwise it gets whichever  version of the DLL comes up first in the system search path.  Since many tools use some of these support libraries, it’s a bit of a crap shoot.

The last time I had to fix this problem, The How-To Geeg blog article here helped me remember what to do.

We have some Toshiba USB drives whose power-saving feature puts them to sleep at inconvenient times. The spinning down and spinning up can make some long-running jobs take a lot longer. Fortunately, Toshiba has a utility that will turn off the sleep function. You can download it here.

If Mr. Spock had a big flat panel screen instead of being forced to look into a slot in a cereal box, he would have used APOD Wallpaper for his desktop background.  The Astronomy Picture of the Day website features a daily different collection of photons collected from the far reaches of the universe.  The awe-inspiring images from the depths of space are occasionally interspersed with space-related pictures of objects closer to home.  And each one comes with an explanation that adds to the wonderment.

You could visit the APOD website each day.  Or better,  Windows users can run the APOD Wallpaper app and receive a different breathtaking image on your desktop background each morning.  The app puts a little icon of the planet Jupiter in your Systray.  Right mousing on Jupiter pops up a menu that will bring up the APOD Wallpaper settings, show you the astronomer’s explanation of the day’s image, or take you to the APOD website.

The app is easy to install.  It comes in a Zip file.  Just unzip it into a convenient location (such as c:\Program Files\APOD), and run it.  In the Settings you can tell it to automatically run when Windows starts.  There are a couple of other Windows apps that do nearly the same thing.  Linux and Mac users have several choices, too.

3DS is an aging binary interchange format for 3D models. OBJ is another aging, but ASCII-based format for 3D models.

Here is a simple Python script that converts one or more files from 3DS format to OBJ format using Blender:

# Convert 3ds to obj using Blender
#
# Run as follows:
#   blender -b dummy.blend -P bl_3ds2obj.py -- file.3ds ...
#
# dummy.blend is just an empty Blender file needed as an argument.
# Put one or more .3ds files on the end of the command.
# The .obj files will be created with the same name (and path) as
# the .3ds file, but with the .obj extension.
# The export creates a .mtl file for each .obj file also.

import bpy
import sys
import os.path

for i in range(1, len(sys.argv)):
    if sys.argv[i] == "--":
        break

for file in sys.argv[i+1:]:
    # Start with an empty scene
    bpy.ops.object.select_all(action="SELECT")
    bpy.ops.object.delete()

    # Read a .3ds file
    bpy.ops.import_scene.autodesk_3ds(filepath=file)

    # Write a .obj file
    outfile = os.path.splitext(file)[0]+".obj"
    bpy.ops.export_scene.obj(filepath=outfile)

Save the script code in a file named blender_3ds2obj.py.  You will also need a Blender file to use as a placeholder in the command line.  You can save an empty file from Blender, or use an existing one.  Assume it is called dummy.blend.

To convert 3DS files, use the following command:

blender -b dummy.blend -P bl_3ds2obj.py -- file1.3ds file2.3ds file3.3ds

Tack on as many 3DS files to the end of the command as you want.

Note:  This assumes that dummy.blend and bl_3ds2obj.py are in the same folder as your 3DS files.  If not, you will need to specify the proper path to each.

I am eagerly awaiting a fix for the Windows 7 bug that causes the Windows Explorer tree view to jump after you expand a node in the tree. Very irritating. The bug has been there since the first release of Win 7.

I had hoped the fix would be in SP1, but no. Let’s annoy Microsoft right back by voting to get this bug fixed.

Update:

I am cautiously optimistic that the workaround from Michael Noxfeld on 1-18-2012 may actually have fixed this problem!  It could just reappear on the next reboot, but I can always hope…

Click on the link to go to the bug page, then click on the Workarounds tab and scroll down a ways to find it.

I still prefer the command line for many tasks. Sometimes it’s just faster. It can be a deterrent if you want to run some commands in a deeply nested folder, however. So I like the “Open Command Prompt Here” feature, which can be made available in Windows Explorer’s folder context menus.

In Windows 7 it is there, but hidden. Hold the Shift key and right mouse on a folder to see the context menu entry. In Windows Vista it is half there. Holding Shift while displaying the context menu only shows the hidden entry in the righthand pane of the Explorer Window. Prior to Vista, you need to use PowerToys or edit the registry to add the context menu item.

There is more information here.

In a Windows CMD window you can type the following command:

TASKLIST /SVC /FI "IMAGENAME EQ SVCHOST.EXE"

to see what is being run by the various svchost.exe processes.

I was trying to track down what was using half my CPU when the machine should be idle. I was very thankful to find this blog entry. Turns out the culprit is the Pml Driver HPZ12 for my networked HP printer, which seems to put my machine into this state, maybe after someone has scanned documents and saved them onto a PC on the network.

Recently I needed a Python fix, Monty Python that is. I tried to watch the Spanish Inquisition on Netflix. Firefox (3.6) kept saying the Silverlight plug-in has crashed. Reinstalling Silverlight did not help. Luckily, someone else had already solved this one.  Silverlight would not run because the Windows Tablet PC Input Service was disabled.  I figured I did not have a tablet PC and was not using pen input.  Silly me.

I re-enabled the service and started it.  Silverlight ran fine after that.

I just learned this one: to get the text of cross references in your MS Word document to update (say you inserted another table and it changed the numbering of your Table captions), do a Print Preview… then close the preview window. Sigh. And that after a lot of time spent looking for an Update Cross References button. Also, searching in the Word help for “update cross references” turned up nothing.

This trick was part of number 6 of Ten things every Microsoft Word user should know.  Users shouldn’t have to know this.

Follow-up:  Others report that you can Ctrl-A to select the whole document, then press F9 to update the references.

I have occasionally found it necessary to have a program start when I log in to my Windows desktop, but with Admin privileges.   A little Google searching turned up this procedure for Windows Vista.  I assume it works the same or very similarly for Windows 7.  Because it is a bit mystical, I have been living in fear that the website with the instructions will disappear and I will never again be able to successfully set up a task in the task scheduler to run with Admin privileges, so I have copied the instructions here, with all credit due to the original author at Thomas’ Developer Blog.

To begin you have to start by removing that program from start up.

1) Run > msconfig
2) Click the Startup Tab
3) Scroll down until you find that pesky program giving you issues
4) Note the location and see if it is HKLM or HKCU

Open up regedit
1) Run > regedit
2) If it is HKLM go to HKey_Local_Machine otherwise it should be HKey_Current_User
3) Go to HKLM/HKCU > Software > Windows > Current Version > Run
4) Find that pesky program, right click, and delete that string value (the ab icon thing)

After that you need to go to task scheduler
1) go to: Start > Program Files > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler
2) Under actions context at the top click “create task…”

Under create task
1) Give it a name (I choose the name of the program
2) Make sure you select run only when user is logged on
3) Check “Run with highest privileges
4) Go to the triggers tab
5) Click New
6) From the drop down select at log on
7) Make sure everything is unchecked EXCEPT “enabled” and click OK
8 ) Click Actions tab
9) Click New
10) Select Start a Program from the dropdownlist
11) Browse for the program you want to start
12) Click OK
13) Click Settings Tab
14) Check Allow task to be run on demand
15) Check Run task asap after a scheduled start is missed
16) Uncheck “Stop the task if it runs longer than:”
17) Uncheck “If the task is not scheduled to run again…”  (note that you can check this if you want, but only if you don’t plan to run the program again after a set time)
18 ) Make sure “Do not start a new instance” is selected from the drop down list at the bottom
19) Click OK
20) Restart and it should be working just fine