How to Solve Common Tomcat Problems in Windows

Everything does not always go smoothly in development. Tomcat consists of a fantastic set of tools for developing in JSP, but issues can arise getting it running. I have described a few of the issues I encountered when trying to get my Tomcat installation working.

Page not displaying or Page cannot be found

You have seen this error before on websites when a page is deleted or when the server simply cannot find it your request.

We will apply this principle to your local machine and make sure your web files are in the correct location on your file system.

1.Make sure that you entered the URL correctly to connect. Depending on how you set everything up, the normal URL is the following:

http://localhost

If you need the default port 8080, try the following instead:

http://localhost:8080

If you connect to this default root directory and it contains no files or server pages, you should see a page from Tomcat letting you know you have navigated to the correct root directory.

Make sure the URL you are using is actually pointing to an existing directory. Double check on your file explorer to see if it is there.

HTTP 404 status or Cannot connect to server

The message you see may be different depending on what browser you are using. These errors messages are typically an issue with Tomcat running itself and not problems with the files, folders, or paths.

To solve this one, you can do a few basic checks for simple mistakes:

1.Make sure that Tomcat is actually running. It will normally show up in your processes as java.exe*32 which you can check by CTRL+ALT+DEL and selecting the Processes tab. Scroll down to find the process.

2.Make sure Tomcat is running on a port that is not being used in that moment by another program or service. It may be necessary to change Tomcat’s port which is 8080 by default. Skype and many other programs also attempt to use port 8080. If you are having problems, change Tomcat’s port to be safe.

Navigate to C:\tomcat\conf and open server.xml with Notepad++ or Notepad.

Find all instances of the port that Tomcat is currently using (8080 by default) and replace it with a port that is between 1024 and 9999. Using a simple find and replace within your text editor might be fastest.

Restart Tomcat and be sure to reflect the new port in your URL. In this example we used port 1025.

http://localhost:1025

Via[Tech-Reciep]

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How to Use Your iPad or Tablet as a Second Monitor with iDisplay

We could all do with some extra screen space from time to time. It can be a battle to manage all of the windows you have open at any one time. Having a second monitor is not something that everyone is able to do, be it in terms of space or finances, but if you are packing a tablet you already have your second screen ready to go.

Whether you have an iPad or an Android tablet, there are a number of ways in which you can transform your touchscreen device into some extra desktop real estate. Weighing in at an average of 7 to 9 inches, using your tablet as a second monitor is something that has certain limitations; you are not going to want to use it to edit large spreadsheets, for example.

There are a number of ways in which you can put your tablet to good use, and we have looked at how Air Display does the job for iPad, iPhone and Android owners. While this is a solid solution, there is the slight drawback that the app will set you back $9.99. Thankfully there are cheaper options available as well.

Getting Set up

Whether you’re working with an iOS or an Android device, the process of using your tablet in this way is very similar. You will need to install a client app on your tablet or phone, as well as server software for your Mac or PC.

One of the first things you might want to consider is just how the setup is going to work. If you have ever used more than one regular monitor connected to the same computer, all you really have to worry about is which monitor is going to be the primary one.

To some extent, the same thing is true when working with a tablet. However, there are very few tablets that have a built-in stand, so for the sake of practicality – you don’t want to just lean your tablet up against the side of your monitor – you will want to come up with some sort of mounting solution.

There are various cases available for Android and iOS tablets that either include a stand (such as Griffin’s Survivor range) or can be converted into one (such as Apple’s Smart Cover), as well as more advanced desk mounts.

A simple solution also exists in the form of Belkin’s FlipBlade for Tablets which can be used with virtually any make of tablet.

Introducing iDisplay

iDisplay is available for Android and iOS, and there is server software available for Windows and OS X. The only real requirement is that your tablet and computer are connected to the same wireless network – although as you’ll see, users of Windows 7 and earlier have access to more options than anyone using Windows 8 (this should change as updates are released).

Both the Android and iOS versions, will set you back $4.99 . We are going to focus on how to get the Android up and running, but the process is very similar between the two platforms.

Download and install the free desktop software for your Mac or PC – if you are using Windows you may find that you are warned about the installation of a new display driver, and you will be prompted to restart. While you’re waiting for the restart, you can set about installing the mobile app.

You will then need to launch the desktop app, allow it through your firewall, before turning your attention to your tablet.

Mobile App

Grab yourself a copy of iDisplay from the App Store or Google Play. When you launch the app, you will see a list of computers that have been detected running the iDisplay desktop software.

Tap the entry for your computer and there will be a slight delay while a connection is established. On your computer, click the ‘Always allow’ or ‘Allow once’ button to permit the connection.

What happens next depends entirely on which version of Windows you’re using. If you have made the jump to Windows 8, you’re limited to reproducing your main monitor on your tablet – at least with the Android version of the app – but with Windows 7 and its predecessors, you can gain an extra monitor to use however you want.

Just as with dual monitors, you can configure the arrangement of your tablet in relation to your monitor. Right click the system tray icon and select Settings followed by ‘Display arrangement’ before moving the displays around to reflect the setup you’re using.

Once this has been done, you can drag window off the edge of your monitor and they will reappear on the screen of your tablet or phone.

iDisplay in Action

So what can you use your secondary tablet display for? There is an element of delay to contend with, so you’re not going to want to use this setup for anything too graphically intensive or time sensitive – it’s not really ideal for enhancing your gaming experience.

But what iDisplay can be used for is monitoring your inbox, keeping Twitter or Facebook separate from all of the other windows you may have open, housing a system monitoring tool, and so on. Any small widget that you want to keep an eye on can be moved from your main desktop onto your mobile device, freeing up space while ensuring you can see whatever you need to.

Via[HowToGeek]

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How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Files on Your Windows PC, Thumb Drive, or SD Card

If you have accidentally deleted files from your Windows computer or from an external USB drive, memory card, or other external storage device, there’s an easy way to recover those files using a free program.

UndeleteMyFiles Pro is a freeware program that allows you to recover deleted files quickly and easily and restore them to a specified location. You can also use the program to search for deleted media files and restore them.

Double-click the .exe file to install UndeleteMyFiles Pro. If the Open File – Security Warningdialog box displays, click Run to continue with the installation.

If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue.

NOTE: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings.

Follow the instructions on the remaining setup wizard screens to complete the installation.

To recover a deleted file, click the File Rescue icon on the main UndeleteMyFiles Pro screen.

On the File Rescue screen, select the drive letter for the drive that contained the deleted file and click Scan.

A list of files that were deleted from the selected drive displays. Select the check box(es) next to the file(s) you want to recover and click Recover.

On the Browse For Folder dialog box, select a folder in which you want to save the recovered file(s) and click OK.

If you select a folder on the same drive on which the deleted file was located, a warning displays. It’s recommended that you save the recovered file to a different hard drive than the original one.

A dialog box displays to find out whether you want to preserve the original structure for the recovered file(s). To recover only the file(s), click Yes. To recover the file(s) with the original directory structure, click Yes.

When the recovery process is completed, a dialog box displays statistics about the process. Click OK.

The recovered file(s) are saved to the specified folder.

You can also search for specific deleted files by clicking the Deleted File Search icon.

On the search screen, click Search.

On the Locations tab of the Search options dialog box, select the hard drives you would like to search or click Add Location to search in a specific folder on your hard drive.

To find only specific types of files, click the Files tab. Select the Find certain file types radio button. Select the desired option to only find the following types or to exclude any of the following types and enter the file types in the File wildcard edit box.

To search for file types with specific case (upper, lower, etc.), select the Case sensitive check box and enter the file types in the File wildcard edit box with the desired case.

To only find or exclude specific Windows file types, select the Search for specific registered Windows file types check box and select a file type from the Individual types tab or a group of file types from the Common Groups tab.

To specify a specific size of the file to recover, click the Size tab and select the Only find items with certain sizes radio button. Select an option from the first drop-down list on the left to qualify the size you specify. Enter the size in the edit box, and select an option from the drop-down list on the right to indicate whether the specified size is in bytes (B), kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB).

You can specify a second size search parameter by selecting And or Or and then defining a second size.

To search for a file by specific attributes, click the Attributes tab and select the Only find the items with the following attributes radio button. Select whether you want to find ANY or ALL of the following attributes, and then select the check boxes for the desired attributes.

Click Search when you have finished specifying your search parameters.

The search is performed and a summary of the results displays in a dialog box. Click OK.

The recovered files are listed on the Search screen. Select the check boxes next to the file(s) you want to recover on the right side of the screen and click Recover.

The Browse For Folder dialog box displays. Select a directory into which you want to save the recovered file(s) and click OK.

Again, a dialog box displays to find out whether you want to preserve the original structure for the recovered file(s). To recover only the file(s), click Yes. To recover the file(s) with the original directory structure, click Yes.

When the recovery process is completed, a dialog box displays statistics about the process. Click OK.

In addition to recovering files, you can also use UndeleteMyFiles Pro to securely and permanently delete files without any chance of recovery, to recover email in a few different email programs, such as MS Outlook Express and MS Outlook, and to create an emergency disk image.

Via[HowToGeek]

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How to Get Microsoft Word’s Auto-Complete and Spelling Correction Features Across All Windows Apps

Do you sometimes wish that you could use Microsoft Word’s more useful features, such as auto-complete, automatic spelling correction, and Autotext, in other programs in Windows? PhraseExpress is a free program that allows you to do just that.

PhraseExpress allows you to organize text snippets into customizable categories for quick access and to use shortened phrases to insert these full text snippets. If you type the same phrases over and over, this reduces typing time and minimizes spelling mistakes. PhraseExpress will also start to learn what you type and offer to auto-complete frequently used phrases.

More than 8,200 common spelling corrections in six languages can be freely downloaded and automatically correct misspellings as you type. PhraseExpress can also learn from your own spelling mistakes.

To install PhraseExpress, double-click the .exe file you downloaded (see the link at the end of this article), if you downloaded the file using the CNet link. If you downloaded PhraseExpress using the alternative download link, extract the .zip file first and then run the .exe file.

Follow the instructions in the Setup Wizard. When the Select Additional Tasks screen displays, make sure there is NO check mark in the Do you want to use PhraseExpress in a network check box. If this is selected, you will be installing the trial version, rather than the version that is free for personal use.

Once you have installed PhraseExpress and run it, an icon is added to the system tray and the following balloon hint displays. Click on the balloon to open the main PhraseExpress window.

You can also right-click on the PhraseExpress system tray icon and select Edit phrases from the popup menu to access the main window.

NOTE: Before using PhraseExpress, you need to enable it. To do this, left-click on the system tray icon and select Direct access to settings and then select Enable PhraseExpress.

To add a custom phrase to the list, click New Phrase. On the right side of the window, enter a description for the phrase in the Description edit box. As an example, we added the phrase How-To Geek, so we entered “HTG” as our description.

In the Phrase content box, enter the full text you want inserted when you type a shortened phrase in any Windows program.

If you want to be able to insert the text using a hotkey, select the desired keys in the Hotkey section.

To enter a full phrase using an abbreviation, enter text in the Autotext edit box, and select an option indicating when to execute the command. For example, when we enter “htg” in any Windows program and press Space, Enter, or any punctuation mark (default delimiters), “How-To Geek” will replace “htg”.

You can also restrict PhraseExpress to work only in a specific program by checking the Execute only in specific program and selecting a program from the dialog box that displays.

When you have finished entering your custom phrase, it’s displayed in the list on the left with the hotkey, if one was applied.

When you want to quickly type a phrase you defined in PhraseExpress, enter the Autotext or press the hotkey you defined for the phrase.

A balloon hint displays on the system tray icon telling you how to finalize the replacement of the phrase.

When we typed a space after “htg”, the phrase “How-To Geek” was inserted into the program.

You can organize your custom phrases into folders. To do this, click New Folder.

Enter a name for the folder in the Description edit box on the right side of the screen.

To move a custom phrase into the new folder, drag and drop the phrase in the list on the left to the new folder.

The phrase is moved to the new folder.

PhraseExpress comes with a list of AutoCorrect words and phrases that will be automatically corrected when the specified incorrect word or phrase is typed. For example, if you type “abondon”, PhraseExpress will correct it to “abandon”.

You can add your own words and phrases to the AutoCorrect list by clicking New Phrase while the AutoCorrect_English list is selected. Enter a description for the word or phrase in the Description edit box and enter the correct spelling of that word in the Phrase content box. Enter possible misspellings in the Autotext edit box, each separated by a vertical bar.

PhraseExpress can also be run as a portable program. To do this, download the portable version from the webpage using the link at the end of this article. Extract the files and create a new shortcut to the phraseexpress.exe file. If you’re going to run PhraseExpress from a USB flash drive, you can save the shortcut in the same directory as the program, allowing you to copy the program folder to any drive and run it without installing it.

Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties from the popup menu.

Add a space and “-portable” to the end of the Target command, after phraseexpress.exe, and click OK.

When you run PhraseExpress using the new shortcut, the following warning displays, reminding you to exit PhraseExpress before you remove the USB flash drive.

Via[HowToGeek]

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