The iPad's most useful apps, updated for 2012

I previously said that the Apple iPad is only good for two things (I later added a third), but it’s really good at those things. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of the 22 most useful apps for taking advantage of the iPad’s strengths, and I’ve updated it for 2012 and the launch of the third-generation iPad.

Keep in mind that this list is skewed toward professionals and technophiles who are using the iPad on a daily basis, but I also realize that these folks tend to use tablets like the iPad for non-work stuff as well, like reading the news in the morning during breakfast or a little entertainment on the plane during a business flight.

Photo gallery

The best way to view this list is the photo gallery of screenshots of the 22 apps. But, you can also view the full text of the list below, including links to download each of the apps from the iOS App Store.

1. Flipboard

This is a 21st century newsreader based on your social graph. It displays news stories based on what’s being shared by your friends in Twitter or Facebook and auto-formats them in a newspaper-like column format. You can scan the headlines and first couple paragraphs and then click through to the site to the open the full story right in the built-in web browser in the app. (Tip: search for TechRepublic or Jason Hiner and you can set us up as one of your sections in Flipboard.)

2. Kindle

The best way to read books on the iPad is the Amazon Kindle app, mostly because it has a large selection of titles available and it does the best job of syncing between multiple devices — iPad, iPhone, Android phone, PC, Mac, and more. Of course, there are also strong alternatives such as Barnes & Noble’s Nook app and Apple’s iBooks app.

3. Documents to Go

The best way to collect, manage, and read business documents on the iPad is with Dataviz Documents to Go, which not only allows you to sync local files from your computer but also connect to cloud services such as Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync, and iDisk.

4. Things

Tablets are great for people who spend most of their days in meetings. For that crowd and everyone else who needs a task list and project planner, the best app I’ve found is Things. It’s a little expensive ($19.99 at the time I’m writing this), but I’ve tried cheaper solutions and none of them are as easy to figure out and as powerful to use as Things. It has a few limitations (syncing between multiple devices), but it does a great job of getting the process out of the way and helping you effectively track and organize your to-do items.

5. Analytics HD

One of the great ways to take advantage of the iPad as a viewer is to use it for quick glances at business dashboard metrics. This even translates to the simple task of checking traffic metrics and user info for your website. If you use Google Analytics, the Analytics HD app is a great way to view site data from the iPad. (Also see QlikView, SAP Business Objects Explorer, and Roambi.)

6. Evernote

The iPad is a surprisingly good note taker. The keyboard is about 80% as good as a laptop keyboard but the convenience of a more portable device is valuable. Evernote is a great note taking companion for the iPad, since it can auto-sync your meeting notes back to your PC and smartphone. Just keep in mind that it’s an online service and so be careful that you don’t use it for any business-sensitive data. For that stuff, you can use locally-controlled files with Apple’s built-in Notes app, for example.

7. Zite

This iPad newsreader calls itself your personal magazine and “your personal slice of the Zeitgeist.” What I love about it is that you simply pick the news categories you want to follow, plug in your Twitter and Google Reader accounts (optional) and it does an amazing job of surfacing the top stories for you, and does it in a very readable format that reflects a newspaper/magazine layout. Several times, I’ve seen a top story that I’m interested in reading from Twitter but couldn’t read it at that moment, but when I checked Zite later it had the story in its list of stories customized for me. That’s why this app is threatening to usurp Flipboard as my No. 1. newsreader on the iPad.

8. Dictionary

The iPad is arguably the best device for reading omnivores, and those users need to have a dictionary, whether it’s for looking up full definitions of words from books or articles, or playing Scrabble. There are lots of great dictionary apps (and ebooks) that you can buy for the iPad, but they are surprisingly expensive (usually between $10-$30). The Dictionary.com app is well executed and it’s free, although it has two ads that actively run on the page. You can also buy an ad-free version for $5.

9. Photoshop Touch

Apple and Adobe have clashed publicly over the iPad because of Apple’s highly-publicized decision not to include Flash. However, Adobe has now launched one of the iPad’s most powerful apps — Photoshop Touch. This multitouch photo editor draws inspiration from Adobe’s flagship Photoshop program but simplifies the process of doing cool stuff, and provides a great set of tutorials in the app itself that shows users how to achieve the coolness. While Apple has recently countered with iPhoto, which costs half of what Photoshop Touch does ($5 vs. $10), Photoshop Touch is worth the extra five bucks since it has more powerful editing tools. Oh, and it has really cool filters, too. With the third-gen iPad’s Retina Display and iCloud making it easier to access your photos from the iPad, I expect the iPad to become a more common tool for photo editing and Photoshop Touch is the best app for it.

10. Penultimate

Now that we’ve talked about the value of using the iPad for note taking, there are ways to do it that go beyond just typing things out. You can use an app like Penultimate to jot down handwritten notes and sketch out pictures and diagrams. There are several apps that can do this (such as Adobe Ideas, Ideate, and Idea Boards) but I think Penultimate is the most effective. If you get tired of using your finger as the writing device, you can get an iPad stylus like the Bamboo Stylus or the Griffin Stylus. In addition to using it for notes, I’ve even used Penultimate to sketch out an idea for a colleague in a meeting. It works great as a mini whiteboard in a coffee shop or a taxi cab.

11. iA Writer

If you want to use the iPad for note taking, journaling, or writing, then iA Writer offers a very simple solution for writing and managing your files. It is a completely bare bones word processor that can save your stuff directly to your Dropbox. Another similar program is WriteRoom ($4.99) and there’s always Apple’s own Pages ($9.99), but at $0.99 you can’t beat the price and basic capabilities of iA Writer.

12. Twitter

Twitter’s official iPad app is the best way to access Twitter and is an example of the kind of imaginative new UIs that good developers will attempt once they get grounded in touch-based tablets like the iPad. Check out the way the Twitter app exposes more or less info by sliding left and right. (Other useful Twitter apps include Osfoora and Twitterific.) The bottom line is that Twitter is an amazing real time news aggregator, as long as you follow the right people.

13. TED Talks

By far, the most inspiring app on the iPad is the TED Talks app. TED is a series of events featuring some of society’s most fascinating and innovative ideas and most influential thinkers. You’ll definitely disagree with some of them, because there’s a large diversity of opinions. But, there are a lot of talks worth listening to and they’re all free. Many of the talks are short and succinct, somewhere between 5-20 minutes.

14. ProPublica

ProPublica, a non-profit publication of investigative reporters, is doing some of the most important work in journalism today — the work that has increasingly been cut out of the profit-driven newsrooms. Plus, they have an excellent iPad app. The three column layout gives you the latest stories from ProPublica (most of which don’t make the mainstream news), the middle column links to good investigative news pieces from the mainstream media (many of the stories are buried), and the third column has ProPublica’s “Projects” or groups of stories where you can stay up to date on on-going issues. Keep in mind that ProPublica is non-profit and funded completely by donations.

15. NPR

Another one of the best iPad news apps from a media organization is the NPR app. It lets you quickly skim top stories, read related text articles, and quickly add radio/audio stories to a playlist that you can then listen to all at once.

16. The Guardian Eyewitness

A real diamond in the rough among iPad apps is The Guardian Eyewitness, which features amazing photojournalism from around the world from the popular UK news publication. The photos look fantastic on the iPad screen and provide a great way to scan through some of the most important current events on the planet.

17. Big Picture

Another great world news photo app is the Big Picture from Boston.com, a site that has had some of the web’s best news photographs and slideshows for a long time. While The Guardian Eyewitness app lets you scan world events, the Big Picture app lets you dive into them as there are full sets of photos from each event. The two apps compliment each other well and are great for visual storytelling of important news stories.

18. Rosetta Stone

The popular language software Rosetta Stone has an excellent iPad app called TOTALe HD. Unlike the Rosetta Stone iPhone app, which simply serves as a review for your full lessons on a PC or a Mac, the iPad app has basically all of the same content from the PC/Mac and delivers it in a multitouch experience. It also syncs back to the Rosetta Stone servers (for Version 4 of the software) so you can pick up right where you left off when you get back to your computer. You have to have a full license of a Rosetta Stone language pack and an online account set up in order to use the iPad app. You can’t just buy language modules directly for the iPad app.

19. The Weather Channel

Unlike the iPhone, the iPad does not come with a built-in weather app. However, The Weather Channel has filled the void with an excellent app that takes advantage of the tablet interface. I’ve never been a big fan of The Weather Channel’s desktop PC widgets, but they’ve done a great job with the iPad app.

20. NASA

Let’s face it, most geeks love space. The iPad itself was, in part, inspired by science fiction such as Star Trek. NASA has a strong tradition of sharing its space exploration advances and research and they’ve continued that tradition in multi-touch style with an excellent iPad app that lets you explore photography from satellites, see NASA’s launch schedules, research historical information about missions, and watch NASA TV live.

21. Louvre HD

The world’s most famous museum, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, has released an official iPad app that lives up to the reputation of the museum itself by providing excellent photos of 150 of the Louvre’s most popular masterpieces, chosen by the museum’s curators. It also provides a virtual tour of the Louvre itself. A friend of mine recently told me that it literally takes five weeks to see everything in the Louvre, so it’s great that this app provides a visual tour and gives you a map to help you find each of the 150 masterpieces. It also provides excellent information on the artwork and the museum itself. This is the kind of app that can enhance your real world experience of a place, or virtually take you to a place you may never visit.

22. Scrabble

I’ve been a Scrabble fan for a long time but hadn’t pulled out a board in a while when the game suddenly saw a revival in recent years in digital form, including several knock-offs such as Words with Friends. My favorite way to play digital Scrabble is the Pass’n Play mode on iPad. But the iPad also has an individual learning mode, a local network mode, Party Play (where you can use an iPhone or iPod Touch as a tile rack), and a mode where you can play against a Facebook friend. So, you can have a little fun and expand your vocabulary at the same time.

Force software to always run as admin without exposing admin password

     
I have some software that only functions right if the person has administrative permissions on the machine. I don't want to give my users the admin passwords so they can do a Run As for obvious reasons.  Is there a way to force a program to run as administrator without exposing the admin password?

The answer is yes and can be achieved using a simple command and then creating a windows shortcut.

You can create and save the shortcut on any normal users desktop. You will have to configure to run the program as Administrator / Domain Admin account and it will save the password (don't worry it will be hidden)

User who wants admin rights to run any application can now be restricted as a normal user by this workaround.

runas /savecred /user:ComputerName\UserName "Full Path of Program"

or 

runas /savecred /user:Domain\UserName "Full Path of Program"

Example:

runas /savecred /user:ComputerName\UserName "c:\Program Files\CCleaner.exe"

Create a new windows shortcut and paste this command and save the shortcut on users desktop

Once you have the shortcut created, you will need to run the shortcut from the users profile and enter the admin password (one time so that savecred saves password).

From there the user should always be opening the program/application with admin rights and not be asked for a password. 

You can even change the icon for shortcut in properties screen.

I forgot my Windows XP Administrator password?

The “admin” method” is pretty straightforward. On many Windows XP systems, especially on the Home editions preconfigured by third-party OEM manufactures like Dell and Compaq, the installation creates a user called “Administrator” with, of course, administrator group policy privileges. It creates this user so consumers can fix what they’ve messed up if locked out of their accounts. This user can only be accessed in safe more. Conveniently, it is not password protected at all!

“Administrator” User

1. Just restart the computer. In between the appearance of the BIOS POST screen and the Windows XP boot screen, alternate pressing Ctrl and F8.
2. The Windows boot menu should appear. Select any “safe mode.”
3. On the login screen, you should see “Administrator.” If you don’t, press Ctrl + Alt + Del twice and manually enter the “Administrator” in without at password.
4. Once successfully logged in, go to the “Control Panel” and make necessary modifications to the user profiles.

If you are stuck at any of these steps or if it flat-out does not work, you’ll have to switch to “Plan B” … not the morning after pill. :)


“SYSTEM” User

There are many variations of this method. Basically, you gain control of the “SYSTEM” user, which is the highest user on the power hierarchy. The two main ones involve either the windows internal scheduling system or the screensaver. There are a couple of requirements for this method. First, you will need any type of user access, be it Limited User or Guest. Second, either the scheduling system has to be enabled or the screen saver has to be configured. Lastly, Windows cannot be patched. I’m pretty sure Microsoft would have plugged the hole since this discovery was a breakthrough in the tech world last year.
“AT” Command

The “AT” command schedules the operating system to run programs automatically. For example, if you want the operating system to make a backup of a crucial file or if you want the operating system to update the dynamic DNS provider with the current IP address, “AT” is at your command. It is the windows equivalent to the *nix cron command. The loophole is who runs the program when it is time to execute it. The “SYSTEM” user runs the command instead of the original user. So, if you schedule the OS to run “cmd” in the next minute, you’ll get the console DOS prompt for the “SYSTEM” user.

1. Go to “Start Menu” then “Run”
2. Type in “cmd.exe”
3. In the command prompt type “at 4:25pm /interactive cmd.exe” replacing the time with the next minute.
4. When the new command prompt appears, type “net user username password” replacing “username” with your target user and “password” with the password combination that you want to set.


"Screen Saver Variation"

When it is time for Windows to display the screen saver, the SYSTEM runs the screensaver file (which is pretty much an *.exe file renamed *.src). If you replace the default screensaver file with the cmd.exe file, again, you will obtain access to the “SYSTEM” console.

1. Go to “Start Menu” then “Run”
2. Type in “cmd.exe”
3. Type “cd\”
4. Type “cd\windows\system32″
5. mkdir temphack
6. copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr
7. copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe
8. del logon.scr
9. rename cmd.exe logon.scr
10. exit

The next time the screen saver is supposed to run, the command prompt will display. Then you can type “net user username password” replacing “username” with your target user and “password” with the password combination that you want to set.

"Repair OS"

If that’s your only problem, then you probably have nothing to worry about. As long as you have your Windows XP CD, you can get back into your system using a simple but effective method made possible by a little known access hole in Windows XP.

This method is easy enough for newbies to follow – it doesn’t require using the Recovery Console or any complicated commands. And it’s free - I mention that because you can pay two hundred dollars for an emergency download of Winternals ERD with Locksmith which is a utility for unlocking lost Windows passwords.

ERD is an excellent multi purpose product, but you should know it is not a necessary one if you have a healthy system and your sole problem is the inability to logon to Windows due to a forgotten password. Not necessary because you can easily change or wipe out your Administrator password for free during a Windows XP Repair. Here’s how with a step-by-step description of the initial Repair process included for newbie’s.

1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (it’s assumed here that your XP CD is bootable – as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)

2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be “Press any key to boot from cd”

3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files.

4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.

It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”

Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

8. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically – you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”

9. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

12. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

13. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

I tested the above on Windows XP Pro with and without SP1 and also used this method in a real situation where someone could not remember their password and it worked like a charm to fix the problem. This security hole allows access to more than just user accounts. You can also access the Registry and Policy Editor, for example. And its gui access with mouse control. Of course, a Product Key will be needed to continue with the Repair after making the changes, but for anyone intent on gaining access to your system, this would be no problem.

And in case you are wondering, NO, you cannot cancel install after making the changes and expect to logon with your new password.

Cancelling will just result in Setup resuming at bootup and your changes will be lost.

Ok, now that your logon problem is fixed, you should make a point to prevent it from ever happening again by creating a Password Reset Disk. This is a floppy disk you can use in the event you ever forget your log on password. It allows you to set a new password.

Here's how to create one if your computer is NOT on a domain:

* Go to the Control Panel and open up User Accounts.
* Choose your account (under Pick An Account to Change) and under Related Tasks, click "Prevent a forgotten password".
* This will initiate a wizard.
* Click Next and then insert a blank formatted floppy disk into your A: drive.
* Click Next and enter your logon password in the password box.
* Click Next to begin the creation of your Password disk.
* Once completed, label and save the disk to a safe place

How to Log on to your PC Using Your Password Reset Disk

Start your computer and at the logon screen, click your user name and leave the password box blank or just type in anything. This will bring up a Logon Failure box and you will then see the option to use your Password Reset disk to create a new password. Click it which will initiate the Password Reset wizard. Insert your password reset disk into your floppy drive and follow the wizard which will let you choose a new password to use for your account.

Note: If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure for creating a password disk is different.

See here for step by step instructions: http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp…

Good Luck!

Windows 2003 Server Hang Issue

Action plan 1 - procedure to generate the MPS reports:

*can be generated at any point of time.

Please download and run the MPS reports downloaded from the link

http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/b/1/bb139fcb-4aac-4fe5-a579-30b0bd915706/MPSRPT_SETUPPerf.EXE

On your system a CAB file will be generated for your convenience in the %systemroot%\MPSReports\Setup\<Report Type>\Cab directory called:

%COMPUTERNAME%_MPSReports.CAB. 

Action plan 2 - to collect Poolmon logs:

*need to run till the issue occurs.

Poolmon: Download the Poolmon3vbs.zip tool online and run the batch file _logpoolmon-as-a-service.cmd in the poolmon folder,

a.     The logs will be generated in the same folder where the poolmon is downloaded to. (Eg. Desktop or C drive)

b.      The complete log folder (Poolmon output) can be used for the analysis

Action plan 3 - System monitor (Performance Monitor):

*need to run till the issue occurs.

We can monitor the performance on the server where you are facing the problem. Please follow the below mentioned commands to setup a remote performance monitoring to this server.

          - Permanently disable all screen savers on the server.

         - As the server hangs so we would have to remotely monitor the server (with the issue) from another Windows 2003 server which does not have any issues and enough drive space.. 

         - Go to the PC (without any issues). Start, Run and type "Perfmon" (without quotation marks) and press OK. 

         - Expand Performance Logs and Alerts. Highlight Counter Logs and right click in the right pane to bring up a menu. From this menu, select "New Log Settings". Give this log a name.

         - Press Add counters. Type in the server name that we want to monitor (Example: in the format: \\Servername) in the "Select counters from computer:" drop-down. 

         - Add "All counters" and "All instances" each of the following objects: 

             Memory 

             Network Interface 

             Objects 

             Paging File 

             Physical Disk 

             Process 

             Processor 

             Redirector 

             Server 

             Server Work Queues 

             System 

         - Set the Interval for every 15 Seconds. 

         - Click on the Log Files tab and set Log file type to Binary Circular File and a Limit of 800,000 KB. Please make sure where the Log is currently save have enough disk space to accommodate.

         - Go to the schedule tab, set the schedule for "Stop Log- Manually" and "Start Log- Manually. 

           

Here is an article for reference: 248345 How to Create a Log Using System Monitor in Windows 2000 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=248345

Action plan 4 - procedure to generate a complete memory dump when the server hangs:

We can configure the machine for a complete memory dump with a registry setting.

Here are the instructions for configuring the machine so that we can create a complete memory dump

First make sure that the machine is setup to get a complete memory dump: 

        1)   In Control Panel, Select the System Applet 

        2)   Select the Advanced tab 

        3)   Click the "Startup and Recovery" button 

        4)   Under the "Write Debugging Information" section select: 

              "Complete Memory Dump" from the drop down menu 

        5)   Make sure the check mark is placed on: 

              "Overwrite any existing file" 

        6)   Make sure that there is a paging file (pagefile.sys) on the System Drive and that it is at least RAM + (.5 x RAM). 

        7)   Also make sure there is more space on the hard drive than there is physical RAM 

Second, configure the system for a dump memory: 

        8)   Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).  

        9)   Locate the following key in the registry:   

              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters  

        10) On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value: 

              Value Name: CrashOnCtrlScroll   

              Data Type: REG_DWORD   

              Value: 1  

        11) Quit Registry Editor.

        12) Then reboot the machine.  

Now, hold down the RIGHT CTRL key, and press the RIGHT SCROLL LOCK key twice.  

You can use for all the action plan to fix the server hang issues.

Print spooler missing in services.msc

PRINT SPOOLER

Issue: Print spooler missing in services.msc

Troubleshooting

If the print spooler entry in missing in service, Copy the file below and paste it into a notepad and name file spooler.reg on desktop and then double click on it.

It will create all the entries in registry and you will be able to find spooler entry in services.msc

Note: You need to restart the computer.

Copy the text below and paste it into a notepad and name the file spooler.reg and save on Desktop

==============================================================

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler]
"DependOnService"=hex(7):52,00,50,00,43,00,53,00,53,00,00,00,00,00
"Description"="Loads files to memory for later printing."
"DisplayName"="Print Spooler Service"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"FailureActions"=hex:80,51,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,e8,47,0c,\
  00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"Group"="SpoolerGroup"
"ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
  74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
  00,70,00,6f,00,6f,00,6c,00,73,00,76,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00
"ObjectName"="LocalSystem"
"Start"=dword:00000002
"Type"=dword:00000110

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler\Parameters]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler\Performance]
"Close"="PerfClose"
"Collect"="PerfCollect"
"Collect Timeout"=dword:000007d0
"Library"="winspool.drv"
"Object List"="1450"
"Open"="PerfOpen"
"Open Timeout"=dword:00000fa0
"WbemAdapFileSignature"=hex:ee,77,f6,e4,05,9a,12,60,ce,fa,84,c7,a3,a5,c1,a1
"WbemAdapFileTime"=hex:00,99,f6,d2,64,9a,c4,01
"WbemAdapFileSize"=dword:00023e00
"WbemAdapStatus"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler\Security]
"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\
  00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\
  00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\
  05,0b,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,9d,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\
  23,02,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,20,\
  02,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,\
  00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler\Enum]
"0"="Root\\LEGACY_SPOOLER00"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

==============================================================

I have recently found that even the registry fix above may not completely fix the issue, if you still experience printer 
spooler service stopping, restarting or after print job the service is in stopped state, apply the fix below

Step1: Delete the Printer Spooler service as it may be corrupt

Note: You should be administrator of local machine
XP: Launch command prompt
Windows 7: Launch command prompt as administrator even if you are local machine administrator

Type: SC delete <service name> ex. SC delete spooler 

reboot the computer

Step3: Reinstall print spooler service

Go to C:\windows\System32 and run Spoolsv.exe

Reboot and service should be installed

Links do not open: This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer

When clicking on a hyperlink within an email I get the following error;
“This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.”

I am the administrator of this computer. How can I use these deactivated links again as currently links do not open at all?

This usually happens when there is no default Internet browser (properly) registered in Windows.

To recover, it often is enough to reassign a default browser via;

• Windows 8
  Start-> type: Default Programs
  or
  Charms (+C)-> Settings-> Control Panel-> Programs-> Default Programs
• Windows Vista and Windows 7
  Start-> Default Programs
• Windows XP
  Control Panel-> Set Program Access and Defaults

When you have multiple browsers installed, it sometimes helps to set the other browser as the default, apply the changes and then set your preferred browser as the default again.

If you only have a single Internet browser installed in Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, you can also deselect all the defaults for the browser by pressing “Choose defaults for this program”, save the changes and then select them all again.

Reset the browser

Depending on your Internet browser, you might additionally need to reset the browser. For Internet Explorer this can be done in Control Panel-> Internet Options. When you use Internet Explorer 6 or lower, you’ll find this option on the Programs tab. For Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9 or 10, you can find this option on the Advanced tab.

For Firefox, open a Run command and type the following (note the spaces);
firefox -safe-mode firefox-safe-mode

In the dialog that pops-up select the option “Reset all user preferences to Firefox defaults” and press “Make Changes and Restart”.

Registry fix

If resetting via the conventional means does not work out for you, then the issue is probably rooted a bit deeper and are the file associations and handlers not correctly registered in the registry or are conflicting. To resolve this, you can download this registry file.

This zip-file contains 3 files;

• readme.txt                                      Some information over the zip-file itself
• ie-fix-restrictions-Win32.reg           For when using a 32-bit version of Windows
• ie-fix-restrictions-Win64.reg           For when using a 64-bit version of Windows

This registry file contains the minimal amount or registry entries needed for making Internet links open again with Internet Explorer. All these registry entries are original entries which are also there when you do a clean installation of Windows.
If found, it also removes some registry entries which could conflict with the original entries. These registry entries also do not exist when doing a clean installation of Windows.

Note 1: For importing this registry file you’ll need to have Administrator rights on the computer.

Note 2: The registry keys are based on a default installation of Windows on the C:\-drive. If you installed Windows to another drive letter or if you want to see what’s inside the reg-file before importing it, you can extract the zip-file and then open/edit it in Notepad by right clicking on the reg-file and choosing Edit.

How to See your Passwords Hidden Under Asterisks

Say you are on the Gmail login page and the web browser, as always, has auto-filled the username and passwords fields for you.
This is convenient because you can sign-in to your account with a click but because you have not been typing these saved passwords for a while now, you don’t even remember the Gmail password anymore.
All web browsers, for security reasons, mask the password fields in login forms behind asterisk characters thus making it impossible for passersby to see your secret string.
There’s however an easy workaround that will let you convert those asterisks into the actual password and you don’t need any external utilities or bookmarklets for this. Here’s how:

Web browser hide passwords under asterisk characters for improved security

Reveal the Hidden Password

Right-click the password field and then choose “Inspect Element.” This will open the document inspector window and all you have to do is replace the word “password” with “text”

This will change the type of the <input> field from “password” to “text” and hence the password is revealed as the text input fields are never masked.
You can use it across all browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. In the case of IE, press F12 to open the Developer Tools window and then press Ctrl+B to activate the element selection mode.