The new box

Made you look, anyway, huh?

tower in a box

barebones kit in boxes

Let the fun begin!

Getting a new computer is exciting. Unfortunately, there is a lot of work getting it set up the way you want – and that’s only the installing software part!

When expecting a new computer, I start preparing a few days in advance by backing up my files. I use this procedure when backing up too. I do it all manually. That way I know what I have and where it is, and get everything installed in short order. I’m excited about a new computer, I want the transfer to go as easy as possible, and I like my computer set up a certain way – I’m picky. Taking these steps helps to ensure that process.

I’m working with the Windows XP operating system – I am not upgrading the operating system. This procedure will work with XP and below, for sure. The master hard drive is 80 gigs, the second hard drive is 30 gigs. I’m getting a 500 gig hard drive (which absolutely makes me swoon at the thought! I keep having flashbacks back to a time when I thought 1.2 gigs was a huge amount of storage space) in the new computer. Once the new computer is set up, I’ll transfer the files on the 30 gig to the 80 gig, since this is a newer hard drive.

Clean off the desktop. I tend to store most everything I’m currently working on, on my desktop. I do this because it’s easily accessible and can be trashed or moved quickly when no longer needed.

I move everything from the desktop to either my second hard drive or a thumb drive. Everything on the desktop will be put in to a folder, named desktopdate (with today’s date and year) and moved over to the second hard drive. I take this opportunity to organize my files as well, as they tend to become scattered.

Screenshots of the program menu. I make screen shots of my program menu, so I know what I’ve installed, and want to install on the new computer. I could write it down, but a screenshot is easier, and I don’t need to install a graphics program – I can use Microsoft Paint to view them.

Quick launch menu shortcuts. I keep several shortcuts to programs I use daily on a Quick launch menu for easy access. I would normally get these shortcuts thru the registry, but my computer shuts down before I can find them while searching the registry, so manual copy and paste it is.

Make a note of software customizations. I like to customize when installing software. I may run the software from my C drive, but I’ll store any backups from the program on the second drive. I do not use the “My” folder features – since these are on my C drive, I’m afraid of losing them if the master drive fails. So I have the download folder and a documents folder on my second drive and this is where everything goes when saving. If I have a hard drive crash, these files are safe. My second drive has held out for years.

Application Data and Local settings. I copy these folders to the second hard drive, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I use some programs that do not require the registry to run, and all I need to do is copy these programs back to the C drive on the new computer – no installation necessary.

Mail and browser settings. My most important files are my Thunderbird and my Firefox settings. I have no desire to lose these 2 things – I could deal with anything else but this. I leave them to the very last minute because I don’t want to lose one piece of email, a cookie, or my browser history. I also install email and browser first, and I can pick up where I left off, without missing a beat. Everything else can wait, if need be.

These are stored in the Application Data folders, but I copy these individually so I have a recent backup of them.

Over time I’ve created CD’s of the programs I absolutely cannot live without. These are separated and marked so I can install them quickly after my new computer arrives and is set up.

We are getting 2 new barebones computer systems on Thursday.

I can’t wait.

Gone are the days of my computer just shutting down for no reason. It is 6 or 7 years old, and is a dinosaur. It is a barebones computer pc system as well. I’ll be able to watch video without the computer crashing. I’ll be able to play games if I so choose! The possibilities are endless!

A barebones kit is the only way to go, folks, if you need a computer. It’s cheaper, you can customize it the way you want, and learn about the computer system as you go. In today’s economy, it’s the best move you could make.

What is a barebones computer?

A barebones computer is a mostly unassembled kit of computer components or parts that allows you to customize the computer to your liking. It costs a lot less than a pre-assembled brand name computer system. Barebones kits are available in various forms.

This is an Intel DG35EC Barebones Kit that comes with

Intel socket 775 motherboard
2.80 Ghz CPU
Intel Core 2 duo processor
2GB of DDR2-800 memory

In addition, we’ve ordered extra memory, Geforce video cards, DVD Rewritable Drives, and a couple of floppy drives. Why floppy drives? I don’t know. I can’t remember the last time I used a floppy. The tower is black.

Last but not least, we’re getting 500 gig hard drives for the computers!

Have I mentioned that I can’t wait?

Yesterday I went on a mission. I wanted to find out how I can block World of Warcraft on my network.

Sometimes babyboy shows signs of addiction to the game, and I feel the need to be a mean parental unit, and I want to block it. I use the parental controls on the game, but he can see his restrictions. There are times when I don’t necessarily need him to know he’s being restricted, allowing me to play my “I don’t have a clue” card.

So I went on a quest to block it. I have not found a way to block World of Warcraft, instead I found a way to allow the stupid game.

When a patch for the game is downloaded, it sucks up all the bandwidth. I mean, it makes the loading of a simple text webpage impossible. And in my research I discovered that World of Warcraft behaves better when you enable port forwarding.

I have no problems with port forwarding on Linux. You do it manually, and I have snippets of the commands on my hard drive. But my router gives me a GUI and thus I’m not always sure what to put where, and my guess last night was incorrect.

I found a site to help me with all that. It has pictures and everything! It will tell you everything you never wanted to know about firewalls, routers, port forwarding, and port triggering – and explains what those things are. It has lists to guides for most any router or firewall out there, and is written in easy to understand manner.

http://www.portforward.com/guides.htm
http://www.portforward.com/

You may find that changing your Wordpress password works better if you change it directly in the database.

Most hosts offer PHPmyadmin, which is a free application that lets you manipulate your database directly, you do need to know how to use it, and you need to be careful. Don’t click any red X’s!

On Cpanel hosts, you can access the PHPmyadmin utility by logging into Cpanel, go to mysql databases, and at the very bottom of the mysql page, there is a link to PHPmyadmin. If you don’t have PHPmyadmin, you can install it on your website and access your databases for that site.

Once you’re in PHPmyadmin, you need to find the correct database. I usually have at least 3, and since I don’t name everything the same, I have to search. But usually, the database will have a table number like (21) next to the database name. You click on that link. Wordpress databases install tables that are prefixed with wp_. So look for the wp_. It will look like wp_tablename or wpname_tablename.

Then, you’ll need to look for a table with users in it (not usermeta) – wp_users:

Then you need to select the users table:

Next, you need to select the user, which is usually admin as default, but you can select any user name you wish.

You’ll then come to a screen where you can change variables:

The one we’re focusing on is user_pass.

For the password, you’ll see a long string of characters that make absolutely no sense. This is your current password in encrypted form. Delete the characters.

Next, type your password as you normally would, and then in the function drop down box, choose MD5. This is what encrypts your password:

Don’t forget to click the Go button. You’re done. If you look at this screen, you’ll see your new password in it’s encrypted form.

Close the browser, open it up again and log into Wordpress with your new password.

Several domains were registered with Yahoo. I got these domains for $2.95, which I thought was an outstanding deal, especially for a domain name addict like myself. I was also aware that these domains would go up in price, to $8.95 or $9.95, which they did. I had no problem with this.

This year, the domain names went up again. Way up. The price to renew each domain name was $34.95. This is part of an email that I received:

Thanks for using Yahoo! Domains. We’re writing to remind you that it’s time for the annual autorenewal of your service.

Your Domains plan, associated with the domain XXXXXX, will renew on 10/01/2008. If your billing information is up-to-date, there’s no need to do a thing (except keep enjoying your service).

**** IMPORTANT NOTE: Beginning on July 1, 2008, Yahoo!’s annual domain renewal price increases to $34.95 per year. ****

$34.95. This didn’t include web hosting, folks. No privacy features, nothing. Just the domain name.

This is insane. I wound up cancelling 8 of my domains, and I transferred 2 – one that isn’t officially mine, and another domain that I simply wasn’t ready to part with, to Godaddy.

If you’re looking to purchase a domain name, your best bet is Godaddy. They’ve never raised their prices so high in all the time I’ve been with them. Heck, I also use Domainmonger, and while I do consider them high at $17.95 – they’ve never raised their prices.

$34.95! I’m still not over it!