Prevent adding duplicates records from predefined data in ListInstance while reactivating its feature

In SharePoint if we have predefined data in ListInstance then deactivating and then reactivating its feature causes the predefined data to created again resulting in duplicates. Say, for e.g. our ListInstance looks something like this.

<ListInstance ...>
  <Data>
    <Rows>
      <Row>
        <Field Name="Title">Record 1</Field>
      </Row>
      <Row>
        <Field Name="Title">Record 2</Field>
      </Row>
    </Rows>
  </Data>
</ListInstance>

If we deploy this to a SharePoint site and if we deactivate and reactivate its feature then we will have “Record 1” and “Record 2” appear twice. Deactivating and reactivating it again would only create more duplicates.

Curse you Adobe!

Its 2015 and Adobe Reader still asks for system restart when it updates itself. It greets you with a dreadful message after every update:

You must restart your system before using Adobe Reader. Click Restart Now to restart automatically.

This wasn't the first time that I got this message and I am not the only one to question this (by the way this question was asked way back in 2011).

So when I got this popup again some days back, I accidentally clicked on "Restart Now". And my PC restarted itself. With me working on 3 different Word documents and 1 Excel worksheet. With a Ubuntu running in my VM. And it didn't even ask me if I wanted to close my open programs. It simply restarted.

I initially suspected this to be a problem with Windows; that it didn't ask me to close my open programs. So when today I got a couple of updates for my Windows, it again asked me for a restart. This time I opened up a Word document tried to restart to finish installing updates. It showed me message that I have some programs running. I closed my Word document and fired up my VM running Ubuntu. Again the same message.

So it seems to me that Adobe Reader's restart uses some kind of forced restart which does not care about the programs currently running on your PC. And that's why I say —

Curse you Adobe!

Open command prompt from Windows Explorer in folder path and vice versa

Many a times you have Windows Explorer opened to a folder location and you need Command Prompt to be opened in that same location. Rather than opening Command Prompt and then navigating to the said directory there is a better way.

Hold down Shift key and right-click. Click on “Open command windows here”. This feature seems to have been present since Windows Vista.

Conversely, if you are in your Command Prompt in a specific folder and you want to open that folder in Windows Explorer then simply type in the following command:

start .

Installing Ubuntu on VirtualBox

I have a Windows 8 machine on which I will be installing Ubuntu 14.04 inside Oracle VM VirtualBox. First download VirtualBox and install it. For this example I am using 4.3.12. Download the image file for Ubuntu.

Once you have installed VirtualBox open it and click on "New" on the toolbar to begin the process of creating a new virtual machine.

Give a name to your virtual machine and select which OS you would be installing in it and click on "Next".

Remove passwords from PDF files

A very simple trick to remove passwords from your password protected PDF files so that you can forward them.

Open your password protected PDF file in Google Chrome. Now hit Ctrl + P and save password protected PDF file as, well, again a PDF file. This would save a copy without the password.

Enable "Developer options" on your HTC One X

Recently I noticed that the Developer options on my HTC One X was gone. I remembered before updating it to 4.2.2 it had the Developer options. Then I remembered that from Android 4.2 and higher the Developer options are hidden by default.

To get back Developer options go to "Settings > About > Software information > More". Once there tap on "Build number" seven times to enable it.

Remove Skype from taskbar in Windows when you close it

Skype has an annoying bug feature; when you close it, it does not disappear from the taskbar unlike other programs. To make Skype behave like other programs, in menu go to "Tools > Options". Under "Advanced > Advanced settings" uncheck "Keep Skype in taskbar while I'm signed in".

So now when you close Skype it disappears from taskbar but it is still running and you can see it in notification area of taskbar.