Windows Security Update (KB2753842) Causes OTF Fonts To Disappear

Hello,

I recently came across an issue where clients where experiencing missing fonts when viewing a PowerPoint project in presentation .  They could view the fonts correctly in editing mode no problem at all but when they went to presentation mode, they just disappeared.

This problem doesn't happen when you're using TrueType Fonts at all, just OpenType Fonts and if you were to drop the font size down to 12 or below, the OTF fonts show correctly in presentation mode.

The CAUSE is a Windows Security Update which addressed some security holes with OTF files.  There a quite a few WSUS servers which are set to install Security Updates by default, so I recommend you decline this update asap but only for client platforms as it's not likely you'll be using a client side app on a server.

The RESOLUTION.  Well to remove the update in Add/Remove but in order to remove the update in a silent manor different commands are required for XP and Windows Vista/7 workstations.  I put together a simple batch script which you can push out via Group Policy or run manually to remove the update from client workstations.  SEE BELOW.

Note: Once you have removed the update, you will need to reboot the workstation for the change to take effect.  I set this to run as a shutdown script in GP.

Also note:  apparently it's not just effecting PowerPoint. A lot of other application are reported to have issues such as Corel Draw.  I would expect quite a few companies that use custom OTF fonts will see issues from this update.

Hope this removal script helps.

------------------------


@echo off

REM Removal of Security Update KB2753842 which causes OTF fonts to disappear in PowerPoint Presentations
REM Created by Ben Owens 14-12-2012

REM Check Windows Version
ver | findstr /i "5\.1\." > nul
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 goto ver_xp
ver | findstr /i "6\.0\." > nul
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 goto ver_7
ver | findstr /i "6\.1\." > nul
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 goto ver_7
goto warn_and_exit

:ver_xp
"C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB2753842$\spuninst\spuninst.exe" /quiet /norestart
echo Windows XP
goto exit

:ver_7
wusa /uninstall /KB:2753842 /quiet /norestart
echo Windows 7

:exit

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Cubby - Storage sync

Hi

I had a problem...........I use dropbox, I have about 6GB space after referrals etc.  I love the product, the fact it is multi platform and integrates so tightly.  The problem is space.

Ok 6GB for free is great!  But my photos folder is 35GB and my music is around 32GB.  Sure I could cut these down in either quality or quantity, but I do not want to do that.

I have an Asus Laptop, a Shuttle server and a Mac Mini (as media center) at home and keeping files in sync between each other would be good with Dropbox, but I don't want to spend lots of money for something that is an elaborate version of robocopy.

Enter Cubby.  It is a tool currently in beta from LogMeIn.  The idea is pretty much identical to Dropbox but for a killer feature called DirectSync.

This allows online computers to directly sync with one another, rather than going via the cloud.  Perfect for my scenario and I would imagine lots of other people.  As you can see in the screenshot below, you create folders (called Cubbies) and choose if you want them to go via the Cloud.  As you can see I have chosen Off which means directsync is being used.

The thing is, although I am using the free version, they just emailed me to join in the Pro version for half price as I am a beta tester.  This gives you 100GB for $3.99 a month or about £30 a year in English money.  That is cheap and I am serious considering signing up.

If you have this problem get to https://www.cubby.com/

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Wyse ThinsOS 7.1 resolutions

Hi there!

My company uses a large set of Wyse ThinOS terminals all the way from the old 1200LE to the new T10.

The T10 is a cracking piece of kit, dual monitor in a tiny form factor which can also handle Citrix HDX and boot in seconds....it is pretty neat.

For this reason we have been keen to replace some of the old 1200LEs and S10 devices with the T10.  Intially this was held up due to the session reliability issue I blogged about a while ago

http://www.teamas.co.uk/2012/06/wyse-thinos-71-session-disconnecting.html

This was fixed with hotfix 130 (7.1_130).

The latest problem we had was with custom resolutions.  We use a WNOS.ini file to configure the terminals with a fairly basic configuration.  This will tell the terminals to use the DDC to determine the best resolution of which the monitor and device can handle.

We then use a username.ini file when the user logs in, this will start the appropriate Citrix session for them.  This will also launch at the best resolution for them e.g. A user with poor sight could start a terminal which is using 1280x1024 resolution, when they logon the session size will then become 1024x768.

This works really well as the support team does not need to configure specific terminals and best of all the users settings follow them!

Now 7.1 of ThinOS firmware screwed this up with the introduction of the VDI toolbar zero launchpad.  When users tried to logon to these terminals the resolution would never follow the details in the username.ini file.

To troubleshoot I tried to make a new connection and you can see there is no option to specify a different resolution.

 You can see that only "Default" is specified

Now, if you change the interface to be in classic desktop by going to System Preferences > Remote Connections > Visual Experience.  This can be achieved in the ini file by entering command

sysmode=classic

When you press OK you will be prompted to restart the terminal.  At the point the OS will look similar to pre 7.1 ThinOS with the connect manager window appearing on the desktop.

Try to add a new connection and you will see a list of resolutions can now be specified!!





I suspect that VDI mode has been streamlined and changing resolution per connection is not by design.  It would be nice if Wyse had documented this "feature" or responded within the 2 months to the support call we had opened with them!!!

Thanks

Sam

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