Microsoft Vista Restore Not Accepting Product Key
I recently had a client whose Toshiba A205 laptop had a hard drive failure. After replacing the hard drive and running a system restore from the DVDs, Windows Vista would not accept the system key, regardless if the laptop was hooked up to the internet or not. It just kept saying that the system key appeared to be invalid.
After doing some research, I found KB articles from Microsoft which talked about the need to have Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed in similar cases. Sure enough, once SP1 was installed and the system was rebooted, Windows accepted the system key and the system was validated.
I’m also guessing that this probably only applies to restore media that may have been issued prior to SP1. For example, I know that if you purchase replacement restore media from HP, they include many updates that have been released since the system was first released.
I’m hopeful that Microsoft has corrected this problem in Windows 7 so that a fresh install doesn’t require consumers to hire a computer technican to complete a system restore.
| Title | Votes | Rating | Review |
| NASCAR Shuts Down iPhone Application | 8 | 4.4 | -1.0 |
Acer Restore Type Mismatch Error
Recently I’ve been working on quite a few Acer desktop PCs with hard drive failures. The specific model, AM5641, has a quirk when it comes to the restore media working, in that unless the hard drive is partitioned as an NTFS volume, the restore process gives a ‘type mismatch’ error right after making a language selection.
To complete the restore process, I’ve been using Partition Commander, which is a great tool when it comes to quickly formatting and converting a volume to NTFS.
| Title | Votes | Rating | Review |
| NASCAR Shuts Down iPhone Application | 8 | 4.4 | -1.0 |
Misbehaving Computer Opportunity to Backup Data
When it comes to a misbehaving computer, take advantage of the moment and backup important data!
While there may be various reasons why a computer is misbehaving or acting funny, such as an infected computer or the start of a hard drive failure, I always tell clients that this is an opportune time to back up data if you don’t already have a process in place, especially before the situation gets worse.
I cannot tell you how many times I have had to replace a hard drive and the horror on a client’s face when they find out they have lost everything. I just can’t say it enough. Backup, backup, backup. And when I say backup, I’m mainly talking about all the content that did not come with your computer, such as pictures, music, video, and documents.
Personally, I try to use the 3-2-1 backup rule, which is basically keeping 3 copies of files on 2 different media types with 1 copy offsite. The offsite part of the rule used to be tricky, but online backups have made this much easier now.
In fact, I recently became a Carbonite customer, which is an online or ‘in the cloud’ solution. So far I’ve been extremely happy. I’m not trying to make this a Carbonite commercial. There are a few other solutions out there too, such as mozy, ibackup, and idrive. I mainly tried Carbonite because I hear them mentioned on many of the podcasts I listen to.
And if you’re not sure you need a backup solution, just think about what value you would put on your data. If you’re like me, I can’t when it comes to family videos and photographs.
So no matter what type of backup solution you decide to implement (external hard drive, flash drive, online, or a combination of all), don’t take the chance of losing data, especially when your computer starts giving signs that something is awry.
| Title | Votes | Rating | Review |
| NASCAR Shuts Down iPhone Application | 8 | 4.4 | -1.0 |
Restoring vs. Cleaning Computer after Infected by Virus
I’ve noticed for quite some time that many of the local Bakersfield computer techs (and I’m sure elsewhere) have been pushing to ‘clean’ Windows-based computers of viruses. What I find interesting is few technicians focus on restoring a computer back to its original state.
In my opinion and experience, cleaning a computer should be the last option, while restoring a computer should be the first option. Hopefully this article will give you some insight and advice as to the differences. Read more
WordPress Plugin for DonorsChoose.org
I recently found the website, donorschoose.org, which allows educators to create proposals for classroom project materials. Once the proposal is approved, it is posted on the donorschoose.org website, where individuals can then fund the project by donating money.
WordCamp San Francisco State of the Word Audio
It’s funny as I type this, as I had been ocassionally searching for the video that John Pozadzides shot at WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco, but I couldn’t find it (yet), which I totally understand. Then I did a search tonight after posting this, and many of the sessions are now available on video.
Meanwhile, I recorded some audio from the event, including Matt Mullenweg’s The State of the Word session, and this weekend I finally got around to processing it.
Although John’s video from The State of the Word is the real deal, if you are interested, you can download the audio portion of the talk here, or you can play it below.
As for the specs, I recorded it using an iRiver iFP-890 (internal mic), sent it through Levelator, and exported it using Audacity.
WordPress Digital Scrapbook Example
Created by Mike Pilley
I wrote an article earlier this year about using WordPress as a digital scrapbook. Although it has been a while, I finally put an example together based on my original thought.
My son and I recently went camping, so I put some of the content from the trip together in a post. The elements of the post included using an embedded Google map based on the GPS location I took at the campsite; an information balloon within the map that contains information about the campsite, weather during the trip, and links to a Picasa album; scanned PDF of the campsite map; and a narrative of our trip and some highlights.
Below is the Google map and a link to the campsite map. I used the Google Maps Quicktag by Daniel Denk, as I regularly use the Google My Maps and this plugin was the easiest to incorporate the embed link to display the map.
Here’s a slideshow:
To take the digital scrapbook idea to another level, you could create a My Maps of a larger area (say the United States) with markers of event locations that would link to smaller focus maps.
By combining available content such as pictures, video, GPS coordinates, and Google maps within WordPress, you can easily create a digital scrapbook to capture life events in a format available to family and friends.
Below is a narrative of day one of the camping trip.
Read more
Afterthoughts of Creating and Producing a Podcast
Stockcarzone, a Podcast for NASCAR fans, was a great experiment. I had ideas of grandeur when Corey Costelloe and I first started the podcast–but reality was, it was a lot harder to make money than I thought. The podcast really turned out to be more of a hobby than a money maker, and this year Corey and I decided not to continue the show. Regardless of the outcome, I wanted to share some afterthoughts of the experiment. Read more
Convert Word Document into PDF for Free
I got a call from a client who needed to quickly convert a Word document into a PDF, and they really did not want to have to install an additional application to accomplish this task. I found that Google Docs offers the ability to do just this. All you need is a Google account. Read more
Using WordPress as Digital Scrapbook
At one point during WordCamp 2007, there was a woman sitting in one of the front rows who explained that she was using WordPress as a blog to capture moments in her niece’s life. I thought, how cool is that! WordPress could be used like a digital scrapbook. Read more
