Ahren's Blog

Asus Eee Pc - 1005PEB-RRED01S

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:21:00 +0000

Backstory.

With Alicia's birthday coming up, I wanted to get her something I know she'll really use. She had been talking about a netbook, so I decided that would be it.

I was a little concerned about pulling the trigger without her input, so I went ahead and clued her in to my idea. She really wants one, so she agreed I could get one for her.

Shopping

I had done a little research, and had narrowed my search to a couple of different makers, including Asus, MSI, and Samsung. I was definitely leaning toward the Eee Pc.

Of course, you know Alicia, it had to be pretty ;)

On a whim, we stopped by Best Buy to take a look last night, and to get a feel for the different styles and keyboards.

When we arrived, we saw the 1005PEB-RRED01S, which I hadn't read anything about online. I did a little digging on my iPhone there at the store, but didn't find much...

She immediately liked the little netbook from an aesthetic point of view, and the keyboard had a better feel than the other models. It was reasonably priced at $329.99, so we decided to go ahead and buy it. Good thing too, since first thing this morning, the price jumped to $349.99.

Happy Birthday Alicia!

When we got the little thing home, I opened it up and fired it up. I know, I know... it's Alicia's... but she was cleaning the sink, and I needed to put anti-virus on it, and get rid of all the stupid crap the manufacturer puts on there.

First boot happened pretty quickly, and I was presented with the Windows 7 wizard. I setup the basic stuff (hostname, username, etc), and it then went to an initialization screen... for TEN minutes. Took far too long, but eventually it booted up into Windows.

The laptop is pretty quick. Definitely more responsive than one would think given the low processor speed. I did the usual IT geek stuff like removing crap Asus software, Trend Micro, and some other BS that was installed from the factory. Once I was satisfied with the installed software, I got a bit adventurous...

Things get interesting...

Asus provides a utility to automatically download and update the bios. Neat.... "I'll see if they have any updates available." The installed version was 503. Sure enough, there was an update to 706.

Why not I thought?

I thought wrong.

After updating the bios to 706 (which was quite easy with the utility... next next done...reboot), the laptop no longer detected the battery!

oops. I forgot to save a copy of the original bios.... bad IT guy.

So now what?

Fortunately, Asus put a little "call for help before returning this laptop" card in the box, with a phone number for 24hr Technical Support. Surely they can provide me with an old revision of the bios, I thought....

I thought wrong... again...

So I call tech support, sit on hold for 15 minutes, and finally "Stacey" from India answers the phone.

I explain exactly what I did, and that I would like her to send me an older revision of the bios.

Here is where things get even worse!

She explains to me that the only way to fix what I've done is to restore Windows from the system restore partition.

Now, I know I'm not paid by Asus to provide tech support for Eee Pc computers... but really?

Last time I checked, I could re-install Windows as many times as I like, and NEVER get back to the old bios.

I tried explaining this... to no avail. I guess she because angry with my ignorant technical ability, and insisted I had two options.

Restore Windows or let the Geek Squad fix it.

Rather than enlightening her that I was on the Geek Squad before the Geek Squad was the Geek Squad, I simply hung up and decided to rely on my googling ability.

TADA!

Fifteen minutes later, on some random asus ftp site, I had located an alternate, older revision of the bios. I flashed the bios again, and voila, we have a battery again.

Now in retrospect, had I realized how new this laptop was, I never would have tried the bios update (and I definitely should have saved a copy of the old one first). I still say Asus should eliminate the stupid woman at tech support who thinks the bios is part of Windows.

What next?

Now that the laptop was back in working order, I proceeded with normal new computer stuff... Installed Firefox, Office, and some other fun toys. I also decided to upgrade Windows with the Anytime Update utility. This worked well, and the next thing you know, she had a version of windows that would at least allow her to change her background.

N-Aero-ly Surprised!

This little thing can run Windows Aero! After the Windows upgrade, and the Microsoft Hows-My-Hardware test, Windows Aero turned on! Impressive. And it's still nice and quick.

All for now...

That's all for now, but I'll update you with more when I get to play with her toy some more ;)

Here are some pics from bestbuy.com... I'll get Alicia to upload some pictures of her's soon enough...

Pictures

Symantec Endpoint Protection (SmcGui.exe) and Citrix (Terminal Services)

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:35:00 +0000

We have been experiencing some issues with Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) and Citrix.

By default, when users would launch a published application via Citrix, the Symantec Management Client (smc.exe) service launches a process called SmcGui.exe. This also puts a SEP icon (little yellow shield) in the users system tray. This is the GUI front-end for SEP.

Upon closing their published application (any application), the little yellow shield, as well as the SmcGui.exe process, stay running in the background.

How do I resolve this?

Step 1) Seems logical... Disable the icon.

Configure a policy on the SEP server for terminal servers to disable the system tray icon and the gui.

Problem: Even if you setup a policy via the SEP Management Console to disable the system tray icon, the server still launches SmcGui.exe, and fails to close the process when they logout.

Step 2) Google It

A quick google of SmcGui.exe and Citrix yeilds a terribly log thread on the issue over at Symantec's forums. Reading this thread leads to nasty hacks like renaming the SmcGui.exe executable file (which doesn't work), replacing the file (which sometimes works), and some other issues.

too much wasted time on that forum thread!!!

Step 3) Google it More!

After some more googling (sp?) I came across this Symantec knowledge base article...

Woohoo! Turns out we already had the proper maintenance pack installed, so I tested adding the registry key and it worked great...

Step 4) Do this on lots of servers.

I created a custom administrative template file that will allow these settings to be pushed out with group policy.

Hopefully this will help someone else along the way.

here you go. Just save the following to a file (whatever.adm) and add to administrative templates in group policy.

CLASS MACHINE

CATEGORY "Symantec Endpoint Protection"
POLICY "Launch SmcGui.exe"
EXPLAIN !!LaunchSmcGui_Explain
KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC"
VALUENAME "LaunchSmcGui"
VALUEON NUMERIC 1
VALUEOFF NUMERIC 0
END POLICY

END CATEGORY

[Strings]
LaunchSmcGui_Explain="Set to Disabled to prevent SmcGui.exe from launching. Prevents errors on Citrix servers and Terminal Servers."

Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:20:00 +0000

I finally did it. I signed up for twitter. I am such a sucker.

House Project - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Well, we are still working on the house. The good news is things have progressed quite well!

We have floors everywhere downstairs except the breakfast room and the guest bathroom. We have done around 1000 sq. ft. so far. It has been a lot of work, but I have enjoyed the challenge, and we've saved a ton of money doing it ourselves.

We still have to finish the floors, and the put all of the baseboards and trim back up. We will be using a new style of trim, although I'm not positive what style yet.

We will also be remodeling the downstairs guest bathroom. This will be a fun challenge, and I am thinking of trying to do my own concrete countertop. This looks difficult, but I think it could be worth it.

That's all for now I guess...

Word to your mother.

House Project

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Well, Alicia and I have been hard at work with the house project. We have been without any living spaces downstairs for a month, and we have now torn up the floor in the kitchen.

I'd like to mention that Casey and Graham have been a TREMENDOUS help to us in the project. Not only have they gotten their hands dirty, and helped us a ton, they have also been willing to listen and discuss COUNTLESS options, ideas, and whatnot with us. Thanks a ton to both of you!

Step 1: Demolition

Between the storm, and us choosing to replace the remaining floors downstairs, we have a lot to take out of the house. This includes:

Remove all carpet downstairs
Remove all tile downstairs
Remove all baseboards downstairs
Remove all window and door trim downstairs
Remove most of the drywall in the front of the house downstairs (we had this contracted out)

This is mostly complete. We are going to dispose of the removed materials this weekend. This has been a lot of work, and I'll be glad to see it go.

Step 2: Drywall Repair

The water that came into the house caused a lot of drywall to be damaged and/or moldy. This was all ripped out by Hugo! Just yesterday, he finished putting in the new drywall, as well as finishing and texture-ing it. If anyone needs drywall or paint work done, let me know, and I'll give you his contact info. He did a fantastic job at a very reasonable price.

Step 3: Paint

We have decided that now is an excellent time to paint the downstairs. We had already painted the den, so we only need to paint the formal living, formal dining, kitchen, and breakfast areas. We are going to leave the foyer the existing color since the high walls would be very difficult to paint. Hopefully we can finish painting in the next week or two.

Step 4: Level the Floors

After completing the painting, it will be time to level the floors. We will be using a self-leveling cementious underlayment available at home depot. This stuff basically gets mixed with water, poured on the floor, and within a day or two, you have a nice new level floor to install over. Fun stuff. The sixty bags, along with 20 bottles of primer, were delivered from home depot this morning!

Step 5: Install new floors

The next step is to actually install the new flooring. We have discussed and debated back and forth over which flooring to choose. Real Wood? Engineered Wood? Laminates? How much do we spend? Do we do it ourselves? What installation method do we want; float, nail, or glue?

It has taken us quite a while to answer these questions, but at the end of the day, we have decided on laminate planks. These will not only be cheaper, but they are the easiest to install, and are the most durable. Sounds like a no brainer right? One would think so, but when actually faced with the decision, it was not that easy...

We will be ordering from www.builddirect.com. After we have ordered and received the floors, I'll let you all know what we think. They seem to have good prices and alot of good information, so I hope they don't disappoint us.

The floor we picked is by a manufacturer called K-Swiss, and it's a darker colored laminate.

We must have ordered 30 samples of laminates, and another twenty of engineered woods, and this is what we've decided on. We haven't actually placed the order yet, but it won't be long now.

Step 6: Baseboards and Trim

After installing the floors, it will be time to put the baseboards and window/door trim on. Now, if you know me, then you know that I can be very particular about certain things. Alicia says she doesn't care in the least what the trim looks like. I have a little more of an opinion than that...

I came across this baseboard design when browsing the web, and I really like the look of it. But $45 for eight feet?!?!?!?! I think not...

So, Graham and I put on our thinking caps. We determined we can make our own for a fraction of that cost, using some clever design, some MDF, and Graham's awesome tools! We haven't actually started yet because it's so far along into the project, but it sounds promising.

I did get in touch with Houston Hardwoods, and they can custom mill some matching this design at a very reasonable price as well, so that might be another good option. We'll decide as the time gets closer...

Step x.5: Paint cabinets?

One of the ideas we have thought about pursuing during the project is a little makeover to the kitchen cabinets. We don't particularly like our existing cabinets. Alicia hate's the color, and I hate the traditional design of the doors. What better time to take on something like this than when your downstairs is already torn to shreds?

There is no better time, and that's what we thought too...

We haven't made a decision on this, or even on exactly what we'd be doing, but it's something we're considering.

Conclusion:

Now that I've most certainly bored you to death, assuming you were bored enough to actually read this, I guess I'll let ya go.

If anyone wants to get some good exercise and help us out, just let me know!

Ike... House... Floors...meh

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:56:00 +0000

So, things have been crazy lately. Alicia and I braved the storm de Ike, and were able to defeat some of the water that came flying through our windows. Unfortunately, the rest of the water totally defeated our carpets. This presented us with a choice: put in more crappy carpet, or spend some extra money and do hardwood floors like we want?

Well, if you know me, then you know what I wanted to do. New floors!

A few months back, I mentioned I was bored and needed a project. Well... I got one.

We are ripping out all of the carpet and tile downstairs in the house to replace it with hardwood floors. We are doing it ALL OURSELVES!! :) Yeah, it's fun. And it's gonna get better.

I'll keep everyone informed.

peace

Boba Fett dance

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

This is one of the greatest internet movies I have ever seen!

Wow that is cool!

Kenna of the Bells

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Dum du da dum
dum du da dum
dum du da dum
dum du da dum

So, Alicia and I got this dog, Kenna, and she's awesome. She is an AKC English Mastiff, and she's awesome! We love her very much. Not only that, but she's gonne be HUGE! :)

So obviously, with such a large dog, training is going to be key. We have started with potty training, as we find that very important. We have read on the internet about people teaching their dogs to ring some bells when they need to go potty. So we decided to give that a try. We put some bells on the door Wednesday of last week, and starting making her brush her nose against them when we took her out.

Then, yesterday afternoon (only four days later!!!) as we were in the kitchen cooking, we heard the bells jingle! Hallelujah! We let the dog out, and she went pee! We honestly thought this was a fluke until a few minutes later when she did it AGAIN!

I don't think we are completely out of the water yet, but we are off to a good start! :)

Anyway, check out the pictures of our new girl. She's pretty cool...

Feeling Inspired

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:31:00 +0000

Did you ever feel like it was time for a new project? I have... and I do.

I have tossed around thoughts of what I want to do. Maybe something around the house? Toolbench? Server closet/room? Hall closet? Maybe something more along the line of systems stuff. Build a new server, and setup a domain at home? I still like the idea of putting thin client...ish systems in our house. Setting up a Windows 2008 domain, and RDP server? With 2008 you can publish individual applications through Terminal Services, so I don't need Citrix to do that anymore. I wonder how that looks on a Vista machine. I guess the published apps would be "aero", so that might not be too pretty. Something to think about.

Or maybe I should build something else... like some new speakers? ;)

I feel very motivated to do something productive, but I can't figure out what it is. I also don't know where I'm going to find the time to do it.

Maybe I should do all of those things! :)

Anyway, I started playing with Ajax a litte while ago, and created this... http://ahren.homeip.net
What do you think? I had big plans for this database interface that would list all of the servers in an environment and give you an easy, organized way to view them and sort them. That link is as far as I got. hahaha.

Anyway. I guess I'll go now.

Married! WOOHOO!

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Well, Alicia and I are married! :)

We tied the knot March 1, 2008 at 12 noon. The outdoor ceremony was awesome, the weather couldn't have been better, and the reception was TONS of fun. In addition, we got to see some friends for an after-party that we really wanted to visit with.

All-in-all, it was one of the best days of my entire life! I love Alicia very, very much, and I am excited to start the rest of my life with her by my side!

We went to Jamaica for the honeymoon! "Yeah mon, no problem..." is all I have to say about that! What an amazing place! I highly recommend it!

We are all moved into the new house, and things are awesome. Thanks to everyone who came, and to those who wanted to, but couldn't! I am so fortunate to have so many people in my life that care about me.

Alright, that's enough cheese. Now for the nerdy stuff...

So, I got some awesome tools for my garage! :) Tablesaw, Circular Saw, Jigsaw, and more! I am going to start my first project in my new garage soon: a workbench! Any suggestions? I may not listen, but you are welcome to offer them up.

At some point I want to put some sort of air-conditioned switch/server closet in my attic, but that may have to wait a while. That will happen right before the thin client install in every room!

I installed my own thermostats in the house. They are touchscreen... pretty fancy. We also hung a pot-rack over the kitchen island that someone gave us as a gift. Pretty awesome stuff! I'll have to post some pictures of the house interior when we have more stuff put away.

Alright, I guess I should go now.

Thanks!

The rest of my life

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Well, the rest of my life is beginning. For those of you that haven't heard, Alicia and I are getting married! :)

Assuming all goes well, we are getting hitched on March 1st, 2008. That's right, only six weeks away! Yes we are crazy :) And no we are not in a hurry for any...particular...reason. We just found a place we like that was available and decided we are going to "do this thing" :)

We are also buying a house! We are options pending for a new home in wonderful Pearland, Texas. Now we just have to finalize inspections and financing and we are good to go!

From a 700 sq. ft. apartment to a 3300 sq. ft. house. That is what I call a big improvement :)

I'll keep you all posted!

Awesome Co-Workers

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:18:00 +0000

So, some of my co-workers; Chris, Ethan, Carlos, and Julie surprised me with an early birthday present today.

Guitar Hero 3

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am!!!!! Thank you guys SO SO much! This is the most excellent thing every!

Now I have three days to unlock tons of songs before the birthday bash! :) Woohoo!

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:44:00 +0000

Well, the new year is upon us. It has sure arrived quickly, and I'm pretty sure it's going to take me forever to remember to sign checks with an 08. But it's here, and I welcome it.

Thanks to everyone who helped my 2007 to rock.

I have been playing Assassin's Creed on PS3. Let me just say, that game is AWESOME. It is long...but the controls are really good. The graphics are excellent, and game play is challenging, yet fun. I highly recommend it.

I can't WAIT for Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. I hope someone pays attention to my birthday list, otherwise my decision to not buy them will look dumb. :D

We went to Jerry's party this weekend. That was muy fun. Thanks for having us Jerry! It was great to see all my friends again.

I guess that's enough of an update for now. I'll do more later.

Add to Google Button!

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:40:00 +0000

So, because I know everyone who reads this wants to read it ALL THE TIME, I have a added a nice "Add to Google" button to the sidebar on this page. It looks like this:

This will allow you to add my blog as an XML feed to your Google Homepage or Google reader! You should definitely do that since I am SO cool ;) Or if you just want to...

Thermalright HR03-GT

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:37:00 +0000

So, normally I am not one of those people who likes to modify computer parts from their stock configuration, but this thing is making me think twice.

How only is it TOTALLY cool looking, but its reasonably priced and gets GREAT performance.

It requires removing all of the stock heat-sinks from my $350 video card, thus totally negating any warranty I might have.

But just look at the performance:

I mean, this thing is TOTALLY wicked! I think it is safe to assume that this can be added to my birthday list. It can be bought from FrozenCPU.com

The Panaflo H1A-BX would be a great fan to pair it with...

Thanks, and goooooodnight.

Christmas Tales...

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:32:00 +0000

Well, Christmas is over. And boy was this an exhausting Christmas season.

At the end of the day, I think everyone I shopped for liked their gifts, except for maybe my sister, who needs to swap hers out. I got out-gifted big time. Oh well...

My brother made out like a bandit though! He got a table saw (I'm pretty excited about that one!), a creeper, and some money toward his new toolbox at Lowes. Good for you Ben!

I did pretty well myself! I got a PS3! Woohoo! Thank you, Alicia :) I love you!

I got a PS3, with Spiderman 3 on Blu-ray, as well as Assassin's Creed!

I got the Icy-Dock that I wanted so bad! Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Heller!

I also got some barstools, some clothes, some decorative stuff, a cookbook (complete with a recipe for jalapeño poppers!), some gift certificates, a new skillet, and some other cool stuff. Go me!

Thanks to everyone who gave me a gift! I love them all!

Now, there is the matter of my upcoming birthday. Should you feel inclined to get me a gift, I thought I would put together a little list of birthday wishes:

Guitar Hero 3 Bundle PS3
Rock Band kit for PS3
The Green Mile (blu-ray)
The Matrix (blu-ray)
Top Gun (blu-ray)
Speaker stands for my rear speakers
Ipod Hookup for my car: ( Link ) and ( Link )

I'm sure there's more, but that is what came to mind...

Anyway, I guess I should get to work now. Thanks to all who helped to make my holiday special...

Oh, Merry Christmas to all, and a happy new year!

Carol of the bells

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:32:00 +0000

This is my favorite Christmas song, and this rendition of it is the bomb!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas tree

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 05:11:00 +0000

So, Alicia and I have put up our first (of many we hope!) Christmas tree! She surprised me with it a a few days ago and we finally got around to decorating it. I have to admit, I am impressed with us! It looks awesome! Yoda and Darth Vader do add a lot, but it is definitely awesome!

Let me know what you think!

End of Year Celebration

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:37:00 +0000

So, last night was the Cheniere Energy End-of-Year Celebration. It was at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

...

I know what you are thinking, but it really wasn't that bad! There was all the free booze you could drink (until 10:30 anyway), lots of good food like alligator skewers, duck quesadillas, and crab cakes! :D

There were cool things to look at like dead dinosaurs and Lucy (who is pretty hott...). There was good music, good company, and all-in-all, I'd say it was a good party. I did miss Dana Carvey though...

Here is the thing: There were TONS of people there that I had never seen before...ever. I have been at Cheniere for almost 4 years now, and used to know everyone. My how times have changed... I guess when you are good at infrastructure, people shouldn't know who you are.

Anyway, that's enough of this. Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth.

Car Repair

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:03:00 +0000

So, for those of you who don't know, I managed to back into a pole the other day :( I smashed the left-rear taillight up pretty bad, and put a HUGE dent in the bumper...

But today, with the help of my brother, we put in a new taillight and fixed the huge dent. There are still a few dings and scuff marks, but all in all, I'd say things are good to go. YAY! :)

Now those pesky police won't give me a ticket during my long drive to work ;)

Thanks Ben!

Housewarming Party [Updated]

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:43:00 +0000

I would like to say thank you to everyone who attended my housewarming party! You have definitely made me feel all "warm" and fuzzy :)

Seriously though, it was good times! I really enjoyed having you all there, and the gifts are wonderful! I hope you enjoyed the Chili, and thanks again Dad for last year's Christmas present!

I still have plenty of chili left if anyone wants to come over and have some. I am *almost* done cleaning my apartment after 5 bags of garbage and 4 runs of the dishwasher.

I still have AN ENTIRE COOLER left of beer, so I need some help with that too.

Again, thanks to all who attended, and to those of you who didn't, it was your loss ;)

See pictures:

Housewarming Party

Maps

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:33:00 +0000

This is a really cool song!!! :)

they don't love you like I love you...

Ahren's Christmas List

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:25:00 +0000

Ahren's Christmas List

Xbox 360

Rock Band for Xbox 360
Guitar Hero II/III for Xbox 360

Leather Ottoman Bench thingy (example: Link )

Lian Li PC-A16A Computer Case ( Link )

Mobile Hard Drive Racks ( Link )

LG HD-DVD/Blu-ray player ( Link )

Icy Dock HD Case ( Link )

extra Icy Dock trays ( Link )

Seasons 2-5 of 24 (the TV Show)

Star Wars Trivial Pursuit

M-Audio Sound Card - Revolution 5.1 or 7.1 ( Link )

more coming soon...

My new Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Ahren) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:05:00 +0000

Wow. I have a blog. I probably won't use it, but I guess we'll see.