Mark Thomson

Windows Server 2003 ships with security locked down by default. Part of this locking is Internet Explorer Enhanced Security which provides an extra layer of protection when accessing the net using Internet Explorer.

You can uninstall the entire Configuration, or just for users, or just for Administrators. The un-installer is set up like this:

Enhanced Security
->For Administrators
->For Users

If you have just random users connecting via Remote Desktop or Terminal Services, you may want to leave the Users configuration installed.

To remove it:

Click Start, put your mouse over Control Panel, and click Add/Remove Programs

Now click Add/Remove Windows Components

After a few seconds a window will pop-up. Uncheck the check mark next to Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration. If you'd like to only disable it for Administrators or only for Users you can click Details and do so.

Press Next, let it finish, and it's now disabled.

I installed the frameworks and add-on's to Visual Studio 2005 v8.0.50.727.42 and found that all the items in my Toolbox disappeared and some items appeared more than once in other menus.

Apparently if you right click on one of the toolbox control headings, (common controls for example) and select reset toolbox

then right click again and select show all...

then they will be all displayed (with them grayed out)

then right click again and select Reset Toolbox...

should take about 30 seconds and they will all reappear

If this doesn't work you can also try clearing out the cache files for the Toolbox in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0

Check out the article here.

Open command line window.

Change to c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin

Execute sdkvars.bat

Then execute sn -k c:\.snk

The key file will be generated for attachment to your project. Right click on your project in Visual Studio and select Add Existing Item. Select the .snk file that you just created.

Then right-click on your project again and select Properties. Navigate to the signing tab. Check Sign the Assembly checkbox, and then choose your .snk file from the Choose a strong name key file dropdown list. Close the Properties window. Rebuild the project to recreate your dll with the strong name.

Been busy with a lot of learning lately - just finished a week long course on developing for Sharepoint. That's one definite advantage with the new job - they don't mind sending me on training. So i've been installing Visual Studio 2005 and trying to get the SDK for Sharepoint installed so I can start writing some web parts for some ongoing projects at work.

The house is coming along slowly, definitely not as fast as I would like it too. Unfortunately we've had a run of bad weather - figures, if we weren't building it would be 30° and hot, but because we're building it decides to hell with the drought, let's feck up their plans! So we're still squatting in the backroom of our inlaws.

I'm still managing to do some painting, and I'm feverishly trying to get stuff finished for the Golden Demon competition in September. I really want to enter something this year, and Beeb is painting some troops to enter too. Plus which, I'm not allowed to buy any more until I finish the ones I've got. Bummer I know! Especially with the new 5th Edition Rules I'm going to need some more ground troops to round out my Tau army. Beeb's doing pretty well with his, as he has a Tactical, Devastator, and shortly Assault squad ready to go. Micky destroyed her Tyranids, especially the Ravener that I was going to enter in the GD. I told her not to take them to school, but she stole it out of my cupboard and proceeded to destroy it by smuggling it out in her skirt. So I've taken control of those. The Ravener is going to need a bit of love and care to get it back into shape, especially since she managed to lose a set of rending claws from the figure. I've cannabalized a Genestealer for parts, so it'll be slightly different now, but at least it will have arms. The left over Genestealer body we converted into an objective marker, and it looks like it's crawling out of a pile of rubble to attack.

Rob's gotten a promotion to the job she's been wanting to do for ages. I'm so happy for her, and she seems more excited to go to work now.

My sidebar links were running out of control, so I decided to hook up a collapsible menu solution. A hunt around the internet turned up a nice javascript solution, but as usual I had endless trouble trying to get it to play nice with Blogger. For some reason Blogger's security model blocks some javascript from running in the site. Usually it's something as simple as changing &amp;'s in a GET/POST string to &amp;amp's; instead, but this time it was a lot more difficult. Here's how I got it working, so you don't have to waste as much time on it as I did.

I created an HTML/Javascript part on the sidebar and inserted the following block of code:

<ul id="containerul">
<li>
Art
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://alantew.blogspot.com">Alan Tew</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.maleev.com">Alex Maleev</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://absoluteart.blogspot.com">Tim Kane</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>

<li>
Wargaming
<ul>
<li cteopen="http://<your site address>/cte_specialminus.png" cteclosed="http://<your site address>/cte_specialplus.png">
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Lord of the Rings</span>
<ul>
<li cteitem="http://<your site address>/cte_specialpage.png">
<a href="http://www.lotr-collector.com/">LOTR Collector</a>
</li>

<li cteitem="http://<your site address>/cte_specialpage.png">
<a href="http://thelastalliance.com/">The Last Alliance</a>
</li>

<li cteitem="http://<your site address>/cte_specialpage.png">
<span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.thepalantir.org/">The Palantir</a></span>
</li>
</ul></li>
<li cteopen="http://<your site address>/cte_specialminus.png" cteclosed="http://<your site address>/cte_specialplus.png">
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Warhammer 40k</span>
<ul>
<li cteitem="http://<your site address>/cte_specialpage.png">
<a href="http://www.advancedtautactica.com/">Advanced Tau Tactica</a>
</li>
<li cteitem="http://<your site address>/cte_specialpage.png">
<a href="http://www.tauonline.org/">Tau Online</a>
</li>
</ul></li></ul></li></ul>

<h2>Blogs</h2>

<ul id="anothercontainerul">
<li>
Personal
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://olivepug.blogspot.com/">Olive Pug</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://metrobuild.blogspot.com/">Under Construction</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<h2>Resources</h2>

<ul id="resourcecontainerul">
<li>
Web Design
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://http://www.sxc.hu//">Stock.Xchng</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/">Template Monster</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
initiate(Array("containerul","anothercontainerul","resourcecontainerul")); // This must be placed after the menus in order to format them properly.
//--></script>

Then in the <HEAD> block of your site's template insert this code:

<script src='http://<your site address>/javascripts/cte_scripts.js' type='text/javascript'/>

<style type='text/css'><!--
@import "http://<your site address>/cte_styles.css";
--></style>

This all seems to work properly. If you want to add another container grouping, copy the grouping, paste it and change the block name. Then put the block name in as an input to the initiate() code block.

Wow this looks really good. It looks like they've remained faithful to the graphic novel, and after the job Zach Snyder did on 300, I reckon this is going to be something pretty special. Check it out or get the trailer from Apple.

I watched the DVD of this the other night with my son. I think he enjoyed it, but it was a bit boring from an adult perspective. The story is very simplistic and you could pretty much see what was coming from the outset. All the funny bits are in the trailer, so no real surprises there. As a kids movie, it's successful, but as something an adult can go to with a kid, it's a huge flop. I don't even think it's that bankable based on old-age nostalgia by the parents.

Plot Synopsis:

Failing music writer Dave encounters singing Chipmunks when they move into his home. After they drive him nuts for awhile, he has some success when they sing his songs. A greedy music promoter manipulates the Munks into leaving Dave, and then proceeds to overwork them to exhaustion. Dave finally "grows a pair" and gets them back, reuniting their little family.

I finally got around to seeing this. First I wanted to see this when it came out, and my daughter begged me for weeks to take her, but it only ever ran after 9pm, once per day, and it just became too hard. Then I preordered the DVD, and a couple of weeks before it came out, I lost my job. So that solved that! This time I rented it on $2 night at the video store. Happily I can say, it was better than the last one, and better than I expected. It's by no means the abomination that everyone was making out. In fact the heavy R-rating and gore this time, was much better than the PG kiddie-friendly outing last time. This was the way these creatures are supposed to be. Yes the character development is nothing much, and you never really care enough about the characters to be bothered whether they live or die, but what are you expecting. It is what it is - two nasty monsters battling it out. It's not Shakespeare! The effects and creature work was great, there was plenty of creature action, and everything else was kind of peripheral. I'm probably going to keep an eye out for this and pick it up when it finally dips down to a more reasonable price.

Plot Synopsis:
Picking up immediately where AVP ended, the Predator ship is invaded by a new Alien/Predator hybrid, after it bursts from the corpse of their fallen comrade. The Hybrid causes havoc aboard before escaping in a Predator shuttle and returning to Earth. The shuttle ultimately crashes on Earth, and its cargo of face huggers along with the Hybrid escape into the wilds.

A Predator is dispatched from their homeworld to clean up the mess. The aliens start impregnating the towns folk. When the Predator arrives, it locates the crashed ship, gathers some data about the aliens, then destroys all evidence of the ship. It tracks the aliens into the sewers under the town.

We are introduced to members of the town, and as they gradually cross paths with the creatures, they are killed or caught in the crossfire. Eventually as the Predator hunts them down, the aliens are forced into the township proper. The National Guard is summoned and after some troops are wiped out, elect to destroy the town.

A small group of survivors try to escape, but split into two groups; one deciding to go to the hospital to use their helicopter to flee, and the other elect to meet the Guard in the center of town. They fight there way through more aliens, manage to escape in the chopper. The second group is killed along with the Predator and Hybrid, and any remaining aliens, when the town is nuked.

The chopper crashes in the wild, and is recovered by rescuers. At the end, government agents hand over recovered Predator technology to a Ms. Yutani.