Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3)

Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3) is available now as an optional update on Windows Update and will become automatic (probably as a critical update) on June 10th.

If you are using Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft's POS (point-of-sale, not the other thing you're thinking) retail solution, don't install SP3.

Microsoft requires you to have SP1 installed before SP3, and recommends you have SP2 installed (get SP2 from Windows Update) as well before SP3.

In a nutshell, if you have been running updates all along, this won't be a big deal. However, if you load Windows XP fresh on your PC for some reason, this will save you a great deal of time. It adds some Windows Server 2008 compatibility and other networking features, but the big deal is saving time after installing SP2.

So, don't expect any new features. Getting SP2 was essentially getting a new operating system. SP3 is just a time-saving roll-up of patches.

You can download Windows XP SP3 here (316mb) or (more official looking) here. Of course, you should find it as an optional update.

For more, Paul Thurrott's got a review.

Yeah, I know, lots of boring technical stuff lately, but it's what I do for a living.

Update: Microsoft has released a hotfix for Microsoft Dynamics.

Gmail up to 5.4GB, with IMAP!

I've been using Gmail for a while now. The capacity has grown from 2GB to 5.4GB, and I've only used 9% so far. Google Apps is so appealing to me that I intend to transfer my father-in-law's church to it once I start to administer the network.

The truly amazing thing about Gmail is the free POP3 and SMTP access, and now the inclusion of IMAP. The difference between POP and IMAP is how email is stored; in POP, you take the email away from the server, and in IMAP you duplicate what is on the server.

Some ISP's have offered POP for free, and most charge for SMTP access. None of the other free email hosting services offer IMAP at all. Google is a pioneer in that regard.

With POP email, the mail is moved to your computer; if your computer crashes, the email is gone. With IMAP email, the mail on the server is synchronized with your computer; if your computer crashes, the mail is still on the server and available to you. If you delete a message from the server, it is gone from your computer. If you mark a message as read on the server, it is marked as read on your computer.

If you have used corporate email like Exchange or Lotus then you understand client/server email. IMAP is a great way to pick up email on multiple devices without you having to keep them all in sync.

If you are still using an email like Yahoo! or Hotmail, or YourName@Verizon.net (or sbcglobal.net, etc) then I would encourage you to get a gmail account, or better yet, get your own domain and migrate your mail server to Google Apps. If you need a gmail invite, just drop me a line.

Daylight Saving Time

Note: this is an email I sent my church staff. I figured it would be helpful for those of you reading the blog.

Daylight Saving Time rules have changed. Feel free to pass this along to anyone else who may need to read it.

In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the dates of both the start and end of Daylight Saving Time (DST). This law goes into effect in 2007. Starting this year DST will begin three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later.

As a result of this change, Daylight Saving Time will begin on March 11, 2007, so please review your appointments so you can prepare for this change before that time. Pay special attention to:

1. appointments between the Second Sunday of March and the First Sunday of April
2. appointments between the Last Sunday of October and the First Sunday of November
3. appointments with recurring schedules

If anyone has a large amount of appointments which require modification, use this link (http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007) to get the patch for your computer.

References:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667

Look, ma! A custom domain!

You may already be aware of the Google Blogger custom domain option. It's been ready for a month now. I used to consider publishing to FTP, but I like the new approach (using a CNAME record). The direction for switching to a custom domain are easy enough to follow.

I use http://www.godaddy.com/ mainly due to price. With just a parked domain, I am able to host my Blogger blog and I am using Google Apps for email, too. All that with a parked domain, so there's no monthly fee.

My church just started a blog using Blogger, but the domain name is akin to "reallylongchurchname.blogspot.com," and the "look and feel" does not match our church. I want to convince my pastor to integrate it into our main site, so I figured I would demonstrate the result on my own blog. It was quick and painless, taking less than 30 minutes to execute.

There is a downside: you cannot publish to a subfolder. In other words, you can do "blog.leeandcathy.com" or "www.leeandcathy.com" but not "www.leeandcathy.com/blog". That's not a problem for me, and my intention is to point the blog to "blog.reallylongchurchname.com" anyway.

Anyway, hope you like the change... it's kinda here to stay. And in case you are wondering, all pages that pointed to http://leeandcathy.blogspot.com/ will automatically redirect here, and all previous posts will automatically get to the right location, too. Also, http://leeandcathy.blogspot.com/ remains mine; if I want to go back to that Blog*Spot address, it is still retained by me.

Want email that doesn't suck?

Want email that is portable and doesn't suck? Google's gmail is now open to all for signup.

Disabling Vista UAC Prompts

Vista's new User Account Control (UAC) is a new security component in Windows. If you've used Vista at all, you know that it feels like Windows Vista nags you about launching every single program. Here's a simple explanation: Microsoft wants to protect your from evil software, so it makes you think twice when you do something Microsoft doesn't recognize; it does so by asking "are you sure?" when you do something like install software or launch a program that is not registered with Microsoft (e.g. Firefox). For a detailed explanation, see this Microsoft Technet article.

Anyway, these prompts can get annoying, almost like nagging. I didn't like them in the beta, I don't like them now. I ran Vista with the UAC prompts for a week, and I disabled them today with the secpol.msc tool (see this URL to disable UAC it yourself).

That's why I found this new Apple "get a Mac" ad so funny... (click to watch)

Vista editions and disaster recovery

There may be too many editions of Vista (as I explained previously).

People have been lampooning Microsoft's number of editions, some more seriously, some less so, but the point is well taken: it is just too confusing.

Given the choice, here's what I recommend: get Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. The Home editions do not include built-in hard disk imaging, which is a great backup mechanism. You should routinely make backups, but imaging is fantastic.

Are you familiar with those "system restore" discs? The ones that you can use to wipe out your computer and make the hard disk like you just took the computer out of the box? That's a disk image.

So, get your computer set up the way you like it (backup and remove your documents), then make a disk image. If you ever have problems, restore the image and then restore you documents. It will probably only take you one hour.

The only edition which does not support Aero and the Flip-3D eye candy is Vista Home Basic. Vista Home Premium addes Aero and Media Center (which you don't need if you Tivo). Vista Business adds imaging but removes Media Center. Vista Ultimate has all of the above, plus BitLocker Drive Encryption (for the enterprise user, or the hyper-paranoid).

If you participated in the PowerTogether promotion, you're getting Vista Business (way cool). That's probably what I would recommend for almost everybody.

Vista on my laptop (and driver tips)

So, I installed Windows Vista Ultimate. When I went to the Microsoft's New Day Launch Tour 2007 event in LA and got my copy of Office 2007.

Heres' a hot tip: You are not forced to go to the track you sign up for at the New Day event. If you sign up as a developer, you can still attend the Technology Decision Maker (TDM) track, which is shorter. So if there are any openings left, take them.

Another tip: About 2:30 PM, the TDM track ends, and you can finish your survey and pick up your swag bag.

Final New Day tip: Create a disposable email address to sign up with. Be sure to hit all the booths and have your badge scanned. If you can, preprint some business cards, too, with your disposable email address to enter the drawings. Most booths were having drawings for Microsoft Zune players.

Anyway, the New Day attendee bag includes a "pre-release" version of Vista Ultimate with a valid key. That's what I am running now. I think it is the new equivalent of "not for resale" (NFR). The swag bag includes the Office 2007 license. This gift is actually just the product key; you'll download the install file later, much like the "Power Together" promotion worked (those are beginning to arrive, by the way).

Installing Vista: Before you install Vista, run the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor. If you have a 3.0 or better you should be just fine. Vista will load in 40 minutes (at least it did on mine). I have a Toshiba Satellite M105-S322 and almost everything just worked, except for my fingerprint reader and SD card slot.

Finding Drivers: Finding drivers for my laptop was not easy. Toshiba's support site did not list any drivers for my laptop, and I had a few devices not working (biometrics, SD slot, touchpad scroll). If you are going to install Vista, here's a few suggestions:

• Back everything up (duh).
• Before installing Vista, print our your Device Manager screen from System Properties in Control Panel.
• Visit your computer/laptop manufacturer's web site and look for drivers for Vista. If they don't exist, you can either use the XP drivers (not ideal, but works) or hunt for drivers on similar models.
• Download any BIOS updates for your computer/laptop before installing Vista.
  

So far, the biggest problem I've read about in forums is "where's the Vista driver for XYZ?" I have a Toshiba Satellite, so I visited Toshiba's site looking for Vista drivers on other Toshiba laptops. Since the same components get reused in other machines, Vista drivers for those machines work for my laptop, too. That's how I found my SD flash reader drivers, fingerprint reader drivers, and my ALP touchpad drivers.

Experience with Vista: I am pretty jaded. After about 30 minutes of using Vista, the Flip 3D thing lost it's novelty. I like the gadget bar, but that was previously available as a 3rd party add-on.

Here's what I do like, though... performance did not suffer (much). The Start Menu integrated search is pretty handy. And, I must admit, everything is prettier. That's about it.

Bottom Line: If you have XP, there's no compelling reason to purchase an upgrade, unless you use a tablet PC. However, Vista is nice, with some networking enhancements. Vista is probably what XP should have been. Get it if it is cheap or free, but I wouldn't rush out to spend money on it just for the eye candy.

Making Your Blogger Beta Header a Graphic

I haven't spent much time in the HTML of my template (yet). However, I did want to know how to add a graphic as part of my header, perhaps a table with a graphic. There's a great solution I saw with a simple Google search which required only changing the template to NOT lock a template element. I wanted to know how to unlock template elements anyway, and I didn't want to actually modify the header widget in HTML file directly.

Anyway, I tried a work-around that doesn't require editing the HTML template at all. It occured to me that I could just put HTML where the header text would go. And, it worked.

When you edit your template (Dashboard > Template tab > Page Elements), click to edit your header. You can remove the Blog Description text completely if you like. In the Blog Title field, insert the HTML code for your image, with a 99-character limit, like <img src="http://www.example.com/banner.png" />

You should have, as a result, a header with a graphic in it. That's it. I still like the "unlock widget" method best, but this work-around requires no customizing at all.

Free Windows Vista Business & Office Pro 2007

File Under: Technology / Free Stuff

Microsoft is giving away a Windows Vista Business license and an Office Pro 2007 license if you watch three web-based seminars for each. Here's the link to the giveaway site, PowerTogether.com. I am not eligible myself, but my family and friends are eligible!

Here are the requirements: you need to have a Microsoft Passport (your Hotmail email will work), and you need to watch three (3) seminars for either free offer. So, to get both of them, you need to watch a total of six (6) web seminars.

Microsoft Office Professional 2007 comes with the following:

• Microsoft Office Word 2007
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
• Microsoft Office Access 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager

Vista Business does include the coveted Aero interface. While it is true that Vista Business does not include the Media Center, I do not think most people I know will need it. However, Vista Business includes a spectacular backup / system recovery feature: built-in hard disk imaging.

Here's a rundown of the different Vista editions:
The web site is very slow, being hit by, well, everybody and their brother... so be patient, or try to logon during off hours. Offer expires 02/28/2007. Vista & Office are separate, you can run one without the other.

UPDATE: As of 12/01/2006 at 10:00 AM, they are "sold out." Hope you got one! I think Cathy's either just inside the door or barely got shut out, I'm not sure, but I know she is not getting a copy of Vista. I hope she gets the Office Pro 20007!

UNIX script to update DynDNS.org

I'm not sure the folks at Dynamic Network Solutions (DynDNS) want you doing this, but there is an UNIX shell script I wrote to update dynamic DNS entries using the Lynx text-only Internet browser.

In case you were not aware, DynDNS offers a fantastic, free dynamic DNS service.

I couldn't find a SCO UNIX updater for DynDNS.org, so I wrote it myself. So... here it is for the rest of the world.

#!
# Script to update DynDNS address at DynDNS.org
# LJJ 11/23/2005 - original script
# LJJ 01/04/2007 - added forced updates every X days
# LJJ 01/04/2007 - changed log to /usr/adm/dyndns.log

# reference URLs
# http://www.dyndns.com/developers/specs/syntax.html
# http://www.dyndns.com/developers/specs/policies.html
# http://www.dyndns.com/developers/specs/return.html

# must first sign up for an account and create a host at DynDNS.org (free)
# some firewalls will block, so use firewall dyndns client when possible

# to install, create /etc/rc2.d/S99dyndns with the following line:
# /compu/UTIL/dyndns.sh &

# do not make SLEEP less than 600 (every 10 minutes)

FORCE=21
SLEEP=660

DUSR=test
DPWD=test
DHST=test.mine.nu

DADR=
CKIP=
UPDT=
NEXT=

while :
do

CKIP=`lynx -dump http://checkip.dyndns.org | grep "Current" | awk '{ print $4}'`
NOW=`date +%j`

if [ "$DADR" != "$CKIP" ] ; then
DADR=$CKIP
UPDT=YES
fi

if [ "$NOW" = "$NEXT" ] ; then
DADR=$CKIP
UPDT=YES
fi

if [ $UPDT = "YES" ] ; then
DRES=`lynx --dump -auth $DUSR:$DPWD "http://members.dyndns.org/nic/update?system=dyndns&hostname=$DHST&myip=$DADR&wildcard=OFF&mx=mail.exchanger.ext&backmx=NO&offline=NO"`
echo $0\: `date '+%D %T'` IP Update of $DHST returned $DRES >> /usr/adm/dyndns.log

NEXT=`expr $NOW + $FORCE`
if [ "$NEXT" -ge 366 ] ; then
NEXT=`expr $NEXT - 365`
fi
fi

UPDT=NO
sleep $SLEEP

done
exit

UPDATE: I added a "forced update" feature that I found out I needed for dynamic IP addresses which change less often than every 30 days.

Voting on Machines

Here are my electronic voting after-action thoughts...


powered by ODEO

Most electronic voting machines in use today are manufactured by either Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic or Sequoia Voting Systems.

For access security, machines require the voter validate the voting process, either by inserting a card or device given to you by an electrion official, or with an access code you receive from an official.

Direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines record your choices when you touch the screen, so they are touch screen DREs. On other voting machines you make your choices with a scroll wheel, like those on an Apple iPod.


My city used the Hart InterCivic eSlate, which utilizes the scroll wheel and buttons. Let's see... here's voting instructions for the eSlate.

Here's a picture of the button pad on the eSlate.


You move you the screen's focus (the highlighted part) with the wheel and press ENTER when the focus is on your choice, which marks the choice. The confusing part is the that the highlight also stops on titles and descriptions, and (at least at my booth) the wheel took several clicks to advance between choices. I can see people thinking, "ok, I want the next choice.... CLICK ENTER... Oh crud, it didn't go forward!"


Thankfully, there was a long and uninspired ballot summary screen to let you confirm your choices. This is useless without your sample ballot, and they don't have those just lying around. With traditional paper ballots you can look at your choices and review the description of the ballot or office at the same time. *sigh*


I was gratified to see the "secured" printer next to the voting machine. Instead of just telling me my ballot was cast, it printed each page as I confirmed it, which fed into the ballot box. This seemd like a suitable "split the difference" approach to recording my vote, since I see the paper ballot deposited, just like I used to deposit my ballot into a box.

One last confusing thing, though... the "cast ballot button." All this time I have been "wheeeeel, ENTER" and now they want me to "wheeeeel, CAST BALLOT". Well, the instructions were on the screen, at least.

Other thought hit me afterwards... how on earth would you do a write-in candidate? That would be tedious, at best. Not that it affected me, but wouldn't different age groups and cultures be somewhat encumbered by digital voting? It wasn't even intuitive for me, and I like computers.

Overall, I don't mind electronic voting machines; I just don't trust them. Also, I saw too many stations marked "broken", and it took way too long for people to vote. We've used scantrons in school for ages, if we're going to go electronic, just switch to having a scanning machine for the scantrons at a polling location. With some tweaking, hanging chads and errors in voting could be eliminated right there as you exited your polling station, and you would know you cast your vote. There you have it, my electronic voting after-action report!

Election Day Thoughts

I haven't been to my polling place yet, but I think I'll be wishing I had gone this morning rather than after work.

To follow up on my earlier post regarding electronic voting, not only do you have to worry about hackers during the election, but you also must secure the voting machines before and after the election, just like you would lock up paper ballots. Ed Felton found some voting machines, unattended, days before the election. And he wasn't looking for them. *sigh*

From TechDirt:

One of the issues concerning e-voting machines, and Diebold in particular, is how they've responded to all the criticism and vulnerabilities -- with the company often being accused of covering up, ignoring or denying the problems... back in 2003, Maryland commissioned a study on the Diebold machines... Diebold demanded two very broad concessions: no source code access, and they reserve the right to redact out any proprietary information... The final "redacted" report came out weighing in at a lightweight 38 pages... Someone high up has leaked the original documents which weighs in at 200 pages meaning that someone (most likely Diebold) was able to knock out 162 pages of info on vulnerabilities... how many of the many, many vulnerabilities discussed in the report were actually dealt with before the 2004 election and how many were dealt with before today's election(?)...

In the meantime, if you're looking to feel confident about e-voting companies and their tech ability, Chief Elf writes in to let us know that he went to check out the company, Advanced Voting Systems, that built the e-voting system he used this morning, and found a nice big error message right on their home page. I just checked and it was still there, but in case they fix it, here's a screenshot. It's tough to trust these companies to build competent voting machines when they can't even correct database/PHP errors on their own website on election day.

From Slashdot:

Neovanglist writes "CNN, FOX, and MSNBC are reporting that voting machines in three states (Ohio, Indiana, and Florida) have already been showing issues, both in the machines themselves and in the training of poll attendants, causing many districts to switch to paper ballots."

So... time to get out and vote. Hopefully, the future will not mirror the satirical sites such as Fix-A-Vote. I'm signing up for absentee ballots.

Free Accounting Software from Microsoft?

As weird as this may seem, Micrsoft is giving away Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 (Windows only). Aside from being a possible replacement for the "Basic" versions of off-the-shelf accounting packages, it has a few interesting features:

• Online sales integration for sites such as eBay.
• Equifax credit service monitoring credit for your business, customers, or prospects.
• PayPal integration allows you to offer the PayPal payment option to customers.
• Microsoft Office Live integration.
• Accountant Transfer Wizard helps you share data with an accountant and synchronizes data easily after the accountant is done updating the books.
• Data import enables users to import accounting and financial data from additional programs and versions, including Microsoft Money and QuickBooks.
• Forms customization allows adding, moving, creating, renaming fields, or hiding fields.
• Customizable security roles so you can add and remove employee permissions to control access to sensitive financial information.

It does not manage inventory, though. For more features, check out this link.

Download Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 from this site here.

Can You Think of Anything Scarier?

Bill Amend is a funny guy. He draws FoxTrot, prefers Macs, and occasionally pokes fun at current events. The Sunday strip from Oct 29th illustrates something I have been following with great interest for almost three years: electronic voting.


What's interesting about this strip is that everything Jason Foxtrot says is true. The unamed machine is manufactured by Diebold Election Systems, and Jason is wearing the Diebold AccuVote-TS.

If you do not yet know, Diebold's voting machines have been mechanically unstable and security flaws have been pointed out from day one. Diebold has become infamous in other parts of the country for practially ruining elections. California actually sued Diebold (and won).

To give the alleged security flaws some street cred for the highly educated, you can check out the Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS from Princeton. For the rest of us, just reading the headlines from Techdirt on "Diebold" should give you a taste of the flaws which have plagued Diebold voting machines from the beginning.

And yet, people really don't seem to care. I suppose when voter turnout is already low, it shouldn't surprise me that this kind of thing does not concern people. With Halloween around the corner, I think the comic is timed very well.

Microsoft Windows Defender out of beta

Microsoft Windows Defender is now out of beta. Free, it requires Windows XP, and I would suggest that you run a Windows Update before installing it.

via Downloadsquad

White & Nerdy

Every heard (of) Weird Al? He is a very funny man, and his MySpace page has this video, as well as a muted attack on the RIAA.


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

AOL Gets Into Online Storage

Following yesterday's news that AOL would offer AOL email accounts for free, AOL announced plans to provide 5GB of online storage for free, with no transfer limits. That might even convince me to revive my old AOL email address. via Downloadsquad

AOL Goes Free

After much speculation, AOL announced today that it would finally bite the bullet, and become a free portal, complete with free AOL email addresses for anyone who wants one. via Techdirt

I was wondering when this would happen... AOL dial-up has long been overpriced. Does this mean people will no longer have trouble cancelling AOL accounts? If you want to hear the audio referred to in the previous link, check out this blog post.

I have heard many times, "I'm paying for AOL because all my family / friends / etc. have my AOL email address." Now you don't have to pay for it! Anyway, if you do have AOL dial-up (my condolences), follow these instruction: call up to cancel and they should offer you $9.95 unlimited dial-up. If you have DSL, follow the instructions two posts down on the link I just mentioned to keep you AOL addresses for free.

Dude, Exploding Dell Laptops!

via Gizmodo

You may have heard about the exploding Dell laptop batteries (or you may not have). Well, it happened again, this time in an Illinois office. The link to the original post and photos is getting hammered by the traffic, but here is the Google cache of the post.

The one in Japan happened a month ago and was on a desk. This happened on a desk, too, but imagine this on your lap... ouch! I'll stick with my Toshiba for now, thanks!

For a demonstration of an exploding battery, see this Google Video of an over-charged Lithium Ion Polymer (LIPO) battery.