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I had not heard of Casalemedia before today but now I have a reason to write about it. I have been a long time believer that if someone could target me with ads on the internet that were of interest to me I would be much more intereted in the ads themselves. Of course I am not alone in this thinking as advertisers feel the same way.

A few days ago I was at a site that sells contact lenses looking to buy contacts online. Although I didn’t buy any contacts that day I found it strange that that very same company (which will remian nameless for now) had ads all over an about.com site about home theaters.

Strange I said in talking to a coworker. I moused over the ad and checked in my status bar and the ad was served by Casalemedia. I did a quick search for Casalemedia tracking habits and it seems that they place a tracking cookie on your machine and serve you ads based on the sites that you go to.

This of course is not new, what is new is that they seemed to have been looking at the algorithym and getting it closer to being right. Let’s say that I go to 200 pages a day, what should they serve ads for? What am I just merely searching though and what is really of interst to me?

I do not like the idea of spyware and I know that I should hate tracking cookies but now I am much more intrigues. How will casalemedia keep up a good database if I delete the cookie? Do they know me by IP, I have a work IP from this laptop as well as a home IP. This may look like very invasive technology but I am sure it will be refined over the next few years to the point where the sites that I go to will look significantly different than the sites that you go to. Will someone eventually just give you a toolbar ala Alexa that will just suggest you sites all the time that you would like to visit based on your surfing habits.

By the way Casalemedia is not the only provider of tracking cookies. Take a search around and you will see that there are many companies that do the exact same thing if you would like another resource to find out about how to stop the tracking there are resources at Spyware Warrior.

One of the nice noew “features” of Windows Server 2003 is how the new enhanced security has broken the ability to launch attachments from compiled help files, also known as CHM files.

I had the opportunity to learn about this problem when I needed to move an application that we internally create content in that shows workflows. The workflows are easy enough to create but you can actually launch attachments with more information, actually forms in pdf format.

Part of the moving of the app involved upgrading from Windows Server 2000 to Windows Server 2003 R2. Windows 2003 was no problem but the R2 release was a big security change for Microsoft. When I first moved all of the files over there was a problem in even viewing the CHM information but after an initial fix executing the CHM file with the workflows I was not able to execure the attachments.

So when an app does not work like this I go to Google and to Microsoft to see what they have to see but in this case I was able to fix only a part of the problem…I am going to give the knowledge base article that gives the full fix, It is info from the patch itself MS05-026 but there was an earlier fix that gave me the ability to view the CHM results, who cares right? We want the whole fix.

So there are two steps in the above knowledge base article that will help you to fix your CHM attachment evecution, both are registry fixes invloving ITSS Restrictions. First you need to point Windows 2003 R2 to the location of the CHM file and secondly you need to tell Windows what kind of security you want to give on a scale of 1 to 4, I think the knowledge base article is great for this so no need to explain exactly.

In my case there was one more change that I had to make and that was to have PDF file on the server to not execute within a browser. We use Adobe Reader 7 and the setting is in the preferences under Internet preferences.

One of the reasons that I love Lifehacker is because you can look down a page of stories for the day and find a nugget of knowledge that you have always been looking for. Well I found another site like that but it has even more.

Recent Content : All | tweako

Tweako is a site that has tips from all over the computing world. Recently they picked up an article of mine from this blog so I decidedto go and check it out nd see what else there was and low and behold tons of article references. I do not know who compiles all of this stuff but htey must have 100 new articles a day.

Check it out!

I laughed when I read this article as it is really true and I cringed as well because also it is very true

10 Reasons It Doesn’t Pay To Be “The Computer Guy” · LifeReboot.com

I love being the computer guy but it is true that everyone thinks that you can fix everything which is not at all satisfying. I used to have a vision of being a home tech support guy but that ended a couple of years ago when I realized that there was no satisfaction in it at all.

The Geek Squad can keep their job.

What’s the support pro of 2007 and beyond to do for preventive maintenance on user machines? Here’s a checklist of 29 things you can do to keep your users happy and online.

1. E-mail your computer users. Let your clients know in advance what will be happening on the preventive maintenance visit. Users get attached to their systems, and seeing something change can be upsetting to them. In the e-mail, ask them if anything strange is going on with their system or if they have any questions for you. Often a user may be hesitant to let you know something is wrong, thinking it’s no big deal or afraid of having a finger pointed at them for being the problem. One of the most common complaints you’ll receive is that the computer is getting slower. More often than not, the user is becoming a power user, becoming more familiar with the software they are using. This may be a good time to upgrade the computer to realize productivity gains from the user.

2. Empty the Recycle Bin. Some users need to be reminded to periodically empty the Recycle Bin.

3. Delete .tmp files. Before running ScanDisk and Defragmenter, delete all *.tmp files that have been created prior to the current day. It will surprise most people to learn how much hard drive space has been used by .tmp files.

4. Delete files that begin with a tilde. When cleaning the system of garbage files, readers might also like to check for any files beginning with a tilde (~). Make sure that all your application programs, such as word-processing, spreadsheet, and graphics programs, are closed first since sometimes the temporary file you are currently viewing uses a tilde. If the application programs are closed, the tilde files can be deleted. Some users find they have a lot of these on their systems!

5. Delete old .zip files. Users tend to unzip the files but then leave the zipped file on their computer.

6. Delete .chk files, and switch the swap file. For those with permanent swap files, it’s sometimes a good idea to set the swap file back to temporary and then permanent again. This cleans out any garbage (and therefore any possible corruption).

7. Run Scandisk and defrag the drive as needed. If your Windows 95 users aren’t running these utilities themselves, it doesn’t hurt to check the disk and make sure the number of disk errors and the percentage of fragmentation are within acceptable limits. For Windows 98 clients, use the Task Scheduler to automate Scandisk.

8. Check browser history and cache files. Check that the user history files and Internet cache settings are set properly (cache size). Delete the cache files and history files then reset the history files to no more than three days unless the user specifically needs to store that information longer. By freeing up the cache, downloads from the Web actually speed up since there is more space available to store the temporary files.

9. Clean out Windows temporary Internet files. If the browser is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, go to the properties of Internet Explorer and click on delete files .

10. Confirm that backups are being done. Do you have a network solution for automatically backing up user files to a server? If not—and if you’re relying on end users to back up their own files—ask users when their last backups were done. Make sure they’re rotating their disks. Drag their My Documents folder onto a server drive for them. Remind them to verify the backups by trying to restore a sample file or folder.

11. Update drivers as needed. Make sure you’ve installed the latest drivers for printers, modems, sound cards, video cards, and other devices.

12. Create or update the boot disk. Every Windows user should have a boot disk and every NT client should have an emergency repair disk. While you’re making your rounds, poll your users and make sure they have the disks they’d need in case of an emergency. NT clients need to have their emergency repair disks upgraded with the RDISK/S command every time there’s a change in the network setup, such as the addition of new users or new devices.

13. Check the operating system and applications. Update your OS and applications with the latest service packs or updates. Save your company some money; don’t try to support multiple versions of the same application.

14. Check the connections. Users love to move their equipment around. Make sure all the plugs are snug in their connections. And make sure your users are using surge protectors and not a string of extension cords to power their machines. While the computer is open, re-seat all connections including expansion cards, CPU, memory, data cables and power connections. You’d be surprised how often an expansion card isn’t seated all the way, especially AGP video cards and PCI cards.

15. Take inventory. Update your master inventory of computer assets. Verify serial numbers, CPU speed, hard drive space, memory, etc.

16. Make sure the hardware works. Many computers haven’t seen a floppy or CD inserted in years as most upgrades and new installations are done from the server. Clean or replace floppy disk and CD drives as needed.

17. Clean the screens. Do your users a favor and bring the appropriate screen-cleaning cloth or solution with you on the preventive maintenance visit.

18. Change passwords. Unless you can enforce a “change your password every X days” policy via your network software, use the preventive maintenance visit to remind your users to change their system passwords.

19. Check the printers. Print a test page on your users’ printers. Make sure the printers are producing clean copies, and that the toner cartridges aren’t about to run out.

20. Update the anti-virus software. Make sure your users know how to update their anti-virus software. While you’re there, update it for them.

21. Reboot the system. In some shops, the workstations are left on all the time. While you’re there, reboot the system to force a memory reset and to make sure the machine will boot when you’re not there in person.

22. Bring that can of air! It’s still a good idea to blow the dust and debris out of keyboards every now and then. And make sure there isn’t dust accumulating on the back of the machine or wherever the air fan is located. It’s amazing how much dust can collect in a computer over time. Blowing out the inside of the computer has a couple of pitfalls that must be addressed. First, since the pressure is much higher with canned air, don’t direct the air at an unsecured fan. Try using a pencil erasure to keep the fan from turning while you clean out the power supply and CPU. Blow out the power supply from the inside out first, or you’ll get tons of dust blown into the computer. Take each computer to a place that doesn’t mind the dust, outdoors preferably.

23. Clean the keyboard. With the power off, tip or turn the keyboard upside down and carefully use the palm of your hand to strike the keyboard several times. You’ll be surprised how much junk will fall out.

24. Clean the CD-ROM drive. Clean the laser. Many programs are installed corrupted from a dirty CD reader.

25. Clean the floppy drive. In addition to using canned air for the floppy drive, use a 3.5″ floppy drive cleaning kit. It consists of a cleaning disk and a bottle of solution that you apply to the disk. First, apply the solution to the cleaning disk. Second, insert the cleaning disk into the floppy drive. Third, type: DIR A: (or DIR B:), which will spin the disk (repeat this three times). In some locations PCs are located in areas where the floppy drive, a.k.a. air intake manifold, collects quite a lot of dust and grime, so canned air alone does not remedy this problem.

26. Clean the mouse. It never hurts to make sure the mouse is free of dust and grime.

27. Check the power sources. Make sure systems are plugged into protected outlets or power strips, if not uninterruptible power supplies.

28. Check the fan. Remember to check that the CPU’s cooling fan is working and that the airflow isn’t impeded by dust.

29. Check the network hardware. It is also necessary to check and reboot hubs, routers, switches, and print servers from time to time. They contain memory that needs to be flushed and have connections that can work loose. Most networks have a server reboot schedule but forget about the other, just as vital, network kit.

Oracle and the Oracle client is irritating to me to say the least. I support a few apps that speak to an Oracle 9i database and have not had a lot of trouble with them that checking the databases does not seem to solve, I consider myself lucky.

Twice though in the last couple of weeks I have run into apps on Citrix that just did not want to play well with an Oci.dll could not be loaded error. I looked through the app documentation and of course there is nothing but on looking further the first time I found that Authenticated users needed to have modify access to the ora92 folder.

Today the problem that I had dealt with the Oracle instant client that was bundled with the same application, which will remain nameless, but after testing it outside of Citrix - directly from the server there were no problems, after running from Citrix i found that the regular users would have a problem logging in with the same Oci.dll error. I checked permissions and found that the Oracle instant client folder did not have the aforementioned authenticated users rights but after fixing that I still could not run the application. Now I was kind of stuck and rn a filemon to see that low and behold the Citrix Client was not able to see the oracle client folder.

Now I had the fix. I added the Oracle instant clients folder to my path statement on the server and everyone was then able to work.

IThe event viewer is one of the greatest tools that you have for diagnosing software problems and finding the fix for them. If you have used the event viewer in either Windows NT, 2000, 2003 or Windows XP then you know that it is a great application to rely on when troubleshooting an issue on a PC or server.

To Open the event viewer you simply right click in the My Computer icon and click manage, another method is to go to Start–> programs –administrative tools –> Event Viewer. You will be shown a window like the one below.

The Event viewer has three sections, applcation which gives us information on the applications that run on the machine, security which shows us the security approvals and denials and lastly the System log which shows the actions within the operating system itself.

I do not tend to deal with the security section of the event viewer much if at all unless I have an access denied error for an application. For the Application and System sections of the event viewer we have three types of entries within the log:

Information - which will tell us when some kind of event happens that has not adversely affected the system or an application.

Warning - A warning is just that a warning that something is not running properly but that the application or operating system is still running, just in a compromised state.

Error - This as you can imagine is bad. An error will occur if a service can not start or if an application fails to execute at all.
After scanning through the event logs you will probably want more information about the details of the event. To do this just double click on the event and you will get the properties for the event as shown below:

After seeing the description of the event you may be able to find out right away what the problem is. Often you can fix a problem very quickly just by going to the event viewer event properties or on the off chance that the link to Microsoft is helpful (I have not been this lucky before). If this is not good enough to find a fix then you can go to eventid.net and enter in the Event ID and perhaps the category or the source.

There is another great way that you can use the event viewer. If you are a domain admin and if you access the event viewer using the computer management then you can right click the (local computer) in the top of the window and can select another computer on the network and access that computers event logs.

Another great way to view information in the event viewer is to go to view filter and you have the option to select or deselect entries that will show up in the event viewer.

After you have use the event viewer for a while you get to know the information or error events that are common and could be put aside and you will be able to zero in on what is the real underlying problem. Microsoft fortunately has lots of information on the event viewer.

I got caught today trying to be a bit to cute on the company network.

I am a big fan of AVG Antirvirus at home and on everyone I knows computer and I decided to do the same on my new Dell D620 work laptop. Everything has been working fine for a week but of course not thinking about the way that software gets pushed on the network I got nailed with a fatal update today.

I was pleasantly working on my computer this afternoon when I got an error that services.exe had caused an error and then explorer.exe crashed and then my computer just locked up hard.

After rebooting in safe mode I looked at the error logs and noticed that McAfee had successfully been installed, just prior to my issues. How I missed the thought that the network was going to push this is beyond me but anyway here is how I fixed it.

I did a system restore from a checkpoint created this morning by the system and when I rebooted I quickly uninstalled AVG. Now I feel a little like I am riding with no hands but I am sure that Network Associates on our network will do a drive by soon enough to reinstall my McAfee again.

So just a warning to anyone not interested in using a corporate image. Load up your machine and think about what is going to be pushed as part of the logon or over time. Spyware removers, antivirus, Outlook patches…just think before you have your machine crap out on you.

For anyone working within a large business we are all aware that Daylight Savings Time (DST) will be starting four weeks earlier this year, that is March 11. If you admin a smaller network or even just a bunch of workstations then this is a great opportunity to do some hosekeeping that you have put off.

Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista desktops have been patched so if you have not service packed your XP then this is the time to do that so that your Outlook at the very least (which will run off local PC time) is giving you and everyone else the right time for meetings. I always forget is it one hour early or late for meetings….Spring forward, fall back…I believe that you will be one hour early for every meeting as it would be unpatched.

For server based apps be sure that you are service packed and watch your databases, Oracle has a patch for your databases I know but really you should go through all of your apps one by one and see if there are update patches if there is date fields that may be affected.

Lastly, on Monday March 13th make sure that you get in to work a little early and look at times in apps and servers and workstations and just really be aware of any time issues that come up. This is a big deal for IT but it is not even on the radar for end users.

The title sys it all. Here is a document that goes step by step through all of the tuneup tips for Metaframe servers that Citrix recommends.

Citrix Metaframe Tune up Tips