Category Archives: Technologies

How to Log in Windows Safe Mode

August 1, 2024 admin Leave a comment

Motivation:

You get a blank screen after installing graphic driver on Windows 11 (e.g. Intel HD Graphics 520 graphic driver).
So you want to log in Windows safe mode to remove or disable the installed graphic driver.

Solution:

Turn on your computer.
When you see the Windows logo and circle progress, press the Power button and hold it for 10 seconds. You computer will be turned off.
Turn on your computer again.
When you see the Windows logo, if you do not see Preparing Automatic Repair or Please Wait message then press the Power button and hold it for 10 seconds again.
Repeat the 3rd and 4th step until you see Preparing Automatic Repair or Please Wait message.
Click Advanced options button.
Click Troubleshoot button.
Click Advanced options button.
Click Startup Settings button.
Click Restart button.
Press number 4 or number 5 to enter Windows safe mode.

Solution for solving graphic driver issue:

This solution is useful when you want to use your computer as a server without proper Intel HD Graphics 520 graphic driver and control your computer via remote desktop connection.

Log in Windows safe mode without networking. If you want to avoid logging into safe mode then you may log in your machine via remote desktop connection.
Install the latest graphic driver.
Open Device Manager.
Disable graphic driver.
Log in Windows normal mode.
Open Device Manager.
Right click your display adapter and select Update driver.
Select Browse my computer for drivers option.
Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer option.
Select Microsoft Basic Display Adapter.
Enable graphic driver.
Restart your machine.

Technologies

How to Combine an Image and Audio File to Video File

June 29, 2024 admin Leave a comment

Motivation:

You have a JPG and WAV file. You want to combine them to a FLV file in order to upload it to YouTube without losing audio quality.
You have a JPG and MP3 file. You want to combine them to a MP4 file in order to upload it to YouTube.

Combining JPG and WAV to FLV:

Download ffmpeg.
Unzip the downloaded package to C:\Users\admin\Downloads\ffmpeg-7.0.1-essentials_build folder.
Copy your image.jpg and audio.wav file to C:\Users\admin\Downloads\ffmpeg-7.0.1-essentials_build/bin folder.
Open Command Prompt.

Execute the two commands below.

cd C:\Users\admin\Downloads\ffmpeg-7.0.1-essentials_build\bin
ffmpeg -r 1 -loop 1 -i image.jpg -i audio.wav -acodec copy -r 1 -shortest -vf scale=1280:720 output.flv

Open output.flv file to verify result.
Upload ouput.flv file to YouTube.

Combining JPG and MP3 to MP4:

Download ffmpeg.
Unzip the downloaded package to C:\Users\admin\Downloads\ffmpeg-7.0.1-essentials_build folder.
Copy your image.jpg and audio.mp3 file to C:\Users\admin\Downloads\ffmpeg-7.0.1-essentials_build/bin folder.
Open Command Prompt.

Execute the two commands below.

cd C:\Users\admin\Downloads\ffmpeg-7.0.1-essentials_build\bin 
ffmpeg -loop 1 -framerate 1 -i image.jpg -i audio.mp3 -map 0 -map 1:a -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -tune stillimage -vf "fps=10,format=yuv420p,scale=1920:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1920:1080:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2" -c:a copy -shortest output.mp4

Open output.mp4 file to verify result.
Upload output.mp4 file to YouTube.

Technologies

How to Fix EPUB Processing Failure on Google Play Books

April 10, 2024 admin Leave a comment

Problem:

You uploaded EPUB file to Google Play Books but received Processing Failed error message.

Solution 1:

Open https://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-epub.
Click Choose File and select EPUB file.
Wait for the uload to be complete.
Click the Start button.
Download the new EPUB file.
Upload the new EPUB file to Google Play Books.
If this solution does not fix the issue, please try solution 2 below.

Solution 2:

Open https://www.zamzar.com.
Click Choose Files and select EPUB file.
Click Convert To and select azw3.
Click Convert Now button.
Download the azw3 file.
Return to https://www.zamzar.com.
Click Choose Files and select azw3 file.
Click Convert To and select EPUB.
Click Convert Now button.
Download the EPUB file.
Upload the EPUB file to Google Play Books.

Note: https://www.zamzar.com offers only 2 free daily conversions.

Technologies

How to Fix No Save Button Issue When Configuring Outlook Email Forwarding

October 1, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Problem:

You have an Outlook email account.
You want to forward emails to another account.
You open Settings > Forwarding and enter another email account.
However there is no Save button for you to save your setting.

Solution:

Log in your Outlook email account.
Open https://account.live.com/reputationcheck using the same browser.
Enter your phone number, click Send code button.
Enter a code sent to your phone, click Submit button.
Optionally click Edit button and update your Birthdate, Gender, Country/region and Time zone.
Return your Outlook email account.
Go to Settings > Forwarding and configure email forwarding again.
The Save button should appear now.

Technologies

macOS Tips

June 6, 2023 admin Leave a comment

1. Cut and Paste:

Command+C, then Command+Option+V

2. Show IP address:

ifconfig | grep inet

3. Create a file:

touch filename

3. Take a screenshot

To capture the entire screen, press Command + Shift + 3.
To capture a window, press Command + Shift + 4 + Space.
To capture a portion of the screen, press Command + Shift + 4.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361

5. Increase Terminal text size

Open Terminal app.
Click Terminal > Settings… > Profiles > Basic.
Click Text.
Locate Font section. Click Change…. button.
Select a new size.
Close Font window.
Close Profiles window.
Click Shell tab beside Terminal.
Select New Window > New Window with Profile – Basic.

6. Prevent your Mac from automatically disabling remote login

Open System Preferences.
Select Energy Saver.
Select Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off.
Deselect Put hard disks to sleep when possible.
Drag the Turn display off after slider to 3 hours or Never.
Important step: repeat the procedure for Battery tab.

7. Set static IP

Open System Preferences > Wi-Fi.
Click Details button beside a network.
Click TCP/IP item on the left.
Select Using DHCP with Manual Address for Configure IPv4. Do NOT select Manually option. Using DHCP with Manual Address means that you just want to change only IP address. Manually means that you want to set up IP address, Subnet mask and router IP. Choosing Manually may cause Internet access issue if you are connecting your computer to a router with Access Point mode. Please refer to Apple guide for more information.
Enter IP address.
Click OK button.
Restart your machine.

8. View memory using command line

top -l 1 -s 0 | grep PhysMem

9. Keynote: Turn smart dashes on or off

Turning smart dashes on or off doesn’t affect existing hyphens and dashes in your document, only new text that you type.

Choose Pages > Preferences (from the Pages menu at the top of your screen).
Click Auto-Correction at the top of the preferences window.
In the Formatting section, select or deselect the “Use smart quotes and dashes” checkbox.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-vn/guide/pages/tanad45f9cce/mac

10. Copy data from one MacBook to another using AirDrop

Generally Apple’s native AirDrop is the most optimized and fastest option for peer-to-peer file transfers over Wi-Fi, thanks to its use of both Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth LE for setup and high-speed data transfer.

This method is easy to use, but it is unreliable for a folder containing thousands of files and more than 20GB in size.

A. On the Sending and Receiving Mac:

Open Finder.
Click on “AirDrop” in the sidebar (or press Cmd + Shift + R).
Ensure that “Allow me to be discovered by” is set to either “Everyone” or “Contacts Only” (the same applies to the receiving Mac).
Wait for the other Mac to appear in the AirDrop window.

B. On the Sending Mac:

Drag and drop files onto the icon for the receiving Mac.

C. On the Receiving Mac:

A prompt will appear when the sender initiates the transfer:
Click Accept.
Choose to Save to Downloads (default) or a custom folder.

11. Copy data from one MacBook to another using SSH

Folder to copy: /Volumes/Bootcamp/alice
SSH access must be enabled on the destination MacBook (System Settings > General > Sharing > Remote Login).
Destination Mac username: admin
Destination IP address: 192.168.1.45
Destination path: /Users/admin/Documents/

On the source Mac (Terminal):

scp -r "/Volumes/Bootcamp/alice" [email protected]:/Users/admin/Downloads/

12. Copy data from Windows to macOS using SSH

Folder to copy: H:\Archived
SSH access must be enabled on the destination MacBook (System Settings > General > Sharing > Remote Login).
Destination Mac username: admin
Destination IP address: 192.168.1.45
Destination path: /Users/admin/Documents/

On the source Windows (Command Prompt):

scp -r "H:\Archived" [email protected]:/Users/admin/Downloads/

13. Copy data from macOS to Windows using SSH

Folder to copy: /Users/admin/Documents/
SSH access must be enabled on the source MacBook (System Settings > General > Sharing > Remote Login).
Source Mac username: admin
Source IP address: 192.168.1.45
Destination Windows path: H:\Archived

On the source Windows (Command Prompt):

scp -r [email protected]:/Users/admin/Downloads/ "H:\Archived"

14. Give the admin user full permissions against the Downloads folder

Take ownership of the folder
```
sudo chown -R admin ~/Downloads
```
Set correct permissions
```
sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~/Downloads
```
(Optional but recommended) Remove restrictive ACLs (Remove all ACL entries from the folder and its contents)
```
sudo chmod -RN ~/Downloads
```

Technologies

How to Fix the Firefox No Sound Issue

June 5, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Problem:

Firefox suddenly does not play any sound.

You have tried uninstalling and reinstalling it but the problem still persists.

Quick Solution:

Go to Windows Settings > Sound > Advanced Sound Options .
Make sure Firefox is not muted or set to low volume.

Advanced Solution:

Create a Firefox account and synchronize (make a backup of) your current settings.
Uninstall Firefox using Windows Apps and features.
Go to %APPDATA%\Mozilla and delete Firefox folder.
Open regedit.exe, search for Firefox, and delete all the keys and values that can be found. This process will take some time. Just ignore any errors that may occur when some keys or values cannot be deleted.
Restart your computer.
Download Firefox offline installer.
Install Firefox.
Log in your Firefox account and restore your settings.

Technologies

How to Automatically Create a Subtitle for a Video

September 3, 2021 admin Leave a comment

Motivation:

You have MP4 video file.
You want to create a subtitle to understand the video content.

Solution:

Split MP4 file to 9-minutes files (please refer to https://huybien.com/how-to-trim-or-cut-mp4-files-without-re-encoding/ for details).
Log in https://www.veed.io
Click the “+” icon.
Upload a 9-minutes MP4 file.
Click the “Subtitles” tab.
Click the “Auto Translate” button. Select the language for the subtitle.
Click the “Start” button. Wait for the process to be complete.
Click the “Export” button.
Ensure that the “Burn Subtitle” option is selected.
Click the “Export Video” button. Wait for the process on the left to be complete.
Click the “Download MP4” link.

Technologies

How to Convert M4A to WAV File on macOS

February 4, 2021 admin Leave a comment

Motivation:

You have downloaded some M4A audio files.

You want to extract convert them to WAV files to listen to them in other devices that do not support playing M4A files.

Procedure:

In the Music app on your Mac, choose Music > Preferences, then click Files.
Copy the path of Music Media folder location. (An example path is Macintosh HD/Users/admin/Music/Music/Media.)
Click the Import Settings… button.
In the Import Using pop-up menu, set Import Using = Wav Encoder, then click OK to save the settings.
Drag M4A files to the Music app.
Select songs in your library, then click File > Convert > Create WAV Version.
Go to your library folder (i.e. the Music Media folder location) and copy the WAV files to other devices.
Delete the M4A files from your library.

Technologies

How to Move Outlook Data to a New Computer

January 28, 2021 admin Leave a comment

Motivation:

You need to move Outlook data and settings from an old computer to a new computer.

Solution:

1. On the destination (new) computer:

- Type Control Panel in Search box.
- Click on Control Panel.
- Select Large icons for View by.
- Click Mail (32-bit).
- Click Add. Set Profile Name = Outlook.
- Follow the instructions to setup an account.

2. On the source (old) computer:

- Open Outlook.
- On the File menu, click Data File Management.
- Click the data file that you want to compact, and then click Settings.
- Click Compact Now.
- Close Outlook.

3. Copy and overwrite all the contents of %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook to the destination computer. Create the Outlook folder if it does not exist.

4. Open Outlook in the destination computer.

Note: If you are using POP3 protocol then all the messages will be re-downloaded again once. If this is true for you then

- Let Outlook finish downloading the messages, then
- Click on Unread Mail folder below the Search Folders,
- Select all the messages,
- Press Shift, right click and click Delete to permanently delete them all.

Tech Devices, Technologies

How to Install a Clean iOS

June 6, 2020 admin Leave a comment

Motivation:

You want to sell or give away your iPhone. You want to ensure that the new owner will not access any of your data.

You may also need to give your iPhone to a technician to fix the broken display of your iPhone. You want to ensure that the technician cannot access any of your data.

You may also have so many buggy applications on your iPhone and want to increase stability and performance of your iOS.

Procedure:

Import your Photos to a MacBook.
Create a backup of data. It is best to let your iPhone synchronize everything with iCloud, including Photos and Contacts.
Turn off Find My iPhone.
Plug your iPhone to a MacBook.
Open Finder. Click on your iPhone on the left panel.
Click Restore iPhone… button.
Click Backup button.
Click Restore and Update button. Click Next button. Click Agree button.
Follow the instructions to install a clean iOS to your iPhone.

Post Installation Configuration:

Setup your iPhone.
Activate your iPhone.
Setup Face ID.
Restore your Apps & Data from iCloud backup.
Synchronize music to your iPhone.
Go to Settings > Generals > Software Update > Automatic Updates. Turn off Automatic Updates.
Go to Settings > Generals > Display & Brightness > Text Size. Drag the slider to the right to increase text size.
Go to Settings > Messages. Enable iMessage.

Software Development

Category Archives: Technologies

How to Log in Windows Safe Mode

Motivation:

Solution:

Solution for solving graphic driver issue:

How to Combine an Image and Audio File to Video File

Motivation:

Combining JPG and WAV to FLV:

Combining JPG and MP3 to MP4:

How to Fix EPUB Processing Failure on Google Play Books

Problem:

Solution 1:

Solution 2:

How to Fix No Save Button Issue When Configuring Outlook Email Forwarding

Problem:

Solution:

How to Fix the Firefox No Sound Issue

Problem:

Quick Solution:

Advanced Solution:

How to Automatically Create a Subtitle for a Video

Motivation:

Solution:

How to Convert M4A to WAV File on macOS

Motivation:

Procedure:

How to Move Outlook Data to a New Computer

Motivation:

Solution:

How to Install a Clean iOS

Motivation:

Procedure:

Post Installation Configuration:

Software development and software engineering research