Alexander’s Blog

Whether you are a developer or just a techie, here’s a blog that you might want to check out. The blog is written by Sharee English, Director of Information Services at SeattlePro Enterprises. Sharee is a Web developer, trainer, consultant, author and a public speaker who holds several certifications, such as MCT, MCSD, MCAD, CTT+, etc. Her detailed bio is available here.

Her blog (VisualStudioBlog.com) is a great resource not only for Visual Studio information but also SharePoint technologies and some other fun stuff and gadgets that she finds.

Here’s some useful information posted by the University of Washington regarding peer-to-peer file-sharing issues.

1. Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing: What is the risk?

Every day, millions of computer users share files online. Whether it is music, games, or software, file-sharing can give people access to a wealth of information. You simply download special software that connects your computer to an informal network of other computers running the same software. Millions of users could be connected to each other through this software at one time. The software often is free and easily accessible.

Sounds promising, right? Maybe, but make sure that you consider the trade-offs. File-sharing can have a number of risks. For example, when you are connected to file-sharing programs, you may unknowingly allow others to copy private files you never intended to share. You may download material that is protected by the copyright laws and find yourself mired in legal issues. You may download a virus or facilitate a security breach.

For a more details on securing your personal information and additional information on file-sharing software and how to remove it, see file-sharing security and software programs.

2. What is the copyright issue?
Under copyright law, it is illegal to download or share copyrighted materials such as music or movies without the permission of the copyright owner. The record and movie industry in recent years has taken an aggressive approach to stopping illegal downloading and file sharing. This has put many students at the nation’s colleges and universities at some legal risk.

Your actions when downloading or sharing files are traceable and could result in a significant financial penalty to you.

3. What is the record and music industry doing about illegal downloads?
There are many initiatives that address illegal file sharing. For instance, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is now sending colleges and universities letters pointing to specific alleged instances of illegal file sharing and requesting the university to forward the letter to the person the university identifies as being associated with the activity. The letter, called a “Pre-Settlement Letter” notifies the student that he or she has a specified number of days to settle with the RIAA by going to a designated website, entering identifying information, and paying a set amount, usually between $3,000 and $5,000, but sometimes considerably more. The letter states that, if the recipient chooses not to settle, the RIAA will file a lawsuit and the offer to settle for the amount stipulated may no longer be an option.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

If you are working with graphics on your Web site, it is a good idea to compress them so they will be smaller in size and will load quickly in the browser. Author John Lee has written an article in his blog on TechRepulbic’s Web site that explains the steps in detail. The author describes when and how to compress graphics.

An easy way to remember when it is appropriate to compress a graphic as a GIF or a JPEG is this simple mnemonic:

GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format, and its compression scheme works by dropping colors from a graphic. The maximum number of colors a GIF can hold is 256, and any colors that are dropped in the compression process are gone forever and are not interpolated by the Web browser. GIF compression is best used for graphics that have areas of flat colors with minimal (if any) gradients.

Click here to read the entire article.

You can get error 1606 under various circumstances. One person I know was encountering the error when installing “Creating Keepsakes - Scrapbook Designer”, a Scrapbook application, but this error can pop up at other times as well. For example, you may encounter this error if you try to install or uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2003. Sometimes the path and location is given in the error message, which may point to one of several different possible paths, such as C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop, or C:\My Documents\My Pictures.

Microsoft’s KB article 315352 mentions that this error occurs if you upgrade from Windows 98 SE or Windows Me to Windows XP, or Windows XP SP1. However, variations of this error are also known to exist when you upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows 2000. Here’s a step-by-step solution that seems to work.

1. Click on Start, Run and then type REGEDIT.EXE to start the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders.
3. Double-click the Common Administrative Tools Value Name and set the data value to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools.
4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders. Notice that this path is different than the path in step 2. This is “Shell Folders”, in step 2 you went to “User Shell Folders”.
5. Double-click the Common Administrative Tools Value name and verify that the Value data is set to the %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools.
6. Close the Registry Editor.
7. Restart your computer.

Microsoft’s Excel application contains a vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to gain access to a system.

The flaw affects multiple versions of the spreadsheet software, including Excel 2000, 2002 and 2003, as well as versions of Microsoft Office containing those versions. It can also be manipulated in Excel Viewer 2003 and Office 2004 for Mac. Click here for more details.