I’m still freak’n over how solid, fast and all-round great Windows 7 is. The first time ever an OS upgrade (without repaving the machine) actually feels like I did a fresh install.

Vista drove me nuts – both because of its sluggishness, and because of a totally failed file and folder management strategy. At the height of my frustration I was experimenting with Total Commander, Opus 9 and a couple of other file management applications in an effort to rid my self of the the ‘built in’ windows explorer. Folders did not remember the view or view preferences between sessions. Even worse was Vista’s attempt to guess the contents of a folder and ‘adapt’ accordingly. Maybe one day when we’re all in the cloud – or when the file system has been abstracted away by a content and keyword management system we won’t need conventional access to the file system per se – but we’re not there yet – and I do.

Here’s what they’ve done in Windows 7 – which is exactly right. They’ve separated their attempt at managing views based on content – from a regular file management window (and all explorer windows always remember the last view used).

So for example – if I’m looking at photos via the Picture Library – it looks like this.

…with extra columns for tags and picture information. It’s a media specific view and that’s fine. Of course it could be a thumbnails view – but the important thing is that in details view – content specific columns appear.

If I need a ‘real’ file system window though – say because I want to quickly sort by file type or some other file system criteria – then I navigate to the same folder via the file system using a ‘regular’ explorer window (Windows Key – E) – which looks like this.

The default view for folders when you’ve entered them not via a Library but via the file system – is the ‘General Items’ view – which works like you’d expect it to when you need a ‘regular’ file management window.

What a relief. It works. It makes sense, and I can use Windows Explorer again.

This is weird – was looking at some of the reports in the Webmaster Tools I use from Google – and there were a lot (several hundred) Web crawl 404 not founds. Google reports that its spider was failing to find pages that I’ve never published – and which contain values that are incrementing over a range as parameter inputs in the url – 692-708 in the snapshot below.

Trying to find a good ASP.Net web hosting company that represents the balance I need between cost and features turned out to be harder than I thought.

I recently signed up with Discount ASP.Net – and you know what – for just ten dollars a month – they offer excellent value for money, great support, a good in-house control panel and good bandwidth. They’ve kept their setup very simple and standard – with just one type of account (Computer security design principle number three – assurance vs. complexity).

On a single account, you have one root site – one domain and as many additional domains pointing to that ‘same’ root content as you like. You cannot point domain names to subdirectories – so you’ll need to re-write yourself if you want another domain name pointing to different content.

But then I discovered their ‘standard’ application pool recycle settings, which are: 1) You are idle for twenty minutes, 2) the worker process exceeds a 200MB working set, or 3) CPU utilization exceeds 70% for more than 3 minutes. To be honest these are all more than adequate for a single site, blog, or the standard five page company website. But dasBlog is a little memory hungry, and with two blogs and a photo gallery – my app pool was doing flip-flops many times a day.

So I searched and searched – and was generally unimpressed with the list of hosting companies ranked by some of the reviews. Sites were either unprofessional – or there was enough mixed reviews to put me off. Others were just too vague about what was in the package and others were not on W2K8/IIS7 yet (and I need IIS7).

So it came down to ORCS Web Hosting who are in a Peak 10 data centre – and Server Intellect – who are in a data centre located in the the Infomart Hotel in Dallas – now a part of DCI Technology Holdings.

Server Intellect truly impressed me with their pre-sales support and they were super keen to get the business (even if it was just me). And their Tier 2 plan allows for multiple wwwroot directories and domain names – which is sweet. However not yet having a shared plan on W2K8/IIS7, combined with a personal recommendation for ORCS Web Hosting from this guy, swung me towards ORCS Web.

ORCS Web Platinum Shared Hosting is not that different from the Discount ASP.Net setup in so far as you get a single root site and unlimited additional domain and mail aliases, but that’s where the similarities end. The app pool has no idle time limit, no CPU limit, and an 800MB working set threshold. Data transfer allowance is 100 GB/month – and the site is in a data centre with fat pipes from…

...multiple Tier-1 Internet carriers with multiple fully-lit OCx connections.

…served in part by Level 3 Communications.

So that’s where I am now… although – it was a bumpy start. ORCS appear to have built, or had built, a new control panel which was err… buggy. Support was fine though and we got the wrinkles ironed out.

So ORCS Web hosting is my new home in cyberspace for the moment; nice view, plenty of room, and fast  - will be here until the clouds come along :-)

As if anyone needed more proof.

In my quest to find the world's best computer keyboard (here in Part1 and Part2), I've recently settled on my IBM SpaceSaver II and Logitech G9 Laser mouse combination. The mouse is great - but as I wrote earlier - the key action on the keyboard was just a little off - feeling a bit 'plasticy'. Some keys were actually a little stiff and squeaky as well (it's at least five years old - purchased second hand from e-Bay).

I figured there must be at least one other IBM SpaceSaver II owner out there that has taken their keyboard apart, cleaned it up, lubricated the keys and put it back together again - and I was right.

I found this page... How to Clean, Upgrade, Repair, Mod, Disassemble an IBM Computer Keyboard, with the two links below at the bottom of the page... in Japanese.

The Illustrated link at Neko's Keyboard room saved me... because there are two hidden screws under the scroll button on the keyboard.

With the following explanation of how to remove the middle button...

既に有名な話ですが、Space Saver II Keyboard の 筐体を開ける際にはトラックポイントのスクロールボタンの下にもネジも外します。 これを知らないと最悪力任せに「ベキッ」ですので注意です。 センターボタンは下からマイナスドライバをつっこんで、テコのように外します。

This is the amazing part... thanks to Yahoo Babel Fish... the above translates into...

Already, it is famous story, but the case where the frame of Space Saver II Keyboard is opened you remove also the screw even under the scroll button of the track/truck point. Unless this is known, because “[bekitsu]” is in the worst power leaving, it is note. Thrusting 0 driver from under, like the lever you remove the center button.

Which with some creative interpretation means...

"It's really really important that you know that there are two hidden screws under the scroll button or you will never get the front panel of your keyboard off! By carefully placing a thin slot screwdriver under the front of the scroll button - it will pop off, and you can remove the screws :-)"

Not sure about "bekitsu" - but that looks like the perfect place to insert your preferred expletive.

So there was one other person out there - somewhere on the planet, that had already done what I was trying to do... and that person was in Japan. Thanks to his post, the Internet, and Babel Fish - not only did I find him.. but I discovered something valuable in the process.

Incredible.

Update: 09 Oct 2008 Well - I needed a decent mouse - and the Logitech G9 Laser mouse totally rocks. Downside.. couldn't work out how to swap the mouse on the Kensington Slimblade set.. since the wireless USB dongle reports both a mouse and keyboard. Luckily I'm warming up to my IBM SpaceSaver II and so that's the combination I'm using now.. SpaceSaver II and Logitech G9. Also received a Luxeed LED keyboard from the manufacturer in Korea.. err.. they were very kind and helpful in getting a keyboard to me,  so it pains me to have to report that there are some quality and manufacturing issues with this keyboard. I was getting phantom carriage returns, and the 'F' and 'G' keys were sticking down, so no go here. A real pity because the keyboard layout is perfect. Illuminated LED keys with separate colors assigned to control keys and letter keys - was the closest I've come to the perfect keyboard setup. Sigh.

Original post...

This is officially part two in my never ending quest for the worlds greatest keyboard. Part one is here - In Search of The World's Best Computer Keyboard

My IBM SpaceSaver II arrived today. Not sure what to say. The keyboard layout is perfect; compact but not too small. Everything is in the right place. No number pad which is important for me (as I mentioned in the first post) and helps to keep the keyboard square with the screen. 

Pros: It just works; with no special drivers it works fine in Vista (apart from an active PS2 to USB converter) - the track-point and the middle button scrolling option also works. I'm actually able to use track-point and built in mouse buttons quite well  - which was a little bit surprising (although I will use a dedicated mouse). Looks nice too (the picture doesn't do it justice) and fits well with my black theme.

Cons: Hmm.. key action feels very cheap compared to my ThinkPad T61p keyboard (ThinkPad keyboards are still the greatest keyboards in the world). Key height, action, spacing and travel also aren't nearly as comfortable or as refined as the Kensington Slimblade.

Verdict: Good but disappointing key action - so not the world's greatest keyboard I'm afraid.

Pictured left - my current top of the pile choice - the Kensington Slimblade Media Set. My only recommendation here would be to ditch the mouse. The track-ball is too small for day to day use. Bummer.

Still it's the closest there is at the moment... however...

...there's another candidate out there - one to check out for sure.. the Luxeed LED Keyboard. This one will be fun try. Amazingly - they've gone for nearly the same keyboard layout as the SpaceSaver II (and not as mad as the Maximus Optimus - which I would also have gone for had they made the number pad detachable) . CTRL-Windows-Alt - are just the way I like them all on their own to the left of the space bar (no pesky function key). If the key action is as smooth or even close to the feel of the ThinkPad or the Kensington - this could be the winner. Will report back in Part III if I manage to get hold of one...  :-)

Awesome - my new 2.5" 320GB Hitachi 7200 rpm 16MB cache Travelstar 7K320 hard disk arrived today. The drive was actually made in Thailand - but I had to order it from Singapore... grrr...

Last March I purchased a ThinkPad T61p. I love this notebook... but I made the mistake of not putting a large enough drive in it at the time.

Here are the steps I took to swapping the drive and resizing the partitions. I had BitLocker installed - with the system volume C: encrypted, so there was a S: partition for boot (as BitLocker creates) and a D: volume where I keep all my data.

1. Backed up D:
2. Did a Complete PC Backup to an external USB drive. Control Panel, System Maintenance, Backup and Restore Center, Back up Computer. This creates an image based backup (like Ghost, or TrueImage) including all partition information. NOTE: The image backup process creates a 'decrypted' backup image so you need to keep this drive safe in the case of regular backups.
3. Swapped the drives.
4. Booted from my Vista 64 bit OS DVD - and chose "Repair your computer..." (after the date and time options) followed by "Windows Complete PC Restore" - restore completed.. and reboot.
5. After booting - launched the Computer Management snap-in (right click on My Computer and choose "Manage"). Went into Disk Management - made the C: volume the active volume (in preparation for removing the BitLocker created S: volume)..
6. Reboot - you'll see an error message that boot files cannot be found
7. Boot again from Vista OS DVD
8. Choose "Repair" - and "Startup Repair" (first option) - the boot files and MBR record will be recreated on the C: volume.
9. Reboot and go back into Disk Management. Delete the S: volume (and in my case the D: data volume too). This will make room for a contiguous extension of the C: volume.
10. Then in Disk Management right click on the C: volume and choose 'Extent Volume.."  (this was the whole point of the exercise for me - I needed to increase the size of my system volume).
11. Reboot - system should be fine booting from C:. Re-run the BitLocker drive preparation tool - and re-create the new 1.5GB S: boot volume. And then in my case re-create the D: data volume.
12. Reboot - all done - restore data to D: and re-encrypt C:.

Presto - and it worked flawlessly. Another option would have been to just use the Windows Complete PC Restore - and then use a tool like Acronis Disk Director to reorganize the partitions before re-encrypting the C: volume. However in this case - it all worked without the use of any 3rd party software. I'll give MS credit for their new image based backup system in Vista. I've used it several times now and it's always worked. :-)

Boot times are much improved as well. The previous drive was a Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 160GB disk - but it always felt sluggish to me. The new Hitachi disk is much quicker (although it's reviewed as slightly slower to the new 320GB offerings from both Seagate and Western Digital).

UPDATE:  20 Oct 2008 - have spent some time playing with both handsets, and even more time looking at Windows Mobile as a whole. Since I travel a lot, and will not be buying a handset as part of a plan or contract, I'll be buying an unlocked, full retail price device - and have decided to wait a little longer before taking the plunge.

The HTC Diamond Pro suffers from Windows Mobile's clunkiness once you get beneath 'touch flow'. And I can't get past the dialler problem (which not only Nokia solves, but so do both Samsung and Sony Ericsson, each with copy or send to dialer options).

As for the Nokia N96 - they have taken the N81 (and other) style handset, made it wider and thicker for the N96 - and it just doesn't work - feels flimsy and cheap - and definitely not right for the price tag. Nokia really needs to lift their design game, or another player is going to knock them from their number 1 spot. In fact the Samsung INNOV8 (i8510) is already a viable alternative to the N96, and the future of Android based handsets looks very interesting indeed.

UPDATE: 09 Sept 2008 - saw a demo model of the Nokia N96 today - not a working model - just one of the mock-ups they use to show size, design etc. in the shops. Not looking good for the Nokia. The aluminium ring surrounding the front bezel looked very cheap and lightweight. Will wait of course until the real-deal is in the shops.. but it looks like they've produced yet another design that is not consistent with the price tag... we'll see - may have just been the mock-up.

Original post...

Getting close to that time again where I'll be in the market for a new mobile device.

About a year ago I dropped back to a POT (plain old telephone) mobile handset - a very basic Nokia 3110c. I had decided to reign in my gadget attachment disorder and wait another generation or two before moving back into the world of multifunction/media/pda/smart phones.

My previous experience wasn't great. A couple of years ago I bought an HTC Wizard - the Qtek 9100 version. Initially I was impressed - and really liked the QWERTY keyboard. But after a couple of very bumpy ROM updates, major disappointment with the Windows Mobile dialer (which continues to this day) and big problems with screen calibration as well as using the touch screen in hot weather - I gave up. Windows Mobile 5 wasn't there yet - just didn't feel right; that combined with my first HTC experience and I figured waiting it out a generation or two was a better idea.

Fast forward to August 2008 - and my choice has narrowed (I think) to the Nokia N96 vs.the HTC Touch Pro.

As an aside - the Apple iPhone is definitely a game changing phone - a very cool device, and I would love to put my hands on one.  But I just can't understand why they don't sell both unlocked versions, and the freedom to choose any media player I like. I refuse to use iTunes, and as Jeff Atwood has remarked - Apple hardware is in reality just a dongle for all your software. Really - I'm especially confused by the locking issue and wonder why trading standards bodies haven't intervened.

Anyway - back to the shootout.

There are - broadly speaking - two groups of mobile device users. Those who want phones with some extra bits including a PDA, and those who want a PDA with a phone. I'm definitely in the "give me a phone that works" camp, and then I'll  look at the extras bits second. The Nokia N96 is in the 'phone first' category as far as I'm concerned, while the HTC Touch Pro has more of a PDA lineage.

On the Nokia side, one thing that has really impressed me is the huge improvements they've made in PC client and synchronization software over the years. The Nokia PC Suite just gets better and better. They've adopted a universal client application strategy which makes a lot of sense. Just one download for all your Nokia phones (your own and your friends' should they want to connect to your PC to transfer files, photos etc). Very easy to install, configure and use and it's worked well for me in terms of synching my contacts and diary with Outlook - which at the moment is about the limit of my PDA needs (although this could change when I finish studies and head back into full-time employment).

The Nokia OS  - both the 'Nokia OS' and Symbian versions - have always been stable and easy to use. The general consensus seems to be that Nokia's operating systems have been more stable and less power hungry when compared to Windows Mobile devices - although the gap in this respect is narrowing no doubt.

To me the only downside to Nokia has been the consistency which which they seem to produce flimsy, ugly, and generally very poor designs. On many of their models I find the buttons and plastic components feel rather cheap and certainly not as firm or positive as I think they should be in the more expensive models - especially the number pads. I was VERY close to taking the plunge on an N95 - but then heard about the N95 8GB and decided to wait. In terms of design at least the N95 8GB was a big disappointment and a step back from the N95. Very flimsy button action, a crowded central button panel and certainly not the look and feel of a 400 GBP, or 650+ USD mobile device. What a shame.

Enter the N96 - I've yet to put my hands on one - but it looks great - and if the design improvements and positive reviews so far live up to expectations this looks set to be a brilliant device. 16GB storage, quad-band, WiFi, micro-SD, GPS and lots else. I've wanted to play with a GPS system for a while as well, although not sure yet whether this will just be the "toy in the phone", or something useful.

Enter the HTC Touch Pro. I took a quick look at the HTC Touch Diamond while I was in Hong Kong a month ago - and it looked and felt pretty good. I also remember how cool it was having a good QWERTY keyboard in a mobile device during my early days with the HTC Wizard. The HTC Touch Pro has a full five row QWERTY keyboard so typing numbers will be much easier. Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, Quad-band, WiFi, GPS and an FM radio plus lots more. I'm really looking forward to putting my hands on one of these as well to see if the build quality, keyboard, UI etc. live up to the price tag. That said, and as crazy as this sounds - the Windows Mobile dialer may still be the show stopper. I blogged before on this topic. The problem is that there isn't a way to take a telephone number from a contact, load it into the dialer, and make ad-hoc changes to the number before you dial (like dialing prefixes, dial out extensions, calling cards etc). This is a standard feature on all Nokia devices - the 'Use Number' option. On the other hand - developing software for WM is reportedly easier than for the Symbian OS - so maybe writing a custom dialer will be my first WM dev exercise. 

Another deciding factor between the two is the choice in application software. Since I'm still in the 'phone first' camp - this isn't a critical area for me although I do want good support for mail, IM, VoIP and even a decent Twitter client. Initially I was concerned about Symbian support in this area - but having found both Gizmo  (a very cool universal SIP based IM and VoIP client), as well as  Fring (another very cool universal IM client with Twitter support) I think I'll be ok if I decide to go with the Nokia.

In either case these are both Q3, Q4 devices in this part of the world - so it will be interesting to watch the reviews shape up and see how the two fare before making a final decision.

In the longer term (and unless projects like OpenMoko and the Neo Freerunner really start to gain market share) - I'll almost certainly be headed over to Windows Mobile Android. Either I or MS will fix the dialer, and the opportunity to easily build client apps that fit nicely into LOB and other connected systems will make Windows Mobile hard to resist as a development platform for much longer.

Ok - well I'll at least give Microsoft credit for posting this... but argh....... I tried in vane to find an option from within Media Player for about 20 minutes before Googling. Now that I'm using Ultramon - I want WMP to minimise to the taskbar for the screen it's currently playing on- and not on the main taskbar in mini player mode. Grrrrrr....

Having spotted a tweet on Pandora.com - and then of course discovering that Pandora.com is not available outside the U.S., I was inspired to take a proper look at Last.fm. Incredible. Download the desktop app, and the appropriate plug-in for your media player - and Last.fm will "scrobble" whatever you listen to, building up a recommended playlist; similar artists, genres etc. I wonder how Peter Gabriel's venture over at We7 will fare in the same space.

Update: In Search of The World's Best Computer Keyboard Part II

For a couple of years now - on and off, I've been trying to find the perfect small form factor mini size keyboard. Like David Bau in his own quest to find the World's Best Computer Keyboard, I came to the conclusion that I really don't want a full length, full size, 101 to 104 key keyboard on my desk. I rarely use the number pad, and when I do -  I don't mind it being separate.

I want my posture to be straight when I'm using my computer - from my back, to my shoulders, to my arms, wrists and hands. I found that when I was using a full size keyboard with a built-in number pad on the right, that the extra length on the right side of the keyboard was causing me to reach just a few inches further than I wanted to in order to use my mouse; just enough to change my posture - and enough for me to feel it in my shoulders and wrist when using my mouse.

So that started the search... and man did I search. I tried a bunch - including an expensive Cherry POS keyboard as well as the ThinkPad Travel UltraNav, but they were all far from perfect. The UltraNav in particular was a disappointment (it's up there in my little keyboard mountain) since it was nothing like the real ThinkPad keyboard in my notebook; the quality, key action and feel was very different.

I don't understand why PC users have such a poor choice in desktop keyboards. If you took the average manufacturer's PC desktop keyboard and tried to put it into a notebook, the notebook wouldn't sell. In fact it was while using my notebook that I realized my posture was better. Not only that but the keyboard in my notebook was so much better than my desktop - it was the famous IBM ThinkPad keyboard - the benchmark in notebook keyboards.

For a while I was using a Deck Legend - and I loved the key backlighting, but this was before my quest for a smaller keyboard. I actually contacted TG3 - the manufacturer of the Deck Legend, hoping that they might be about to update one of their current small form factor models, or possibly modify a BL82 for me into the standard Windows keyboard layout. I was prepared to pay. My keyboard is a tool I use for work, just like a tool any other professional would use in their job.

The first thing you'll discover when you start looking for small form factor keyboards is that there's a variety of different keyboard layouts. That was the first big stumbling block. I'm a CTRL-S freak. I hit CTRL-S for nearly every line I write, code or otherwise - so having the CTRL key in the usual position - bottom left - is important (although I confess I've 'adapted' when using my ThinkPad, which has a function key in the bottom left position - but that's my only complaint with the ThinkPad). The standard CTRL-Windows-ALT arrangement bottom left would be great, followed by, from the top right, down the right side - DELETE, HOME, PG-UP, PG-DN, END, and then the arrow keys. This is the layout used by most notebook manufacturers these days and it would be good to have a matching desktop and notebook keyboard. The HP 8150W (shown) has a good keyboard - although I whish they'd put the Function key to the right of the spacebar.

The other thing you'll discover when looking for a keyboard of any size - is that most of the models advertised online don't have a good quality larger version picture of the keyboard. It was pretty hard to figure out how the keys (especially top row keys) were arranged before shortlisting a keyboard for purchase.

I've also looked at the growing number of media keyboards that are slowly coming onto the market. The growth in home media centers means that more people are now actually looking for smaller (and wireless) keyboards - but again - quality, keyboard layout and in particular function keys vary a lot. I've looked at the Logitech diNovo Edge - which is just a fraction wide, and the key action wasn't quite what I was looking for - but it was close. Also the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 - another close call - but again, a little wide and poor function key support since the function keys are in a flat membrane key strip across the top.

My current keyboard (and mouse) is the Kensington Slimblade Media Notebook Set. So very very close. The layout is almost perfect. I wish the function keys were full-size - but they work. Key action is superb and the closest so far I've come to feeling like I'm on a ThinkPad. The right side key arrangement is a little odd - with END at the top-right - followed by PG-UP, PG-DN, INSERT, DELETE and then the arrow keys. It's taken me a little while to get used to the DELETE key in this position. Still - this is the closest I've come to finding the perfect small form factor keyboard. Kensington have always made good quality accessories. Want to know why? Well I think it's because they make accessories for the Macintosh as well. And Mac users, having become accustomed to brilliant design and ergonomics, wouldn't tolerate a low quality accessory (in fact I popped into a local i-Studio Mac shop recently and saw a brushed aluminum small form factor keyboard that was just lovely).

So what would my dream small form factor keyboard look like? It would be matt-black brushed aluminum, use the keyboard layout shown in the HP8150W keyboard above - but with full size function keys. It would have illuminated keyboard characters (blue back-lit LEDs) and would totally rock in terms of quality and keyboard action. Until then... my Slimblade will do nicely. I may even give the IBM SpaceSaver II a try (as mentioned in David Bau's article) if I can find one.

While searching - I came across these two very expensive honorable mentions...

The Optimus Maximums from Art.Lebedev Studio. This is an incredible keyboard - would love to put my hands on one, and if they ever make a smaller version with a separate number pad - I'll buy it.

And then there's Datamancer - not sure whether to be scared, or in love with this stuff. Maybe when I'm wealthy, one day - I'll ask this guy to make me a keyboard (the equivalent of American Chopper for geeks - so cool).

During my recent trip to Hong Kong - I popped into a mobile device shop and took a quick look at the HTC Touch Diamond. The phone looks pretty good - and I was impressed (and I'd really really like to see something that can just about compete with the Apple iPhone). However for me at least, there has been a missing feature in the Windows Mobile dialer from the early versions to the present.

I travel a lot - and in many of the places I travel, there are special calling codes you can use to get a discount on your outbound international calls. So for example - instead of using an international calling code like; 
+1 212 1111 1111 (notice the +1 for North America, 212 for New York) - you swap the + sign for the discount calling code. From here in Thailand - if I use 009 1 212 1111 1111 with the 009 prefix - I get a whopping 30% discount with no strings attached. I seem to remember similar schemes in the states using Sprint and AT&T calling codes as well.

Here's the problem. On every Nokia mobile phone I've ever owned, there has always been an option to 'Use Number'. Which means that when you've looked up the contact you want to call - instead of dialing - you choose 'use number' and it loads the number into the dialer, where you can then make ad-hoc changes to the number before you dial. As far as I can tell, and after experimenting with the Touch Diamond, this feature still doesn't exist in the Windows Mobile dialer. There is no way to load the number into the dialer, and then edit the number before you dial. It would be time consuming to edit the contact first - add the calling code prefix, save the contact and then dial - only to have to change the contact details again the next time I want to use a different discount calling code, or revert to the standard international dialing prefix. There may be more than one discount code I'd like to choose from as well - so this isn't a global setting - what I really need is a way to edit the number before I dial without having to change the contact details.

Windows Mobile if you're out there - I want to love you, I want to use you - but I just can't until this is fixed.

I like Windows Vista - it's a cool and stable OS. But it's taken me a while to get it to boot fast, and stop thrashing my disks to death. Windows Search, automatically scheduled items like Disk Defragmenter and Windows Defender and the biggest culprit - Superfetch, all put a heavy load on boot time and run time disk activity.

I tend to keep things pretty well organised and never really needed a desktop search engine and so I disabled Windows Search (the search feature on the start menu will still find program menu items - which is incredibly useful). I don't mind waiting a second or two for an app to load either and usually leave my frequently used apps running anyway - and so don't really want SuperFetch creating the 300,000 plus I/O events it records at system startup (watch it using Process Monitor from SysInternals). I also keep all my data on a separate volume from the OS - and so will manual defrag the OS disk once every couple of months. And I use the Complete PC Back up feature of Vista Busines/Ultimate to image the OS volume - giving me my own restore points - so I turn off restore points as well (Acronis True Image would be another good choice).

Here's a great article that just about covers it all on how to tune-down your Vista setup so that boot times and disk activity return to normal - Beginners Guides: Stopping Vista From Thrashing Hard Disks to Death.

Lone blogger 1 - Windows Vista 0

It's always great when you find a company that produces a quality product, backed up by good support.

For a while know I've been looking for a replacement to the Cisco VPN Client that I use to connect my client's VPN. Cisco have produced a version of this software for Vista - but have stated categorically that they will not be supporting the 64 Bit version of Windows. Instead they are expecting their customers to throw away perfectly good equipment - in favour of their new ASA platform of firewalls and gateways  - which in turn will use their new AnyConnect VPN software, which does of course support the 64 Bit Windows.

Along comes NCP and their NCP Secure Entry Client in both x86 and x64 flavours. A 'very' configurable VPN client with a few extras too boot. The CISCO VPN Client doesn't give much away in terms of the detailed settings required to establish an IPSec connection. And IPSec network connections operate in different modes, and have several configuration settings. That said, after a quick email to NCP support, and very helpful reply, I am now connecting just fine to my client's Cisco PIX.

Thank  you NCP.

I posted here a while ago about setting up BitLocker on my PC - without a TPM. Works great.

I've recently been building up a new machine that will become my main development PC in the New Year - having decided to follow in the footsteps of others and build a decent spec Vista Ultimate 64 Bit box.

The spec:

Shuttle SP35P2 Pro
G.Skill 8GB 4-4-4-12 RAM
XFX NVidia GT 8800 Video
WD Raptor 10,000 RPM SATA for OS
SD Barracuda 300GB for Data
Vista 64 Ultimate 64 Bit

Anyway - more on this box later - which of course is going to be way better than others . :-)

BitLocker and EFS are now standard on my PCs and any new notebook I buy will have a TPM in it for sure.

That said - I'll be darned if I could get BitLocker to find the USB flash drive on this new PC to load the BitLocker keys at startup.

There are plenty of threads out there on the topic. Search for 'Bitlocker unable to read USB drive', or 'Bitlocker cannot find keys on USB drive'.

None of these helped me in this case.

Here's the solution (at least for this machine - with a Phoenix Award BIOS - V6.00PG - on an Intel P35 Express Chipset + ICH9R).

1. Be sure to put your USB keyring or flash drive in first!

2. Restart and enter your PC's BIOS (DEL at startup)

3. Go to the Integrated Peripherals menu item

4. Go to your USB Device Settings menu item

5. Set the USB controller to 'Enabled', 'High Speed' and the USB Storage function to 'Enabled'.

6. Here's the trick.... You should see a line like the one below with your USB thumbdrive listed.

*** USB Mass Storage Device Boot Settings***

[Yourdrive MFG name here]   [Auto]

The default is 'Auto'. Change it to 'HDD' and presto - Bitlocker will find the USB drive.

Took me ages to figure this one out...

I remember the first time I was burgled. It was in 1993 and I was living in London at the time. It was a tad unsettling to come home and see the front door of my apartment smashed open, and things not exactly the way I left them before I went to work!  I lost a bunch of Audio CDs, my TV and some cash that was lying around - but NOT my computer.

Since then being online a LOT more, and needing a safe place to store personal online information - account codes, banking information, subscription information etc. means that I've thought often about the best way to secure my personal (and work related) data.

I've used a couple of third party products in the past - but with Windows Vista Ultimate and BitLocker beckoning - I thought I'd give a combined BitLocker and Encrypted Files System (EFS) combination a shot.

BitLocker (in case you've not heard of it) encrypts the entire system partition - and until a valid key is supplied during system boot - the drive and its contents are effectively a nifty digital paperweight and nothing more. You can even safely dispose of the drive in this state - because again - without the key - it's just a lump of encrypted data.

My biggest concern with BitLocker was going to be performance especially since I was going to enable BitLocker on my main DEV box. Fortunately I have a 'kick it and see' PC I used to test everything on before implementing all of this on my main machine.

Here's the best article there is on how to configure BitLocker... Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide. In my case my PC doesn't have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM)- so I made the change as detailed in the article to allow BitLocker to be installed without a TMP.

Shortly after Vista Ultimate RTM was released - there was an update that included a BitLocker drive preparation tool. A word of warning here - and this relates to Windows Backup. Use the default partition settings from the drive preparation tool and allow it to create the new (and small) boot partition that will be needed for system startup (so that the boot process can start (unencrypted of course) before loading the OS from the encrypted drive). 

I have two partitions on my drive - my C: drive - which I will enable BitLocker on, and my D: drive which contains all my data. While exploring the command line options for the BitLocker drive preparation tool - I thought that since I already had a second partition (my D: drive) I could make this my boot drive (boot.in and OS loader) - but this was a bad idea. For starters it's a BIG partition - over 100GB. Secondly - when using Windows Complete System Backup (which I now use in favour of my previous third party imaging tool) - the backup will correctly detect that it needs both partitions to do a complete system backup. I don't want my D: drive included in this image (the reason for separate partitions in the first place) and so I switched back to the default BitLocker drive preparation settings - which creates a new small partition (S:) to hold the boot information.

My BitLocker generated key was created and written to a USB thumbdrive (attached to my key ring - along with the other 'real' keys). I put a second USB thumbdrive in a 'real' safe along with the recovery key. If I loose my keys (literally) this is the only way I'm getting back into my machine - so having a safe and alternate location for your recovery key is essential. It's kind of neat having to put the USB thumbdrive in my PC to start it up - like starting a car... :-). And it really doesn't interfere with the way I use my PC - my keys are always there on my desk - and I take them with me wherever I go so it fit fine into my pattern of work and play (you can take the key out of the computer as soon as BitLocker reads it - in fact BitLocker tells you to once it's read the key).

I have to say I was really impressed. I saw no performance difference on the 'kick it and see' PC and when installed on my live box - no difference there either. Impressive.

BitLocker will only work on system partitions - so that left the data on my D: drive. And this is where Encrypted File System comes to the rescue. That said not everything on my D: falls under the category of 'sensitive data' so I wasn't about to encrypt the entire drive. Instead I grouped my 'sensitive data' together in a special folder - and encrypted the contents using EFS. EFS uses a public-private key pair and a per-file encryption key to encrypt and decrypt data. The public-private key pair are stored in your Personal Certificate Store - which you can view by typing certmgr.msc in the search line of the start menu in Vista, or from the 'Run' command in XP. Alternatively you can view the personal store from the Tools, Internet Options, Content, Certificates option in Internet Explorer.

Since the certificate store in on the system partition - and this is now under the protection of BitLocker - the certificates are safe (although you still need to take a backup of the EFS certificate and keep this someplace safe too).

EFS is pretty cool - and they way it uses public keys to protect a per file symmetric key is neat - since it allows you to use several public keys - from several users - to encrypt a file - and then share it amongst those users if you needed to.

Here's an excellent description of how EFS works... Windows XP Resource Kit: Using Encrypting File System.

So I now have a production PC - working hard every day - with BitLocker on the system partition, EFS where I need it on the data partition - a set of keys safely tucked away in two locations - and I feel better about the prospect of getting robbed - because at least this time if they choose to take the PC - they'll be getting a lump of iron and silicone - and not a whole lot more than that.

I’m not a hard core gamer, or a hardware freak per se, but in my quest to build a small form factor (SFF) PC that will last a few years before having to upgrade I decided to push the envelope on SFF PCs. I have three boxes on the go at the moment including an older Shuttle SD31P. Space is an issue, and I’ve always liked the idea of being able to grab my main box – put it in a  carry-on luggage bag and fly off knowing that my ‘office’ is in the bag (for longer journeys of course).

In December I purchased a Shuttle SD37P2 Barebones SFF (Intel 975X Express chipset). This is a very cool box. The real hard-core iron guys will complain that the audio card is slightly below spec (Realtek ALC882 high definition audio codec for eight channels of 24-bit/192 KHz), and network controller from Broadcom uses a little more CPU resource than it should at full Gigabit bandwidth. I can’t say that I notice. The auido is great, and this is a workstation class PC not a datacentre server with a NIC at full throttle 24/7 and so I’m happy on both counts.

I then thought for a while about what to do in the video card department – knowing that DirectX 10 cards are on the way. The choice was to buy an economy card now knowing I would replace it in a month or two – or go for the only DirectX 10 card on the market at the moment. I waited until January before buying the video card – having decided to ‘go for it’ and buy an NVidia GeForce 8800 series card. The longer and more powerful GTX version won’t fit in the SD37P2 and even if it did the power requirements exceed the PSU spec. So the GTS was the one. Cool Card – dual slot PCI-E card with good thermal control. I purchased the Asus version (comes with a few extra connectors and some sampler games – including Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter).

Then came Memory – courtesy of Corsair two sets of twinned 2GB XMS2 modules for a total of 4GB.

And then the CPU. If I’d really wanted a ‘boastable’ box I would have bought the Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPU – but I just couldn’t justify the serious bucks required for this CPU. I’m not an over-clocker and for the 0.3 GHz trimmed off the clock speed – the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 hit the sweet spot. Looking forward to trying out the Virtualization Technology and running my first VPC image soon.

There are 681 million transistors in this thing. Err.. that’s a lot. Incredible.

With all the bits coming together nicely the only thing missing was the OS. This was going to be a Vista box – but so close to retail launch, and with Vista RTM already in the hands of Microsoft’s corporate customers there seemed little point in installing the the RC1 image I’d previously tested. Somehow a Windows Vista Universal Key and DVD arrived as if by magic; with 26 days left to activate as I write, and yes – I’ll be buying my Windows Vista Ultimate license pronto… :-)

After a couple of test runs with Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit edition I decided that I just wasn’t going to be able to build a stable production machine on a 64bit OS. Not least of which Cisco show no sign of updating there VPN client for 64bit use and have only just released a 32bit beta version of the VPN Client for Vista.

A few hours on and I had a fully functional production box with all the usual tools and utils, VS 2005, SQL Server 2005 and everything else I need to work. The amazing thing is that it does exactly that – works! And does it ever – the machine is incredibly fast. Despite risking it with the VS 2005 SP1 Patch Beta for Vista, the SQL Server 2005 SP2 CTP patch for Vista, the Cisco Client Beta for Vista, Cute FTP Pro 8, FeeDemon, EditPad Pro etc. etc. etc.; it all works! Tortoise SVN misbehaved for the sum total of about 2 hours before the benevolent Stefan Küng posted a fix to the nightly build directory of Tortoise SVN (Stefan deserves a medal for his work on Tortoise SVN).

The number of major and minor improvements in Vista is incredible. Everything from a disk checking utility that actually works and provides a decent report, to the ‘not one’ but ‘three clocks’ and timezones that you can configure for the taskbar clock. The list is huge – and the best site for all the goodies in Vista that I’ve discovered so far is definitely Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows.

So with everything up and running – and real work being performed on my new machine – the only thing left were the video drivers from NVidia followed by activation to get Aero Glass. NVidia must have been scrambling to get the 8800 series Vista drivers out because they showed up on their site on exactly the same day of the official retail launch of Vista. I’d expected something there from the November RTM. And these are still listed as Beta drivers.

About an hour ago I installed the NVidia drivers and a funny thing happened – I got Aero Glass as a bonus. :-). I still have 26 days to activate Vista – and from everything I’ve read you don’t get Aero Glass goodies until you fork over the bucks. Thank you NVidia – two in one!

Aero Glass is just so cool (lurking Gnome, KDE or OSX users – pah – I scoff in your general direction). Aero Glass is the slickest OS UI that I’ve ever seen – and fun too!  I’ve been flip 3Ding for an hour now – and I’m not bored yet (sad I know). I love the blurred transparent background effect on the window frames of apps that have the focus…

Here’s a shot of Windows Media Player 11 on top of BlogJet 2.0.

Here’s the effect…

So cool….

And for the Windows Experience Index braggers out there – I’m a 5.4 all in.

:-)

OK – so the post below gushed over True Image. That was until I spent a weekend kicking the tires on Vista RTM (more soon….)

Firstly, on Vista 64Bit – True Image was broken; corrupt images and failed restores. Not sure about 32Bit Vista yet – however having discovered the new Vista Image format and full backup and recovery options – I’ve switched (I also postponed the Vista 64Bit install until Cisco kindly update their VPN client). I’ve run several complete Vista image backups – nuked the drives and restored flawlessly each time. Before my Vista box goes into production I need to be super confident that I have good recovery options.

The new Backup and Restore Center in Windows Visa is excellent; boot from the Vista install CD, enter your language and time information, and then choose repair Vista on the next screen. If there’s nothing to repair (i.e. an empty drive) you will still be allowed to move onto the next screen where you can choose your repair options – including a full recovery. No need to install the OS first. The Vista image will recreate all drive partition information and restore the machine to the state it was in during your last backup. Can be used in the same way Ghost and True Image are to upgrade or replace a drive.

Lots of good things in Vista – and this is certainly one of them.

As a favour to anyone else out there that may hit this one.

svn: Can't open file next-ids: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
If you see this message on your Subversion server - it's likely that your real time anti-virus software has got a hold of the next-ids file while it was being written, locking Subversion out.

Exclude the transactions directory in your repository from your AV software.