Tooltem Pole - A totem pole to remember the programming tools

Vista continue to BSOD, Ubuntu stable

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:20:24 -0800

Ubuntu is as quite as a rock, and solid too.

Meanwhile, Vista continue to crash (because I installed Microsoft Money?), It crashed every night, but other time it appears to be stable.

I'm not going to uninstall Money, not during the tax season. I'll bear the BSOD and see what happens...

Here's a log of the BSOD:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name:    BlueScreen
OS Version:    6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID:    4105

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 116

Vista BSOD, Ubuntu still stable

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:15:33 -0800

Ubuntu stable as usual

I've to do my taxes, so I Installed Microsoft Money 2000 (yes it's 6 years old), causing Vista to crash. Very funny. Microsoft's own product doesn't work, but all my other apps, RoboGeo, PsPad, TextPad, ZoomBrowser and DPP from Canon, they all work so well....

But I still have to do my taxes, so I didn't care that much. After the crash, I continue to use Money in WinXP compatible mode. So far so good.

Tax is boring, so I installed WinFast PVR 2000 xp Expert. It started up OK. after a while, it crashed again. Not sure it was becuase of the previous installation of Money or the Winfast PVR.

Vista and Ubuntu both turn stable

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800

After installing the new Vista driver for nForce 4 from nVidia, Vista become stable. No more explorer process hung.

Ubuntu stable as usual

Ubuntu stabilized, Vista still struggling

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800

After installing the ATI OpenGL patch, Ubuntu is stable.
No more crash when I turn on screen saver

Vista didn't crash but the process hung from time to time

Ubuntu freeze, Windows Vista sluggish

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:50:34 -0800

Some problem during installation of Ubuntu... (will describe later)

Ubuntu freeze when I change to OpenGL screen saver
Problem solved when I change to other screen saver.
I guess I need to install the ATI driver later. No time now, will do that later.

Vista is very slow.
Partly is because MMPlayer is searching my harddrive which had thousands of Media files. It's wrost that a virus, I stopped it, it started itself up a few moments later... like a zombie that come back from grave....

I've so many media files, and they are mapped to a couple of drives. the Windows Media Player try to find all of them, so far, no way to stop it yet.

Installing Ubuntu

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 12:56:07 -0800

Fifteen years past since I first used Linux. At that time it was Windows 3.1 vs Linux. Most of the programs I used was running on Windows, and I used Linux mainly for the Internet.

Later when Windows 95 came out, I switched all my programs to Windows and I said goodbye to Linux and has been running full windows ever since. I've experienced Windows 95, 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and finally Windows XP. The earlier windows were pested with stability issues (e.g. Win 95 & 98), NT to Win 2000 had been pretty good. Then came Windows XP. It was a pretty stable system... but then it haunted me an endless cycle of security patching. I never worried too much for security, because for the last 20 years, with numerous download and a pretty liberal security policy, I had been infected with 0 virus--that is until last week.

Install Windows Vista

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:05:28 -0800

Today start installing Vista Ultima 32 Bit.
Installation started at 8:00pm

Installing Vista on existing WindowsXP dual boot

Usb device not recognized

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:02:15 -0800

My Problem:
I have a USB drive that always worked. However all of a sudden, it stopped working. I got a "Usb device not recognized" error every time I plugged in the device.

Probable Cause:
I've plugged in my friend's USB drive on the same computer, perhaps during the automatic installation process, the USB device didn't install properly and then some how it messed up my USB device drivers.

Solution:
I found the following solution workable for my case:
Remove Hidden Devices

1. Click Start. Click Run. Type cmd and press OK.
2. Type “set DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS=1″ (without quotation marks) and press Enter.
3. Type “set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1″ (without quotation marks) and Press Enter.
4. Type “start devmgmt.msc” (without quotation marks) and click press Enter.
5. Click View. Click Show hidden devices.
6. Click “+” to expand Imaging devices, Unknown devices and USB devices.
7. Are there any USB devices and unknown devices (including grayed out devices)? If so, please right click it and click Uninstall.

(It's found on the hersam web site)
After doing this, my device works again with no problem.

Your Problem:
If you get "Usb device not recognized" in Windows and the above solution doesn't work for you, there might be other causes:

A) USB device worked before but suddenly stopped working:

The following solution might be applicable:

1) Remove all oem*.inf files

Microsoft Windows XP: Open File Security Warning - Unknown Publisher

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 14:00:07 -0800

After Installing IE7 (Internet Explorer 7), when I click on any batch files/exe files/vbs files on my local network, I got an warning messages that says:

"Open File - Security Warning"
Unknown Publisher
Would you like to run the file?

I have to spent an hour searching on the Internet to disable that stupid warning.

I have tried to avoid doing any of those "automatic updates" just because of these dumb features Microsoft suddenly decided to add to the operating system. But sometimes because the threats were immanent (e.g. when there was a security hole in the iframe) and sometimes because I wanted new features (e.g. IE7), I have to use their updates. Their updates are bad.

Symantec: Norton Internet Security Mac 3.0 [AntiVirus

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 17:00:56 -0800

Norton Internet Security Mac 3.0 [AntiVirus, Firewall, Privacy, Controls, iClean], was released on 2003-11-13 from Symantec, Usually ships in 24 hours. The list price is around US$99.95. (*The prices are subject to change) Street price is around $89.99.

Norton Utilities and AntiVirus form the foundation of any computer health program. However, when adding SuperClean to my G5's overall health regimen, my anger peaked. I payed twice for the privilege of using iClean. As excellently as this software functions, twice paid is once too much. Concerning AntiVirus itself, no software matches it for reliability.

It's around US$89.99 in Amazon.com

Macromedia Captivate

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:53:44 -0800

Macromedia Captivate from Macromedia. The list price is around US$499.99.

Macromedia Captivate used to be thought of as a screen capture program by many when it was known as RoboDemo. Captivate is much, much more than that. It now includes the capability to produce complete e-learning programs with testing and assesments. It can produce software learning and testing simulations.

I was asked to produce a system administration tutorial in only seven days. The final tutorial consisted of 45 individual Captivate modules inside of a Flash built course structure. I could not have done this project without Captivate.

If you have to develop software demonstrations for marketing or e-learning programs, you must have this product. It is well worth the price and invaluable to me.

You can buy this in Amazon.com

Symantec: Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:54:21 -0800

Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition, was released on 2005-05-26 from Symantec, Usually ships in 24 hours. The list price is around US$79.95. (*The prices are subject to change) Street price is around $72.99.

I've used Norton for many, many years and have always sworn by it as the best anti-virus protection available on the market. With the 2003 version, I switched to Norton Internet Security and loved it. It's always worked perfectly, and I've bought a new year of definitions each year. I planned to update my NIS 2003 version again this year when it expired, but about a month before the expiration, I got an offer from Symantec to buy the NIS 2005 Antispam version for a low price. I decided to go ahead and upgrade from 2003 to 2005 at the low price.

Last weekend my subscription to NIS 2003 expired, so instead of re-subscribing, I instead downloaded and installed the NIS 2005 version. That's when the problems started. After downloading and installing, I updated the virus definitions. This went fine, and I thought I was through with it. A while later I went into the NIS program and when I opened it up, only part of the screen appeared--the border, without the middle with all the buttons to click. ...

It's around US$72.99 in Amazon.com

SJ Namo WebEditor 6 Suite

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 16:53:52 -0800

SJ Namo WebEditor 6 Suite, was released on 2004-03-29 from Namo, Usually ships in 24 hours. The list price is around US$99.99. (*The prices are subject to change) Street price is around $79.99.

When I first started using this program I thought it was great but when I had trouble with the text wrap, I couldn't fix it. There were large spaces between words and when I tried to pull the words together they all bunched up with no spaces. Everytime I deleted them and started over the same problem came up. When I tried to publish, it just wouldn't do it and when I finally did get it to publish, it published only parts of the website with blank places on the pages. The spell checker did not catch all of the misspelled words either. There is no on line support for this program and it is full of bugs. I uninstalled it and purchased FrontPage 2003 and have had no more problems. I do not recommend this program. It does have lots of nice Themes but they will not publish. The price is right but the product is not.

It's around US$79.99 in Amazon.com

Macromedia Flash Pro 8 Win/Mac

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 16:54:11 -0800

Macromedia Flash Pro 8 Win/Mac, was released on 2005-09-13 from Macromedia. The list price is around US$699.00.

I am so happy with the new Flash 8, and am even more delighted that Macromedia re-introduced the 'normal mode' (although not called normal mode anymore) for designers. They have also introduced a new way of skinning video, and I absolutely love the new On2 VP6 video codec. There are so many improvements from MX 2004 that I would be writing forever to tell you about them. As a senior designer who has been using flash since Flash 3, I think that Flash 8 Pro is the best ever yet! Well done Macromedia.

You can buy this in Amazon.com

In Canada, it costs about CDN$839.99 in Amazon.ca

In UK, it sells for £520.97

Microsoft Access 2003

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:54:30 -0800

Microsoft Access 2003, was released on 2003-10-21 from Microsoft, Usually ships in 24 hours. The list price is around US$229.00. (*The prices are subject to change) Street price is around $200.79.

I use Visual Foxpro and found Microsoft Access a breeze after I have struggled with VFP for so many years. No object classes, form sets, etc.. Can anyone ever really "know" Foxpro? If you are a database programmer, you will find Access simple and easy to use. Create your switchboard and run only macros from it to launch forms, which in turn, can launch another macro from a button on the form that will run the action queries and the reports. It helps to know some Visual Basic but its not mandatory. It doesn't get any easier than this but I say this as a database programmer. If you are not a DB programmer already, get a little help in the beginning from someone who develops applications with Access. Before you know it, you will be rolling out applications with ease.

It's around US$200.79 in Amazon.com

In Canada, it costs about CDN$299.99 in Amazon.ca

In UK, it sells for £164.99