On a recent Windows 2008 R2 server I was working on, the client complained about FTP connections timing out.  Here are my findings and the fix (credit to this post which is where I found the answer)!

Large (i.e. 1 MB+) FTP uploads from newer client Windows OSes such as Windows Vista or Windows  7 running the FileZilla client (3.3.3) in passive mode, connecting to a Windows 2008 server would slow down, then hang/stall after a few seconds, eventually timing out.  In testing I found the issue occurred in both IIS/MS FTP/Microsoft FTP or FileZilla server running on the 2008 R2 box.  Here’s an example… on a Windows 7 FileZilla client, the transfer would hang at the EXACT same place EVERY time (in my case it hung exactly at 458,752 bytes):

Using a Mac or Windows XP FileZilla client did not produce a problem and the transfer always worked perfectly.

The solution was simple.  Enter this command line (must be run as admin) to disable the TCP autotuning mechanism on the server:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

Problem solved!  Big transfers – full speed ahead!  NOTE: I’m pretty sure this can be used on the client versus the server to work around the issue as well… please let me know in the comments.

Environment:

Server OS: Windows 2008 R2 Server
Client OS: Windows 7
FTP Server: IIS / MS FTP or FileZilla
FTP Client: FileZilla for Windows

Do services behind a Sonicwall fail and timeout exactly at 15 minutes (900 seconds)?  This is usually due to a firewall rule that closes open TCP connections after a set “timeout”.  If you have a Sonicwall this is certainly the case as the default is 15 minutes.

Let’s take a look at your Sonicwall firewall rule (Advanced tab), namely the “TCP Connection Inactivity Timeout”:

See that “15″ minute value that it’s currently set to?  Change that to a larger number to allow your Sonicwall to keep the ports open during large transfers.

From this post from robbieduncan at macrumors:

1. Open Disk Utility and use the New Image from Folder menu item to create an image. Ensure it is uncompressed and use the CD/DVD master option.In my experience this creates HFS+ masters which are no good in Windows.
2. Open the Terminal
3. Assuming your new image is called ~/Desktop/Master.cdr (the file is on your desktop and called Master.cdr) type:

This will create an ISO/Joliet .iso file.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to simply pay your sales tax in Quicken Home & Business like there is in Quickbooks.  In this post I will quickly outline the easiest way to calculate and pay your sales tax in Quicken Home & Business 2010.

In my example we will be paying Q2 2010.  Quicken automatically set up a sales tax tracking account where it automatically drops the sales tax from invoices I create.  I lump all my taxable sales into a category called “Sales” which you can see below.  This sales # is my taxable sales which I will need to calculate and reconcile with the tracking account.

Run a Profit and Loss Statement for the Tax Period you are paying by selecting “Business Reports” and “Profit and Loss Statement”

Change the report to Quarterly for the quarter you are paying tax on:

Here’s the report it generates:

In the case above there is $19,470 in non-taxable labor and $335 in taxable sales.  In Los Angeles there is an 8.25% state tax and a 1.5% district tax for a total tax of 9.75%.  This is what I have Quicken’s tax rate set to.  Doing the math with the above ($335 x 9.75%) I get $32.66 due to the California State Board of Equalization (our sales tax bureau in CA).  The California SBOE doesn’t like pennies so we just use whole numbers.  In my case $32.00 was payable for this quarter.

Now, Take a look at your Tax Collection account and make sure the numbers are equal, or at least close:

In my example you see that I owe $32.72 to the SBOE as calculated by Quicken ($32.66 was calculated based on the P&L).  The few pennies we are off here was due to my NOT adjusting the sales tax tracking account balance after paying my last return, which we will correct in the next step. To pay you sales tax, go to your checking account, and process your payment, selecting your “Sales Tax” account as the category (which treats it like a transfer):

In the transaction view for my “Sales Tax” account I simply add a blank debit transaction of $0.72 to zero out the balance and remove the pennies from the tracking account that I was not required to pay ($0.66), as well as the $0.06 that was there from NOT zeroing out the account last time I paid: $0.66 + $0.06 = $0.72.

Congratulations, you’ve paid your SALES TAX and are ready for the next quarter!

From Apple:

Creating a folder is easy.

To create a folder, touch and hold an app until it wiggles, drag it onto another app, and you’re done. You can repeat the process with more apps. For example, you can put all the games your daughter plays in one folder, all your news apps in another, and all your productivity apps in yet another. You can also create folders and organize apps using iTunes on your Mac or PC, then sync it all back to your iPhone.

Mystified how to move your Hackintosh to a shiny, new, big-ass hard disk?   Let me show you the light my friend – No terminal commands required!

Note that this tutorial does not address booting from MBR or dual booting Windows on the SAME hard disk.  I run Windows in a dual boot configuration, but I do it from an additional/physically separate hard drive.

1.  Connect your new hard disk to your Hackintosh via USB (enclosure) or directly via SATA.

2.  Load “Disk Utility” from Utilities on your Hackintosh and Partition your new Hard Drive.  I recommend creating a single partition formatted with “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.  Make sure “GUID Partition Table” is selected in “Options”.

3.  Clone your disk: Download and Install SuperDuper.  Run SuperDuper, selecting your source and destination drives.  Then hit “Copy Now”.  In my example below “Time Machine” would be the new, destination hard disk and “1TB” being the source disk.  The copy process will take a while.

4.  YOU ARE NOT DONE YET!  Now you must make the new disk bootable.  Download and Run the Chameleon RC2 Packaged Installer and point it to your new disk during the install process.  In this example, we’d be making the “Time Machine” disk bootable.  Requires NO terminal commands: SWEET!

Do you need or want a NEWER Chameleon release? Do this: Run step 4.  Then: Download the desired Chameleon release and replace the “boot” file in the root of your new drive (i.e. RC4 which has no packaged GUI installer).

5.  Remove your old hard disk and replace with the new disk.  Boot up and you should be good to go!  

NOTE: If you are using a USB enclosure for cloning, DO NOT TRY to boot your new installation from the USB drive.  IT WILL MOST LIKELY NOT WORK and you will get a “boot 1: error” in Chameleon!  You are not crazy and your clone is NOT BROKEN.  Simply remove the hard disk from the enclosure placing it directly connected to your system via SATA.

I recommend leaving your original “source” disk untouched and in a safe location for a week (just in case your new hard disk isn’t reliable or breaks, you can swap in your old disk).