Yet another reason I hate Rev drives – had a client whose pc would blue screen when the backup would start to a rev drive. The error was bad_pool_header and fortunately I got an error in imdrvfsf.sys By downloading the software drivers from Iomega and rebooting the backups are now able to write to the disk. A quick search on google for bad_pool_header iomega shows this is a very common problem with iomega’s solution being to pay $20 for an upgrade to the software (or to just ignore the problem). Hopefully this post will help someone out but please note that this page is not the iomega support forum
Microsoft have just announced their Exam Insurance package where you get a free retake if you fail, 25% off your next exam if you pass and a years subscription to technet plus (which contains full versions of a lot of microsoft software) – I’ve requested details on pricing as their website doesn’t mention it and unfortunately nobody is answering the phone at the nearest exam office.
This helpful webpage tells you the manufacturer of a mac address which is great for giving you a clue when trying to work out what device is using an ip address on the network. Ping the ip address then do an arp -a to display the arp cache and then enter the data into this website to get the manufacturer (and then update the network documentation!)
The 2006 FiT Christmas Special, “Lucky the Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Geeks,” will be released on December 18th. I’m playing a small part again, so make sure you check out Friends In Tech on (or before) that date or subscribe to the feed from any of the buttons on the main page.
Microsoft have crippled the sql express edition such that you can’t do a scheduled backup in the same way that you can with the standard sql servers. However by running a backup and saving the commands to a script you can then run it – but the method to use it is not obvious.
The installation of sql express edition gives a management interface to create the script and by using the command sqlcmd -S LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS -i backup.sql -o output.txt you can then run this using your favourite scheduling program. Thanks to Ryec on the Microsoft Forums, (scroll down)
Microsoft have released a virtual pc image that enables you to run ie6 in a supported environment at the same time as having ie7 loaded on the main machine
Discovered Albatross18 Season2 the other day – a free downloadable multiplayer golf game. It is golf as you’ve never seen before as the whole thing is done in a manga cartoon style with various special effects too. Very addictive and well worth downloading. The game can be totally free but if you want some of the premium characters,equipment or utilities you can buy cookies online to redeem for items. The ability to create your own rooms and password protect them means that you can host your own mini lan party and play golf instead of shooting each other 😉 The link above has my userid as I get extra panga (the ingame currency earned as you play) for each signup.
I installed this optimized google reader script to give more screen real estate. This means it is now possible to read all the comics properly in the 1024*768 screen resolution that I’m stuck with. Wahey!
The first thing most of my users do with ie7 is turn on the File menu so it looks like it used to and the tweak at dslreports means that you can put the menu back at the top of the application as it used to be. Very nice. Thanks to the excellent TechSupport alert newsletter. If you are not a member of this email list then it is well worth subscribing to – instructions at the end of the linked page.
Vonage prices have gone up again – their socalled $14.99 package now costs $19.02 (up from $18.12 last month) with the extra costs being 99c Regulatory Recovery Fee, 99c Emergency 911 Cost Recovery, $1.15 sales Tax (45c in april and now $1.15????), and the new 90c Federal Universal Service Surcharge. These prices do not vary (apart from sales tax if I make over my 500 minutes) which means that they should really be advertising their 14.99 package as 19.02 – In the UK it was nice to know that the price you were quoted (and on the sales tag) was the price you paid. It is bad enough when you go into a shop here and buy something marked as 99c and it ends up being about 1.06 but the “extras” for the phone system are crazy (and vonage isn’t the only company doing it – they’re all just as bad as each other 🙁