Defining Chaos In Order

Here’s a fun piece of software by SysInternals: BlueScreen. It does what the name implies:

Bluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot.

* On NT 4.0 installations it simulates chkdsk of disk drives with errors!
* On Win2K and Windows 9x it presents the Win2K startup splash screen, complete with rotating progress band and progress control updates!
* On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 it presents the XP/Server 2003 startup splash screen with progress bar!

Now that’s cool! :-)

Matti Humor, Windows bsod, screensaver

Get it, while it’s hot!

A fun sidenote, though:

The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.

What a way to let users know they should update/upgrade! ;-)

Matti Windows RC, windows 7

Since I didn’t find it right away, here’s the solution. The default notation “server:port” doesn’t work here (for God knows what reason). You need to seperate the hostname and port with a comma. Here’s an example.

SQL Server Alternate Port

What ever happened to the default point seperation? :-(

Matti Windows mssql, server, sql

Don’t bother, it’s just not possible. Outlook 2007 will use the rendering engine of Word. As it is now, Word 2007 (which will be installed when using Outlook 2007) does not support animated gifs. Only the first frame of the animated image will be displayed – so better make this as informative as possible!

Strange how previous versions of Outlook had this functionality, and the “new” version doesn’t. Apparently, the change from rendering engine, from Internet Explorer to Word, was done for “consistency” purposes. They did accomplish that – it’s now consistently harder to get anything to work in Outlook.

Matti Windows animated gif, image, outlook

Users who recently updated their AVG to the latest Virus Definitions, could find themselves in real trouble when rebooting their PC.

Apparently, the latest definition automatically quarantines and deletes the file user32.dll, a Windows system library needed to successfully start your computer. As a result, the computer will display an option list, with choices of boot-up (safe mode, safe mode with networking options, …). A screenshot can be found below.

AVG's Missing user32.dll Effect

The problem only spread to 5 European countries: the Netherlands, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Although some users in Belgium are effected too, for using Dutch software. It only seems to effect Windows XP SP2 users.

AVG’s Support Pages: “In case you are not able to run your Windows XP operating system after AVG 8.0 virus definition update, it may be caused by a false positive on a specific “user32.dll” system file. The file was moved to the AVG Virus Vault and deleted. Therefore it is not possible to start Windows. ”

The result: hundreds of thousands of computers world wide won’t start, because of that missing file. There’s a fix, of course, but it’s quite technical and won’t be sufficient for your average facebook-myspace-youtube-generation. They’ll have to call their ICT guy, and pay royally for a screw-up some other company made.

The fix tool can be found on AVG’s Support pages. Dutch people can find an answer here (or mirror’d).

Could you charge Grisoft (owner of the AVG virusscan) for this, given the fact that most people use AVG’s free virus scanner? Will their EULA cover this sufficiently?

Matti Windows agv, user32.dll, Windows

Around the same time when “Web 2.0″ became (in)famous, there was also the uprising of widgets and gadgets. Meaningless clutter on your desktop/homepage, supposedly to give you “at-a-glance” information about subjects you like (the weather in a country thousands of miles from your location, a largely oversized clock, news tickers, …). This is a trend that continues to grow, as more and more application go for a “widget”-style display.

So, am I the only one that seriously dislikes this? Read more…

Matti Windows gadgets, rant, vista, widgets, windows 7, xp

Everyone knows the Windows Task Manager (accessed through CTRL+SHIFT+ESC or via CTRL+ALT+DEL), and perhaps even Process Explorer (by Microsoft) as a tool used to identify all processes & programs running on your computer.

You can use to shut dow services that are slowing down your computer, ending programs that aren’t responding and in general finding out which programs are currently operating.

Did you know you can get the same information (+ a crapload more) through the command line? Read more…

Matti Windows task, task manager, tasklist.exe

There are several tools to reset a user password on a Windows Server/Desktop. Here’s one that definately works: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (also called: Nordahl’s NTPasswd).

There is a very detailed walkthrough available, on how to reset an Administrator password on a NT/2000/XP/2003 machine, which will guide you directly through all the steps involved.

Some notes;

• If you have a server with a (software) RAID1 config, the boot-disk will see 2 separate disks. Just apply the password-reset to the first one.
• After applying the reset, your server will first perform a checkdisk, and require another reboot – afterwards, the reset will be completed.
• It was verified to work on a Windows Server 2003 SP2, in October 2008.

Matti Windows hack, password, reset, server 2003, w2003

By default, reading a .FLV file from another flash-file doesn’t work because the MIME-type of the .FLV file is missing. You need to explicitly define this (ie: in IIS) to allow these files to be interpreted as flash-files.

You can do so by logging into the IIS Manager, and right-clicking the particular website. Select Properties.

At the tab “HTTP Headers“, at the bottom, there is an option to define “File Types“. Add a new MIME type, and define it as “flv” extension and “video/x-flv” as content type.

Save it, and you’re good to go.

Matti Windows flash, flv, iis, mime, swf, Windows

This has got to be one of the weirder features ever made:Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music

During normal operation or in Safe mode, your computer may play “Fur Elise” or “It’s a Small, Small World” seemingly at random. This is an indication sent to the PC speaker from the computer’s BIOS that the CPU fan is failing or has failed, or that the power supply voltages have drifted out of tolerance. This is a design feature of a detection circuit and system BIOSes developed by Award/Unicore from 1997 on.

How do you come up with this stuff?!

Matti Humor, Windows bios, debug, fur elise, lol, Windows