Zune Free day

Today, the last day of the year for 2008, was a Zune Free day. This was not on purpose but due to bad unit testing, thanks Microsoft. All the 30G Zunes decided to take the day off. I left the house without my Zune today and my wife sends me an email with a link to the story where all across the world Zunes were freezing up. You turn them on and they just show the pretty Zune screen and wait for the battery to run out. And that is what mine did when I turned it on. Apparently this will fix itself tomorrow when the date changes, so says Microsoft (30gb zune issues -- official update). Someone doesn't know how to program for leap years. So we will what till tomorrow and see if IPod sales go up. Just another reason to goto Apple.



Have a great New Year!!!!!!


Update: Good news and Bad news; Good news: Zune is now working! Bad news no iTouch for me. ;)

Simple but Friendly Form validation

First Name*:
Last Name*:
E-Mail*:
Cell #:

script being used

1. Add onsubmit to form tag like this:
<form name="reg" onsubmit="return validate(this);">

2. Then add this script modifiy to your needs

<script type="text/javascript">
/**
 validate the form being passed
 return false if errors exist
 return true if no errors
*/
function validate(_f){
 // init errors to empty
 var errors = "";
 
 // check form inputs adding appropriate messages for each field
 if (!_f.fName.value.length)
  errors += "First Name\n";
 
 if (!_f.lName.value.length)
  errors += "Last Name\n";

 if (!_f.eMail.value.length)
  errors += "E-Mail\n";
 
 // if errors have been added, alert the user
 if (errors.length){
  // prepend a freindly error message
  errors = "Please correct the following:\n\n" + errors;
  
  alert (errors);
  // if errors exist return false
  return false;
 }
 
 // if no errors return true
 return true;
}
</script>

What else can be said!

"When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."

-Thomas Jefferson

---

"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less
apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious."

-Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384 BC - 322 BC) Source: Politics, 343 B.C.

---

"We may well soon be subjected to anything that judges want to enforce.... The result will be an enforced inability of the states to pass laws that reflect the principled judgment of their own citizens....And as our Founders taught us so well, ...[that] will be the end of liberty and the establishment of
tyranny in America."

-Alan Keyes

---

"We are headed in this country towards a totalitarianism every bit as dangerous towards freedom as the other more forthright forms. We have our secret police, our thought control agencies, our over-powering bureaucracy. . . . The American State, like every other State, is governed by those who have a compulsion to power, to centralization, to the preservation of their gains."

-Robert Ludlow, editor of the Catholic Worker, 1951

---

"When legislative power is united with executive power in a single person or in a single body of the magistracy, there is no liberty, because one can fear that the same monarch or senate that makes tyrannical laws will execute them tyrannically.

Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separate from legislative power and from executive power. If it were joined to legislative power, the power over the life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislator. If it were joined to the executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor."

-Baron Charles Secondat de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Book 11

compiled from this site

Role-based Random Rotating Banner!

Do you ever need a banner rotator which is random? What if you could target your viewers by their roles? Well here you go, a random role based rotating banner javascript.

The HTML which will contain the rotating banners:

<a href="banlink" id="adLink" target="_top">
<img src="banImg" id="adBanner" border="0" width="610" height="100" alt="banAlt"></a>

The first javascript section sets the defaults for the role and rotating rate. It also pulls the user's role from a queryString. This can be modified to use server side code to identify the user's role. I have done this with java code like:
var role=<%= user.getRole() >. You could also use .Net's Principal object to fill this in.

<script type="text/javascript">
        // code by JJohn
        // random role based rotating banner 
 var role = "NONMEMBER"; // default
 var rollrate = 10; // seconds to show before rotating

 // THIS PART alows you to
 // get user role from query string
 // START
 role = querySt("role");
 if(role == null){
  role = "NONMEMBER";
 }
 
 rollrate= querySt("rollrate");
 if(rollrate == null){
  rollrate = 15;
 } 
 function querySt(ji) {//parse out name : value from querystring
 hu = window.location.search.substring(1);
 gy = hu.split("&");
 for (i=0;i<gy.length;i++) {
  ft = gy[i].split("=");
  if (ft[0] == ji) {
   return ft[1];
  }
 }
 // END
}

</script>

The second javascript section defines the banner's location, link and the role which can view the banner. It also contains the random rotating logic.

<script type="text/javascript">
// define images
var bannerImages = new Array(
 "images/Banner1.gif",
 "images/Banner2.gif",
 "images/Banner3.gif",
 "images/Banner4.gif",
 "images/Banner5.gif",
 "images/Banner6.gif",
 "images/Banner7.gif",
 "images/Banner8.gif",
 "images/Banner9.gif",
 "images/Banner10.gif");

// define banner links
var bannerLinks = new Array(
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "",
 "");

// define banner alt texts
// this is where you would define the user roles
var bannerTexts = new Array(
 "Banner1 NONMEMBER",
 "Banner2 NONMEMBER",
 "Banner3 NONMEMBER",
 "Banner4 NONMEMBER",
 "Banner5 NONMEMBER",
 "Banner6 NONMEMBER",
 "Banner7 MEMBER",
 "Banner8 MEMBER",
 "Banner9 MEMBER ADMIN",
 "Banner10 MEMBER");

 var oldIndex = 99; // init 



function getBanner() {
 var index = 0; 
 try{
 do {// get random index
  index  = Math.floor((bannerImages.length)*Math.random()); // get random 
 }while(bannerTexts[index].indexOf(role)<0 && index != oldIndex && index <= bannerImages.length); // banner is not in role get another one and banner is new
 
 oldIndex = index; // set old value

 var banner = document.getElementById('adBanner');
 var link   = document.getElementById('adLink');
 document.getElementById('adBanner').src = bannerImages[index];
 document.getElementById('adBanner').alt = bannerTexts[index];
 link.href  = bannerLinks[index];
 document.getElementById('adText').value=bannerTexts[index];
 }catch(err){
  //alert(index);
 }
}
getBanner();
window.setInterval("getBanner()",rollrate*1000); //get next banner, rollrate is in seconds

</script>

Have fun!

30 Skills Every IT Person Needs

I came across this list for essential IT skills. Most of them would be good for anyone who uses a computer. I added some links to help out. Also some of the "Manager" skills could be applied to parents, don't you think?

See original here:
by Richard Casselberry, InfoWorld


30 Skills Every IT Person Needs

1. Be able to fix basic PC issues. These can be how to map a printer, back up files, or add a network card. You don't need to be an expert and understand how to overclock a CPU or hack the registry, but if you work in IT, people expect you to be able to do some things. click here form more
   
   
2. Work the help desk. Everyone, from the CIO to the senior architect, should be able to sit down at the help desk and answer the phones. Not only will you gain a new appreciation for the folks on the phones, but you will also teach them more about your process and avoid escalations in the future.
   
   
3. Do public speaking. At least once, you should present a topic to your peers. It can be as simple as a five-minute tutorial on how IM works, but being able to explain something and being comfortable enough to talk in front of a crowd is a skill you need to have. If you are nervous, partner with someone who is good at it, or do a roundtable. This way, if you get flustered, someone is there to cover for you.
   
   
4. Train someone. The best way to learn is to teach. teach about hardware and software
   
   
5. Listen more than you speak. I very rarely say something I didn't already know, but I often hear other people say things and think, "Darn, I wish I knew that last week."
   
   
6. Know basic networking. Whether you are a network engineer, a help desk technician, a business analyst, or a system administrator, you need to understand how networks work and simple troubleshooting. You should understand DNS and how to check it, as well as how to ping and trace-route machines (Trace Route 66. Wiki Computer Network
   
   
7. Know basic system administration. Understand file permissions, access levels, and why machines talk to the domain controllers. You don't need to be an expert, but knowing the basics will avoid many headaches down the road.
   
   
8. Know how to take a network trace. Everyone in IT should be able to fire up wireshark, netmon, snoop, or some basic network capturing tool. You don't need to understand everything in it, but you should be able to capture it to send to a network engineer to examine.
   
   
9. Know the difference between latency and bandwidth. Latency is the amount of time to get a packet back and forth; bandwidth is the maximum amount of data a link can carry. They are related, but different. A link with high-bandwidth utilization can cause latency to go higher, but if the link isn't full, adding more bandwidth can't reduce latency.
   
   
10. Script. Everyone should be able to throw a script together to get quick results. That doesn't mean you're a programmer. Real programmers put in error messages, look for abnormal behavior, and document. You don't need to do that, but you should be able to put something together to remove lines, send e-mail, or copy files. Dos programming or Cygwin (unix on windows) and Scripting and Batch Programming Resources
    
    
11. Back up. Before you do anything, for your own sake, back it up. www.carbonite.com
    
    
12. Test backups. If you haven't tested restoring it, it isn't really there. Trust me.
    
    
13. Document. None of the rest of us wants to have to figure out what you did. Write it down and put it in a location everyone can find. Even if it's obvious what you did or why you did it, write it down. (Easy to do with notepad)
    
    
14. Read "The Cuckoo's Egg." I don't get a cut from Cliff Stoll (the author), but this is probably the best security book there is -- not because it is so technical, but because it isn't. Find it on Amazon
    
    
15. Work all night on a team project. No one likes to do this, but it's part of IT. Working through a hell project that requires an all-nighter to resolve stinks, but it builds very useful camaraderie by the time it is done.
    
    
16. Run cable. It looks easy, but it isn't. Plus, you will understand why installing a new server doesn't really take five minutes -- unless, of course, you just plug in both ends and let the cable fall all over the place. Don't do that -- do it right. Label all the cables (yes, both ends), and dress them nice and neat. This will save time when there's a problem because you'll be able to see what goes where.
    
    
17. You should know some energy rules of thumb. For example: A device consuming 3.5kW of electricity requires a ton of cooling to compensate for the heat. And I really do mean a ton, not merely "a lot." Note that 3.5kW is roughly what 15 to 20 fairly new 1U and 2U servers consume. One ton of cooling requires three 10-inch-round ducts to handle the air; 30 tons of air requires a duct measuring 80 by 20 inches. Thirty tons of air is a considerable amount.
    
    
18. Manage at least one project. This way, the next time the project manager asks you for a status, you'll understand why. Ideally, you will have already sent the status report because you knew it would be asked for.
    
    
19. Understand operating costs versus capital projects. Operating costs are the costs to run the business. Capital equipment is made of assets that can have their cost spread over a time period -- say, 36 months. Operating costs are sometimes better, sometimes worse. Know which one is better -- it can make a difference between a yes and no.
    
    
20. Learn the business processes. Being able to spot improvements in the way the business is run is a great technique for gaining points. You don't need to use fancy tools; just asking a few questions and using common sense will serve you well.
    
    
21. Don't be afraid to debate something you know is wrong. But also know when to stop arguing. It's a fine line between having a good idea and being a pain in the ass.
    
    
22. If you have to go to your boss with a problem, make sure you have at least one solution.
    
    
23. There is no such thing as a dumb question, so ask it ... once. Then write down the answer so that you don't have to ask it again. If you ask the same person the same question more than twice, you're an idiot (in their eyes).
    
    
24. Even if it takes you twice as long to figure something out on your own versus asking someone else, take the time to do it yourself. You'll remember it longer. If it takes more than twice as long, ask.
    
    
25. Learn how to speak without using acronyms. WTF - LOL
    
    
26. IT managers: Listen to your people. They know more than you. If not, get rid of them and hire smarter people. If you think you are the smartest one, resign.
    
    
27. IT managers: If you know the answer, ask the right questions for someone else to get the solution; don't just give the answer. This is hard when you know what will bring the system back up quickly and everyone in the company is waiting for it, but it will pay off in the long run. After all, you won't always be available.
    
    
28. IT managers: The first time someone does something wrong, it's not a mistake -- it's a learning experience. The next time, though, give them hell. And remember: Every day is a chance for an employee to learn something else. Make sure they learn something valuable versus learning there's a better job out there.
    
    
29. IT managers: Always give people more work than you think they can handle. People will say you are unrealistic, but everyone needs something to complain about anyway, so make it easy. Plus, there's nothing worse than looking at the clock at 2 p.m. and thinking, "I've got nothing to do, but can't leave." This way, your employees won't have that dilemma.
    
    
30. IT managers: Square pegs go in square holes. If someone works well in a team but not so effectively on their own, keep them as part of a team.
    

Note for IT Managers: See this article on how to lose good employees Click here

Fay's Track

My favorite track so far.

Credit Card Test Numbers

Over the year I have written several eCommerce web applications. During testing I needed to be able to test credit card numbers. Here is a list of TESTing credit card numbers to use to TEST in your applications. Note: These will not work as valid credit card number they are only test numbers for the differnet cards (you cannot buy anything with these, they do not work).
This is originally form Pay Pal.

American Express	378282246310005
American Express	371449635398431
American Express Corporate	378734493671000
Australian BankCard	5610591081018250
Diners Club	30569309025904
Diners Club	38520000023237
Discover	6011111111111117
Discover	6011000990139424
JCB	3530111333300000
JCB	3566002020360505
MasterCard	5555555555554444
MasterCard	5105105105105100
Visa	4111111111111111
Visa	4012888888881881
Visa	4222222222222
Dankort (PBS)	76009244561
Dankort (PBS)	5019717010103742
Switch/Solo (Paymentech)	6331101999990016

Dynamic holidays in app.config

Ever need to check a date against a list of holidays? Well here you go.


Create the following Supporting classes:

    public class HolidayElement : ConfigurationElement
    {
        [ConfigurationProperty("Date", IsKey = true, IsRequired = true)]
        public DateTime Date
        {
            get { return (DateTime)this["Date"]; }
        }
    }

    public class HolidayElementCollection : ConfigurationElementCollection
    {
        protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement()
        {
            return new HolidayElement();
        }

        protected override object GetElementKey(ConfigurationElement element)
        {
            return ((HolidayElement)element).Date;
        }
    }

    public class HolidayConfigurationSection : ConfigurationSection
    {
        [ConfigurationProperty("Holidays")]
        public HolidayElementCollection Dates
        {
            get { return (HolidayElementCollection)this["Holidays"]; }
        }
    }

You now can create a method to test for the date:

public static bool IsHoliday(DateTime dt)
        {
            HolidayConfigurationSection section =
                   (HolidayConfigurationSection)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection("HolidayConfigurationSection");
 
            foreach (HolidayElement holiday in section.Dates)
            {
                if (DateTime.Compare(dt, holiday.Date) == 0)
                    return true;
            }
 
            return false;
         }

Add the following to the config file (app.confg):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="HolidayConfigurationSection" type="TheApplication.Utility.Classes.HolidayConfigurationSection, TheApplication.Utility.Library" requirePermission="false" />
  </configSections>
  <HolidayConfigurationSection>
    <Holidays>
      <add Date="1/1/2008"/>
      <add Date="5/26/2008"/>
      <add Date="7/4/2008"/>
      <add Date="9/1/2008"/>
      <add Date="11/27/2008"/>
      <add Date="11/28/2008"/>
      <add Date="12/25/2008"/>
      <add Date="12/26/2008"/>
    </Holidays>
  </HolidayConfigurationSection>
</configuration>

That's it. It makes it easy to change the date via the config file.
Enjoy...

Cool Power Commands for VS 2008

For those developers out there, here is a cool extension for your Visual Studio 2008! PowerCommands extremely useful and you wonder why Microsoft did not build these functions into VS the first time.

Ever need to add the same references to several projects in the same solution, yes this has copy and paste references!

Ever need to get to the directory where the file you are working on is, yes it has Open Containing Folder!


Microsoft did create it, but it should be built in to VS 2008. Better late than never…

What to do, for President?

Like many, I think this political season is more of a blah. Neither candidate follows the ideologies of the founding fathers of this great nation..

Yes one candidate, John Sidney McCain III, served our country and was willing to pay the ultimate price, his life, to promote the liberty we take for granted, and for that I am thankfull. But he wanders the middle of the road on so many issues. See John's voting record here

The other, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., really got where he is by default and a political machine. By default I mean he won his seat in congress because his opponent, Jack Ryan, dropped out because of a messy divorce from Jeri Ryan from Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine. Way to go Jack. So not much experience here, just a lot of socialist thinking. See Barack's voting record here

So basically we have two candidates, which I commend for their convictions, but they are not really winners.

Is it time for us to revisit the following?

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Read more here.

Basically we need someone who will do what is best for all of the country, not just the poor or the rich.

Got Vista?

Have you dared to move to Vista? It is not a OS for the low powered. It was designed for the high powered, high memory computers. I have some computers that there is no way I would ever be able to install Vista on, but they run XP just fine.
Any ways if you have Vista, and are a little geeky, you might find these Vista tips (pdf) interesting.

HOW-TO: Get music OFF your iPod

I was tasked with pulling some music of a IPod. So with help of google, I found a post on exactly what I was looking for at Phillip Torrone's post :HOW-TO: Get music OFF your iPod. His post lead me to the site http://www.ephpod.com/. So, I installed this little program and from what I can tell, it works pretty good. I like the fact that if you "download" a song from your ipod it will rename it to a meaningful name instead of the garbage name iTunes comes up with.

So give it a try and let me know what you think.

Proof we are still human and don't have a clue.

For decades we have been told that we are causing Global Warming. A former V.P. even won a Nobel Prize for a documentary on Global Warming. Now we find out that we might be headed to an Ice Age. So, which is it? Are we creating too many "greenhouse" gases causing the Global Warming or is the Earth cooling off inspite our gases?

ABC reported this week the claim that we are heading to an ice age is upsetting some scientists (http://abc.com.au/news/stories/2008/04/24/2225980.htm). The site Not by Fire but by Ice says that this cooling Nearly wipes out 100 Years of Global Warming. I'm sure that former V.P. guy has a list of his own to prove global warming. Michael Asher wrote an article about "Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling". Even Lorne Gunter of the National Post says "Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age".

I didn't think that humans could kill the earth. How self absorbed are we that we think we have the power to destroy what God created? Do you remember the oil fires of 1991? The smoke the was to altered weather patterns across Asia and it would take years for the fires to put out, but they the weather never changed and they put out the fires in eight months.

We are too worried about what we are doing to earth, that our actions are causing ill affects on the poorer countries. I will rant about how our ethanol production is starving the world later.

Future of computing?

As I type this from my 8 year old laptop, used solely for accessing the internet. I came across something this evening make good sense to me nivio.com. Nivio brings the power of a desktop to the internet. Think about it... Going to a friends house, the locale library, a kiosk at the mall and accessing you computer and not having to worry about opening network ports, viruses or hackers getting into you network. Just go online anywhere and access your desktop. They provide most of the everyday applications like Microsoft Office, IMs and image editing for about $5 per month. Not bad when you think about the price of Microsoft Office. That would pay for several years of this service. This would be a rebirth of the dumb terminal. Remember those? With the speed of the internet and public computers showing up everywhere, like McDonald's, this could be the future of computing for the typical user.

.Net Deployment Error clr02r3

I have been fighting this problem for about 4 days. We built a ClickOnce .Net application using the SCSF/CAB model. We moved the complete development from Visual Studio 2005 / .Net 2.0 to Visual Studio 2008 / .Net 3.5. The application was installed via the ClickOnce deployment on some Tester's PCs. We had no issue under VS2005 but ran into this error using VS2008 for deployment.

Error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: .NET Runtime 2.0 Error Reporting
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 4/7/2008
Time: 4:40:51 PM
User: N/A
Computer: L0008068
Description:
EventType clr20r3,
P1 integratedmodules.exe,
P2 1.0.0.0, P3 47fa723c,
P4 system.configuration,
P5 2.0.0.0, P6 471ebf00,
P7 496, P8 441,
P9 ioibmurhynrxkw0zxkyrvfn0boyyufow, P10 NIL.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 63 00 6c 00 72 00 32 00 c.l.r.2.
0008: 30 00 72 00 33 00 2c 00 0.r.3.,.
0010: 20 00 69 00 6e 00 74 00 .i.n.t.
0018: 65 00 67 00 72 00 61 00 e.g.r.a.
0020: 74 00 65 00 64 00 6d 00 t.e.d.m.
0028: 6f 00 64 00 75 00 6c 00 o.d.u.l.
0030: 65 00 73 00 2e 00 65 00 e.s...e.
0038: 78 00 65 00 2c 00 20 00 x.e.,. .
0040: 31 00 2e 00 30 00 2e 00 1...0...
0048: 30 00 2e 00 30 00 2c 00 0...0.,.
0050: 20 00 34 00 37 00 66 00 .4.7.f.
0058: 61 00 37 00 32 00 33 00 a.7.2.3.
0060: 63 00 2c 00 20 00 73 00 c.,. .s.
0068: 79 00 73 00 74 00 65 00 y.s.t.e.
0070: 6d 00 2e 00 63 00 6f 00 m...c.o.
0078: 6e 00 66 00 69 00 67 00 n.f.i.g.
0080: 75 00 72 00 61 00 74 00 u.r.a.t.
0088: 69 00 6f 00 6e 00 2c 00 i.o.n.,.
0090: 20 00 32 00 2e 00 30 00 .2...0.
0098: 2e 00 30 00 2e 00 30 00 ..0...0.
00a0: 2c 00 20 00 34 00 37 00 ,. .4.7.
00a8: 31 00 65 00 62 00 66 00 1.e.b.f.
00b0: 30 00 30 00 2c 00 20 00 0.0.,. .
00b8: 34 00 39 00 36 00 2c 00 4.9.6.,.
00c0: 20 00 34 00 34 00 31 00 .4.4.1.
00c8: 2c 00 20 00 69 00 6f 00 ,. .i.o.
00d0: 69 00 62 00 6d 00 75 00 i.b.m.u.
00d8: 72 00 68 00 79 00 6e 00 r.h.y.n.
00e0: 72 00 78 00 6b 00 77 00 r.x.k.w.
00e8: 30 00 7a 00 78 00 6b 00 0.z.x.k.
00f0: 79 00 72 00 76 00 66 00 y.r.v.f.
00f8: 6e 00 30 00 62 00 6f 00 n.0.b.o.
0100: 79 00 79 00 75 00 66 00 y.y.u.f.
0108: 6f 00 77 00 20 00 4e 00 o.w. .N.
0110: 49 00 4c 00 0d 00 0a 00 I.L.....

This made no sence because it was intermitent and did not behave the same for different users on the same machine. After hours and hours of research and various deployment configuration attempts. I decided to revert to VS2005 deployment and it worked! The developed code was still in .Net 3.5 but deployed with VS2005. This might be an issue with how VS2008 publishes a ClickOnce application, maybe the signing of the app.config? It turns out that the other group, who had no problems, had not switched to VS2008 deployment yet.

Curing you computer

I have had to clean some computers lately which had viruses of all sorts on them. Technology is great when it works, but can be so frustrating when you computer is sick. I wish I could tell you "give this pill to your computer and call me in the morning", but that is unfortantly not possible. The people that create these viruses and malware are always finding ways to beat the things in place that protect you computer. So..

Sometimes you have to do a combination of steps to remove the evil stuff. I would suggest starting with the first link in the list and following the steps there. Once you have cleaned you machine, the best thing you can do is keep our operating system (Windows or other) up to date with the latest patches, run an antivirus program like AVG (keeping it up to date).

Most important don't open email from people you don't know and don't click on any popups from websites saying that you have a virus and they will scan you computer. Both of these will usually end infecting you computer with something you don't want.

I found the following links @ http://www.atribune.org/forums/

• Hijack This Guide
  
• Ad-Aware
• CWShredder
• HijackThis
• Spybot
• Zone Alarm Firewall
• AVG Antivirus
  
• Spywareblaster
• How to Go into Safe Mode
• Show Hidden Files
• Peper Trojan Removal ToolChanging the Hosts File: Keep the Popup Parasites Off
• Turn Off/On Windows XP System Restore
• Turn Off Unnecessary XP Services (XP with Service Pack 2) (recommend SAFE configuration)

Microsoft Word Virus Scanning.....

A friend was having problems with her Computer. She said that Word was always starting in safe mode. I took a look at her laptop and sure enough it was always starting in safe mode. Not only that but it was always scanning for a virus, even when opening a new document.

I. After some research, apparently it was suggested by Microsoft to always run Office products in safe mode. This was said to keep us safe from virus infective files. I found a way to stop this from happening. You can add “/a” to the end of the command which starts Word. To do this:

1. Right click on your desktop, select “New” and click on “Shortcut”.
   
2. Browse to where Word is located, usually "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE".
3. Add “ /a” (a space then slash a)
4. Click Next.
5. You can rename this or just click finish

Now you have a word which will load really fast. The reason for this is that the “/a” will not have word load any addins. Note: this will also not load any macros or preferences you have set. This is not an issue for most users.

II. The second issue was the virus scanning that was happening. This is due to installed third party anti-virus programs like Norton. These programs have setting, which tell them to scan documents when opening Microsoft office documents. This can be turned off. You have to find the settings in you virus protection software and turn off this option. My personal choice is AVG as a virus protection. I have posted here some helpful links and utilities I have use for virus/malware removal and protection.

References:

• http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Word-1058/Word-opening-safe-mode.htm
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Horde eMail

I was asked to look a an eMail application for my mom. Her company was set up with Horde for their email. I was not familiar with this application, but I gave it a shot.

Their main issue was that their deleted email was not being deleted. They would select an email(s) to delete and select to move them to Trash. The emails were still showing, which is very annoying. Also they were not able to send "formated" email.

After looking at their settings, I discovered that their admin did not set up a trash folder for the deleted email to be sent. So I set one up and demonstrated the deleting of emails. Now to the formatted email issue.

After some searching, and the Horde.org site was down at this time, I found out that Horde does not support "formatted" or Rich Text emails. I did find a work around. If you have a gmail account you are able to change the from email address on emails being sent from you gmail account by adding the alternative email address to your account and verifying the email. Once this is done you are able to select what email address you want to use for the from email. The only thing is that in outlook it might show as "From yourusername@gmail.com on behalf of customaddress@mydomain.com".

For a free email server application, Horde is a good and somewhat powerful. The Horde Project is always adding and improving their application. In fact the new groupware feature would be great for companies. Check them out at www.horde.org.

Also I found only a couple of tutorial web pages, they are:

• http://www.demodemo.com/tutorials_horde.html
• http://www.yronbay.com/emaildoc.htm

A side note she had Squirrel Mail available for them to use as well. This is a very simplistic email interface. I did notice that the address book form Horde was not available in Squirrel Mail.

Third Heaven?

I came across a reference to a "Third Heaven" in 2 Corinthians 12:2, while reading the Bible in church. I was told we should not only read the passage that the preacher is referencing, but also read some verses before and after to give more context to the verse. That is how I found this interesting reference to the "Third Heaven".

2 Corinthians 12:2
NIV : I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.

KJV : I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

The "Third Heaven" seems to refer to "the sky, outer space, and then a spiritual heaven", the levels of heaven.

For more on the "Third Heaven", check out the references above or this link, heaven, which talks in depth about the third heaven and references to heaven in the Bible. And this article "What is Heaven like?" also describes the three heavens.

Also I found that some think that this "man" was Paul. He talked about himself in the third person to communicate on the same level with his audience, the Corinthians. (see http://www.crivoice.org/thirdheaven.html)

This is cool stuff and it is all in the Bible.

Content Show/Hide

I did a web job that I needed to show and hide content on a web page. For example (read more). After a lot of Google'n I found code which did the job:

Toggle navbar

Toggle BlogArchive1

Click here to toggle this

blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah

<a href="#" onclick="return toggle_visibility('foo');">Click here to toggle this</a>
<p id="foo">
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
</p>

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function toggle_visibility(id) {
var e = document.getElementById(id);
if(e.style.display == '')
  e.style.display = 'block';
if(e.style.display == 'block')
  e.style.display = 'none';
else
  e.style.display = 'block';
return false;
}
//-->

</script>

Toggle Comments below

Lock Work Workstation with a Click

I came across a quick way to lock workstations. Follow these steps and you will be able to lock your workstation with the click of the mouse.

1. Right click on you desktop and select New -> Shortcut.
   
   
2. Past the following into the location:
   %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
   
3. Click Next.
   
4. Give the shortcut a name like "Lock Me".
   
5. Clck finish.
   
   
6. (optional) Drag this short cut to your task bar next to Start.
   

Now you can lock your workstation with 2 clicks on the short cut. If you did step 5, you will only need 1 click to lock the workstation.

Killing Ants

Awhile back I had some ant hill pop up in the yard. I did not have any poison on hand so like any other geek, I searched online for a easy, cost affective and kid friendly way to get rid of the little pests.

After some time searching, I found a mixture that everyone has available and works pretty good. Soap and Water. Yes, this actually works! I just squirt some dish soap into a typical gallon pressure sprayer, fill with water and spray the ants.

Apparently, the soapy water fills the breathing holes and they die. Also it will remove the trails that they leave behind to guide the other ants. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Below are links describing this method and other to get rid of ants.

• http://www.antremovalandcontrol.com/soap.html
• http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-ants
• http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Ants
• http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
• http://www.thebestcontrol.com/bugstop/control_ant.htm
• http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s-2-9-119,00.html
  

Kids dot com

My kids have been going online more and more. With all the stuff on the Internet, both good and bad, I needed a way to limit/protect them. I did some research and found a good program called Kid-Surf. It is a browser which has a main page of configurable links. It comes preloaded with age-appropriate links. It also has a timer to limit their time online. Take a look at it at Kid-Surf.com.

Got Questions?

One day I had a question in my head. I could not remember how it got there, probably the radio. The question was "Did Jesus have siblings?". I am not a theologian so I have to look this stuff up. Like most people I used the modern research tool of Google. In my search I came across a lot of references to this topic, but I found a site that answered not only this question but a lot of others I have about the Bible. GotQuestions.org is a great site to answer a lot of questions about the bible and life. Check it out!

Cell ringtones and images

I have done some playing around with my cell phone and discovered a cool site. It is like myspace for your cell. You can create you own account and upload stuff or just send other people's stuff to your phone. Check out my site http://kpasgma.funformobile.com/ . Let me know what you think. I might be able to help you out if you are trying to do something custom.

Some other links:

http://www.phoneuploader.stellernet.com/ (sprint customers)

http://www.3gforfree.com/ (from computer or cell phone)

http://media-convert.com/convert/index.php (converts all media)

http://phonezoo.com/Welcome.do (this is all so a site you can just get stuff from or upload your own).

Well, that is my brain dump for now. More will surely come later. But then who knows?