Changing windows proxy to be either system or user based

Today I was trying to figure out how to change windows to use the proxy setting on a machine basis rather then by user. This registry key setting is supposed to be the 'key'.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\

Internet Settings]

Value Name: ProxySettingsPerUser

Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)

Value Data: (0 = whole machine, 1 = per user)

Windows Schedule Jobs won't run if path has special characters - solved

While trying to trouble shoot an issue with a scheduled task on a Windows 2003 server I found a few interesting things to keep in mind.

1. Windows XP machines have the windows scheduler log file located under c:\windows\SchedLgU.Txt - This is not the case with Windows 2003 server. To view the log file on a Windows 2003 server run the following command %SystemRoot%\Tasks\SchedLgU.txt

2. If you attempt to call a batch file from your scheduled job that is under a path name that includes a special character like the ampersand (&) it will not run. You will need to move your batch file into a folder that does not have the ampersand anywhere in the path.

Here is an example:

c:\a&b\batch-file.bat - this file will work if you double click the file in Windows explorer, but it will not work as a scheduled task.

move the file to a folder without an &:

c:\batch-file.bat - This file will now execute properly as a scheduled task.

According to this link the reason is that a windows cmd will process as a separation of two commands. So the scheduled task trys to run 'c:\a' and also 'b\batch-file.bat'. Neither of these files exist, so the scheduled job will not run.

Search and replace text in multiple files quickly

I had the need to quickly update the same string within several HTML files.  Rather then open each file and do a global search and replace on the string I decided to see if there were any tools on the internet that could speed this process.  After a little googling I found a tool called TextCrawler.  

I had a list of over 30 strings to find and replace in 8 different files.  I was able to make the changes quickly using this tool.

Text Crawler is freeware, so download it and give it a try.

How to move files between vmware ESXi servers

Today I had to move files between two ESXi servers.

I was looking for a simple tool that could copy from one server to another.  At first I thought the only way move the files would be to use VMware Infrastructure Client to copy the files to my PC and then move the files from my PC back to the other VMware server.  Using Veeam Backup and FastSCP I was able to move the files between servers without actually copying them locally to my PC.  Their tool is free to download and use.

I decided to Google 'filter rss feeds' today. Seems there are several tools out there to do the task. The one that really caught my eye is Yahoo pipes. I had seen pipes before, but never really thought about what it could do for me. I played around some with Pipes to filter a feed. Next up - combining feeds with Yahoo Pipes.

Wordpress plugin for social bookmarking

I found a Blog today that used Wordpress with some neat features. I liked the fact that it offers social bookmarking sites. I have been using Feedburner with Blogger to accomplish this on most of my blogs. The thing I was unsure of is how to make this happen with Wordpress. This plugin Sociable looks really slick.

How to get the best rankings on your blog

This was an interesting article on how to get the highest rankings in your blog. It is specific to wordpress blogs, but the same techniques can be used on any blogging platform.

Share a post - find content to post to a blog

I stumbled across a site today called sharepost.com that has content that you can grab and post to a blog. I think it would be more interesting to actually write you own content to post to your blog, but hey it is something I had never heard about before.

Google AJAX Search API Wizards - Google AJAX Search API - Google Code

Google AJAX Search API Wizards - Google AJAX Search API - Google Code: "Google AJAX Search API Wizards"
I found this today while searching around. There is a wizard that allows you to create an AJAX news bar and place it on your web site. I am sure there will be more wizards to come in the future.

If you own a Linksys WRT54G3G and you are having problems then please keep reading. I have worked for a couple of months now to figure out why my router and my Pantech PX-500 card would not work properly together. I was already running Linksys 2.00.9 firmware and my Pantech card also had the most recent firmware. My router would not stay connected, would not auto connect all the time, and just overall was very unreliable. After upgrading my router with OpenWRT Firmware I was able to finally have a reliable internet connection.
Please see this thread below for information on where to find the OpenWRT firmware and how to install the new firmware on your router.

OpenWRT Firmware for WRT54G3G- New Aug. 25th : EVDOforums.com

Update: 12/16/2008
If you are looking to purchase one of these great routers I would check eBay. I just purchased one shipped for under $60

After purchasing a Sprint broadband card I wanted to see if there was a way to make it work with Ubuntu Linux. After lots of searching I found a document on Sprints web site that details the steps required to get their broadband cards working. The card I purchased was the Pantech PX-500. I am using Ubuntu 7.04, so the instructions were a little different. I had no need to configure the modem for graphical access, I just wanted a simple script I could run to share broadband using my old Linux laptop.
Here are the steps I followed to get the card working:

1. Follow the steps on pages 21-22 of the Sprint guide.
2. Setup masquerading on your Linux box. I used the command "sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 192.168.1.0/24 -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE". This will be different depending on your network configuration.
   
3. And the final step that was somewhat hard to figure out was to setup IP forwarding. This was the magic trick to completing the whole setup "sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1". There appears to be several ways to make this work, but using sysctl was the only way I could make it work with my specific configuration.
4. Bring up your connection with "sudo wvdial" and enjoy!

LucidDB Home Page

LucidDB Home Page

Column type databases are a very interesting idea. LucidDB is an open source database that claims to be much faster than a row based database.

opencsv - an open source csv parser for Java

opencsv - an open source csv parser for Java

Processing JDBC ResultSet

Processing JDBC ResultSet
Save results from a JDBC query into an excel file.

Handle Excel files - Real's Java How-to

Handle Excel files - Real's Java How-to

Subversion - Community Ubuntu Documentation

Subversion - Community Ubuntu Documentation:

Setup tomcat server under IIS steps - Google Docs & Spreadsheets

Setup tomcat server under IIS steps - Google Docs & Spreadsheets
This will take you through a step by step process of setting up Tomcat on a windows 2003 or windows xp machine and deploying a GWT packaged as a .WAR file.

Java Network Programming FAQ

Java Network Programming FAQ:
Allow tomcat5.5 on ubuntu 7.04 to open socket connections to remote hosts
Modify the java.policy file of found under /etc/java-xxxx/security
Under the grant section for all domains add this line:
"grant { permission java.net.SocketPermission '*:1024-65535', 'connect,accept,resolve';"

Take Your Tomcat on the Road

Take Your Tomcat on the Road
Tips on taking a Java application and packaging it with Tomcat.

U.S. Seal Mfg. - Dimensional Cross Reference by Shaft Size

U.S. Seal Mfg. - Dimensional Cross Reference by Shaft Size
pool seals