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Create Spooky Foggy Halloween Graves

The foggy grave site display was very popular on Halloween night. Every trick-or-treater that came to our door stopped and stared at the grave.

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Move persistent route table to a new computer

Moving persistent route to a new PC is easy, save your self the task of re-typing them in one at a time with this these simple steps.

1. The data is stored in the windows registry. Navigate to:
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\PersistentRoutes
3. Export this key and save the .reg file.
4. Copy this file over to the new computer.
5. Double-click on the .reg file on the new computer and it will enter the data into the registry.
6. Open up a command prompt and type “route print”, and you will see your persistent routes are all there.

Quick edit for your hosts file

Open notepad and paste in the code below, then save as hosts.vbs and save it inside your windows directory.

Then all you need to do is type start -> run and type “hosts.vbs” and it will fire up your windows hosts file inside notepad

Set Sh = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
On Error Resume Next
sOStype = Sh.RegRead(_
"HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions\ProductType")
If Err.Number<>0 Then
Wscript.Echo " This doesn't appear to be an NT-like operating system;" _
& vbcrlf & "on Win9x use sysedit or msconfig."
Else
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
dirConfPath = "%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\"
On Error Resume Next
Sh.Run "Notepad " & dirConfPath & "drivers\etc\hosts"
End If

The Kitchen PC

A computer in the Kitchen? Lets face it…for many of us the internet is now one of the basic food groups. We need some each and every day to stay healthy.

Finally made the plunge and put a PC in the kitchen. I liked the idea, but I don’t want it to look cluttered. Look at all the cords on the average desktop, stunning really.

A refurbished Dell came up with everything I wanted on it.

• 4 GB Ram
• TV Tuner Card
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
• 64 bit Vista

I figured I saved about $200 by going refurbished, and with the 1 year warranty, I didn’t really have any worried about the refurbished status. Downside is you don’t get to pick exactly what you want on it, but I thought it was a fair trade off. Total shipped price for it was $571.33

Picked up a separate Dell 19″ wide screen for $100, and added a wireless keyboard and mouse and I was ready to roll.

So far I am happy with it, I find we are watching TV on it a lot, even though on the other side of the room  is a 42″ screen…but its more convenient to flip it on in the morning while in the kitchen. The media center features are very nice to have, we’ve never had any kind of DVR before, so it is quite fun to pause and record things. My kids think its amazing!

Please leave a comment if you have a PC in the kitchen, and how you use it and how you might keep your cords to a minimum.

Custom Windows Shutdown

Here is an easy tip to spruce up your end of day windows shut down.

Have it perform some simple tasks before shutting down your system for the day.

I have made a simple batch file to run a system defrag, then make a registry backup before shutting down the system for the night.

Here is what the batch file looks like:

defrag C:
regedit /e c:\regbackup.reg
shutdown -s

Save the file as myshutdown.cmd (or anything you want), save it somewhere on your drive, then you can make a shortcut to the file on the desktop.

Then right click on the new shortcut on your desktop and change the icon to look like the shutdown icon.

So now at the end of the day, activate your new shutdown command and it will  defrag your drive, create a registry backup and shutdown your computer.

If you can think of any other maintenance tasks to add to the shutdown script, leave a comment and maybe it can be added in to make the ultimate shutdown command.

Dump Adobe Reader

I recently removed Adobe Acrobat reader from my computer. In it’s place I installed the free Foxit Reader for Windows. So far no problems at all reading any PDF file. Also loads quicker and doesn’t bug me like the Adobe Reader did all the time. Also the Foxit reader does not sit and hog resources the same way that Adobe does. Give it a try, I think you will like it too…

Another reason to get rid of you Acrobat Reader… SECURITY!

The Foxit Reader can be downloaded for free from Foxit Software

Also, in case you are wondering. Foxit reader will look similar to your old friend Adobe Reader, see the screen shot below.

Google Hacked…oh wait

This morning I hit the Google home page and I see this…

I think I even said out loud…wow Google is hacked! I had to look closer for a second, then I realized it was their Valentines day logo, but it looks a bit menancing to me…

New Network Setup

I’ve been meaning to move around my basement “network” setup for sometime. All my equipment has just been sitting on a table in the back room. I used to actually sit at the table and work at the server, but I rarely ever need to be “on” the server. (love remote desktop!)

So finally changed it up. I think the new setup creates more space, makes for easier access, and probably a little better cooling too.

Setup: Cable comes into the house, and into the Linksys cable modem (a very old cable modem, running software 1.1.5 r2) . From there it goes into my Linksys N router. The router goes to a network printer (Brother HL-2070), and into my 2004 “Server”, which is a Dell Dimension 2400 Celeron 2.4 Ghz  (I just upgraded the RAM to 1GB from 512!). There is also a Fantom external USB drive connected to the server.

Another network cable goes up to the Kitchen PC. And the rest of the home feeds from the wireless signal, this includes 3 laptops, a Wii, and a Dell Axim.

Now everything is easy to get to and with the vents in the shelving, the air flow is much better too.

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