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!

If you accidentally turned on Windows Media Library Sharing from Windows Media Player. There is an easy way to stop it again.

1. Start Windows Media Player and click the tab "Stream". Select the menu item "More Streaming Options".

2. Click the button Block All and click the button OK. That's it.

Xbox 360 unfortunately cannot join a domain and thus domain members cannot find the Xbox 360 on the local network. This creates problems when you need to make the connection between your Xbox 360 and your Media Center on the domain member computer.

But fear not brave gamer (and Windows Server geek - I assume), the solution is pretty straight forward. Follow these steps and you are good to go.

1. Make sure your local administrator account is enabled and that you know the password.
2. Remove the computer from your Windows domain
3. Log onto your computer as the local Adminstrator and make the connection to your Xbox 360
4. Join the computer to the domain

Congratulations. You are now connected with your Xbox 360.

Adding Media Libraries

Your Xbox will not be able to access your media libraries before you make one additional change. The Xbox connects to your computer with a local account on the computer. You must grant that account access to your music libraries in your user profile before you can enjoy your music. If your music is placed in the public music folder you can skip this step.

1. Using the Windows Explorer. Right click your music library and expand the menu item "Share With" and select the menu item "Specific People"

2. Expand the drop down menu and select "Find People...".

3. Select the button "Locations..." and select your local computer from the list. Click the button OK.

4. Enter the name of the Media Center Extender account. It would be something like "mcx1-<your computer name>". My pc is called sjl-pc1, so the MCE account is named mcx1-sjl-pc1. I guess if you have more than one Media Center Extender they would be called mcx2, mcx3 and so on.

5. Make sure the account is granted "Read" rights. It does not need any more rights than that - and you make sure it cannot mess up your library. Click the button "Share".

That is it! You're done! Now head over to your Xbox 360 and add your music libraries.

Happy Xbox'in!

Microsoft has started a series of videos showing the new Windows 8 user interface. I must say this is a very nice piece of artwork. As expected the touch user interface resembles the user interface used for Windows Phone 7 and is a very welcome feature. Windows 8 also features a new type of applications, that are designed for the touch user interface with a brand new and very sleak appearance.

Take a look at this video, showing the new interface and stay tuned on Youtube or the Windows 8 team blog for more updates. :-)

User Interface Highlights

• Completely redefined start menu
• Look and feel like the Windows Phone 7 Metro UI - the UI on the different devices becomes similar and consistent *thumbs up*
• Completely touch aware
• New possibilities for developing cool and sweet looking apps
• A user interface you will want to explore
• Switch between applications by swiping your finger to the right
• Snap apps to the screen by swiping your finger half way to the right and let go
• Run legacy Windows 7 and Vista applications

More Information

Microsoft posted a video on Youtube and an article in the Press Center.

More about the upcoming hardware

 

From time to time I need to quickly write a guide for my users (e.g. to explain how to perform a task in an application). For this purpose screenshots are very good at explaining the steps instead of writing them in text. In the old days I just used Paint to get the job done, but the Windows Snipping Tool feature in Windows 7 is much better.

Open the Windows Start Menu and type "Snipping", the Snipping Tool program menu item will appear.

The Snipping Tool opens as a little window and immediatly lets you drag a box around the area of the screen of which you need a screenshot. When you are done, it will allow you to highlight details in the screenshot using a highlighter or a pen tool to draw stuff on the screenshot.

When you are done with your screenshot, simply save it and use it in your guide or blog post or whatever you are up to. The Snipping Tool defaults to saving images as Capture.PNG. You can of course change this to your liking.

The finished image:

Happy Snippin'