MIKEDECIDES.COM

WhoLockedMe vs. NET FILE

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:04:00 GMT

So I have been seeing a rash of people using WhoLockedMe on Windows based devices lately. Let's not ask the why at this point.

Don't get me wrong, if you are not comfortable with the command line and a GUI is your proverbial "cup o' tea" please continue (or call your sys admin/consultant). This is just additional use of resources, registry entries, and mess. My thoughts, personally.

Now, for those sys admins out there that prefer the command line you already know this so I apologize if today's "tech tip" seems a yawn.

NET FILE

The next time you wonder where your file locks are use the command and enter:

NET FILE

from a command line (and these days you could use PowerShell ... hint hint) and get a list of your files with(out) locks, who owns the lock(s), and their ID. It is important to note their ID.

Why should you care?

Well we have many applications out there that if there is a lock on a key file, log, or executable, they will fail causing the application to fault. Further investigation will find a lock on a file. May people will instead reboot a server, dismount a share, or just outright blame an application. Though sometimes these work these solutions are extremely disruptful to a production environment.

So instead, at a command line I use:

NET FILE (ID) /close

Now you know why it was important to know the ID's of those locking a file.

Added caveat, if after a close the NET FILE shows a user continually locking on the file, have them reboot. more than likely they have an open connection such as an explorer window open to the folder/file in question.

Hope this helps!

Unable to Open SharePoint Central Admin Site

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:52:36 GMT

This was a fun issue. I've seen it before when setting up SharePoint WSS3.0 but, sadly, I forgot.

So you will find a lot of various postings on this and they will lead you all around in various directions.

HOWEVER ...

Provided you are working with a "vanilla" install (as it were) you will find one funny omission that just futzes (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/futz) with your time...

Make sure that you go to the IIS Manger>Application Pools>StsAdminAppPool (and repeat for StsAppPool1)>right click>properties>identity tab

Now, if you have not defined the username/password you can use a Predefined of Local System ... but the default of "Network Service" is more than likely why you are actually having a problem.

When I change the predefined to "Local System">Apply>stopped the app pool and start it back up ... now go to your SharePoint Central Admin Site ...

Viola!

Hope this helps someone else as well.

2012 World Backup Day

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:41:26 GMT

Today is World Backup Day.

Trying to raise awareness about backing up all your devices on this day.

When was the last time you backed up your tablet or phone, switch or router configs? Servers, pc's and laptops, etc?

Well if you need help I hear the folks at www.Brady-Liu.com would be happy to help you out!

(I hear you can even hit the support button and open a ticket!)

St. Baldrick's and Zachary S.

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:56:49 GMT

Everyone, I was sent an email today with an important update about a family I consider very dear to me. One of their children is going to be participating in the St. Baldrick's Children's Charity event on March 24th.

What I found sad was that the expected goal is just $50.00.

Would you mind going to his link here:
http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/553302/2012

and show him that not only does such an amazing young man have support but that we truly appriciate his efforts on behalf of the children this charity benefits? What do you say? Think you can float a few bucks?

Respectfully,
Mike

MSN Live Hotmail Down

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:24:31 GMT

Odd, this is the second major company email outage I have seen today. I'm hearing other major services have been down today from others as well.

If you are experiancing trouble with MSN Live Hotmail check here as well: http://downrightnow.com/hotmail

GoDaddy Email Down

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:55:04 GMT

Seems this has been most of this morning. I have already received calls from those using their service; please be patient as they are working to resolve the issue.

Now, on a personal note: This is the second time in all the years I have been with GoDaddy that I have had an issue with a downed service/server with GoDaddy since I started with them in 1999. Pretty good track record over 12 years I'd say. Yes I recommend them for my clients as well.

Fire Suppression and Technology

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:14:00 GMT

Okay, so this is something I continually rail against with companies and their fire based suppression systems.

It doesn't matter if it is your production server area, test server area, development server area or not ... a water based suppression system in those areas is extremely detrimental not just to the equipment in that area but to your business as well. The "what if's" are astonishing ... ...for instance let's look at Texas DOT's recent issue:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20120220-water-main-knocks-out-txdot-s-system-of-traffic-cameras-in-dallas.ece
or how about
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46460235/ns/local_news-dallas_fort_worth_tx/t/ugly-morning-commute-tuesday/

Please re-think your fire suppression systems in your server/network equipment areas!!

Yes, a dry system is expensive, but think what could happen to your business in the case of a wet system failure.

Valentine's Day 2012 in Dallas, Texas

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:47:23 GMT

So you live in the Dallas area but you don't know what is going on in the area today.

You often wonder what is up in town but "hope" to find something good to do during those special moments.

Some of you are still trying to plan last minute Valentine's Day events ... even if you just feel like this is a crazy Hallmark Holiday, you want to shoot cupid out of the sky to have the final laugh, or this is just Single's Awareness Day...

... May I suggest you go take a look and follow some advice from my friends Saucy Minx and Cheeky Monkey? http://www.saucyminx.org

Enjoy!

String Theory Continued - Black Hole Entropy

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:07:00 GMT

What is black hole entropy?
Two important thermodynamic quantities are temperature and entropy. Temperature we all know from our fevers, weather reports and ovens. Entropy however is foreign to everyday life for most people.

Suppose we have a box filled with gas of some type of molecule called M. The temperature of that gas in that box tells us the average kinetic energy of those vibrating molecules of gas. Each molecule as a quantum particle has quantized energy states, and if we understand the quantum theory of those molecules, theorists can count up the available quantum microstates of those molecules and get some number. The entropy is the logarithm of that number.

When it was discovered that black holes can decay by quantum processes, it was also discovered that black holes seem to have the thermodynamic properties of temperature and entropy. The temperature of the black hole is inversely proportional to its mass, so the black hole gets hotter and hotter as it decays.

The entropy of a black hole is one fourth of the area of the event horizon, so the entropy gets smaller and smaller as the black hole decays and the event horizon area becomes smaller and smaller.

But until string theory there was not a clear relation between quantum microstates of a quantum theory and this supposed black hole entropy.

Black holes and branes in string theory
A black hole is an object that is described by a spacetime geometry that is a solution to the Einstein equation. In string theory at large distance scales, solutions to the Einstein equation are only modified by very small corrections. But it has been discovered through string duality relations that spacetime geometry is not a fundamental concept in string theory, and at small distance scales or when the forces are very strong, there is an alternate description of the same physical system that appears to be very different.

A special type of black hole that is very important in string theory is called a BPS black hole. A BPS black hole has both charge (electric and/or magnetic) and mass, and the mass and the charges satisfy an equality that leads to unbroken supersymmetry in the spacetime near the black hole. This supersymmetry is very important because it results in the disappearance of messy quantum corrections, so that precise answers about the physics near the black hole horizon can be found by simple calculations.

In the previous section we learned that string theories contain objects called p-branes and D-branes. Since a point can be thought of as a zero-brane, a natural generalization of a black hole is a black p-brane. And there are also BPS black p-branes.

But there's also a relationship between black p-branes and D-branes. At large values of the charge, spacetime geometry is a good description of of a black p-brane system. But when the charge is small, the system can be described by a bunch of weakly interacting D-branes.
In this weakly coupled D-brane limit, with the BPS condition satisfied, it is possible to calculate the number of available quantum states. This answer depends on the charges of the D-branes in the system.

When we go back to the geometrical limit of the equivalent black hole of p-brane system with the same charges and masses, we find that the entropy of the D-brane system matches the entropy as calculated from the black hole or p-brane event horizon area.

This was a fantastic result for string theory. But can we now say that D-branes provide the fundamental quantum microstates of a black hole that underlie black hole thermodynamics? The D-brane calculation is only easily performed for the supersymmetric BPS black objects. Most black holes in the Universe probably have very little if any electric or magnetic charge, and are very far from being BPS objects. It's still a challenge to compute the black hole entropy for such an object using D-branes.

HOSTS File and Windows 7/Vista

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:40:00 GMT

Really.

That's what some of you are saying right now. You would not believe how often I hear this complaint. It's like ... well ... Really. You can't search your answer out? You work in this field for how long and you didn't know this ...

Ok, enough of the ranting, let's get to it.

You are not going to be able to browse to your HOSTS file (located in: %systemroot%\windows\system32\drivers\etc) and open, edit and then save your changes. You have to have run the notepad option as an administrator.

So ... how do we get there?

Start>Programs>Accessories>(right click on) Notepad>Select "Run as Administrator"

NOW ....
Make your changes
File
Save

Viola!

BACK TO WORK YOU!!!

Ok now wait a minute

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:13:09 GMT

I know, boohoo, it's raining here in Dallas the past couple days. I hope it rains a few more days like this too!

Why?!?

I know we all hate the traffic, the clouds drenching us as we go from the car into where ever we need to be.

But come on!!!

In the next few months, April or May time frame, when the temperatures are in the triple digits again and the 2 year drought worsens and you are told to restrict your water usage more, don't water your lawn but once a MONTH etc ...

... You'll be crying for rain!

So suck it up! I for one am hoping for more.

Well then

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:43:11 GMT

Welcome to 2012, I trust you are doing well?

I made it through December without a post *twitch*; it was a pretty busy end of the year. Now we are in January almost over to February, people have already broken their "resolutions" for 2012, snow has yet to make its way to Dallas (nor ice yet), and the world around us is still crumbling economically and politically.

I could so easily go into a political rant, especially after the state of the union last night, but I'll digress.

This year we look to continue growth at www.Brady-Liu.com, grow the use of www.MikeDecides.com, and smile more often.

Other than that, how has the start of 2012 been for you?

Scalloped Potatoes

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:48:00 GMT

Just another one of those twists I like to throw from time to time. It's a tradition for me to find some reason to add SOMETHING else to my "planned" Thanksgiving meal at the last moment. It will usually involve an ingredient that I have made to much of, or have to much left over.

So what happens when I boil TO many potatoes for my Cheddar Mashed Bacon casserole...

You end up with Scalloped Potatoes that disappeared before I got more than just a "cook's taste" of 'em!

Let's get ready, preheat your oven to 350.

Here is what you will need:
2.5 quart casserole dish greased, I use a butter wrapper for this
6-8 potatoes peeled and sliced (not diced or cubed)
2 cups cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1 regular can of chicken and herb condensed soup
3/4 cup milk (I use 2%, use whole for a thicker sauce)
1 cup sour cream
3Tbsp butter
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper

After boiling the potatoes until a bit tender (do not overcook or it will be soggy and hard to transfer) Add 1 cup of cheese and the onions in layers as you place them in the casserole dish.

In another bowl combine the remaining ingredients (exception of the remaining cup of cheddar), stir, and pour over the potatoes.

Now top with the remaining cheddar cheese

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until cheese is browned and surface bubbles.

Viola!

Sprint Upgrades Now Extended Time Frame

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:24:00 GMT

So last month I became eligible to upgrade my phone with Sprint. I decided I would wait until this month as I was having some issues with my EVO 4G anyhow and was looking to get the EVO 3D.

Imagine my surprise when I logon to the site to see that they have now extended how long it will be until I get a new phone. Now I have to wait an additional 10 months.

I asked "why" when opening a ticket for my EVO 4G to be looked at and was informed it was due to Sprint now carrying Apple devices and the requirements they have with that new contract.

Imagine, those of us that CAME to Sprint because we wanted top of the line Android devices are now being penalized because there are still those out there that want their Apple device but they want it on Sprint now because they are tired of the billing issues with their current providers.

Add insult to injury when I spoke to the rep at the Sprint store when dropping off my phone for repairs he told me I could always get an "additional" phone to my plan like the Apple 4S ... do you see the irony here? ... Then when I get my Android EVO 4G back they tried again

... after digging in my logs I found that though an app was added for testing ... the three hours they stated they tested my phone for was false. They have to know that some of us using these devices are technical folks right? Why lie to me ...

Looks like Sprint is changing again, unfortunately not for the better.

One of Those Weekends

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:00:06 GMT

So what do you do when you have a client that you continually warn not to do certain things and ... you know what's coming ... they do it anyhow?

Now back in the day when I was a manager, and when I owned my own company, there comes a time when you have to evaluate the business relationship. We use to do this starting around October. We'd evaluate if the relationship was profitable, had the potential to be ultimately profitable, or if prices needed to rise in order to make the relationship a good one going forward for both enterprizes. To continually let mismanaged client relationships suck out resources (and availability) that is no longer a good partnership. A few times key partnerships were found to be unprofitable and the ability to mange the relationship going forward was no longer profitable for either organization. In these cases (and to the shock of some) we would terminate the relationship. In the long run this provided stability for our organization and gave us the ability to focus on other partnerships or finding better matched partnerships.

What we look for to be profitable is partners, not clients and vendors. When the relationship degrades to that it is no longer about both organizations looking to grow and assist one another. It becomes a one sided relationship for both parties. When that becomes the case you will start to see clients drop off, vendors leave, and then both organizations have issues.

Think of this more as a traditional marriage. Oh, you know, the ones where it use to be that both partners were expected to work through issues and at least attempt to save the marriage.

Instead what we see more and more with business partners is that the client vendor relationship is becoming instilled. The partner mentality appears to be taking a back seat ... much like many people's attempts at marriage ... easier to say "irreconcilable differences" than to actual try and work out the issues ... but is that really the case? Lost is the trust going forward, building relationships anew, financial obligations both past/present/and now future. If a relationship manager (mediator) isn't engaged properly everyone stands to lose in the near term, not even thinking of the long term costs.

Worse yet they just settle for the vendor/client relationship. Synonymous with Information Technology Professionals calling their Clients (people within a business unit) that they call "users". You hear terms like "those techies", "that's techie talk" and "those losers *ahem* I mean users" all put downs. Vendor means you give me and Client means pay the bill. The longevity of these relationships are tenuous at best.

Here's an exercise for you:
If you are a vendor try calling your clients "partners" (without a southern drawl please)
If you are a client try calling your vender "partners" (same applies)
If you are in information technology try speaking about all your "users" as clients
Finally, if you interface with someone in technology, be it a help desk associate, or network guru etc ... try treating them like a person you'd like to actually help you.

It really does help to start and change the mentality.

USMC 236th Birthday Today!

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:05:00 GMT

Thanks to GoDaddy.com for this gem!
Please join Go Daddy on November 10, 2011, in wishing the United States Marine Corps a Happy 236th Birthday.

If you have trouble with the above link you can also copy and paste this to find the video:
http://www.godaddy.com/holiday/usmc/usmc-2011.aspx

Enjoy!

Semper-Fi!

Finally!

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:02:00 GMT

Submitted for your reading enjoyment today:

Finally finished the process with Apple to become developers in the iOS and Safari programs at www.Brady-Liu.com ... only takes ... forever! *echo*

Check us out on Facebook too: www.facebook.com/BLTech

Export SQL to Text

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:37:00 GMT

Oddly I heard this question today. It has been awhile but thought I would note for others for future reference the bcp command:

For a comma separated file:
From your sql server management studio run the below:

declare @sql varchar(8000)

SELECT @sql = ‘bcp “select * from [dbname]..[table name]” queryout c:\temp\mytest.txt -c -t, -T -S [server name]‘

exec master..xp_cmdshell @sql

Hot Toddy Time

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:18:46 GMT

So it's that time of year again where we have the sniffles, or just want to settle down to a nice, comfortable, relaxing evening with a warm tasty drink in hand.

This brings to mind a nice Hot Toddy.

There are many ways to make this and really it's up to your taste but, if you follow these guidelines you can enjoy a nice Hot Toddy yourself tonight:

1oz brandy, whiskey or rum (your choice)
1 Tbsp honey
Squeeze of lemon
3/4 cup hot water

Now if you want to add a little more flavor beyond this you can add a tea bag of your choice but I'd recommend using an earl grey for relaxing or a green tea if you have the sniffles.

Now to put it all together properly:
Coat the bottom of Irish coffee glass with the honey. (or a mug if you must)
Add the liquor and the lemon juice
Heat your hot water in a tea kettle (if adding a tea bag steppe tea in the water before adding) ...
... and stir.

Viola!

Enjoy!

Reset HP Procurve Switch

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:50:00 GMT

With HP Procurve switches it is easy even for a novice to clear the user password.

Anyone who manages HP Procurve devices knows that at some point you will not be able to access it because it does not recognize the username / password. Better yet the last admin didn't have it recorded for his replacement.

When physically at the switch you can press and hold "Clear" button with a paperclip. You know, that one you keep in the drawer for poping open CD/DVD ROMs? By doing that you have reset password to the configured default which is admin with no password.

NOTE: Beware, if you press "Reset" and "Clear" at the same time this will reset the switch to factory settings.

This applies to at least the HP Procurve 25xx series, 26xx and 28XX.

If you are unsure please contact HP or consult your user manual (downloadable from HP).

Italian Red Potatoes

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:50:00 GMT

This is a great recipe that goes as a nice side dish to any meat dish be it red meat, poultry, pork, or fish.

What you'll need to get started (for 5-6 people, I like to plan to have some leftovers):
3lbs of red potatoes cut into quarters (or smaller)
6tbs of butter
2tbs of fresh minced garlic (or if you want to cheat, from a jar is good enough *sigh*)
4tbs of Italian seasoning
1tsp of salt
3-4tbs of lemon juice (to taste)
2tbs of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or if you must from your shaker of choice)

1 - 13x9 cake pan completely lined with tinfoil (trust me you'll appreciate it later)

Now to pull it all together:
Put the quartered (or smaller) potatoes in the pan
Preheat your oven to 350
In a medium sized microwave safe bowl melt the butter
Add all remaining ingredients and whisk together
Pour over potatoes and gently stir potatoes around to coat (remember gentle, don't rip the tinfoil)
Cover with tinfoil

Now place them in the oven for 45 minutes. For the last 10 minutes cook uncovered. If you want crispier potatoes take the cover off at 20 minutes remaining.

When they come out of the oven you can tip everything into a serving bowl, remove the tinfoil once cooled, and cleanup is a snap.

Viola!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Cheddar Cheese

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:12:00 GMT

Well with the holiday's on the way I figure it is time to start adding some more recipes that I have here on the blog.

So let's start with the famous Garlic Mashed Potatoes ... with Cheddar Cheese

This is what you will need to start (Usually for 4-5 people)
2lbs Potatoes (peeled if you prefer) quartered
1tsp of crushed garlic (or 1/2 tsp of garlic powder if you don't have fresh garlic)
1tsp salt
1/2c Milk
1/2 stick of butter (1/4c)
3/4c Cheddar Cheese (Vermont White Cheddar is a nice twist)
1tsp Parsley

So what we will need to do first is boil those potatoes. Once you have them in a pot, covered with water and you bring the water to a boil. Once the water is to a boil reduce the heat to medium for about 10 minutes or until potatoes crumble.

Now strain potatoes and place in mixing bowl.
Add salt and garlic
Begin mashing/mixing and add butter, milk, cheddar cheese, parsley.

Viola!

Chocolate Waffles/Pancakes

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:29:00 GMT

For my kids this has become one of their favorite breakfast requests the past coupld of years.

They finally helped in making it the last two times and were surprised when I poured in the coffee.

What you'll need:
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (more or less)
5 Tbls butter
1 1/2 c Flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder (I prefer to use Herseys but store brand works well too)
1 1/4 c sugar
a dash of Salt from a shaker (to help sweeten)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup sour cream (pancakes I replace this with milk)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use a tad more)
1/4 cup coffee

Easiest way to get this all together:
Melt the chocolate and butter together

Put all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda.

In yet another bowl combine:
Sour cream (Milk if pancakes), eggs, and vanilla

Now in the large bowl of dry mix add everything together and viola! You are ready to cook it up!

If waffles you get about 6, if pancakes you get around 12 depending on size.

Make sure to still grease your waffle iron before adding the batter!

Chrome Offline Installer and Spiceworks

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:47:00 GMT

Nope, I didn't stutter there in the subject matter ...

I have an older XP install that is on a "secure" system with a requirement for IE6. This means I cannot use the newer version of Spiceworks. Well unless I add another browser to the system just for Spiceworks use.

This led to the need for an offline install version of Chrome. Seemed to be a tad of a pain. Perhaps I was just looking in the wrong place?

Eventually I found what I was looking for and that is an offline installer. Imagine, I found it in a Google forum! o.O

http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http%3A//www.google.com/url%3Fsa%3DD%26q%3Dhttp%253A//www.google.com/url%253Fsa%253DD%2526q%253Dhttp%25253A//www.google.com/support/installer/bin/answer.py%25253Fanswer%25253D126299%252526%252526hl%25253Den

Hope this helps someone find the Chrome Offline Installer a little faster in the future.

I'd also suggest one take a look at: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/

Enjoy!

Now Building Android, iOS, and Web Apps-HTML5

mike@mikedecides.com (Mike) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:41:00 GMT

Well, as those that do business with my personal company know, we are working on a few various apps right now. The though process we put behind all our applications is that they need to be able to be cross platform. It makes no sense to build apps that are tied to one vendor or another.

If you are looking for your application to be cross platform, upgraded, redesigned, or have an idea you want to get off the floor come visit our company site: Http://www.Brady-Liu.com

Just another side to www.Brady-Liu.com from our Systems, Consulting, and Managment side.