Technology

Note to self;

Start => Run => SFC /SCANNOW

Have your operating system disk handy to replace missing/corrupt system files.

If your operating system ever gets hosed on your Dell computer, you have the option to restore the system to a factory fresh install of everything just like when it came out of the box... Just press the Control (CTRL) and F11 keys at the same time while booting. This will activate the Dell System Recovery utility, which restores a factory image of the original installation which is stored in a hidden partition on your hard drive.

This will work as long as your system is somewhat in the same condition as when you first got it. But wait a minute, we're talking about a system that is now hosed. Trashed. Not booting. Blue screen errors and nothing happening with CTRL+F11. What do you do then?

Try Dan Goodall's DSRfix.exe. After wrestling with my Dell for umpteen hours, I came across this gem. Inside of two minutes I had my MBR restored to factory fresh and was able to restore the factory image in another ten minutes. Your mileage may vary, particularly if you've repartitioned your hard drive, but this utility saved me a lot of work. Dell tech support ought to provide the utility (or a Dell approved version of it at least), but instead you can only find out about it through the user forums.

The Amazing Hypnotic Writing Wizard!

For the amazingly low price of $99, you can befuddle, confuse, manipulate and deceive your customers into believing your product is worth buying! Perfect for the bulk e-mail operator searching for a new way to convince people to click on his/her viagggra link. This amazing software includes the following "tools":

• 5 hypnotic agreement questions that will put prospects in a "yes" trance where they will be conditioned to agree with your next statements.
• 31 hypnotic headline words that will get your sales copy read and can drastically increase your sales.
• 5 hidden commands that are so good, people won't even realize you are secretly commanding them.
• 7 "confusers to take control" statements that will confuse readers and allow your hypnotic words to get past their mental censors.
• 163 emotional provoking words that can trigger your prospects' emotions and persuade them to buy your product.
• Dominate your prospect with 13 hypnotic hype action phrases that surround your offer with an invisible field of magnetism that very few people can resist.
• 7 hypnotic devices that make your prospects virtually “dizzy” with information that they have no recourse but to agree with whatever you propose.

That's not all! There's more! Much more! This will be the best $99 you ever spent! Trust me, I wouldn't lie to you! Really! You are getting sleepy! This blog is surrounded with a dominating magnetic field which you cannot resist! You have an overwhelming desire to send me money! You want to click the paypal button! Say "Yes" to the paypal button! The paypal button is your friend!

For those folks checking out sites designed in Serendipity, here's my take on the software;

I've been blogging for about 6 months now, having made my first post on 12/30/04. When I started out, I looked at WordPress, PMachine, and MT. Of those three, I really liked WordPress, but I ended up choosing PMachine. I would still be using PM if I hadn't come across Serendipity (aka s9y). All three of the programs I looked at are great blogware, with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. However, I have dumped them all since beginning to use s9y.


As I mentioned in an earlier post, s9y has several features that are important to me, namely;

# It's free. (Open Source)
# Extensive spam blocking features, including kaptchas, moderation, and more.
# wysiwyg editing
# Multiple catagories.
# Several useful plugins available, easy to configure.

There's many other great features, like the multiple templates, extended entries, multiple page posts and threaded comments. The installation/upgrade process is relatively painfree, and the support at the forums is fairly good as well.

For the non techie, learning a little php will be useful, though not entirely necessary. S9y is fairly customizable out of the box, but any in depth modification will require digging into the php code. Also, the database is simple enough for an amatuer such as myself to do some serious damage! (As an example, I was able to export the entire set of a beligerant commenter's rantings, and then reimport them after appropriate editing.)

Blog well!

The fine folks over at Techdirt seem a little myopic about technology at times. In a post referring to an article bemoaning "ancient technology" that refuses to die, Mike indicates that he can't see the benefit of using a fax machine except in instances where a signature is required.

Our business uses a fax on a daily basis, and not just for signature pages. It is the most efficient method of reliably getting a hard copy document from point A to B. I suppose I could force all my employees to learn how to use a scanner, convert the scanned image to an e-mail attachment, and then hope the recipient has the proper hardware/software to view the document in question, but this whole process introduces too many failure points to be trusted. As I mentioned in my comments to the above post, I am in business to conduct business... not to be a digital marvel. Failure in the process of communicating business information could lead to a failure of my business. Failure is not an acceptable option. Apparently the US Army agrees.

For the record, our business uses;

• a copier to make copies (instead of the scan/digitize/print method)
• calculators to calculate (instead of using the windows based calculator)
• We also use a hard copy printout from the calculator to verify the calculation. To do so using a computer would require either a seperate piece of hardware to generate the tape-like printout, or a whole sheet of 8.5x11 paper to show the calculation. Very unwieldy.
• We use pens to record information on paper. Very luddite of us, I know. Also very intuitive, though. The surprising thing is that most of our customers seem to know how to use them, even though the majority of them are college students. Aren't they teaching these kids to eschew ancient technology?

Two days after I finally resolved this rant inspiring episode of computer meltdown madness, the screen on my laptop dies. What is the proper pronunciation of AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!?????

Catez at Allthings2all has posted The Science and Christianity Showcase. There are several posts on a variety of subjects, and each sounds fascinating.

This post is a bookmark for me... I will be returning here often as I take in this broad range of material.

This post is just a rant resulting from a frustrating attempt to reinstall an operating system (ANY operating system, PLEASE) on my desktop box. Please pay these lunatic ramblings no mind...

In an earlier post, I discussed a few of the different blog platforms I had been considering. At the time, I was leaning heavily towards pMachine, and even have been using it... until recently. I've been using Serendipity, and I think I'll make it my primary blogware. Here's a few out of the box features I like...

• It's free. (Open Source)


• Extensive spam blocking features, including kaptchas, moderation, and more.


• wysiwyg editing (kind of flaky in Firefox, produces scripting error. It's a Mozilla issue.)


• Built in templates w/ easy switching.


• Threaded comments.


• Multiple catagories.


• MySQL, PHP


• Several useful plugins available, easy to configure.

About the only problem I am really having at this point is in performance... With all the plugins I've got loaded, I seem to be not loading very quickly. My old blog page jumps up quickly, but the serendipity page seems sluggish. I'd like to strip down the comments pages, but I don't see an easy way to do that. I'm sure it can be done, though.

I also miss the profanity sensor of pMachine, but I'm sure a plug-in will get developed to put that functionality into Serendipity.

***UPDATE***
Currently using the latest .8 development version. The "sluggish" thing is gone, and the software is even better now than when I first wrote this post. Yeah, this is it.

While toying with the idea of blogging, I've been looking at several different platforms. The one I seemed to have settled on for now is pMachine. I'm working with the free version right now, I'm not yet sold enough to put down the $45 ($125 commercial) for the pro version. A few of the things I like about pMachine;
[ ] Curse word censoring
[ ] Relatively easy setup and management
[ ] Potential for MultiBlogs
[ ] Multiple users, user registrations

Primary downsides I see at this point;
[ ] No "Save to Draft" function (Does this exist in pro?)
[ ] No comment moderation (other than requring registration)
[ ] No spill chuck

My second and third runners up are B2Evolution and MoveableType. What platform works best? Which blogware best accomodates all these issues?

OK, I'm not sure how I got here, but here I am. I've been toying with the idea, trying different platforms, tweaking templates and such. In the process, I've managed to set up a working(?) blog, and have even had an outside visitor! (Discoshaman- I am humbled that you would grace my almost-blog... Thanks for the comment!) So, what is Unite Later about? What will you be reading about here? Will there be profound essays on topics of major import, ala Bill Whittle? Not likely. Dozens of updates each day, like Instapundit? No way. Sharp witted humor like Frank or Scott? I wish. A whacked out following of demented idiots similar to the moonbats of kos and du? Thankfully not. Instead, I expect to post occasionally about; [ ] Things that are Dear to My Heart. [ ] Deep thoughts about theology (God good, devil bad. Jesus saves, Allah kills.) [ ] Bar-B-que, ribs, and buffalo wings. [ ] Rants about windows (no, I'm not switching to linux/mac/other_os... solving all my problems would leave me nothing to complain about.) God only knows what will become of this venture. Hopefully someone finds something of value or worth in it.

I don't have time to list all the reasons right now, because I am trying to reinstall the dad-burned thing for the twelfth time tonight.

I think I've finally got this much figured out... I own the darn computer. I own the disk with the operating system on it. I installed the thing. I administered the installation. I administer the whole dad-blasted process, yet... Windows does not think I am the administrator! I had to delete myself so that I can administer the thing. This really stinks.

By the way, if you ever get an 0x8DDD0004, don't waste your time asking Microsoft what it means... apparently they haven't got a clue.

* * * UPDATE * * * The 0x8DDD0004 mentioned above resulted in only a handful of hits on google, mostly japanese and german. The few english results seemed to involve Service Pack 2, which didn't help me (SP1). Apparently I had a virus issue that was keeping me from updating windows, with the result being that (among other) errors. Activating windows may have put me online long enough to result in reinfection (surely the thing could not have survived multiple reformats, right?) I only wish I had come across this a lot sooner...

Blaster worm warning: Do not immediately activate over the internet when asked, enable the XP firewall before connecting to the internet. You can activate after the firewall is enabled. Control Panel - Network Connections. Right click the connection you use, Properties, and there is a check box on the Advanced page.

* * * UPDATE * * * TaleQ from Granada has a post on the dreaded 0x8DDD0004. In the comments is this english response, referring to xp-antispy.

Download and install xp-antispy(http://www.xp-antispy.org). Open the program and put in profiles/windows update settings. Apply settings and join official site of Microsoft with IE (only).

As always, take care when downloading programs from unknown sources. I have not used xp-antispy, and cannot vouch for it.

***UPDATE***
You know, I've got to admit that having the correct jumper settings on your hard drives does seem to improve performance considerably. Not that there's a connection here, I'm just sayin'...