Setting up an avatar for your WordPress blog

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Brian

I’m pretty new to WordPress; the older versions of this site used a custom application I wrote using .NET which I just didn’t have time to maintain anymore. I started porting over all my posts and comments and noticed it always shows my profile as the default “unknown” icon.

First step to fix this is to sign up here at Gravatar. You create a profile using your email as your unique identifier and upload the picture to use. After you do that, you can verify access which allows the blog to display this picture of you. You go to Edit My Profile > Verify Services, then pick “WordPress” and click add. Put your blog URL and the credentials to login and that will do it.

Just one last note: you’ll need to have XML RPC support enabled for this to work (you may have gotten an error in step above if it’s not enabled). You can enable support in WordPress under Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing. Here’s a link to a great article by Go Daddy that explains what enabling XML RPC support does.

Cisco VPN Client and Windows 8

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Brian

I upgraded to Windows 8 (from Windows 7) several months ago and one of the things that stopped working is the Cisco VPN client. As of this writing, the most recent version is 5.0.07.0440. This build installs properly but fails when you try to establish a connection. I found a solution wanted to share it since it’s been working great for over 3 months without an issue.

1) Close the VPN client, make sure it’s not running.
2) Open up regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CVirtA
3) Make a backup of this, just in case. Right click the CVirtA key in the explorer and export the settings for this key as a reg file.
4) Edit the DisplayName value, stripping off the characters until “%;”. For example…
For x64 you can change the value from something like “@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows” to “Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows”. For x86, you’ll change the value from something like “@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter” to “Cisco Systems VPN Adapter”.
5) Open the VPN client and try connecting again
6) If this doesn’t work, restore your original settings by double clicking the reg file you saved in step 3.

Special thanks to Raman-MSFT from this MSDN post for this solution!

Samsung PM830 SSD not recognized by SSD Magician

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Brian

I bought a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook in March with a 256GB SSD drive and I love this machine. The drive inside is a Samsung PM830 and it boots Windows 8 from scratch in less than 7 seconds (cold boot, this is not resuming sleep).

As a techie, I like maintaining my system and keeping it in order. Part of that involves making sure your disk performance is good. Everybody knows you aren’t supposed to defrag SSDs because it eats into the limited number of writes an SSD can make and also it won’t increase performance. SSDs don’t have moving parts; having the file operations sequential doesn’t seem to make a difference. I talked with my friend Bill and he mentioned a command called TRIM and recommended looking at the Samsung SSD utility which is called Samsung SSD Magician.

First thing I did was pull up a command prompt and see if I have TRIM enabled (starting with Windows 7, it should be enabled by default if you’re using an SSD). Here’s how you can check (NOTE: you’ll need to open the command line with admin privileges for these to work).
fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

Here’s how to interpret what that command outputs (taken from the fsutil documentation):

DisableDeleteNotify = 0 means Windows WILL send the TRIM command to the SSD when a file is deleted.
DisableDeleteNotify = 1 means Windows WILL NOT send the TRIM command to the SSD when a file is deleted.

On my machine, TRIM is enabled which is great. If it wasn’t and I wanted to enable it, here’s how you’d do that:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0

NOTE: If you wanted to disable it, you’d provide a 1 instead of a 0. I’d like credit this information to a post I found on the Corsair Product Forums.

From what I understand, TRIM increases write performance by enabling notifications (sent by the OS) that occur when files get deleted. Click here to read more about TRIM. Next, I went to the Samsung website and tried to download their utility. The website makes you provide a model number before you can download anything. I have no idea how to find this number; I’m guessing you’d have to physically look at the drive. After some searching, my best guess at the model number is MZ-7PC256B.

I downloaded and installed the SSD Magician program, which wouldn’t install properly in Windows 8. Not a problem- you can use compatibility mode and run it as Windows 7. That will let you complete the install and get the program up and running. When I launched the program up, it started to scan the drives. All of the sudden, I get a message box:
“No Samsung Brand SSD found in the system”

The utility still spits out a lot of information about the drive, it just won’t let you do anything (like performance optimizations, etc). Using the tool, I was able to find the firmware version for the drive (which surprised me, since I hadn’t thought about drives having firmware). The firmware version I have installed is:
CXM12D1Q

After some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t use this tool on an SSD that came pre-installed on a Dell. Other people investigating have hinted at Samsung providing a very similar version of the drive with a custom firmware, so that Dell can control upgrades to it’s firmware. Unfortunately by doing that, they also made the SSD Magician tool not recognize the drive. At that point, I gave up and uninstalled it.

Click here for information I’d recommend reading through if you’re frustrated like me (NOTE: the link is to a conversation that is several pages long, be sure to read through it all). In this post, somebody may have an inside connection to Dell and provides a link to a new version of firmware. This will let you flash from CXM12D1Q to CXM03D1T. The other users (rightly so) are skeptical about it, but the person does claim it increases performance slightly. I’d personally recommend NOT doing this upgrade, but feel free to roll the dice and try it out.

Executing commands when starting cmd.exe

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Brian

If you use the command prompt in Windows often, you might find it useful to setup a script to fire when it’s opened. Something similar to a bashrc file getting executed in Linux when you login. You can setup something like this using the registry.

Crack open regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor

Once here, you can add a value called AutoRun and provide the path to the script to run. For example, if you want to run C:\myScript.bat when the prompt is open, you’d create a new string value called AutoRun with a value of C:\myScript.bat

Click here for more information about cmd.exe

Benz on a budget

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Brian

Owning a Mercedes can be an expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. My goal with this post is to provide you with resources so that you can (hopefully) save yourself some cash. You don’t have to be rich to own a Benz.

Going to the dealership is always a great experience for me, but it can end up being really expensive. I’d recommend finding yourself a local trustworthy independent mechanic. If you’re not sure where to go, check with your local MBCA (Mercedes-Benz Club of America) section. If you’re in the Phoenix Arizona area, I’d like to recommend MB Motors in Phoenix.

I have my independent mechanic do jobs I don’t have the time, talent, or tools for. But I will try to do as much as I possibly can by myself. One of the most important parts of DIY is finding the parts. I only use and recommend genuine Mercedes-Benz parts. Sometimes buying parts at your local dealer can be expensive, so it’s good to shop around. Here’s an alternative you can use to that.

First, you should sign up for an account with EPC. It’s free:
http://epc.startekinfo.com/epc/welcome.jsp

Click on subscribe in the left menu. Read the agreement if you want, and click “I Agree”. EPC is free for North American cars. You’ll see the 365 day subscription for FREE. Put all your information in there, including the credit card. It won’t charge you anything, but they require a card for some reason. After you put everything in, click “Continue” at the bottom and be patient. It took me a few minutes to get a response. It seriously took about 5 minutes. But it did work. There’s a confirmation screen where you confirm the order (even though it’s free). Once you confirm it, you’ll get an email which has your new user ID.

To login to EPC, you’ll need to be on Microsoft Windows and you’ll also need to have Java installed. You can get the latest Java runtime (JRE) from here:
http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

So now you have Java installed, go ahead and log into EPC. When you do, you’ll see a link that says “Click here to launch EPCnet Online”. Go ahead and click that and then the Java program will launch. When I launched it for the first time, it was in German. If you have that problem too, use the menu and pick “Optionen -> Setup”. For Dialogsprache and Inhaltssprache, change them to Englisch and click OK.

Now you’re logged in and the program is open, drop your VIN into the field up there by Identification number. You can now search and get full diagrams for every single part on your car. Since you entered a VIN, the software should eliminate parts that aren’t compatible. Here’s an example search I did. The LEDs in my drivers side mirror are busted, so I picked the group “72 FRONT DOORS”, the subgroup “331 LEFT OUTSIDE REARVIEW MIRROR”. An exploded diagram now opens up and I can see the parts. For my particular part, the number is A 220 820 05 21.

Now that you have the part number, you can search for parts. My personal favorite is parts.com
http://www.parts.com/

On here, pick Mercedes on the left, then pick your year, then pick your model. You might have to pick the trim level if there are several types of your car (like my S430 is also offered in a 4MATIC version, so I have to pick the base model).

In the textbox there that says “Part # / Keyword Search” you can drop the part number in place. If the part number starts with an A, try stripping off that character. I’m not 100% positive, but I think Parts.com has it’s Mercedes orders fulfilled by Mercedes-Benz of Naperville. They’ve always given me great prices and the shipping has been pretty reasonable too.

If you’re weary about ordering from the internet, you can also take the part number you found in EPC and call up your local dealer. Their parts department will be able to order the part if it’s still in stock. However, parts.com can usually beat their prices by quite a bit. If you’re ok with waiting about a week, I’d highly recommend ordering online. If you do order parts from the dealer, please be aware that they give up to a 10% discount if you are an MBCA member. Show them your membership card and take advantage of the savings. This discount usually applies too for repairs at the dealer.

When it comes to doing the actual jobs (replacing the part, etc), there is a great resource online. These used to be distributed as Service Manual DVDs, but they’re all online in a system called Star TEKInfo.
http://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/

You can subscribe to this by the day, week, month, and year. Unlike EPC, this service does cost money. However, this service is seriously worth every penny. Compare it to when you go to a dealer; they use this exact system themselves but they charge you a shop fee of $125 dollars an hour. For that kind of money, you can just buy a week subscription and try to figure it out yourself

Windows Phone

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Brian

Not long after I wrote my last article about Tablet Computing, a really good Black Friday deal came up at the Microsoft Store. I headed over there and got two HTC Radar phones for free, both loaded with the Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) software. I had to cancel Verizon and switch to T-Mobile, but it was well worth it.

I can’t describe how great this phone is. It’s really changed the way I use computers; I end up using them a lot less. All the small tasks I would usually have to plop down in front of a PC to do can quickly be done from the phone. Facebook, emails, checking stocks, looking at website analytics. It has a great web browser and there are a decent amount of applications for it (including games).

I love how Windows Phone links together all of the information about your contacts. I can pull up someone and link all their info together by several accounts, like their Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Outlook, and then their Windows Live ID. The phone will fill in the contact’s picture automatically and then aggregate all of that person’s information on one screen. When you pull them up, you can see all their latest status updates (regardless of the network).

When I signed up for the phone, it came with two $25 dollar gift cards (one for each phone) that were good for the Microsoft Marketplace. I filled in the paperwork required for that and forgot about it. About two weeks later, my mailbox was stuffed with envelopes from Windows Phone. They must have messed up and I ended up getting $150 worth of gift cards! I’ve used this chance to buy a lot of different games and applications and see what there is out there to offer.

I personally think that Microsoft nailed it with this phone. To me, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before people eventually switch over to this (whether that happens or not is up for debate). If you read my blog, you might remember my “I hate cell phones” rant and you’d be glad to know that, as part of the switch from piece of crap feature phone to smart phone, I’ve also made sure to keep my etiquette. I don’t bust the phone out in meetings or while I’m talking to people.

Living with OCD and anxiety

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Brian

I’ve always had a hard time relaxing because my brain doesn’t know how to stop working. When I was younger, I could force myself to relax by having a few beers. This worked great for me as a teenager up and through college. I built up enough of a tolerance that I could slam a 12 pack in a 3 hour span and still write complex computer code. It got to a point where I was drinking almost every day. This obviously isn’t a great way to live your life and I ended up getting a DUI in 2005 (I wrote about that experience in a previous blog entry, “Life experience: Driving under the influence”). Part of the sentence given to me was attending counseling for a few months. After talking about alcohol for so many hours, drinking lost all of it’s appeal and no longer helped me relax.

Without a way to relax, my brain would keep spinning. It gets fixated and stuck on a subject for long periods of time, to the point where I feel physically ill. I would have an upset stomach and feel extremely fatigued all the time. I’d always feel tense and on-edge. These physical symptoms started to affect my social life. I would ditch events with my best friends because I didn’t feel good. Quite often I’d start feeling light headed out of nowhere and a few times I fainted. One day when I was working at Intel, I started having unbearable chest pains. The nurse came, checked me out, and called an ambulance for me. I really had to figure out what was happening to me. With all these physical issues, my brain is starting to second guess how I feel all the time, making the problem even worse.

In 2006, I spent a lot of time and money running tests at specialty doctors. I was diagnosed by one doctor as having Celiac disease, an allergy to gluten. I switched my diet and quit eating wheat and gluten products altogether for about a year and it did help. I lost weight and started to feel better. But the problem was still there. I got retested, this time taking a biopsy, and it turns out I didn’t have Celiac disease. I did barium tests, an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy. I had CAT scans, MRIs, just about every test in the book. The only diagnosis I got was IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). There was a gastrointestinal doctor I had saw and he told me straight up that the problem is in my head; there is no physical issue. I was insulted; what an idiot. I’m definitely not crazy.

Sometime in 2007, I flew up to Hillsboro Oregon one time for a 3 day business trip. I’ve been there a few times, my team was actually located there. I was working on a project with a few people and really needed the face time to finish the project. The first day was really great, I had a good time and we got some good work done. I was reviewing code with a few other folks and it was really nice to see them in person. The second day I made it about halfway through the day before I started to feel ill. I excused myself towards the end of the day and went back to the hotel.

I stayed in the room for a few hours, trying to sleep and relax, but this time I couldn’t handle it. Something is wrong with me. With all the tests I had done coming back with me being fine, the problem had to be in my head. That stupid doctor was right all along. This was hands down the hardest thing I’ve ever had to accept in my life. I felt like a weak piece of crap for not being able to beat this, especially considering how good my problem solving skills are. I had a break down that night and called my stepmom and let her know what was going on. I had no idea what to do with myself at this point. I ended up canceling my stay and leaving Hillsboro early the next morning.

When I got back home, I started seeking out mental health experts. I met with the first person who was available, a lady named Danielle. After a few visits she diagnosed me with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It was great having a name for the problem and a plan for how to treat it. The really horrible feelings I have been having were called panic attacks. These are seriously the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. You get pumped up with adrenaline, your muscles get all tense, you start hyperventilating. It got to the point where I was obsessing and getting scared about having panic attacks. What happens if I go out and meet with my friends and an attack happens? These attacks were happening several times a week, sometimes several times a day.

I got on medicine. It took a few weeks to kick in but I started to feel better. Much better. The thing I noticed the most after taking the medicine was that I started to feel extremely happy again. After living with this problem for almost 3 years without a way to relax, I was seriously suffering from depression. It’s weird admitting that because I didn’t feel sad or anything. I guess I just didn’t feel happy.

Every day since then, my life has gotten much better. Relaxing is much easier. Once I started taking that medicine, I started to feel like myself again. I started having feelings I hadn’t had in years. Things just kept getting better. I switched jobs and now I’m doing something that I love every day. I met a great girl and ended up getting married. I never pictured myself where I am today when I was struggling with those issues.

I still deal with the issue, it’s just nowhere near as bad as it was. As much as I’d like it to just go away, it hasn’t. Every day I take steps to get myself in better shape. There are good days and bad days. However, like any problem out there, once you know the root cause, it’s a lot easier to solve the problem. The hardest part through it all was knowing my thoughts were irrational but just not being able to make them stop. In my case, it was not even possible for my mind to overcome the issue. I had to get medicine to get my brain up and running again.

So that’s what I’ve been dealing with for the past few years. Feels really good to sit down and reflect on it. If you know me personally, you’ll know how I joke about being crazy. I’m not insane, but these are the issues I’ve been dealing with.

Tablet computing

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Brian

The iPad (and it’s competitors) at first seemed like a fad to me. Now I’m starting to think that they actually discovered a market that people didn’t know existed and it’s pretty clear now that tablets aren’t going away anytime soon. There have been a lot of times recently where I’ve been at home and I secretly wish I had a tablet to get comfortable and read websites with.

The amount of content available on the internet has really opened up a market for these tablets. Content on Wikipedia is living; it’s always being changed and updated. Then there’s the concept of getting news which is really subjective. You might consider “News” logging into Facebook and seeing what happened in your personal circle of friends; or maybe it’s checking CNN to see what’s new in the world. Media streaming is something that isn’t going away, whether it’s internet radio, video streaming like YouTube, or watching full length movies using Netflix.

Content is changing all the time. It almost doesn’t make sense to buy a hard copy of reference materials anymore when you can usually find a newer version online. Not only that, most of the online content is interactive to some degree; you read other people’s feedback about an article and engage in a debate. You can create your own internet content in the form of a blog post or simply a message on Twitter. If you find content is written in a language you can’t read, no problem; just run content through Google Translate.

I have no doubt that web sites are where the future will be. Right now, the web browsing experience is lacking, which is why Apple’s model of “Apps” has really taken off. With today’s technology, you simply can’t give the user the exact experience you want them to have with a website. Of course, I think that will change with HTML5 and newer technologies. Eventually, most content that’s being sold or marketed as an application could probably be done as a website.

Right now, tablets still are in that “Fad” phase. They’re new and exciting for a lot of people, to the point where it’s genuinely annoying. I get mad when I’m in a meeting and people are fiddling with their smart phone or their iPad. People seem to think that touch technology is the next big thing. It’s been around forever in the point of sale industry (think about when you’re at a restaurant). Touch screens are also pretty decent for self-checkout, like at the grocery store.

However, watching videos where people imagine everything in the future being touch screen driven is just ridiculous. I already have reservations about handling someone’s smart phone when I know they break it out on the toilet to play Tetris. Then there’s the fact that today’s PCs really meet the needs of most people pretty well. I sit at a desk and program computers for eight hours a day. Today’s keyboards work perfect; I’d feel like I’m taking a step backwards if I was forced to use a tablet and on-screen touch keyboard. Then there’s the gestures you can do on tablets, like turning a page, pinching to zoom in or out. How will any of that help you when you’re sitting down with TurboTax to file your taxes? If gaming is your thing, how exactly do you play a first person shooter on a tablet?

All that said, I still think that tablets are worthwhile. I’m not going to jump into this technology however until I can get a Microsoft Windows 8 tablet. Apple has done a great job of opening up the market, but I really think Microsoft will redefine it. I was an Apple user for years, but once I saw the support that Microsoft has for it’s developers I dumped my PowerMac 7200/90 and built a PC. Microsoft is a software company and they make world class software. Apple (in my opinion) is a hardware company. Steve Jobs was an amazing public speaker and got people so excited that they didn’t care that they’re buying almost the same device over and over again. Sit down and think about how many hardware models Apple has put out there. The first generation iPod plays songs just as well as the newest iPod touch. There isn’t anything revolutionary about the software they’re making; it’s all hardware.

Tablets can without a doubt replace most people’s personal computer usage. For most business situations you’re going to want to be sitting at a desk using a mouse and keyboard. The mouse and keyboard might not be as exciting as touch technology, but it’s more efficient. I’m really looking forward to Windows 8 and being able to use a tablet for laying in bed and reading internet content or writing small blog posts. Tablets could replace personal computers if there are good enough docking stations out there so you could use a mouse and keyboard at a desk or pick it up and go. Whatever the case is, it’ll be interesting to watch it all unfold.

Money on my mind

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Brian

Recently I’ve been putting a lot of thought into my finances. I’m doing ok; I’m not neck-deep in debt but I’m not exactly rich either.

I found a great website a while back and I’ve been following it. It’s called Get Rich Slowly.
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/archives/

The link above goes to the archives, which is the easiest place to start reading from. You can see all the article titles and pick ones that interest you. The most recent entry I’ve read was the piece about the debit card fee raises coming up soon.

Besides that website, one of the things that got me thinking about money was getting my 401k quarterly statement last week. I saw that I lost over $6,000 last quarter. So even with my contributions, it still lost that much.

I hate the fact that so much of my money goes into a 401k; a fund that, at the end of the day, I really have no control over. Sure, you can pick what percent of your money goes to which investment plan… you can also choose stocks versus bonds… but you’re pretty limited. I know it’s a long term thing and it’ll come back eventually… but I really wish there were other investment opportunities.

For example, why aren’t there government programs where I could invest my money (tax free) in small businesses? (And if there are programs, where can I read more about them?)

Right now, a small business has to go to a big bank to get a loan. Banks are already making money hand over fist, regardless of whether they got bailed out by the government or not. Instead of helping a business I might actually care about, I put the money into a 401k account where people at some bank play games with it.

No one really cares about the companies they are “investing” in. All they care about is the short term, making money quickly. These people are getting paid with my money to day trade. Why can’t I take my money (with the tax benefits of 401k) and choose how to invest it? Instead of just complaining, I felt like trying to do something about it.

I opened an account at Scottrade. I’ve been looking over stocks for companies that I personally like and think will be good long term investments. Good companies out there will pay dividends quarterly, which amount to a percentage of the value of each share. As long as you’re willing to make a long term commitment, I think stocks can be a good idea. While your money isn’t liquid, you will at least earn more than the APR for any savings account I’ve seen. And to me, even though public companies aren’t small companies, it feels like I’m actually an investor when I choose to have a long term goal.

Long story short, I’m still sticking with my 401k account. I’m also continually stashing money into a measly 0.8% APR savings account. But I think buying stocks with dividends is a good compliment to those two options. I guess we’ll see what happens.

Google Accounts is a joke

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Brian

For being a huge corporation, some things about Google are pretty embarrassing. I originally had a Gmail account and decided I wanted to have a custom email using my domain name. Google offers a service called Google Apps that allows you to do that. Cool.

I signed up for Google Apps. I found out quickly that you can’t transfer most of your products. I was able to transfer the pictures from my Picasa collection, but that’s about it. I had to recreate my Analytics account, my AdSense account, my YouTube account, and more. This was a pain in the ass, but I stuck in there and did it anyways.

Later, I cancelled my Google Apps service in favor of using Go Daddy’s Hosted Exchange product. I love Outlook and Exchange, a lot more than Gmail. I was able to migrate all my data over quickly. A few days after I cancelled my Google Apps service, my entire Google account was wiped clean. What the hell? I thought it would have only removed my Gmail, Calendar, and Google Docs access; apps that are provided by Google Apps.

So after all my woes, here is what I’ve discovered. There are 3 types of accounts:
1) Google account not tied to a Gmail account
2) Google account tied to a Gmail account
3) Google account tied to a Google Apps service

If you have a Gmail account and you want to change your Google Accounts email, you’re screwed; it’s not possible to change the email associated to your account. If you’re a Google Apps user and decide to cancel the service, you’ll have your Google account(s) removed, even though it doesn’t say it will do that. If you have a Google account using a custom domain and then you decide to register with Google Apps, you’ll cause a Google Accounts conflict to happen which has to be fixed by their support team.

What’s funny is that I did an interview with Google a few months ago. Not because I was pursuing a job, but because a recruiter found me on LinkedIn and had sent me a few emails. I love my job at Go Daddy, but I figured I would at least do the phone interview, just for the experience. The person who did the interview (interestingly enough) was a person who worked on the Google Accounts product. Just like I anticipated, I was asked silly academic questions which I’ll admit, I didn’t do the best job answering. The interviewer was pretty upset because I didn’t answer the questions like a full time student would answer them and basically ended the interview 30 minutes in.

Now, a few months later, I have this Google Accounts experience described above. No wonder their products have huge flaws with them. They have a bunch of employees who are more interested in Academia than delivering a product that people want and love.