DevBlog

What's wrong with this site? [Ted Roche]

Update: Courier fonts went out with the typewriter. Many studies show that a proportional spaced font is easier to read than a fixed pitch font and that sans-serif fonts are easier to read on screen while serif fonts are easier to read when printed.

Apple today unveiled it's new iMac. [here, here, and here]. It looks cool, but I agree with Scoble on this...and if I had the bucks, I'd have a Tablet PC.

Larry Osterman celebrates 20 years at Microsoft. It's interesting to see what's changed. [Scobelizer]

One way to learn how to write good code is to learn how to write bad code, then not do that. Interesting read. [Sriram Krisnan]

My blogging tool, Blogger, which is owned by Google, has announced a way for Blogger users to share ad revenue. Basically, Google was me to have ads on my blog and they'll pay me for it. It won't happen here...ever. No ads, thank you. [EWeek] Here's the official information on Google's AdSense program, or as I call it, AdNONSense.

Microsoft announced today that it will strip WinFS from Longhorn. WinFS was to have been a new file system, based on SQL Server. This doesn't mean that WinFS will go away, only that it won't be included in the initial Longhorn release, currently scheduled for 2006.

Also, Microsoft says that Avalon, the presentation layer, and Indigo, the interoperability layer for Longhorn will also be available for WinXP and Win2003. I heard Don Box state earlier this year that Indigo would work on WinXP and Win2003, so this comes as no surprise. [cNet]

Update: More information here.

I'm fed up with problems from my host, GoDaddy.com. For years I've had problems with them. The latest issue stems from disabling and reenabling Front Page Extensions earlier this week. Yes, comments now work, but my main site doesn't. I'm fed up and moving to Brinkster.com. This site may experience some outages over the next few days as I make the move and routing is changed.

I've setup my blog roll to use Blog Rolling. This should make it easier to keep current. Are there any other blog tools that I should be using?

I've tweaked the FoxBlog UI a bit:

• Tables now use % sizing rather than specific sizes.
• The links area is now wider
• I've removed the underline from Blog Roll links to make it easier to read
• Update: I disabled the annoying Google bar.

I've enabled the Google search bar on this blog. It's supposed to let you search my blog and others. Tell me what you think about it. Should it stay, go, or does it not matter? Did you try a search? Did it work as advertised?

I finally got time to really work on the comments problem. I had fiddled with it several times over the past few weeks, but never got it working. I posted a question along with the error message on the private MVP newsgroup and was given several ideas.

The first thing I did was to change the ODBC connection string to one that uses ADO. I then saved the changes and tried saving comments. Nope, not working.

Next, I decided to check permissions. I wasn't even sure if my host would allow me to do this, but I was poking through the management pages and found a link that said "Uninstall Front Page Extensions". Had we already tried uninstalling then reinstalling the FP Extensions? I thought so, but decided to try it again. Guess what! It worked!

Thanks to the MVPs that helped out with this. While this wasn't a possible solution given by them, their ideas pointed me in the right direction.

Firewalls are essential today, but don't provide all the protection you need. (Why some software company hasn't hired Dr. Ruth to do an ad, I don't know.) You also need Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software. I'm stumped as to why the anti-virus vendors haven't incorporated anti-spyware into their applications, hence the need for two. I use Norton Anti-Virus. Many people like McAfee better. I can't say if one product is better than the other, but a couple of years ago I tried to get a refund on a McAfee product and had tons of trouble doing that, so I can't recommend it from a business standpoint.

For anti-spyware, you actually need a couple of different products as none of them catch everything. Ad-Aware is one product that I use and have seen recommended by others. You can Google others or through the search engine I prefer, Copernic.

Once you've installed both anti-virus and anti-adware apps, make sure you set them up for automatic updates and for regular scans (at least weekly). I also recommend that you make sure Windows update is set to automatically run at least monthly. Microsoft generally releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month.

Finally, be cautious about how you use your computer. Don't click on things you aren't sure about. Don't let anything install on your computer unless you are absolutely sure you know what it is. Don't click on email attachments unless you absolutely know what it is, even if it's from someone you know. If you have kids, especially teenagers, check their computers too. Odds are high that they've installed some kind of peer-to-peer file sharing network application that is also spreading worms, viruses (viri ?), trojan horses, and spyware.

Update: Great information on spyware and what to do about it here.

Ted make a good point about the Firewall in Windows XP, SP2. It only protects you from things getting into your PC, but if something is already there, it won't stop things from getting out. At a minimum you should have a third party software firewall (a hardware firewall is MUCH better) that protects you from things going either direction. I have a software firewall on my laptop that I use when not connected through my home or 3M's firewalls or when I'm not sure. Microsoft provides a list of software firewalls that you can get either free or for relatively cheap. Once you've got the firewall installed, go to www.grc.com and run the Shields Up test to verify how secure you really are.

The IOC has barred most athletes and coaches from blogging from the Olympics. [CBSNews]

Reports have been coming out about (here and here) problems and security holes with Windows XP, SP2. In fact, one reporter wrote, "Did Microsoft bungle SP2's debut? With my columnist hat on, I can give you an unqualified yes." What did this columnist expect? There is no way that all the issues could be fixed with one SP. In fact, I don't know of a single person who ever said that SP2 would fix every issue now and into the future. I stand by my previous statements that XP2 fixes lots of things and you should seriously consider installing it.

Update: Larry Seltzer of eWeek.com, SP2 'Flaw' Report Falls Short

I did a little translation work when I lived in Chile and found this fascinating. [Alex Feldstein]

Sorry Alex, I can't provide a link to you due to the political ad on your site. Not that I disagree with you on your choice of candidate (I don't like either major party candidiate), but I disagree with placing the ad on the blog.

Over on Channel 9, Don Box gives a tour of the Indigo team. One thing that surprised me was the number of people who don't turn on the lights in their office. Here's a worthy quote from Don, "COM is with us forever". Alot of the work these guys do sounds really exciting to me (The Indigo team is hiring), but they're all waaaaaaaaaaay smarter than I am.

Microsoft has posted a list of fixes in Windows XP, SP2. You can find it here.

So far, I haven't done much testing with WinXP, SP2 and VFP...and I'm positive that I haven't done the extensive testing done by the VFP team. Simply put, these guys rock. My good friend John Koziol is a tester on the VFP team. He made a new post here about VFP and XP, SP2.

Ken Levy has posted his August Letter from the Editor.

Last week I installed Windows XP, Service Pack 2. While I haven't had any problems, there are reports of issues with some programs and Micorosoft has published a KB article of some of the known issues. Many of these problems shouldn't be surprising as MS has said for months that there would be issues with remote DCOM and other things.

Visual FoxPro has been written up in SDTimes.

I installed the latest version of ActiveSync this morning and ran into more installation problems. Hopefully the right people will see this and get it fixed. Here's what happened.

I installed ActiveSync 3.7.1, Build 4034 to sync my iPaq with my laptop. At the end of the install process, I was told I needed to reboot. (All software vendors ... are you listening??? STOP REQUIRING A REBOOT!!!!) Anyway, I said No...don't reboot at this time. However, the install program still shutdown all active programs. I lost some work I was doing in a cursor in VFP. The PC however, did not reboot. I thought maybe a reboot should be done, so I rebooted.

When Windows restarted and I logged in, I was told I needed to reboot again!!!! This is not good. If a reboot should not be required (per Windows guidelines), then two should definately not be required.

While I'm on the subject of ActiveSync, it has one extremely annoying "feature". Everytime you put the handheld into the cradle, ActiveSync launches and becomes the top-most program. Why can't it just synchronize everything in the background and then notify me only if there's a problem?

This evening, I undertook the install of Windows XP, Service Pack 2. I first rebooted to ensure that the most recent security updates had been installed. I then logged in as Administrator and ran the Setup program. I was warned that I should back up my drive, but was not provided with instructions on how to do this (Note to Microsoft: The average user will have no idea how to do a backup. Some information on how to do it would have been helpful). I ignored the warning and continued with the install.

The setup program then did a backup of system files so that SP2 could be uninstalled later. I was also advised that a reboot may be required at the end of the install process. I have blogged before here about how applications should not require a reboot. However, in this case, I am updated the operating system and a single reboot would be acceptable.

After the warning, the install continued and then I was prompted to reboot the system. Shutdown worked ok and restart took a bit longer than normal. I'm guessing that it was to install some system files.

After logging in, again as Administrator, the new Windows Security Center was displayed. I was told that the Windows Firewall and Automatic Updates were functioning correctly, but my Norton Anti-virus was not detected. I checked the box that said I would manage AV myself.

I then logged out as Administrator and logged in using my normal account. Again, the Windows Security Center was displayed. I simply closed the window because it had the same configuration as before.

The entire process took 30-45 minutes. The firewall initally blocked Yahoo! Messenger, but I clicked the button to indicate that it could always be allowed. Also, the update reordered my links on the Internet Explorer Links bar. This has happened with every IE update I've ever installed. When will Microsoft learn to leave the links alone. I place them in the order I want and they should be left that way.

Thus far, I have not found any other issues. IE is properly blocking popups (Yay!!!) and testing will continue.

Get yours now. The direct download is here. If you're updating multiple machines, this is the way to go. I'll be updating my desktop later tonight. My laptop is running Win2K Pro, but I have a new laptop coming that will ship with Win XP. The first thing I'll do is install the SP.

Ken Levy has posted the following regarding updates to the public beta:

The Visual FoxPro 9.0 Beta Components Refresh download contains a refresh of various components and source code libraries delivered with the public Visual FoxPro 9.0 beta. It addresses issues in these components, adds refinements, and introduces some Visual FoxPro Foundation Class (FFC) classes not previously available. Updates include components and source code for some reporting system components, BROWSER.APP, BUILDER.APP, and ANCHOREDITOR.APP included in XSOURCE update. To apply the new Anchor property builder, simply run AnchorEditor.app once the files have been installed and it will register itself in FoxCode.dbf so that the new Anchor editor will be active when you are selected on the Anchor property in the Property Sheet.

You can download the update here.

Earlier today, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. SP2 contains tons of security enhancements. SP2 is free for everyone, but won't install on pirated copies. I suspect it will be a available for download next week sometime. You'll be able to get it through Windows Update. That site is expected to be hammered. Microsoft has added servers and bandwith to support the expected traffic. However, you'll also be able to get it from Microsoft Downloads, which Microsoft says will have less traffic. [CNet]

Earlier today, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. SP2 contains tons of security enhancements. SP2 is free for everyone, but won't install on pirated copies. I suspect it will be a available for download next week sometime. You'll be able to get it through Windows Update. That site is expected to be hammered. Microsoft has added servers and bandwith to support the expected traffic. However, you'll also be able to get it from Microsoft Downloads, which Microsoft says will have less traffic. [CNet]

I've blogged before about how great Microsoft OneNote is, even if you don't use a Tablet PC (although I suspect it's even better there). Now, Microsoft has dropped the price of OneNote to $99. In the US and Canada, you get a $100 rebate coupon. [Chris Pratley]

Here it is August 3 and I'm just getting around to posting the book of the month. Part of the delay was an indecision on which book to read this month. In the end, I selected a book that wasn't even on my list. Death March by Edward Yourdan is my selection.

The main reason for selecting this book is that I'm working on a project that could be considered a "death march" project. According to the book cover, the book contains ideas on how to recover from the project.