Jason N. Gaylord ~ Windows Advice

How Can AT&T Be So Cruel?

Jason.N.Gaylord — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:15:00 GMT

I just read an article how AT&T refused to give a fire victim in Southern California any slack regarding one of their receivers. You can read the full article at http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Wants-300-From-Wildfire-Victim-88826. How cruel! I cannot believe they wouldn't provide any lenience with their bill. Before I start receiving tons of comments supporting AT&T's position, let's evaluate their position. Let's examine the facts. According to CNN, at least 1,635 homes have been destroyed. Let's assume that every one of these homes have a $300 receiver. That means that AT&T is out $490,500. According to AT&T's 3rd Quarter report, their free cash flow after dividends totaled $2.4 billion and total revenue equaled $30.1 billion. So, the $490k is less than 1% of their free cash flow and total revenues. The other arguement that could be made is that AT&T is worried that others who were not affected by the fires could be using this to their advantage. My arguement to AT&T would be to work with the major insurance companies and request a claim number from their customers. Hopefully DSLReports.com receives a positive response from AT&T.

Gmail IMAP Needs Improvement

Jason.N.Gaylord — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:11:00 GMT

I'm not impressed with the IMAP capabilities with Google Gmail. So far I've noticed that my IMAP connection has dropped numerous times. I've highlighted 60 spam messages in [Gmail]\Spam and hit delete while noticing timeouts. I've tried purging deleted items and noticed that the items delete only 5 at a time. And, I've used more than just Outlook 2007 to connect.

Microsoft Adds a Free 411 Number

Jason.N.Gaylord — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:29:00 GMT

Microsoft announced that they now offer a Free 411 number for callers to find a business. It is powered by Live Search. The phone number is 1-800-225-5411.

Photoshop Express - Free web-based tool

Jason.N.Gaylord — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:05:00 GMT

This is definately interesting - http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/09/photoshop_expre.html

Resolved: "Please rerun your monitor calibration software." in Photoshop

Jason.N.Gaylord — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:27:00 GMT

A few days ago I reformatted my Dell D820 and installed Windows Vista Ultimate. I also added Photoshop CS3 Extended to my laptop. Usually my laptop is docked and my current monitors are Dell 1907. When I opened Photoshop for the first time on the new configuration, I received an error message stating:

'The monitor profile "LCD color management and conversion" appears to be defective. Please rerun your monitor calibration software.'

I chose 'Use Anyway'. I then proceeded to create a new file leaving the background as White. I was quite surprised when I saw that my background had a yellowish tint. Ignoring the background, I went to add a grey tone. I noticed that the greys all seemed to have a pink tint to them. My image simply did not look right. However, if I saved the image as a web file, the preview screen displayed the image correct. I searched high and low on Google and Live search looking for a solution. Finally, a coworker who was having the same issue, discovered a YouTube podcast (Chad & Todd Podcast) explaining how to fix this issue using Adobe Gamma. Here are the steps:

Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Control Panels
Copy the "Adobe Gamma.cpl" file to C:\Windows\System32
Open up your Control Panel (in Classic View) and double click Adobe Gamma
Choose Step-By-Step (Wizard) on the first screen
Enter a custom name in the description field on the next screen
Click next until you get to the screen with a red, green and blue box
Blur your eyes and adjust each color until the box in the center blends in with the lines on the outside
Set the Gamma to custom and enter 2.00 (in between Windows and Macintosh) and then choose Next
Choose Next until you get to the screen with the Before and After radio buttons
Choose between the two to see your changed settings
Click Finish and save your ICC Profile somewhere on your PC

That should do it. Open up Photoshop and everything should be ok. Hope this helps!

Local Company Fined For Illegal Software

Jason.N.Gaylord — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:40:00 GMT

It's not too often we have local companies that are fined for illegal software, but when we do, it makes the paper. Pride Mobility out of Exeter, PA was fined for having unlicensed software on their PCs. To read the full story, visit http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18537075&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=455154&rfi=6.

Google Purchases Postini

Jason.N.Gaylord — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:25:00 GMT

Google purchased Postini on July 9, 2007: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2156182,00.asp?kc=EWKNLEDP071007A

Windows Mobile Voice Command 1.6 Commands

Jason.N.Gaylord — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:57:00 GMT

Here is a partial Windows Mobile Voice Command list: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/voicecommand/tutorials.mspx

Removing a Domain Controller from a Windows 2003 Domain

Jason.N.Gaylord — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:54:00 GMT

I needed to remove a domain controller earlier today after the hardware failed. I couldn't find an easy way to remove it from the domain. So, I contacted some friends of mine over at Synergistic Networks. They had suggested that I look at the following procedure: http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm. That worked perfectly! Thanks guys!

Internet in Automobiles?

Jason.N.Gaylord — Wed, 02 May 2007 22:55:00 GMT

Yes its true. Many companies such as Ford are coming out with web enabled products. In fact, Ford's product will run Windows Auto. However, this product takes the cake: http://www.autonetmobile.com/wp/service. AutoNet Mobile allows multiple devices to be connected. Therefore, I can have my XBox in my SUV as well as my laptop and cell phone. All three will be online. How cool is that?

DNS Exploit Announced

Jason.N.Gaylord — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:50:00 GMT

There is a Microsoft DNS exploit that is allowing a new worm (virus) called W32/Delbot-AI to attack machines, turning them into a zombie PC. For more information about the worm, visit http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/w32delbotai.html?_log_from=rss.

TECHbash 2007 Announced

Jason.N.Gaylord — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:08:00 GMT

TECHbash 2007 has been officially announced. To check out a full agenda and to regsiter for some really cool swag including Vista and Office 2007 licenses, visit techbash.com. At TECHbash 2007, you will have the chance to learn the latest technologies in the industry including:

Microsoft Exchange 2007
Microsoft Windows Code-Named "Longhorn"
IP Telephony
AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript)
SharePoint

Some of the additional SWAG being offered....

.NET Valley is pleased to announce that every attendee at TECHbash 2007 will receive a goodie bag filled with a TECHbash t-shirt, .NET Valley pen, and free magazines from MSDN Magazine, asp.net Pro, and CoDe Magazine.

In addition, .NET Valley will have a "Pick-a-Prize Free Auction". For each session that you attend, you will receive a ticket. You may then place your ticket in any basket of your choice for corresponding prizes which include one of 15 second install licenses for Windows Vista, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 with 5 CALS, Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange Server 2003, and more!

Finally, if that wasn't enough, .NET Valley will be raffling off 5 Windows Vista Ultimate licenses, 5 Office 2007 Professional licenses with Groove, and books galore!

Generic Host Process on Windows XP Boot

Jason.N.Gaylord — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:20:00 GMT

I kept receiving an error message when trying to boot up my PC. I continually received the error message: The instruction at "0x745f2780" referenced memory at "0x00000000". The memory could not be "read". and was tied to a Svchost.exe error. I'd also receive a Generic Host Process error message. If I browsed the details, it would not provide any information. After reviewing plenty of forum posts online, I finally came to the conclusion that my Windows Update (or Microsoft Update) has crashed. KB 931852 details a quick and painless way to fix this issue. However, I could not get the service to stop before receiving the message. So, I created a quick batch file and placed it in the Start menu. We run WSUS on site so that probably helped cause this issue. Also, we have automatic updates selected and disabled the ability to change this option in a global policy (nice, huh?). So, the batch file was my only chance. Here is the contents:

net stop wuauserv
rd c:\wutemp /S /Q
rd c:\windows\system32\catroot2 /S /Q
ren "c:\windows\softwaredistribution" "c:\windows\softwaredistributionold"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuweb.dll" "wuweb.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuapi.dll" "wuapi.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuauclt.exe" "wuauclt.exe.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuaucpl.cpl" "wuaucpl.cpl.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuaueng1.dll" "wuaueng1.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuaueng.dll" "wuaueng.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wuauserv.dll" "wuserv.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wucltui.dll" "wucltui.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wups2.dll" "wups2.dll.old"
ren "c:\windows\system32\wups.dll" "wups.dll.old"
pause

So far so good. I rebooted my PC after that batch file ran and now am attempting to run Microsoft Update again. If it fails I'll let everyone know. :)

Vista for the Enterprise? Maybe not.

Jason.N.Gaylord — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:15:00 GMT

Network Computing performed a survey to determine whether or not IT pros would install Vista in the Enterprise. Here it is: http://www.networkcomputing.com/showArticle.jhtml?&articleID=198000502

.NET Valley Releases Website; Demos Vista/Office 2007 at Circuit City

Jason.N.Gaylord — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:17:00 GMT

.NET Valley released their new website yesterday. They also announced that they will be at the Vista/Office 2007 demo tomorrow morning at Circuit City. To find out more, visit http://dotnetvalley.com/news/articles/article5.aspx.