Mike's Mostly Tech blog

Have you ever received an error stating that “you are running low on storage space” or something to that effect on you Android phone? Then when you check you see that you have what looks like loads of free space on you internal SD card AND your external one too! And then you can’t figure out what is causing that error notification and you are not sure what you are to do?

Like most people, you probably do some research on the net. And in most of the first responses/search results you see people start telling you that you need to either uninstall and remove applications or even ‘move’ some application to the external SD card? Well DONT DO THAT YET! As with most stuff on the internet not all that makes it to the top of the search results is good advice or even close to correct!

But fret not. There is a solution you can use FIRST that is much simpler and probably the RIGHT one. [Don’t get me wrong, you may actually have way too many applications and if your device is rooted (and if it’s not why not?) you can actually move most of your downloaded applications to an external SD card. But that is for another post]

I’m going to add a few ‘pre’ steps here.

1st do a full Titanium Pro backup. [Read through my previous posts about this application.] In case you clear the cache and settings of an application that absolutely needed you can restore the data via Titanium! Saved me having to re-enter all my book marks and settings in my browsers (Dolphin HD and Firefox)! Simply opened Titanium and chose Backup/Restore, found the application in question and restored data. BAM done.

2nd I’d do a full CWM backup. I’m a believer in images. [all you have to do is read through my blog to figure that out.] If you don’t have a custom CWM based recovery don’t worry. Titanium should be all you need.

OK, So let’s free up loads of space by clearing application caches and data stores.

By clearing the cache that some applications use, you can reclaim quite a lot of storage space!

Go to Settings >

• Applications >

• Manage applications

• on your Android. Press the Menu button and select the Sort by size option. If you’re on Android 2.2 or above, select the All tab first.
• Select/Click on a chosen application and from the Application info screen.
• To check if an application has a cache, select it in the list and it will be stated on the resulting screen. To clear a cache, simply press the Clear cache button. You may also clear an app’s ‘data’. This will not only clear the cache, but also all the data the app has generated. Basically, when you select Clear data you’re “hard resetting” the app. You will be warned that settings and ‘databases’ will be deleted and you will possibly be required to ‘re-enter’ in information – that is OK. It is what you want.

• A couple of apps that may have a cache (and data) of several MB or more are Facebook, Maps, Market, Internet, Media and Gallery.
• For example, I reclaimed 1.2GB!! by erasing the data for Media Storage. It forced my some of my media apps to rescan and locate all my stuff again, but the associated data for Media Storage was still much smaller in size than before I cleared it.
• I also did this for my Facebook application and cleared 20MB of data. I did have to re-enter my credentials and settings (contacts sync yes or no etc..) when I first launched the application again but WOW, it is much faster now!.

There are some ‘Cache Cleaner’ applications available in the market. You can search and check them out. But why waste time – and more storage for that matter. When you can do it easily as above every few months or so to keep things snappy. Plus I have found most ‘helper/optimizer application whether for PCs, Mac, iPhones or Android are usually a complete waste. There are a few worthwhile applications and utilities – I do use some, but they are ones usually reserved for true developers and or uber geeks like me. And when I find those I will usually post about them.

I hope this helps some. I know I get asked about it often.

Peace out and be productive and have fun!

OK here I go again.
Back your sh%t up!

I have written many times previously [read here and here and for Macs here ]about the prudence and wisdom of having backups of your digital data. And by backup I mean that your data exists in TWO places at once and is able to be accessed or recreated from either source.

I believe the best solution is to use Disk Images. And my favorite tool for Windows is Acronis (they should pay me for all the referrals!).
Right now Acronis has another super deal Acronis® True Image™ Home 2012 WITH their Plus Pack which enables restores to dissimilar hardware for only $49.99! And a 3 PC license for only $79.99.

I urge you purchase a large external HDD (or two) – they are very inexpensive now ($100-$150 U.S.) and to invest in this software if you haven’t already. Create a Full Image and breath a sigh of relief, for now. Follow my other posts on continuing a good backup plan. With the option of ‘Universal Restore’ you can ‘take your data forward’ to new/dissimilar hardware too!! OK be data safe! Peace out.

While installing an instance of SQL2008R2 to a Windows 7 Workstation VM (used by my programmers) on my VMWare vSphere cluster I ran into a problem.

While the SQL installation seemed to go OK, it hung up toward the end during ‘Windows Installation Final Tasks – Clean up processes…" or something at "Install_sqlncli_Cpu64_Action"
The install just hung forever – let it actually try to run over night and it never completed.

The solution is simple, and kind of a ‘duh’.
SQL2008R2 needs 4GB RAM and minimum of 4 cores/processors.
My Production SQL VM’s easily met this criteria but not so with the workstations.
So simply cancelled the installation. Shut down the VM. Edited the VM – upped RAM to 6GB and processors to 4.
Restart VM then let it boot and let Win7 reconfigure itself. It will require another reboot.
I then completely uninstalled the failed installation. Then rebooted.
Also remember that this is REALLY IMPORTANT!! – Open the ports on the Windows Firewall for SQL2008

This can be done by copying the following (everything in between the break lines including the last ‘return’ at the end) into a text file and renaming it with a .bat extension. something like ‘opensqlfirewallports.bat’ or what ever and running it with administrative permissions.
————————–
@echo =========  SQL Server Ports  ===================
@echo Enabling SQLServer default instance port 1433
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 1433 "SQLServer"
@echo Enabling Dedicated Admin Connection port 1434
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 1434 "SQL Admin Connection"
@echo Enabling conventional SQL Server Service Broker port 4022 
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 4022 "SQL Service Broker"
@echo Enabling Transact-SQL Debugger/RPC port 135
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 135 "SQL Debugger/RPC"
@echo =========  Analysis Services Ports  ==============
@echo Enabling SSAS Default Instance port 2383
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 2383 "Analysis Services"
@echo Enabling SQL Server Browser Service port 2382
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 2382 "SQL Browser"
@echo =========  Misc Applications  ==============
@echo Enabling HTTP port 80
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 80 "HTTP"
@echo Enabling SSL port 443
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 443 "SSL"
@echo Enabling port for SQL Server Browser Service’s ‘Browse’ Button
netsh firewall set portopening UDP 1434 "SQL Browser"
@echo Allowing multicast broadcast response on UDP (Browser Service Enumerations OK)
netsh firewall set multicastbroadcastresponse ENABLE

———————————————–

I also added this registry key below. You can copy everything between the breaks and save as a .reg file if you’d like and run that ‘as administrator’ as well.

—————-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\SuperSocketNetLib\tcp]
"DefaultPort"=dword:00000599
—————-

After that I was able to very quickly install SQL2008R2.
During server configuration, under Account Name I selected "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM", leaving password blank. In addition I also changed its startup type from Automatic to Manual.

Once installation was complete, I opened SQL Server Configuration Manager. The current setting was that I was logging on as built-in account "Local System". I started the service without making any changes and this time it started without any error messages.

Just thought I’d put this up for any of those who’ve had the same issue and as a reference for myself.

To connect to the Server make sure you specify the machine name AND the server instance name: Windows7PC1\SQL2008dev or whatever

Well, until I hear differently from my Devs

I like free and I like options.
I already have written about Microsoft’s awesome SkyDrive storage previously here along with other options here.

I really like using DropBox to hold my Titanium Backup files; my Android phone (Rooted Samsung Galaxy SII/Epic 4G Touch) synchronizes my nightly automated Titanium Pro backups to DropBox. This provide me with one more source for me to have access to my phone applications and settings should they get hosed or I need to ‘go back’ to them.

Right now you can get a whopping 50GB Free lifetime storage from Box.net. The forever part is crucial here, since it’s not some gimmick offer that’ll turn into a lemon after a few months of use. The space is yours to keep. Plus the file size limit gets a bump to 100MB, up from 25MB, if you get the app before March 23, 11:59PM. There are no strings attached, either; just download the app and sign in or create a new account FROM YOUR PHONE FIRST to get the free storage, which is then accessible from any device — not just your Android phone. They ran a promotion like this for the iPhone 4S a while back too. I hope you iPhoners got that.

I use many of these cloud services to store data – documents, pictures and encrypted files that I can ‘afford’ to lose. I have loads of photos, technical documents, class/school work and other notes stored. However I don’t store ANY vital information in ANY cloud service; ever. No passwords or keys, no bank account information etc.. I just don’t trust anybody to be safe with my data like I would. But they provide an invaluable service for sharing and collaborating with family, friends and associates.

So take advantage of this while you can and utilize technology to be more productive and have more fun!

[As a footnote. I have the Dropbox, Skydrive and Box.com applications installed on all my machines – BUT they are not set to start at startup and I run/turn them on manually every couple of days. I personally leave VERY few connections to the ‘outside’ world open on any of my systems. Especially ones that I have no direct control over. You may not care, but I’m the ultra paranoid type of guy. You know the type who has worked in the IT security industry for a few decades who might have an idea of what is safe and reasonable. ]

OK. I was asked again about Facebook’s Timeline and how to ‘fix it’ and make the experience more like ‘it used to be’. I’ll tell you now: You are stuck with Facebook Timeline – it’s Facebook’s world and what they say goes in their world. (for the most part anyways). And Facebook says EVERYONE is getting Timeline!

BUT you can Un-Fack the Timeline and make it more ‘enjoyable’ by using the Social Fixer extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari. Get it here. I just posted about this a couple of days ago but seems not many actually read it. Hope you will this time. The folks at Lifehacker put up a quick and simple video of it’s use here:

So get the extension, watch the video and experiment and see if this help you.

I have also written numerous articles on using extension/add-ons for Browsers – specifically Firefox and Chrome. Since so many of us spend so much time interacting with the world via a Browser window, it’s seems utterly silly that most won’t or don’t customize or tweak that window for more productivity, security and enjoyment. Maybe, many of you just don’t know what you can do. But now you do. So go search through my blog to find those other tips!

While I’m here let me give you some other links on how to better secure your Facebook Profile and enhance your personal security.

Techworld has a VERY good article here. I agree with, and do everything they mention.

Have fun and stay safe out here.

Peace.

UPDATE #2:

Here is an easy peasy walkthough and video on the iPhone 4s/iPad 2 jailbreak.

They walk through the entire simple process.

I could not imaging owning an iDevice that wasn’t jailbroken. But that is just me. If after doing some research and reading you are fine just doing only what you are told you can do with the device YOU own(Apple’s way or no way) than please keep your device as it is. If you are also terrified of making changes to anything technical then DON”T do anything.

If on the other hand you would like to install applications not available in the iTunes App market, change your phones themes and settings to YOUR liking and have loads more functionality available to you (functioinality actually supported by the Operating System (iOS 5) and hardware). Then I’d recommend the jailbreak.

Please remember to completely back up you device prior to doing anything! Read my other post here for that.

UPDATE
Well that didn’t take long.
The Windows version of ‘Absinthe’ the iOS 5.01 Jailbreak tool from Greenpois0n is now available. The tool works on the iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0 and 5.0.1 and the iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1. You can read a little more here, or go strait to the download(s):

The New Windows version

The OSX version

[Remember to fully back up your device before using any of these tools. It is very rare that with the great expertise of these developers that anything will go wrong, but as always better to have a backup and not need it than to need it and not have it! Backup backup backup. If you are wondering how read some of my previous posts!]

More detailed news and details from Greenpois0n here.

Looks like the Jailbreak for iOS 5.01 – the operating system on the iPhone 4S and iPad2 is Here now!! The tool is OS X only for now. But a Windows and Linux version are on their way very shortly. The tool works on the iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0 and 5.0.1 and the iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1. But not any new Beta releases (most of you wouldn’t have that anyways!).

You can read about it here.

A better How-To is here [note the part about the VPN connection at the end!]

What exactly is jailbreaking? Jailbreaking is a hack, or exploit, that brings added functions and features that were not imagined by Apple or restricted. Under recent revisions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act last summer, the process has been legalized in the U.S. on smartphones and tablets.

Jailbreaking allows you to install apps through Cydia (which is, cleverly, Latin for a kind of worm that eats away at apples), which automatically gets installed when you jailbreak your iPhone. Cydia app store is really where all the real action is when you jailbreak. The simplest way to describe it is to call it an app store for jailbroken devices. Like Apple’s App Store, you will find some free and some paid programs.

Some questions often asked:
Q. Does jailbreaking affect the iCloud Backup?
A. No, it’s still a legit iphone tied to a legit icloud account.

Q. What happens if I DO update from the wireless update?
A. Your jailbreak will go bye bye and you’ll have to wait for them to update absinthe to re-do it. [We're talking about carier Over The Air updates here.]

About the ‘Bricking your device’ warnings many may read or hear: Without some very heavy-handed screwing up, you will not brick an iOS device. If something screws up along the way, chances are it will just be indefinitely detected as being “in restore mode” and you’ll be prompted to restore your phone through iTunes. The only way you could really brick one of these devices is by flashing the device to the point where iTunes won’t even recognize the device as an iOS device. You would have to try really hard to make that happen.

And if you want any more reasons than those I’ve given previously in my blog posts why you might want to Jailbreak you iPhoneiDevice you can check here.

I written previously about a great tool I regularly use for Windows PCs now being available to OSX called CCleaner here. The application is now out of beta and adds a full set of features! Yay!

With the full version CCleaner adds cleaning capabilities for Safari, Google Chrome, Opera  and Firefox. This final release for Mac offers cookie management – you can always keep all or some cookies for persistent logins where by default cleaning tool clears all cookies. It also features and improvements include: Repair permissions, Wipe free space,  stability fixes on 0.5  and 10.7.2, cleaning of Chrome’s omnibox and other minor  fixes. You can get it here or from the link in my previous post.

Modern Smartphone’s are amazing! And I really love my latest – Epic 4g Touch (Sprint’s implementation of the Samsung Galaxy S2).

This thing rivals, and in some cases exceeds, the capability found in full blown laptops of just a few years ago. What makes Smartphone’s like these so amazing is the massive amounts of ‘sensors’ these devices now contain.
Most have GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, light sensors and  more! All in a little hand held form factor. Oh, and they can actually make calls to just about anywhere from just about anywhere.

There are many tools and applications available to help you fully utilize these capabilities and features. Here are some that I use.

Metal Detector application – exactly what is sounds like. Make sure you calibrate it. [which by the way is NOT a gimmick and does work!].

Google StarMap Point your phone at the sky, and Google Sky Map will show the stars, planets, constellations, and more to help you identify the celestial objects in view. You can also browse the skies in manual mode.

GPS Status & Toolbox – not only is this a cool GPS device I’ve found that it is great for resolving other GPS issues; like when you navigation or maps app won’t ‘lock on’ to your location. Simply launch it and reset it or download A-GPS data regularly to keep your GPS fast and hassle free.

AndroSensor A tool that lets you know virtually everything about your device’s status. If you want to see what sensors your Android device actually has AND see what information they are recording/seeing check it out.

Radioactivity Counter Let’s you turn your Android device into a Geiger counter! For real. I may try this app that sounds pretty incredible. You can read more about it here.

Once again HERE is a list of applications installed and the current configuration of my phone.

That’s all for now. Just thought I’d throw up some of these for reference.

If you have an iPhone or other iDevice, you’ve probably wondered at some point how to backup iPhone data. There’s actually a pretty easy way to backup your entire iPhone using the iTunes software. The procedure requires a few steps, but everyone should be able to do it. Hopefully you did this when you 1st got your phone or other iDevice following Apples instructions. But I wanted to point out a few things and some alternative methods for insuring you can access your data. Especially if you have made many additions to your device; pictures taken, music downloaded apps purchased etcetera.

I have found that iTunes is KNOWN TO WIPE YOUR DATA – APPS, PICTURES AND MUSIC if you have not set up the sync/backup correctly!! I can’t tell you how many calls and emails I get from folks who have synced their iDevice only to find all their information has been wiped! And once wiped it is nearly impossible to retrieve (save for expert data recovery services $$).

So let’s start the Apple way:

To start the iPhone/iDevice backup, connect your iPhone to your computer with your USB cable, then start iTunes. Go to the devices list on the left side of the screen, and select your iPhone. You then need to right click on your iPhone, and select “Back Up”. This will start the backup procedure, and will take some time depending on how much data you have stored on your phone. Once the backup is complete, you will now have a complete collection of all your phone data stored on your computer. If your phone should get destroyed, you’ll be able to restore all of your existing data to a new phone. You can read Apple’s tutorial here for how to back up you iDevice here and here.

One thing I don’t like is that iTunes Store and App Store content on your iOS device may not automatically transfer to your computer as you might think by just doing a ‘sync’ or backup with iTunes. You can use the Transfer Purchases option in iTunes to ensure that all iTunes Store and App Store content is transferred to your iTunes library. Read how here.

I have found that getting pictures off of many iDevices – especially phones seems to be a major source of issues. I have used, with great success, many third party applications to ‘grab’ music, photos and videos from iPhones and iDevices for family and friends. If you have an iDevice I couldn’t recommend any more strongly  that you have at least one of these applications in your toolbox! Spend a little $ and get a real solution.

Now my way(s)!

The application that I have used most is DiskAid. It just works and you can do so very much with it! Check it out. It has the ability to do a complete backup of the ENTIRE iDevice, quicker and more thoroughly than iTunes.

Some others I’ve used are:

iPodAccess Mac version or PC version

CopyTrans

iPodRip

And finally a very good freeware application for getting stuff of iDevices to pc is called SharePod.

As a final note if you have an iDevice a must have application is this – Find My iPhone. It is now free and enables you to:

• Locate your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac on a map
• Display a message on the screen
• Play a sound for two minutes at full volume (even if your device is set to silent)
• Remotely lock your device
• Remotely wipe your device to erase your personal data

OK folks be safe and keep your data backed up!

A friend recently got a new phone – Samsung Galaxy S2 from AT&T, and she noticed that she is using loads of plan data somehow. Now I know that the aspect of having a new much more capable device might at first cause a spike in usage – downloading applications, watching videos, checking web services more etc. But she has notice that in a couple of weeks she was at 65% of her total plan allotment! Something is up.

I started to ask in forums and look around on the net and found that more than just a few others are noticing this too! What appears to be happening is that there are some apps that will keep using 3G connections to ‘check in’ using up data allotments. EVEN when WiFi is available.

In my previous post, here, I provided some information on how to use Titanium Backup to back up your system and remove or ‘freeze’ bloatware’ and other system applications.

One app I noticed that appeared as a common offender mentioned in many, many posts was the AP Mobile app. (I have already removed this app via Titanium so didn’t notice it I guess).

I would recommend that if you have this poorly written app you remove or at least ‘freeze’ it. Then check your data usage over the next few days.

Here is a very recent sample post from XDA forums:
"I didn’t think much about data usage until last week when I checked my AT&T account and noticed that I was already 50% through my allocated 2GB data limit. I’ve been mostly on WIFI since the device was activated and the few times that I was on 3G/HSPA was during my 30 minute lunch breaks. It didn’t make much sense considering I’ve had no time to mess around with the phone (aside from tweaking the widgets and checking my e-mails).

Anyways, fast forward a few days and after installing data manager, I discovered that AP Mobile (Stock TW widget) had used over 500MB+ of data. :-/ Apparently, I’m not alone. A quick glance at other forums and websites confirmed that AP Mobile was notorious for using heavy amount of data. It may not be an issue with users with unlimited data but to us fellow mortals, every megabyte counts. ?"

Another link with even more horror stories can be found here.

So clearly this is just one application I think everybody with a limited data usage plan should at least ‘freeze’ or better yet disable. I don’t like things ‘checking’ in that I haven’t allowed/authorized anyways so this is no big deal for me. There are others I’m sure but you’ll have to experiment with those.

One more thing to check is that your ‘web widgets’ – CNN and other types of web/news feeds (RSS) are not updating at too often an interval. Or that they are not updating at all unless you tell them too – manually.

I have an unlimited data portion of my plan (Sprint), so I’m not too terribly worried about ‘overages’ but I still want to know what’s going on.

So here are some more tips for lowering data usage all can use:

1. Manage all linked accounts, such as Gmail, (Google) Facebook, Twitter, and auto-sync apps (many come with the phone such as Stocks, Weather, News), though some may be downloaded. Most phones have this folder in settings. When un-checking the "Sync automatically" box, You can modify when and how often your linked accounts and apps sync to update their information. Some, you may still want to sync often and automatically (I have most that way, but again I’m not worried about data charges; yet!) But you may find it useful to change the frequency settings or change to sync when you open or actively use the app. Also uncheck boxes that state any apps can sync, receive, and send background data at any time. This applies to all other apps, like games or any you download from your app store.

2. You might want to make sure your GPS  is turned OFF, when not being used some carriers charge for this through data usage (not sure if AT&T still does – probably though). Many many people I know forget about this and/or don’t even realize when it’s on, and didn’t realize how much data it incurred as well as why their phone died so often. A good indicator of it being on is that it’s a MAJOR battery drainer. When using location serviced apps like maps that work better with GPS satellites, make sure you have it set to ASK every time it wants you to turn on GPS satellite access. And be SURE to turn it off when you are done using it. (not sure of others, but I have to manually turn mine off.

3. Utilize Wi-Fi when it is available. This is the best way to avoid data, granted you stay connected to Wi-Fi. Many people have trouble keeping an active Wi-Fi connection even if they are close to their router. [With the newer WiFi routers and expecially a good new phone this isn’t much of an issue anymore.]

** Most people also have the option to turn off the mobile network when your phone is idle or asleep, (not actively being used) so that nothing can sync. This means NO data can be sent, synced, or received (apps, email, internet, & mms txt messages) until you wake up the phone.  (which usually, unless manually set otherwise, toggles mobile network back on)

You can still receive calls & sms text messages without the mobile network enabled.  It will promptly resume when you do use the phone again unless you have it set where you must manually enable it. This helps people limit unknown data usages at odd hours as well as save battery life.

Well that’s all for now folks. Stay connected, be frugal and have fun. Peace Out.