Alexander’s Blog

Are you a developer who needs to crash Windows 2000 on purpose? Use the following procedure to crash Windows on demand.

1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters.
3. On the Edit menu, click on New, DWORD.
4. Type CrashOnCtrlScroll and press Enter.
5. Double-click the new entry and set the value to any non-zero value, e.g. 7.
6. Restart your computer.

After the reboot you can crash the system anytime by holding the Ctrl key down and pressing the Scroll Lock key twice. You’ll see the code MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH (0xE2) on the screen. Sometimes if you can’t use the Ctrl-Alt-Del combination, try using the Ctrl + Scroll Lock combination instead.

An upcoming online classified service from Microsoft Corp. may sound like Craigslist or the new Google Base, but the team behind the project says it found inspiration closer to home.

Microsoft employees have long used an internal listing service to sell and exchange items with other workers, friends and family. The company’s Windows Live team is trying a similar approach with its listing service. Users will be able to offer their items online either within a closed circle or to the broader public.

The company refers to the upcoming Windows Live service by the code name “Fremont” — after the Seattle neighborhood with the popular Sunday market where community members buy and sell goods.

Word of the Fremont project emerged in online reports Tuesday, but it was conceived early this year, said Garry Wiseman, a product unit manager working on the project.

“We realized that the classified marketplace was really starting to heat up,” Wiseman said. “We’d seen a lot of other sites out there be very successful, and they were growing in numbers, and it was quite clear, based on where the online classified space was heading, that we could play a unique role.”

Two weeks ago, Google released a preliminary version of its own online listing service, Google Base. In that way, the Fremont project is another example of the escalating rivalry between Microsoft and Google in areas beyond the traditional Internet search business. Each is trying to expand its community of online users to help fuel its advertising revenue.

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Apple Computer has issued “highly critical” security updates to address more than a dozen vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system.

Apple released on Tuesday security patches for Mac OS X 10.4.3, otherwise known as Tiger, as well as Mac OS X 10.3.9, dubbed Panther, according to the company’s advisory.

Thirteen security flaws were found in areas related to the Apache 2 Web server, curl technology and the Safari browser. The vulnerabilities ranged from potentially letting an attacker launch a denial-of-service attack to taking control of a person’s system remotely.

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To get automatically notified when there are changes on a Web site, you can use a little-known feature called “Link Crawling”. This technology is supported in Internet Explorer 4.0 and later. You can configure your favorite URLs so Internet Explorer will check for updates on a scheduled basis. If there are updates, you can have Internet Explorer send you an email alert.

The procedure for configuring Link Crawling varies depending on your OS and Internet Explorer version. For example, on some versions you’ll right-click the Active Desktop and select Properties. Then you’ll click the Web tab. In Windows XP the procedure is slightly different. Here’s how you’ll configure Link Crawling on Windows XP. The procedure describes how to add TechGalaxy.net but you can add any Web site or picture on the Web.

1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties.

2. Click the Desktop tab.

3. Click on the Customize Desktop icon.

4. In the Desktop Items window, select the Web tab. You’ll notice My Current Home Page as the only item listed under Web pages.

5. On the Web tab of the Desktop Items, click on New and in the location box type the URL for the Web site e.g. http://www.techgalaxy.net. You can add live Web contents such as Web pages or pictures here.

6. Click Customize to further customize the desktop item or simply click OK.

7. Now you should have two items listed under Web pages, My Current Home Page and http://www.techgalaxy.net.

8. On the Web tab of the Desktop Items, place a check mark in the box next to http://www.techgalaxy.net and then select Synchronize to update the Web page.

9. On the Web tab of the Desktop Items, click the Properties button.

10. On the Schedule tab, select the options you want for synchronizing the Web site.

11. On the Download tab, select the options you want for downloading contents. This tab also allows you to enter an email address so when the page changes you’ll be notified via email. If you want to monitor changes on a Web page that is limited to subscribers and requires authentication, click on the Login button and enter your credentials.

12. The email message you’ll receive from the Internet Explorer will contain the following subject line:
Internet Explorer Notice: http://www.techgalaxy.net/

You can also add contents from Microsoft Desktop Gallery.

The Boeing Company has issued a statement that a computer with files containing personal information of 161,000 current and former Boeing employees, including names and Social Security numbers, and in some cases birthdates and banking information recently was stolen at a non-Boeing site. The Boeing Company has no evidence that any of the employee-related data on the computer has been accessed or misused.

BECU members should be assured that Boeing is taking a number of steps to minimize any potential damage that could result from this.

Boeing will be directly notifying each affected individual, either by e-mail or letter and will have resources in place to provide information specific to each of them. You are encouraged to utilize the resources outlined in the letter.

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