Digital Impulses

Mark Russinovich speaks about Windows security and the future of Windows

Windows Geek?

Very good stuff found here:

Interview with Mark Russinovich: the future of Sysinternals, Security, Windows

Setting up an iPod for Isa

So the evening after work today was consumed entirely by going to Best Buy with my sister, buying her a set of speakers, going to her house, installing the speakers and then getting to work on setting up her brand new green iPod Nano.

Installing iTunes 7.7: NOT
The first snag I encountered was that my sister's PC is horribly put-of-date in terms of MS security patches and service packs and was still running XP SP1.  So, the iTunes install failed immediately because it needs for XP to be running a minimum of SP 2.

Getting Windows XP Service Pack 2
Upon hitting the MS Windows Update web site, I was informed that my sister's copy of Windows XP was "not genuine* and thus Service Pack 2 could NOT be installed. I was then offered a link to a web site where I could purchase a *valid* Product key for $149.00 instead of the regular $299.00 that MS charges for a retail, boxed copy of Windows XP Pro.

I clicked on the link, filled out the form, provided a CC and purchased the valid Product key.  Once the transaction was authorized, I was re-directed to a web site where a tiny applet was downloaded and installed on the computer that upgraded or "legalized" the copy of XP Pro currently installed on my sister's PC.

Once all of that was done (MS will be shipping me a CD of Windows XP Pro SP2 for the cost of the product key I just bought, btw), a reboot of the computer followed by once again visiting the MS Windows Update web site allowed me to being the process of downloading and installing Service Pack 2.  about 15 minutes and 75 MB later, the download finished and the process of updating XP to SP 2 began.

That took another long while but eventually finished without incident.  Of course, REBOOT YET AGAIN, and this time i was able to launch the install of iTunes (+ QuickTime, of course) 7.7

Installing iTunes 7.7: Yes!
This time, the install of iTunes proceeded without a hitch and all was well with the world.  Once the install completed, it trundled for a little while and then was ready to be used.  I created an account for my sister at the iTunes music store and then gave her a quick demo / tutorial of using the iTunes music store.

Connecting her iPod Nano
Once iTunes was ready, I connected up her Nano and it was recognized without a hitch. iTunes synced it up nicely and my sister was able to listen to the demo songs that were put on her Nano by iTunes.  From there it was just a matter of ripping a couple of my sister's music CD's to her PC so that iTunes could put some more content on her Nano for her.

All in all, it was a long and boring and (expensive) process, but my sister now has a modern MP3 player that I think she is going to get a lot of pleasure out of.

Good for her.

Re-instaling Vista: Using the SP1 DVD I got at the Microsoft HHH Global Launch Event

I just finished re-installing Vista on my main production machine in my office.  It took about 30 minutes and I just now started poking around the interface and desktop,

Depressingly enough, the two items I was having an issue with in the Device Manager are *still* causing problems, andf Vista appears to not know what to do with them.  I was holding out hope that since this version of Windows that I installed includes SP!, that it would have drivers for those two devices.

Sigh.

We'll see in the coming days how the machine handles and what I can do to resolve these problems.  Considering all of the issues I have had with the front USB ports on this box, I suspect that I have motherboard issues that Vista is not going to be able to fix.

I need a new computer.  And this time, I am going to go strictly OEM.  I am tired of the issues involved with building your own box.  It will be either a Dell or an HP, and as soon as I get it in the door and plugged in, I intend to strip down the hard drive to bare metal and re-install Vista myself, thereby ridding myself of any crapware that might have been included.

Interesting times lie ahead, most definitely.

Impossibly Busy Wednesday: Beyond Tired

Microsoft HHH Event
Attended the Microsoft Global Launch event entitled "Heroes Happen Here" for Windows Server 2008. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 & Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

It was hot, crowded and bothersome.  The keynote speech was great with Tom Browkaw and Steve Ballmer sharing Keynoter duties and showing us a whole bunch of case study videos on the use of the new software.  Lines were 20 minutes long everywhere and I basically went just for the free software that I received for filling out a survey about the conference.

Visit to Rojas Inc for Purple Dell install
After the Microsoft event, I drove over to the factory to deliver the purple Dell to Bert.  We installed it and were strategizing about where to put it, when Miguel Insua from Insua Graphics showed up and took Bert away for like the next 30 minutes.

I got tired of waiting for Bert, so eventually I went outside told him I would just be going home.

Picking up the Corvette from Champion Chevrolet & Returning the Kia Rondo to Enterprise
After coming home from Rojas Inc., AJ and I went to pick up my Corvette from Champion Chevrolet ($261.00 in repairs this time around) and then drove over to Enterprise Rent-A-Car near LAX to return the Kia Rondo that I had rented the weekend before ($384 for 4 days).  All of that proceeded smoothly and we were home well before 1800.

Letter creation for Aldo:  Isa stops by to sign letter
I then fell into crazy letter creation mode, getting letters of support for Aldo ready to sign for Mom and for Isa.  Isa stopped by and signed Aldo's letter and I got Mom's letter worked out also.

Visit to Ritz Camera to look at lenses
Before heading over to Mom's I stopped by Ritz camera and looked at some lenses for my Nikon D40.  I am considering a 55mm to 200mm Telephoto lens that  retails for $249.00 plus tax and I also looked at a very nice Macro lens that retails for like $430.  I am pretty sure I will be picking up the 200mm Telephoto as soon as I learn more about what these lenses do.

Getting water for mom from Food 4 Less and a visit to Mom’s
Before stopping at Mom's for a visit, I stopped in at Food 4 Less and bought 3 cases of Spring! bottled water for her.  I then went home and AJ gave me a ride to her house where she signed Aldo's letter and we had a pleasant visit of watching TV and general overall chit-chat.

Microsoft makes bid to buy Yahoo! outright

The tech industry and the blogosphere 'echo chamber' are ablaze today with the news that Microsoft has made an 'unsolicited' (according to Yahoo!) offer to buy Yahoo! for nearly 45 Billion dollars in stock and cash.

According to the news, Microsoft's offer represents a 62% premium over the current price of Yahoo stock shares.

Here is Microsoft's letter to Yahoo!

Below are links to reactions around the Web:

• Tim O'Reilly
• Yahoo!
• Robert Scoble
• TechCrunch
• API

The way I see it, this may very well be the opening salvo in a long and protracted period of consolidation in the Tech industry as the giants jostle for position amid fears of a looming recession coupled with the uncertainty of the Presidential elections being just around the corner in November.

Needless to say, 2008 should be a very interesting year in which to watch how the Social Media/Web 2.0 crowd disentangles itself.

New Keyboard and Mouse for my Mac Mini

I just finished installing the Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop for the Mac that I purchased earlier today with the gift cards that I got from my mom and sister for my birthday.

I drove to the Apple store in Manhattan Beach after work and after some looking around, I determined that this keyboard and mouse combo was just what I needed, since I have really never liked the "Mighty Mouse" that I got with my Mac Mini last December.

I can tell right away that I am going to be much, much happier and productive with this new optical mouse than I was with the Apple Mighty Mouse.

I have to admit that I found myself rolling over to my Windows machine whenever a long session of typing or web surfing was called for because I simply did not look forward to navigating with Apple's mouse.  I should have made this move a long time ago.

10 months of being uncomfortable on my Mac was retarded.  Now I know for next time.

Outfitting a UStream.TV mobile setup

This afternoon after work, I stopped by Staples and picked up a Microsoft Lifecam NX-6000 webcam for my personal laptop to use in further experimentation with UStream.tv.

It was a cinch to install and configure and I was able to start using immediately.  For $108.23 (Incld. tax), I now have the ability to stream any event or situation I am in, assuming I have some kind of connection to the Internet.

Next up to complete my live streaming mobile setup will be a 3G Wifi PC Card from Cingular that allows a connection to the Internet wherever my cellphone has a signal.

Microsoft: Launch Across America

Took a day off from work today to attend an 'IT Pro Track' Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 System launch in Anaheim, CA.

The main lure to trudge the 35 miles out to Orange County in the rain and fog was the FREE copy of Office 2007 Professional and Microsoft Office Groove that we got just for attending the 4 hour session. As it was, they started handing out the copies of Office 2007 at the 11:00 AM break, so I was able to scoot out of there early and het a jump on the traffic.

They presenter was nice and funny enough to avoid total stupor, but he did seem a little ill prepared.  Regardless, the info presented was good to file away for later.

At 13:31, I am sitting at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Manhattan Beach using the AT&T WiFi connection ($3.95 for 2 hours) to blog about the event I attended.

It was a good day today.  :>)

Installing Windows Vista on a 3-year Laptop: A Wasted effort

So this evening, while watching TV at my mom's house, I decided to see what Windows Vista would be like running on a 3-year old Fujitsu E2010 laptop purchased in June of 2004 from notebookshop.com in Cerritos, CA.

First, the hardware specs of this Laptop:

• Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.0GHz (with SpeedStep® Technology)
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• 1 GB DDR266 RAM
• 30 GB Hard Disk (Ultra DMA/100 and S.M.A.R.T. Support)
• 14" XGA TFT Color screen (Max resolution: 1024x768)
• Internal ATI Graphics, 32/64/128 MB selectable with 3D graphics Accelerator and MPEG-2 Support (for DVD)
• Internal Speakers (Stereo)
• Integrated V.90 modem & 10/100 Base-T LAN
• 802.11b Wi-Fi compliant module (Optional)
• CD-R/RW Drive (Swappable device bay)
• External USB FDD (bundled)
• IrDA 1.1 (Max 4Mbps)
• Up to 2.7* hours (Standard Battery Pack Li-Ion 14.4V 3800 mAH)
• Approximately 2.65kg (with Weight Saver)

According to the Windows System Assessment Tool, the laptop was rated a "1.0" on a scale of 1 - 5, because of the low-end, integrated graphics.  Microsoft was not kidding when they stated that Windows Vista requires a high-end graphics card in order to run Aero, the new GUI included in all versions of Windows Vista except for the Home basic edition.

Regardless, I really wanted to demonstrate Windows Vista to a friend (although now, because of the sub-par graphic capabilities, one of the neater parts of the upgrade, the Aero interface, would not be present), so I trudged forward with the install and hoped for the best.

After inputting some basic information, I wiped my C: partition and proceeded to do a "clean install" of Windows Home Premium (Note: the install was performed via my Windows Vista Ultimate DVD; all versions are included on the DVD -- the version you are installing is determined by the product key that you provide).

Since I had not yet purchased a valid product key from Microsoft via their "Windows Vista Family Discount", I skipped the entering of a product key and did not activate Windows, as I figured that 30 days would be enough time to decide if I can live with Windows Vista on this under-powered notebook.

As was to be expected, Vista installed without issue and works fine for the most part, except for the fact that Aero is not present and thus most of the "eye candy" is therefore absent also. 

Games
Attempting to play any of the new games included with Windows Vista gets you a large pop-up box in the middle of the screen with a rather dire warning that graphics performance does not meet the minimum requirements and thus performance will suffer.

Conclusion
Graphics card strength is the single biggest factor affecting the performance of Windows Vista on any platform.  All in all, the machine runs well enough to be serviceable, but I am leaning towards popping Win XP Pro back on here as soon as my buddy is able to put what passes for Windows Vista on this notebook through its paces.

Installing Windows Vista: hardware glitches

Well.

My initial impressions of the Windows Vista Ultime install process are mixed.  Aside from issues with my Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Z2 sound card, the install proceeded seemlessly.  As detailed earlier this week on this blog, I bought a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 MCE Kit TV Tuner card and Vista did not see that card either, during the 1st install attempt.

Following is a detailed log of the Windows Vista install process:
(Note: This process lasted nearly 4 hours, not counting an hour taken out on a round trip to a local Barnes and Noble to purchase a Windows Vista book).

1. 18:10 Booted from the DVD
2. 18:12 1st GUi Screen
3. 18:15 Enter Product Key
4. 18:16 Accept License Agreement
5. 18:16 Choose Install Method (Custom accepted, Upgrade disabled).
6. 18:23 Delete all existing partitions and create a NEW 30GB primary partition
7. 18:24 Installing Windows (Copying files, Expanding Files, Installing features, Installing updates, Completing Installation).
8. 18:25 ~ 19:08 Break to go to Barnes and Noble to purchase "Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows Vista by Robert Cowart & Brian Knittle"
9. 19:11 Choose a Username and picture
10. 19:12 Type a computer name and choose a desktop background
11. 7:14 Help protect Windows automatically (Use recommended settings chosen).
12. 19:16 Review your time and date settings
13. 19:16 Select your computer's current location (Home chosen)
14. 19:17 Thank You (Start Button available)
    
    END OF INITIAL INSTALL PROCESS

POST-INSTALL - Initial Windows Vista bootup sequence

1. 19:18 Please wait while Windows checks your computer's performance
2. 19:23 Presented with initial desktop
3. 19:25 Reboot required to finish installing updates
4. 21:26 - 1st Vista Crash - Computer has frozen installing Drivers for the Creative SoundBlaster Audigy Z2 sound card. I will have to cycle the power. This is bad, because Windows Update was in the middle of installing updates for Vista in the background.
5. 21:31 Windows Error Recovery (Black and white screen) Defaulted to the 'Start Windows normally' option
6. 21:38 2nd Vista Crash - See 1st crash - same exact issue. Recycling the power once again...<(
7. 21:44 1st Non-Boot - PC did not complete the boot process after I hit the reset button after the 2nd Vista Crash. Doing a FULL POWER DOWN now...
8. 21:46: Chose "Last Known Good Configuration"
9. 21:54: 3rd Vista Crash - Same exact issue as Crashes # 1 and # 2. Froze while installing the Creative Drivers for the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS.  Power Cycling again...  Will try different drivers from the Creative Web site this time, as these are labeled "Sound Blaster Audigy Series Vista Beta Driver Web Release".

Well.  So much for that.  The Vista BETA driver for my sound card is the only offering on the Creative website. 

Tune in tomorrow as I attempt to move the hardware around to different PCI slots to see if Windows Vista has an easier time detecting the hardware.