Search for "windows"

PHP system() calls result in CGI Error on IIS

Writing a custom executable for a client earlier this month, I encountered an issue with calling it from within a PHP script on IIS running PHP 5.2. Every time the page was accessed, we would get an error page saying something along the lines of "...

Read More | Tags: IIS, Windows Server, WIMP, PHP, Errors, Bugs, Hacks

Command Line Mutex

Windows batch commands, by default, don't provide any easy way to fork a task (tasks can be forked using the "start" command) only if the task is not already started. This little batch script can be used to launch an executable only when an image ...

Network-Related Timeouts

Something that constantly baffles me about Windows XP's networking is the ridiculously long timeouts before an attempt to connect is considered as having failed. Why, in this modern age of relatively high-speed networks, are Microsoft still assumi...

Drives Mysteriously Disappear in Vista

I recently witnessed a strange occurrence where, without any particular reason, my housemates Vista machine suddenly lost all of its CD and DVD drives and seemed unable to find them. He hadn't made any recent hardware or software changes that coul...

Purge XP's File Protection Cache

To delete the DLL cache used by Windows file protection, the following command can be used (start > run): sfc /purgecache This is useful for effectively disabling file protection (Windows will try to use the XP Install CD if it is in the driv...

Safari for Windows

While I'm not a fan of the "It's like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell!" attitude that His Steveness has toward Apple's development of Windows versions of its apps, I was looking forward to trying Safari for Windows because of its f...

Read More | Tags: Apple, Windows, Safari, Rant

Editing Registry Files on Other Partitions

Recently, I had a need to make changes to the System entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, which is not allowed by Windows for the currently running copy. Fortunately for me I have two copies of XP for testing purposes, so in order to make the change I sim...

IIS7, FrontPage 2002 and Windows Server 2008

I was excited to find out that Microsoft were running an open beta test for Windows Server 2008 (aka Longhorn), their latest and greatest in server technology. I've since downloaded and installed my evaluation copy and plonked it on an old Windows...

Permissions in .NET

While writing an application to automatically install and configure an ASP.NET application I had developed for a client, I came across an issue I had rarely needed to consider in .NET: how to set file permissions? Usually I'm responsible for confi...

Green Machine

Recently, Global Warming (aka "climate change") has become a "hot" issue in the news, with calls for governments world-wide to work out strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, combatting global warming will require not only a legal...

Setting Up a Test Server

Today I was trying to set up an additional development server for testing of ASP.NET sites and MS-SQL databases, as our original server had become overloaded and was performing poorly for testing purposes. In setting up the server, I encountered s...

Scheduled Tasks

Scheduling is a fantastic way to structure the operation of Windows and keep everything running smoothly. You can automate practically anything using the built in Windows task-scheduler, which is something I think people tend to forget. Schedul...

Not a bad idea

Over that past few years of using Windows as my primary operating system, I've developed methods of doing everything and organising my life. I like everything to be structured: no icons except the recycle bin on the desktop, everything in my start...