Brian-Foley.net

I have no clue what the kids in Redmond have been doing to the Windows/Microsoft Update site, but it seems like lately every system I’ve tried to run the updates on I get an error. After spending a LONG time checking for updates, it comes back with Error number: 0×8DDD0009. I should clarify that it’s always on Windows XP SP2 systems. So, I follow the instructions Microsoft has provided on this error page including emptying the cache, restarting the browser and… It still fails, all I’ve accomplished is wasting a heck of alot of time!

Next step, google the error, it turns out that this problem is common. I tried all the advice found on the net.

Open command prompt and run the following:

proxycfg -d
net stop wuauserv
net start wuauserv


This didn’t work. Next I tried re-registering the msxml3.dll.

regsvr32 msxml3.dll

Those steps USED to work for Windows Update errors.But now I’ve found that more drastic measures had to be performed, basically removing the ActiveX components and reinstalling from the Windows update site. Here’s the steps involved…

1. Clear Internet Explorer’s cache and then close the browser.
2. From a command prompt type net stop wuauserv.
3. Next, stop the Automatic Updates and Background Intelligent Transfer
   from the service panel (Start->Control Panel->Administrative
   Tools->Services).
4. Remove the following files/directories:C:\windows\downloaded program files\WUWebControl Class
C:\Program Files\WindowsUpdate
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
5. Unregister the wuweb.dll and rename some other files from a command prompt:cd %windir%\system32
regsvr32 /u wuweb.dll
ren wuweb.dll wuweb.old
ren muweb.dll muweb.old
ren iuengine.dll iuengine.old
6. Restart the Automatic Updates and Background Intelligent Transfer services from the service panel.
7. Open Internet Explorer and run the Windows Update. It should ask to install an ActiveX component,after doing that, scan for updates, and it should work fine.

I hope this helps someone to get their updates working again. I also hope Microsoft learns to test their products more before rolling out changes that ends up breaking things.

Welcome back!

Recently I downloaded the audiobook “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen. I’ve heard alot of good things about the GTD method of organization and thought it might help me to keep organized with new information that I’m exposed to everyday, as well as to help me keep on track with some new projects I’m involved in. Part of the GTD philosophy is to get all of the “stuff” out of your head, and either onto paper, or into an organization system.

I thought about buying one of the great software programs, like iGTD to help me out. The only problem with that is it’s a Mac program and I’m not always working on a Mac. So then I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have something online, that can be accessed from ANY computer I might be using. I stumbled upon this article that explains how to use another product from Google called Google Notebook. Google has ALOT of great products, that I use all the time, from Gmail to Web (Search) History and Calendar. I had never tried the Notebook, so thought I’d give it a shot. I must say, I wish I had this application a long time ago! It’s so convenient to be able to copy and paste something like an article or link into an online notebook and be able to access it later from any computer I might be using at the time. I had been carrying a small notebook in my pocket to write thought down, now I don’t carry it around as much. There’s also a nice add-on for FireFox that puts a little “Open Notebook” link the bottom corner for FireFox that pops up the notebook when I need it really quick. It’s very handy, check it out!

Looks like I’m one of a growing number of Apple Mac surfers as mentioned in this article. About a month ago I had an excellentopportunity to purchase a 24″ Apple iMac. Let me just say it has been so much fun learning how to use Mac OSX. It’s so much nicer than Windows, both XP and especially Vista. It’s a little weird to use at first, as the keyboard is slightly different, and the mouse lacks a physical left and right button, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m in the process of installing all the applications I need to have the functionality of my Windows system. In case I do need Windows for something, I have it running on the Mac using Parallels.

Eventually I think I’ll replace my Windows Vista machine at home, with the Mac. I’ll probably give that system to Mandie. My laptop has Vista (barely) running on it, but I think I’m going to replace Vista with Ubuntu Linux. The next laptop I buy will be a Mac Book Pro, no doubt!

Now I just need to come up with a way of storing the data I use most to someplace on the web for easy retrieval from all the different system I use. Using web applications is the most logical thing to do since the one thing in common with every system I use on a day to day basis is the web browser. I think as time goes on, it really won’t matter what operating system people are using, as the important tools we use will be web based. Jut look at what Microsoft is doing with Windows Live and Google with Docs and Spreadsheets.

Today Yahoo Inc. announced plans to shut down its first-generation photo storage site, and asking users to move instead to Yahoo’s Web 2.0 photo sharing site, Flickr.

In June, tens of millions of registered users of Yahoo Photos will be notified of various options including upgrading to Yahoo’s Flickr service or various outside-photo storage sites, according to Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield.

Yahoo also will offer consumers the option of loading their photos on competing sites when users are notified next month.

It looks like I made a wise decision last year when I signed up for Smugmug. I’ve been quite pleased with their service, especially the development APIs that they provide, which allow me to store my photos on their servers and display them here. Speaking of that, if you check out Smugmug and decide to signup, use my referral code “pBt8s5vShDiTg” to save yourself $5.