jblosser

Invent Google, start Microsoft, or choose your parents better....

Scatterbrain - Jeff Beck (album Blow By Blow - 1975)

7200 rpm, 16MB cache, 160GB laptop drive is < $60 (larger/smaller will cost more/less, obviously.) Any laptop drive EXCEPT the 640GB drive from Western Digital will (should) fit (the WD is too tall - standard is 9.5mm). A SATA/ide to USB adapter (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156017 $20) will make hooking up the old drive easy to grab all of her "stuff", then get an enclosure and turn the old drive into portable storage...

If your wife's machine is running any edition of Vista, then you can upgrade to 7. If it's running XP (or earlier), a clean install is "required" (there are ways around this, but this is the short answer). I upgraded two machines from Vista to 7 without any problems whatsoever. Are they faster? Maybe, but not that I can tell. Prettier? Not so much. As I've said before, "if it ain't broke, don't break it", as in "if your wife's machine is fine now, there's no real compelling reason to upgrade it". If you want to upgrade to 7, the best way would be to do a clean install on a new hard drive (disk is cheap, 1TB < $100). No risk of lost data. My $0.02 worth.

Since you're able to RDP to the server when you're at work, the server itself is not the issue. The issue is the ability to get into your network from the outside. If you have a "network guy", (s)he should be able to set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) for you. This can be done on the router itself or via a firewall appliance (F5, Watchguard, etc.). You may already have said VPN and you just don't know about it - "server guy" who is on vacation would know. "Pseudo IT guy who's busy" should also know. A place to start - determine if your server is open to the Internet: (assuming it's Windows): - Find your local address: from a command prompt, "ipconfig", note your IP address. - Find your public address: from a browser on the server, go to http://whatismyip.com and note your IP addr there. If the two match, you're good to go (and probably hacked soon, if not already). If they don't, then there's work to do, and it shouldn't be you doing it. No offense intended whatsoever. I do Windows and Linux server administration, run a VMWare vSphere envirionment. I have DBA's to do Oracle system administration and Cisco CCN*'s to do router stuff. As Inya said, IF you can get to your workstation from the outside via Logmein, WebEx, GoTo, etc., your mission is accomplished, as you're able to RDP to the server once "inside". Could go much deeper, but it sounds like your boss unreasonably asked you to do something way over your head. Just because "you're young and should be able to do this "computer shit" doesn't mean you can. If you dig into it and find you like it, there are always jobs for us nerds, and the pay is pretty decent. Experience and certifications are more important than formal education/degrees.

http://www.hindsmotorsports.com/ Hinds Motorsports will be closed the week of November 2 in anticipation of the sale of the building and/or the contents. Please visit this website for further developments. If you wish to contact us, please email us at info@hindsmotorsports.com or fax us at 740-548-1911. We will be available by appointment only if you wish to enter the building.

just like a sore you-know-what - you can't beat it!

Mixed cereal: Grape Nut Flakes first, then either Shredded Wheat (the little ones), Life, Puffs, whatever. Lets the falkes get good and soggy. (this is without any left-handed cigarette indulgence....) Solo cereal: Froot Loops, Crunchberries, corn flakes Cold weather: Maple/brown sugar oatmeal, Wheatena, Co-co Wheats

an oldie, but still funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8fbHpttc5A

If your company has a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) that's the easiest/best way. Ask your help desk/administrator. If no BES - Find out if the GroupWise server is exposed to the Internet and has either IMAP or POP3 enabled. If so, that's the "poor man's BES" and will work just fine. If the GroupStupid server isn't exposed, maybe you've got GroupWise WebAccess enabled - just visit the site from the CrackBerry. If WebAccess ain't there, and you're on GW 7, you could set up a rule to delegate all incoming messages to another e-mail account that you can get to on the Crackberry. If... well, never mind, I've given you enough options, one of the above should work...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology#Membership_statistics 8 million, or 3.5 million, or 55,000 morons, er, followers of ScienFollygy can't be wrong, can they? Fail.

@Fonzie: Your Best Buy experience reminds me of the time 5 or so years ago at MicroCenter: I was in the networking section. Guy is asking the MicroCenter serf what the difference is between a switch and a hub - he wanted to do some home networking and both appeared to do what he wanted. MicroCenter serf looks at the two different items for a minute, can't figure it out, finally comes up with "Well, the switch costs more than the hub". Well, yes it does.... Reminds of going to Radio Shack: "You've got questions, we've got blank stares."

I'm not Jewish - so I don't understand what possesses seemingly smart individuals to willingly go to a war-torn country where the odds of getting blown up by a homicide bomber are very real. I'm not in any way attempting to "dis" your religion, I just don't get it. I can see it if Judaism was originally from Miami Beach (might be, lots of Jewish people down there...). Nice scenery, warm, no incoming missiles. I realize Muslims are supposed to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their lifetime, is there something in the Jewish religion like that also? A buddy of mine's mother has been there 4 or 5 times now as a Christian Missionary - according to her, she might as well be selling heroin - she has to do it in secret. They (the Israeli police) are not tolerant of Christians. I also realize that what you want to do and where you want to live is none of my business, but you brought it up, so I'm interested. (trying to become edumucated, not trying to start religious wars).

Aren't you young, in your early twenties? Looks that way at least, apologies if not... Wow, you've become "grumpy old man" quickly...! Next up: shaking fist at "young punks" going 30mph down the street, yelling at stupid 9 year old thugs playing baseball that dare to venture two feet into your yard to retrieve errant throw, traveling at 47mph on the freeway with the right turn signal on, etc... Welcome to the "grumpy old man" club from a young 44 year old!

I've been using 7 since the RC came out. Upgraded work machine from Vista Bus., works fine. Upgraded triple boot lapper (Win 7, Crunchbang (#!) Linux, and Hackintosh) from Vista Ult., works fine. IF your computer is working now as you want it to - no major problems - I say leave it alone. The bennies aren't there, IMHO. "If it ain't broke, don't break it..."

Welcome! Motorcycle endorsement on your driver's license.

random quotes heard at work: * "everything is a function of time and money" - Chief Technology Architect * "no time to do it right initially, but plenty of time do it over" -one of my co-loafers * "he isn't stupid, he's just a dumbass" -one manager describing another manager * "and they say "How do I in Oracle?", and that's when Colin tunes out" * "it's like a flat, hard turd, but it's pretty good" -Colin, describing his energy bars * "it smells like ass in here" -co-loafer walking into a meeting. We were on a conference call and the phone wasn't on mute.... * "licensing is forward compatible" -me, opining on why MS Office 2007 should be free since I bought Office 95 * "the upstack was having problems" -former admin describing what was wrong with a server. Server ran Linux. Former admin couldn't even spell Linux. He hard powered it off, powered it back up and it was working again. Trying to make it look as though he fixed something. Maybe he meant IP stack, bought he wrote it multiple times in an e-mail. * "incompetency breeds management" -smart intern co-loafer, on his way out the door after quitting. His boss didn't offer him a job, that's why he walked. * "Vidi, spanki, veni" -me, demonstrating my great knowledge of fractured Latin.

Bingo! We'll need to brainstorm some of the key "big rock" items - peel back layers of the onion, bake the plan, get this ready for prime time. As long as we're all rowing the oars the same way we should trend well....

Maddie (orange) and $imon, the million dollar cat: Charlie, the Appalachian Porch Hound: Bambi and her kids (change every spring):

IF the refs had not gifted Florida with 2 spurious penalties with about 7 mins left in the game - b.s. def. pass interference, then next play a penalty 20 yds from the action (and IT shouldn't have been called), Arkansas wins the game. Seems like the refs had to do whatever was needed to get Urb, Tim "the second coming", and the rest of the Gators a win. Just sayin'.

TBDBITL has never lost. Ever. Seeing/hearing/feeling the ramp entrance up close and personal never fails to impress.

You may be a homo, but you might be a "gettin' lucky tonight" homo....!

...is today, Saturday 17 October. Yes, it's a "Hallmark Holiday". However, if your significant other is "one of those" you would be well advised to, at least, get her a card. Looks like we have Cleveland to thank for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetest_Day#Origin Thanks a lot, Cleveland....

Me thinks he wants to flash a router, not set up a firewall on an unused machine. Smoothwall <is> a good product for those looking to do such a thing, however, especially if you're not into iptables. This does involve venturing into the realm of Linux. On this board I've been labeled a "zealot" and been told that "Linux is my religion", so I am not afraid of "teh Linux"...

I used the Tomato firmware ( http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Tomato_Firmware#Supported_devices ) when I did mine. Cranked up the amplifier a bit, much better strength throughout the manor. It's been 2 or so years since I did it, no issues at all. You <probably> won't notice any speed difference unless you get into packeteering ("give my torrents top priority, everything else takes a back seat"). Chose Tomato as there's only one step, whereas DD-WRT had multiple hoops to jump through. Advice: Pick up a supported model at Wally World, flash it, if you brick it - take it back.