Lenovo X220T Tablet win8 wifi driver issue

Lenovo X220T table runs Windows 8 just fine.  However, there appears to be a issue with the factory 1x1 wifi driver.

The issue manifest as lost of network connection, unable to connect, or "limited connection" upon resume from sleep.  Work around includes resetting NIC through NetSh, turning off and on wifi NIC, or going into and out of airplane mode.

After some digging, it appears that the Realtek driver fixes this issue.  The 1x1 NIC in the X220T uses Realtek RTL8188CE chipset.  The driver was last found on Dec 23, 2012 at:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=21&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

ASUS Zenbook Touchpad Hack

So if you have the ASUS zenbook UX31 (13"), you probably know how much the touchpad sucks. Most compliants about it comes from the touch pad being a bit too sensitive, and seemingly doing things you don't want it to do.

Some adjustments that can be made to help it work better are:

1. Tapping - disable two finger tap for popup menu
   This helps prevent the action of putting your thumb on the "left button" being mistaken as a two finger tap.
2. Drag and Drop - disable to avoid dragging windows if you are fast, where you double-tap and move the cursor, and the Smart-Pad thinks you are dragging.
3. Smart Detector - enabled, and change the detect area to where you actually put your finger.
   You can tell after some moderate use by looking at the smartpad and seeing an area of "clean" (or grease - ewww). This is the area you most likely actually are putting your pointer finger.

However, if that's NOT enough, here's one more. It's a good one. Hack the registry. This will allow you to see all the functions the smart-pad software can control, but for whatever reason ASUS or Elantech disabled for the Zenbook

1. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Elantech\SmartPadDisplay, and change all values to "1"
2. Go to the Elan Smart-Pad's properties by using the Mouse Properties dialog box
3. Now you'll see all the hidden options

Once all the options are enabled, you'll see "Palm Tracking" under Additional tab. Turn that up one notch, and it'll make the smart pad less sensitive, but it also makes accidental brushing less likely to register as a mouse movement.

Interesting note on this. Once you make changes to whatever formerly hiddened options and click OK or Apply, the previously modified registry keys will revert back to the way "they want it". If you want to experiment, it's best to change all the values to 1's, export the registry key, and use that to change all the keys at once.

Not all the newly activated options will work with the Zenbook's Elan Smart-Pad, but the Palm Check is tested to work on my UX31. Hopefully this will help you get better control over your Zenbook.

Remove ToughBook CF-W8 Hard Drive

To remove and replace the W8's hard drive:

1. Remove the battery.
2. Take out 6 screws securing the HDD cover. There are 4 screws on the bottom of the laptop(chrome), and two on top (silver). The two screws on top are above the "F7" and "PrtSc/SysRq" button.
3. Slide the HDD cover off the bottom. There should not be any need to pry it.
4. Gently slide the HDD out of the cushioned caddy.
5. Remove cable from HDD. Reverse to install.

IAS Error Reason-Code = 65

When a user attempts to connect through 802.1x running on IAS, they cannot connect. IAS eventlog reports event ID 2, Reason Code = 65, permission for the user account was denied.

Once user has been confirmed to be member of proper AD group with permission in IAS' Remote Access Policies (RAP), check user's AD account to confirm their "Dial-In" setting to be "Control access through Remote Access Policy".

Excel "File not Found" when running a Macro (*.tmp)

If a user receives an error in Excel while running a macro, and the error message is like

File Not Found c:\...\local~\temp\2\vb514.tmp

Check the user's My Documents permission. User must have modified permission for VBA to work properly.

Remove BlackBerry IT Policy

If you are decommissioning an corporate /BES based Blackberry to personal BIS use, you may need to remove the existing IT Policy. The easiest way to do this is:

1. Ensure BB has OS 4.5 or newer.
2. Connect BB computer
3. in command prompt, goto
   c:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader
   (64 bit OS should go to c:\program files (x64)\common files\...)
   
4. run "LOADER.exe /resettofactory"

Windows 7 and KIX scripts

Logon Kix script that has worked for years stopped working under Windows 7. It goes through the routine like it worked, but in Explorer or CMD, the drive are not there. When the script is manually ran after login, the mapped drives shows up.

Turns out to be a UAC related issue. As explained in MS KB 937624, with UAC enabled, users with administrative membership are logged in with two access tokens, restricted and administrative. When the logon script runs, it runs with the administrative token. When the desktop starts, it starts with the restricted token. Because the two events were started with different access tokens, it's like two different users logged on. They can't see each others drives.

So, the fix is to enable "EnableLinkedConnections". In the registry, set it this way:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System -
EnableLinkedConnections =(dword)1

This "links" the connections made with one access token to another.