Easy to start
Open dos window
cd /program files
dir *.* > /dirprog.txt
edit dirprog.txt
trim the extra
CNTL-A CNTL-C
Open excel CNTL-V
Add some headings
Then the hard work begins.
Categorize: Huh?, Utility, Application
Arghh!
Taking Inventory of Program Files
Monday, May 15, 2006
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Posted by reinkefj
Strange things happen to my linksys network this moring
Sunday, May 14, 2006When I arrived on duty this morning (i.e., got up and went to check my email), I discovered that LUGGABLE was disconnected from my wifi net. First thing I did a repair and opened up wifi icon. My faithful OREGON wasn't there. Hmm. I wnt to OLDLAP and it do was disconnected. Now I know Comcast is in their Mother's Day freeze so it's unlikely that it was them. SO I went and restarted the linksys wap.
I checked my UDP forwards that Azureus was griping about while I was there. They all were all their as I thought. udp 5000 – 5099 maps to 100, 5100 – 5199 maps to 101, you get the idea.
WAP restarts and I see the blinking lights on the WAP, the WAN, and the cable modem. SO I return OLDLAP is now connected. AND now to LUGGABLE, it too has reconnected.
Sort of. Look around and everything seems OK but it's running like mud. Lookout seems to be taking all the cycles. Blue Frog is offline and won't come back. Azureus is griping about UDP settings. No choice reboot. Argh! Reboot takes for ever because nothing is shutting down. Everything has to be closed out. Rebooted.
All coming up OK. Except blue frog. It takes a runtime error and says call hq. Call hq and they are offline for maintenance. Good service blue frog! There's a strike against them. Argh.
Everything else seems RTN (returned to normal) but how can you ever know with windows.
Takeaway: I would like to find a Flight Data Recorder for the PC. Something as trivial as ping a know good site (i.e., yahoo, google) say every 15 minutes and record the results. It runs routinely and logs when external connectivity is lost. If I had that on all my boxes, I might be able to trace the culprit. By know precisely when connectivity was lost, you'd at least have a fact. Now all I know is that it dies between bedtime and wakeup. Arghh, arghh!
Takeaway: Blug Frog still down.
Comments? Ideas?
Leave a Comment » | Ranting, Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
If you can’t afford a T1, maybe you can get by with two residential services?
Saturday, May 13, 2006http://t1rex.blogspot.com/2006/05/when-cheap-broadband-becomes-too.html
***Begin Quote***
The professional Internet service you want, regardless of whether your office is a spare bedroom or a storefront, is called T1 Internet or Dedicated Internet.
***End Quote***
Thought I might contribute an anecdote and an idea.
Anecdotally, I ran a home based consulting business twice – first time for four years and the second time for two years – I used cable residential service and a dial account for backup. While I’m not consulting now, I have moved from the dial account to verizon wireless broad band.
An idea for some one who needs a better (i.e., cheaper) solution than that a 500 $ per month T1, which sounds great, might be — if available — two combine TWO high speed residential services (e.g.: DSL and Cable) for say 200 $ month. Not the greatest solution, but it would be cheaper that a T1. You’d have to put in a real router and do some configuration to ensure that you’re not becoming a peer in between two isps. BUT, 300 $ per month might be good enough.
That doesn't solve your disaster recovery issues. What happens if you lose power? A "Katrina" might force you to abandon your location, what happens then?
I think that servers belong in datacenters; not homes. When I look at pricing, it seems cheap enough.
Comments?
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Posted by reinkefj
Homeland Security took this fellow’s site and whole bunch more
Saturday, May 13, 2006http://grigorioneurope.wordpress.com/2006/05/13/homeland-security-stole-my-site/
***Begin Quote***
I go to my web host's site – 2MHost; after this ordeal I won't give them the honour of a direct link – and look for a phone number. None to be found. I suddenly lose all my faith in the up until now fairly reliable host. I get onto their Live Chat, wait for about 10 minutes for the guy to tell me what the hell has happened. Then get a canned response to the effect that the US Department of Homeland Security (there it is, oh {Expletive Deleted}!) has confiscated their hard drives. 'Objectionable material'. Possibly terrorist documents? 'We don't think we will get them back in a timely manner so we have restarted all logins with blank accounts …. 3 months free hosting to compensate'. Oh thanks. Three months hosting what? I have no files.
*** AND ***
Thanks for that watercooler. It does look like that Democrats site was hosted by the same company, 2M Host.
Hopefully they can put some pressure on the DHS or ask some questions. I completely agree with what those guys said about giving reasons for the seizure. Of course I understand what needs to be done needs to be done – if it was some kind of terrorist data or child porn – but a reason would be nice.
***End Quote***
See Big Government Law#3, "Big Government Programs create new problems (aka Unintended Consequences)"!
For anyone involved in technology as a provider or user, backup, backup, and then backup again. For content creators not to have all their content stored all over the place, local and onnet and offsite and in lots of places is inexcusable.
See in my mind the villians of this piece is into DHS or whatever unnatural disaster that happened. No the bad guys are the author and the service provider. Either or both could have made this a non-event.
In my mind, you would think that one service provider would have a reciprocal agreement with another for recovery.
Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY, Ranting, Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
What is a blog and why should I care?
Saturday, May 13, 2006What the {expletive deleted} is a “BLOG”?
A blog is an easy-to-use web site, where you can quickly post thoughts, ramblings, rantings, and just about anything else you can tap out with your fingers. Akin to writing on the stall in a public bathroom, and some of them are that crude, it has evolved into a Jay Leno-esque medium. A monologue with some interaction with readers. It’s like Anne Frank's 1944 diary, Samuel Pepys’ in 1660, or George Washington’s. Well ok nothing that great but it is collective knowledge of the great unwashed. As a noun, it’s the diary. As a verb, it’s the act of writing. As an adjective, adverb, or other part of speech: egotistical mental mas … … let’s just say self satisfying waste of time … and let it go at that. Bear in mind that like webpages, blogs tend to be forgotten.
You should care for two reasons: (1) The inet has the memory of an elephant. Once you cast the electrons out into cyberspace, they can never be recalled, canceled, edited, modified, or deleted. So if you says something on the net, be prepared to have it come back and smack you upside the head when you least expect it and at the most inopportune time (i.e., job interview; legal proceeding; unauthorized biography; Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary; Retirement Party; Funeral Eulogy). (2) It can be useful for establish your expertise or brand in the market place. You can use it to advance you Unique Value Proposition or your Unique Selling Proposition.
If you want to read a blog, you can just go to their webpage. Blogs can be annoying to read from a web browser. You have to remember to check them regularly check for new content and find nothing. Most blogs offer RSS feeds that can be read with an RSS reader. You can avoid the “I forgot” or “visit for nothing” problems by using a webpage such as MYYAHOO, or install free software like RSSBANDIT.
If you are interested in starting to BLOG, you can your own one FREE at http://wordpress.com/ or http://www.blogger.com/start.
I have always thought that many of my efforts would be best done as a series of BLOGS based on topical areas so that the readers ship could subscribe based on “channels” of interest. But, I have never put the effort in to make that happen. Too much heavy thinking, planning, and lifting. Any volunteers?
Yell if you need help.
1 Comment | ALUMNI, JOBSEARCH, Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Planning my next reinstall
Friday, May 12, 2006Having been forced by winrot into rebuilding luggable, I am thinking it would be wise to plan for the next reinstall.
Last time, I was lucky because the was essentially nothing wrong with the hard drive. It was windoze that was screwed up. At least one program was lost that I know of (i.e., the Intel Wireless Configuration utility). Data and applications were duplicated. Clean up is a mess.
Why do programs have to be installed?
So my thinking is I need to identify all applications. Catagorize them as: those I can reinstall because I have media and those I can't. For the ones I can't what is my plan?
So I need to create a data strategy. That is somewhat easier. During the reinstall, I found that Windows, certain Applications, and some slovenly habits on my part allowed data to be scattered across the directory structure. I need to come up with a plan for data. Some data is by the nature of the application is automagically off-sited. For example, Corex's Cardscan saves its data on the Corex site. In recovery, it can, after the application is reinstalled, be brought down from the cloud. It's questionable if it MUST be brought down form the cloud (i.e., restoring is useless because it has to be brought from the cloud to be syncable back to the cloud). So it has it's own gotcha. Data could be restricted to a data drive and backup to something like that book drive. Or off-site service like Streamload or such?
So there are lots of apps and lots of data that all needs work.
There is also a class of stuff that needs consideration. Drivers, configurations, and other things need to be accounted for.
Keyboarding everything stinks. So there has to be scripts, batch files, or other ways to recover and minimize the amount of time and effort to do it.
So I have a lot of work cut out for me.
Since I won't move to Vista, I need to identify how I can stay behind until my move to Linux.
My thought is that ideally I'd like to get a base that I could image and then that would always serve as a jumping off point.
One idea would be to create images as I begin to beat this into shape.
So where do I start?
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Posted by reinkefj
A Technology Strategy for email and a desire to go paperless with crypto
Friday, May 12, 2006I use lots of email addresses. One for immediate attention. But each of my other email ids has a specific purpose. Politics, professional job search networking, techie stuff, Manhattan College alumni aka Jaspers, Manhattan Prep aka my high school alums, one for work, and lots of secret ones for personal use. All it costs me is setup time! Outlook can poll lots of mailboxes pretty quickly; most only get looked at once per day.
;-)
Many of the email addresses are just a random string (e.g. HJPP 0S9L C9AW EBTY @ gmail or W363 N93A DPO8 POAS @ gmail). I have several, probably a dozen, dedicated email addresses for different purposes.
I have “lost” a lot of addresses to spammers.
In one case, I know they used an alpha progression to eventually “discover” every address. I wised up to it when some dumb spammer had “reinke @ att.net, reinkea@, reinkez@ reinkeaa@, …” in the To field. I noted that he quit at 12 so I went to 16 character names. So, I have adopted the long random strings as the “user” part. Since 99% of the email use is “reply”, no one cares. Also since no one invests any time in the “name”, I can change it when needed (i.e., if it starts to be spammed).
I have many ways for people to keep in or get back in touch, so it seems to work for me. For eample, http://public.2idi.com/=reinkefj or Plaxo or LinkedIn or Corex Cardscan or … …
It makes for compartmentalizing one’s email. AND, it makes spam and phishing laughable (i.e., a financial institution coming in on the manhattan prep account can be discarded without further adieu). Each financial institution has it’s own gmail account that is never used elsewhere. Hence, an email on the proper account has a high degree of reliability.
You might want to think about what strategy would work for you.
I really really want the financial institutions and every business to truncate paper. I always seemed to be buried in it. If they offer it, I have them discontinue the paper mail. No one does yet but one can only hope they will pick the idea up.
Having a background in cryptology, public key crypto should make this trivial.
The institution could accept my public key and give me theirs. Then they could encrypt my paper (e.g., a statement; bill; receipt) with their private key. Then, they encrypt it with my public key. And put it in the public email to my registered address. I could then decrypt it by using my private key and then decrypt it by using their public key. It is worthless to anyone without my private key.
Note the order of which they do it — SEQUENCE ONE their private key first then my public key; or SEQUENCE TWO my public key then their private key — doesn't matter.
They'd have to register my public key in their keyring somewhere. But when you consider the cost of mailings, they would have to save money. And, I'd be happier.
Wonder when?
Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
TECH: “SYNCURA” online
Friday, May 12, 200620060512 @ 133 zulu
I see that it's back. It don't need it right now but one has to remember it's a free beta. Can't depend on what you don't pay for.
Leave a Comment » | Ranting, Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
TECH: When the internet slows down (Frustration!)
Thursday, May 11, 2006Around 2200 zulu 10MAY tonight, all sorts of strange stuff began happening. The cable burped. Then the inet slowed down. I was so frustrated I actual shifted to vwbbie and it was slow. So I don't know what was going on. I'd rant but I don't know who to rant at? About 0030 zulu 11MAY, everything began to flow normally again. So I dropped down off vwbbie and back to wifi. Hmmmm, it certainly seems that this points to the thin client with inet versus fat client with everything local. It pointed out the flaws with RSSBANDIT that refreshes from the net. I'd have liked it if it cached the pages locally. Hmmm squared.
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH: Using MEDIAWIKI, the same software that drives WIKOPEDIA to form up a “database”
Thursday, May 11, 2006As an avid "alumni collector" (i.e., I run an ezine for my fellow alums at http://www.jasperjottings.com), I have tried to "collect" their information using a variety of ever changing strategies. Corex Cardscan, Text Files, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Excel, Access just to name a few. Several proprietary databases like yahoo Groups, Listbot, and several I have forgotten. I've been doing this for a bunch of years. Nine to be exact. And, I STILL to this day don't have a good methodology, strategy, tactic-ology, or technology for dealing with it. But, I am now getting close. First rule is I'm not putting data into anything that doesn't give it back EVER AGAIN. So a wiki is perfect. Since it is entirely under my control. I have been working on getting my files into a form that MEDIAWIKI likes. It's pretty restrictive but it looks like HTML is OK. More when I have a break thru, or a break down.
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Posted by reinkefj
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