Virus

Well, my domain controller caught a very nasty virus, a fake program called "Anti-spyware 2008." This virus was the worst virus I have ever encountered. It modified the host file so that I was unable to surf to ANY online virus scanners, it blocked some of the more popular removal programs from running, and upon booting up locked my computer from running. I managed to do a ctrl-alt-del operation and run programs from there with some efficiency. Manually trying to remove the virus by booting into safe mode and trying to access the registry brought up an error.. something to the effect of the registry being locked. I was unable to access the registry. As well, since I am running server 2003, many antivirus scanners will not run on it, which also severly limited my options. I have decided to completely redo the computer. Unfortunately, the cd drive does not work, and the drive is a Dell slimstyle drive. To install Server 2003 last time, I had to open the case, replace the IDE cable, install a CD drive and hard drive on the cable, fiddle with the jumper settings, and run it with the case open. I think the BIOS has an option that allows me to boot from USB, which I will attempt when I have some time, hopefully on the 16th. I am debating on whether or not to reinstall Server 2003 or Windows XP (I wish I could run Server 2008.. if anyone wants to donate a computer to me, a poor college student, feel free!), and I think I have settled on XP. I was not really using the domain function anyways, it was more for testing and fun.

Back in school

Well as of Monday the 5th I am back in school, and it is quickly eliminating all of my free time, which is not good, considering my domain controller went down to a virus, and I am having a very hard time restoring it. I would normally boot from a CD I have that would allow me to explore files and edit the registry. However, my domain controller does not have a working CD drive, and since it is a Dell slim design, it uses the slimline drives, of which I have none. To install Server 2003 on it I had to crack open the case, replace the IDE cable with one that had two connections (one was needed for the hard drive) and install it from the CD with the case open. Not the easiest solution. Since the virus has blocked all access to the registry, (im going to try from the command prompt but doubt it will work, as safe mode did not either) I am in a little bit of a bind. So that will be keeping me busy in my spare time.

Organization of the day

Well, since my laptop has a lightscribe drive, and since I used my $10 off $20 coupon for Officemax (actually used two of them, and got a large CD organizer case, a small CD organizer case, and lightscribe all for $40 instead of $60), I am organizing my entire CD/DVD game collection. I have many burned CD/DVD's that contain many different things, and so I am consolidating some of them (burning the multiple CD's to one DVD), and burning lightscribe labels on some, and organizing almost all of them in my large CD organizer. I will keep the cases, and most likely store them elsewhere. This will allow me to easily organize my CD's and DVD's in a way for me to easily search for one, which used to be a rather difficult undertaking.
Now, for creating the labels, since most of the labels are just for "at a glance" recognition or just for fun, I am using the default Lightscribe Template Maker, from lightscribe.com. Feel free to comment a plug for a favorite lightscribe label maker program (if its free I might check it out). I find the Template maker to be simple, with limited options, but quite easy to use. I am about 30 minutes away from actually seeing the end result of my first Lightscibe label, so hopefully it looks good.
My small CD organizer is for all of my troubleshooting/important CD's and DVD's which I will most likely stash in my backpack. This allows me to have an arsenal of tools available for me to quickly fix a broken computer.
On a side note, I have been experimenting with "Ubiquity" a plugin for firefox, and I belive it has great potential, but needs a lot more development. Here is a youtube link for the demo video, (which I found using Ubiquity) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knNS-5em7xU
Another thing going on right now is Greasefire, which I am using with Greasemonkey. It essentially shows you a picture under the greasemonkey logo which signifies that there are greasemonkey scripts that apply to the particular page that you are on.
Essentially that is what I am currently up to.

Happy new year!

Well, happy new year everyone. Grand Rapids (for the first time) had a rather massive celebration that took place outside. The plain white t's sang, etc. I did not go, considering it was about 5 degrees outside, but apparently that didn't stop anyone, because according to the youtube videos, the crowd was MASSIVE.
Anyway, I thought I would throw out a quick post regarding the websites I frequent the most, regarding productivity, in order of importance:
1. Lifehacker.com - Great site, covers a lot of ways to optimize and improve your life in every area.
2. Makeuseof.com - A lot like lifehacker, has a great list of programs and websites that you can use.
3. 43folders.com - How to be productive, without much of an leaning towards computing.