Industry KB: IT Water-Cooler for Power-Users Topic

Firefox 4; A look at some of the interesting new developments and improvements in Mozilla's newest release of their web browser, Firefox. Firefox 4 was just recently released a few months back and there are several new and interesting features to be had in Mozilla's newest version. Let's go ahead and take a quick look at what they've delivered.

This is a philosophical article that makes the point that business opportunities are often brief and fleeting in nature.

This is a quick topic to get you started presenting data in a grid in an ASP.NET web page.

This article discusses some bad search engine optimization practices that should be avoided.

This article discusses the benefits of buying printer ink on eBay for significant financial savings compared to what you pay in the brick and mortar stores for the same item.

The talk that surrounds online collaboration can get a bit abstract, with a penchant for buzzwords. For every press release or blog post that says we need to revolutionize our position as thought leaders through synergistic culture building, there's another business that signs up for online collaboration software with no real idea what they're doing. So I'd like to take some time today to talk about more concrete reasons why online collaboration software is a better choice than the alternatives.

Today we deployed version 1.1a of our Cross Reference Encyclopedia with updated content and features. Version 1.1a features a new cross reference guide table of contents on the left menu so you can more easily browse a two language cross reference guide online. In addition, new content was posted for most of the languages and we've finally gotten started on our Delphi Prism content.

This is an article about why I think email is the perfect medium for confronting and effectively dealing with bad customers in the computer business or any business.

If you know the correct driver is installed on your computer some place but don't remember where or know it's part of Windows, use the browse  for local driver option and specifiy a path of C:\ and check the include subfolders checkbox.

For example, in Vista, if there are no bluetooth devices on you computer when Vista is installed, the bluetooth stack isn't loaded. To load it, simply put your USB bluetooth dongle in an available USB port and use the tip above to load the Vista bluetooth driver.

Good quality programming books. Read on to see how I found and acquired seven of them in less than 15 minutes. Or why we love our iPads, Kindles and other mobile devices.

This article uses the real life story of Napoleon’s attempted invasion of Russia to help illustrate how to gain an advantage in business with minimal material assets.

This article cites some examples of how some of the best business opportunities I’ve found seemed to appear under the most unlikely circumstances.

Nice looking mailing and shipping labels make a statement about you - and/or your business. But printing to sheets of laser or inkjet labels can be a real pain when all you want are one or two labels at a time. This brief article talks about one line of label printers that's particularly convenient, inexpensive, plays nice on a network, and is super-easy to program.

Today we posted changes to your home page. Now your home page shows you your most relevant content from the groups you've joined and the threads you've participated in. New posts for the groups you've joined show up right below your group icons. Your most recently updated threads you've participated in right below that. Finally, your latest posts right below that.

Also, in a continued effort to separate Prestwood IT from PrestwoodBoards, the Prestwood IT specific groups and topics no longer show up on the group list nor on the groups menu.

This article describes how I use my Terms of Service web page to stay in control of my software design projects throughout the design process from start to finish.

This article discusses how I leverage my PC troubleshooting business to help me select the right kind of software design business so I only work for the right people.

Configure your computer to auto log on to a user (even an admin)

Ok, no one really needs information on how to make the worst possible web site.  This article was written as a guide how not to do a web page for your business.  As a professional web designer I am well-versed in all the nerdy ways required to carve a web site out of solid stone.  What I offer here is a humorous attempt to get you thinking about the things a business needs to consider before creating or redesigning your web page.

Quite a few times, I've attempted to use the standard Explorer to try and track down mysteriously missing disk space... and failed miserably; no nested file sizes. But there's light at the end of the tunnel.

We have Vista, they have Leopard, we have an anemic find, they have a great Spotlight. We have the registry, they have, well, they don't have a registry. We are the Empire, they are the Rebel Jedi. Windows vs. Macs, who is the clear winner here?

This article discusses the pros and cons of letting kids have iPad tablets.

This article discusses using Google Trends to select positively trending keyword phrases to optimize your web pages.

This article discusses how change is a inevitable in technology.

This article discusses the circumstances that would make mass market or customized software the right choice for a business.

Member points information.

A message board is for Q&A, blogs are personal, and WIKI's are controlled.

This article talks about a difficulty I have experienced on several occasions with trying to reset Microsoft account passwords.

Moving your organization data from one environment to other is not an easy task and it needs a careful planning and systematic execution. Its always suggested to select approach which suits your business requirements. To perform migration from exchange 2013 to office 365 many native methods are available. but it needs some technical knowledge to process further. The best method to perform migration without any hassle is going selecting third party tools like EdbMails.

EdbMails Exchange Migration tool avoids risk of data loss and works efficiently. This is cost effective tool when compared to any other tool in the market.

Know More: Exchange Migration 

Stop by the Prestwood IT booth and meet Mike Prestwood. Talk technology, pick up a job application for Prestwood IT, or just say hello.

We updated our New Posts page for all posts and for each group. From the pull-down menu, select Programmer Community | New @ PPC or the What's New option available within each group. The new New Posts page now mixes all types of posts together so you can easily see what's the newest message board post, KB article, comment, blog entry, etc.

• New @ PPC (also available from the pull down menu, Programmer Community | New @ PPC)

 Although our Prestwood Certified area is currently in beta, our study tests are available now. Each study test features beginner, intermediate, and advanced questions. Although we have to add many more questions, the tests are live now and usable for study and review. The purpose of our study tests is to learn and review. You hover over answers to reveal the correct answer. Each question features a pop up [Review] link of study material. Test yourself and review concepts you are not familiar with.

New:  Check out our study tests...

• ASP Classic Study Test
• C# Study Test
• Delphi Study Test
• Paradox Study Test
• Prism Study Test
• VB.Net Study Test
• More...

Study, review, learn.

From any group, you can display a random tidbit, article, cross reference example, or message board thread. This is a fun and convenient way to browse content quickly to find interesting gems. To use this new feature, visit your favorite group and click on one of the random links in the left column menu.

If you use in Internet Router (sometimes also called a Gateway), you may face a new threat.

I deployed yet another new version of my Cross Reference Computer Language Encyclopedia. This new version of the software that drives the cross reference data includes fixing defects and some minor enhancements.

Check it out...

• Cross Reference Encyclopedia

The Cross Reference Encyclopedia is also available from the pulldown menu (Programmer Community | Cross Reference Encyclopedia). Enhancements and fixes included:

• CrossRef stats replaced the ambiguous "Version 1.1a" on the main CrossRef page:
  
• Numerous browsing defects fixed. Previously, clicking around led to some unexpected data showing and in some cases no data.
  
• Removed "View All" option and replaced it with a shorter "Overview" page. The "View All" page was getting too long to be of much use so I transitioned to a browse feature. You can still print out each category so "grabbing" a printable version is still possible.
  

In the past it's been a pain to get end-users to give developers an accurate and complete list of the steps they took to get to a problem - especially if screen-shots are desirable.

Now Microsoft has provided a tool that makes the entire process ridiculously easy.

This article makes the case that offense and defense are equally important facets to running a business.

The concept of online predators refers to the existence of threats to vulnerable groups that use internet services. 

Okay. So the official vendor doesn't offer support.  We've fixed that!

Okay. So the official vendor doesn't offer support.  We've fixed that!

This article discusses how business policy can determine whether or not a company survives.

Many new features including an enhanced PrestwoodBoards home page.

The Prestwood Online Community rules and disclaimers. Essentially, our policies all center around be-friendly, don't flame, encourage more discussion, and limit advertising to approved areas.

After two months off, the Prestwood eMag started sending again today now with no Prestwood IT business content!

Today PrestwoodBoards hit the 11,000 members mark!

Good behavior while participating in online communities, blogs, newsgroups, message boards, etc. Although this article is specific to our website, it's intention is general in nature.

Protect your computer before it slows down, you lose data, or someone steals information. The basics are an antivirus program, Windows Updates, and a firewall. Beyond that, I like to use several programs that add layers of protection to your computer.

Visiting various computing-oriented stores, and certainly all over the Internet, you'll often encounter merchandise marked down significantly, and advertised as "refurbbished."

The prices are often ridiculously low, and you have to wonder if the item is any good.

Is it?

Read on for answers you might not have expected.

Aside from the few blessed with a photographic memory, none of us can remember everything. As developers we are surrounded by complex technologies; programming languages, various SQL dialects, HTML, and CSS, to name a few. Although the Internet is a great place to find answers quickly, you often have to wade through a number of "hits" before you find the correct answer. Publisher O'Reilly & Associates has a better idea.

This article discusses some ghastly things I have seen in the computer business that can take on a life of their own similar to the Stephen King novel, “Christine”.

Spell checking is available in our rich editor for IE and Gecko based browsers such as Firefox and Safari. We use our rich editor in many areas of our community such as message boards, knowledge base, job postings, resumes, etc. For IE, there is an icon on the editor's toolbar. For Gecko based browsers such as Firefox and Safari, browser enabled spell checking is active. Spell checking is not available for Google Chrome. Currently Chrome's spell checking is not compatible with IFrames so you have spell checking OUTSIDE our editor.

Seobook has a useful keyword density analyzer for quickly scanning any web page.

About: An email queue is setup for 2+ workers as a queue where those working the queue move emails to subfolders or delete as they proceed. Subfolders sample: Assigned, Completed, Ignored, etc. Good for groups of staff to work. Our support@prestwood.com is an email queue. Our scheduler and tech staff in our Network Operating Center (NOC) work this queue.

Right click on My Computer and select the Properties menu option then select the Advanced tab (in Vista, select the Advanced system settings then the Advanced tab). Click the Environment Variables button then the New button and add the following:

• name = devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
• value = 1

Select Ok twice to close the Environment Variables dialog. In Device Manager on the Hardware tab, select View | Show Hidden Devices. Now both hidden devices and non-present devices will be listed. The non-present devices are grayed out.

Go to pda.prestwood.com for the small screen version of PPC with small screen features such as a random tidbit browser for studying on the go! All pages are specially designed to look as good as possible on your tiny-screen phone, iPhone, Blackberry, PocketPC, or Palm. To get started, browse to pda.prestwood.com with your PDA-ish device.

This article discusses a recent job assignment that nearly ended in failure without a very minor software adjustment.

If your computer was fast but is now slow, you can use techniques such as adware removers, defrag, and others to bring your PC back to life! You can also add hardware to speed up your computer (RAM, SATA HD, better video card, etc.).

This article discusses how I created a new contract for running my custom software design business after encountering too many problems with the prior way I was transacting business.

This article describes something I have experienced over my years of designing custom software and how I harness it for protection in my business dealings.

Error: Exception has been thrown by target of an invocation.

Solution: Shorten the path of the environmental variable, run SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe 

This article is a philosophical narrative about how to become a strong presence in the search engine result pages.

This article describes my rational for refusing to use a fixed price labor contract for my programming services any longer.

How do I uninstall Internet Explorer 9?

Vista's new SMB2 file sharing protocol has a fatal defect.

We all want a good, solid backup and restore solution for our machines. This is about a "sleeper" program I found on my new Windows 7 machine.

With my installation of Win7 complete, I moved on to installing my favorite software. Delphi 7 was high on my list but, when I went to install it, Win7 went all "politically correct" on me.

This post is about how I dealt with the problem.

As with XP and Vista, Windows 7 creates a handful of folders intended to hold your various documents, music, videos, etc.

By default, these folders are placed on the machine's C: drive.

Depending on your ideas of where such data belongs, you may want these folders located somewhere other than the C: drive; I certainly did.

This is about how to do that.

You know (or think) the file is out there.  You have a pretty good idea about one or two things that are (or ought) to be in it.  Find it fast with Windows GREP.

What is the maximum file + path name allowed in Windows?

This article uses the 1993 “Win-Hold-Win” military strategy to help illustrate how one can become more marketable in the computer industry.

Work Ethic v1 was about working hard, and working long. Straw-boss managers tried to boost productivity by cracking the whip. And it worked, up to a point, in certain sectors.

In recent years, the concept of "working smarter, not harder" has gained acceptance. It is, howver, just the harbinger of Work Ethic v2.

Work Ethic v2 is about an always "on" work force: People that have mastered control of attention, and are gratified by being in "the now."

Here we talk about how to get there.

This article makes the case for having multiple marketing techniques for procuring new business, rather than just one or two.

This article discusses the importance of connecting with the right customers for software design projects.

This article discusses why you cannot just rest on your laurels after your website is ranked on the first search results page in Google.