So my Windows 8 laptop suddenly started freezing immediately after login. So after about 6 hours of trying to figure out what was going, I determined that it was the Windows Search background service which was causing the problem. This could also potentially be an issue with Windows 8.1 as well.

The first thing I did was boot up in Safe Mode with Internet Connectivity (you will probably need to do a search on how to this as it requires a long post of it’s very own) and everything worked fine without any freezes at all, so I figured it must be one of the services that was causing some kind of problem. So using msconfig I went to the Services tab and DISABLED all the services and then started alphabetically turning them back and re-booting. So started by turning on all the services that start with A and re-booted. Then I added all the services that start with B and re-booted. I continued until I got down to services starting with W and then the problem returned. So then I booted back into Safe Mode again, and started turning on all the W services 10 at a time until I narrowed it down, and finally pinpointed Windows Search as the culprit. I then re-booted one more time with all the services turned back on except Windows Search, and everything was working fine. There goes 4 hours of my life I will never get back, but at least I had found the cause of my Windows 8 Freeze problem.

The next thing I did was delete the Windows.edb file and the tmp.edb file which are the files that store the search index. The file are located in the following directory:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb

Thanks to the following post for helping me locate the Windows Search Windows.edb Indexing file.

The next step was to restart the Windows Search service without rebooting. To do this, from the classic Desktop you need to go to Computer then Computer Tab then Manage then choose Services and Applications then Services then scroll down to Windows Search service then right-click and choose Properties and change the Startup Type to Automatic (Delayed Start) and then click Start then OK.

And the last step is to rebuild the search index (the Windows.edb file). Note that when you start the rebuild process it may take anywhere from minutes to hours to complete. To rebuild the index, from the classic Dekstop choose Control Panel then Indexing Options then Advanced then click on REBUILD.

If you found this post helpful, please leave a comment below.

I was looking for a way to add an equalizer to QuickTime Player and Cog Music Player on my Mac and although there is no specific add-on that you can use, there are several software packages available that add volume boost and equalizer features. And they actually work across your entire system, so they are not limited to any one particular piece of software.

The oneI found that is easiest to use is called Boom by Global Delight. It gives you basic volume boost control with hot-key access, as well as a 10-band equalizer with many presets. It places an icon in the menu bar at the top so you can access the EQ quickly.

There is a 7-day free trial available on their website, and it is also available for purchase from the Mac AppStore.
http://www.globaldelight.com/boom/

Let me know what you think of it by leaving a comment below!

As all Apple developers know, ITC (iTunes Connect) is shutdown for the Christmas holidays. Because of the shutdown, you cannot login and therefore you cannot check your daily download numbers. But there is a way to still check!

STEP 1
You will need to login to your Apple Developer account first. You can go here to do that:
https://developer.apple.com/account/overview.action

STEP 2
Once you have logged in at the above link, you can check your daily downloads here:
https://reportingitc.apple.com/dashboard.faces

And that is how you check your daily download numbers during the Apple ITC shutdown.

Post a comment and let me know if this helped you out.

I have been looking at this whole Apple Parental Gate issue and trying to come up with a simple solution for iOS. So instead of creating a whole SDK, I decided to implement this simple parental gate using a UIAlertView.

Please leave a comment with regards to whether or not Apple accepts your app with this gate in it.

-(void)parentalGate{
//Parental Gate
NSString *pgQuestion = @"";
int pgTag = 0; //7771 7772 7773
int pgAnswer = (arc4random() % 3) + 1; //Choose random interger between 1 and 3
if (pgAnswer == 1) {
pgQuestion = @"PARENTAL GATE:\nHow many of the following\nnumbers are divisible by 3?\n1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8";
pgTag = 7771; //correct answer is 1
} else if (pgAnswer == 2) {
pgQuestion = @"PARENTAL GATE:\nHow many of the following\nnumbers are divisible by 3?\n2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7";
pgTag = 7772; //correct answer is 2
} else {
pgQuestion = @"PARENTAL GATE:\nHow many of the following\nnumbers are divisible by 3?\n3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9";
pgTag = 7773; //correct answer is 3
}
UIAlertView* alertView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:pgQuestion message:@"" delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel" otherButtonTitles:@"OK", nil];
[alertView setAlertViewStyle:UIAlertViewStylePlainTextInput];
alertView.tag = pgTag;
[alertView show];
[alertView release];
}

-(void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {
if (alertView.tag == 7771 || alertView.tag == 7772 || alertView.tag == 7773) {
//Parental Gate
if (buttonIndex == 1) { //OK button
int parentalGateAnswer = [[[alertView textFieldAtIndex:0] text] intValue];
if ( (alertView.tag == 7771 && parentalGateAnswer == 1) || (alertView.tag == 7772 && parentalGateAnswer == 2) || (alertView.tag == 7773 && parentalGateAnswer == 3) ) {
NSLog(@"==Parental Gate SUCCESS");
} else {
NSLog(@"==Parental Gate Incorrect Answer");
}
} else if (buttonIndex == 0) { //Cancel button
NSLog(@"==Parental Gate Cancel");
}
}
}

You can also download it from here:
https://www.iwebss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ParentalGate-UIAlertView.txt

So I was trying to connect my wife’s Galaxy S3 to my Mac so I could download all her pics and videos, but was having quite a difficult time getting the phone to connect via USB cable. (NOTE: I am running OSX Lion 10.7.4 and Galaxy S3 has Android 4.1.2)

I tried AirDroid 2 which actually works quite well if you are looking for a wireless solution, however it is very slow if you have a large amount of data to transfer. So seeing as I had to transfer 12GB of data from her phone and I did not have all day to wait for it to transfer, I decided I would try to connect via USB cable to speed up the transfer.

So step one was simply plugging in the phone via USB to my Mac. There is a setting called USB Debugging that needs to be turned ON for this to work and for the Mac to normally recognize an Android device, however trying it both ON and OFF did not make a difference, and my Mac would not recognize the S3.

So next step was to install Samsung KIES on my Mac. After installation I started up KIES and then plugged the S3 into USB cable, and I would get a message from KIES saying “Connecting..” but then about 5 seconds later would get another message saying something like “No response from device” and “Cannot connect.”

So after several hours of Googling, I finally came across the following post which contained the solution in one of the comments:http://playingwithsid.blogspot.ca/2012/03/how-to-solve-samsung-kies-connection.html

SOLUTION:
There is a hidden menu on the S3 called Phone Utils. To access the menu, go to your dial pad and dial *#7284# (star-pound-7-2-8-4-pound).

You will then see another menu option called Qualcomm Options, so click on that, and then change the option to MTP+ADB and save the change. Now try plugging in your S3 to USB again and KIES should now recognize it and connect.

Alternatively, instead of the Qualcomm Options, you might see the UART menu with two options of MODEM or PDA. Try changing it to the other option and then try plugging S3 into USB again and see if it connects. If it still does not connect, switch it back to the original setting.

One more possibility is under Developer Options. To access Developer Options menu in Android 4.3 you need to un-hide it and make it visible. To do this, go to Settings > More > About Device then tap on Build Number seven(7) times and then go back to Settings > More and Developer Options should be visible.

That’s it! Leave a comment and let me know if this helped you out.

In the past when I submitted an iOS App for the App Store, the reviewers would Metadata Reject the app if there was an issue with the keywords. You could then either try and convince them that it should be approved as is, or just remove the keyword and re-submit it for approval.

There have been reports this month (April 2013) that Apps have been getting approved (no rejections), but that keywords have been removed.

If Apple reviewers are now removing keywords from your apps without notifying you, I think this is cause for concern.

Let me know if you have come across this trend or not.