Early in my career, I noticed an error when I rebooted a server, saying that one of the RAID drives had failed. The server was able to keep running, but the drive needed to be replaced, so one of my colleagues came over with a new one. The drive was hot-swappable, so he was quite […]
Category archives: Uncategorised
Fake virus warnings
Someone called me earlier, because she had a big virus warning on her screen. This was actually a hoax (a web page trying to install malware), and it’s useful to be aware of it so that you know what to recognise. I identified the website which was responsible, but it’s now been taken down. So, […]
SSL: Adding a SAN to a UCC
“Hey, witch doctor, give us the magic words!” (The Cartoons) One of my servers has an SSL certificate from GoDaddy. More specifically, this is a Unified Communications Certificate (UCC), so it can have up to 5 domain names. I originally registered 3 names, and I recently needed to add a 4th. The good news is […]
4 on demand
Someone contacted me because she was trying to watch 4od (Channel4 on demand), but she couldn’t get past the age restriction screen.
Disabling 16 bit applications in Windows
In January, someone at Google discovered a bug in Windows that had been there for 17 years. (This was reported at The Register, among other places.) Microsoft have now released a patch, as described in Security Bulletin MS10-015, so it’s no longer a problem. However, I think that the details are interesting, particularly if you […]
Online banking
In part 1 of my LUA series, I mentioned a virus that modified the HOSTS file on a PC. This meant that each time someone tried to connect to their banking website, they actually went to a fake website instead, even though they’d typed in the correct URL. This could also be a problem if […]
BlackBerry vs Exchange 2007
Exchange 2007 has a few options for remote access to email: you can use Outlook Web Access, or ActiveSync with a smartphone. In particular, it only takes a couple of minutes to configure an iPhone. However, yesterday it took me all day to get a BlackBerry working.
Ribbon Hero
Microsoft recently released Ribbon Hero. This is an add-in for Office 2007 and Office 2010, and the idea is to earn points by completing challenges (e.g. formatting a table). In the process, you’ll become familiar with the new user interface. The name is obviously inspired by “Guitar Hero”, but I think it’s unlikely that this […]
LUA part 5 (of 5): Related technologies
This post is part 5 of a series about using a limited (standard) account in Windows for everyday activities rather than logging in as a computer administrator all the time. (You may want to read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 before continuing.)
LUA part 4 (of 5): Changes in Windows Vista/7
This post is part 4 of a series about using a limited (standard) account in Windows for everyday activities rather than logging in as a computer administrator all the time. (You may want to read parts 1, 2, and 3 before continuing.) When Microsoft released Windows Vista, they introduced a new feature: User Account Control […]