Reduce The Size Of WinSxS Folder

I was doing a little hard drive cleanup in preparation for dual booting Windows 7 Release Candidate, and of course I was using the trusty (and free) WinDirStat storage visualization tool. I quickly found that the WinSxS folder under C:\Windows was quite massive at 15.3GB. Quite a big chunk out of my 80GB system partition. A quick search around to figure out what it was, and I discovered it's a componentization function of Vista that keeps appropriate versions of system files around for applications that need specific versions. In other words, it really cuts down on "DLL hell." I'd say it does its job quite well, as I have had near zero stability issues with Vista since launch day. But, surely, some of those files are no longer needed? How can you clean them up without causing issues?

With a very good description of what WinSxS actually is, followed by a simple way to clean up at least SOME of the files, check out this TechNet article. They show how to make Service Pack 1 a permanent install, and thereby reduce the need for all of the RTM files you have. You'll also learn why there's not a very good way to clean up the majority of the files in the folder.

I went to Start > Run > VSP1CLN.EXE, then answer Yes, and a couple minutes later it had cleaned up around 3GB of files. Yeah, tiny in regards to today's hard drive sizes, but significant to me in my particular situation with only an 80gb system partition configured. I imagine there will be a similar way to do this again after Vista SP2 comes out.

Now that I better understand this feature and what's going on behind the scenes, I'll be sure to give my Windows partition more storage in the future; knowing that the older my install gets and the more applications I put on it, the larger that folder will get. That's not much of a trade off for increased stability and compatibility I guess.

Cisco Wireless Control System On XP

Being the primary wireless engineer at work, I'm always looking at and trying different vendors or newer versions of software before purchasing or implementing. In testing the latest version of Cisco's Wireless Control System (WCS), I discovered it can only be installed on certain flavors of Linux and Windows Server 2003. This was a problem for me as the PC I intended to use in my lab had Windows XP on it. I assumed Cisco, as always, had a cryptic way to do whatever you want, but finding instructions is never easy. After a brief search of the internets with no luck, I contacted one of the Cisco SE's and had him dig into some of the fine print to find out how to skip the OS check when installing WCS in Windows. Turns out it's quite simple, and I'll put the instructions here for the goog to grep so at least it'll be somewhere in the ether.

Open the command line, go to the executable and run it followed by this command:

"-DCHECK_OS=false"

Example: "C:\WCS-STANDARD-K9-5.2.130.0.EXE -DCHECK_OS=false"

For me, it was case sensitive, so keep that in mind if it doesnt work. After running it with that command, it installed on XP like a champ. Fine for a lab environment.

Comcast Chattanooga QAM Channels

The FCC requires cable companies to offer, as a part of even their most basic service plan, any local network channels that customers could get over the air (CBS, FOX, NBC, etc). They usually send this in an unencrypted QAM signal. What does this mean and what is QAM? For those not in the know, Quadrature Amplitude Modulation is just a fancy term meaning the type of digital signal coming over most cable TV networks. What it means is if you have a QAM tuner, such as one built into an HDTV, then you should be able to receive, at no additional cost, all of the network channels in HD. Most of their premium channels will be in an encrypted QAM format and unwatchable without a cable box (yeah yeah, or CableCard). However, what they don't have to do is make those channels easy for you to find and watch. This is why most people don't bother with or have never even heard of QAM channels.

A couple months ago, I changed the QAM tuner in my home theater computer (HTPC) running Vista Media Center. I was previously using an HD HomeRun, which worked great with its hybrid driver that tricked Media Center into recording QAM, but it was network based. When streaming two HD channels from it at the same time, it was upwards of 50mbit/s on my home network. This was causing some issues when I was trying to use any type of media extender, such as the XBOX 360, to stream from the HTPC at the same time. After Microsoft released the TV Pack for Media Center, which supported native QAM tuning, I decided it was time to swap the tuner out with a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250. Sure the TV Pack is meant for OEMs only, but what they hey. As a side note, the TV Pack worked fine without even reinstalling the OS, but that's not where I'm going with this. What happened after the install was an expected and required rescan of all of my channels, both analog and digital, and the included aggravation of deciphering over 400 channels found.

That's right, 414 to be precise. As I already said, cable companies don't have to make it easy for you to know that channel 62.16 through 62.70 are music channels, or channel 90.1 is Fox HD. Some digital channels come with embedded data that will give you a hint as to what it is, but most do not. Also, there's plenty of channels that show up and are encrypted, so you have no idea what it is. Not that you could watch it anyway. What's worse is that no region is set up the same. Atlanta channels are different than Chattanooga channels. Since it was impossible to find Comcast QAM channel information for the Chattanooga area, and most any other region, I took it upon myself to compile a list of all the channels I found at the time of the scan, and updated the list with whatever information I could glean from putting a pair of eyes on it. It helped me keep everything straight and update my HTPC with the guide information it would need to do scheduled recording. It also helped me to ignore the channels that were useless to me. This list was mostly for personal use, which is why I included some of my channel remappings, but if it could help at least one other person, why not share?

Linked below is the list I made in what is probably an indecipherable format. The "Channel Number" column is obvious. "Channel Name" is either the embedded data, or just me looking at the channel to figure out what it is. "Encrypted" lets you know whether it's actually viewable or not without a cable box. "Enabled" and "Remapped To" are my personal settings letting me know if enabled the channel, and what channel number I used to remap it to. The purpose for channel remapping is just so, for instance, Fox HD (90.1) can be next to the analog Fox channel (11) for easier guide viewing. "Embedded Data" is if the channel has identification data built into the digital stream, or if it was already recognized by the Media Center guide listings. "Analog" lets you know if the channel is digital or analog, and "HD" indicates if it's hi-def. A common misconception is that all digital channels are hi-def. This isn't the case. Columns are in list form and are sortable. I'll try to keep it updated as often as I rescan channels (not very often), but let me know of any corrections or additions. I hope it's helpful, and I hope it encourages interested parties in other regions to do the same.

Comcast Chattanooga QAM Channels

Scraped Email Address Scrapped

In a previous article, linked here, I documented how I handle my email and the measures I use to cut down spam. Read that for the back story. When I initially posted the article, I made the mistake of referencing my actual email domain instead of using "joe.flickr@example.com" as an example. A few weeks ago, I started receiving a lot of spam that was directed to this address and I couldn't figure out why or how. I assumed Flickr had sold my email address or something. Not too far fetched considering Yahoo's current state of affairs.

I figured there had to be another reason, and today, it finally dawned on me. I read back over my other article and saw the mistake I'd made. Some spambot had scraped my blog and archived my email address for spamming. Luckily, it's an easy solution. I just send all mail directed to that address directly to the trash, never to be heard from again. I can even change my email address with Flickr so I don't miss anything legit from them. I just feel sorry for whomever actually owns the example.com domain.

Microsoft's Photosynth Tech

This is something I've been waiting quite a while for, but also something I assumed would be broken promises and unrealized potential. I'm glad to say that I was wrong.

The Photosynth tech from Microsoft started out as a small research project about new ways to display digital photos. Months ago, they showed a tech demo of what they were planning that looked magnificent. Similar to how panoramic photos are made, which I've shown before, Photosynth takes a group of photos with like elements and creates an interactive mash-up that really makes you feel like you're almost there.

All that is required is a simple browser plug-in for viewing, and client-side software for creating the "synths". Both are contained within one small downloadable package available on the Photosynth Website. In this first release of Photosynth, all synths are stored online and public, so keep that in mind when snapping photos.

The only real tip to creating a good synth is to take a large amount of overlapping photos. Differing texture works best. Objects with repeating texture such as grass or water don't work very well. Beyond that, you just point the software to your photos and hit go. A few minutes (quite a while depending on the size) later it's created the synth and uploaded it to your account on the Photosynth website, which requires a Live ID of course.

I suggest you go to the site and check out some of the spectacular synths that have been created. Some of which are of exotic places that make me feel like I'm on vacation. If you'd rather see someting a little more boring, however, check out the two synths I made. As an initial test, I just used some existing photos from a NASCAR race, and some from a mountain top picnic my wife and I went on. They turned out half decent. After that, I took a ton of photos of my home and created a synth from those, but it didn't turn out well at all. I'm thinking it wasn't too good at linking photos of grass and vinyl siding together. Two very repeating textures. I guess some more trial and error will help. The synths are embedded, so if you can't see them, then of course you need the plugin. Following are the results:

NASCAR At Bristol:



Mountain Top Picnic:

VMWare ESXi For Free.99

Today, VMware released one of their most popular enterprise products for free to the masses. With competition from the free (for lower end versions) XenServer suite, and from the free-if-you-buy-Server-2008 Hyper-V from Microsoft, I'm guessing VMware is feeling the heat. If you're new to virtualization and it's benefits, I wrote about it in general terms previously. Check out what I think just a few of the benefits to virtualization are.

VMware ESXi is what is called a bare-metal virtualization engine. Basically, that means it doesn't require an operating system. It gets installed right on top of the hardware, instead of being installed on an operating system like VirtualBox, WMware Workstation, or Windows Virtual PC. This reduces the overhead and gives more power to running the virtual machines. How much overhead does it reduce? Well, to give you an idea, a typical Windows install can be upwards of five gigabytes. VMware ESXi has a footprint of only 32 megabytes. I know that size doesn't directly relate to performance, but it should give you an idea of the mantra behind ESXi.

The plan is for them to give away the software to get people hooked on it, and then sell the infrastructure management applications that add a lot of enterprise level functionality. I think dope dealers use the same marketing technique, but hey, whatever works. In the end, it's a bold move by WMware to take their core product that cost hundreds of dollars only a couple weeks ago, and then cheapen into a commodity that anyone can get. Either way though, I'm going to piece together a junk box and install ESXi on there just to play around with it. This will get me familiar with the software. A side effect is that I may be partial to it if I ever have to make a decision on what virtual infrastructure software to use in the future. This, I would assume, is VMware's plan.

July 4th Shenanigans

So last weekend it was dirt track racing, and this week it's the Redneck Slip And Slide. Complete with a lake, trailer, and even a wedding dress. I know, I'm not helping the southern stereotype situation very much.

We have a big get together each year for our July 4th celebrations, and everyone is encouraged to invite anyone they'd like. On top of that, it was also part wedding reception for a friend who'd been married earlier in the day. We have many new faces each year, especially this time due to the wedding, and something crazy always happens even before we break out the explosives. This year we built a 120 foot long slip and slide into the lake. Not much else can be said. Here's a few pictures followed by a couple videos (don't miss the last video especially):

View from the top.


View from the bottom.


Someone lost their float, and most of their dignity.


Video from the top.


Video from the bottom (excuse the water pump, but note the wedding dress).

Windows SteadyState Proves It's Namesake

There are many good reasons for a very well locked down PC. Most of all, it increases security and keeps the PC in tip-top shape. This is a very common scenario for workplaces. The downside is that it also decreases in functionality and productivity by disabling some needed features, like the ability to install programs. There are many solutions for allowing free reign over a computer, yet still maintaining a level of control over the administration of it. I've already spoken about the benefits of a virtual machine in that you can easily trash the whole system and then revert back to a previous saved state when you're done, thereby having full functionality but no worry of installing nasty bugs. There are applications that can do basically the same thing, freeze the state of the PC so that it can be changed and then reverted back upon as needed. Sort of like a gamesave in a video game. No matter how bad off you get, you can always just load up the gamesave and be right back where you were. DeepFreeze seems to be the most popular solution in this space, but why pay money for something when Windows SteadyState can do the same for free?

The market for SteadyState is mainly any place that has PC's set up for public use. Libraries, schools, and possibly some work places are all good candidates. Since you can enable settings and features based on the user account, it might also be a good idea to use this for a child's login account. Nothing, however, should take the place of good parenting. In simplest of terms, what SteadyState does is creates a cache file on the hard drive. When enabled, any changes whatsoever that are made are actually saved in the cache file. When the PC is rebooted, all of those changes are removed. Go ahead and install all of those nefarious programs. Four IM applications, three browser toolbars, two back-door trojans, and a partridge in a pear tree. After your PC is completely taken over by these apps, just reboot and you're free from ITD's (Internet Transmitted Diseases).

There are many other functions to SteadySate, mostly geared towards limiting what a user can do on a publicly accessed PC. You can block websites, block control panel, redirect my documents, or control access to programs. In fact, there are so many options that it can be a little confusing to configure at first. I would suggest following along the tutorial on Microsoft's site if you're having trouble with the initial configuration. The only downside I've found is that currently it only works on 32-bit Windows installations. So, if you have a need, install SteadyState and go crazy.

See below for some of the configuration screens (click for larger view):

Main configuration page.


User General settings tab.


User Windows Restrictions tab.


User Feature Restrictions tab.


User Block Programs tab.

Dirt Track Mother Of The Year

Went to watch dirt track racing for the first time. There was a lot of very good racing, and a ton of fun to be had. I also came away with a picture of this gem of a lady.

Easy Cropping For Digital Photo Frames

Digital picture frames seem to be quite the popular gift these days. I even gave my 80 year old grandmother one, and she absolutely loves it. They're easy enough, you just copy photos over to a memory card and then power on the frame. It automatically starts playing a slide show of the photos. However, to get the full use of the picture frame, you have to do a little optimizing of the photos beforehand.

The problem is that most digital cameras take photos in a 4:3 format, while the digital picture frames are usually 4 inches high by 6 inches wide, or a 6:4 width to height ratio (a relic left over from the days of film). If you put the 4:3 photo onto the 6:4 frame, you end up with black bars along the sides because it has to shrink the image vertically to make it fit. This ends up wasting a lot of screen real estate that could be used for displaying larger and more vibrant photos. Your only option is to crop out some of the unneeded image from the top and bottom before moving the photos over. For instance, the photo shown here could easily get rid of the black bars on the side and fill the entire width of the frame by removing some of the irrelevant portion of the image at the top.

There are many ways to crop photos, and most are very easy. For cropping just a couple of photos, applications such as the very expensive Photoshop will do. The free Picasa or GIMP work just as well. But, when you need to do a large number of photos at once, it becomes very cumbersome to open each photo and select the area that you want to crop. I found it taking an hour or more for me crop around 50 photos.

Knowing there had to be a better way, I searched and stumbled upon a very handy free tool called JPEGCrops. It really couldn't get much more simple or intuitive. You run it, click the Open Images button and select all of your images. All of your images are displayed vertically with a white outline showing the default crop selection. You can click and drag the window around to set the crop how you'd like, then scroll down to the next photo and do the same. Below each picture is also a drop down box so you can change the size of the crop. You can even select a Free crop mode where you can drag the box to whatever size you'd like.

View of the main screen:


To save a little time, you should figure out the ratio of your picture frame. Some are non-standard. I measured mine and it actually came out to be 3.5 inches by 6.5 inches. This is very close to a 4in x 7in photo, which just happens to be the default for JPEGCrops. Measure your picture frame, and see what it's ratio is. After you've figured that out, I would go into File and Preferences. There under the Basic tab, you can Add or Edit different Aspect ratios, and then select the Default Aspect. Set the Default Aspect to whatever your frame's ratio is. This will save you from having to use the drop down box under each photo when selecting the area to crop.

View of the Settings Page:


Now, go click and drag the crop window around to your desired selection on each of your photos. Some photos you may not want to crop because it would ruin the shot. You can exclude those photos easily using the drop down selection. Once you have everything set up like you like, at the bottom right of the program you tell it the folder where you want the output files to go. Tell it where you want to save all of the photos, then click the Crop all Images button and the program will do it's thing. You have the option of hitting Crop on each image manually, but I prefer to let it do them all at once in batch mode.

Don't worry, your original files are never harmed in any way. By default, it outputs separate files with a "_Cropped.jpg" name at the end. The originals remain untouched.

This tool makes it extremely easy to crop a lot of photos to a desired aspect very quickly. Just recently, I cropped around 200 photos and it only took about 15 minutes. They looked great and filled the entire screen on the digital picture frame. Give JPEGCrops a try if you have a similar need.