- Setting the PC time after a system reset [9/23/15]. After I've done a reset, I've found that the time zone and/or time itself is off. This may manifest itself in unusual ways. For example, after a reset on my workhorse notebook PC I checked my online gmail account, the most recent messages showed a timestamp off by hours. I scanned the gmail forums and stumbled across a note to check the properties of the system time display at the right end of the tray. This was not obvious because the time looked fine, but when I checked the properties, I saw it listed PDT vs. the relevant EDT zone setting. And changing the time zone advanced the correct wall time by 3 hours. The solution is to use the Internet Time option to sync the PC (after you've set the correct time zone). The navigation to the desired target Internet Time pane may differ by version of Windows; on my Windows 10 PC I click on date and time settings link under the month view after clicking the time display in the tray. I then click on the "different clock" link on the bottom of the settings page which brings up the target 3-pane display; Internet time is the third/rightmost pane. (There may be alternate easier pathways, but this sequence works for me.) I then click on the Change Settings button. Here's the key point: I think the default setting is time.microsoft.com. For some reason, that setting has never worked for me; there is a menu dropdown, and I typically select time.nist.gov. This has generally resolved my system clock issues.
- Windows Update History in Windows 10. [10/18/15]. Granted, I knew there would be nuances to Windows Update in Windows 10. Probably the biggest from a user's perspective is that it's no longer accessed via Control Panel but as the trailing option (Updates & Security) under Settings, which you can select from the lower left region of the start menu (Window icon at the bottom low corner of your screen). Microsoft has largely automated the update process, but there are ways to manually configure things. Frequently updates require PC reboots to make certain file changes or execute processes, and one way you'll know that Microsoft has updated automatically is that by default, you will get up a reboot scheduling popup. (I have backup PC's, also on Windows 10, so after I update my primary PC, I'll usually manually check for updates on the others after updates have been completed on my primary system.) What bothered me was an inconsistency of how to review applied patches. Under Control Panel Windows Update there was a left menu panel option to review patch history; there is no comparable interface in the Windows 10 version. I eventually discovered that if you click the Advanced Options link at the bottom of the Updates screen (which allows you to reconfigure Update functionality), there is an update history link on the Advanced Options page (in the "Choose How Updates Are Installed" region). (I personally find the placement/grouping somewhat nonintuitive.)
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Miscellanous Notes on PC Annoyances
[Editor's Note: This is not intended to be a final post; I expect to add to the initial post over time. Last update 10/18/15.]
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Microsoft OneNote: A Nice Freeware Tool
There are a couple of free (for personal use) PC tools/apps that I've relied on over the last few years: Local Website Archive, which allowed me to store copies of webpages, and Readability, a utility which declutters a webpage. (I should note that it looks like Aignes recently revised LWA, and I have not test-installed it yet. LWA, like Thunderbird, stores data in the user account AppData folder; a typical restore would be to install the application on the target PC and then (with the application down) restore the relevant backup directory to the target directory. I ran into minor usability issues (e.g., browser/URL integration) beyond the scope of this post and more recently started saving pdf copies of webpages which were more universally viewable and convertible.) Readability gets rid of the distracting ads on a webpage (and you can do a pdf-print of the result, which is convenient, because it embeds the original webpage link). Readability also has a free online account where you can store articles for later viewing and also allows you to email article links to your account.
Microsoft has a free OneNote desktop utility (see onenote.com) with integrated online notebook access that synchronizes nicely with OneDrive and a browser plugin, OneNote Clipper. Now it's beyond the scope of this post to describe all of its functionality, but I simply want to point out one sample application, an integration of what I've been using it for, which combines the functionality. Basically think of a notebook as a collection of categories called sections (Your default notebook could have a single section called QuickNotes; you can easily rename your notebook name and sections and add sections.) I would add a number of webpage categories: e.g., tech tips, health, recipes, politics, news, email (which I'll discuss shortly), and some catchall section, say misc.
Now when I come across something of interest, e.g., I wanted to import my Google calendar data for my thumbdrive portable PIM, a simple Google search yielded a short clippable procedure. I invoke my OneNote Clipper icon to the right of my browser address bar, if necessary, log onto One Note Online, then click on the region select icon, click and drag the mouse over the relevant summary on the Google search page, and then choose to store the clip in the tech tips section of my notebook (via the menu arrow). If for some reason I'm in a hurry and don't have time to create a new section for the clip, I could save it to my misc section and later create the section and drag-and-drop the clip from my misc section to the new section.
There are other options for the Clipper. Suppose that I really liked George Will's current Washington Post column posted online. I can choose the Article option of the Clipper and the result is similar to a Readability declutter of the webpage. I then store it in the politics section of my notebook. (There are subtle differences between OneNote online and the desktop application: the sections are vertically stacked online but horizontally tabbed on the desktop).
Finally, there's a convenient way to send emails to OneNote from your registered email accounts. Say, for example, your travel itinerary was mailed to your primary home email account. You can simply forward your email to your OneNote account, i.e., me@onenote.com. (You first need to confirm your email account and select/activate it online and identify your target section on your OneNote configuration page, a one-time procedure. Repeat the procedure for any additional personal email accounts you wish to integrate with OneNote.) OneNote also allows you to identify a non-default section via your email header, say, for example, if you had a preexisting travel section in your notebook.
Microsoft has a free OneNote desktop utility (see onenote.com) with integrated online notebook access that synchronizes nicely with OneDrive and a browser plugin, OneNote Clipper. Now it's beyond the scope of this post to describe all of its functionality, but I simply want to point out one sample application, an integration of what I've been using it for, which combines the functionality. Basically think of a notebook as a collection of categories called sections (Your default notebook could have a single section called QuickNotes; you can easily rename your notebook name and sections and add sections.) I would add a number of webpage categories: e.g., tech tips, health, recipes, politics, news, email (which I'll discuss shortly), and some catchall section, say misc.
Now when I come across something of interest, e.g., I wanted to import my Google calendar data for my thumbdrive portable PIM, a simple Google search yielded a short clippable procedure. I invoke my OneNote Clipper icon to the right of my browser address bar, if necessary, log onto One Note Online, then click on the region select icon, click and drag the mouse over the relevant summary on the Google search page, and then choose to store the clip in the tech tips section of my notebook (via the menu arrow). If for some reason I'm in a hurry and don't have time to create a new section for the clip, I could save it to my misc section and later create the section and drag-and-drop the clip from my misc section to the new section.
There are other options for the Clipper. Suppose that I really liked George Will's current Washington Post column posted online. I can choose the Article option of the Clipper and the result is similar to a Readability declutter of the webpage. I then store it in the politics section of my notebook. (There are subtle differences between OneNote online and the desktop application: the sections are vertically stacked online but horizontally tabbed on the desktop).
Finally, there's a convenient way to send emails to OneNote from your registered email accounts. Say, for example, your travel itinerary was mailed to your primary home email account. You can simply forward your email to your OneNote account, i.e., me@onenote.com. (You first need to confirm your email account and select/activate it online and identify your target section on your OneNote configuration page, a one-time procedure. Repeat the procedure for any additional personal email accounts you wish to integrate with OneNote.) OneNote also allows you to identify a non-default section via your email header, say, for example, if you had a preexisting travel section in your notebook.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Goodbye to an Old Favorite: AskSam
I have multiple PC's, but my primary workhorse recently had to be reset, which means going back to the factory settings (more usable in the sense I don't have to find the PC's operating system's CD's or DVD's). This reset required two upgrades and over 200 Microsoft updates--and then there are all the applications one has to reinstall from scratch, retrieve workfiles (e.g., my email folders) from backups, etc.
There are only a few commercial applications I license, including various security, and there are sometimes quirks in how licenses are implemented, because the vendors may sometimes see the owners as showing the license in use (i.e., before the system reset). For example, I had to deal with one tech support analyst who heatedly said I was at fault for not deactivating the license.Of course, I might have done that--if and when I knew the system wasn't going to reboot.
But there is one product I have licensed ever since I was on the UWM faculty several years ago, before Windows 3--a fairly unique program called a freeform database named AskSam. It allows you to create databases in a very flexible manner, with defined fields or blank/freeform text; AskSam also provides a number of templates and enables you to import all sorts of files, e.g., emails, documents, pdf's, html files, etc.
To describe the full functionality is beyond the scope of this post; suffice it to say one has powerful searching and reporting functionality (including mail-merge). My principal use has been for email. The search capability is analogous to Google-like search capabilities. I normally create separate files corresponding to archived email folders. Let me provide a simple example. I have one file for outgoing correspondence. I occasionally ran into issues with Thunderbird import functionality, but my workaround was to use Thunderbird add-on functionality to convert emails into html or txt format. The Thunderbird functionality allowed the use of fields (such as date). The html file imports had to searched like freeform text. So, for instance, if I wanted to look at the emails I sent in April of this year I might enter something like 4/?/2015 or 4/??/2015 in the search field. I need the phone number for my point of contact with an IT staffing firm or the license key for my security software from the vendor file to do a reinstall. With a few keywords, I don't have to scan and reread a number of emails to find the information I want. I periodically update my files as a redundancy check on my email folders.
So I once again had to search for my AskSam software, when it occurred to me that AskSam Systems hadn't sent me a promotional email in a while; I think the last time I contacted them was over a Thunderbird import bug. I had steadily upgraded the software through version 7. I wondered if they had come out with version 8 and tried accessing their website. No splash screen within a reasonable period of time. I then did a Google search, looked at their Facebook page--and it seems as if they just disappeared about 2-3 years back. I found a couple of online forums discussing the issue--unacknowledged emails to tech support, abandoned forms, no responses to phone calls. I haven't found any notice of the company ceasing operations (maybe an artifact of my Google search), but a competing product describes itself as "suitable alternative for the discontinued free-form database tool AskSam.".
I wouldn't say I'm completely surprised because I also used the Google Desktop product before it was discontinued a few years back; they claimed, given the increasing focus on cloud-based services, the project was an effort of diminishing returns and importance.
Of course, I have backups of the software and license code. Here are some products I've installed which provide related functionality:
There are only a few commercial applications I license, including various security, and there are sometimes quirks in how licenses are implemented, because the vendors may sometimes see the owners as showing the license in use (i.e., before the system reset). For example, I had to deal with one tech support analyst who heatedly said I was at fault for not deactivating the license.Of course, I might have done that--if and when I knew the system wasn't going to reboot.
But there is one product I have licensed ever since I was on the UWM faculty several years ago, before Windows 3--a fairly unique program called a freeform database named AskSam. It allows you to create databases in a very flexible manner, with defined fields or blank/freeform text; AskSam also provides a number of templates and enables you to import all sorts of files, e.g., emails, documents, pdf's, html files, etc.
To describe the full functionality is beyond the scope of this post; suffice it to say one has powerful searching and reporting functionality (including mail-merge). My principal use has been for email. The search capability is analogous to Google-like search capabilities. I normally create separate files corresponding to archived email folders. Let me provide a simple example. I have one file for outgoing correspondence. I occasionally ran into issues with Thunderbird import functionality, but my workaround was to use Thunderbird add-on functionality to convert emails into html or txt format. The Thunderbird functionality allowed the use of fields (such as date). The html file imports had to searched like freeform text. So, for instance, if I wanted to look at the emails I sent in April of this year I might enter something like 4/?/2015 or 4/??/2015 in the search field. I need the phone number for my point of contact with an IT staffing firm or the license key for my security software from the vendor file to do a reinstall. With a few keywords, I don't have to scan and reread a number of emails to find the information I want. I periodically update my files as a redundancy check on my email folders.
So I once again had to search for my AskSam software, when it occurred to me that AskSam Systems hadn't sent me a promotional email in a while; I think the last time I contacted them was over a Thunderbird import bug. I had steadily upgraded the software through version 7. I wondered if they had come out with version 8 and tried accessing their website. No splash screen within a reasonable period of time. I then did a Google search, looked at their Facebook page--and it seems as if they just disappeared about 2-3 years back. I found a couple of online forums discussing the issue--unacknowledged emails to tech support, abandoned forms, no responses to phone calls. I haven't found any notice of the company ceasing operations (maybe an artifact of my Google search), but a competing product describes itself as "suitable alternative for the discontinued free-form database tool AskSam.".
I wouldn't say I'm completely surprised because I also used the Google Desktop product before it was discontinued a few years back; they claimed, given the increasing focus on cloud-based services, the project was an effort of diminishing returns and importance.
Of course, I have backups of the software and license code. Here are some products I've installed which provide related functionality:
- everything (voidtools): freeware that searches on filenames
- docfetcher (sourceforge): freeware that works on certain desktop file types similar to AskSam functionality; you don't have to import the files in application files but you may need to manually build/update indexes.
One product, MyInfo, claims to be similar in nature and in fact offers an AskSam import plugin (see above link). Note that I have not licensed and validated the vendor's claims.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
A Mozilla Thunderbird Issue With Saved Passwords
Now I hesitate to publish fixes to technical issues that could well go away with the next patched update or release. But part of the reason I'm doing these posts is to chronicle issues, in part because it's useful in looking at usability issues in the context of user design or even stimulate ideas for new products or utilities. Another useful concept in problem solving is to adapt an old mathematics approach to proving theorems--reduce the problem to an already proven theorem rather than reinvent the wheel from scratch.
Let me illustrate with a simple example . I usually maintain a personal music library with iTunes, and for years I've owned Shuffles; I would typically painstakingly create playlists selected from thousands of licensed songs downloaded to the Shuffles for when I exercise, go shopping, etc. The Shuffle integrates with the iTunes interface (although I've had occasional problems when it didn't seem to recognize that the Shuffle was attached to my PC), and it was relatively simple to fill (and randomize song sequence) from playlists. Playlist functionality has always been lacking in my experience; it's fairly easy to create a playlist (e.g., favorites, Christmas, genre, etc.) and to add individual songs to playlists, but it's a fairly tedious procedure; it would help, for instance, if you could import, export, clone or merge playlists and/or work with user-defined song tags. I think I mentioned in a signature miscellany political blog post there was a problem with my last Shuffle, and for some reason I didn't find where they were being sold at my local Wal-Mart, but I did find an MP3 player with more capacity at about a third of the cost. Of course, my new player didn't interface with iTunes. I could, of course, locate and copy individual song files to the device, but this can be cumbersome without having some playlist script to locate and download to the player. There may be a freeware tool that does what I wanted, but I didn't stumble across one. It also wasn't clear how I could import playlists across alternative music players which could access my new device. And then I discovered one I've used in the past, MediaMonkey, would read in my iTunes playlists when it scanned my music library, and it was fairly easy to select all the songs in a playlist and download them to my device. It would be nice if either the player or the device allowed randomization of selected songs, but the bigger issue was song selection.
There are other usability issue annoyances. For example, on a recent iTunes upgrade, I found that the tutorial kept starting up, even after I completed it. Now granted, all it took was a mouse click to turn it off, but it gets old over time; you should only see it run once and then let you start it up from the menu, which is what I've seen with other software. I've also found that toggling to and from the mini-player (reduced iTunes) doesn't work well as least on my Windows 8.1 machine.
But enough of Apple; I think in part I'm picking on them because they have a public reputation for usability. I recall a while back I was in contact with some Apple employee, and she really wasn't that receptive to my product feedback and suggestions, "not invented here" syndrome. The current issue is somewhat similar to the spawned tutorial issue. I used to use Outlook Express until it was desupported in favor of Windows Mail. I had chronic latency issues with Windows Mail loading my legacy emails (in the thousands). I refuse to pay extra for a Microsoft Outlook upgrade and discovered Mozilla Thunderbird was a suitable replacement; I've been a user of Thunderbird ever since.
The current issue deals with the handling of SMTP (outgoing mail) servers for 2 of 3 external email accounts configured in Thunderbird. When you run the wizards (Tools/Account Settings/Add a New Email), you input your email login and password and may then be presented with a pop/imap choice for incoming emails. Now these accounts/passwords are stored/available through Tools/Options/Security table. You can optionally (recommended) create a master password so unauthorized people can't find the passwords to your email accounts.
Here's the usability context: if your account/password is not stored, you will be prompted for the password depending on whether you are downloading or sending mail. Usually it's a one-time event per session (meaning, say, if you are writing/sending a second email and the SMTP server is in question, it will "remember" the password). If you download/send mail from multiple accounts, you can find yourself being prompted for passwords (beyond the master) every time you bring up Thunderbird. It's not a big deal but annoying especially since that's the reason you have a password repository to begin with. Now in theory you're supposed to get a checkbox allowing you to store the password in the repository, but I've gotten no checkbox, and a relevant tweak of the configuration described on the Mozilla website does not seem to resolve the issue, at least for the current release.
In short, I discovered recently when I dropped and recreated my accounts (e.g., in one case I had configured IMAP vs. POP and IMAP was downloading redundant and/or spam category emails), only one of the email accounts had a saved SMTP account. The wizards did save the IMAP/POP accounts.
A word about the repository: it has more limited functionality, aimed more at removing accounts. One obvious issue is what happens when you change your external email password? In theory, you should be able to edit the password within the repository and/or replace the password if and when you get prompted for the password if your stored password is rejected. (It may well be your best alternative is simply to drop and recreate the account when you change the passord.) But in the current scenario, there is no way to insert, say, a missing SMTP account into the repository, so if any replace/add account functionality fails when you are prompted the first time you send an email through an affected configuration, you're stuck. Never mind the fact the repository already has your account password from your IMAP/POP account anyway (which is a different usability problem: you have separate incoming and outgoing records for the same account/password).
The reality is, even though I don't think you should have separate account password records for incoming/outgoing email services, that determines whether or not you get prompted for retrieving or sending emails, other than invalid passwords in the repository. What I found last night is there is a good developer's add on called "saved password editor" from Daniel Dawson which has the fix I was looking for. It provided a pickbox at the bottom of the saved password repository allowing you to add entries (with other functionality as well). You get a form with a radio selection tab at the top, and I've had success through the annotated option. The format is smtp://[smtp_servername] , e.g., smtp://smtp.googlemail.com; if you don't know your target server name, scan down the bottom of Tools/Account Settings, select Outgoing Server (SMTP); to the right you should see a picklist of SMTP server names and more detailed configuration settings below the highlighted server name. I've entered the same string in the first and third lines (the second line, for a prefix used in the other option,is probably greyed out) and enter the account and password on the following couple of labeled lines. I normally then bring Thunderbird down and then back up--and now I don't get prompted for any of my 3 accounts when I send out emails.
For the benefit of other Thunderbird users, I've found these other add ons useful as well:
Let me illustrate with a simple example . I usually maintain a personal music library with iTunes, and for years I've owned Shuffles; I would typically painstakingly create playlists selected from thousands of licensed songs downloaded to the Shuffles for when I exercise, go shopping, etc. The Shuffle integrates with the iTunes interface (although I've had occasional problems when it didn't seem to recognize that the Shuffle was attached to my PC), and it was relatively simple to fill (and randomize song sequence) from playlists. Playlist functionality has always been lacking in my experience; it's fairly easy to create a playlist (e.g., favorites, Christmas, genre, etc.) and to add individual songs to playlists, but it's a fairly tedious procedure; it would help, for instance, if you could import, export, clone or merge playlists and/or work with user-defined song tags. I think I mentioned in a signature miscellany political blog post there was a problem with my last Shuffle, and for some reason I didn't find where they were being sold at my local Wal-Mart, but I did find an MP3 player with more capacity at about a third of the cost. Of course, my new player didn't interface with iTunes. I could, of course, locate and copy individual song files to the device, but this can be cumbersome without having some playlist script to locate and download to the player. There may be a freeware tool that does what I wanted, but I didn't stumble across one. It also wasn't clear how I could import playlists across alternative music players which could access my new device. And then I discovered one I've used in the past, MediaMonkey, would read in my iTunes playlists when it scanned my music library, and it was fairly easy to select all the songs in a playlist and download them to my device. It would be nice if either the player or the device allowed randomization of selected songs, but the bigger issue was song selection.
There are other usability issue annoyances. For example, on a recent iTunes upgrade, I found that the tutorial kept starting up, even after I completed it. Now granted, all it took was a mouse click to turn it off, but it gets old over time; you should only see it run once and then let you start it up from the menu, which is what I've seen with other software. I've also found that toggling to and from the mini-player (reduced iTunes) doesn't work well as least on my Windows 8.1 machine.
But enough of Apple; I think in part I'm picking on them because they have a public reputation for usability. I recall a while back I was in contact with some Apple employee, and she really wasn't that receptive to my product feedback and suggestions, "not invented here" syndrome. The current issue is somewhat similar to the spawned tutorial issue. I used to use Outlook Express until it was desupported in favor of Windows Mail. I had chronic latency issues with Windows Mail loading my legacy emails (in the thousands). I refuse to pay extra for a Microsoft Outlook upgrade and discovered Mozilla Thunderbird was a suitable replacement; I've been a user of Thunderbird ever since.
The current issue deals with the handling of SMTP (outgoing mail) servers for 2 of 3 external email accounts configured in Thunderbird. When you run the wizards (Tools/Account Settings/Add a New Email), you input your email login and password and may then be presented with a pop/imap choice for incoming emails. Now these accounts/passwords are stored/available through Tools/Options/Security table. You can optionally (recommended) create a master password so unauthorized people can't find the passwords to your email accounts.
Here's the usability context: if your account/password is not stored, you will be prompted for the password depending on whether you are downloading or sending mail. Usually it's a one-time event per session (meaning, say, if you are writing/sending a second email and the SMTP server is in question, it will "remember" the password). If you download/send mail from multiple accounts, you can find yourself being prompted for passwords (beyond the master) every time you bring up Thunderbird. It's not a big deal but annoying especially since that's the reason you have a password repository to begin with. Now in theory you're supposed to get a checkbox allowing you to store the password in the repository, but I've gotten no checkbox, and a relevant tweak of the configuration described on the Mozilla website does not seem to resolve the issue, at least for the current release.
In short, I discovered recently when I dropped and recreated my accounts (e.g., in one case I had configured IMAP vs. POP and IMAP was downloading redundant and/or spam category emails), only one of the email accounts had a saved SMTP account. The wizards did save the IMAP/POP accounts.
A word about the repository: it has more limited functionality, aimed more at removing accounts. One obvious issue is what happens when you change your external email password? In theory, you should be able to edit the password within the repository and/or replace the password if and when you get prompted for the password if your stored password is rejected. (It may well be your best alternative is simply to drop and recreate the account when you change the passord.) But in the current scenario, there is no way to insert, say, a missing SMTP account into the repository, so if any replace/add account functionality fails when you are prompted the first time you send an email through an affected configuration, you're stuck. Never mind the fact the repository already has your account password from your IMAP/POP account anyway (which is a different usability problem: you have separate incoming and outgoing records for the same account/password).
The reality is, even though I don't think you should have separate account password records for incoming/outgoing email services, that determines whether or not you get prompted for retrieving or sending emails, other than invalid passwords in the repository. What I found last night is there is a good developer's add on called "saved password editor" from Daniel Dawson which has the fix I was looking for. It provided a pickbox at the bottom of the saved password repository allowing you to add entries (with other functionality as well). You get a form with a radio selection tab at the top, and I've had success through the annotated option. The format is smtp://[smtp_servername] , e.g., smtp://smtp.googlemail.com; if you don't know your target server name, scan down the bottom of Tools/Account Settings, select Outgoing Server (SMTP); to the right you should see a picklist of SMTP server names and more detailed configuration settings below the highlighted server name. I've entered the same string in the first and third lines (the second line, for a prefix used in the other option,is probably greyed out) and enter the account and password on the following couple of labeled lines. I normally then bring Thunderbird down and then back up--and now I don't get prompted for any of my 3 accounts when I send out emails.
For the benefit of other Thunderbird users, I've found these other add ons useful as well:
- ImportExport Tools
- Lightning
- Nostalgy
- Remove Duplicate Messages
Sunday, November 2, 2014
My First Experience with a Garmin GPS Device
I think my Dad had bought me a GPS unit a few years back for Christmas, but it got set aside because of other priorities, I was typically driving to familiar places and it probably ended up in a moving box. I had an early model Magellan which basically worked in connection with a PC and street mapping software, not very usable from my perspective.
For the most part, I've normally used mapping portals from Mapquest, Yahoo, and/or Google. But there are some irritating nuances. I missed 3 job interviews in Baltimore and Delaware because of bad or misleading directions. For example, one of those told me to follow an I-95 exit to a T-intersection, and instead I found myself merging into a coastal highway. I've had several problems in the past with computerized directions--for example, on a trip to Reading, PA, the printed directions suggested that I should follow a side road for 3 miles, but it was more like 15 miles; I thought I had somehow overshot my target. I think in some cases there have been directional problems, like the maps had me turn right, instead of left; what would tip me off was I noticed I was heading into a rural area.
Of course, people often give rotten directions. I like to have signposts; many times I won't see a street name, for example, today I was told to take a left on Jackson, and I inferred it was the next one-way street. My favorite example was a job interview in Irving, TX several years back. A lot of the buildings were well off the main street and the building/street number wasn't legible. I eventually discovered that my target had a massive fountain with mounted horsemen in front of it. In visiting one sister the first time I had to slow at each side street; there was a yellow traffic sign near the border of her corner lot. Another time I missed an interview was in a Baltimore suburb; there was a cluster of similarly named streets, like Oak Street, Oak Lane, Oak Ave., Oak Drive. After driving around for 15 minutes, I called my interview contact who couldn't help me and ended up cancelling the interview.
I think the first time I heard one of those GPS units with spoken directions was in a Chicago taxicab. There are some nuanced differences in the dialogs, e.g., I've heard some units say, "Take your next left." (I've noticed mine will simply emphasize "Take a left on XYZ Drive".)
I ordered my Garmin unit from a factory outlet; it supposedly came with a lifetime subscription of map updates. My first major issue was that Garmin had unified everything from registration to software install/updates with an application called Garmin Express. (Speaking of registration, all I recall was the application asking for my email address; I do recall getting an email notification. At some point I was having to install a Chrome communicator plugin to utilize Dashboard functionality, but I notice even though it picks up device details, I still see a big registration button which seems to suggest the device isn't registered.)
The big issue, though, was the fact that Garmin Express didn't seem to be able to download my necessary map. When I clicked on the detail link, it showed 0 bytes downloaded, even after several minutes. I really didn't find this issue addressed in searches on the Garmin site, but at some point I ran a Google search, and some forum contributor in an older post suggested that a Garmin utility Garmin Map Updater had resolved similar issues and gave a download link. Long story short, this resolved my basic download problem.
I didn't find a lot of practical guidance, e.g., the unit may require X amount of time of USB charging, (I haven't found or noticed a charge status indicator, e.g., the unit is fully charged or there's a limited time of operation available). I didn't find a lot on operating the interface, but it was fairly easy to pick up operating the touchscreen interface. I love the fact that there are single button options for gas stations and restaurants in your area with relevant map links.
I've lived at my current address for only a few months and never had to go to a local post office, but I had some business papers that needed to go Express Mail over the weekend. It was past 4 PM before the paperwork was ready, and I knew I was cutting it close, but decided to do a trial use of my device to find the local post offices. Ironically it showed one just up the street from me, so I set out to go to that one vs. downtown. Long story short, the device told me to take a left--and I suspect I made a wrong turn (too early?) It was very clear that I was driving away from the intended target, but I never got an error message of the nature "Stop! You made the wrong turn; turn around." I'm not sure whether it was simply looking for other post offices in the direction I was driving. But I soon find myself driving through small towns I didn't know and it had me at points driving down windy, narrow, crappy roads little more than dirt and loose gravel. At some point I connected into a road it identified as Husky Highway--a familiar road that I knew by its route number, but it was an unfamiliar stretch and furthemore I was driving north, away from home. At some point I knew that my post office destination wasn't going to happen that day, and I simply wanted to find my way back home. For some reason the device had me turn at a cul de sac leading to some gated plant and obscurely suggest that I make a U-turn. It then told me to take a left (south) on Husky Highway. What was somewhat amusing was that it told me to make a stop at a certain 7-11. Looking to my left, I saw a flagpole at a building on the left--obviously the town's post office. At some point I reset my search for home. At one point I was probably 25-30 miles north of home. The rest of the drive was uneventful--I was relieved simply to see a mileage marker for my town. What's amusing is that it messed up just as I got to my local T-intersection; it told me to take a right and then an immediate right--it's actually a left and there is no right for some distance down the road.
I chalk it up to a learning experience; I came very close to stopping and asking someone for directions, which would have been embarrassing. The weather was also drizzly. I may have made some wrong turns along the way. I definitely didn't like it having me drive narrow crappy roads out in the sticks. I would have appreciated some kind of error feedback and some verbal clues of the type "Look to make your next right...We are approaching the target, slow down now." On a side note, I did make it to the town's main post office today using the device; I did try to retrace the allegedly nearby post office going from the other direction, but I seemed to find myself at a Knights of Columbus hall. But I'll probably bring a printout from Google Maps with me on future trips until I get more familiar with the Garmin device functionality.
For the most part, I've normally used mapping portals from Mapquest, Yahoo, and/or Google. But there are some irritating nuances. I missed 3 job interviews in Baltimore and Delaware because of bad or misleading directions. For example, one of those told me to follow an I-95 exit to a T-intersection, and instead I found myself merging into a coastal highway. I've had several problems in the past with computerized directions--for example, on a trip to Reading, PA, the printed directions suggested that I should follow a side road for 3 miles, but it was more like 15 miles; I thought I had somehow overshot my target. I think in some cases there have been directional problems, like the maps had me turn right, instead of left; what would tip me off was I noticed I was heading into a rural area.
Of course, people often give rotten directions. I like to have signposts; many times I won't see a street name, for example, today I was told to take a left on Jackson, and I inferred it was the next one-way street. My favorite example was a job interview in Irving, TX several years back. A lot of the buildings were well off the main street and the building/street number wasn't legible. I eventually discovered that my target had a massive fountain with mounted horsemen in front of it. In visiting one sister the first time I had to slow at each side street; there was a yellow traffic sign near the border of her corner lot. Another time I missed an interview was in a Baltimore suburb; there was a cluster of similarly named streets, like Oak Street, Oak Lane, Oak Ave., Oak Drive. After driving around for 15 minutes, I called my interview contact who couldn't help me and ended up cancelling the interview.
I think the first time I heard one of those GPS units with spoken directions was in a Chicago taxicab. There are some nuanced differences in the dialogs, e.g., I've heard some units say, "Take your next left." (I've noticed mine will simply emphasize "Take a left on XYZ Drive".)
I ordered my Garmin unit from a factory outlet; it supposedly came with a lifetime subscription of map updates. My first major issue was that Garmin had unified everything from registration to software install/updates with an application called Garmin Express. (Speaking of registration, all I recall was the application asking for my email address; I do recall getting an email notification. At some point I was having to install a Chrome communicator plugin to utilize Dashboard functionality, but I notice even though it picks up device details, I still see a big registration button which seems to suggest the device isn't registered.)
The big issue, though, was the fact that Garmin Express didn't seem to be able to download my necessary map. When I clicked on the detail link, it showed 0 bytes downloaded, even after several minutes. I really didn't find this issue addressed in searches on the Garmin site, but at some point I ran a Google search, and some forum contributor in an older post suggested that a Garmin utility Garmin Map Updater had resolved similar issues and gave a download link. Long story short, this resolved my basic download problem.
I didn't find a lot of practical guidance, e.g., the unit may require X amount of time of USB charging, (I haven't found or noticed a charge status indicator, e.g., the unit is fully charged or there's a limited time of operation available). I didn't find a lot on operating the interface, but it was fairly easy to pick up operating the touchscreen interface. I love the fact that there are single button options for gas stations and restaurants in your area with relevant map links.
I've lived at my current address for only a few months and never had to go to a local post office, but I had some business papers that needed to go Express Mail over the weekend. It was past 4 PM before the paperwork was ready, and I knew I was cutting it close, but decided to do a trial use of my device to find the local post offices. Ironically it showed one just up the street from me, so I set out to go to that one vs. downtown. Long story short, the device told me to take a left--and I suspect I made a wrong turn (too early?) It was very clear that I was driving away from the intended target, but I never got an error message of the nature "Stop! You made the wrong turn; turn around." I'm not sure whether it was simply looking for other post offices in the direction I was driving. But I soon find myself driving through small towns I didn't know and it had me at points driving down windy, narrow, crappy roads little more than dirt and loose gravel. At some point I connected into a road it identified as Husky Highway--a familiar road that I knew by its route number, but it was an unfamiliar stretch and furthemore I was driving north, away from home. At some point I knew that my post office destination wasn't going to happen that day, and I simply wanted to find my way back home. For some reason the device had me turn at a cul de sac leading to some gated plant and obscurely suggest that I make a U-turn. It then told me to take a left (south) on Husky Highway. What was somewhat amusing was that it told me to make a stop at a certain 7-11. Looking to my left, I saw a flagpole at a building on the left--obviously the town's post office. At some point I reset my search for home. At one point I was probably 25-30 miles north of home. The rest of the drive was uneventful--I was relieved simply to see a mileage marker for my town. What's amusing is that it messed up just as I got to my local T-intersection; it told me to take a right and then an immediate right--it's actually a left and there is no right for some distance down the road.
I chalk it up to a learning experience; I came very close to stopping and asking someone for directions, which would have been embarrassing. The weather was also drizzly. I may have made some wrong turns along the way. I definitely didn't like it having me drive narrow crappy roads out in the sticks. I would have appreciated some kind of error feedback and some verbal clues of the type "Look to make your next right...We are approaching the target, slow down now." On a side note, I did make it to the town's main post office today using the device; I did try to retrace the allegedly nearby post office going from the other direction, but I seemed to find myself at a Knights of Columbus hall. But I'll probably bring a printout from Google Maps with me on future trips until I get more familiar with the Garmin device functionality.
Friday, July 19, 2013
A Note on AVG Safe Search and Google Chrome New Tab
One usability problem I've found with installing PC freeware products is piggyback installs of other products. (I suspect this is a way of sponsoring certain distribution costs of the base product) . I was updating a popular PDF writer utility; I remember specifically opting out of at least one optional install, but somehow I missed any opt-out for AVG Safe Search toolbar. This is not a reflection on the intrinsic worthiness of AVG products, but I prefer to install products directly.
The first indication that I had unintentionally installed the toolbar was when I opened a new Chrome tab and found myself facing an AVG version of a Google search home page. I went to my extensions page and removed a relevant extension but even after restarting the browser, same issue. I went to my browser search list and removed AVG, but the problem persisted.
I did a Google search and found a cluster of similar issues. There was a link to an AVG home page on browser add-on removal; nothing useful there, except I noticed they referenced the Tools versus Settings menu (probably a Google menu reconfiguration, a different usability issue); I found it annoying that AVG hadn't updated its webpage accordingly, but I was more annoyed there was nothing useful there.
It dawned on me maybe the toolbar software wasn't removed, and I checked my Control Panel Programs and Features. Sure enough, I found the toolbar there and uninstalled. This resolved the issue; I now saw my expected New Tab look.
The first indication that I had unintentionally installed the toolbar was when I opened a new Chrome tab and found myself facing an AVG version of a Google search home page. I went to my extensions page and removed a relevant extension but even after restarting the browser, same issue. I went to my browser search list and removed AVG, but the problem persisted.
I did a Google search and found a cluster of similar issues. There was a link to an AVG home page on browser add-on removal; nothing useful there, except I noticed they referenced the Tools versus Settings menu (probably a Google menu reconfiguration, a different usability issue); I found it annoying that AVG hadn't updated its webpage accordingly, but I was more annoyed there was nothing useful there.
It dawned on me maybe the toolbar software wasn't removed, and I checked my Control Panel Programs and Features. Sure enough, I found the toolbar there and uninstalled. This resolved the issue; I now saw my expected New Tab look.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
A Wireless Keyboard/Touchpad, Software, and Usability
I have always liked touchpads. To me, they are intuitive to use, not unlike a toaster, and certain operations like tapping to click seem natural. I don't recall explicitly learning that I could tap to click; perhaps it was an inference from mouse click operations: I could, say, point the cursor at a close box to select it and then tap the box, closing the window or tab.
I had recently replaced my malfunctioning Microsoft wireless keyboard with a new compact Logitech 400r. I liked it, although the undersized right shift key required some getting used to. I liked the fact like many peripheral devices, after I installed the receiver into an available USB port, Windows could pull down the driver from the Internet, and the keyboard was immediately available, functionality as expected.
All went well until one day I discovered, for unknown reasons, touchpad tapping no longer clicked on selected objects. I could still click by using embedded mouse buttons below the touchpad.
I found a note on Logitech's website that referenced some user actions might result in disabling the tap to click functionality and could be toggled back on through touchpad options via the mouse tab through its related SetPoint software. I did not have SetPoint installed, so I had to download it from the Logitech website. The only problem was that once I installed the SetPoint software, I had a new problem: I didn't see the device tabs the Logitech fix presupposed.
I noticed that this was a common problem experienced by Logitech customers going back a few years. Logitech had a related problem report and suggested uninstalling and reinstalling SetPoint software, which I tried a couple of times, including the self-contained version in the event there was an Internet download issue, re-boots after uninstalls, etc. Still no device tab.
What turned out to solve the problem for me was a tip from elmoputz here. Basically you have to unpair (logically disconnect) the existing keyboard set in the SetPoint Unifying Receiver software and physically toggle the keyboard off and on (switch on the right side of the keyboard top edge). (If necessary, pair the keyboard back with the receiver.)
At some point after this, I now saw my keyboard and mouse tabs. I don't believe this resolved my original tap-to-click issue, and I was surprised to see the tap to click option was toggled on in SetPoint. I tried resetting the option, which I believe did finally resolve my problem.
There are some obvious lessons here. The manufacturer tech support website is an extension of the device's usability, and the suggestion to reinstall software should be a last-resort option. When that fails to work, the vendor's credibility is in question. Also, when users are posting questions on non-manufacturer websites and the same issues persist over time, service issues can adversely affect the vendor's reputation and repeat business.
I had recently replaced my malfunctioning Microsoft wireless keyboard with a new compact Logitech 400r. I liked it, although the undersized right shift key required some getting used to. I liked the fact like many peripheral devices, after I installed the receiver into an available USB port, Windows could pull down the driver from the Internet, and the keyboard was immediately available, functionality as expected.
All went well until one day I discovered, for unknown reasons, touchpad tapping no longer clicked on selected objects. I could still click by using embedded mouse buttons below the touchpad.
I found a note on Logitech's website that referenced some user actions might result in disabling the tap to click functionality and could be toggled back on through touchpad options via the mouse tab through its related SetPoint software. I did not have SetPoint installed, so I had to download it from the Logitech website. The only problem was that once I installed the SetPoint software, I had a new problem: I didn't see the device tabs the Logitech fix presupposed.
I noticed that this was a common problem experienced by Logitech customers going back a few years. Logitech had a related problem report and suggested uninstalling and reinstalling SetPoint software, which I tried a couple of times, including the self-contained version in the event there was an Internet download issue, re-boots after uninstalls, etc. Still no device tab.
What turned out to solve the problem for me was a tip from elmoputz here. Basically you have to unpair (logically disconnect) the existing keyboard set in the SetPoint Unifying Receiver software and physically toggle the keyboard off and on (switch on the right side of the keyboard top edge). (If necessary, pair the keyboard back with the receiver.)
At some point after this, I now saw my keyboard and mouse tabs. I don't believe this resolved my original tap-to-click issue, and I was surprised to see the tap to click option was toggled on in SetPoint. I tried resetting the option, which I believe did finally resolve my problem.
There are some obvious lessons here. The manufacturer tech support website is an extension of the device's usability, and the suggestion to reinstall software should be a last-resort option. When that fails to work, the vendor's credibility is in question. Also, when users are posting questions on non-manufacturer websites and the same issues persist over time, service issues can adversely affect the vendor's reputation and repeat business.
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