Great power come great responsibility

Coding in .NET for about 2 years, I got hooked up with the framework damn!
I am not gonna talk about cross platform challenges that Java guy raised. I will do it another day. But hell, what kind of application you want to build? It remind me of an old expression from Microsoft "Where do you wan to go today?" :)

How about creating a ticket system allow user to plug their webcam and capture image do a quick selection (face of cause) and then add it to card tray send cards direct to printer.
How many day? lines of code? will you need to write in C/C++.

At the end of the day, I am the on who scratch my head trying to get thing to work it such a great experience. I hope that my client would enjoy using it ;)

XAMPP, ApacheFriends

XAMPP, ApacheFriends - is an open source project that make it possible for newbie to get start with Apache, MySql, Perl or PHP as fast as possible.

I have been use it for a few month now and I have to say that this project rock. Since the XAMPP tool have MySQL bundle with in it installation package it quick tricky for me to setup XAMPP without using MySQL server that bundled (I prefer to use MySQL from a standalone installation, I might change my mind later but that just for now.).

The following step I have been use to setup XAMPP and MySQL 5 to work together.

Install MySQL 5.0.27 download from MySQL.com
Test Make sure MySQL service work properly
(running MySQL Command Line tool)
Download XAMPP from apachefriends.org
Install XAMPP until the point that it ask
to install service (Apache, MySQL etc..)
make sure you click No (you will want to
configure this service later).

PHP version 5 is activated by default, in my situation I want to work with PHP 4 so what I do:

Double click on the XAMPP Control Panel 
on my desktop and stop Apache service
Start -> Program Files -> apachefriends -> PHP Switch 
(follow instruction on the screen
to switch PHP version)

Ok, now I got Apache with PHP v4. My next problem is phpMyAdmin can't establish connection to MySQL server. This error because PHP 4 using need to use MySQL old password algorithm.
So again I need to make some change on MySQL server:

Launch MySQL Command Line
Login with password
Type: 
SET PASSWORD FOR
'root'@'localhost' = OLD_PASSWORD('my_password')

Viola, mission accomplished.

I-WORM/Brontok.DN

Recently my computer was infected by an I-WORM/Brontok.DN it not a big deal to me however it some kind of annoying.

As a personal preference I enjoy seeing all file extension. After remove the worm all my .exe extension never show. Well it not a big deal but it just for my good practise habit it annoying me.

I spend a few hours to find what cause the problem. I when all the way from Folder Options up to registry key. In the end I found that the worm had install a key call NeverShowExt in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/exefile dam I delete this key viola! I got saved.

In this process (hide/seek) I am victorious with pain, I accidentally delete a good windows citizen file which cause my Tab control no longer support XP visual style :( I hope to get it back if I couldn't I have to live with it for a while.