Fixing the Windows Vista Print Spool Problem

Been running Windows Vista Ultimate RC1 and having a good time of it ... until last night. I tried to print about 60 JPGs to PDF and the system came to a screeching halt. Then all my printers disappeared. Whenever I tried to add a new printer, Vista would give me an error that blared "PRINT SPOOLER SERVICE NOT RUNNING" and "WINDOWS CAN'T ADD OPEN ADD PRINTER". Arrrgh. Whenever I'd go start the print spooler service manually, it would crash as soon as I tried to add a printer.

I also noticed that my 60 GB SATA primary drive lost about 10 GB in the process.

Here's how to fix it...Go to C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers and delete the files contained therein. In my case, I had a file that was about 10GBs. (If you wanna be safe, send them to the recycle bin rather than permanently deleting them.)

Then RIGHT CLICK on MY COMPUTER, select MANAGE, then SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS, then SERVICES, then RIGHT CLICK on PRINT SPOOLER and select start. You should see all of your printers again.

Overall, Vista is one bitchin OS and I can't wait to roll it out to my new firm. Happy Friday.

OpenPoint Issue Tracker: Help for Small and Mid-Sized Firms' Help Desks

Small to mid-sized law firms rarely have the manpower and resources required to dedicate towards a full time, fully staffed, formal Help Desk. There are always more pressing issues to be addressed and more pressing matters requiring funding. Because the IT Departments are on the smaller side, communication and coordination are typically non-complex and identifying trends and emerging problems tend to be more anecdotal than documented. That's a shame, because the management of smaller firms tend to be more tight fisted when it comes to doling out the dollars on IT initiatives - and clear documentation of what the IT Department is accomplishing can go a long way towards opening wallets. More than once, I've seen small IT Departments run so efficiently that firm management assumes the systems run themselves - and actually cuts back funding or rejects desperately required initiatives.

OpenPoint Issue Tracker by FaxOne Systems LLC allows you to reverse that trend by tracking your performance and advertising your productivity up the chain. Issue Tracker loads as a web server on virtually any workstation or network server and allows members of you IT team to open and track tickets from any web browser at any workstation - including at a user's computer if you're snagged on your way back in the door from lunch. OpenPoint Issue Tracker allows you to create projects, subprojects and categories which can range from the simple Hardware / Software down to whatever level of minutiae you are comfortable with. The search function allows you to quickly determine whether similar issues have been addressed and resolved (and what the solution is if it was previously documented). The reporting functionality allows managers to determine who's doing what, where and when. Better yet, Issue Tracker makes it easier to identify emerging problems and nip them in the bud before they become insurmountable dilemmas.

The reporting functionality also allows you to demonstrate to management the need for additional staffing, funding, training, upgrades, or major initiatives. When it's in black and white, on paper, and in their hands, it becomes "real" to lawyers and management is hard pressed to ignore the recommendations presented by the IT Manager.

Best of all, OpenPoint Issue Tracker is free and can be downloaded HERE. A plethora of screenshots appear on FaxOne's web site.

SyncBack SE: Monstrous Backups at a Miniscule Price

SyncBack SE by 2BrightSparks is a superb piece of software for backing up anything and everything on your workstation or network drives. Copy open files, do incremental backups, synchronize directories, perform encrypted backups to external IP addresses or FTP sites, and much, much more. At the pathetically low price of $25, you can forego the use of their fully functional 30 day trial - but it's available HERE if you want it.

With SyncBack SE, you create "Profiles" - akin to scheduled tasks in Windows - which allow you to discreetly define how, when, where and what is being backed up or synchronized. For years I've been a huge fan of Microsoft's Robust File Copy Utility (a.k.a. "RoboCopy) because it allows me to create batch files that I drop into the login script, or just stash on the network for whenever I need them. That comes in handy when you need to make sure someone's not stashing .pst files on their local hard drives, or when you are migrating a user to another workstation and want to quickly copy their favorites, cookies, desktop, etc. RoboCopy will remain in my arsenal. XXCopy too, provides some great features not easily found in other products. For example, XXCopy allows me to create flat directories - scouring a drive and copying all .jpg files to one directory, adding the directory and subdirectory path of their original location to the lefthand side of the filename in the destination. That trick allows me to overcome the problem of identically named files overwriting each other - and tells me exactly where the file came from. BUT SynchBack's another animal altogether. SyncBack gives me huge control that even some of the big daddies of backup are hard pressed to replicate.