Creating a New Logo for a New Theme

2 Replies

I have been using this Green Park theme for several months now. Even though it looks good on Firefox, it doesn’t on IE 6. The theme has not been updated since 2007. I was searching for a better and up to date theme for a while. Finally, I picked this theme called PrimePress.

As you can see my old green kombitz logo doesn’t match the new theme. I had to redo the logo again. The design is the same as the old logo, only the colors have changed. If you are wondering how I created the logo, here is the tutorial I have been using. This is a great tutorial showing you how to use the free GIMP tool to create a Web 2.0 logo. I have no problems with the steps except the Step 12. To achieve the effect, I used FG to Transparent gradient and I applied the blend tool to the reflection layer from top to bottom. BTW, the font is 64 points, Bauhaus 93.

Notes about Sychronizing iPhone and Oracle Calendar using NotifyLink

Leave a reply

My work place uses Oracle Calendar for enterprise calendar. It doesn’t have a client for iPhone.  One solution is to use a 3rd party tool called NotifyLink. NotifyLink integrates enterprise email and calendar. You configure the NotifyLink server as a MS Exchange server on iPhone. The company’s web site is here for those who are interested in the technology.

I recently helped a user to setup his iPhone to synchronize Oracle Calendar using NotifyLink. There are some strange issues that I found. The first is the password issues. You have your original email password, calendar password. You also has passwords related to NotifyLink. I found that if any of these passwords starts with a number or a special character, the synchronization is not working. In other words, every password should start with a letter.

The second issue is synchronizing with multiple devices. NotifyLink is designed for syncing a single device at a time. I first tested my user’s account on my iPhone and it worked perfectly. When I tested the same setup on my user’s iPhone, it just did not work. I found that you have to unregister the previous device in order to set it up on a new device. To do it, log on to NotifyLink’s web client.  Expand General and click on Device. Click on Clear Registration to unregister your old device.

How to Uninstall U3 from USB Flash Drive

8 Replies

I just received the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive that I ordered last week. It’s a nice 8 GB USB flash drive with a retractable USB connector. I ordered it when it’s on sale for about $15.00.

When I first plugged it in, I noticed that this flash drive is U3 enabled. If you have not heard about U3, it’s a set of programs that let you install programs onto the flash drive. I first tried U3 out a few years ago and I didn’t like it. I was going to give it another try and see if it has improved over the years.

It took a while to download the programs to the flash drive. However, after the programs downloaded to the flash drive, the lauchpad program started to freeze. To my dissapointment, I looked for ways to uninstall it. I was going to use the disk management to reformat the drive, but the drive has a read only partition that I cannot remove. I looked for the utility to remove the read-only partition and it turned out the uninstall program is on the flash drive. Here are the steps.

  1. Run the launchpad program.
  2. Double click on the icon to open up the main windows.
  3. Click on Settings and the U3 Launchpad Settings.
    u3settings
  4. Click on Uninstall tab on the side and then Uninstall U3 Launchpad. Before you do this, make sure all the programs on the flash have been closed and all the explorer windows are closed, too.
    u3uninstall

After uninstallation, the drive has only one partition. The pesky ready only partition with U3 program is gone.

Startup Repair on Windows 7

Leave a reply

I was trying out Cisco VPN client on Windows 7 Beta this morning. After installation, I rebooted the computer and got my second BSOD. When I first got my Windows 7 BSOD, I learned that the system reboots automatically whenever it crashes. I have turned off automatic reboots for this computer, therefore, I was able to take a picture of the BSOD this time.

bsod2

Usually, I have to analize the memory dump and determine what’s wrong with it. The cause is apprently due to the Cisco VPN client, so the memory dump analysis is not necessary. What I need to do is boot to safe mode and somehow uninstall the VPN client or do a system restore.

Before I performed the steps to repair my Windows 7 Beta installation, I found an option called “Launch Starup Repair”(I didn’t get to take a picture, so the actual wording might be different) during bootup. I was curious to see if the OS is smart enought to repair itself automatically, so I picked the option to begin Startup Repair. After a few moments, the system decided to do a System Restore. I clicked on Yes to let it go on.

w7-startuprepair

The system then started System Restore process. Few minutes later, my machine booted up normally again. I am very impressed by it. This feature repairs the OS automatically without much technical expertise. I’d say this is the right direction of the OS. On Vista, you have to install Starup Repair onto your hard drive or use the installation disc to use it. For most users, they don’t have the installation disc and not everone knows how to boot your machine using a installation disc either. On Vista 7 Beta, the feature is installed by default.

Popular Netbooks Comparison

Leave a reply

Over the holiday season, I helped my users to pick laptops. To my surprise, those so-called netbooks have occupied the top spots of the best selling list. I have complied a list of several popular netbooks running Windows XP.

Brand Acer Asus Samsung HP MSI
Model

Aspire One

Eee PC 1000HA

NC10-14GB

1035NR

U100-432US
Display Size 8.9 10 10.2 10.2 10
Resolution 1024×600 1024×600 1024×600 1024×600 1024×600
Weight (lb) 2.2 3.2 2.8 2.38 2.6
Processor 1.6 GHz Atom N270 1.6 GHz Atom N270 1.6 GHz Atom N270 1.6 GHz Atom N270 1.6 GHz Atom N270
RAM 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB
Storage Type HDD HDD HDD HDD HDD
Storage Size 160 GB 160 GB 160 GB 60 GB 160 GB
Battery 6 Cell 6 Cell 6 Cell 3 Cell 6 Cell
USB Ports 3 3 3 2 3
Camera 1.3 M 1.3 M 1.3 M Unknown 1.3 M
Street Price $380 $390 $460 $450 $430

If you look at all the models available on the market, you can see a lot of variations. However, the popular models are similar in spec. They typically have the Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, and 1.3 M camera. You can not go wrong with any model listed here.

One thing to note is these netbooks have a smaller keyboard and trackpad. Before you buy one, you might want to try one at your local retailer and see if you can live with them.

My First Windows 7 Beta BSOD and How to Analyze It

Leave a reply

While I was testing out Homegroup using a newly installed Dimension 8300, I got my first BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) of Windows 7 Beta. Unfortunately, the system rebooted automatically by default, I was not able to take a screenshot. There is one thing strange about the memory dump. The advance system settings shows that the memory dump file is saved as C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP by default. However, I couldn’t find the dump file. Instead, I found the file is created under C:\Windows\Minidump. Maybe it’s just a bug, but anyway, if you cannot find the file under Windows, try the Minidump subfolder.

I was wondering if the old way of analyzing memory dump still works, so I tried it and it did work. Here are the steps.

  1. Download and install the Debugging Tools for Windows from this link. My installation is a 32bit one, so I downloaded the 32 bit version 6.10.3.233.
  2. Download and extract the debugging wizard (debugwiz.exe) from Windows BBS. There is a note on the site saying this tool does not work properly with Vista 64 bit. My guess is it probably does not work with Windows 7, either.
  3. The debug wizard relies on a registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\DebuggingTools to find the binary files for the debugging tools. This key is not generated by the debugging tools installer any more. You have to enter the key manually using regedit.exe .
    debugreg
    Otherwise, you can just merge this registry file.
  4. Right click on the debugwiz.exe extracted in step 2 and select Run as administrator.
  5. Click on the Browse button and pick the memory dump file.
  6. There is one more step before you try to generate the analysis log. The Command String is not correct. Check the Advanced checkbox and change the string from c:tempdebuglog.txt to c:debuglog.txt .
    debugwiz
  7. Click on Generate log and the analysis log will be generated and saved in c:debuglog.txt .

Ok, you now have a analysis log, but it’s filled with jargons. What can you do? I usually only look for the line that starts with “Probably caused by”. In this case, the acutal line is

Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MiFindNodeOrParent+5 )

I know then the cause is probably due to bad memory module. On most cases, it’s usually a system file or a driver. You have to find the proper update for the offending file or uninstall the software which uses that file to fix your system.

Microphone Problem under Windows 7 and Vista

98 Replies

After I installed the Realtek audio driver on my MacBook under Windows 7 Beta, I could hear music just fine. However, I found that I could not record anything through the microphone. I checked my other MacBook under Vista, and the microphone didn’t work, either. I checked another laptop with Windows 7 Beta, and still, the microphone did not work. I then realized that none of the built-in microphones under Vista and Windows 7 Beta worked.

Some tweaking about the microphone properties got it to work. Here are the steps:

  1. Click on Start (the Windows icon) and type sound.
    w7-sound
  2. Click on Sound under Control Panel.
  3. Click on Recording tab. Select Microphone and click on Properties.
    w7-sound-2
  4. Click on Levels tab. The default Microphone Boost is set to 0. Increase it.
    w7-sound-3

Close all the dialog boxes, and the microphone will be ready for use.

[Note: Not all drivers have this settings. I have tested this on Realtek and Sigmatel drivers]