Posts

Stefan Helander

Microsoft Internet Explorer opens Edge

/0 Comments/in /by

Microsoft is phasing out Internet Explorer and moves over to Edge. In order to facilitate that, some users experience that when they click on the Internet Explorer, it actually opens up Edge. In rare situations, the user might need Internet Explorer instead of Edge.

It is possible to override this.

  • Start Microsoft Edge and open edge://settings/defaultBrowser
  • Find the settings for “Let Internet Explorer open sites in Microsoft Edge” and set it to Never
  • Click on the Internet Explorer icon. Now MSIE should open.
Setting Edge to allow Internet Explorer
Stefan Helander

How to upgrade Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation to full version

/0 Comments/in /by

If you’ve tried the Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation and decide to go on and buy the full version, Microsoft doesn’t support a simple way of just converting or upgrading.

This is how you do it.

You will need:

  • An ISO image of Windows 10 Enterprise, download it from Microsoft (link is not provided here because Microsoft has a tendency to change their URL:s and direct links usually ends up broken, so you just have to search for it at Microsoft). Note: It MUST be for the same language code as the one used when you installed the Evaluation.
  • A Windows 10 license key.
  1. Start the upgrade using the ISO image but do not continue
  2. Start the Registry Editor (i.e. run regedit)
  3. Search for “CurrentVersion”, i.e:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
  4. In EditionID value data, change EnterpriseEval to Enterprise
  5. In ProductName value, change Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation to Windows 10 Enterprise
  6. Immediately continue the upgrade while the Registry Editor is still open (otherwise the changed registry values will revert and you will not be able to upgrade).
Stefan Helander

Windows 10 VPN-problem after update to 1903 [workaround]

/0 Comments/in /by

After installing the 1903 Windows 10 update, also called may 2019 update, users experience problems when trying to connect a VPN connection.

The problem occurs when clicking Connect on the VPN-connection through the system tray. When the dialog box for user name and password should appear, nothing happens.

Until Microsoft solves this a temporary workaround is to connect through the control panel.

  • Click on the Windows start button (the Windows flag in the bottom left corner)
  • Click on the cogwheel for Settings
  • In the control panel search box, type “VPN” and select “VPN-settings“
  • Click on the connection you want to use to display the Connect button
  • Click the Connect button and now the dialog box for user name and password will display and you can connect as usual
Stefan Helander

No email or folders visible when using IMAP account with Outlook 2013 or Office 365

/0 Comments/in /by

The problem seems to be caused by two updates from Microsoft; KB2837618 and KB2837643.

There is a simple solution though:

  • Right click on the affected account in the left pane and select IMAP Folders
  • Below the list of folders, uncheck the box for “When displaying hierarchy in Outlook, show only the subscribed folders.“
  • Exit Outlook 2013 / Office 365 and restart it
  • At the next synchronization the folders and mail will (hopefully) be visible
Stefan Helander

Windows 10 desktop disappeared

/0 Comments/in , /by

A Windows 10 user contacted me because the desktop had disappeared.

The first thing to check is if Windows is in “Tablet mode” which disables the desktop.

  • Go to the Control panel
  • Search for “tablet” and click on “Table mode settings”
  • In the “When I sign in” change from “Use the apropriate mode for my hardware” to “Use desktop mode”
  • Log out and log back in again

If this doesn’t help the user profile might have become broken. In this case, the solution is (description below is just short notes taken from my memory):

  • Go to the Control panel and select accounts
  • Create a new account
  • Using a user with administrative rights, copy the content from the users folders like desktop, documents etc to the new user’s folder.
  • Log in using the new user
Stefan Helander

Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities – what to do?

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Meltdown and Spectre are two vulnerabilities present in hardware making it potentially possible for programs to steal information, like passwords etc.

Meltdown affects only Intel processors while Spectre, which is more complex, also partly affects AMD and ARM based processors.

It is not yet known if these vulnerabilities has been exploited by anone. It can affect personal computers, servers, tablets and mobile phones, i.e. more or less any device containing a processor.

More information on: https://spectreattack.com/

What can you do?

  • Check your operating system for updates the upcoming weeks (this is normal good security practice, but make sure you do it frequently)
  • Install and update your virus protection. Even if the antivirus program can’t protect you from the attack it might be able to inform you that your device has got malicious code onboard

You can find security bulletins, security advisorys, faq:s etc for your operating system here: https://meltdownattack.com/#faq-advisory

Stefan Helander

Convert Microsoft Outlook PST email to IMAP without Outlook

/1 Comment/in , /by

A client was going to stop using Microsoft Outlook and Exchange server and move their email to an ordinary web hosting company using IMAP. The client was downscaling and had no use of the benefits of Microsoft Exchange like shared contacts and calendars. They where just using it for email which could be obtained much cheaper by using the IMAP account at their web hosting provider.

So I was faced with the task of converting their old email contained in PST files. They had already shut down their Exchange server and I could not use the Outlook program. I just had the PST files that where exported before the server shutdown and needed them imported into the IMAP account without using Outlook as it was not availible for me.

This is how I solved it.

Tools used:

  1. Download and install Thunderbird. Set it up with the target email account both as an IMAP account and a POP3 account (it was a problem importing the converted eml files directly to the IMAP account so I had to import them to the POP3 account which is stored locally and then drag them over to the IMAP account, more about that later on). Make sure you setup the POP3 account to leave mail on server and not delete mail when deleted locally.
  2. Download the ImportExportTools extension for Thunderbird. Drag the downloaded file onto Thunderbird in the task bar to install it.
  3. Download the free trial of the SysTools PST converter and install it. The free version is limited to 25 emails per folder so if you have more emails you need to purchase it ($49 when writing this article). You can make a test run with the free version so you see everything works before you go on and buy it.
  4. Run the SysTools PST converter.
  5. Click the Add file button and select your PST file.
  6. Click the Export button and select EML format, and check the folders you wish to export (normally the top folder). Enter a target folder. Then click the Export button.
  7. In Thunderbird, right click the POP3 email account and select New folder and call it “From PST” for example.
  8. Select the “From PST” folder and go to the menu icon in Thunderbird and select Tools -> ImportExport-tools -> Import all EML from a folder -> and it’s subfolders. Select the top folder of your email export in step 6 and click Select folder.
  9. All subfolder and it’s email should now turn up in the “From PST” folder. Now drag the “From PST” folder from the POP3 account to the IMAP account in Thunderbird.
  10. Finally delete the POP3 account in Thunderbird.