We have a Buffalo Linkstation Live NAS, model HS-DH500GL hanging off our home network serving personal files. The unit includes a print server. You hook up a USB printer, and it works. And for most of the first year, it was flawless.

Then, at some point in 2008, it stopped printing. Or, rather, it stopped printing from Windows. In the case of this particular printer, it’s shared on one local network here consisting predominately of Windows and Linux computers; the odd thing is that we could still print from any random Linux box we’d attach to the LAN. No PC running Windows would work any longer.

And after probably two months of printing from Windows not working, it suddenly spit out some old stuck docs (roughly two months old or so–I know, right?) and started working again. And it worked again normally for many, many months.

Until a few months ago, when it stopped again. And this time, it’s shown no signs of coming back to life.

And once again, we can still happily print via Linux all day long, like there’s no problem at all. File server functionality (across all OSes that access it) is still totally fine as well.

Digging around, it seems it’s a pretty common problem. These devices (and not just our 500G model, it seems) apparently don’t handle Windows printing very well and, over time, eventually fall over, seemingly dead (from a Windows printing point of view). Documents seem to stick in a print queue somewhere. In our case, on any Windows machine we looked at, the Windows print queue always seemed to show as pending the last print job from whatever Linux box–a print job that we know has printed and been held in our hands.

So those stuck documents…are they really stuck? Attempts to empty spooler folders, restart print services on Windows, monkey with bidirectional-communications settings, etc… nothing worked. XP, Vista, made no difference. We have not tested this with Windows 7, but we assume the problem exists there as well, as it appears it’s a Buffalo/Linkstation problem, and not an issue with Windows itself.

The only apparent solution is to completely wipe everything from the Linkstation device (not just configuration info, but all of your data), monkey with setting the NAS software into a debug mode, and force-updating/overwriting the firmware to “reset” it completely. This resets everything. User data, user configurations, everything. We weren’t about to blow away the data or deal with moving it around if we didn’t have to. If that solution works for you, go for it. Sadly, even this extreme solution does not work for everyone.

We went a different route. Our workaround? Installing Print Services for Unix, under Windows. It’s dead-easy, assuming you have access privileges on your Windows machine, and here’s a Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article that tells you how:

Print Services for UNIX: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324078

You’ll need to install this on each Windows machine that won’t print (likely all of them once this bug rears its head); it can be automated in the normal ways if you have a larger installed base of affected computers.

The normal way Windows users are told to connect to their Linkstation’s print server is via Network Neighborhood. You navigate to your Linkstation device, see the print server, right-click, and choose “Connect…”. That sets up a printer connection. You choose the driver or provide one, and you’re off to the races. If you don’t go that route, you can always add a printer via the Printers control panel and end up with the same result. Only, once it stops printing, good luck printing consistently that way ever again.

Follow the KB article instructions to get Print Services for Unix installed, then configure an LPR port as described, giving either LAN IP or name for your Linkstation, pointing drivers at it, and start printing again.

It doesn’t solve the problem of Windows printing directly, but it does pretty easily solve the more general–and ultimately more useful–”I just wanna print from Windows, but can’t” problem. Hopefully it works for you, too. We wanted to let this run for a few weeks or so without issue before writing it up; so far, so good.

And Buffalo, we shouldn’t have to say it…. but you might want to finally fix this long-standing bug in a way that doesn’t require people to pay for twice the archive/backup hardware they really need (buying another backup/archive solution as temporary or replacement storage altogether).

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If you use Microsoft Update, you should see it your list if updates soon if you haven’t already.

You’ll also find links there for MS Visio 2007 Service Pack 1 and MS Project 2007 Service Pack 1, if you’ve not done those already.

Details on what SP1 addresses and fixes, and any other related issues, are here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936982

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Two weeks ago, we posted about an issue involving the calculation of numbers around 65,535 and 65,536. As of today, fixes for this issue in Excel 2007 and Excel Services 2007 are available for download from the following locations:

Excel 2007: link
64-bit Excel Services 2007: link
32-bit Excel Services 2007: link

KB Articles have been posted as well:

Excel 2007: link
Excel Services 2007: link

We are in the process of adding this fix to Microsoft Update so that it will get automatically pushed to users running Excel 2007 or Excel Services 2007. Additionally, the fix will also be contained in the first service pack of Office 2007 when it is released (the release date for SP1 of Office 2007 has not been finalized).

Thank you for your patience,

The Excel Team

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Microsoft has issued an updated Internet Explorer (IE) 7 release that no longer requires Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation in order to download. The company has refreshed versions of IE 7 for Windows XP Service Pack (SP)2, Windows 64 client/server, and Windows Server 2003 SP1/SP2. It also posted an update to IE 7 for Windows XP that resolves a phishing-filter problem with the browser.

(Snippet from ZDNet)

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There have been some fairly positive changes with the hardware and controls (the new flick-control pad looks pretty cool), as well as with the underlying firmware and desktop software. There are also still a few things missing… Microsoft is also supporting DRM-free music now, to an extent.

More info about the new Zunes should be or here or here or here or here or, well, everywhere.

(Image from Microsoft)

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It’s quite possible the Microsoft Update service has already pushed these updates out to you earlier this week. Otherwise, you’ll need to go through Office Update or hit the Microsoft website and grab the update directly yourself (as linked below). Regular Windows Update does not check for updates to Microsoft Office; we recommend you upgrade to the more advanced and inclusive (and still free) Microsoft Update service.

Customers that retain us for software updates and security audits should have received these updates already, automatically.

[...] The Microsoft Office division has just released Service Pack 3 for 2003, and it is available for download through Office Update or directly from Microsoft’s web site.

The update includes a number of hotfixes that were released post-SP2, as well as some new tweaks. New fixes in Excel include performance improvements for loading files over slow networks and updates to the error-reporting service. Word gets fixes for many formatting errors, as well as for the problem some users had copying and pasting text from web pages. Powerpoint gets attention for problems with the “Package for CD” feature. In addition to bug fixes, SP3 contains numerous security patches to close recently-discovered holes.

[...]

(Snippet from ArsTechnica. Image from Microsoft.)

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Plenty of college campuses have done deals with Microsoft as well, offering Office and other MS products for ridiculously low prices (realizing, of course, that student tuition and fees are subsidizing that to some degree). $10 copies of Windows, $20 copies of Office, etc weren’t unheard of.

Microsoft is trying something new; it may or may not be for you, though (keep reading).

Starting today, they’re offering Office Ultimate 2007 for $60. Early word is it will be download-only. The program goes live later today (around 1pm US-Central time, although the site’s countdown clock has been a little wonky), and runs through April of next year. The website for it is here:

[LINK: theultimatesteal.com]

The exact licensing terms are still unavailable. I strongly recommend you review the license terms (once the site goes live and those terms are posted), of course. In the cases of university programs that have offered MS software in the past, sometimes students were granted perpetual licenses for any software they still owned at graduation time. Other agreements called for license suspension at graduation, or terminated licenses if you never graduated at all. Pricing has also varied wildly. No idea yet if the installation will be limited to a single PC or allow a few installs (as other “student” editions have in the past) so you end up with the home PC, the laptop, etc, all covered.

Bottom line, though: for the money, even if the license expires upon graduation, $60 through this new program is a pretty darn good deal. The suite has a retail value of $679.

ALL THAT SAID, you should still check with your university (probably your campus bookstore) and see what they’re offering. You may well get a better deal from them than this one, still.

ArsTechnica has more details on MS’ TheUltimateSteal program here:

[LINK: arstechnica.com]

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So what’s Windows Live SkyDrive? Windows Live SkyDrive is a new, currently-still-in-beta Windows Live service that gives users 500MB of web space for the online storing and sharing of files. Think of it as “a personal hard drive on the Internet”.

By default, you get several protected directories which you can store your files in. These directories are completed protected from the public. Only you can view them. However, Windows Live SkyDrive allows you create or choose specific folders to share with everyone (Public folders) or specific people on your Windows Live Contacts list. You can set specific permissions for those viewing your folders as well–such as someone who can contribute (add and remove files) or someone who is simply just a reader. Your Public folder allows ONLY reader permissions for the public in viewing files within the folder.

The service is free, but requires a Windows Live account which is also free; you can create your Windows Live account from the SkyDrive page if you don’t have a Live account already.

The overall integration of Microsoft’s Live services isn’t fabulous right now, honestly; the user interface can be downright confusing in places. That said, the SkyDrive service itself seems like a solid bit of online storage and filesharing space that could serve individuals and even some small businesses well.

Some caveats: there isn’t any Windows Explorer/Web Folder/Xbox Live integration of any sort(yet?), and currently, because SkyDrive is in beta, only users from the US, UK and India are able to participate and use it.

In related news, Google’s offering paid storage now as well; if you have a Google account, go here: Purchase Storage. Plans start at $20/year for 6GB, with larger plans ranging up to 250GB. Don’t forget that you already get 1GB with Picasa and nearly 3GB of space with Gmail for free.

The usual security and data protection caveats apply to any such services, of course; the value of your data to you and/or your business should ultimately determine your level of comfort with storing anything online anywhere.

[some SkyDrive portions shamelessly pilfered from windowsvistablog.com]

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