Well I finally got round to installing this on my custom built server, and I’ll tell you something, I quite like it. It’s easy to set up, easy to configure and easy to use. No worrying about what raid to use, just automatic duplication if desired. And automatic backups. Just whack in a few drives and away she goes.
October 21, 2009
December 11, 2008
Microsoft Haikus
Not mine, but amused me enough to post.
The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.
*
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
*
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
*
Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.
*
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
*
Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
November 18, 2008
Defragging SQL indexes
Occasionally it will be necessary to defrag table indeces if you run SQL server. A useful little script.
USE dbname –Enter the name of the database you want to reindex
DECLARE @TblName varchar(255)
Declare @Indexname varchar(50)
DECLARE TableCursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT table_name FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_type = ‘base table’
OPEN TableCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM TableCursor INTO @TblName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
DECLARE INdexCursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT i.name AS IndexName
FROM sysobjects o, sysindexes i
WHERE (o.id = i.id and o.name = @tblName) AND (i.status = 18450 OR i.status = 2097152)
OPEN IndexCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM INdexCursor INTO @IndexName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
DBCC INDEXDEFRAG (dbname, @tblname, @Indexname)
FETCH NEXT FROM INDexcursor INTO @Indexname
END
CLOSE IndexCursor
DEALLOCATE IndexCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM TableCursor INTO @TblName
END
CLOSE TableCursor
DEALLOCATE TableCursor
October 8, 2008
Mozy Online – Free, secure storage
Mozy online is a free storage depository, that uses a lightweight program to sync files on your computer.
It’s easy to configure and runs pretty much by itself, and comes with 2GB. If you fancy using it, use my referral code and we both get an extra 256MB of storage.
October 7, 2008
Disabling MSN & Live Messenger
There are quite a few guides on how to disable this viral little program. Sadly blocking it’s default port rarely works, because doing so causes the program to switch to port 80, which for most would mean blocking http traffic too.
Several ways to do this on the internet involve editing the registry, this is something that doesn’t appear to work any more.
The only way I’ve found that works is to edit the computers group policy (start > run > gpedit.msc). Under Administrative Templates and Windows components, you’ll find Windows Messenger. Simply set “Do not allow windows messenger to be run” to enabled.
Thats it.
Update: This doesn’t work for Live Messenger, one method I have found that uninstalls WLM completely is to run a command prompt (as administrator), and simply type: msiexec /x {B1403D7D-C725-4858-AACC-7E5FA2D72859}.
Invalid Dynamic Disk – Windows Vista
How to solve this irritating problem!
I recently upgraded to Windows Vista Home Premium. “Why?!” I hear you all cry. Well, it was simply to take advantage of being able to use more then ~3GB of ram. Which I am now doing, having wacked in 8GB of some rather shiny OCZ pc8500 memory.
A few issues abounded once I’d installed, one rather annoying one being that my 500GB second hard drive (I run a 74GB Raptor as my main disk) had been marked as ‘Invalid’ in disk management. Not being willing to switch the disk to another machine, copy the data, format, copy the data back and then reinstall the disk in my windows computer, I needed another solution.
Which was found in the rather excellent disk utility TestDisk.
After extracting the TestDisk archive to a folder, run the program, select the relevant disk, analyse it, set it as a primary partition and then reboot.
Thats it.