tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24344485833330995342010-03-12T10:12:50.370ZSonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-59347635706614840622010-02-08T18:16:00.007Z2010-02-08T18:54:21.760Z

I had an issue with my main development machine at work last week. It was booting up fine but as soon as it got to the Windows XP login screen the keyboard froze up. I could still move the move and the computer was still responsive.I did a bit of troubleshooting and found that the keyboard worked correctly in the BIOS and also worked fine in a Linux Live CD. I could even remote desktop onto the

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-36182670330457052792010-01-27T22:55:00.003Z2010-01-27T23:28:36.545Z

I have been asked for our thinstation configuration file a few times so here it is. I will try to explain the customisations we have done in the comments# --- Network configuration# Give a different name to each PC# NET_HOSTNAME=MyThinclient# We are using a cd based system so we don't use tftp server for configNET_FILE_ENABLED=Off # If you want to use a DHCP server, comment out these params:#

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-19641429541742548552009-12-08T16:29:00.003Z2009-12-14T08:27:04.994Z

At work we have been looking at providing basic text editor facilities to some of our users.After looking for some third party components we decided to use the built in Win32 palette TRichEdit component instead.Below is the code we used to insert Rich Text Format text from a database blob field into a TRichEdit component.tryMS := TMemoryStream.Create; try TBlobField(CdsXXXReason).SaveToStream(MS)

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-67407835608133019672009-11-30T08:36:00.002Z2009-11-30T12:38:01.864Z

At work we needed to get into change a password protected word document of which everyone had forgotten the password. To do this my colleague found a great tip for removing passwords.Here it is1) With the document open press F11 while holding down shift and alt (Alt-Shift-F11). This should launch the script editor in Word.2) Next select the find option (or hit ctl-f), and run a find for the word

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-61473288819995979932009-11-14T14:21:00.004Z2009-12-23T11:09:24.295Z

We have been testing SQL Server 2008 for a while now. This weekend was the date set to move our main database to SQL Server 2008 and also create a mirror on original SQL Server. We did a side by side install of SQL Server 2008 on the original server, which had SQL server 2005 on it.The move to SQL Server 2008 went fine. I did a database copy form SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 on both the principal and the

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-74417943369868523422009-11-06T15:39:00.005Z2009-11-12T09:38:27.913Z

At work we sometimes need to give users access to programs that are installed on a subset of the Citrix servers. We have always done this by creating an ICA file of the application.The usual procedure was:Log onto Citrix Web Interface browse to the correct application Right click on the application icon Click 'Save Target' Save the ica file somewhere it can be found. Open the ica file in notepad

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-18479358452969930122009-11-05T13:36:00.003Z2009-11-05T22:41:03.975Z

Sometimes during the course of a day you come across something that makes you see how beautiful programming can be.For example I was looking for a way of adding trailing zeros to a string however the string was variable length between one and five characters long and had to be a total of six characters long. Adding a set number of zeros wouldn't work because the variable length of string.After a

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-70734411220230055022009-10-28T22:36:00.005Z2009-10-28T23:53:54.565Z

We have been running a Citrix Presentation Server / Xen App interface for about 3 years. One of the main reasons for moving to a Citrix environment was cost. Three to four years prior to our Citrix conversion we had bought a load of computers and it had come time to replace these. So one of the main benefits that we could see for moving to Citrix was that we could convert the PC's to thin clients

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-83984195976170298712009-09-30T14:33:00.004+01:002009-10-03T22:02:22.008+01:00

Got a new database server at work. It was preinstalled with Win 2008.So I went about installing SQL Server 2008 on it. All looked to be installing correctly until I got the error near the end of the installation that said 'Access Denied' when finishing the install. After ending the installation it looked like most of the programs were installed. The SQL Server service was also running. However I

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-55137124013207625032009-09-23T16:23:00.003+01:002009-09-24T13:17:16.522+01:00

Over the past 5 years we have tried a few different backup strategies for our SQL Server data. This includes SQL Server 2000 onwards.I thought it would be a good excercise to discuss our current backup strategy and how it evolved into its current state.Current Backup SetupThere are 3 sections to our current backup strategy.1. Full Daily Backup2. Transactional Log Backup3. CleanUp old backupsFull

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-59797966556653008252009-08-31T21:51:00.003+01:002009-08-31T22:46:30.313+01:00

There are numerous occasions where you may want to keep a folder tidy and remove older files.We needed a solution for a shared folder that we wanted to control so that users didn't use it as a lazy dumping ground for their files.After a bit of searching I found a novel way of using robocopy to accomplish exactly what we wanted.mkdir c:\deletec:\robocopy.exe c:\Source c:\Delete /e /MOVE /MINAGE:14

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-19774332048435477782009-08-17T21:07:00.008+01:002009-08-17T21:35:14.866+01:00

For the past few months we have been having problems with scrambled picture on some Sky Digital Channels. The interference on the image was similar to how the picture scrambles in bad weather.The problem only affected certain channels including True Movies (321) True Movies + 1 (322) and Brit Asia (833). All the affected channels were free to air and it only affected them some of the time. If you

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-41339294173415209892009-08-06T14:36:00.006+01:002009-08-08T12:02:09.553+01:00

At work we had an issue when trying to deploy a .Net 3.5 application to servers.It would work correctly on all our development machines but when we deployed it to the server the process would show up in Task Manager but then disappear.We found an entry in the Event Viewer as shown below----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Event Type: ErrorEvent Source:

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-40175838366091372442009-07-30T19:34:00.019+01:002009-07-30T21:10:51.672+01:00

My Important Info can be used to store your important computer related information, all in a secure, self contained website. The one file website can be saved on your computer, to a usb flash drive or to your web space so that you have secure access to your important information where ever you are.Examples of use could be to store:Network device ip addresses Website log on details

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-90614564586673121342009-07-10T09:50:00.013+01:002010-01-25T23:37:01.013Z

***UPDATE - 2010-01-25***File locations can now be added to the 'large white box' by right clicking on the box and choosing 'paste'. Any copied file locations will be inserted into the box.An example of the format for file locations is as follows:C:\Documents and Settings\sony\Desktop\andreas01C:\Documents and Settings\sony\Desktop\drupal-5.12C:\Documents and Settings\sony\Desktop\jqueryC:\

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-31280408466527848872009-07-01T21:42:00.003+01:002009-07-01T23:21:24.986+01:00

One of my clients required an easy way of uploading a folder full of files periodically. So I created AutoFTP.Download AutoFTP here.AutoFTPWhat is it?AutoFTP is a windows XP or above application that allows adhoc or scheduled uploading of files from a local source to an FTP server folder. AutoFTP requires the use of windows built in Schedule Task program to enable scheduled

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-76705674935345524872009-06-22T23:01:00.006+01:002009-06-26T20:33:16.232+01:00

While starting up a bootable USB drive for Ubuntu 9.04 I got the following errorend request: I/O error dev fd0 sector 0After a bit of searching I found that the reason for the error was that Ubuntu 9.04 thought that there is a floppy drive installed on my system. I had to disable the floppy drive in the system bios. After this Ubuntu 9.04 booted through correctly.

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-86049078608945559202009-06-14T23:47:00.003+01:002009-06-15T00:01:45.187+01:00

By default windows xp only allows Remote Desktop session to 'Log off' or 'Disconnect'.I normally remote desktop onto my main machine from a laptop and then do my work on my main machine. I often need to restart or shutdown my main machine. Being lazy, I always want to restart from my remote session rather than having to go upstairs just to shutdown the man computer.I have found that I can close

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-60887313563452880052009-06-14T18:04:00.006+01:002009-06-14T23:46:58.559+01:00

My brother has an old Fujitsu Siemens b series lifebook (B2175). (Probably one of the first netbooks). It had Win 2000 on it initially then we installed Ubuntu on it. Now we wanted Win XP on it as we had increased the memory in it.ProblemsThe B2175 doesn't boot to USB, it doesn't have a floppy drive and it doesn't have a CD drive.The only way to install anything on it is through

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-42007736231957147342009-06-07T17:01:00.003+01:002009-06-07T17:37:23.161+01:00

I just read that Tetris is 25 years old this week. I thought I could share my first memories of Tetris.It was circa 1987 and my cousins had just upgraded from their Commodore VIC 20 to a brand spanking new 286 IBM Compatible PC. I don't remember much about the machine except for the fact that it had Jimmy White's Snooker game on it and more importantly it had Tetris on it.To be honest it wasn't

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-42782106262264278552009-06-02T21:26:00.008+01:002009-06-02T22:41:47.755+01:00

Over the past few months we have been struggling with a problem that was affecting users who were running a particular application on our Citrix servers.The symptoms were a message saying 'out of system resources' in the application and general slowness of the session. Users couldn't save their work in the application until we reset their session although sometime the application would come back

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-38218969415450784782009-06-01T14:40:00.008+01:002009-06-02T22:42:22.924+01:00

At work we suddenly started to get complaints of slow network access to files on our windows. The symptoms were documents taking about 1 minute to open when double clicked and slow displaying of properties when right clicking and chosing properties. One strange thing was that if you opened the same documents from inside the application itself then the documents opened as quickly as normal. Also

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-63016326620633067582009-06-01T06:30:00.002+01:002009-05-31T22:45:46.789+01:00

Download Motivate MeThe free application 'Motivate Me' has been updated to version 1.1 with the following changesv1.1----Ability to delete a phraseAbility to delete all phrasesStandardised buttonsNow can fully exit from properties form menuRandomise optionalWhat is it?Motivate Me is a FREE application that sits in you notification bar and periodically pops up with configurable random phrases or

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-77542911383604754072009-05-31T06:30:00.000+01:002009-05-31T22:39:44.090+01:00

**UPDATE - A newer version of Motivate Me is available**Below is for reference onlyDownload Motivate MeWhat is it?Motivate Me is a FREE application that sits in you notification bar and periodically pops up with configurable random phrases or messages to keep you motivated. Motivate Me can also be used to aid revision for students or any other situation where you need to remember facts or

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2434448583333099534.post-68103748732768138952009-05-27T13:03:00.000+01:002009-05-27T13:39:57.827+01:00

We are in the process of upgrading from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008. We wanted to do an install of SQL 2008 side by side with SQL 2005 so that we could test databases before migrating them to SQL 2008.When installing SQL 2008 I did a full install and choose the option to configure Reporting Services 2008 to be ready to use. This was a MISTAKE as it seems that the SQL 2008 install

Sonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712061509750386357noreply@blogger.com0