In most programs, when you goof up, you get some kind of a sterile, impersonal, message that sometimes makes you wonder exactly what you've done (or not done) wrong. 

Sorry, I'm too lazy to go looking for a good example right now.  But, next time your computer bonks at you and a little window pops up complaining about something you only vaguely understand, remember these words. 

By contrast, some programs are designed with a little more of a personal touch.  Take for example this dialog, from DVD Decrypter:



To get this warning, I clicked on the 'Cancel' button, then when I didn't think it was responding quickly enough, I clicked it again.  Apparently, it just wanted a little more time to handle the first click, and didn't appreciate my lack of patience!

Windows Basics

• the differences among files, folders, programs, shortcuts, and documents
• the 'My Documents' folder, what it is and what it does for you
• using the mouse - click, double-click, right-click, and scroll - what do they all do? 
  
• CD's, DVD's, floppy disks, and flash drives - what they can do and what they can hold (probably NOT how to burn CD's/DVD's)
  
• power cycling - 'Turn Off', shut down, restart, suspend, hibernate
  
• special keys on the keyboard - Windows key, context menu key, Esc, Ctrl, Alt, Enter, and the Fx keys
  
• understanding the Windows file system - how are files stored and how can I find them when I need them?
  
• navigating Windows - maximizing, minimizing, restoring, and resizing windows
• the Windows desktop - including the start menu, the task bar, the Recycle Bin, and all those desktop icons!
• managing/running more than one program at a time, and switching between them
• keyboard shortcuts for common tasks (cut, copy, paste, print, open, close, exit, etc.)
• printing - and the printers collection
  

• web browsing
• search engines
• email access
• advanced networking topics - dial-up networking, cable, or DSL Internet connectivity

Basic Internet and Email

The Internet

• Connection types - dial up, broadband, and wireless
• How the 'web' works - Servers, clients, requests, and responses
• What is a web page – understanding HTML
• What's out there, and how to find what you're looking for
• Internet security - Spyware, Adware, viruses, firewalls, certificates, and more

Email

• Email fundamentals - anatomy of a message
• Email addresses - what are they and how do they work?
• Different types of email accounts that are available
• Mail servers and DNS - why they matter
• How to send and receive email messages
• Developing a contact list
• Filing email into folders
• Email viruses

Purpose

To configure a printer driver so it will automatically print in 'duplex' - on both sides of the same sheet of paper

Assumptions

• You already have a printer capable of printing in duplex
• You have that printer configured for printing on your computer (it's in your Windows Printers Collection)

Process

Basically, you are going to set up an exact copy of your current printer, but with different default settings.

1. Open your printers collection, right click your printer, and make a note of the port it is using (click the 'Port' tab to see the port information).
2. Close that printer's settings windows, then click 'Add Printer'
3. Click 'Next', then 'Next' again (with local printer selected).
4. On the ports list, choose the port to which your printer is already connected; click 'Next'
5. Find the manufacturer and printer name on the following list, click 'Next'
6. Choose 'Keep Existing Driver', click 'Next'
7. For 'Printer Name', enter any name you want - I recommend putting the word 'Duplex' in there somewhere so you know it's the duplexer
8. Select 'Do not share this printer'; click 'Next'
9. Print a test page if you like; click 'Next'
10. Click 'Finish'

You'll now have 2 printers in your Printers Collection that (except for their name) are exactly the same. Now you have to edit the properties of your new 'duplexing' printer:

1. locate the duplex settings in 'Printer Preferences..." (often on the 'Finishing' tab)
2. modify the settings so the printer prints in duplex, click 'OK'
3. Close the printer settings dialog

Now, any time you want to print in duplex, just select your new 'duplexing' printer, and it will happen automatically.

I recently needed to size an image, using Adobe Photoshop CS, to a 1:1 scale.  This was needed because I wanted the image to print out in its 'actual size'.  Photoshop probably has this capability built in somewhere as a tool, but I haven't seen it.  For sure, there are some third party tools out there, but I stumbled through a no-frills, simple approach using just Photoshop's built-in toolkit.

Since I had a scale (a ruler) in the actual photograph, I was able to use this method to modify the scale of the image to make it 1:1.

• Open the image file
• Click Image>Image Size
• Change the 'Width' dimensions to 'mm' if it isn't already set that way
• Make a note of the width (in my example, the width was 1,587.5mm)
• Close the Image Size Dialog
• Switch to the 'Measure Tool' (it shares a button with the 'eyedropper tool'
• Using the Measure Tool, measure the scale (the ruler) in your image as exactly as possible.  In my example, I was able to measure 23mm on the scale.
• Make a note of that measurement, and of the distance Photoshop says you've measured (in the top bar, there is a 'D1' measurement; in my example, it was 1,035.2)

Now it's down to simple math.  You can figure out the ratio by which the whole image's size needs to be scaled by dividing the distance Photoshop says you measured by the measurement you took.  In my example, 1,035.2/23 = 45.001.  So the reduction factor I need is 45.001.

• Take the width of the image (mine was 1,587.5) and divide that by your reduction factor (mine was 45.001).  That result will be the proper width of your image (mine was 35.271)
• Click Image>Image Size again.
• Make sure the 'resample image' checkbox at the bottom of this dialog is 'unchecked' (otherwise, the quality of the image will get hosed)
• Enter your new, proper, value for the width of the document
• The document's height should change too...keeping the image's scale intact
• Click OK, and your image is now sized 1:1!

As I said, this worked for me because I had an actual scale in the digital image to use for measuring.  As long as the photo is taken at a right angle to the face of the subject, you should be able to use anything in the photo that is of a known distance.  For example, you could follow this method using the diameter of a penny if one was visible. 

In Windows XP Pro, I recently ran into a problem where Windows Update wouldn't install any updates.  It would load and show that it wanted to install 'Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1' and 'Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)', but would always fail when it tried to do the update. 

A Google search found this post, where the writer recommends re-registering the DLL's needed by Windows Update.  It worked perfectly for me! 

Here are the instructions, shamelessly copy/pasted from the original post:

To repair this problem the dll files associated with the windows update program have to be registered.  To do this you'll need to run regsvr32.  Go start then run:

• regsvr32 wuapi.dll
• regsvr32 wuaueng.dll
• regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll
• regsvr32 wucltui.dll
• regsvr32 wups.dll
• regsvr32 wups2.dll
• regsvr32 wuweb.dll

• Syncs flawlessly with Outlook
• Syncs OK with Thunderbird (with BirdieSync add-on)
• is able to access all the IMAP4 folders in a mail account
• comes with Office Portable - able to open/edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint docs
• uses a mini-SD card for external storage (which I already have)
• Integrated WiFi
  

• Can't 'delete' messages from IMAP4 mail account - Can, however, 'move' them to the 'trash' folder, accomplishing the same thing with an extra couple strokes
• poor value - my device went belly-up after less than a year; wouldn't take a charge, wouldn't sync to any PC at all
  

• true sync with IMAP4 server account
• able to delete IMAP4 mail messages naturally (just 'delete' them from the device, and they're gone from the server)
• great interface - having only had Windows mobile in the past, it was easy and intuitive to get used to navigating around
• uses a mini-SD card for external storage (which I already have)
  

• unable to view any of the IMAP4 folders on my account with the included mail software - may be possible with add-ons like:
• Chattermail ($40)
• Snappermail ($25-60)
• No WiFi antenna - can't connect to higher speed hotspots
  

• very natural, clean UI - I like it best of the three compared here
• integrated GPS service/device - works great with Google Maps Mobile
• Sweet (bundled) Yahoo! messenger app. I don't normally use IM much, but I used this within three hours of starting testing (I needed to communicate with a vendor who only would chat via IM). Looks like this is available for other OS's too - at least Palm
• The BlackBerry can tell when it's in its holster, which is cool, because when you pull it out, it turns on, and when you put it away, it turns off on its own. You can even set different ring/notifications, depending on whether the device is holstered or not.
  

• Can't connect to (and view) IMAP4 folders - and I can't find an add-on that will do it, either.
• uses a micro SD card for external storage - I'd have to buy one to replace my mini-SD version
• No WiFi antenna - can't connect to higher speed hotspots
• No ability to open/edit Word/Excel/OOo documents - $99 add-on looks like it should work
• can't find a way to sync contacts with Thunderbird at all - had to sync with Outlook to get addresses on the device
• I hate the desktop software that comes with it - specifically, the separate 'media manager' was a pain for me - wouldn't close/restore/minimize; it just didn't respond like a good application should
  

1. Right click the cell, choose 'Format Cells...'
2. In the 'Category' list (on the left side), scroll down and click on 'Custom'
3. In the 'Type' textbox, type in your new rule (in this case '0#"/"##"/"##', with out the single quotes)

1. Right-click your custom-formatted cell, then click Copy.
2. Highlight the cells you want to apply the format to, then right-click one of them
3. Choose 'Paste Special' from the context menu
4. Click 'Formats' from the 'Paste' group

I'm excited about the new dasBlog (2.0), if only because it promises to give me better control over comment-spammers. It was pretty satisfying to watch the (dasBlog 2.0) updater tool wipe out all the 'bad words' that had accumulated in this blog's entries, and hopefully now I'll be able to keep a better handle on it.

If you're reading this, I was able to upload the new blog engine and get things going on the live site!

I'm not quite ready to let go of Windows...there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but I'm learning...

I ordered a laptop (for someone else) from Dell on July 3rd...decent deal, including 3-5 day shipping.  When he emailed on the 9th to ask if he could pick it up on the 13th, I had a half-written reponse telling him 'no problem' when I thought I'd better check first.  After all, I had a mediocre experience with Dell delivery once before. 

Sure enough, Dell's web site said the "preconfigured" laptop was in production, and wouldn't ship until 8/1 (29 days after ordering), and wouldn't arrive until 8/5 or 8/6.  Whatever...cancel that order.  Office Depot has HP's with larger displays sitting on the shelf waiting for you. 

The AutoCorrect feature in Microsoft Office 2003 is a handy feature, replacing common spelling errors for you as you happily peck away at the keyboard.  It can also be used to speed up the typing of common, complicated, or lengthy terms.  Essentially, you can use it to create macros that will be replaced with longer, more cumbersome phrases automatically (and without errors). 

For example, you could create an autocorrect for the letters 'hspb', setting it to correct to 'heat sealed plastic bag'.  If you have to type this several times a day, it's easy to see the speed benefit. 

That same set of autocorrect macros is shared by the whole Office suite.  So, if you create autocorrect entries for yourself in Word, they'll be available in Excel, Access, Infopath, etc. 

A coworker of mine recently wondered why her just-added autocorrect entries weren't working in Infopath forms.  They worked great in Word, but Infopath just ignored them. 

The solution I found is that any autocorrect entries stored (in Word) as 'formatted text' will not work in Infopath.  Entries stored as 'plain text' work great.  So, even though Word will turn two-hyphens-and-a-greater-than (-->) into a pretty arrow, if you store that in an autocorrect, Infopath will ignore the whole entry.  Here are a couple screenshots of what I mean:

Formatted text entry

Plain text entry

For this example, I stored an autocorrect entry (shop) that will replace with 'shopping bag'.  I stored 'shopping bag' as formatted text and tested it in Infopath...only to find out it won't work.  Changing the entry (in Word's autocorrect list) to plain text ('shop1' for this example) makes the entry work in Infopath as well. 

Notes:

• It looks like you can tell the 'formatted text' entries in the autocorrect list by the asterisk (*) at the end of their text (aside from selecting each one and noting the 'Formatted text' radio button is selected). 
• Access the autocorrect feature by clicking Tools>Autocorrect Options in Microsoft Word.

In the process of cleaning up a Windows XP (Home) PC, I ended up with a situation where it would get to the 'Windows is starting up...' screen, and just stay there for 20+ minutes.  Doing a hard reset didn't help; it would boot back to that same spot and just hang there. 

I found this forum post, where they've suggested to plug the PC's power cord directly into the wall instead of a power strip.  Since I had just purchased a new power strip, and then plugged that PC (and another one) into it, I thought I'd give it a try. 

Yeah, it worked.  The PC booted up as fast as XP ever could.  I'm assuming the two PC's together must be drawing too much current for the power strip/surge protector, and so the troubled computer wasn't getting enough juice to boot properly...? 

I have a UT Starcom PPC-6700 SmartPhone, through Alltel, that I use essentially for running my small business.  Alltel's data service add-on (~$40/month) gives me unlimited Internet access with the device, so I can Google search, watch the weather radar from the boat, check email, and get notifications of messages left on the company voice mail system. 

On the email side of things, I have the device synchronized with an Exchange server running in my office.  I can 'force' the device to sync with the server whenever I feel like reading email, just by clicking send/receive in the phone.  With Exchange Server 2003, I can also enable Microsoft's 'Direct Push', which keeps the phone synchronized with Exchange in real-time.  There are plenty of articles out there on how Direct Push works, so I won't regurgitate that here, but essentially as messages come in, they're 'pushed' directly to the phone, so I always have the most recent message list in my hand. 

One significant problem I've noticed is that with Direct Push enabled, the battery life on the PPC-6700 is slashed severely.  I can expect that if I take the phone off charger at 7am, it will be dead (powered off dead) before 5pm.  By contrast, with Direct Push turned off and me synchronizing manually 3 or 4 times during the day, the battery will last 3 days pretty easily. 

It's weird, because Direct Push is touted as a technology that should save battery life.  Instead of the device connecting on a schedule – say, every half hour – and downloading '0' messages while wasting battery juice, it's supposed to be 'smarter' and only connect when there are messages to download. 

I can't find the article now, but one writer suggested that if you don't want your device connecting a hundred times a day and downloading messages, don't receive so many emails!  I would agree, but I think the problem is bigger than that.  I think the problem is with spam, and here's why:

Most of the time, when I 'force' a download with the phone, it will say something like “Email: 0/8” in the phone's Messaging status bar.  When it completes the download, though, I might actually only see 1 or 2 of those messages in my inbox.  I'm left to assume that the other 6 or 7 were spam...and that the Exchange spam filtering rules don't get applied until the download is requested.   

If that's true, then something similar is probably happening with Direct Push enabled.  The difference, though, is that Direct Push is causing as many as 8 connections to (downloads from) Exchange to accomplish the same thing.  Essentially, it's connecting 8 times, and each time it's just running the rules and putting messages in the spam folder...it's a wasted connection. 

[EDIT 2007-05-23]

I almost forgot.  One other problem with enabling Direct Push is that people who call me often get sent directly to voice mail.  The phone never even rings, because the line is tied up with the data connection.  Since the phone spends so much of it's day connected to Exchange, this becomes a problem - think 'teenager tying up the phone all day'.  

Some people never learn, I guess.  After my first horrible experience trying to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista Business, I said I wouldn't do it again.  A few weeks later, here I am trying to upgrade my main computer - the desktop machine on which I do most of the 'important' things. 

After a solid half hour, the upgrade let me know it wouldn't continue, because it doesn't like 'Nero Burning ROM'.  Then it exited.  I removed Nero (even though it's my favorite CD/DVD burning tool), and started the upgrade process again.  You don't get to fast-forward to the point you left...you have to re-do that half hour. 

This time, it keeps going.  It was taking forever (3 hours and we were still 'Expanding' files), but it did warn that it would take 'several hours' to complete, so whatever.  I check back after three hours, and all I see is a mouse arrow on an all-blue screen...nothing else.  The mouse moves the cursor, but after 20 minutes, it's still just stuck there.

I hard-reset the machine (reset button), and watch anxiously.  The BIOS screen just stays up for 4-5 minutes...hard reset again.  This time, it gets past the BIOS post and continues setup.  Whew. 

As I write this, the Windows Vista Business Upgrade has been stuck at 'Expanding Files... 21%' for over an hour.  When I click the little red 'X' to close the setup window, it tells me the setup process cannot be canceled at this point, because it could leave my system in a potentially unstable state.  That would be funny if it weren't so pathetic...the system is already unusable...since it's stuck in this stupid upgrade. 

I'll update this entry when I have some kind of resolution...

I recently tried to upgrade a Toshiba Satellite laptop (Model A35-S159, running Windows XP Pro SP2, fully patched, with BIOS flashed to the latest - September 2004) to Windows Vista Business Edition.  Apparently, I'm one of the many people lucky enough to have a computer that, while being ACPI compliant, isn't quite ACPI compliant enough for Windows Vista.  I'm not even sure what that means. 

I ran Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor, and the machine passed with no problems.  I ran the upgrade, and that seemed to go great too (though it took a long time).  On the first boot (which should have been into Vista), I got the popular Blue Screen of Death telling me my system's 'BIOS isn't fully ACPI compliant'.  Great. 

The only bright spot (if you can call it that) is that, if I'm quick, I can catch the boot screen as the laptop powers up and choose 'Earlier Version of Windows', which will take me back to Windows XP.

But that just gets me back to where I was before I ever tried Vista.  I can't find any hope on the web, except Microsoft saying the vendors will have to update the BIOS...that's apparently not likely in Toshiba's case, as they say right on their web site they won't support Vista except on PC's with the Vista Capable logo.  From their support web site:

Q: If my Toshiba computer does not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, does Toshiba offer drivers and BIOS upgrades for Windows Vista?

A: No. Toshiba offers Windows Vista drivers and Windows Vista-compatible BIOS upgrades for computer models that have a valid Windows Vista Capable sticker. It may be possible to upgrade to Windows Vista on some Toshiba computer models that do not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, but Toshiba cannot guarantee that all features of the computer will function correctly after the upgrade. Microsoft’s Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor may be able to indicate whether or not your computer has the minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista, but a positive report from the Upgrade Advisor is not a clear indication that the specific features of the computer will function correctly after an upgrade to Windows Vista.

I'm not much for conspiracies, but this stinks of 'plot to make people buy new hardware'...

I really enjoyed MSN Radio for a while, and even paid for the subscription to MSN Radio Plus.  I gave up on it, though, after Windows Media Player updated to version 11, because the interface changed pretty dramatically, and it was brutally difficult to even find MSN Radio with WMP 11! 

Coincidentally, I ran across Pandora Internet Radio around the same time.  Pandora works by letting you choose the individual artists (and even songs) you like.  Then it plays music from that artist and similar music from other artists.  You set up radio stations, with different kinds of music, and it remembers what you like and dislike (you can give each song/artist a thumbs up or down).  Best of all, it's ad supported...meaning it's essentially free for the end user/listener. 

I got a troubling email from Pandora last week, though (don't get the wrong idea, this was a pretty unusual circumstance...there is no SPAM from Pandora).  Apparently, the music industry is trying to get fees raised for Internet radio stations, and Pandora was asking for its listeners to help out by calling their congressperson.  Hopefully, Pandora can survive the new legislation, however it comes out. 

I had a chance today to try out the Rainbow Portal 2.0 Beta.  So far, I'm pretty happy with it.  Of course, I struggled with the a checkout of the dev code for a while because I don't have Visual Studio .NET 2005, but once I restarted with a download of the zipped application, the installation went OK. 

The only problem I encountered during setup was a Configuration Error (see below):

Configuration Error !

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Unrecognized attribute 'xmlns'.

It turns out this is a problem of IIS trying to make the application use the .NET 1.1 framework.  It can be forced to use the 2.0 framework by changing the application's ASP.NET settings (In IIS Manager, right click your Rainbow application, Properties, ASP.NET; then choose the .NET 2.0xxxx framework). 

I even had a go at converting one of my more simple custom modules from Rainbow 1.1 to 2.0.  It was pretty painless too...

• Open the module's csproj file in C# 2005
• Run the conversion in C# 2005 to convert the project to .NET 2.0
• Remove the references to Rainbow, Rainbow.Settings, and Esperantus DLL's
• Add a reference to Rainbow.Framework.Core.DLL
• Build, and start troubleshooting code issues (mostly namespace issues in my experience)
• Once those issues are out, you add the module to the portal just as in Rainbow 1.1.

I still feel a little blind working with Linux...like I'm constantly bumping into things, then feeling them to figure out what they are.  When I want to find them again, I sort of have to stumble around again and the process repeats.  It's getting better, but it's just a steep learning curve for a Windows-only boy like me...

My Own Confluence
I've managed now to get a Confluence personal installation running nicely (with hands-on help from Atlassian) inside Ubuntu 6.10. 

Confluence seems to be the perfect solution to a problem I've had in managing certain kinds of customer and company information...I can create a 'home' page for each customer, new pages for each of their computers/systems, pages for repair notes and site visits, etc.  So far, it's just about perfect...for one thing, all the information is available anywhere I can get an Internet browser fired up, and having complete searchability is a huge bonus.

One other nice benefit is I can configure each customers' entry in Business Contact Manager so their BCM 'home page' points to their 'Home Page' in the Confluence installation.  This links the two systems pretty cleanly, as I can quickly pull up their extended information in Confluence by clicking the link inside Outlook. 

Of course, Confluence is excellent for managing all kinds of information, and I'm using it daily to store all kinds of phone, meeting, and other data.  If I run into problems with this combination, I'll post it here; but for now, Confluence is perfectly filling a huge information management void for me. 

Version Control via SVN, too!
I've also now got SVN installed, configured, and working very well on that Ubuntu box.  Previously, I had 'local' SVN repositories on 3 different machines at 2 locations.  Having a 'real' SVN server means I can consolidate all those projects (sheesh, there are more than I thought!) in one place.  While I'm the only developer that uses them, it's nice to just have one system to worry about backing up. 

It's worth pointing out that while I found a lot of articles explaining how to install/configure SVN server on Linux/Ubuntu, this one was perfect in it's detail (for me, at least).  After that, this article was just as good at helping me move the subversion repositories from the Windows local repositories to the Linux server. 

After installing ISA server on an internal network, I noticed that file upload via FTP no longer worked.  It took way too much Googling to find this link, which explains the simple solution:

• Right-click the 'SBS FTP Outbound Access Rule' (in a default installation)
• Choose 'Configure FTP' from the bottom of the context menu. 
• Deselect the 'Read Only' box on the dialog
• Restart your FTP client application, and voila!

I stumbled across Meebo on another blog, and thought the idea was a good one.  Essentially, you embed a little piece of HTML (actually, a flash object) in a web page, and visitors to your web site can chat live with you through it's interface.  All you need is a Jabber client on your machine. 

It works as advertised, and it's free.  The downside (and the reason I gave up trying to use it) is that every time someone visits your page, you get a pop-up window asking if you want to add the person to your contact list.  Even on this blog, where I get low traffic, it's incredibly annoying. 

According to the developers, this pop-up issue is part of the Jabber standard and won't be messed with.  Too bad, I liked the overall idea. 

Alright, mostly for Wende, because apparently she looks for this stuff when she should be working...

The Lab Christmas Party, 3rd annual Kids' Movie Party, and plenty of other new photos are up on our Flickr account. 

OK, so I get a fair number of requests from clients to rescue, copy, and/or move files that are located on an old, damaged, decrepit, and/or broken Windows machine.  Usually the hard drive is fine, sometimes the machine might even be able to boot up.  Most of the time, we're talking about hundreds (thousands) of files; documents, QuickBooks records, and most importantly, family pictures. 

My usual (and pretty successful) approach has been dependent on whether the machine will boot into Windows.  If it won't boot, then I'll slave the machine's hard drive into one of my own machines and copy away.  If it will boot, the process depends on what version of Windows they have (or had, as the case may be).  Newer versions of Windows (98SE, 2000 Pro, ME, and all flavors of XP) support USB, so I can just plug in my handy external drive and copy away. 

If the old machine has Windows NT, 98 (First Edition), BackOffice Server, or something older, I'm back to slaving their hard drive into my PC for some copying. 

Here's the problem.  I don't like having someone else's old hard drive (full of who-knows-what) in my computer.  Also, I don't like messing around inside a computer that's close to a decade old...I find that the dust has settled just right, and to mess with any components could cause an oily-dust-shift (I just totally made up that term) that can kill a processor fan or short out a mobo circuit. 

Enter my new plan: a Knoppix Live CD.  As long as the motherboard can boot from the CD drive, I'm in business.  Boot to Linux, and I have read access to the entire hard drive (or drives).  Attach an external USB drive, Knoppix recognizes it, and I'm off to the races.  Copy, copy, copy, unplug the drive, take out the CD, and reboot the machine.  It's like I was never there. 

You gotta love Linux, if only for that kind of simplicity. 

OK, there are a lot of services out there to 'speed test' your Internet connection, but this one is pretty fun to do...

You get to watch a speedometer as it tunes in your connection speed.