Thanks to an unfortunate incident I have re-installed XP Professional on my laptop. I put it off until I received another BSOD and realised that I was pushing my luck.

So I copied every file of any possible possible value to another computer, and ran the system recovery. The following is a list of what I have re-installed to get the laptop up to speed. The length of list is testament to why I was putting off the re-install!

• Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall – the first thing to be installed. A unpatched copy of XP connected to the internet is a magnet.
• Windows Update fixes – all security updates, including Microsoft .NET Frameworks 1.1 and 2.0 and Service Pack 2.
• Adobe Acrobat
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Talk
• MSN Messenger
• iTunes
• Active Sync
  Active Sync would not install – the setup would run and then – nothing. I had to run windows in safe mode with networking to successfully install ActiveSync.

  Don’t change the computer name, this is set in the PDA and if it has changed from the previous install the sync won’t work straight away. I didn’t bother finding out how to change the computer name in the PDA, I took the path of least resistance and changed the laptop computer name.

• Microsoft Outlook 2002
• WikiD Pad – excellent tool for keeping notes in a free flowing but semi-structured format.
• Java 2 Runtime Environment version 1.5 & Software Development Kit
• Eclipse – for Java development.
• Open Office 2 – free alternative to Microsoft Office.
• FileZilla FTP client
• putty ssh client
• AVG Anti Virus
• Microsoft Office
• MSDE 2000 Had grief with installing MSDE – the setup program would hang. The solution was to stop the IIS service during the installation.

  After it was installed, my development copy of Shelter Buddy could not connect (”SQL Server does not exist or access denied”) – solution was to run svrnetcn and enable the TCP/IP protocol (default port is 1433).

• DbaMgr2K – an excellent and free MSDE administration tool.
• Tortoise SVN
• VIM text editor Call me old fashioned, or perhaps Bob for the Dilbert fans out there – this is a left over of my glorious COBOL days.
• SpyBot Search & Destroy

Still to go is Apache Tomcat and the Apache web server… and more..

Got word from the Rikmeister that Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is now available as a free download.

No doubt this was driven by VMWare releasing their competing product for free.

Long live competition!

To start a dot com / web company you need a lot of things (like a big bucket of money, preferably not your own).

But most important of all is a great domain name, and it needs to be one that hasn’t already been taken. What is particularly frustrating is coming up with a great name only to find it has been taken by a cyber squatter or domain parker.

To make the process a little easier there is a great site available called Instant Domain Search which checks the availability of domain names, and has links to pages that suggest winning domain names.

Now gotta get me a bucket of money.

Worst case scenario tonight – BSOD on my laptop with the error –

“A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer…
Technical information:
STOP: c0000135 {Unable To Locate Component}
This application has failed to start because winsrv was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.”

Well it was my fault after all. I installed Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) beta version, and it was pretty impressive (if you haven’t used Firefox that is ).

However I then discovered that debugging would not work with Visual Studio 2003. I uninstalled IE7, and the problem remained. Googled for a solution – got nowhere. Repaired IE6, nothing.

So I decided to remove and re-install XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) – as a means to re-install IE6. Bad move. The uninstall worked, but the re-install failed – some error about file system permissions (it was not helpful).

So I rebooted – and then I was greeted with the dreaded BSOD.

The recovery CD for the laptop would not boot. The system re-install CD would not boot. So I was forced to use another Windows XP Professional install CD to resolve the issue.

Google revealed this as a common issue – and after much digging I finally found a solution here.

I then manually uninstalled SP2 via the recovery console.

After that the laptop would start – much to my relief. However the saga is not over, SP2 will not uninstall via Add/Remove programs – if I start the process the a dialog box appears – “System can not find the file specified” and then “Service Pack 2 was not uninstalled”.

I fear a complete re-install of XP is required but that will take at least a day – and I really don’t have the time at the moment so I’ll have to limp along until at least the weekend..

I came across these novelty signs at a discount store. At first glance they look fine. But for the life of me, I can’t understand them! Anyone out there smart enough to discern the meaning of these??

” I would have ordered it tomorrow if I wanted it tomorrow”

“Behind every man are the men who tried to stop her”

They are almost mesmerizing to read as the brain struggles to comprehend the meaning.

Two weeks ago I went to Western Australia to spend a week working at RSPCA WA.

It was typical business travel – very long hours. I did manage to go out one night for dinner on a Thursday night with my bosses secretary’s husband, who was also in Perth for work. We went to an Italian restuarant in South Perth and had a great meal, except they kicked us out at 9:30pm which we thought was a little early for the big smoke. Briz-vegas restuarants would have you packing by 10:00pm at the earliest.

Departure

This is Perth airport when I arrived.

Out the front of the RSPCA shelter..

My wheels!

This was a pleasant surprise, I was given the keys to the mean machine – a RSPCA Peugeot van. I was resigned to just getting taxis back and forth from the hotel but was given freedom! Of course the irony is I just went back and forth from the shelter and the hotel and didn’t have the time to explore.

With the exception of the first night – when I missed a turn and headed down the highway wondering about the absence of city lights and civilisation in general, and wondering whether I would drive into the desert or the ocean. It was a little disconcerting because the fuel tank was almost on empty. I can’t even begin to describe the relief when I pulled into a service station to fill up after finally getting my bearings.

The hotel

Home sweet home for the week – for once I could sleep without someone hogging 90% of the bed space.

Out the front of the hotel – it was tucked away in a side street.

Leaving

There is a story behind the next set of photos. These were taken in the airport on my way home. I was on a 5:20pm flight, which was great – meant I would be back in Brisbane by 11:30pm. For a flight from Perth, this is quite a civilised time. However when I got my boarding pass it read departure time of 7:30. Do’h!

I arrived at the airport at 4:30pm, so after checking in and going through security I sought out the nearest power point to plug in the laptop and do what I do best (according to someone who also publishes on this blog ) – work!

While I was tapping away an alarm started ringing, and being typical Australians we ignored it. Then the alarm changed tempo – it became more urgent, seeking attention. We continued to ignore it. Then a recorded message started – “Evacuate immediately.” We packed up and started towards the exits.

This is where the story took a turn for the worse for everyone in front of me, who passed out of the secure area. Just as I was about to go past the security check, the alarm stopped and we were allowed back in. For the 100+ people who went into the general airport area, it meant going through security again (empty pockets, take off shoes, etc). I was 5 metres from exiting.. just shows dawdling can be of benefit in some situations.

We are not sure why the alarm sounded, but there was a fire truck on the tarmac with flashing lights blazing so it may have been a problem with a aircraft that came in. I didn’t read anything in the news or hear any more so it must have been a false alarm.

Because my flight was delayed I was given $7 credit at the cafe. I ordered a coffee and a muffin – and still had to fork over $1 to cover the cost!

Got back to Brisbane at 1:30am.