I have been using Microsoft SkyDrive for quite some time, but I missed the integration with Windows. With the release of the SkyDrive app for Windows, this is now possible and it is great! :-)

Setting it up is very easy, just go to www.skydrive.com and log on using your Microsoft Account (this is your old Windows Live ID, Messenger account or whatever - in near future it will simply be called Microsoft Account). Click Get SkyDrive Apps and download it to your computer. It installs in a few easy steps.

When installed SkyDrive will automatically sync to the folder selected. I went for the default setting which is simply <Your profile>\SkyDrive. The installer creates a neat link to your SkyDrive folder in Windows Explorer. The little green icon on the file, indicates that the file is synced with SkyDrive.

If you want to you can include your different SkyDrive folders in your libraries and make SkyDrive the default save location (e.g. for documents). 

I am not sure if I am allowed to upload all my purchased music to SkyDrive, I will have to look into that.

I can only recommend you check out SkyDrive. The new apps integrate the service in the way it is meant to be. I love it. I use it for my Windows Phone as well.

Hint: If you have used SkyDrive in the past, you might still be able to catch the 25GB free space offer, log onto SkyDrive and click Manage Storage, follow the instructions to claim your free space.

Today I decided to take my latop out of my Windows domain. For many years I have had a Windows domain for various reasons, but mainly to test the scenarios I encounter in my job. In the past six months owning a Windows domain has proven to be more annoying, than practical. This of course works for organisations, but when you are trying to do cool consumer stuff with consumer products, you could be running into trouble. Simply because the products are not designed to be used with computers, that are part of a domain.

As you may know, I have bought a Xbox 360 and I have a Windows Phone, both have several cool features that you can use, but only when the computer is not joined to a domain.

To make use of the cool features (eg. wireless sync with Windows Phone), I decided to disjoin my laptop from my Windows domain. The domain will live on, but as a test domain - which it should have been in the first place - but hey! ;-)

When disjoining af Windows computer from a domain, you will have to create a new normal Windows account. This means, like moving a computer from one domain to another, that you will have to migrate your files and settings - or at least your files.

From my experience with domain migration, I have a few asumptions on what to expect:

1. It should be possible to just copy my files to my new account manually. Perhaps it will not work with the application settings, but I can manage without.
2. File ownerships may or may not be a problem. I am not sure, if this will actually cause a problem, but I will assume, that I would need to reclaim ownership of all my files.

As a precaution I created a backup of all my files. This is always a good idea, even when you think nothing will go wrong, because, that's when it usually does.

Before I disjoined the computer from the domain, I created my new account. I then disjoined the computer from the domain.

After a restart, I could log onto my new account. Before did anything else, I logged on as the system administrator. Then I copied the files from my old account onto the new one - including the settings (in the hidden folder AppData).

This did not work, the settings confused Windows, and broke a few things. So I had to delete the account and try again - without the settings. This worked - the files are now in place. I reclaimed the file ownership, just to erase any trace of my old domain account.

I can now enjoy all the features of my Windows Phone and Xbox 360 as they were meant to be enjoyed. :-)

My wireless network is hidden, this is a very common thing to do when you have a wireless network. Windows 8 setup will let you connect to a hidden wireless, which is to be expected, but unfortunately it will keep its default setting, which is not to automatically reconnect if the network is hidden. This is rather inconvenient, because you will loose your connection sooner or later.

The solution is to go to the Manage Wireless Networks section and tell Windows to reconnect even if the network is hidden, unfortunately this section is not available in Windows 8 - or so it would seem at a first glance.

You can recall this very important section by opening a command prompt and type:

explorer.exe shell:::{1fa9085f-25a2-489b-85d4-86326eedcd87}

There you go. :-) You're back in business.

To Microsoft:
Please make this easier in the upcoming version. :-)

How can I find information like this myself?

Well, I used Google - as you probably have done, when reading about it here. Although it is rather easy.

1. The dialog is called "Manage Wireless Networks". Every such dialog has a GUID, which in our case is {1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}.
2. This information is located under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ in the Registry.
3. Search the registry for "Manage Wireless Networks" and whatever it finds under HKCR\CLSID is what you need.

Using these three steps will tell us, that for instance "Recycle Bin" is {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}.

The following command will start the Recycle Bin:

explorer.exe shell:::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Note: Searching for "Recycle Bin" will give you more than one hit under HKCR\CLSID, you will need the GUID from whatever matches your exact search. Otherwise try. If you are unsure on what you're doing, you might want to use a virtual machine to test your stuff.

I recently noticed that my Samsung Omnia 7 somehow failed to send MMS. The same thing happened to my girlfriend's Omnia W.

The issue, caused by events I have yet to uncover, can be very easily fixed by installing the Samsung network apps and reset the information.

For the Samsung Omnia 7:

1. Go to the Marketplace Samsung Zone and Install the Network Profile app
2. Run it and select your carrier

For the Samsung Omnia W:

1. Go to the Marketplace Samsung Zone and install the Samsung Wireless Manager app
2. Run it and select your carrier

I have no idea on what caused this in the first place. Although it should be totally unnecessary, the fix is really easy. On my Omnia 7 all I had to do was to run the Network Profile app and select my carrier. The correct carrier was actually selected already, but I selected it again to make sure the phone would update any missing information. I don't know if this is actually necessary.

My girlfriend's Omnia W was set to a different carrier and "Automatic APN". I unchecked Automatic APN and selected the correct carrier. Then it worked as well.

Usability Issues

I don't think the Windows Phone makes it very easy to check these settings. I need special software provided by the manufacturer. The software is easily uninstalled and how should an average user ever be able to connect the dots and find the software again. I think an improvement to the Windows Phone user interface would be to allow the user to check the settings without additional software.

At least I have not found any such information yet, without the Samsung Network Profile app. If you know how to do it, please let me know. Should it be there, I still think there is a usability issue, since I have not yet figured it out. Heh! Heh! ;-)

In one of my earlier posts on Ad-Block With Internet Explorer 9 I mentioned two lists for you to use. These lists will effectively kill almost all ads and tracking for your browsers.

Please be advised that the EasyList list may in some cases render flash video unusable. I have disabled the list in my Internet Explorer. I now have less problems with playing flash videos and since I have not noticed an increase in ads on websites, I pass this usefull tip on to you. :-)

UPDATE 2: WhatsApp now available for Windows Phone 7 :-)

UPDATE: WhatsApp will be available for Windows Phone 7. Soon!

This cryptic message came from the WhatsApp Twitter account this evening:

WhatsApp 

Did you know that mangoes account for approximately half of all tropical fruits produced worldwide?

Yesterday I found that my server, a DELL PowerEdge SC440, repeatedly beeped. Very annoying and concerning, because beeping usually means hardware fault. I did some diagnostics and could not find anything out of the usual, so I rebooted the server and noticed, that the beeping seemed only to occur whenever Windows Server 2003 was up and running.

Using Task Manager I noticed that my DynDNS service was using more CPU than usual and that my indexing service did the same. Although stopping the indexing service did not solve the problem, stopping the DynDNS service did.

Apparently the DynDNS service beeps, whenever it fails, unfortunately it does not leave any message about this in the event log. I upgraded the DynDNS service to the latest version and the problem went away. I do not know, what DynDNS have changed, but my service was unable to update DNS until it was upgraded.

Functions in JavaScripts are objects themselves and objects in JavaScript are associative arrays. An associative array is an abstract data type consisting of unique keys with associated values. Very simply put, this means that you can use the function in JavaScript as a class.

The point is to add keys and values inside the function. Then "new" the function and you have the behaviour of a class. You can reference your instance of the function and move it back and forth between methods. E.g. I use this in a script that connects to a database an retrieve some values that I store in my instance of the function.

function Car(brand, type) {
         this.brand = brand;
         this.type = type;   
 }

Proving that the function is indeed an associative array, try outputting the car example the following way:

    var car = new Car("Toyota", "Aygo");
    
    // Syntactic Sugar
    alert("My car is a " + car.brand + " " + car.type);
    
    // Associative Array
    alert("My car is a " + car["brand"] + " " + car["type"]);    
    

It will give you the same output.

A personal note: I think the JavaScript syntax in this matter is lacking a Class keyword. Having functions act as classes obfuscates the readability of the code. I think it is important to have a good coding convention for JavaScript.

Happy programming!

Today I looked for a neat ad-block plugin for Internet Explorer 9 and was unable find any that I liked. Many of them did not have the same easy administration as the legendary Ad Block Plus for Firefox or came at a price.

On my way around the web I stumpled upon the new term in Internet Explorer 9 called Tracking Protection Lists - and this is actually why no real plugin is available: The feature is already built right into the browser! :-)

To use this very simple feature, just go to the site http://iegallery.com/en/trackingprotectionlists/ and add the TPL that you want. When you are done, most ads are history. I subscribe to both the Ad-block plus list and the Fan Boy list.

If you come across a site, that is not working properly, you can turn off TPLs for that individual site by clicking the TPL icon in the address bar. This will only affect the current site and leave other sites as they are.

I really like this feature, using it I have a better experience with Internet Explorer 9 when surfin' the web. :-)

Happy surfin'!

For apparently no reason (well not exactly, I have my own theory) Gmail now looks completely weird in Internet Explorer 9. Mysterious! Theories aside here is what helps.

1. Hit the ALT key and select the menu Tools.

2. Select the menu item Compatibility View Settings. The Compatibility View Settings dialog appears.

3. Select Google and click the button Remove. Click the button Close.

Internet Explorer will refresh the page and it will be back to normal.

Happy internet browsing!