http://www.pawprint.net News from PawPrint.net - Technobloggle en Copyright (c) 1992-2010 PawPrint.net web@pawprint.net PawPrint XDe News Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:25:06 -0400 120 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=100 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=100 Another computer infested with some nasties found its way to my desk. Cleaning the Trojans from this one was easy, getting windows working again after proved to be slightly more difficult... http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=99 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=99 For the past 24h the ISP serving PawPrint's main office had an issue that prevented subscribers, including us, from connecting to any of the many google web sites (including mail, maps, search, basically anything from the big G was offline) Despite everything else being just fine - it was amazing to see what an effect this had on the Internet in general. http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=98 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=98 As a software provider located in BC, and the changeover date for the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) fast approaching I have been trying to get some straight answers about how it applies to my business. This turned out to be harder then I would have thought and the answers I eventually got were most surprising! The following should help anyone in BC or Ontario in a similar non-tangible goods service industry. http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=96 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=96 The scroll on my mouse had been getting steadily more choppy and erratic for a while.. I knew it needed cleaning but finding the screws to open the thing was a challenge. This little howto is provided in the hopes of helping others with a similar mouse. http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=94 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=94 The latest Nvidia drivers may have a serious flaw that can reduce performance, possibly cause the card's fan to stop, and may even lead to hardware damage. The reports are so serious Nvidia has removed them from their web site pending further investigation. http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=93 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=93 The long awaited PHP 6 version is starting to look more like a reality at the end of a very long tunnel, but in the immediate future the PHP team has depreciated several functions and language concepts in the PHP 5.3 release that are clearly aimed at helping developers start to migrate early... http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=92 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=92 We have been encouraging people to switch from Internet Explorer to basically any other browser for several years now and the latest security holes that have garnered world wide attention after the Google issues in China just underline the reasons why. However, all the press is getting people to switch and that is great news for the web in general! http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=88 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=88 As I begin my foray into the Adobe Air development arena I hit a strange snag for some people trying to download .air files - Windows was silently changing them to .zip during download - breaking the entire process! Here is how to fix it. http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=85 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=85 Now that the first Release Candidate of Thunderbird 3 is out, and because I'm a glutton for new software versions I hazarded an upgrade to the new version. I love what I see so far, but there are a couple if bigtime gotchas that others might want to know about... http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=84 http://www.pawprint.net/news/index.php?action=view&nid=84 Contrary to what a lot of online sources are saying Windows 7 DOES automatically make hidden thumbs.db files in any folder where it encounters a picture. This thumbnail cache wastes space and pollutes folders with hidden files that can cause problems in certain circumstances, here is how to prevent them...