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Archive for category Technology

Wordpress 2.8.5 Released

Oct 21

Posted by colin in Blog, Technology | No Comments

Wordpress.org have released 2.8.5

It is recommended that all users upgrade as soon as possible.
This is a security release, which hardens some areas of the code, specifically a fairly large fix to prevent a traceback file DOS attack.
Update can be applied from your dashboard as usual. Another interesting link they put on the upgrade post is that there is a useful plugin that allows you to scan your WP Blog for some current known exploits. The plugin is Wordpress Exploit Scanner

Happy upgrading :)

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Create a custom Windows install CD with all the updates!!

May 11

Posted by colin in Blog, Guides, Technology | No Comments

If you have ever had the joy of reinstalling Windows on your pc, to then have to download all the drivers on another PC to get it online, then have to spend hours on Windows Update installing updates, rebooting, installing more updates, more rebooting etc, then this is the guide for you.

I reinstall Windows quite regularly as part of my job, so anything that will make this process less painful is welcome. I have created a Windows CD that answers all the setup questions for me, and has all the latest Windows updates pre installed, which makes installing Windows an almost completely unattended process. This allows me to turn machines around and get them back out to the classrooms much faster than doing it the normal way.

So I decided to throw together a little guide on how to make one of these CDs. You can use this guide as a basis and change bits and piece to suit your own needs. For instance if you are only making the disc for one PC, you can slipstream in all the drivers for your computer, saving having to look for them after a reinstall. I prefer to leave drivers out as they are updated quite regularly and I like to run the latest versions (with the exception of LAN or network card drivers, as having these in the CD means you can get online instantly after install to download the rest of your drivers). Read the rest of this entry »

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O2 Wireless Box III and Apple Bonjour (iTunes etc)

Apr 29

Posted by colin in Blog, Technology | 3 Comments

Came across an interesting problem last week. Paid Apple a few pounds for the Wireless N firmware upgrade for my MacBook Pro. Then a few days after I noticed that my iPhone was unable to sync with my GTD app Things on the laptop over wireless.

Then I tried using the Apple Remote app, for controlling iTunes. Again nothing.

Yet both the laptop and iPhone were clearly connected to the wireless network, and both had communications with the Internet, and could communicate directly with each other (I tested browsing to a website I have running on the laptop using the iPhone and all was well.)

After much head scratching I decide to turn the router (O2 Wireless Box III) back to B/G wireless mode only. BAM! Everything back to normal. Switched back to B/G/N mode again and sure enough comms were lost.

It seems that the bridge between the N clients and G clients blocks multicast traffic. This was a known issue on the older O2 routers between the wireless and wired networks, but I never thought the seperate channels of wireless would be so widely separated!

So stick to B/G mode for now, I am going to contact O2 and also Thomson who make the modem/router for O2 and see if there is a workaround. I liked having 130Mbps link to the network!!

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