Posted on by Michel · 2 Comments

Plugin for removing <meta name="generator" content="WordPress…" /> in WordPress blogs

A while ago I wrote a short post about an easy way to remove the following code from the HEAD of a WordPress blog:

<meta name="generator" content="WordPress [version number]" />

This included only the modification of the functions.php file in your theme. But then it occurred to me that there should be now even an easier way — via a plugin. And there is such a plugin, indeed!

Remove-Generator-Meta-Tag WordPress Plugin

It’s very simple (one line of code, actually) and easy to activate & use. Simply upload to your ‘wp-content/plugins/’ directory and activate it via the WP Admin interface.

There are probably other similar plugins, but this one is the simplest I could find!

Enjoy! :-)

Posted on by Michel · 4 Comments

Firefox 3.0/3.5 doesn’t warn when closing multiple tabs (a solution)

If you have this problem:

1) You have set the option in Mozilla Firefox to open all of your tabs automatically, each time the browser starts,
2) You do not see the warning “You are about to close n tabs. Are you sure you want to continue?” when you try to close the Firefox window (intentionally or by accident), and
3) You do not want Firefox 3.0 to ask you each time you close it, if you like to save or not save your browsing session, but save the session automatically,

…then you can jump straight to the solution!

But if you are curious about the details, you may continue to read below! :-)

A short introduction

Firefox 3 is by far the best browser I know!

It is secure, it supports Web standards and CSS 2.1 (and now, CSS 3, too!), it is fun to use, it has a built-in Session Saver (when you close Firefox with all of your opened tabs, it can re-open them next time you start it), and there are a variety of very useful add-ons (extensions) made for it, which extend its functionality and make it even better!

(NOTE: Firefox 3.5 was released on June 30th, 2009, but I will wait maybe a couple of more weeks, before upgrading to it, because still some very useful add-ons for Firefox 3.0 are not yet upgraded to be compatible with version 3.5.)

When I made the switch from Firefox 2.0 to Firefox 3.0, one thing puzzled me, though: the standard warning, when you close a Firefox window with more than 2 tabs open — it has disappeared… well, in a way, at least!

Firefox close all tabs warning

Firefox 2.0 » Firefox 3.0

As you (probably) know, Firefox can automatically save your browsing session, when you close it. This means, when you close the Firefox window, all tabs that you have open inside it, will be re-opened next time you start it again. This is controlled via an option, found in Tools > Options > Main > Startup: “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time” [screenshot].

So, in Options, if you select “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time”, you can safely close Firefox, and next time it starts, it will restore your browsing session — for this to work, though, you must have all tabs opened inside one window, or else, only the last window that you have closed will have its tabs re-opened on next startup.

You can also decide if you want your tabs re-opened, each time you close the Firefox window. In this case, you can de-select “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time” and instead, choose “Show a blank page”. Then Firefox 3 will ask each time you try to close it, what do you prefer: your session saved, or not.

But if you’re like me, then you may prefer all opened tabs to be saved automatically, and without any questions upon closing Firefox. In this case, you will select “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time” in Options and the dialog “Save and Quit?”, “Quit?”, “Cancel?” will not be shown when you close the Firefox window.

There’s one problem, though.

Firefox 3.0 will not warn you when you close a window with multiple tabs!

Well, this is not exactly true. It will not warn you, when several conditions are met:

1) In Tools > Options > Main > Startup, you must specify the option “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time” (this is pretty common, especially for people who upgraded from Firefox 1.5/2.0 > 3.0, because most users prefer to re-open all tabs automatically, when they start Firefox), and…

2) You are closing the last open window of Firefox. (I prefer have all of my tabs opened inside one window — thus, when I close Firefox, all my tabs inside this window will be re-opened. But let’s suppose, you have two windows open, inside each window there are several tabs. When you try to close the first window, Firefox will warn you. When you try to close the second one, it will not warn you.)

The strangest thing is that the warning “You are about to close n tabs. Are you sure you want to continue?” will not appear, in this case, no matter what is the setting that you have specified in Tools > Options > Tabs > “Warn me when closing multiple tabs” [screenshot]!

In Firefox 2.0, when you try to close a window with multiple tabs open, and if you have checked the option in Tools > Options > Tabs > “Warn me when closing multiple tabs”, Firefox will always warn you, before you close the window, no matter if the window you are about to close is the last (and only one), or if you have set the option in Tools > Options > Main > Startup: “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time”.

In Firefox 3.0, when you try to close a window with multiple tabs open, and if you have checked the option in Tools > Options > Tabs > “Warn me when closing multiple tabs”, Firefox will warn you, before you close the window, only if you have specified “Open my home page” or “Open a blank page” in Tools > Options > Main > When Firefox starts (it will present you with the dialog “Save & Quit”, “Quit”, “Cancel”)… But if you have specified there “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time”, then Firefox will not warn you, but will silently close all tabs!

And this is intentional (as of Firefox version 3.0), because, as far as I know, there were several bugs logged in this regard (including bug 419009, “Warning if closing multiple tabs is not working”), but the functionality remained the same! If the user has specified “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time”, then, when closing Firefox, all of his tabs will be automatically restored, and there’s no data loss. But the user might close Firefox by accident, and in this case, there’s no way for him to be warned! And the option “Warn me when closing multiple tabs” was supposed (in Firefox 2.0) to fix just that: accidental closing of all of your opened tabs! But it’s gone in Firefox 3.0: now you can’t be warned before you close Firefox, if you have specified all of your tabs to be restored automatically, when Firefox starts!

Some claim that there’s an easy “fix” for this: The user is supposed to select “Show my home page” or “Show a blank page” in Tools > Options > Main > Startup, but in this case, Firefox will ask each time it is closed, if you want or do not want to save all of your tabs! (And this is something I don’t need — I want Firefox to open all of my tabs automatically, without asking!) Also, in this case, you might also accidentally click the wrong choice and have your session deleted (if you select “Quit” instead of “Save and Quit”).

I have searched for a true workaround for a long time. I wanted:

1) Firefox to automatically save all of my tabs & re-open them next time it starts, inside one window, and
2) I wanted to be warned, when I try to close the Firefox window.

I think I have found a very good (almost perfect)…

Solution to the problem

You will need to install one Firefox add-on first — “Tab Mix Plus”; it currently works for Firefox 3.0/3.5, and can be downloaded from here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122

I will also recommend you to install the “Session Manager” addon, which works for FF 3.0/3.5:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2324

(Session Manager will complement the other add-on pretty well, but this step is not required.)

In Tab Mix Plus, there’s an option which can restore the default behaviour of Firefox, when you try to close it!

To activate it in Firefox, go to Tools > Tab Mix Plus Options > Events > Tab Closing > “Warn me when closing multiple tabs”. If you check this option, then Firefox 3 will act as before: If you have multiple tabs open, and try to close the Firefox window, it’ll show you the standard warning “You are about to close n tabs. Are you sure you want to continue?”.

And you’ll see the warning, even if in Tools > Options > Main > Startup: “When Firefox starts: Show my windows & tabs from last time” is set!

That’s it! :-)

Final notes

— In Firefox options, I have set Firefox to remember my opened tabs session automatically, when I close Firefox. I open all tabs inside one window, so for me this option works very well: If I try to close the window with all opened tabs, Firefox now gives me a warning, as I expect. If I try to close the window by accident, I can click on ‘Cancel’ and if I really want to close it, then I select ‘Close Tabs’ and next time Firefox opens, all of my tabs are restored!

— For added “extra security”, I have also installed Session Manager add-on (see download link above). So in the rare case that I will close one Firefox window with some tabs open and then will see that in the background, there was one more window open (this may happen sometimes), I can still recover my session with all opened tabs, using the Session Manager — I can simply revert then to a previous backup session, using Tools > Session Manager > Backup Sessions [screenshot].

— I have tested this on Windows XP SP3, Firefox 3.0.12 and Tab Mix Plus 0.3.7.3, and it works as described. Only remember that Firefox will not give you a warning, if you try to close it using File > Exit (in this case it will silently close, but still reopen all of your tabs next time, if you have specified this in Options). But if you try to close Firefox window using the standard Windows shorcut (Alt+F4) or if you click on the close button on its window (top right), the warning will appear.

— I do not know what is the default behaviour of Firefox 3.5, when closing (and I did not test Tab Mix Plus with FF 3.5.x, too). I may update this article in the future, if needed. A reader just confirmed that the bug exists in Firefox 3.5.x, too (thanks, iffi!:-) and that the latest version of Tab Mix Plus fixes the bug in FF 3.5, as it does in FF 3.0. That’s good to know!

— Tab Mix Plus add-on has much more options, but I needed just the warning on closing multiple tabs; feel free to explore all of its other features, though! :-)

I hope this information will be useful to other Firefox users, too!

Also, feel free to leave any comments and notes you may have — I always appreciate constructive feedback and discussion!

UPDATE (2009/08/08): I can confirm that this fix works with latest Firefox 3 (3.0.13) and Firefox 3.5 (3.5.2).

Posted on by Michel · 67 Comments

How to make Firefox remember *all* passwords (even when logging to PayPal & Yahoo Mail)

UPDATE (2013/Nov/18): There is a new and better way of dealing with the issue. Simply download and install the following Firefox add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/remember-passwords/

It will patch automatically the original Firefox Login Manager, to allow saving of passwords on forms which otherwise suppress it.

If you want to try the older, manual method of doing it, check my older post (see below); mind, in latest versions of Firefox the manual method may not work — I haven’t tested it.

* * *

Note: The following “trick” applies to Mozilla Firefox, versions 3.0.x, 3.5.x and 3.6.x. For Firefox v. 4.0.x and later, please refer to the following comment (thanks, Jason!).

You have maybe noticed, when you log in to PayPal, Yahoo! Mail, Live Mail and some other websites, that Firefox 3 does not give you the option to save the name & password for you, which in certain cases is a nuisance.

The reason? Security. In the forms of these websites, in the field INPUT, the following code appears:

<input autocomplete="off" type="..." ... />

When "autocomplete" is ‘off’, then the browser (quite correctly) does not give the user the option of saving the password for him. For websites, such as PayPal, for example, using which you can transfer small or large sums of money, this is a very wise approach.

On the other hand, in this case, you have to manually type each time your username and/or password, which can be quite annoying (especially if they are very long/secure). If you are using your own computer/laptop, and you think that you do not need that extra bit of security, there is a very easy way to make Firefox 3 to remember the passwords even for these secure websites, which set autocomplete to “off”.

Here’s how:

Read more

Posted on by Michel · 1 Comment

How to re-create the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows

Sometimes you might accidentally delete the Show Desktop icon on the quick launch toolbar.

It’s fairly easy to restore it.

My preferred method is to just copy the icon from computer to computer, but there’s another way, too. Also, mind that the Show Desktop icon is not an ordinary program shortcut — but if the icon is deleted, you can re-create it easily, by following these steps (info copied from Microsoft kb #190355):

Read more

Posted on by Michel · 2 Comments

MS Office 2007 – MS Office 2003 compatibility issue (fix)

Microsoft Office LogoIf you have an older version of Microsoft Office – for example, Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), or even older (Microsoft Office XP) you might have problems opening the new file formats, introduced with the new Office 2007 (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, and others).

To fix this issue, without necessarily upgrading to the 2007 Office, you may download the following update from Microsoft:

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

It supports the following versions of Windows: Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP SP1 (or higher, SP2 included), and the following versions of Microsoft Office:

  • Microsoft Word 2000 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2000 with Service Pack 3, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 with Service Pack 3
  • Microsoft Word 2002 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2002 with Service Pack 3, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 with Service Pack 3
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003 with at least Service Pack 1, Microsoft Office Excel 2003 with at least Service Pack 1, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 with at least Service Pack 1

and also the following Office viewers:

  • Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2003

So, if you have one of the above, you can download and install the update, and then open and even save in the new file formats without a problem, even if you still continue to use an older version of MS Office:)

Posted on by Michel · 7 Comments

How to disable automatic Windows restart dialog box after Windows Update

You know the scenario:

Windows XP updates automatically, and then a small box appears, which gives you two choices:

  1. Restart the computer! (now)
  2. Restart the computer! (later)

The problem is, even if you choose the ‘later’ option, the same annoying dialog box will pop-up after 10 minutes or so and you’ll have to dismiss it again, then again, then again… Finally, it will inform you, that the computer will be automatically restarted in 5 minutes, no matter what you do currently — the only choice you have at this moment is to postpone the restart a little, but the box will come again and again… And if you’re in the middle of something, and cannot restart right now, then what?

Luckily, there’s a solution, which I’ve found by accident, while browsing the Internet with no specific goal (you may read about this solution in a lot of places, actually). In short, your options are the following:

Option One

Stop the Automatic Update Service for the moment.

To do so, open the ‘run’ dialog box (shortcut: Windows key + R), type ‘cmd’ (without the quotes, of course) in it and hit ENTER. The command line will open.

Then use the following command to stop the service:

net stop wuauserv

Alternatively, you may also use:

net stop "automatic updates"

Or:

sc stop wuauserv

All of these do one and same thing: they stop the Automatic Update Service and with it, the annoying box, which prompts continuously you to restart the computer.

Then you may restart the computer at whatever time you like:-)

Note: The Automatic Update Service will be automatically started at the next Windows reboot, so don’t worry, you won’t disable the service itself!

Now, to the next option:

Option Two

You may disable this dialog box, prompting you to restart the computer after the Windows updates are applied, for good:)

How?

Again, open the ‘run’ dialog box, and type in it ‘gpedit.msc’, then hit ENTER. This will open the Group Policy editor.

Locate in it:

Local Computer Policy → Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Update

There are two options there which will affect achieve the effect you’re after.

The first one is: No auto-restart for schedule Automatic Updates installations

Right-click it, select ‘Properties’, and configure it.

The second one is: Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations

Right-click it, and set the time interval to something very long, like 720 minutes (12 hours).

Note: The maximum number of minutes you can set up there is 1440 minutes, or 24 hours, but this should be enough.

That’s it. No more annoying boxes popping up everywhere and urging you to restart NOW:)

What next?

Finally, let me quote Tim Rains on what might be the issues when disabling this auto-restart dialog box:

IMPORTANT: If you choose to configure your system not to reboot when a security update which requires a reboot is installed, you are taking a huge risk. The fixed code is not actually loaded (in memory) by the system until after the reboot. i.e. the old, vulnerable code is still running until a reboot is completed. If you do not reboot the system for whatever reason (you didn’t realize a security update was automatically installed, you want to wait for a regular maintenance window, you forget, you were on vacation, etc.) your system will still be vulnerable. You also risk system stability by delaying a required reboot. When some files that are in use are replaced but not loaded, and other files that are not in use are replaced, you can get into a mixed binary situation. Depending on the binary, there may be conflicts that cause system instability.

Also, here should be noted that if you have the Automatic Windows Update service disabled by default (System Properties → Automatic Updates → Turn Off Automatic Updates) and do your updates manually (via Microsoft Update or Windows Update), then this dialog box won’t bug at all you after updates are installed, because you have decided to install them manually.

Other interesting resource for you might be this one:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000294.html

There are a lot of insightful comments below the main article — you may find in them, for example, what to do if you’re running a copy of Windows XP Home Edition, which doesn’t have a Group Policy Editor; what are the differences between the No auto-restart for schedule Automatic Updates installations and Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations and how to set them up in the best possible way, etc.

I’ve created this article more as a note to myself, so I can reference to it later, when needed:)