Archive for January, 2008
Windows Registry Adventure
Jan 27th
“Don’t screw around with the Windows registry.”
That’s something I’ve told both users, helpdesk techs, and even IT managers for nearly a decade. “If you change something in the registry you don’t understand, you can render your system unbootable.” And yet, over the last 10 years, I’ve had my fingers pretty deep in the registry several times – especially with my high capacity terminal servers. But it wasn’t until this week that I really had my first stumble, and it was quite an adventure.
Read on for the exciting adventure in gory detail.
<!–more–>It all started with an attractive promise made by the folks at <a href=”http://www.kaxaml.com/”>Kaxaml, a lightweight XAML-optimized text editor</a>. It seemed like a cool app, and I like to dip my toes into new types of programming from time to time to see if anything sticks. After all, mere exposure to a myriad of new technologies puts you at the head of the pack in the IT world. Honestly, most people don’t even know what <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xaml”>XAML</a> is.
So I downloaded the MSI for Kaxaml, which requires the .NET framework version 3.0 or greater. WinFX, or .NET 3.0, is relatively new, and for most people, there’s little need to run this right now, so naturally, my work laptop, which has steadily chugged along on XP SP2 for several years, didn’t have it installed. So I downloaded the .NET 3.0 setup files from Microsoft. Halfway through the installation, I got an error message saying that the .NET framework could not be installed because I had the “beta 2″ version of “Windows Presentation Foundation.” Fair enough.
But the problem is, you can’t uninstall WPF beta 2, at least not directly. You need a special uninstaller, downloadable from Microsoft, once you’ve validated yourself with your Passport, natch.
So I downloaded the WPF beta 2 uninstaller. And after it ran for a bit, it shared a tidbit with me about being unable to access a particular registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT .xaml or somesuch (It did provide me the entire reg path). So, feeling brave and confident, I called the ‘ol Start > Run > Regedit and drilled down to the key in question.
Wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t have rights to the little bastard. How can that be? I’m an admin, I certainly installed this myself, I’m using the Microsoft uninstaller. So, I tried to grant myself rights, but alas… no go.
So, my next step, being tempted by Kaxaml to see what it was all about, was the navigate to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT element and grant myself inheritable rights to the entire hive. After all, I’m an admin, so what harm could this do?
A lot, it turns out. See, after that happened, I started having some troubles with Windows, like immediately! First, I noticed that right clicking files only gave me a few options: cut, copy, paste… that’s about all. I borked my shell.
So, I rebooted. Whoops! That’s a problem, because when I log in, I see nothing. Nada, zero, zilch, squadoosh, a big ‘ol goose egg. So, I issue Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the task manager, which runs, but when I select a new task and type any command, I get an error about being unable to find any program to open this application. Doesn’t open Explorer, doesn’t open regedit, doesn’t open “cmd.” Huh?
So, I reboot into safe mode to get to the registry again, but guess what – no shell. I’m f’ed. My staff tells me to hit up the recovery console, but I’m scared because I have A LOT of data on this machine, and the recovery console has a long and sordid history of screwing up user accounts, so I opt to hammer away a little longer.
Then, via <a href=”http://google.com”>Google</a>: A new trick! Holding down the shift key can produce a terminal window. And guess what – EXE files launch! Weird, right?
So I can get into the registry and I can get into several other apps now, such as a brower, but not Explorer. Okay, we’re one step of the way there. I get into the registry and attempt to give myself access to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT hive again, but guess what – now I have no permission to the ENTIRE HIVE. The entire thing is blanked out. Google is not much help.
Eventually, I reboot an login as the local administrator, only to find the same problems, but this time, in the registrym with enough fooling around, eventually, I get the shell to run again, huzzah! But alas, no icons, just blank gray default icons where everything should be. Not a single one shows, not a single one works. In fact, even the Quick Launch toolbar is icon-less. Still useless, but progress, nonetheless.
At this point, I’m getting tired of this nonsense, certainly feeling as though Kaxaml is not worth it, and upset I fooled with the registry to begin with. My otherwise happy machine is truly useless. Then, finally, after a million or so Google results, way too many cached pages, and lots of technet articles that didn’t help one iota, I find something. I get back into the registry via the crazy Task Manager > Command Line > regedit trick from before, and give it a shot. The recommendation is to grant “Everyone” full control to the entire CLASSES_ROOT hive. At this point, why not? So I do, and like magic, all of my icons light up in full color! Shazam!
..But it’s short lived, because nothing works. None of my EXE files launch, they still give me an association error. Turns out this is a common problem (although one I’ve never encountered with with NT since version 4: I’ve lost my associations for EXE files. Actually, I had suspected this before, except the only way to change it is via Explorer, and I couldn’t get any explorer windows to open before, neither via the GUI or the terminal. So now, with a still hobbling machine, I double click “My Computer” and get a window – thankfully. I then drill into Tools > Folder options and associate “EXE” with “Application.” And like magic, it works. The machine is restored in full working order, full color, full function. Ha ha, recovery console be damned.
Except one thing: I still have WPF beta 2. And guess what? I’m fine with that. Sorry, Kaxaml, maybe on my next laptop?
I realize that the entirety of this adventure was based on me screwing around with my own registry against the suggestion of Microsoft, but it ought to remind everyone that even a seasoned technician can still make a mistake, and the registry is not a toy.
So I remind you all, gently, “Don’t screw around with the Windows registry.”
F YOU, APPLE AND AT&T
Jan 25th
So, my wife just sent me a text message with a picture of my baby. Unfortunately, Apple and AT&T still make us use the incredibly stupid “viewmymessage.com” to see our MMS messages. They text you a URL, a username, and a password, but not a link, for reasons I can’t understand. So, as I attempt to fetch my MMS, this is what I get.
Click image for larger version
#$!@* YOU APPLE!! Add MMS to the iPhone already!!
From Bloglines to Google, and Back
Jan 22nd
I ditched Bloglines the other day for Google Reader. I’m not a huge fan of Bloglines’ new beta interface, most because I find it clunkier than the current interface. Sure, the current one feels a little dated, but it works. Plus, the iPhone interface is nice.
Google has a lot going for it. For one, it seems everyone who uses it raves about it. Also, the iPhone interface is integrated with all the other Google services I use, Picasa Web, Gmail, etc.
This all came about because I wanted to use a desktop RSS reader at home and sync it with my web interface for work and iPhone, but that doesn’t exist unless I use Newsgator. Bloglines and Google both appear to have a sync API, but neither Vienna nor NetNewsWire (nor any other client I could find) actually syncs back to them.
But it appears Vienna is working on one for Google’s reader, and with the Bloglines beta looming, it seemed like a good enough time to make the jump. So I did.
Google’s Reader is awfully attractive, but it’s really keyboard driven. Not only that, but there’s no way to have it mark all items as read as you click a feed. You must begin the tedious task of scrolling through every single item, or hitting “j”, “j”, “j”. And YouTube embeds don’t go away – at least in Opera 9.22 – they just wait at the top of the reading pane, obstructing text, until I click a new feed.
Did I mention that Google Reader is slow slow slow? I can click a link and watch it “Loading…” for several seconds. Opera is a second class citizen in Google-land, which is why all new Gmail features don’t work (v2, label colors, AIM) and Picasa support is flaky, but I think Reader fits in that boat too. It’s painful.
So, after 4 full days, I bailed. I’m back to Bloglines classic. I’d love to tweak the stylesheet a little, but it works and it’s so much faster. I’m pretty pleased with Bloglines, especially now that I’ve had a chance to experience something else.
Random iTunes Sampling
Jan 22nd
I just hit “party shuffle” on my iTunes and this is what came up on the list. It was a great run, I really like all of these songs.
Immortality – Pearl Jam
Sandwiches Time – Weezer
Serve the Servants – Nirvana
Explode and Make Up – Sugar
For Me This Is Heaven – Jimmy Eat World
Out of Time – Blur
Spacesuit – Shift
Porch – Pearl Jam
Zombie Eaters – Faith No More
Listen to the Music – The Doobie Brothers
The Tain – The Decemberists
Anna Begins – Counting Crows
Caught Somewhere in Time – Iron Maiden
Dear God – XTC
Cryptical Envelopment – The Grateful Dead
Notice anything funny? Only three of the songs in the list are from the last decade. Needless to say, I’m feeling a little old today.
The Fifteen Percent Rule
Jan 22nd
As a general rule, 15% of any online community is comprised of ninnies, fools, and jerks. On some sites, this percentage is much higher, and for others, it’s slightly lower. But every community has them and too often, they are impossibly loud and attention seeking.
On the whole, I find OSNews to be way above average. The noise ratio is generally low, so it’s really only the trolling – both intentional and unintentional – that gets people riled up. But the rule still applies.
Recently, I had a user incredibly angry at me because I “forced” him to use the mobile site on his mobile device. I reminded him that it’s been that way since the first day Eugenia rolled out the code, but he was having none of that. I told him that most devices won’t support the site and he said his did. Finally, he uploaded a video of his usage and saw him using… an iPhone! The best part? The iPhone is not served the mobile version. So he was going to mobile.osnews.com and them complaining that we served him the mobile version!
Then yesterday, in an admittedly heated discussion about KDE4, I was discussing how I am disappointed with the release as a 4.0 release and some got incredibly angry. They pounded upon me that the only proper thing to do is release the code and let users find the bugs. But I didn’t relent when I probably should have just ignored it, I was a bit too salty at worst, I should have just moved on and stayed above it, but alas, I didn’t, and it ended with a bang.
A lot of people think that by being a part of the OSNews staff, we’re not allowed to have any opinions. They forget that we’re software users too, and that we participate in our own community.
So, anyway, in this KDE4 “ready or not” discussion, I insisted that it was naive to suggest that the average user would follow the development or news closely enough to know that the KDE team suggested that 4.0 is not ready for users, I was called “stupid” by one user and “an ejit” by another. It’s a fatal flaw for IT people to assume everyone is like them, that everyone is subscribed to 400+ RSS feeds and knows the news before it’s even cooled off. But the battle waged on. In retrospect, I really don’t think anything I said was wrong or off base, so I’m not really regretting this interchange.
While digging through the responses, I found a user misusing his mod points – a clear violation of OSNews rules – by modding down every comment that disagreed with his (not just mine) and modding up every comment that agreed. A cursory review showed that every up-mod he’s handed out in the last few days was to pro-KDE posts, while every down-mod in the last several days dared to question them. This is a cleare violation: this doesn’t help us prevent forum misuse, it just filters out differing opinions, which leads to groupthink. I was tempted to reverse all of his recent moderations straightaway, but I witheld and swallowed his downmods of even my own comments. You stay classy, K——– (name redacted).
Yes, even the best communities have a few bad apples, a few sour pusses who want only to be stroked and reinforced in their own opinions, and when there is any challenge, they lash out. They’re present in every community, real life included.
Bye bye Reddit
Jan 21st
Some time ago, I told my collegues, “Forget Digg, you need to start using Reddit.” Reddit was much more fun then, even only about a year ago. Since then, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend – massive brainwashing groupthink overtaking rational discussion and interesting links.
Reddit really let me down. These days, it’s mostly XKCD comics, snarky images, Ron Paul stories, anti-Reddiquette polls, pro-Atheism articles, a mash of comments complaining about subreddits, and most disturbingly, a real anti-Israel swing. It’s not that I’m anti-Atheism (I’m definitely not) or pro-Israel (because I’m really not), but the absolute anger the redditors have for Israel and religion is not only a little scary, it’s also unquestionable. If you do question it, and you will be modded down – silenced, if not mocked. This serves not only to stifle good conversation, it drives the opposing views away until everyone is just verbally masturbating each other.
There is a bandwagon that travels from story to story, and when I read comment after comment about how bad PHP is, but only about 5 comments have any substance, I realize I’m probably dealing with a mix that includes several 15 year olds in there. Recently, I was modded down for a technical comment about an injection attack. An idiot responder suggested I had used improperly with a smarmy quip, when in fact, I hadn’t. Unfortunately, his fellow redditors must have enjoyed his turn, since they proceeded to deal me a heavy negative score. That’s when I started realizing that Reddit has not only become boring and repetitive for me, but it’s not even close to a valid news source anymore. In fact, it’s barely even entertaining: the news moves at a snail’s pace, it’s always behind Digg, and its search facility is so busted that unless I specifically save an article, it’s a hopeless reference site. So I deleted my entire account straight away.
This is not to say that Reddit is entirely bad, because it’s not. Actually, there are several really insightful people on the site, but I rarely read their comments, either because they don’t post much or the noise ratio is so high they get drowned out. And the actual developers – kn0thing and spez, at least – are really class act guys.
But alas, their community has soured, so I am going to sub in a new site in my bookmarks, maybe techcrunch or techmeme or another site aimed at delivering steady technical news. Although I rarely use it anymore outside of RSS, even Slashdot still has good comments. For me, the Web 2.0-esque social news is getting tired faster than I imagined.
Please note that these views are mine and mine alone and not necessarily indicative of those of OSNews, LLC or the OSNews staff
Fooooooood
Jan 20th
I consider myself a bit of an amateur chef, as some of you know, and although it’s really just a hobby, a year or so ago I started taking pictures of some of my favorite dishes. I have a few things I still need to capture, but many I’ve preserved for posterity. Either way, I have decided to move all my “food” pictures from Picasa over to Flickr. First off, there’s a Slashfood group there, to which I plan to contribute, and secondly, I grow increasingly tired of Picasa Web’s ridiculously non-scalable interface. Also, it’s a little weird to have so many food pictures intermingled with pictures of my family. So… yeah.
If you’re interested, check out my food pics here.
Making the Case: The “Best” Phish Song
Jan 11th
This morning, I began wondering to myself: “If asked the best Phish song, what would I respond?” I thought it over, and I have some thoughts.
I’ve pondered over my favorite Phish songs before, and ultimately, I’ve never been able to settle on one. But today, I’ll give you what I think is the “best.”
First, we’ve got to agree on what “best” means. Does it mean most well liked? Most representative? Most iconic? I am choosing to define it as the song that best captures and satiates fans, be they new, old, or even future.
And the runners up are:
You Enjoy Myself
The logical, most obvious select for “best” phish song is the classic You Enjoy Myself. YEM, as we Phishheads call it, was debuted in 1986 and was featurd in more Phish setlists than any other song – ever. YEM includes a structed composed part, a loose jam part, and has led to some incredible experimentation, including the vocal jam. While YEM is an awesome song, a load of fun, and arguably the quinessential Phish song, I don’t think it’s the best, and one of the reasons is that it’s just too chaotic and hard to understand for those new to Phish.
Bouncing Around the Room
I include Bouncin’ only because, unlike YEM, it is quite easy for those unfamiliar with Phish to immediately fall in love with this song. The tempo, the lightweight guitar, and the repeated clear lyrics make it a natural sing along gem. But, most decidedly unlike YEM, it received quite a bit of radio play and became one of the 5 or so songs that college students that didn’t count themselves as Phish heads knew. As a result, many elitist Phish heads began the backlash against Bouncing. It was not unlikely, in the late nineties, to hear the regulars whine when Bouncing reared its head in a setlist. One more legitimate reason to dislike Bouncing was because, like many other songs, it was not a platform for jamming. This made it more of a recital than a participatory exercise. Since the most loyal fans, whether right or wrong, grew impatient with it, Bouncing cannot be the answer.
Chalkdust Torture
Chalkdust Torture was another “famous” Phish song. While the song is pretty much verse-chorus-verse, it served as a jam platform more often than you might expect. Chalkdust featured a catchy chorus and was a setlist regular from its debut right through Coventry. That said, Chalkdust remained popular for its entire run, and was often recognized by non-hardcores, and even featured on several albums. However, Chalkdust is rarely mentioned as one of the more cherished songs.
The Divided Sky
Ah, the final three. It’s easy to make a case for the Divided Sky. First of all, it’s got several sections, many tightly composed. It’s a musician’s wet dream, it’s got emotion, and it’s a fun song. It features all four members at some point. It’s Gamehendge-related. There are so many things that make this a fantastic song. But, like others above, there is rarely much exploration when this is performed live. Don’t let this take away from the song, it’s one of my faves, but any song that doesn’t encompass everything Phish is about can’t be called “best” in my book.
Harry Hood
Hood is the next step from Divided Sky, and also lands in all of the above categories, sans the Gamehendge connection. Harry Hood is one of the most well-liked songs in Phish-story, and when they open a show with it – as they did twice in 1999 – it signaled an incredible evening. I can’t fault Hood on anything worthwhile. It’s a virtual tie, but there had to be a winner, and that winner is:
Slave to the Traffic Light
In my humble opinion, no Phish song is better than Slave to the Traffic Light. Slave, as we call it, has elements of reggae, rock, jazz, ambient, harmony, and more. Slave includes long jams at times, some really long. It’s well liked, it’s been played with frequency, but not too frequent. It didn’t spark the amazing, but eventually annoying glowstick wars, and the end of the song is really something special nearly every time. Slave is not too complex, so even the relative newbie to Phishdom can understand and appreciate it, and certainly will be swinging and swaying by the end of the song. Also, Slave is the perfect set-ender, the perfect song to draw out your energy, calm you down, and lay you down to sleep nicely.
You can throw around several song like Guyute, Fee, The Lizards, The Squirming Coil, or Cavern, but I have to make the case for Slave to the Traffic Light.
How To REALLY Survive Digg on a Shared Host
Jan 2nd
After reading a ridiculous post on “surviving the Digg effect on a shared host,” (and then laughing ridiculously at it), I decided to write a real tutorial on real-live ways not only to survive the Digg effect, but also a simple but powerful way to improve your site’s performance. Read more within.