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So here’s a second blurb on another interesting problem I ran across while working on a friends computer. So apparently when you pulled open the Add/Remove program window in the control panel there was this huge section of white blank space between programs.
I used another program to generate a list of what was in the add/remove programs and found that the gap was where AutoCad 2002 was suppposed to be but I couldn’t delete it from the list. So I figured up regedit and took a look in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall and sure as heck found this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall{5783F2D7-0101-0409-0000-0060B0CE6BBA}]
“DisplayIcon”=”C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2002\acad.exe,-1”
“AuthorizedCDFPrefix”=”"
“Comments”=”"
“Contact”=”"
“DisplayVersion”=”15.0.6.030″
“HelpLink”=”"
“HelpTelephone”=”"
“InstallDate”=”20080311″
“InstallLocation”=”"
“InstallSource”=”D:\”
“ModifyPath”=hex(2):4d,00,73,00,69,00,45,00,78,00,65,00,63,00,2e,00,65,00,78,
00,65,00,20,00,2f,00,49,00,7b,00,35,00,37,00,38,00,33,00,46,00,32,00,44,00,
37,00,2d,00,30,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,2d,00,30,00,34,00,30,00,39,00,2d,00,30,
00,30,00,30,00,30,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,36,00,30,00,42,00,30,00,43,00,45,00,
36,00,42,00,42,00,41,00,7d,00,00,00
“Publisher”=”Autodesk”
“Readme”=”"
“Size”=”"
“EstimatedSize”=dword:00032c2e
“UninstallString”=hex(2):4d,00,73,00,69,00,45,00,78,00,65,00,63,00,2e,00,65,00,
78,00,65,00,20,00,2f,00,49,00,7b,00,35,00,37,00,38,00,33,00,46,00,32,00,44,
00,37,00,2d,00,30,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,2d,00,30,00,34,00,30,00,39,00,2d,00,
30,00,30,00,30,00,30,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,36,00,30,00,42,00,30,00,43,00,45,
00,36,00,42,00,42,00,41,00,7d,00,00,00
“URLInfoAbout”=”"
“URLUpdateInfo”=”"
“VersionMajor”=dword:0000000f
“VersionMinor”=dword:00000000
“WindowsInstaller”=dword:00000001
“Version”=dword:0f000006
“Language”=dword:00000409
“DisplayName”=”AutoCAD 2002″

See that negative one bolded up above in the registry dump? Sure as heck that’s the problem and it’s already even a known issue. I just deleted the whole {5783F2D7-0101-0409-0000-0060B0CE6BBA} entry and rebooted. Voila no more gap.

I’ve been working on a computer for a friend of ours this week because she had a really odd problem come up after some spyware/malware snuck into the system. Seems that she would get to the windows “Welcome” screen where you can select the username you want to logon with but couldn’t go any further. You’d click on the name and the screen would flash but then nothing else would happen and you’d be back right at the blue screen with it saying “logging out” underneath the account name.
I popped the drive out and did my usual scanning on a clean machine, found some viruses and malware even found some corrupted sectors on the drive. Yet for all of that it seemed to be doing the exact same thing. It actually got to a point where I was going to do an in place upgrade of windows XP because I assumed that the issues had damaged the OS beyond fixing easily.
I did a little more research into possible issues and stumbled across the answer while investigating the runtime entries in the registry. The “Userinit” entry in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon was missing. Gone. Nothing was in there. So I used an SATA to USB adapter, loaded up “regedit” and loaded the hive from the /windows/system32/config/software file on her drive and edited that entry to point to “C:WINDOWSsystem32userinit.exe” and that fixed her problem.

This is a screenshot of a good entry in the winlogon registry entry
It seems that from the limited research I did on how this happened that a lot of malware/spyware likes to replace this entry with a comprimised version of the userinit.exe file. So it’s pretty common for an anti-spyware program to remove the false entry and put a legitimate file back. So either the anti-spyware didn’t do it properly or was blocked when trying to modify it back to the proper settings.
Either way it was an interesting problem. A clean install or a re-installation (to keep the programs and data) would have sovled it but I like to think that editing the registry was a quicker solution once I knew what to look for.

This is the Fisher Price Learning Mower:

Look cute doesn’t it? There is however one significant design flaw in it..it is obnoxiously loud. Like “halt a conversation” loud. When the kids get to playing with it you can’t even hear somebody who is right next to you practically. I have no clue how in the heck something like this passed any sort of Q&A at Fisher Price. Heck probably some solid rubber balls instead of the hollow plastic ones would have been better inside it.
So I neutered it….much better now.

The funniest thing to me is that usually people want to put a lock on the fridge, not the exercise equipment.

A few weeks back it occured to me that my grandparents clock was still in storage in the basement. The main reason for that was because it made way to much noise gonging every half an hour. Growing up every time I visited them it drove me nuts because it would go off all night.

Revere 442 Mantel clock
Well I went ahead and dug it out anyways because I figured there must be some way to disable the chimes in it….and sure enough there was a lever in the back you flip and suddenly no more chimes at all. The clock is still loud by today’s standards with all the gears and motors moving but I think it’s pretty cool personally.
I took a video yesterday during dinner (bad timing yes I know) of what the chimes sound like. I’m pretty sure they’re called Westminster Chimes.

Revere Model R-442
This particular model (and its kissing cousin R-458) doesn’t appear on eBay that often, but often enough to warrant posting in this guide. If you are lucky enough to come across one, don’t count on getting it cheap! However, you might get lucky enough to find one in fair condition. Since the four corner finials come out, make sure none of them are lost. Also, you’ll notice the clock has a wide array of small overlays around the corners and bottom edges. Watch for missing pieces there. Generally, if you can find one with an intact case, then the clock is worth restoring. Both the R-442 and R-458 were made during the early years of 1940. Both had very ornate dials and very high-grade Mahogany Veneers.

Here are some pictures we took yesterday on Halloween. We didn’t buy costumes for them this year so we stuck close to home and carved the pumpkin and handed out candy.

Here are some pics of them in their Halloween themed shirts.




And here are a bunch of pics of us carving the pumpkin. It was kind of short notice do to everything else going on (and loosing power for 8 hours the day before).

The pumpkin is supposed to have witches hat’s for eyes, a gourd for a nose and a bat for a mouth. Not sure how well I pulled it off but not to shabby for 1/2 hour. Not like any of my previous pumpkins were contest winners or anything but I usually spend a little more time.
And here is a picture of the reason why mommy doesn’t leave us alone with daddy:

And lastly here is a video I took using Jen’s iPhone of the kids while we were waiting for more trick or treater’s to show up. (ie any trick or treaters to show up). Nothing special just an unedited snippet of life with the kids and how they interact.