Wait... They have viruses on the International Space Station?

Astronaout: "Houston we have a problem"

NASA HQ: "And what would that be?"
Astronaut: "I can't log into my MapleStory account"
NASA HQ: "WHAT?"

Great, now they even have avirus in space (onboard the ISS). It's interesting to see that NASA doesn't have any virus protection installed on their computer. What's even more interesting is that they use Windows on their laptops? I always thought NASA wouldn't have used something more complex like DOS or UNIX or even Linux. After all they're rocket scientists right? Well, although the same can't be said about the astronauts, it seems that they should atleast get some kind of special "designed from the ground up" operating system, right?

The Sci-Am blog does a nice job of shedding some light on this problem:

This interstellar infection provides insight into NASA security lapses as well how the agency's astronauts spend their free time. Apparently this includes indulging in multiplayer online role-playing games that involve embarking on virtual quests and slaying monsters. As if leaving the planet wasn't exciting enough.

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This patch package could not be opened error

What is it with me and errors? They just seem to be never ending whenever I switch to my Windows XP/Windows Vista Machine. Although there is no one to blame, given the huge amount of work that goes into developing an operating system and applications that function properly on that particular operating system, perhaps someone needs to come up with a better way of doing things?

As we advance forward in technology by leaps and bounds, we should be able to change and optimize the way we work on our computer and right now, just using the old way doesn’t seem to cut it for me. At least, whenever I’m using Windows.

Anyway, as I was frantically trying to open Windows Live Messenger (couldn’t the name be a bit longer like Microsoft® Windows ® XP Live Messenger Eight Point Zero Beta Alpha Gamma?) it turned out that nothing was happening, I opened up Task manager – nothing going on there. I tried to close all my applications and open Windows live messenger – still nothing. Then finally after waiting for a while, I decided to try using Control Panel to perhaps try uninstalling the product and reinstalling it again.

After I clicked on the “Remove” button in the “Add or Remove” area of the control panel. I even tried to repair the application (you can actually click on the link that says “click here for support information” and click the repair button to try and repair the application). The error that was returned to me was:

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Add or Remove Programs
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This patch package could not be opened.  Verify that the patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package.

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OK  
---------------------------

Okay, so I completely ignored the message, which is very unlikely to occur in the future, and tried to reinstall Windows Live Messenger. But turns out, even that installer couldn’t fix the installation and returned an error.

Great! It was then a case of Internet to the rescue. After a quick search I noticed that according to the knowledge base article the installer must have gone corrupt, somehow. And it recommended the following steps:

How to get rid of package could not be opened error

1. Download the Windows Install Clean-up utility from Microsoft

2. After you install it, click Start > All Programs > Windows Install Clean up

3. Find the installer pertaining to the application that’s giving you problems (in my case it was the Windows Live Messenger Installer)

4. Click on Remove to remove the installer

5. Reinstall the application

Finally, after spending half an hour for a simple solution, I was able to fix the problem. I hope someone else doesn’t have to loose this precious time. If any one has any other suggestions or comments, please post them below. I’d like to know who else thinks this is complete waste of time.

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Free and better AppZapper Alternative - Download AppCleaner

I just stumbled across this gem of an app called AppCleaner (mac only) that does what paid (and rather pricy) applications do completely for free. In fact it's even better than AppZapper on other aspect such as functionality, let alone the price.

Macbook Pro: $2499.00

AppZapper: $12.95 

AppCleaner: Priceless

For one, AppCleaner can actually provide a list of installed applications on your mac, and if you feel like dragging and dropping, you can do that too. It find almost all files that AppZapper finds (mostly only the .plist files are left over if you simply throw away the application from the application folder)

One thing that AppCleaner doesn't have though is the 'ZAP!' sound. But I think I can get used to that. So, if you tend to test out a lot of applications, or if you constantly need to delete applications (may be you're out to create the next greatest Mac app.. who knows!) then you can steer clear of serials and codes and you won't even have to pay anything. Unless of course, you'd like to donate to the wonderful creators of the application.

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Get Googlebot to crawl and index your site faster

Well, I just figured this out today, and it's great to see that you can actually control the rate at which Google crawls and indexes your website. This of course is a great feature because if you're wesite happens to be something like a blog (i.e a site that it is constantly updated) Google can frequently update its index to reflect the changes made in the blog! All you need to do is get a Google webmaster account, prove that you're the owner of your blog and then tell Googlebot that you'd like the crawl rate for your blog to be much, much faster.

You'll see result instantly as more new posts will be indexed faster, thereby bringing more visitors to your website. Although I'm not sure till how long Google will keep this feature up (by default it the crawl rate settings expire in 90 days.. which indicate that Googlebot might be indexing more websites than it was originally built to) but nonetheless, if you're constantly publishing articles to your website it can be a great help.

Step 1: Getting a Google Webmaster Tools Account

Okay, so in order to get started, the first thing you'll need is a Google Webmaster tools account. Getting one is as simple as it can be – simply head on over to the Google Webmaster Tools website and sign up for an account. Or if you already have a google account, simply sign into Webmaster tools.

Step 2: Add your website and Verify It

On your dashboard, you'll see a textbox where you can add your website. Type in the URL for your website, and then click Add Site. Once you do that, it'll take you through the procedures to verify the website / blog that you've added to your account. Once you're all done it'll look something like this on your dashboard page:

Step 3: Tell Google / Googlebot to crawl your website faster!

Okay, once you do all the above (well verifying the website does take some time though, so it might not be as quick as you expected it to be). You can then tell Google to index your website faster. To do so, click on your blog/website in dashboard, till you get to the Overview Window. Then on the left hand side, click on "Tools" in the menu and then click on "Set Crawl Rate".


Then, you can set your crawl rate to faster, to get Google to crawl your website much more faster.


Instant indexification! Not really, but better than the usual slow (this of course depends on how "popular" your website is) indexing by google.

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Internet Explorer 7 menubar flickering problem

Recently, due to my heavy use of Windows XP (I’m trying to brush up on my programming skills to get ready for 2008-2009 academic school year) I noticed that the menubar in IE 7 kept appearing and disappearing. More importantly this happened every time I opened a new tab, new window and when I refreshed window. The fact of the matter is, the menubar should only open if the ALT key is pressed, and otherwise should remain hidden. I’m pretty sure that most people (who use IE as their primary browser) will not get annoyed by the constant opening and closing of their menubar whenever they open a new tab and so on. However, I on the other hand get seriously annoyed when such ‘bugs’ exist, just like the blinking cursor problem in Firefox.

I also noticed this behaviour in other Microsoft applications such as Windows Media Player 11, when the menu would automatically pop-up when I switched to the media player window, without me having to press the ALT key. Clearly, there was some part of the operating system or the application somehow automatically pressing the ALT key.

After furiously searching the interwebs, with my faithful squire Sancho Google, I finally stumbled across a rather long, yet helpful article (IE 7 release notes) that explained why this happens.

As it turns out, when you install Microsoft Office in its entirety it also installs certain tools such as the On-Screen Keyboard and Handwriting Recognition. Now, the On-Screen keyboard somehow automatically presses the Alt key when a new window/tab is opened. Why exactly it does that I do not know, however removing it fixes the problem where the IE 7/Windows Media player menus quickly expand and collapse. So in order to do that follow the below instructions (these were copied and pasted directly from the MSFT IE 7 release notes website).

Fix the Internet Explorer 7 (and other Windows Applications) random menus opening and closing problem:

To work around this problem, disable the On-Screen Keyboard component of the Handwriting Recognition Service:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Regional and Language Options.
3. Click the Languages tab.
4. Click the Details button.
5. Under Handwriting Recognition select On-Screen Standard Keyboard.
6. Click Remove.
7. Under Handwriting Recognition select On-Screen Symbol Keyboard.
8. Click Remove.
9. Click OK twice to save and exit changes.
10. Restart Internet Explorer 7.

Viola, no more super annoying menubar flickering problem.

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OMG! My Gmail account is experiencing errors

Wow, is it just me or is anyone else also getting the 'Server Error - Temporary Error 502 page' when they try to log-in. It's pretty weird that Gmail is doing this, and in fact as far as I can recall, it's the first time Gmail has displayed such erratic behaviour.

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What is Bootsec.Bak? Can I delete it?

Today when I was browsing through my C: folder, which I don’t always do, I noticed that I had a lot of junk on there. Most of it seemed to be in a folder called dell, and most of them were drivers that were unzipped to that location before installation. After deleting such folders, I stumbled upon a file named Bootsec.bak. Of course, my first guess was that it was some kind of back-up file, since the file extension was .bak. Upon further investigation, it seemed to be to be the remnants of a Vista install, that I had recently done.

It also seems as though the file is only necessary if the installation of Vista does not go smoothly. So, without further consultation, I deleted the file, and seems like things are running smoothly without any problems. Therefore, it seems that it is completely safe to delete the bootsec.bak file, as it will not harm your computer in any form.

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Make Firefox on XP look like Firefox on Vista

I for one prefer the Vista look for Firefox on my Windows XP machine. The default XP look is a bit too fancy shmancy for me, and I decided that a clean crisp bluish Vista theme might be better, as it’ll distract me a lot less than the vibrant green buttons.

Nonetheless, if you too want to download/install the Firefox Vista on XP theme, then you can head on over to Mozilla Add-ons to download the same.

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The reason why Windows Vista was experiencing problems

Off late, my Windows Vista Ultimate install was experience a slew of problems, which might explain the reason I had 10 GB of error reporting information. It seems as though I’ve uncovered the cause for these problems.

Turns out, I had 2 anti-virus programs installed on the computer. Of course, I had uninstalled both of them a long time ago, and yet remnants of the program still seem to cause problems. I’m not sure if its Vista’s fault that the programs are still lingering around, of if its the software’s fault. But nonetheless, the fact remains that according to the operating systems two anti-virus programs are on simultaneously.

Since there is no clear cut way of uninstalling each and every singe component pertaining to both the applications, it looks like I’ll have to reinstall the whole operating system and start from scratch. Trying to make do with the operating system in its current stage by simply changing a couple of settings and deleting files will only remove the weeds temporarily, till they grow back again. It’s a good thing I know how to back up my Firefox and Internet Explorer data. So all I’ll have to do is reinstall, install Office and a couple of other applications and restore my Firefox settings. Great, another day well spent. Thanks Vista!

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Turbo-charge your productivity with dual computers

Ever hear someone talking about using dual monitors (or two monitors attached to one computer) to increase productivity. I used to think that way too, until I realized that why not use two computers with two monitors instead. Luckily, if you have a home network (in my case I have a wireless network at home) you can use a wonder piece of open source and free software called Synergy to use two computers together. Here's how you can use two computers simultaneously with 1 mouse and 1 keyboard to turbo charge your productivity. I was aware of using synergy when I first heard about it in some podcast, but it never struck me that one could put two laptops together and work on both of them at the same time with only 1 mouse and 1 keyboard.

Step 1: Prepare Ingredients (stuff you need)

1. First you'll need 2 or more computers that are capable of running either Windows, Linux or Mac OS.
2. You'll need a network between the three computers
3. You'll need one [1] keyboard and one [1] mouse that is going to be connected to your 'server'.
4. You'll need Synergy server on the host computer and synergy clients on the client computers

Step 2: Install synergy and hook up your computers

The synergy website has a great guide that is going to help you out with this step -- just make sure you follow the guide to the T.

Step 3: Enjoy your super productive computer workstation.

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5 great add-ons for Internet Explorer 7

If you haven’t yet upgraded to Internet Explorer 7, I’d say its high time you do so. If you’re still using IE 6, you’re missing out on a lot of great add-ons and security features that’ll potentially save you a lot of hair pulling. Some people say that Firefox (a topic that I often love to blog about) is a better browser than IE, and I agree. Firefox has many more useful plugins (or plugins that I find useful) and is much better at rendering stuff. But then again, I'm a web designer, and designing websites for IE is a big pain, so my views might be a bit biased here. However, often it’s just not feasible to switch to another browser because of various reasons. Nonetheless, IE 7 provides many improvements, and with the add-ons mentioned below, it’ll only get even better.

IE 7 Pro

IE 7 pro Adds almost every feature you'll love (and is missing in IE but is available for Firefox). Stuff like crash recovery, ad blocking, mouse gestures, Grease Monkey Scripts, Webpage capture abilities and more. Enough Said.

Search while you type

A feature that's standard in most browsers, isn't available in IE. At least, not until you download the add-in and install it. It's called Find as you type, and it's a big help, especially when you are searching for something in a long page. I find this to be most useful after a Google search, when I know the text I searched for in Google was on the webpage, but couldn't find it.

IE Spell

Never ever make a speling mistake again with IE Spell! It'll work like Microsoft Word's spell checker, underlining words that are spelt wrong, so you'll never have to remember the correct spelling of a word again. Eventually, you'll forget how to spell too.. but that's ok. You won't need to, because speech recognition is going to suffice. But that's not until, IE 25, so just use IE spell for now.

FeedPlus

If you use IE to read internet feeds, the FeedPlus add-on is going to provide a much more robust way of doing the same.

McAfee Site Advisor

Site Advisor is a great little add-on to stop yourself from visiting a malware site BEFORE you actually visit it and end up getting malware. Although IE is pretty safe, some sites out there can still harm you, so make sure you use this add-on to steer clear of the bad stuff.

Bonus: IE Developer Toolbar and Leech Video the Developer toolbar helps you debug HTML, CSS and much more, where as Leech Video well... helps you get videos. Although you should try the better methods of getting videos mentioned here.

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How to check for memory problems with Windows on slow computers

If you’re computer is running really slow off late, Windows might not be the only culprit to blame. Chances are that your hardware is at fault too. In this case clearing junk on your computer, or tweaking your computer settings wont help you. Sometimes, although it is not all too common, your memory can actually fail, causing your computer to seem really slow. Simple things such as dust on the connectors can also impact your memory significantly. However, before you open your computer, here’s how you can use the inbuilt Windows Memory Tool in Windows Vista or other third party software to check for memory problems. Keep in mind though that if you’re not comfortable with checking for such problems yourself, it might be a better idea to take the computer to a trusted local electronic shop to let them check it for you for a small fee, which is of course better than loosing all your data.

Using Windows Vista Memory Diagnostics Tool to Check for Problems

Windows Vista comes with a great tool to help check for memory problems. Of course, as usual, you’ll need admin privileges to continue.

1. Click Start
2. Type in Memory Diagnostics in the Start Search box
3. Click on the Memory Diagnostics Tool Entry
4. Then in the tool that pops-up click on Restart now and check for memory problems. Unless you’re working on something at the moment, in which case choose the ‘Check for problems the next time I restart my computer option’
5. Once you restart windows will automatically perform some memory tests. And when you log in, it’ll show you the results. If it says everything is fine then your computer has no memory problems. However, if it says memory errors, then you’ll have to replace the RAM on your computer.

 

In this case shown above (which was the case of my laptop after I replaced the faulty ram DIMM in my laptop) the computer does not have any memory problems, however if this were to show that ‘Memory Errors were Detected’ (like shown below) then it is recommended that you check your memory cards (to remove any dust etc.) of replace them if necessary to prevent system crashes and slow downs.

Alternatively, if you use Windows XP, you can take advantage of your manufacturer’s utility partition to perform similar memory tests. Most manufacturers, like Dell, HP, Acer and many more put utility partitions on the hard drive with diagnostic tools to check memory and other hardware problems. So you’ll have to refer to the manual to learn how to use the tools. You can also use a wonderful piece of software called Memtest86, which does much the same tasks. Although I think it is much easier to use the manufacturer’s utility, as it does not involve downloading and burning (as you’ll have to use the CD/Floppy drive to perform memory tests instead of hard drive) anything. Nonetheless, well documented instructions on how to use Memtest can be found on several sites on the Internet.

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Why everyone should use disk cleanup on Vista everyday

Wow, a couple of days ago I noticed why I was running low on hard drive space. Even though I have about 30 Gigs (it’s a miracle I have so much space left actually) for some reason my hard drive was extremely full. Turns out, every time a program crashes (like that nasty Internet Explorer crash in the picture to the left) on Windows Vista, the operating system stores 100 megabytes of system information on your hard drive, so that it can send to Microsoft to tell them why customers are unsatisfied with their product.

Oh so that’s why I only had 15 gigs left on my hard drive.

My computer on the other hand had 10 Gigabytes of error reporting information, that was queued to be sent to Microsoft. One can only imagine the amount of data Microsoft’s servers have to handle. But then again, if crashes on Vista weren’t so common, then this whole scenario would not have existed in the first placed. Nonetheless, I’ve learnt my lesson – use disk cleanup on Vista regularly! No exceptions. Or at least somehow get task scheduler to do it for me.

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