Reset your Windows Password

Used a Linux USB live boot disk to reset a password for client who had forgotten his (son’s) password. It took some time to find an empty USB drive, download the latest Ubuntu live boot iso file, copy it to the USB, make it bootable on another computer, then to boot up the problem laptop with the new USB boot drive, just install the chntpw utility program, and then use it to remove/unset the unknown password .. easy peasy.

I will add further detailed how to notes here when time permits 🙂
p.s. or .. just reinstall Ubuntu overtop that pesky Windows program like I do!

 

Jan 2017 Note

Posted a comment on J’s https://whatmayflowersbring.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/first-journal-entry/ blog entry (my son in law and family – living far away in Italy for the next few years). Thought to myself, this will be just like having my mom posting on my own social media news feeds. Ha Ha. However, thankful to be connected today with family via the world wide internet. They have been able to call us from time to time via Skype but other than that we have had to be content with following them a bit on facebook and instagram .. everyone is growing up so fast!

Reminder: Lions Playground Install @ Thu May 30 – Sat Jun 1, 2013 (rdavies@ssdirect.com)

FYI: If you can assist us in the installation of the new fishpond playground equipment, we are planning to be there starting the evening of Thu 30 May 2013 at 6pm (for unpacking and layout), all day Fri 31 May 2013 9am+ (drilling holes and equipment assembly), in the morning on Sat 1 Jun about 9am (for final preparations and cement) and Sat afternoon (for gravel installation). The official ribbon cutting will be held in July as part of the town celebrations.

Please email us if you are planning to attend so we can get a bit of a head count .. thanks! rdavies

http://magrath-ab.net/lions/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=199:fishpond-pirate-playground-install-30may-1jun-2013&catid=19:magrath-lions-business

Magrath Food Drive 2013

Magrath Lions Club magrathlions.com is organizing the upcoming Magrath and District Community Food Drive with much help from local Church groups. Collection day is Sat 27 Apr 2013 from 9-noon! Thanks to everyone for all the great support!

Chamber Meeting Notice Tue 13 Mar 2012 7:25am Roosters

Meeting Notice Tue 13 Mar 2012 7:25am Roosters

Reminder – Early Morning Chamber Meeting Tue 13 Mar 2012 at 7:25 AM at Roosters! If you can make it out to our meeting that would be great! Trade Show 2 .. We are busy preparing for our upcoming Spring Trade Show, our 2nd annual! Magrath Pharmacy suggests we consider a New Year’s Baby contest sponsored by the Magrath Chamber for the first baby of the new year born in our area. Welcome to new Chamber Members!

Chamber Meeting Notice Tue 13 Mar 2012 7:25am Roosters

Meeting Notice Tue 13 Mar 2012 7:25am Roosters

Reminder – Early Morning Chamber Meeting Tue 13 Mar 2012 at 7:25 AM at Roosters! If you can make it out to our meeting that would be great! Trade Show 2 .. We are busy preparing for our upcoming Spring Trade Show, our 2nd annual! Magrath Pharmacy suggests we consider a New Year’s Baby contest sponsored by the Magrath Chamber for the first baby of the new year born in our area. Welcome to new Chamber Members!

Canada Get Your Business Online see: magrath-ab.ca

I read this on the net the other day and said, hmm I wonder if it works: “Websites are now free for all Canadian businesses. If you’re a business owner without a website, you probably have a good reason for it. Maybe you thought it was too expensive or took too much time? Maybe you were overwhelmed by the technology and didn’t know where to start? Canada Get Your Business Online is a new program that provides businesses a fast, free, and easy way to get online. Google is investing in Canadian businesses by creating gybo.ca and by paying for your .ca domain registry for 12 months. Yola is providing you with hosting, their leading site building tool, and support.”

Sure, I thought. Although, Google has much to gain by having more businesses online to purchase their services .. so, I gave it a whirl.

1) Free .ca domain name (for first year – thereafter about $30/yr). It only took a few minutes to select and submit magrath-ab.ca and then simply answered a phone call to my number confirming I lived in Canada. Done. Never had to give any credit card information.

2) Hosted by Yola.com website .. also free (for first year – thereafter up to $10/mo). Selected a template (basic) and added an applet (a link to my tumblr blog aka ssdirect.tumblr.com). Previewed and Published. Easy.

3) A while later the website was live on the internet. Wow.

Of course, now they would like to sell us on their ‘other services’ such as: ” To increase your marketing reach, you might consider:
• AdWords – Target customers locally or anywhere in the world. Pay only for ads that bring prospects to you.
• Google Base – Add your entire catalog to our free product search site.
• Google Checkout – Sell online with Google Checkout and increase sales by driving more traffic and higher conversions.
Maybe later ..

LDS Gems will resume under the new name “Inspirational Messages.”

Dear subscriber, LDS Gems will resume under the new name "Inspirational Messages." Some significant improvements have been made to simplify and optimize the system. Because you originally opted to receive LDS Gems, you will immediately begin to receive notifications again, unless you choose to unsubscribe [via the 'unsubscribe now' link below]. Here are some of the features you can expect: Short, inspirational messages selected from the scriptures, general conference addresses, and First Presidency messages Multiple delivery and frequency options available through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or RSS Text message option (coming soon) A new section on LDS.org where all past messages will be labeled, indexed, and stored [http://www.lds.org/ study/messages?lang=eng] We hope you enjoy Inspirational Messages and thank you for subscribing.

Port Redirection .. what is working

Port Redirection .. what is working and what is not .. Some assembly required.

I am testing out a Ubuntu Server 11.10 installation with Webmin and Virtualmin on my test server. It is not quite as slick as SMEServer, but it does seem to be working AND it has all the latest versions of mysql and php, etc. But .. it is a lot of work – by design. The explanation that has made the most sense to me is the Lego vs Toy comparison. Say you want to get a birthday present. You have a choice. You can buy a finished toy like a plane or a car and be done with it, or you can get some Lego blocks and build whatever you want in what ever color or size limited only by the number of blocks you have available to you. In that sense, Ubuntu and Linux in particular is like the build-it-yourself Lego. Most other operating systems are more like the store-bought toys. You can have lots of fun with either choice, but the Lego requires more from you to assemble what you want out of the pieces provided .. and therein is all the fun. The pre-built toys are what-you-see-is-what-you-get .. with only limited pre-defined customization possible (and sometimes prohibited) and with the corresponding dollar cost being much greater (compared to the Lego’s they are giving away for free).

ok .. so I mentioned that I use the dyndns.com service to point the internet to my ssdirect.com name to my local servers here in sunny southern alberta. It has worked great for many years now. I highly recommend their service.

I also use 1and1.com and have read both praise and rantings from current and former users. I just pay my yearly fee and it seems to work fine. No fuss. No bother. So I am a happy user. However, the port redirection so far is not working from them.

Just as dyndns.com can create ‘webhops’, my 1and1 host can create what they call subdomains. Compare:

• wordpress.ssdirect.com (dyndns webhop to http://ssdirect.com:8880/wordpress)
• joomla.ssdirect.com (dyndns webhop to http://ssdirect.com:8880/joomla)
• server.ssdirect.com (1and1 subdomain supposedly forwarded to http://ssdirect.com:8880)

Sidebar: Have intentionally not put an index.htm file at root yet .. I may later, but for now it just lists the files and folders sitting on my test server. Also, you may wonder how I came to use 8880 as the port to be redirected. Well, my test server is named ww8 (locally), and wordpress complained if the user selected port was less than 1024 so I settled on 8880 to redirect to server port 80. I suppose you could choose about any value you wanted.

Will keep trying, and trying, and ..

You Smell, Fruity!

I came back from lunch and my co-worker commented, "Hmmm .. you smell fruity." Yup, I had just grabbed a mandarin and peeled and then ate it on the way back from my lunch break. My first thought was, just where was the comma (if any) placed? I love our native tongue, but it has to be cooked properly first to be truly enjoyed. "You, smell fruity" is a command, "You smell, fruity" is a comment on my personal hygiene plus the addition of a new nickname, and "You smell fruity" could just be a nice observation on my new cologne. Language always was my worst subject, I look so much better on paper. You also have to listen for the snark-mark and decide if they are saying it in a threatening, amused, or angry manner. No wonder no one understands me. And that smells .. fruity.