Some notes on my keyboard not sounding in Cakewalk Sonar

So, I had this problem. Seemed to have no explanation. Finally solved it. If you have the problem for the same reason, this solution may work.

Problem:

For me, when I was controlling a keyboard sound with my 88 keys, I heard nothing on notes A7, and around B7 to F8. It occurred with every soft synth I inserted, and showed no midi activity on the midi channel for these notes. To confirm the keyboard wasn't faulty, I tried in Pro Tools with the same soft synths, and all the notes worked perfectly! Then I noticed that in the piano roll view, the notes that showed no midi activity still highlighted when I played them! This was the first evidence I saw that Sonar was indeed receiving midi information when I pressed those keys.

I'll discuss the steps I took, but feel free to simply skip to the solution below.

Troubleshooting: I felt certain that the problem was that Sonar was intercepting these keys for some controller function, so I checked in the Preferences-Midi-Control Surfaces tab, and indeed, some currently disconnected hardware was listed with the same midi port as the keyboard was using. So I deleted this surface, and fully expected that the problem was solved, and I'd have no further issue. But the problem was unchanged! So I deleted the remaining control surface, which had it's midi port listed as none, just in case. Still no change! So I looked through the Preferences-Customization-Keyboard Shortcuts Tab, selecting MIDI under Type of Keys, but could find no short cut associated with any key.

Turned out the problem did lay in the Control Surfaces tab, and highlights this as an area where Sonar needs improvement. The control surface implementation is in theory, incredible, allowing deep customization and automatic configuration of a new surface, but in practice I've found it often glitchy.

1. Mapping some knobs seems impossible, as they work as absolute or relative controllers, and the program can't seem to figure them out. In the case of mapping my Samson 49, I resort to learning the control over and over, until, unexplainably, Sonar learns the knob in the correct way. In the case of mapping my AKAI APC Key 25, I just gave up.
2. My true wish, that I've had for a long time with Sonar, is that they would adopt the protocols that Ableton live uses, perhaps as a selectable Ableton mode, so that I can use the incredible array of inexpensive and versatile controllers for that program. Instead, I can't even map these controllers as ACT controllers, because they communicate in such a different way.
3. Of course another option would simply be to expand the list of choosable surfaces, but if I could just select an Ableton mode, then it would cover controllers not yet made, plus controllers too trivial to be worth adding to that list.
4. I wish Sonar would present MCU controllers as ACT controllers so I don't have to try to map them like that. Because I want to get my hands on more than just the faders and pan. I want to tweak EQ (like the real MCU) and soft synths (which the real MCU doesn't do either). Compare it with Reason's implementation of an MCU emulation controller, like the Samson 49. Just selecting MCU allows direct control of every device, by a premapping to all the faders knobs and buttons in the MCU protocol! This is SO FUN! And I don't have to do any surgery, just select MCU as the controller.

Solution: 

1. Go to Preferences-MIDI-Control Surfaces, and 

2. Add a new control surface, choosing your keyboard's Midi Port (Actually here the problem immediately disappeared, and those keys worked again.)

3. Delete the control surface you just added, as the problem should hopefully be gone now.

That should do it! 

Good luck!

How to Change the Timing of Slides in Google Slide

Perhaps Google slide has changed, but it seems this question has out of date answers.

The current way, is go to the file menu, click publish, then either embed OR link gives you the option to choose the time before changing slides.

Good luck!

Outlook won't start after changing Password

Foolish computers. I changed my password, opened outlook, expected it to complain and ask me to enter my password, as it has done many times with less justification, but instead it just crashes. Persistently. I open it, it TRIES to connect, and crashes, but we suspect it's only because the password is wrong.

Solution: So simple.

1. Disconnect from the web. If Outlook doesn't know it doesn't have the password, no crash! Turn off wifi or unplug Ethernet. This step might not be necessary, but if you want to do the next step by opening outlook, then it IS necessary.
2. I tried changing the password in outlook, but it doesn't seem to give me a way. So remove the account; First find it: One way is opening Outlook, choosing File>Account Settings>Account Settings. Another is through Control Panel>User Accounts>Mail>E-Mail Accounts... Either way, you then select the account and choose remove.Then you can
3. Reconnect, to the internet, and
4. Add the account, after following the same procedure in step 2 above, but not selecting any account, just choosing New.

Hope this works for you!