edgeblog » Software

Windows is better than Unix/Linux, sometimes.

Jerry — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:00:08 +0000

Well, I agreed with the article, until I read the part that said "Windows is better than Unix/Linux." Oh wait, that was the first sentence.

Top 5 Ways Windows is Better Than Unix or Linux

bill — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:00:54 +0000

There are many functions that Windows performs better than *nix, and the *nix community should embrace them. If you cannot recognize the areas where Microsoft excels, you are artificially narrowing your view of the world, which means you aren't making the best technology decisions for your company. As a public service to *nix admins everywhere, I offer this list of 5 ways Windows is better than *nix: 1. Windows XP is the best productivity desktop 2. Windows 2003 Active Directory Service is the best directory service 3. Windows DNS is the best internal DNS server 4. Exchange 2007 is the best groupware application platform 5. Windows has better hardware support with vendor-supported drivers

Daylight Saving Time - Windows Mobile Fix

bill — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:04:50 +0000

As discussed here, the Daylight Saving Time change for 2007 is going to cause problems for unpatched technologies. Most vendors, including Microsoft, have released patches. One big area that is lacking is Windows Mobile smartphones & PDAs. Microsoft release a registry fix and instructed the carriers to push out a patch. Most of the carriers, in their infinite wisdom, have neglected to do so. If you rely on your Windows smartphone, you need this fix. Microsoft published the registry fix here. This fix requires you to build a CAB file and then install it. To save you the trouble, I have bundled the CAB file for you:

Microsoft Windows Mobile Daylight Saving Time Patch

You can either download the CAB file directly to your cell phone, or download to your PC, copy it via activesync to your phone, and then run it.

Since I never recommend just trusting an executable you find online, you may want to check the contents of this file. If you save it with a .txt extension, you can open it with notepad. There will be some extra characters, but the bulk of the file should match the patch from Microsoft. If you want to create your own CAB file, you need the cabwiz.exe executable with is part of Visual Studio. Save the code below as a .INF file and then run cabwiz.exe against it.

[Version]
Signature=”$Windows NT$”
Provider=”Microsoft”
CESignature=”$Windows CE$”[DefaultInstall]
AddReg = RegSettings.All

[SourceDisksNames]
1 = ,”Common Files”, , C:\My_Cabs\DST2007WM5

[SourceDisksFiles]
readme.htm = 1

[DestinationDirs]
Files.Common = 0, %CE3%
DefaultDestDir = 0,%InstallDir%

[CEStrings]
AppName = “Update for 2007 Daylight Saving Time”
InstallDir = %CE3%

[Strings]
NEW = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\60″
ATL = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\50″
EST = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\35″
CTL = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\20″
MNT = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\10″
PAC = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\4″
ALS = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\3″
CHI = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\13″
MXC = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\30″
TJA = “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\5″

[Files.Common]
readme.htm,,,0

[RegSettings.All]
;GMT-3:30 Newfoundland
HKLM,%NEW%, TZI, 0×00000001,d2,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0b,
00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-4 Atlantic
HKLM,%ATL%, TZI, 0×00000001,f0,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,
0b,00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-5 Eastern US
HKLM,%EST%, TZI, 0×00000001,2c,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0b,
00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-6 Central US
HKLM,%CTL%, TZI, 0×00000001,68,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0b,
00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-7 Mountain US
HKLM,%MNT%, TZI, 0×00000001,a4,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0b,
00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-8 Pacific US
HKLM,%PAC%, TZI, 0×00000001,e0,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0b,
00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-9 Alaska
HKLM,%ALS%, TZI, 0×00000001,1c,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0b,
00,00,00,01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,
02,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-7 Chihuahua, La Paz
HKLM,%CHI%, TZI, 0×00000001,a4,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0a,
00,00,00,05,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,00,
01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-6 Mexico City, Monterrey
HKLM,%MXC%, TZI, 0×00000001,68,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0a,
00,00,00,05,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,00,
01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

;GMT-8 Tijuana, Baja California
HKLM,%TJA%, TZI, 0×00000001,e0,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,0a,
00,00,00,05,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,00,
01,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,%TJA%, Display, 0×00000000, “GMT-8 Tijuana, Baja California”

I confirmed using Mobile Registry Editor from http://www.breaksoft.com/ that the keys did not exist before the patch, and now exist after the patch, on my Samsung Blackjack. The only way I know to test that the patch works is to change the date/time on your phone to March 11, 2007 01:59:00AM and see what happens. Since I am lazy, I plan to wait until March 11 & just see what happens. If you test this patch before then, please leave a comment and let me know if it works.

-Bill

UPDATE - 01/29/2007

Thanks to Eric for figuring this out: Once you apply the patch, you must manually change your timezone to something else and click apply. After that, change it back to your correct time zone. This forces the phone to re-read the registry file. I tested this on my Blackjack and it worked perfect. The phone changed the time correctly at 03/11/2007 2:00AM to 3:00AM and gave me a dialog box telling me it had adjusted for DST.

UPDATE - 02/06/2007

David found the following link to a similar fix for Australian time zone changes: http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,53751. I have not tested these CABs so use at your own risk.

UPDATE - 03/07/2007

Mike found an updated patch released by Microsoft. Details can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.msp. I recommend everyone install this patch instead of my unsupported CAB file.

Daylight Saving Time - The Year 2007 Problem

bill — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:00:18 +0000

This March, Daylight Saving Time (DST) changes for the United States, starting the time change 4 weeks early. Congress in its infinite wisdom changed DST in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Other countries such as Australia have followed suit. For most people, this will come as an early relief from winter doldrums, but for IT, the DST change is a major headache. After Year 2000, IT vendors were smart enough to start using 4-digit date codes, but DST changes are still hard-coded for the 1st Sunday of April and the last Sunday of October.

To accommodate the DST change, most IT systems must be patched. Otherwise, timestamps will be off, and some applications my fail to work. For instance, if you synchronize your Windows Smartphone with Microsoft Exchange, and you want your calendar reminders to work, plan on applying patches or fixes to Windows XP, Windows 2003, Exchange 2003 & Windows Mobile. Otherwise, you may be late for that all-important TPS meeting.

Unfortunately, this change has not received the attention it deserves, so many IT shops have not yet started, and there are only 60 days to get patches tested and deployed. Also, it is not enough to assume that if your servers have the correct time, your applications and databases will work. Some applications are “system time aware,” yet others require their own unique patches.

To simplify matters, I have compiled the following list of major IT vendor links to their 2007 DST fixes:

Microsoft Overview - microsoft.com
Microsoft Windows Registry Hack - microsoft.com
Microsoft Windows Mobile Hack - microsoft.com
Microsoft Windows XP & 2003 - microsoft.com
Microsoft Exchange - microsoft.com
Microsoft Dynamics CRM - microsoft.com
Sun Solaris - sun.com
Sun Java - sun.com
IBM - ibm.com
IBM iSeriesV5R3 PTF SI24906 - ibm.com
IBM Lotus Notes & Domino - ibm.com
Novell Netware - novell.com
Novell Groupwise - novell.com
Apple OSX - apple.com
Cisco IOS Workaround – “clock summer-time PDT recurring 2 Sun Mar 2:00 1 Sun Nov 2:00”
Cisco IOS Release 12.4(11)XJ - cisco.com
RedHat RHEL 4 - redhat.com
Ubuntu tzdata - ubuntu.com
Fortinet - forticare.com
Juniper - juniper.net
Oracle 11i - oracle.com
MySQL - mysql.com
PostgreSQL - postgresql.org
WordPress Plugin - suominen.com

Finally, don’t forget firewalls, routers, switches, NTP appliances, time clocks, PBX systems, IVR/ACD systems, cell phones, PDAs, photo copiers, fax machines, and all the other devices on your network that recognize or require time/date to operate properly. All of these will likely need either patches or manual fixes to facilitate the change.

If you haven’t started yet, don’t wait. Compile a list of your time-dependant systems, applications, databases and devices. Prioritize the list based upon importance and impact if the device isn’t patched. Check the vendor’s website for fixing the problem. If you use outsourcers, such as hosting companies, application service providers (ASP), or payroll vendors, contact them and ask them to certify their readiness for the change. Create a plan and get it done. Hint: The fastest way to find vendor patches is with our old friend Google. Try this query: (site:vendorsite.com daylight saving time 2007).

If you find any other vendor patches, please feel free to post them here in the comments section.

Good luck,

-Bill

Add RSS Feeds to your WordPress Blog

bill — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 03:17:42 +0000

Adding RSS to your blog is a useful way to make it more dynamic. During the design of EdgeBlog, we tried out several different WordPress plugins . The best we found was InlineRSS from Iconophobia. It powers the RSS feeds in our sidebar. It much easier to use than either firstRSS/sideRSS or Aggregate.

If you are looking to add RSS to either the sidebar or the main body, InlineRSS is your answer.