Always Get Better » Windows Vista

Life in Linux

Mike — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:50:36 +0000

So I wiped my hard drive and installed Ubuntu. After struggling with the decision to switch from Windows for some time, I finally resolved to move.

So far the results have been very good. My system boots up and is ready to use in less than a minute, there is no lag loading and switching programs, and everything I need for my day-to-day programming is available much more readily than it was with the other operating system.

The most striking difference to me is the amount of disk space I now have available to me. With all of my software, work projects, and operating system overhead, Windows left 80Gb free from my 285Gb drive. With all of my projects, code libraries, files and operating system installed, Ubuntu uses just 6.7Gb, leaving 97% of the drive available for my use. I am blown away by how much less clutter I have now.

I haven’t tried to do very much with Mono yet; we’ll see how it works when I try making improvements to my SiteAssistant project. I’ve been reading about Mono’s Winforms capabilities and so far am impressed by the possibilities. We’ll see how well it works with my fairly simple project; with any luck I may have found a cross-platform .NET solution with this one. Maybe the Winforms explorations will be a good topic for a future post.

Not missing Office yet, either. My Quicken financial software has been running perfectly under Wine, and all of my files appear to have made the move intact. I still own licenses to all my software, so on those rare instances if I really need it I can install Windows with VirtualBox and fill up some of that hard drive space I’ve earned.

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Wamp Server Crashes Installing X-Cart

Mike — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:38:32 +0000

When running a default installation, WAMP Server’s Apache crashes when installing X-Cart. The error happens immediately after setting up the MySQL tables and is caused by the curl extension in PHP.

To resolve, click on the WAMP Server icon in the task tray, go to Apache -> Version -> Get More. Download one of the 2.0 series Apache servers and install it.

Repeat the process for PHP; download one of the 5.0 series PHP versions and install it.

Switch WAMP Server to the new versions and run the install again – it should work with no problems.

VISTA: How to fix SQL Server Express Error – CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database ‘master’

Mike — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:22:16 +0000

If you’re using SQL Server Management Studio Express under Windows Vista and see either of these errors:

CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master'

The database [Name] is not accessible. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Express.ObjectExplorer)

Here’s the fix:

Close SQL Server Management Studio Express
Open your start menu and locate that program.
Right-click on the Management Studio and choose ‘Run as Administrator’
Fixed!

I swear the simplest solutions can be the hardest to find – hopefully this saves someone (or my forgetful self!) some aggravation.

Getting Real Power in Vista

Mike — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:06:12 +0000

Windows Vista hides the administrator user. In order to access it, open a command prompt and issue the command:

net user administrator /active:yes password

Password can be anything you want, and will set up the administrator user.

Although you can access much of your system’s setting under the default super user account, Vista implements a User Access Control System that effectively makes administrator the only real super user. In particular, the “Local Users and Groups” interface is normally hidden from you.

One more note – the command listed above can’t be run from a regular shell – you must open the shell as administrator.

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