XP-rience

Wireless bridge with Riger DB108-WL

2011-08-08T00:07:00.000+08:00

From my previous post, I've successfully connected my TV the my PC but I want more. I trying to connect my TV to my home main network. But this time I got 2 nearly identical modems (diff. firmware maybe), Riger DB108-WL. This model has a feature call wireless bridge and decided to try it out.

After several hours of trial and error, finally, I got it. Below are my settings/configurations that might help others.

Only modem B is connected to the internet through ADSL.

Modem A Setting	Modem B Setting	*
		*
		Make sure both modems are on the same channel
		Make sure they have same security settings.
		Set modem A AP mode as access point, modem B AP mode as wireless bridge,

At the wireless bridge setting. make sure modem A has modem B BSSID (MAC address of the wireless access point) and same goes to modem B (add modem A BSSID). Try to use the "Bridge Restrict: Enable(Scan)" drop button to scan for available modems.

After all settings are there, save and reboot both modems.

If all goes well, any device connected to modem b will be bridged to modem A (IP assign by modem A DHCP).

I notice at this point (when the bridge is on) modem B IP is no longer available. I could not find it anymore. The only way to find it (to enter the modem console for example) is to reset it. The modem B LAN port would not help since anything connected to modem B Ethernet port will be bridge to modem A.

Signing Java JAR Files

2011-07-28T20:13:00.000+08:00

From coderanch (http://www.coderanch.com/t/407490/java/java/why-jarsigner)

Signing a jar is basically used to verify a trusted source. When you sign a jar with your digital signature (based on your private key), you place a mark into the jar file that could not have been done by anyone but you.

The signature is also a checksum of the Jar file, so if the jar get corrupted or modified in transit, the signature is invalid.

On the other side, your public key is placed into the keystore of the system that trust you. This will be used to verify your signature.

Currently, I believe this is mainly used for applets. Using signed jar files, and setting security properties on client browsers, applets can have access to disk, network, and other stuff that they don't normally have access to.

Step 1 - Create Key

keytool -genkey -keystore <keystorefile> -alias <aliasname>

example

C:\folder>keytool -genkey -keystore mykeystore -alias myalias
Enter keystore password:
Re-enter new password:
What is your first and last name?
  [Unknown]:  MyName
What is the name of your organizational unit?
  [Unknown]:  MyOrg
What is the name of your organization?
  [Unknown]:  MyOrg
What is the name of your City or Locality?
  [Unknown]:  MyCity
What is the name of your State or Province?
  [Unknown]:  MyProvince
What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
  [Unknown]:  my
Is CN=MyName, OU=MyOrg, O=MyOrg, L=MyCity, ST=MyProvince, C=my correct?
  [no]:  yes

Enter key password for <myalias>
        (RETURN if same as keystore password):
Re-enter new password:

Step 2 - Export Cert

keytool -export -keystore <keyStoreFile> -alias <aliasName> > <certFile>

example

C:\folder>keytool -export -keystore mykeystore -alias mylias > mycert
Enter keystore password:  mypassword

Step 3 - Signing JAR

jarsigner -keystore <keyStoreFile> -storepass <password> <jarFile> <aliasName>

example

C:\folder>jarsigner -keystore mykeystore -storepass password my.jar myalias

Warning:
The signer certificate will expire within six months.

Step 4 - Verify

jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs <jarFile>

example

C:\folder>jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs my.jar
...
sm       236 Sun Feb 06 21:57:00 SGT 2011 images/remove.png

      X.509, CN=MyName, OU=MyOrg, O=MyOrg, L=MyCity, ST=MyProvince, C=my
      [certificate will expire on 10/26/11 7:46 PM]
...
  s = signature was verified
  m = entry is listed in manifest
  k = at least one certificate was found in keystore
  i = at least one certificate was found in identity scope

jar verified.

Warning:
This jar contains entries whose signer certificate will expire within six months.

Samsung LED TV Network Connection

2011-07-20T00:51:00.001+08:00

Last week, I bought Samsung UA40D5000PR LED Backlit TV. It comes with wireless LAN adapter support but need to have Samsung LinkStick Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter in order for it to works. It also has an Ethernet port for wired network connection.

To utilize the network feature, I probably need to buy the LinkStick or lay a network cable from the TV along the way to my computer room.

So I'll go with the 3rd option, using old ADSL modem (Aztech DSL605EW) with built-in wireless and 4 Ethernet ports. This is the same modem that I used in previous blog post, broken ADSL circuit.

Reset the modem to factory default setting and set your wireless security accordingly.

Hook up the TV with the ADSL modem through an Ethernet cable. Set the TV network configuration; let the modem DHCP assign the IP.

At PC, download Samsung AllShare software, install it and follow the instruction to add video files to it's library.

Next is to connect from PC (from another floor) to the ADSL modem

It works. This would be my temporary method to link my TV to my PC.

My next step is to link the TV to not only my PC, but to my home network which linked to my Network Attached Storage that supports DLNA for media sharing. That would be fun.

I’m not planning to use WiFi since we have a lot of Wifi Hunter here. I’ll rather go with homeplug but not sure which model/speed to choose. I can see 85Mbps, 200Mbps, 500Mbps and 1000Mbps on the market. Any suggestion?

Garmin Mobile PC and Nokia E72

2011-01-02T00:40:00.001+08:00

Referring to Tinggi Island Travel and Noeman.org on how to link between Garmin Mobile PC and Nokia phone, here is my version of setup and configuration using Nokia E72.

Step 1 - install Garmin Mobile PC.
Step 2 - install ExtGps from Symarctic (to your Phone).
Step 3 - start ExtGps (at your Phone).

Step 4 - Open bluetooth setting from systray icon.

Step 5 - select your phone, I assume that it has been paired with your PC.

Step 6 - go to the services tab and find SPP, tick the check box and note down the comport number.

Step 7 - start Garmin Mobile PC and click at the satellite icon.

Step 8 - click disable to bring up the device selection radio button.

Step 9 - select the same comport from step 6.

Done, now you are ready to navigate with a larger display.
Of course our could not travel with your desktop turn on.
Get a notebook/netbook.

Using old Wireless ADSL Modem as a DIY Access Point

2011-01-01T01:21:00.005+08:00

My current home network configuration is using ISP supplied ADSL modem that comes without wireless. It connect to a cheap unmanaged switch through a crossover cable and distribute it to 2 PCs.

I also have a broken ADSL modem (Riger DB108-WL) that comes with wireless capability. The only thing is, the ADSL circuit is broken. So this is where this idea comes out. How to use the spare wireless circuit with my current network configuration. I thought it will be complicated but when I give a try, it was not that hard. Just a couple of simple steps will do.

The main idea are to;

give the wireless device a fix IP
turn it DHCP server off
hook it up to the existing switch using crossover cable
set the gateway IP pointing to the current ADSL modem.

I assume you already know how to browse the wireless device web management page. Riger DB108-WL default user:pass is tmadmin:tmadmin

Part 1, to make it easy, just reset the wireless device to factory default through the pinhole. Then hook it directly to your PC using standard network cable. Set its IP for example, my current ADSL modem is set to 192.168.100.1. So the wireless device IP should be set to the same network segment, let say 192.168.100.50. Next, turn of its DHCP server since we want to let the current ADSL modem to control the host distribution. Now save and reboot the wireless device.

Part 2, Now the IP of the wireless device has changed. Disconnect it from your PC and hook it to the switch with crossover cable. Hook your PC back to the switch. Now turn on your wireless device and browse to its web management page. Set the gateway so that it point to the current ADSL modem (in my case, 192.168.100.1).

Now the wireless device is converted to wireless access point and ready to accept wireless connection.

The best part of using this configuration is, you can turn off wireless independently without need to browse the web management page. Just turn the wireless device power off.

**update**

For DSL605EW, please refer to screenshots below.

Open DNS : Alternate DNS

2010-10-28T01:22:00.001+08:00

If you are experiencing problems with your ISP DNS, you might want to try OpenDNS.

Below is how to check whether your ISP DNS availability by using nslookup command

I purposely change the DNS to 202.188.0.133 (TMNET DNS) which is the one that having a problem tonight. Timeout!

No problem when using OpenDNS.

You can set this DNS to your network card setting if you don't want to change your ADSL modem setting.

Easier to revert back to the ISP DNS when it recovers.

More information on OpenDNS? please google for OpenDNS

* Your might also consider Google Public DNS

YUI Compressor with GUI

2010-08-05T23:51:00.000+08:00

Minification is the process of removing all unnecessary characters from source code such as
white space characters, new line characters, comments and block delimiters
without changing its functionality. [read more...]

Minified code reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred through the web server (bandwidth saving).
It may also be used as a kind of obfuscation.

My favorite minification tool is YUI Compressor.
Mostly for CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JS (JavaScript).

Let us taka a look what happen when a simple code get minified.

JavaScript - Original Code

function startTime(){
    var today=new Date();
    var h=today.getHours();
    var m=today.getMinutes();
    var s=today.getSeconds();
    // add a zero in front of numbers<10
    m=checkTime(m);
    s=checkTime(s);
    document.getElementById('txt').innerHTML=h+":"+m+":"+s;
    t=setTimeout('startTime()',500);
}

function checkTime(i){
    if (i<10){
        i="0" + i;
    }
    return i;
}

JavaScript - Minified

function startTime(){var b=new Date();var d=b.getHours();
var a=b.getMinutes();var c=b.getSeconds();a=checkTime(a);
c=checkTime(c);document.getElementById("txt").innerHTML=d+":"+a+":"+c;
t=setTimeout("startTime()",500)}function checkTime(a){if(a<10){a="0"+a
}return a};

CSS - Original Code

body
{
    background-color:#d0e4fe;
}
h1
{
    color:orange;
    text-align:center;
}
p
{
    font-family:"Times New Roman";
    font-size:20px;
}

CSS - Minfied

body{background-color:#d0e4fe;}h1{color:orange;text-align:center;}
p{font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:20px;}

Just to share here, since YUI Compressor don't provide any GUI, I've created one with Java Swing. It has been compiled together with yuicompressor-2.4.2.jar.
You need to have Java installed in order to run this executable JAR.

Download (MD5 : 210176c93d331c50dc19a2dda0ae1c89 JsCssMin.jar)

Using logrotate to rotate and archive log

2010-08-05T00:02:00.007+08:00

Previously I found out that rotatelogs cannot replace the rotated logs, I try to find other option.

I always come across logrotate whenever trying to search for rotatelogs.

So I give them a try.

1st step is to find it. BTW, I'm on SuSE Linux Enterprise 10.

$ logrotate
-ksh: logrotate: not found [No such file or directory]

Since it is not in the path, try to find it by doing this.

$ whereis logrotate
logrotate: /usr/sbin/logrotate /etc/logrotate.d /etc/logrotate.conf /usr/share/man/man8/logrotate.8.gz

Now try to run it with full path.

$ /usr/sbin/logrotate

Again, an error occurs.

error: error creating state file /var/lib/logrotate.status: Permission denied

This is because the user that we are currently on don't have write access /var/lib/logrotate.status.

-rw-r--r--  1 root   root  1246 2010-07-28 09:30 logrotate.status

Ask help from system root to change it...

# chmod 666 logrotate.status

...to

-rw-rw-rw-  1 root   root  1246 2010-07-28 09:30 logrotate.status

So, now try again.

$ /usr/sbin/logrotate
logrotate 3.7.3 - Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Red Hat, Inc.
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

Usage: logrotate [-dfv?] [-d|--debug] [-f|--force] [-m|--mail command]
[-s|--state statefile] [-v|--verbose] [-?|--help] [--usage]
[OPTION...]

At last. Now create a simple conf like below.

$ cat ./logrotate.conf
/home/username/test/mylog {
rotate 5
daily
copytruncate
notifempty
compress
}

From my observation by triggering it manually (based on configuration above), I found out that it start by compressing the log file and name it mylog.1.gz.
When I trigger it again, it will rename the mylog.1.gz to mylog.2.gz and create a new mylog.1.gz. It will continue to do that but will not exceed mylog.5.gz (rotate 5 from conf file).

-rw-r--r-- 1 user group  348 2010-07-28 15:32 mylog
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group   54 2010-07-28 15:32 mylog.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group   59 2010-07-28 15:32 mylog.2.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group   58 2010-07-28 15:32 mylog.3.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group   51 2010-07-28 15:32 mylog.4.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group   57 2010-07-28 15:32 mylog.5.gz

This is just like what I wanted. It will keep only 5 gz files. Now you can schedule (cron) them accordingly.

Using rotatelogs to rotate nohup.out

2010-07-28T19:43:00.001+08:00

Extending my focus on rotatelogs, I was thinking of to use them with other software. This might help me to on how to rotate nohup.out without using cronjob. First, I need something to throw STDOUT. Something simple as below;

#!/bin/sh
while [ 1 ]
do
echo `date`
sleep 2
done

Script above will run in infinite loop and echo date output to STDOUT every 2 secs. Next is to test it with nohup so it could survive logout.

username@myserver:/mydir $ nohup ./test.sh
nohup: appending output to `nohup.out'

Let it run for a couple of seconds and kill it by CTRL-C. Then verify that the nohup.out contains couple lines of date in it. Next step is to pipe it with rotatelogs and observe what happen

username@myserver:/mydir $ nohup ./test.sh | ./rotatelogs nohup.out.%S 10 &
[1]     24828

Command line above will pipe the STDOUT from the simple test.sh and send them to rotatelogs to be rotated accordingly. nohup.out.%S will cause the nohup.out filename to rotate as below (%S: 2-digit second from rotatelogs)

-rw-r--r-- 1 username usergrp 1479 2010-07-28 10:32 nohup.out.40
-rw-r--r-- 1 username usergrp 1595 2010-07-28 10:32 nohup.out.50
-rw-r--r-- 1 username usergrp 1711 2010-07-28 10:33 nohup.out.00
-rw-r--r-- 1 username usergrp 1682 2010-07-28 10:33 nohup.out.10
-rw-r--r-- 1 username usergrp 1653 2010-07-28 10:33 nohup.out.20
-rw-r--r-- 1 username usergrp 1566 2010-07-28 10:33 nohup.out.30

Oops! Now I relize that the output file will never be replaced. It keep on appending to an old file. Meaning that it will grow and need to be manually archive. :-(

Looking forward to try logrotate and it will be my next post, soon.

Using rotatelogs to manage Logs in Apache (xampp)

2010-07-27T19:45:00.006+08:00

While performing a routine XAMPP (under Linux) healthy check, I've found out some log files had grown up to about 8GB. This might cause the system to slow down. Searching for a solution from the net lead me to this, rotatelogs. To use this rotatelogs it needs to be piped in the XAMPP httpd.conf which is located at /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf. So I comment out the 2 original lines and add 2 lines with rotatelogs piped to them like below;

#ErrorLog logs/error_log
ErrorLog "|bin/rotatelogs logs/error_log 5M"
...
#CustomLog logs/access_log common
CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs logs/access_log 5M" common

Next is to restart the XAMPP by doing ./lampp restart (XAMPP for Linux). Unfortunately it failed and when I observed the error.log it shows;

piped log program 'bin/rotatelogs... failed unexpectedly

Maybe the path is wrong. Next try is to use full path by replace those rotatelogs piped lines with below;

#ErrorLog logs/error_log
ErrorLog "|/opt/lampp/bin/rotatelogs /opt/lampp/logs/error_log 5M"
...
#CustomLog logs/access_log common
CustomLog "|/opt/lampp/bin/rotatelogs /opt/lampp/logs/access_log 5M" common

Finally it works. No error in error_log found. New log file will be created whenever it reach 5MB size. Whenever it switch to the new log file, a unixtime will be appended to the log file name like below;

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22713 Jul 27 10:10 access_log.1280196529
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4989 Jul 27 10:21 access_log.1280197231
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 725 Jul 27 10:20 error_log.1280197229

Log file size above is not 5MB yet but when I restart XAMPP, new log file is created. But I'm thinking, what if I don't want to keep all logs, just rotate them weekly. So I try this;

#ErrorLog logs/error_log
ErrorLog "|/opt/lampp/bin/rotatelogs /opt/lampp/logs/error_log.%a 86400"
...
#CustomLog logs/access_log common
CustomLog "|/opt/lampp/bin/rotatelogs /opt/lampp/logs/access_log.%a 86400" common

The new log file name now looks something like below.

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 625 Jul 27 12:04 error_log.Tue
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1941 Jul 27 12:04 access_log.Tue

They will rotate in 24 hours (86400 secs) with a 3-character weekday name appended to them. I assume they will rotate and replace just like I plan in 1 week time, I hope so. :-)

HTTPS traffic on port 8080 is dropped by SecuRemote

2010-04-01T20:42:00.006+08:00

After installing VPN-1 SecuRemote/SecureClient NGX R60, my PC is unable to connect to https websites through a port 8080 proxy. Some googling around lead me to this.

Can't view HTTPS web pages

I have installed Securemote on a XP (Pro) PC so that it can access a remotely hosted server/application which works OK. However, since the Securemote software has been loaded, the user is not able to view HTTPS web pages, he can view HTTP pages OK.

If I uncheck the Securemote client in the network options in XP, the HTTPS pages are able to be viewed, but then the Securemote can not be used.

Is there any configuration change that can be made to Securemote to stop it interfering with the HTTPS traffic?

Thanks for your help.
Simon.

Digging through brought me to below solution;

Re: Securemote blocking access to https pages through proxy.

Hi,

try this:


1. Navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\FW1\parameters.
2. Add a new key called "Globals."

3. Under the "Globals" key, add a DWORD parameter called "asm_http_allow_connect," and set its value to 14. Reboot the computer

i got this from my support, and they say that Securemote does not acceppt "CONNECT" per default.

CP says this is no failure, and won't change the behaviour.

regards,
stefan

I've tried it and it works. Just create a new dword regsitry entry as below;

Or you can open your notepad, copy & paste contents below, save it as fix.reg, right click and select Merge.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\FW1\Parameters\Globals]
"asm_http_allow_connect"=dword:00000014

Quick Start - Install and Run Apache Tomcat

2009-10-31T00:14:00.009+08:00

Obtain a copy of Apache Tomcat <version> from tomcat.apache.org.
Download >> Binary Distributions >> Core >> zip

Obtain a copy of JDK from Java SE Downloads. There any many options there. Just pick;
Java SE Development Kit (JDK) >> JDK <version> Update <update>

Install the JDK. Please refer to Java SE Downloads page for complete/detail installation instruction.

Unzip Apache Tomcat to a new directory.

Set environment variable JAVA_HOME pointing to the JDK directory.

JAVA_HOME = C:\Program Files\Java\jdk<version>

Locate D:\apache-tomcat-<version>\bin\ and double click startup.bat to start the Apache Tomcat web server.

A command prompt window will popup showing the status.

To confirm it is really running, point your browser to http://localhost:8080. (Default Apache Tomcat port = 8080)

To shutdown Apache Tomcat, simply double click shutdown.bat from the same location that is D:\apache-tomcat-<version>\bin\

Toad 9.7 & Oracle Instant Client 11.1

2009-10-18T20:39:00.011+08:00

Referring to Toad + Oracle instant client, I tried to set it up but unfortunately it doesn't work out for me. Some extra additional steps help to resolve the issue and I love to share it here.

First, download Oracle Client from Oracle Database Instant Client. Instant Client Package - Basic Lite wil do just fine. (about 17MB)

Next, create 4 folders ( recommended under c:\Program Files ) according to folder hierarchy below;

You should have 4 folders.

C:\Program Files\oracle
C:\Program Files\oracle\bin
C:\Program Files\oracle\network
C:\Program Files\oracle\network\admin

Now, extract the Instant Client Package to C:\Program Files\oracle\bin ( make sure the oci.dll is in the C:\Program Files\oracle\bin )

Right click at My Computer > Properties > Goto Advance tab > Click Environment Variables. Add listed Environment Variables below to your OS.

LD_LIBRARY_PATH = C:\Program Files\oracle\bin
ORACLE_HOME = C:\Program Files\oracle
ORACLE_HOME_NAME = C:\Program Files\oracle
SQL_PATH = C:\Program Files\oracle
TNS_ADMIN = C:\Program Files\oracle\network\admin

Under system variables, edit Path, add C:\Program Files\oracle\bin to the end of other path (don't forget to separate it with ";")

Copy/create 3 simple *.ora files below to C:\Program Files\oracle\network\admin

tnsnames.ora

DEV =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = foo)(PORT = 1531))
)
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVICE_NAME = foo)
)
)

sqlnet.ora

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (LDAP, TNSNAMES, HOSTNAME)
NAMES.DEFAULT_DOMAIN = WORLD
TRACE_LEVEL_CLIENT = OFF
SQLNET.EXPIRE_TIME = 30

ldap.ora

DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT = “ou=oracledatabases,dc=mycompany,dc=com”
DIRECTORY_SERVERS = (ldap_server.mycompany.com:389:636)
DIRECTORY_SERVER_TYPE = OID

Finally, test it out.

The drop down button seems to be highlighted in red but it works. I've tried it with several DB connections.

Setting up a simple Java stored procedure/function in Oracle

2009-10-15T22:29:00.011+08:00

Starting with Oracle 8i, we can write Java Stored Procedures/Functions within the database. Stored procedures/functions are Java methods published to SQL and stored in the database for general usage. It also could be called by a trigger. Example; to send an email whenever a specific row has been inserted into the table.

Run the $ORACLE_HOME/javavm/install/initjvm.sql script from SYS AS SYSDBA to install the Oracle JServer Option on a database.

oracle@myserver:~> sqlplus '/ as sysdba' @$ORACLE_HOME/javavm/install/initjvm.sql

(This process is reversible. It could be done by running the rmjvm.sql script to uninstall the Oracle JServer Option from the database)

Grant JAVAUSERPRIV to selected user.

oracle@myserver:~> sqlplus '/ as sysdba'
SQL> GRANT JAVAUSERPRIV TO theuser;

Grant succeeded.

You could use a console but I'm using Toad by Quest Software for the next step. Create Java source from TOAD by login to the Oracle using the Java granted user.

CREATE OR REPLACE AND RESOLVE JAVA SOURCE NAMED "Hello" AS
public class hello{
public static String world() {
return "hello world ";
}
};
/

Now verify the created Java method from the Java tab under schema browser.

Next, create a procedure/function to call the Java method. Remember, function should return one value but procedure don't.

CREATE OR REPLACE function Hello RETURN VARCHAR2
as LANGUAGE JAVA NAME 'hello.world() return String';
/

Finally, test it out with a simple SELECT FROM DUAL SQL.

Accessing unlisted program from Citrix.

2009-09-04T22:57:00.013+08:00

I have a very limited access to my citrix account, which only allows me to use 1 program that is MS Visio. But I know there are some other programs installed on the same citrix server. You might be interested in this post if you want to run other program from the same citrix server. I found this workaround by accident and would like to share with all of you. By doing this, you can open any program installed on the server, just like desktop sharing.

Login to citrix as usual.

Look! Only 1 program allowed.

Just run the allowed program (MS Visio)

Click File >> Open from the current program menu.

Pick any folder from the list, right click and choose Explore. The idea is to force run the explorer.exe executable.

And then this pop-up will appear, just click OK.

Now minimize everything on your desktop and you will get the citrix server Windows Desktop. Browse the start button for your favorite program.

To cycle through active programs, use ALT+TAB.

Removing large gap from WinXP "Add or Remove Programs"

2008-09-08T23:10:00.006+08:00

I’ve been living with this annoying large gap in my "Add or Remove Programs" for quite sometime and tonight I’m wondering how to remove it although it hasn't caused any problems. After some googling around, finally I came across to a solution from experts-exchange.com. From my experience, it happen when I installed AutoCAD 2002 couple years back but didn't realize until tonight. Below are the instructions on how to fix it.

Open your regedit from START >> run... menu.

Now go to;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{5783F2D7-0101-0409-0000-0060B0CE6BBA}

Now you can see that the "DisplayIcon" entry is having ",-1" value. That is causing the problem. Negative numbers will cause the gap. Edit it by removing the ",-1".

Before

C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2002\acad.exe,-1

After

C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2002\acad.exe

And now, the moment of truth, open you "Add or Remove Programs"

Tadaa!! Good luck...

Copy FLV file from Google Chrome cache

2008-09-04T00:24:00.005+08:00

To copy FLV from Google cache, the method is similar to copy FLV from Firefox cache. The cache location is at;

C:\Documents and Settings\YourLogin\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache

Or

%AppData%\..\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache

The method is quite similar, open explorer and go to cache folder like mentioned above.

Now watch full Youtube video in Google Chrome browser. Do not close your browser yet after that. Back to the cache folder, refresh it using F5 key and now you can see some new large file created in the folder. Sort by date modified for better visibility.

Copy it somewhere and rename it to *.flv . Now you may play the FLV using a favorite player.

DBVisualizer, MySQL 'characterEncoding' error

2008-08-28T22:34:00.008+08:00

While connecting to MySQL server using DBVisualizer 6.0.9, there was an error message;

An error occurred while establishing the connection:
   Type: java.sql.SQLException   Error Code: 0   SQL State: S1000
Message:
   Unknown initial character set index '192' received from server. Initial client character set can be forced via the 'characterEncoding' property.

So I tried to upgrade my DBVisualizer to version 6.0.13 but it does not solved the problem. After some googling session, here is my solution/workaround. Reffering to the error message, I open the connection properties tab and find 'characterEncoding' property. So now what to fill it with? I login to my webhosting CPanel > 'phpMyAdmin' and try to look for some clue.

Found it!

Set it in and ready to go.

Enabling OCI8 for XAMPP under Linux

2008-08-13T01:10:00.006+08:00

Following instruction from

http://www.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?t=27559&sid=96d42fb6867daf5d8932fdacf4232d58 ,
here are my output.

My case is similar to this problem. The only different is, I have libclntsh.so.9.* which is older than the expected version. BTW, my OS is SLES 9.3. First thing to do is to download Oracle Instant Client version 10 to match the expected version from;

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/htdocs/linuxsoft.html

It is recommended to download .gz version than .rpm version since the .gz version is quite easy to be extracted. My case, I accidentally downloaded the .rpm version. So to extract it need special rpm2cpio command as below.

normuser@MYSERVER:~/OC> ls -al
total 32048
drwxr-xr-x   2 normuser normgroup      112 2008-08-12 13:03 ./
drwxr-xr-x  13 normuser normgroup      784 2008-08-12 13:03 ../
-rw-r--r--   1 normuser normgroup 32782200 2008-08-12 12:55 oracle-instantclient-basic-10.2.0.4-1.i386.rpm

normuser@MYSERVER:~/OC> rpm2cpio oracle-instantclient-basic-10.2.0.4-1.i386.rpm | cpio -idv
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/bin/genezi
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib/libclntsh.so.10.1
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib/libnnz10.so
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib/libocci.so.10.1
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib/libociei.so
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib/libocijdbc10.so
./usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib/ojdbc14.jar

Now, copy all .so files into xampp lib directory named /opt/lampp/lib/.

MYSERVER:/apps/home/normuser/OC/usr/lib/oracle/10.2.0.4/client/lib # cp * /opt/lampp/lib/

Next is to issue the lampp oci8 command by telling the program that the expected libs are at /opt/lampp/lib/ as root since xampp is under root.

MYSERVER:/opt/lampp # ./lampp oci8
Please enter the path to your Oracle or Instant Client installation:
[/opt/oracle] /opt/lampp/lib
installing symlink...
patching php.ini...
OCI8 add-on activation likely successful.
XAMPP: Stopping Apache with SSL...
XAMPP: Starting Apache with SSL (and PHP5)...

Now you can test your connection with some PHP example code from
http://www.php.net/oci8

Web Based HTTP management GUI

2008-07-05T19:32:00.002+08:00

When receiving a call from friend ask your help on "Hey! how do I open my ADSL modem Web Based HTTP management GUI?" and your answer "Oh! Go to command prompt and then type ipconfig or route PRINT and hit enter. Copy the gateway IP address in xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx format, Paste it at your Internet browser URL bar and hit enter" Suddenly he/she might ask you back, "What is command prompt?" or "How does IP address looks like?" or "I enter ipconfig at the command prompt but I get this response ip is not recognized as an internal or external command what went wrong?" (Maybe he/she type "ip config" with space instead of "ipconfig").

Then you should consider pass him/her below script. Script below automates process above so with a double click he/she could open the Web Based HTTP management GUI with default Internet browser.

Option Explicit

Dim oShell
Dim oShellExec
Dim oStdOutputText, sText, strTarget, strPingResults

Set oShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")

Set oShellExec = oShell.Exec("%comspec% /c route print")
set oStdOutputText = oShellExec.StdOut

Do While Not oStdOutputText.AtEndOfStream
   sText = oStdOutputText.ReadLine
   If InStr(sText, "Default Gateway") <> 0 Then
      strTarget = split(sText,":")
      exit do
   End If
Loop

Set oShellExec = oShell.Exec("%comspec% /c ping -n 1 " & strTarget(1))
strPingResults = LCase(oShellExec.StdOut.ReadAll)

If InStr(strPingResults, "reply from") Then
   Set oShellExec = oShell.Exec("%comspec% /c start http://" & trim(strTarget(1)))
Else
   WScript.Echo "******** Local router is DOWN ********"
End If

Set oShellExec = Nothing

Copy and paste above codes into notepad and name it as open_modem_gui.vbs. Note that the extension must be *.vbs.

IF he/she asked you "Hey it prompts for password now. How?" just ask him/her to refer to the ADSL modem user manual.

MS Outlook icon recovery

2008-04-15T20:13:00.004+08:00

Need to recover accidentally deleted MS Outlook icon from desktop? Open Registry Editor, go to;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Desktop > NameSpace

Add new key to folder NameSpace and paste code below as the key name;

{00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

Now refresh your desktop

Recreate Show Desktop Icon

2008-02-20T19:12:00.005+08:00

Show Desktop icon near the Windows XP start button is used to minimize all active windows. The icon/button is located on your Quick Launch bar. This Quick Launch bar folder location is at %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.

Sometimes, people accidentally deleted this icon. To recover this icon/button, you can try to;

Copy the icon from other users %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch folder.

Copy the icon from others machine with Windows XP that still have it on the same location.

Search the icon entire drive for Show Desktop file (*.scf extension)

Search the icon in i386 folder from Windows XP installer CD or DVD.

Create a new icon/button.

I would recommend to create a new Show Desktop icon with some simple step. Just open your notepad and create a new file called Show Desktop.scf with contents below.

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Remember to save the file with .scf extension. If everything goes well, the file icon should appear as below automatically.

Automatic Completion with a Command Prompt in Windows

2008-02-19T20:03:00.005+08:00

UNIX like auto complete is now available on Windows. I believe it is available since Windows 2000. Some versions of Windows do not turn this on by default. It is very useful whenever you are working with a very long file or folder name. Example;

You have a long folder name and you want to change directory into it. Just type cd m and hit TAB key should complete the long folder name automatically for you as below;

Useful isn’t it? To enable this feature, open the regedit and add "CompletionChar"=dword:00000009 to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor] as below;

From screenshot above, CompletionChar is set to 0x9, that is the TAB key. If you want to customize you own choice of key, you might want to try 0x4 for Control+D or 0x6 for Control+F. For more info please visit
Microsoft - Help & Support.

Windows XP Hidden User Accounts Interface (control userpasswords2)

2008-02-14T23:11:00.009+08:00

Having more than one person using your computer? If you do, you can create user accounts for everyone so that they can customize their favorites, colors, wallpaper, and private files. Default ‘Windows XP User Accounts’.

Sometimes you might need to fine tune the user accounts. You can do this with a hidden ‘User Account 2’ interface by running control userpasswords2.

This ‘Windows 2000’ style ‘User Accounts’ might be useful for those users that are very familiar with Windows 2000.

So, now you might want to add this shortcut permanently to the ‘Control Panel’. The only way is to add some lines into the 'Windows Registry'.

It is recommended to use *.reg script below to add ‘User Accounts 2’ shortcut to your control panel rather than entering it manually. Copy lines below to a new file and called add_ua2.reg. Note that the extension must be reg. Just right click the file and Merge it. Your computer must be restarted for these to take effect.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}]
@="User Accounts 2"
"InfoTip"="Starts The Windows 2000 style User Accounts dialog"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\DefaultIcon]
@="%SystemRoot%\\\\System32\\\\nusrmgr.cpl,1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell\Open\command]
@="Control Userpasswords2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}]
"Default"="Add Userpasswords2 to Control Panel"

Just incase you don’t like it, you can also remove it using *.reg file below. Copy lines below to a new file and called delete_ua2.reg. Note that the extension must be reg. Just right click the file and Merge it. Your computer must be restarted for these to take effect.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\DefaultIcon]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell\Open\command]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{18646F66-8C25-0000-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}]

JDK vs JRE vs J2SE vs J2EE vs J2ME ?

2008-01-30T20:55:00.000+08:00

Which Java should I download? Can I just download the minimum small file size Java? Well, it depend on what are you need it for. Below explains;

JDK = Java Development Kit
Contains all of the software needed to compile Java source files (.java) into bytecode (.class)

JRE = Java Runtime Environment
Software needed to run the bytecode.

The JRE does come with the JDK. So, if you just want to run Java program, downloading JRE will do. The JRE installer is about 15MB while the JDK installer is about 55MB.

Quick introduction about Java? Read here.

J2SE = Java 2 Standard Edition
JDK + JRE, Java development package.

J2EE = Java 2 Enterprise Edition
JDK + JRE, advance Java development package.

J2ME = Java 2 Micro Edition
JDK + JRE, for handheld devices (cellular phones, palmtops etc.)

Quick way to know your Java version? Type java –version on your dos or shell prompt.

Java version example on WinXP command prompt

Java version example on Solaris 10 shell through PuTTY

More Java version checking methods can be found here

NetMeeting on Windows XP

2008-01-29T18:34:00.000+08:00

Wondering on how to install NetMeeting on Windows XP? Actually, you don’t have to. Just type conf on the command prompt or Start > Run > conf and hit enter.

Removing and disabling the thumb.db file in Windows

2008-01-24T22:08:00.000+08:00

When displaying files as thumbnails in explorer, a file called thumbs.db will be created automatically by Windows. It help user to view folders and pictures in the thumbnail view much faster since it stores the images. Although the file is small, it may take up a large amount of space soon. It is safe to delete this file but if you would like to stop Windows from creating them again, you can disable it by doing;

From explorer toolbar, Tools > Folder Options, go to the View tab, tick Do not cache thumbnails.

Reading Text File Using 'schema.ini' & OLEDB

2008-01-16T20:17:00.000+08:00

Reading data structured text file can be tedious. Maybe some splitting ,array creation, filtering or trimming involved. Example, if you have a dataset like below...

File my_txt_db.txt content

WORD|LENGTH|DATE
LOREM|5|03/07/08
IPSUM|5|02/16/08
DOLOR|5|04/19/08
SIT|3|04/16/08
AMET|4|04/01/08
CONSECTETUER|12|04/01/08
ADIPISCING|10|04/17/08
ELIT|4|02/02/08
DONEC|5|01/23/08
ID|2|03/19/08
PEDE|4|03/15/08
FUSCE|5|03/11/08
QUIS|4|04/10/08
MI|2|04/02/08
VESTIBULUM|10|02/20/08
ALIQUET|7|03/28/08
ALIQUAM|7|04/09/08
ERAT|4|01/31/08
VOLUTPAT|8|01/22/08
SED|3|04/23/08

The easiest way is to use OLEDB + Text driver named schema.ini.
By doing this, the data can be pulled using SQL statement which is easy to manipulate. The format of the text file is being determined by schema.ini.

schema.ini content

[my_txt_db.txt]
ColNameHeader=True
Format=Delimited(|)
MaxScanRows=0
CharacterSet=OEM
Col1=WORD Char
Col2=LENGTH Integer
Col3=DATE Date

The schema file name is fixed to schema.ini and it must be in the same directory as the text data source. Detail on this can be found here. You may use VBS example below to test the scripting.

vbs_test.vbs content

Option Explicit
Dim conn, rs

Call INIT_CONN()
Call MSGBOX_DATA()
Call END_CONN()

Function MSGBOX_DATA()
   Dim SQL, MSG_BOX_STR
   SQL = "select * from my_txt_db.txt"
   rs.Open SQL, conn
   rs.movefirst
   if not (rs.eof and rs.bof) then
   while not rs.eof
      MSG_BOX_STR = "Word = "& rs("WORD") & chr(13)
      MSG_BOX_STR = MSG_BOX_STR & "Length = "& rs("LENGTH") & chr(13)
      MSG_BOX_STR = MSG_BOX_STR & "Date = "& rs("DATE")
      msgbox MSG_BOX_STR
      rs.movenext
   wend
   end if
   rs.Close
End Function

Function INIT_CONN()
   Set conn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
   Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
   conn.Open "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
             "Data Source=.;" & _
             "Extended Properties=""text;HDR=YES;FMT=Delimited"""
End Function

Function END_CONN()
   conn.close
   Set rs = Nothing
   Set conn = Nothing
End Function

Just create these 3 files, place it in the same directory and run the VBS for testing.

Simple Javascript + Meta Refresh Auto-Refresh with Countdown

2008-01-15T22:31:00.003+08:00

Below are the example of a simple auto-refresh webpage using meta refresh and javascript. Meta refresh is a method of instructing a browser to automatically refresh the web page with a given time (second). While javascript is used to make the counter running.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>Hello!</title>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10" />
</head>
<body>
<h2>Auto-Refresh in <span id="CDTimer">???</span> secs.</h2> 
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
/*<![CDATA[*/
var TimerVal = 10;
var TimerSPan = document.getElementById("CDTimer");
function CountDown(){
   setTimeout( "CountDown()", 1000 );
   TimerSPan.innerHTML=TimerVal;
   TimerVal=TimerVal-1;
   if (TimerVal<0) { TimerVal=0 } //improvement by vivalibre, tq}CountDown()/*]]>*/</script></body></html>

Just make sure both bold value is same, 10 for example.

Windows 98 / ME / 2000 Thumbnail View Fix

2008-01-14T20:57:00.004+08:00

If you are still using Windows 98 / ME / 2000 and found out that explorer image thumbnails is not working, this is probably because of a third party image program changing file type association. To fix this, type regedit at the command prompt and hit enter. Click here to learn more about REGEDIT. Enter this value;

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.png\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}] @="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"
This is to enable thumbnail view for .png extension. How about other file types? Repeat adding it like below, like jpg for example;
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}] @="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"
If you want to do it all file types with, copy code below to a file and name it as my_thumbnail_view_fix.reg (extension must be .reg). Then right click > Merge the file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpe\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpeg\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.gif\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.png\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tif\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tiff\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"

This will fix most of the thumbnail viewable file types.

Copy FLV file from Firefox cache

2008-01-13T20:43:00.004+08:00

After watching a video from Youtube, you may want to save the video file into your local for future offline playing. To download them, you can use many available softwares / add-ons from the net. The thing is, the software will reinitiate the download procedure and you need to wait again for it to complete. If you are using Firefox, you could by pass this by copy the FLV directly from Firefox cache. Firefox cache located at;

C:\Documents and Settings\YourLogin\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\cdvfbg12.default\Cache

Or

%AppData%\..\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ cdvfbg12.default\Cache

The method is to open explorer and go to cache folder like mentioned above. Note that ‘YourLogin’ is your windows local login name and ‘cdvfbg12’ is randomized folder name. It may not be the same like your PC. Look, nothing much here.

Now watch full Youtube video in Firefox browser. Do not close your browser yet after that. Back to the cache folder, refresh it using F5 key and now you can see some new large file created in the folder. Sort by date modified for better visibility.

Copy it somewhere and rename it to *.flv . Now you may play the FLV using a favorite player.

Active Directory in Windows XP

2008-01-11T19:15:00.000+08:00

Windows 2000 users can easily browse Active Directory by opening My Network Places > Entire Network. But this active directory browsing is disabled by design under Windows XP. To have this feature in Windows XP, simply copy "dsfolder.dll" from Windows 2000 (sp2 or higher) "%WINDIR%\system32" to Windows XP "%WINDIR%\system32". After that, use "regsvr32" command-line tool to register the dll by entering "regsvr32 dsfolder.dll" at the command prompt. Now you will be able to see the Active Directory icon whenever you go to My Network Places > Entire Network. Hard to find Windows 2000? Read here.

Microsoft Office 2007 - Office Open XML

2008-01-09T20:19:00.000+08:00

When somebody came to you and ask "I cannot seem to open files with .pptx extensions. Can you?"

.pptx is the new Microsoft Office 2007 - Office Open XML format for PowerPoint presentations. Microsoft Office 2007 uses a new Office Open XML format that is not understood by previous versions of the software. For Microsoft Office XP and 2003 users, you may overcome this incompatibility by installing the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. After updating,
you may test your software with sample Open XML documents provided by openxmldeveloper.org. Anyway, it is recommended for users to install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.

If you don't really like this new format, you might consider to sign a petition of "NO to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard", please visit http://www.noooxml.org/petition.