And Lightning Doesn't Strike Twice?

So you believed the tale that lightning never strikes twice? You never thought that maybe - just maybe - nobody ever reported a second strike 'cos they were already dead from the first one?

No more than four days after the last tale of Windows woe I get called by the dad of one of my son's friends. "My son's computer died" he said, "Do you think you could look at it?". I suppose a certain amount of desperation was creeping into his tone of voice (small hints like the "How much do you charge?" phrase), so I went over that night to see. The problem was that his netbook would not boot properly into Windows, giving this message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
"WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/CONFIG/SYSTEM". 

 This is not a happy message to see. The files in the config directory are your registry, so this means that the system hive (part) of your registry - probably the most important part - is gone. Without it Windows has no idea what parts of Windows are where, so nothing starts!

There are programs that claim to help you to recover from this problem, but not only did I not have them but I was also constrained by time. So we got his external USB Optical drive, connected it, put in a Linux live image DVD, and tried to boot. Same message!

Drat!! F2 to get to the BIOS and change the boot device sequence (it was an Acer One, so under "Boot" in the BIOS menus). Try again. Same message. Huh??? Check the BIOS - should start from hard drive last, so why isn't it? Turn machine totally off, disconnect optical drive (that uses one USB socket) and try another (that uses a double-headed cable).

Success!! Select PartedMagic. Look at the hard drive ... there are two? Oh! 155 GB and 5 GB means that there's a normal one and a recovery one. Excellent!!

Spent the next hour taking all the irreplaceable personal files off the hard drive and onto a USB drive. Once that's done we used the disk checker in PartedMagic to review the SMART data from the hard drive. It all looked good, so replacement was ok to do.

Reboot yet again - without the optical drive - and hit F6. This got us the menu for replacing the content of the hard drive from the recovery partition. 30 minutes later we had a "brand new" PC!!

Yes, we could have done the system recovery without Linux, but not without losing all the data from the machine. Oh, and no, I didn't charge!

 TTFN

What Do You Do When Windows Doesn't ......?

You don't really think much about it when your laptop dies because of a low battery. You just put it away and plug it in to feed when you get to an outlet. Once attached to the electrical umbilical you just restart it and continue with your work, games, chatting, or whatever.

So this friend of mine - a student, as it happens - rings up a few days ago at about 5 pm to say that the above was just exactly what had happened ... up until it was time for Windows to re-launch. The all she was getting was a prompt to reboot again.

Well, it could have been a root-kit virus, or an OS failure, or a hard drive failure - from 500 miles away I couldn't tell, but what we did know was that she needed to get her data off the hard drive and also to get a system up so she could finish a paper.

Enter the "Live Distro"!!  You'll have seen magazines on sale with CDs packaged in them. There are at least four (Linux Format, Linux Pro Magazine, Ubuntu User, and Linux User and Developer) that normally carry a CD or DVD in their packaging containing a bootable version of the operating system. The idea is to let people try out the system to see if they like it without installing a whole new OS just to find they hate it!

However, because pretty much all Linux versions now have drivers to read Microsoft's NTFS file system, they make excellent rescue systems!

So she went and got a magazine, opened the case and popped the DVD in to the drive in her laptop and rebooted the machine. When it started it asked her if she wanted to boot from removable disc, and she said Yes. Three or four simple questions (keyboard, time, date, timezone, etc). After that she was in to a functioning modern operating system.

After getting all valuable information off, she found that Libre Office let her open her Windows 2010 Word and PowerPoint documents and finish everything up. Her VB.Net coursework is (luckily) complete, otherwise it would have been an install of Mono and Eclipse!

And Windows? Dell are sending her a recovery disk set and, if that doesn't work, it'll be returned for hardware recovery. Of course, there's always the alternative of popping in a new hard drive and running Linux natively, with maybe a VM with Windows ....

So, to all those of you who panic when Windows fails: help is at hand - just as far away as your nearest Barnes & Noble store! The magazines (they're all British, by the way) cost about $16, so as a way of getting at your data despite a death of Windows it is probably the cheapest method going!

TTFN

Even Apple isn't Perfect

Nobody's perfect - not even Apple. Although it tries very hard, I'll admit, and is incredibly successful about it. Right now Apple is worth more than the combined GDP of the economies of Greece, Italy, and Spain! On the downside, it took them three months to publicly realise and try to fix a loophole in the security of their OS (through the Java JVM software, supplied by Oracle) that Oracle fixed for windows 3 months ago. Oracle can't fix it for Mac machines because Apple won't let them!

Anyhow, here's a case of imperfection you may find curious.

We all use USB connections of one sort or another for our computers and our phones. We're all familiar with the standard USB "A" connector - the steel rectangle part-filled with a block of plastic to make sure it goes in the right way around.

I recently bought an Apply wired keyboard. I don't possess an Apple machine, but do like their keyboards, and, as they work fine with Linux (and Windows) systems, I invested in a couple. Each keyboard comes with a USB cable for attaching to the computer and, thanks to Apple's fore-sightedness, an extension cable.

Now look at these photos.

 On the left is a picture of the socket on the end of the extension cable. Look closely, and notice the little "v" on the inside of the metal casing, opposite the plastic block insert.

 Now look here at the USB plug on the end of the USB cable attached to the keyboard. Notice the little trough between the two plastic lugs holding the plastic insert block in place? It perfectly matches the "v" on the socket of the extension cable.

 

At the other end of the extension cable the USB plug is a perfectly normal one!







This means that the keyboard and extension cable are keyed: you can only plug a keyboard into that extension cable - nothing else.

Well, actually, you can, but you need a pair of small pliers to get them apart again!!  Be warned !

TTFN

Update !

Apple has released a tool to remove the FlashBack virus.

If you think you might have this infection on your PC,

or want to make sure you don't,

please look here.



Moving On

Well, it's become time to move on to another day-time home. Pay to Play is something of a dirty word in most parts of the USA (excepting here in NJ, where it's the acceptable alternative to Menace to Meet (the menacing usually demonstrating that one is carrying concealed, licenced or not). I'm kind of unusual, it seems, because I really like doing what people around me all call "work". For me, "work" is "play I get paid for", so Pay to (let me) Play is definitely on my approval list!

As I started to say, I'll be finished up here in mid-north NJ at the end of the month, and starting a new gig near Philly - lots nearer home. It'll actually be a lot more miles per week, but I'll save the cost of a hotel room 5 nights a week. Quids in overall, so that's good. OTOH, I'll be sad to leave, as I've been enjoying the atmosphere and working environment here. 

Today was a really nice day up until about 4 pm. I got lots achieved in the morning, had a really nice lunch, got back to find that the explanation of some really weird specs had arrived, so I sat down and finished that requirement in about 90 mins, testing and all, and set about fixing the code for a report that's displaying some really really weird behaviour (although as I think of it right now I suspect I've just realised why!).

Then I got a request from the friendly local DBA who was deploying an SSIS package of mine. "Come on over, we've got a small problem"  ...  the coded equivalent of "I have a cut-throat razor looking for some skin. Feel like volunteering?" !

So I wandered over to find him really perplexed. "did you encrypt anything here?". "No. Why?" and he shows me some error messages. Stop and re-start it and it all goes away - don't ask; it's MS SQL Server 2008! Anyhow, we test the package and it does all the difficult bits fine and then crashes writing to an Excel file.

It turns out that SSIS dynamic variables are evaluated every time they're accessed, so if I have a variable that is composed of a file path and name and a time-stamp and the extension, and the time stamp is created in a formula using getdate(), then getdate() is triggered and the result used to create the string from scratch every time it's asked for.

That would be fine, but I have two tasks: one copies a template file (an empty Excel file) to another folder, adding the time-stamp en route, and the next one pulls data from a database table and writes it into that file.

All had always worked fine in testing, but today the network was so slow and the data quantity sufficiently large, etc., etc., that the first task composed a new name Test_20120322_1602.xls, but by the time the next task was looking to write to it, the name it composed (in exactly the same way) was Test_20120322_1603.xls. Needless to say, this file didn't exist, so I got a nasty OLEDB Failed message for my troubles!

The fix was to compose the name once first and store it (with a script task) into a non-dynamic file name for both tasks to use.

So here I am at my desk in the hotel, writing this (the first entry for several months - I've just not had a great amount of time  and living in a hotel room doesn't exactly encourage the muse) as, I suppose, a way or procrastinating about doing some studying.

I've been answering a lot of questions on ITToolbox recently, and have re-started on Experts Exchange. In fact, in just a few days of trying I've already been given a free month's use! Answering the different types of questions is always a challenge, and sharpens ones' own skills, which is good.

That's All, Folks!

TTFN

Roast Stuffed Pork Loin

The title was a bit of a mouthful, but the results are a very nice mouthful. There's a lot of little bits in this, but, when you get to the end, it all comes out well and tastes great.

---

250g fresh spinach	6 smallish button mushrooms
1 dozen chestnuts	0.5lb sausage meat
1 tsp Mustard	1 tsp Mace
1 tsp Coriander	a little Salt and some Pepper
2.5lb Pork Loin	2 tsp Bisto Gravy Powder
Cotton String	Red wine

---

1. Measure out the spices and place them into a small frying pan for later
2. Cut the stalks from the spinach and wash it. Chop it fairly finely.
3. Peel the chestnuts - do it like this to avoid frustration and singed fingers!
1. Cut crosses in the flat sides of the chestnuts
2. Place them into boiling water for 3-4 minutes
3. Remove the heat but leave the nuts in the water
4. Two-by-two, take nuts from the water and cool a little under the tap
5. Cut in four with a sharp knife, and extract the meat. 
6. Blend/chop the nut meat - I used my Magic Bullet.
4. Chop the mushrooms fairly finely - about a quarter-inch pieces
5. Heat the spices in the pan on a low heat
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine the spinach, spices, mushrooms, chestnuts, and sausage-meat
7. With a good-sized fork, mash the parts together. You will probably end up with a mix that is way too dry, so add an egg or two until it binds together. This is the stuffing mix.
8. Now take a sharp knife and cut the loin in two, length-ways. This should give you two fairly flat pieces of meat of the same length. In the US you often get a package that contains two parts already: in this case cut each part almost in half, so that it will lie flat
9. Place one part of the meat flat and season it with a little salt and pepper, and some rosemary
10. Put as much of the stuffing mix as will reasonably fit onto the meat
11. Lay the second piece of meat on top
12. Use the string to tie the whole thing together. You shouldn't need to go around more than five or six times at most
13. If there's a lot of stuffing left, pin up one end with cocktail sticks and push more into the other end!
14. Place the meat in a (non-stick if you can) roasting pan and cover over with foil. I put a cup of wine into the tray to keep the meat moist: don't bother if your meat is not sitting on the bottom of the pan
15. Place in the oven:
1. Start at about 450F for about 20 minutes
2. Take it out, turn the meat over, recover and replace for another 15 minutes or so
3. Measure the temperature - it'll probably be about 60C inside the meat
4. Uncover the joint and raise the oven temperature to 500F or more for about 15 minutes. This will get the temperature up and also colour up the top of the joint for serving
16. Once done, take from oven and let rest on the plate or block you'll use for carving for 10 minutes or so. It's still cooking at this point! Remember that you'll get liquid out of the joint, so be sure to use something that the juices won't simply run off of!
17. Mix the Bisto powder with a cup of red wine to liquify it
18. Take the roasting tray, add a cup or two of red wine and place on heat.  
19. Use a spatula to scrape off the meat stuck to the bottom of the trat and break it up
20. Add the Bisto mix, bring to the boil. Almost immediately it will start to thicken, so be ready to pour into a serving jug.

I served this with mashed potatoes and corn. Peas or beans would also contrast well with the flavour of the pork. It'll certainly feed four hungry people.

---

Enjoy your meal - we certainly did (that's why there aren't any pictures!!)!

Notice!! This is soon to be made again, so there should soon be pictures.

TTFN

Stuffed Mushrooms

So, for lunch, there were Stuffed Mushrooms. I stopped in Wegman's yesterday for general "stuff", and saw some nice big Portabella mushrooms, so bought four. As it happened, I only needed three for lunch, but the stuffing for dinner will need some more.

I put the mushrooms on to fry very gently in butter, gills-down and stalk-removuff".ed. At the same time, with a little more butter, about a half onion and a good amount of garlic, both well chopped, to fry somewhat more savagely.

For the "stuffing", which it really isn't, 'cos Portabellas are too wide open to "stuff", take about a half of a pound of Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans sausage (or, if you're in Europe, minced pork), add about two teaspoonfuls of Herbes de Provence and some pepper. Mash out the meat with a fork, and then add in three eggs and keep mashing until well mixed. Now the mixture is made, start adding breadcrumbs until it all starts binding together. You need to get it to a consistency that is a little wetter than you would normally use for burgers.


Turn over the mushrooms!

By the time you're done with all this, the onion/garlic mixture should be ready to add to the meat mix, so do so. 


Let the mushrooms fry gently until they start getting softer (not mushy!!), and then, for each one, take some meat mix, put it into a small pan flatten it down to about 3/10th of an inch thick and fry it, flipping once or twice. When done, sprinkle Parmesan cheese generously onto the mushroom, pop the cooked meat onto the top, and serve.

TTFN

Another Year Older ..... and it's time to get cooking !

Yes, it's Christmas time again - that time of the year when I get older and decide not to cook for the next year. Then comes Christmas Day!

This year the daughter is returning to the fold for a few months, so there's been much moving of things from one room to others so she has somewhere to sleep, etc. What would be her room has been being used as a computer room - not something that will meet with much approval, I suspect, from tomorrow onwards!

Right now, in fact, the room looks more like Mission Control in Darmstadt than a bedroom, There are six screens in all - from a desktop, two laptops with extra screens, and an eeeBox. One of the laptops is my faithful Acer Aspire 9300 - a 17" Windows machine. The other is a new System-76 Bonobo machine - 17.3", 8 core Intel i7, 12 GB RAM, 1 Tb disk. It runs Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows in VirtualBox virtal machines. Life is turning out to be simpler this way, despite the normal hiccups of moving to a new OS.

Not, of course, that Ubuntu is really new to me - the eeeBox has been running 10.04 since it was released - early 2010, I suppose - with the NetBook GUI. Strangely enough, that's rather like the new Unity GUI that 11.10 comes with as default.It's a little bit of a pain atafirst to get used to, and also seems like a step back in time to be using more keyboard short-cuts, but I'm getting used to it. Slowly!

These two Linux machines really are a joy to work with. I run Windows virtually on the laptop because I keep my email in a program called TheBat! - a really good email client from RITLabs in, of all places, Moldova in Europe. As I have about 370,000 emails stashed in there, the store is really quite big, and I'm very happy with the way it all gets organised and kept. Very reliably, I might add! Unfortunately it only runs under Windows - I haven't been brave enough to try WINE!

Anyway, I also have a Windows desktop (under the desk), which I use without mouse, keyboard, or monitor - Vinagre remote control on the newer Linux machine or even in a virtual Windows machine inside the Linux machine will work fine. Only the RDP option works, which Ubuntu 10.04 doesn't have. Oh well - there are benefits to upgrades!

So, now I'm off to pick up some Windows PCs from a friend to disinfect, so the next blog will probably be full of stories of that.

TTFN