www.vodafone.net does not work with IE7 or FF2

Today I discovered that www.vodafone.net does not work with IE7 on Vista or FF2. It works OK in IE6. This is because the site uses 40 bit MD5 encryption which (along with 56 bit) has been discontinued in IE7 and FF2 because it is too insecure.

If you want to access the site you can use Firefox 2 and type about:config into the location bar and press enter. Find the setting security.ssl3.rsa_rc2_40_md5 and double-click on it to change its value to true.

I cannot find a solution for IE7 from the client end. Vodafone simply need to replace the totally insecure 40 bit encryption on their servers.

I cannot believe that Vodafone can run a 'secure' site that relies on obsolete 40 bit encryption.

Sony W880i

I upgraded my phone to a Sony Ericsson W880i this week. It's a cool phone. The only thing it could do with is WiFi. Unfortunately I cannot get any 3G coverage so I cannot make any video calls.

Another problem is the lack of Vista support. The PC Sync software will only install in XP.

SQL 2005 Dump Transaction Log

I always forget how to dump a transaction log on SQL server. Here is the answer:-

BACKUP LOG {DatabaseName} WITH NO_LOG
GO
DBCC SHRINKDATABASE ({DatabaseName}, 0)
GO
DBCC SQLPERF(logspace)
GO

Fluke DTX 1200 & DTX 1800 not on Vista

I was trying to download some test results from a Fluke DTX 1200 and 1800 yesterday but discovered that the Fluke USB drivers do not work on Vista.

Fluke tech support have no idea when drivers will be available.

In addition the help system in LinkWare 2.6 is based on WinHlp32.exe and this is not available in Vista so you cannot view the help file.

Create .lnk file in C#

Here is some C# code to create a shortcut to a folder. These are actually .lnk files which are handled in a special way by Windows Explorer.

First include a reference to C:\Windows\System32\wshom.ocx

Second, include the following using statement :-

using IWshRuntimeLibrary;

Third, Here is the code :-

// This creates a Folder Shortcut

IWshShell wsh = new WshShellClass();
IWshShortcut shortcut = (IWshShortcut) wsh.CreateShortcut (shortcutpathfilename);

shortcut.TargetPath = targetdir;

shortcut.Save();

shortcutpathfilename is a path & filename of the .lnk file.

targetdir is the directory the link points to.

Code needed to dynamically write a .PNG from ASP.NET

For some strange reason you need to use the following code to dynamically output Jpeg's from an ASP.NET page.

Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap (Path.Combine (dir , "link-notfound.png"));
bitmap.Save (Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg);

But a >PNG requires the following code :-

Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap (Path.Combine (dir , "link-notfound.png"));
try
{
// This is the code required to send a PNG file. I'm not
// sure why it differs from the much simpler JPEG code
// bitmap.Save (Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
MemoryStream tempST = new MemoryStream();
bitmap.Save (tempST, ImageFormat.Png);
Response.ClearContent();
Response.ContentType = "image/png";
Response.BinaryWrite (tempST.ToArray());
Response.End();
}
catch
{
}
bitmap.Dispose();

HP 4200C will not install on Vista

I've found another device that will not install on Vista an HP 4200C colour USB scanner.

Feeware to Mount ISO files as CD or DVD

Here is a great freeware tool to mount .ISO CD/DVD image files so they appear as a normal CD/DVD drive.

http://www.magiciso.com

Prolific PL-2303 USB to RS232 on Vista

Another USB device would not install on Vista until I tricked it...

1) Download the Prolific PL-2303 XP driver from http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31

2) Unzip and then run the setup program. This will fail on Vista so run it on an XP machine.

3) The setup program creates a folder called PL-2303_loggedDrv in c:\windows\temp. This folder contains the signed 32 bit driver you need to install on Vista. Copy the PL-2303_loggedDrv folder to your Vista machine.

4) Plug the device into your USB port. The driver install will fail as it cannot find the driver on Windows Update. Select the "Search for driver on my PC" and point it at the PL-2303_loggedDrv folder.

5) The driver should now install correctly

Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 GT on Vista

I discovered how to get the GeForce Go 7600 GT graphics card working in Vista!

1) Download the Vista Beta 2 driver from www.nvidia.com (V96.85).
2) Run the program to create a c:\nvidia\WinVista\96.85 folder.
3) Next you need to replace the nv_disp.inf file with a new one that includes a definition for your graphics card. I found one on this site http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11478
4) You can now run setup.exe from the c:\nvidia\WinVista\96.85 folder and the installation program should now recognise the card and install the drivers.

The LV2Go website is a fantastic resource for laptop owners looking for the latest graphics drivers.

"Until recently, nVidia by default has not natively supported laptop GPUs with WHQL and beta drivers. This limitation is due only to the INF. Drivers supplied by manufacturers (Dell, Toshiba, etc.) are rarely updated and easily become outdated thus not supporting the latest graphics technology. This is where LaptopVideo2Go (LV2Go) comes in. LV2Go provides unofficial support for all of the GPUs that nVidia has created and laptops produced by manufacturers. LV2Go enhances the drivers by modding the INF to fix problems and reveal hidden features. What is a modded INF? The LV2Go community has built up nicely. Come pay a visit to the forums for more specific drivers for your laptop, news or solutions to your problems."

BT Voyager 105 USB ADSL Modem on Vista

I discovered that BT Voyager 105 USB ADSL modems will not install on Vista.

Vista on Sony VGN-A497XP

Again a re-partition and fresh install. Vista installed without any problems. The only device that does not work is the Memory stick reader.

I also notice that the Sony custom buttons (eg Volume up & down) are not working.

Vista on Sony VGN-AR21S

This was a disaster! It was a brand new "Vista Ready" machine with Windows XP Media Centre Edition. I decided to upgrade rather than re-install from fresh. The machine was running fantastically well before the upgrade. These are the problems I had:-

1) I had to uninstall the Toshiba Bluetooth application before Vista would even start
2) The Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 GT was not recognised and the machine reverted to VGA mode. Neither Sony or Nvidia have any drivers available on their web sites.
3) Audio does not work at all
4) TV In does not work
5) Media Centre blue screens when you start it

I've emailed Sony to see if they have a fix.

I'm really annoyed that a machine sold as "Vista Ready" should be rendered virtually useless by the upgrade. If I don't get a prompt response to this I'll complain to the advertising standards people.

Vista on Sony PCG-GRT896HP

Like all the other geeks on the planet I've spent the day installing Vista.

The first laptop was a Sony PCG-GRT896HP. I booted from the DVD (Press F2 when Sony logo appears to go into Bios to allow booting from DVD) and re-partitioned the drive. Vista installed with no problems, the audio drivers were installed once the machine connected to Windows Update.

A Logitech QuickCam Messenger webcam that was occasionally connected could not be re-installed.

I'm not completely happy that the video driver is working 100% correctly.

NTBackup.exe on Vista

I've just been preparing my machine for an upgrade to Vista. I was shocked to discover that the backup & restore program in Vista does not allow you to read XP .bkf files!

Microsoft are apparently writing a tool to allow you to read .bkf files from Vista but it is not currectly available.

I discovered you can actually use the old program if you do this:-

Copy the following four files from your XP installation to a new folder. Do this before you upgrade to Vista.

c:\Windows\System32\NTBackup.exe
c:\Windows\System32\SetupApi.dll
c:\Windows\System32\VssApi.dll
c:\Windows\System32\NtMsApi.dll

Provided your backups are on disk (not tape) you can now run NTBackup from the new folder.

You will need to make sure you right click on NtBackup.exe and select "Run as administrator" to ensure you have rights to write to the original locations.

SQL Server 2005 replication

We've been playing with SQL Server 2005 replication today. We have been testing a configuration with a single publisher and multiple subscribers. The subscribers are all in different Actibe Directory (AD) domains with no trust between them. Comms between the servers needs to be locked down with the minimum number of ports opened. All of the SQL books I have read show how to do SQL replication between servers in the same AD domain.

To test the configuration we had 5 servers running SQL server 2005 on Windows Server 2003 SR2. The firewall was turned on and a single TCP port (1433) was opened on each server. All the servers were set to communicate using TCP/IP only, all other client and server protocols were turned off.

In order to replicate between servers the following settings were required:-

1) SQL server was setup to allow SQL Authentication mode. An account was setup specifically for the subscribers to use when connecting to the publishing server.

2) In order to replicate between the servers it was necessary to setup a HOSTS file with the IP address of the remote server. Replication does not work if you use either a raw IP address or a fully qualified domein name configured in the DNS server. I suspect this is because the server name is used to establish both a TCP/IP connection and an application level connection to the SQL server.

If you use these settings you should be able to replicate sucessfully.

SQL Server 2005 SP1 does not work on Vista 5728

SQL Server 2005 can be installed on Vista 5728 (Despite the warning indicating it's not compatible), but installing SP1 seems to stop SQL from working. The solution seems to be to remove and then re-install SQL Server 2005.

When is SQL Server 2005 SP2 going to be available? Apparently this will be the version supported on Vista.

SQL Server 2005 SP1

I had a wierd problem trying to install SP1 on SQL Server 2005 today...

Originally I had the upgrade file (SQLServer2005SP1-KB913090-x86-ENU.exe) on an external USB hard drive, I found that I had to copy the file from an external USB hard disk to my local machine and then remove the external USB drive from my system for the install to work. Before I removed the USB drive the upgrade tool was putting the unpacked files on the USB drive (probably as it had most free space) and for some wierd reason they would not install from there. Once the USB drive was removed the installer unpacked the files to drive D: and the installer worked fine.

Vista 5728

I’ve been running Vista RC1 for a couple of weeks and have just upgraded to 5728. Seems nice and stable. Plugged in a 1Gb USB key to see how much of a speed improvement ReadyBoost gives. It seems quicker when you have loads of apps open. However my Sony MemoryStick and volume controls still don't work.

I had some trouble upgrading Office 2007 to B2TR. In the end I had to remove Office B2 and reinstall. I could not use the uninstall option and had to resort to using the following utility to remove Office 2007 Beta 2.

You can try the Cleanup Utility from here : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us

Vista 5536

I've been running 5536 for a couple of days now and it's looking much better than earlier builds. The video driver is now recognising my laptop screen correctly. However still two problem drivers. The extra buttons on my Sony laptop still don't work. In addition the Memory stick has still not been fixed. I emailed Sony about these problems however I don't expect any response from them...they are not good at customer support!

Just found out that 5600 will be available next week. Still waiting to get hold of Office 2007 B2TR..hopefully that will be out soon!