Change EASILY the default program (and other actions) when opening a file

This is a quick post in which I will simply describe my problem and the wonderful solution I found: -I needed to open two .tex files, and I use TexStudio as my default editor (so far it's the best editor I know).
However, TexStudio's default behavior is to open just ONE INSTANCE of the program and load all the files I open on that same instance.
If I want to open a new instance, I found a I nice solution here:
http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/123660/start-texstudio-portable-in-multiple-instances

Simply go to my direct link access to TexStudio's link icon and add at the end of the target field (i.e. after "(path)\texstudio.exe" to:

" --start-always "%1"

That way, everytime you open Texstudio from this link, you'll open a new instance.
However, if you want to open a new instance everytime you open a .tex file, apparently the best solution is to download this beautiful program:

http://defaultprogramseditor.com/

which allows you to easily change the behavior of your default opening programs. For example:

(I learned this trick from here: http://superuser.com/questions/136133/how-do-i-set-advanced-file-associations-in-windows-7)

And that's all for today.

Secure VNC connections with Free VNC edition

VNC is a usefull tool which permits to administrate remotely a computer. The free version of this tool has great features, but not the one about SSL communication during a VNC session.
This may result in different security issues, such as traffic sniffing that can cause sensitive data theft. To avoid these possible annoying issues we can route the VNC session inside a SSL connection and secure the communication.

In this tutorial I will show how make a secure tunnel connection and then route the free VNC edition through this tunnel to secure the communication of the VNC session.

What we need:

• 2 hosts, generally one is depicted as a server and the other one as a client.
• VNC server installed on the server host
• VNC viewer installed on the client host
• freesshd installed on the server host (if windows based) or openssh-server (on linux machines)
• putty installed on client machine (if windows based) or openssh-client (on linux machines)

 As seen in the post "SSH Tunneling" on this blog is possible to create a secure tunnel between two hosts. Here below we will see the commands that must be used to create a tunnel:

Under Linux machines on the client side:

ssh user@serverip -L <LOCAL_PORT>:127.0.0.1:<VNC_PORT_ON_SERVER>

Where:

• <LOCAL_PORT> is the port on the client host where VNC connection will be redirected.
• <VNC_PORT_ON_SERVER> is the port on the server where VNC service is running.
• The middle address "127.0.0.1" means that the <VNC_PORT_ON_SERVER> on the host 127.0.0.1 (so the server to which we are connecting) will be redirected to <LOCAL_PORT> on the client.

Under Windows machines on the client side:

Start putty and under the Session section place user@serverip in the circled field.

Under SSH->Tunnels:

In Source Port place the equivalent of <LOCAL_PORT>
In Destination place the equivalent of "127.0.0.1:<VNC_PORT_ON_SERVER>"

Once set up, click Open.

Now, both on Windows or Linux machines, you can open the secure VNC session connecting to:

127.0.0.1:<LOCAL_PORT>

In this case the packets will be routed through the ssh connection until they get to the server.

VNC Free + secure connections.


Enjoy

Jumping Cursor Problem solved

Well I had this problem of my cursor jumping randomly while I typed, and hadn´t found a good solution, but this guy really found the answer, so if you want you can go to the link and follow the instructions (nevermind the "Content Warning" apparently software and computers are not his major interests, but anyway he found the solution to this problem that seems to affect a lot of people with laptops):

http://slimdave420.blogspot.com/2007/05/jumping-skipping-cursor-problem-solved.html?zx=a3728b21963b8447

Or read the short version:

The problem is that Windows 7 by default uses the PS2 Mouse driver for the touchpad instead of using the proprietary driver. So you should:

1-Find the appropriate driver for your touchpad and download it. (It should be in the manufacturer's website)

2-Uninstall the PS2 mouse driver, BUT DON'T REBOOT!

3-Install the proprietary driver. And reboot.

After this, you should have the touchpad's software, and the problem should be gone. (Anyway, if you have an external mouse, you can use that software to disable the touchpad)

Installing Windows 7 from scratch on Dell Latitude E6410

For many users this is piece of cake, but as I had to do the process recently, I decided to write a tutorial on it, just in case anyone has trouble.

First of all, insert the OEM OS cd that comes with the machine, reboot, and press F12 to go to the one time boot menu.

Now, you have the LEGACY and UEFI booting options. Although UEFI has some advantages (for what I have heard), the truth is it only worked for me using LEGACY, but you can try another option, so more information on the topic is found here.

Next step would be selecting an appropiate language and, more important KEYBOARD. You will be able to change the keyboard later, but it's good to have it set properly from the beginning.

In my case, I decided to install a totally new copy of Windows, instead of upgrading the previous. And created a big enough partition for that. I left some hard drive space unpartitioned, because I'll do it later with Linux.

And after that, it's pretty straightforward, in a few minutes W7 will be starting up correctly, except that you still won't have the proper drivers to use your laptop's full capabilities. What you have is only the OS, but no connectivity, no graphic options, and a number of huge other things missing.

So the next thing is to get the proper drivers, and for that you can go to the Dell site. In the Driver CAB Files you will find what you need.

You should download and unzip this, and then go to the Device Manager (Go to Control Panel, change to "Large Icons" view and there you find it, because in the "Category" view it's hidden), where you will see that most of the devices have been found but are not properly working, so you proceed to update the drivers of each one of them (networks, audio, video, everything), and finally, go to the Nvidia website and look for the driver NVS 3100M. Download it and isntall it and voila!