But, all of that is really not what were here for.  Which is a tale of an upgrade gone wrong.

About a month ago, I got one of those nasty bugs that it seems a computer will get occasionally.  I thought I got it cleaned off.  Maybe I did and what was left was something else, or maybe it was just a tougher bug than I thought.  Either way, my system was compromised.  I spent about 7 hours (over several days) trying to clean the thing off.  I even pulled the hard drive and brought it to work to scan it as a secondary drive (this is useful because most viruses load into memory on start up, but only if they are on the primary/boot drive), but to no avail.  So, rather than waste even more time trying to clean the thing up, I made sure everything was backed up and started fresh with a format and reinstall.

Once I got the reinstall of Windows Vista done, I went straight to Windows 7 using the upgrade that I had bought for it late last year.  The install/upgrade went incredibly smooth.  In previous versions of Windows, it was always preferable to install the full version of the new OS.  Something about the upgrade process just didn’t work well and you would get some nasty errors.  Windows 7s upgrade process is a bit different.  When you do the upgrade, it gives you the option of doing a format and full install.  Pretty awesome.  Except for the part where I reinstalled Vista first…  oops.

One full install later, and I had a brand new install of Windows 7.  My first impressions were very good.  A lot of the feel of Vista that I had gotten used to, but minus some of the clunky-ness.  Alas, it wasn’t to last.  About a week later, I awoke to a login prompt.  That was weird because I don’t normally log out my home pc.  So, it only gets a login when it restarts.  My first thought, of course, was to think that it was Windows Update that had caused the restart.  Until I came home at lunch and found it at a login prompt again.  [Cut through a couple days worth of technical tinkering]

The machine was set to restart on error.  So, everytime it got a system error, it would reboot.  And, after watching the machine for a while, I discovered that it would get a BSOD after about 20 minutes of idle time.  To shorten the story again, I did diagnostics on everything I could think of to figure out what the BSOD was being caused by.  I gave up after about a week and a half of that.  My assumption is that a update from either Windows or from a hardware related driver replaced a system file of some sort or was causing the problem.  A repair install was no help and I couldn’t do a system restore because it would cause a BSOD if you went into the system restore console.  Once again, I was faced with a format and reinstall.

Luckily, Jake was around to talk some sense into me.  I did the reinstall/restore, but I only went as far as Vista this time.  Perhaps at a later date, I’ll try the upgrade again, but until then, I’m sticking with Vista.  After all, it was pretty stable up until I got whatever I got and had to restore it the first time.  And, maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will fix it with the first Windows 7 service pack.

Either way, I think I’ll likely stick with Vista until the machine needs replacing.  Some of the machines hardware wasn’t just barely good enough for Windows 7, so it might be better to just wait until I need a new machine and get Windows 7 on that.

Authors note: Jake suggested that I should write a post here (somewhat jokingly, I believe) as I’ve largely moved on to other things and Jake has taken full control of this site.  So, I thought I’d call him on his joke and surprise him with a post!  Surprise!  Also, if you like, my blog is over at Thatedeguy.

Basically it allows you to set multiple apps to launch at once.  One idea that is mentioned is if you normally run a set of programs to cleaning files up etc.  I more see a use in terms of removing autostart programs and resetting them to a manual launch after boot.  (ie – launch IM, email, web.)  Doing that would improve boot time significantly if there are a lot of things that you tend to have come up on boot.  This way if you were in a hurry… you could be more selective and efficient.

Check out Utility Launcher here.

[tags]Utility, windows apps, software, windows[/tags]

Yesterday Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta to the public. If you have been waiting for a second service pack for Windows Vista, give the new beta a shot!

You can download Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 here. Note that this is the beta version and the final version of the service pack is not expected to be released until April 2009. However, if you enjoy testing new service packs or want to test it out before deploying it to your network next year, try out the beta.

Aseem over at Help Desk Geek has a great write up on this. He has included a list of updates/changes that come in SP2.  Like he mentioned above, it is important to remember this is *BETA* software.  It can potentially really screw up your machine.  (Vista Sp1 beta I really didn’t have any problems with.  WinXP SP1 I remember quite a few issues with.)  It all depends on your setup, the tweaks you make, and the various applications and drivers if it is going to play nice.

If Aseem sounds familiar, that is because his wordpress plugin “Best Posts Summary” has been reviewed here before.  A big fan of the plugin, so kudos to him!

If you have several machines lying around your “geek room” running various versions of Windows/Linux/OsX and can’t think of a good use for them. Well my desktop died, so currently just down to my laptop.  However till then, and for a while before I was using this application to seamlessly integrate the machines with a single keyboard/mouse.

You can now move your mouse over to my to another screen just by going off the left edge of one computer screen to the other. (Depending on setup of course.) At which point you will have full control of the laptop and can even copy and paste between them as if they were one machine. It is also free!
Check it out.

As [Lifehacker] mentioned yesterday, the normally $40 firewall and antivirus solution ZoneAlarm Pro is available for free today only, so if you’re interested in some free quality software, consider this your reminder to grab a copy.

Today it is free.  Sign up and in 48hrs you will get a link to the software along with a serial.

Head over to LifeHacker and check it out!

There has been some dissention out there.  Chrome is too basic, doesn’t yet support Extentions, new version of Firefox (3.1) will make this pointless, the Default EUAL, etc.  Some of these have a valid point.  On the other hand – it is a rock solid beta application.  How many other betas have we gotten from MS that crashed repeatedly.  FF has been pretty good about this in its newer versions.

Follow some of the links above for more information, I will also be posting some resources links below.  I would encourage people out there to try it for themselves and form their own oppinion.  I for one am looking forward to seeing what it becomes, though not ready yet to make a full switch from Firefox.  (The process per tab works really well.)

Google Chrome Comic Book

Google Chrome Download

ArsTechnica Review of Chrome

Windows XP has been retired but you can still get it

Mark has pointed out a source for us to try and get it. If you get a new machine with Vista on it, building a PC for mom, etc – might be worth the effort to try.

Well, let me introduce you to the Verballs.  These animated little characters move wave their arms all around when you receive a Skype call and then move their mouths to mimic the speech of whomever you are speaking with.

The website has five different varieties and it looks like they will be widely available on September 1 2006.  Each has his/her own story that can be played via the flash interface on the website.  Get all five and rotate depending on who you’re talking with!  The looks are close enough, it could be almost like talking to Jake in person!

Thanks to The Red Ferret Journal for the pointer.

If WGA becomes mandatory, would it mean that Microsoft could prevent Windows from working if it determines  possibly erroneously that your copy isn’t “genuine”? That’s a chilling possibility, and Microsoft refuses an easy opportunity to deny that that option is in its plans.

Chilling indeed. Maybe it’s not such a bad time for Bill Gates to retire. If MS truly decides to make a “kill switch” out of WGA, it could be the boost for Apple X and Linux that they’ve both been waiting for. I’ve already had a few problems with WGA on my home PC and have seriously considered making the full time switch. Not because I want to, but WGA is annoying at best. I don’t like that it “phones home” either.