Well somehow I got the .Net framework 2.0 buggered. It wouldn’t uninstall, but it wouldn’t install either. Visual Studio would complain when it started and several other programs too.

I finally found this free tool that will forcefully remove all traces of a given version of the .Net framework. After that, I was able to install it again.

Works great! Kudos to the author.

Don’t want to spend a lot of money on a rack? Neither did these guys!

Pretty cool. A little black spray paint….

If you are doing Windows development, there’s no reason not to use Microsoft’s excellent Visual Studio tools now that the “Express” versions are free. These products are the usual Microsoft Visual Studio that aren’t lacking many features at all. You can download Visual Basic, C++, C#, and a Web Development tool — all free.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/

I used to use the full blown Microsoft developers tools, but lately I’ve been using the express versions along with some open source development tools. In general, I don’t miss much about the Microsoft compiler. But I have to admit that I miss some of the tools.

A few weeks ago, I started getting a mysterious error message on my computer. It was a dialog box complaining about the flash installation. There was no hint of which program was complaining though. I thought about running Spy++ — the Microsoft utility for looking at on screen Windows — and realized this computer doesn’t have a full load of Visual C++!

What I did find is Winspector. This is like a souped up version of Spy++ and its free. Winspector can show hidden windows or not. It can filter and buffer messages. It can watch messages to a window class from the Window’s creation. In short, it does everything Spy++ does plus more.

So, what was the offending program? System47, my Star Trek screen saver. Reinstalling it did the trick. I guess a recent flash upgrade broke it. Should have realized my screen saver wasn’t running. If you are a Star Trek fan (or even a science fiction fan) you really ought to download this free screen saver. It is quite the conversation piece.

I miss my days writing books and magazine articles. Of course, one outlet I have for my writing is this Blog (and the Articles link over on the right side of the page — have you ever read any of those?).

However, I occasionally write something that doesn’t really fit well on the blog and I’ve been looking for someplace to put those things.

One popular option is Associated Content. You can find my page there at http://www.associatedcontent.com/al. I only have a few articles there so far — and some of those are reprints of things you’ll find on this blog anyway. But there’s some new things to and I plan to add more as time permits.

There are a few other similar services around and I may try them too. If you have any experience with sites like this, drop me a line!

Apparently, my server did have some sort of infection. I tried everything to remove it, but never got it to work. So I’ve now reinstalled a new OS and I’m in the process of bringing everything back on line. Sigh. A lot of work.

I’ve had issues with all my sites lately including this one that have seemed “strange”. Well I know what’s happening now, but not why. For some reason, it has become nearly impossible to create a file or a directory with a purely numeric name. Using touch, mkdir, or even a C program to call open or SYS_open fails (errno==2) if the file name has nothing but numbers in it. Any file name that has at least one character that isn’t a number works like you’d expect. This happens on all file systems.

I’ve upgraded the kernel. The fact that it occurs on all file systems and even when directly calling the kernel makes me think it is not the C library or a corrupt file system. There are no loaded modules in the kernel (ext3 built in along with everything else needed).

Here’s a twist. The debugfs program can create directories with numeric names. I assume it is doing some direct manipulation to accomplish this — more evidence it isn’t a file system issue.

Not sure what to do next. My colocators want to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Linux (must be Microsoft trained) but I’ve told them no — I’d figure something out eventually.

I’ve often wanted to cut my USB cords. Looks like several products are on their way for this including this one from D-Link.

See http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/obscuretools for 5 electronic tools you didn’t know you needed. Truth of it is, except for the IC popper, I could do without these, although your mileage may vary (although I have used real vacuum tweezers and they are good for handling tiny parts — haven’t tried the unpowered kind). The odd tools I use all the time are:

• Thermal wire strippers — these are amazing. I have a Teledyne Stripall, but they are horribly expensive ($400-600); there are other brands out there too like Hakko. Maybe you can get lucky on E-Bay
• Vacuum desoldering tools — always cheap on E-bay
• Jeweler’s loupes - get these cheap at Harbor Freight (around here, they are at the register)
• Step drill bits - another item that is either ridiculously cheap at Harbor Freight or ridiculously expensive everywhere else
• Nibbler - One of those metal punches that take out a chunk of metal. Great for making LCD holes and what not (case modders have made these popular again)

Fast, small, and free! Head over to http://www.wintabber.com and download this cool beta software. It lets you collect just about any window (FireFox, Putty, Thunderbird, etc.) into a single tabbed interface. Great way to unclutter a cluttered desktop.