mfplat.dll missing for Plex Server

I kept getting this pop-up after a windows update. The solution for me was found here: Link

• Navigate to
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/mediafeaturepack  
• Select:  Media Feature Pack for Windows 10 version 1803

Get to Any Google Cached Page

I needed to read a post that had been deleted and see all the pages in the thread. Even if you click the link in the cached version, it does not link to the cached version of that link, but the live version. To get to any google cached page you can enter the following:

You can access the cached version for any page that has been saved by Google with this:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://example.com/

Change http://example.com/ to any URL. You can also create a custom search engine on Chromeor a Firefox keyword to go to cached versions automatically by adding a keyword before the current URL address.

 Source: link

Outlook 2016 Search Does Not Find Recent Emails

Had an issue where the search feature was not finding mails earlier than "Two Weeks Ago" solved with the following link

• File > Account Setting
• Then under the email tab click on the email account and select Change...
• Uncheck the box for "Use Cached Exchange Mode".
• Click Next and finished.
• Close and restart Outlook.
• It should now bring up recent emails

Powerpoint 2016 Flashes Table Before It Appears

This is not a post with a solution, just noting I'm not the only one seeing it: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/table-flashes-in-powerpoint-2016-presentation/214e3675-eacb-4a5d-89e1-2c001f53dbc4

Display or Hide Zero Values in Excel

Annoying issue where when I changed the formatting to Scientific, all the blank cells became 00E00. I didn't want that crowding my spreadsheet.

Solution:

• File > Options > Advanced 
• Under Display options for this worksheet, select a worksheet, and then do one of the following:
• To display zero (0) values in cells, check the Show a zero in cells that have zero value check box.
• To display zero (0) values as blank cells, uncheck the Show a zero in cells that have zero value check box.

Source

Github Backup for Organization with Script

I'm not a github wizard, but I needed to backup the repos on our organization by cloning them all, where most of the repositories are private. After playing around I found a script that would work in the windows git console below. The text in read is what you change.

1. Go to: https://github.com/settings/tokens and generate a personal access token. Make sure you write it down because it will disappear afterwards
2. In the below code, orgname is the name of your organization, and your_access_token is the token you just generated, you will also need to run it for each page.

CNTX=orgs; NAME=orgname; ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token; PAGE=1
curl "https://api.github.com/$CNTX/$NAME/repos?page=$PAGE&per_page=100&access_token=$ACCESS_TOKEN" |
  grep -e 'clone_url*' |
  cut -d \" -f 4 |
  xargs -L1 git clone

Echo Dots Not Turning On After Switching Location, Solid Blue Ring

When I moved, my Echo Dots were only giving me a solid blue line instead of activating. Turns out you really need to use the USB cables that come with them. I had tried to use some random ones that were lying around.

Comcast Xfinity Illogical Equipment Transfer

Long story short, I moved from one location to another and tried to use my modem. Because Comcast services are incredibly unhelpful, instead of allowing me to use my original account, they made me create a new account and transfer the credentials. When they removed my modem off my old account and I tried to activate the services at the new location they got 'illogical equipment transfer'

I spent over an hour on the phone with them not being able to figure it out. This is more or less the same issue documented on reddit here, they wanted me to drive to a service center and have it scanned :(

The solution? Use the Chat tool! The person in the chat window managed to resolve the problem in like 15 min.  

Password Protect a PDF

Unfortunately, the one really awesome feature Foxit Reader does NOT have is protecting a PDF with a Password. The next best option is to use https://www.pdfmate.com/download.html PDFMate!

If you are applying a signature in Foxit Follow the Below Steps:

1. Finish Editing the Form in Foxit
2. Save a new version of the document if desired and [Apply Signatures] 
3. Print the Document using Foxit PDF Printer
4. In PDF Mate use the Foxit PDF printed version, use the settings "Letter" and "1N1" 

Stolen PS4 Reporting

Just putting this down for reference.


You need to file a police report, it is the very first thing you need to do. Now, grab your PS4 MAC address from your router and contact Sony customer support. Sony will ask you for your PS4’s MAC address and mark the machine as stolen. From there, Sony will give you a case number once you provide them details of your police report.

Contact the officer in-charge of the case and give them the same details you provided Sony. Give the case number of the officer who will contact Sony and request instant alert as soon as someone logs into your console.

As soon as someone logs in to PlayStation Network, Sony will be able to track the console via its IP address. Sony will provide the obtained location to the officer who will then go ahead and request a warrant. From here on, the officer will go to the location provided by Sony and obtained the PS4 as well as arrest the thief.

It will take a couple of weeks for the console to clear as evidence before you can get your hands on it. Keep in mind that the entire process depends on how long it takes for the thief to log in to the PlayStation Network. It could take a couple of days or a couple of months even. However, whenever he does, it is best that you and Sony are prepared to catch him.

Source: https://segmentnext.com/2017/07/17/can-track-stolen-ps4-heres-situation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/7bjlv4/ps4_stolen_what_do_i_do/

Individually Animate Smart Art Graphics

So it turns out there is actually an option to individually animate Smart Art, I hate using it, but a deck I was editing had it, you can actually select [Effect Options], it looks like a color wheel, and select "Animate One By One"

Source

Animation Numbers Do Not Appear in Powerpoint

So this was incredibly frustrating, I was editing a huge presentation and the animation numbers were not appearing in the slide. It turns out this is a weird known bug. But basically, if you download a powerpoint straight from the web and open it, sometimes it will not load the numbers. You need to close it an manually open it from explorer

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Source 

Searching for Styles in Word

I was editing format for a proposal and apparently the editor is extremely specific about certain styles. In a huge 100+ page document, I needed to check how many times that style appears. It turns out you can do:

1. ctrl+f, click the down arrow and choose [Advanced Find]
2. Make sure the "Find what:" box is empty
3. Click "More >>" 
4. The [No Formatting] button should already be Greyed out, if it is not, click it 
5. Click on the Format Button, select the style and click okay, you will see it added that under the "Find what:" dialogue

Source

Low-Priority Printing Example

I can't find my OS book that talks about the story where there was an MIT printer that didn't print some low priority jobs, because it was so busy with the high priority it never had time. I can't seem to find that example, but I did find a different one from computer world. Here is the example:

Source

Stop word from updating references when you save as pdf or print

I really mainly have problems when my inserted references look like this: [4]-[6] and I want them to look like this [4-6]. If you edit them, normally in word when you click save as PDF it changes everything back to the first format. To avoid this you can "lock the fields" and just press ctrl+f11 to lock it, and ctrl+shift+f11 to unlock it. I haven't found a way to determine in properties if something is locked or not, but if after you finish your dock, you click ctrl+a then ctrl+f11, you lock everything nicely.

"File>Options>Display and uncheck the "Update fields before printing" may do it.  Or, it may be necessary to use Ctrl+A (to select everything) and then Ctrl+F11  to Lock the fields, or Ctrl+Shift+F9 to Unlink them."

source: here

Fixing Comment Box Proofing in word files in a document originally created in another language

Ran into a problem today. The collaborators for the project we are working on are foreign so the document they sent me is defaulted to their native language. The challenge is you can simply change the proofing language Review > Language > Set Proofing Language ...  however I noticed when I added comments they still retained the original language. The quick fix for this is:

1. Show the "Styles" by clicking the Expand Box in the Styles section of the [Home] Tag ribbon
2. Click [Options]
3. Change "Selected Styles to Show:" to all styles 
4. In the style window right click on the Comments Text > Modify 
5. [Format] > Language > Select English! 

Source: Here

Default Shipping Address in Amazon Checkout Cart is not modified by the "Manage Addresses" page

For some reason even if I set the default address in Manage Addresses on Amazon, that default address would not appear when I went through checkout normally. I finally identified this problem to being, a different address was set in my Fire Tablet Amazon App. Extremely Frustrating the tablet settings always override the webpage ones.