70-443

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So I’ve been a slacking a little in the exam department, but I finally got around to taking my next exam. I passed.

Note to self … just schedule the darn exam and then you will be forced to not put it off.

WordPress Database Maintenence

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So the site has been getting unbearable slow lately and I just realized that I have not optimized the database lately. I have been meaning to get around to migrating to a new database since the current database has been in place since WordPress 1.2, with constant upgrades.

I tried the export/import feature, but the imported only imported about forty of my posts. It was pretty quick, but I did not want to do without the other 98% of my posts.

I ended up going into phpMyAdmin and doing a repair and optimize. I was looking around to see if there were some other utilities out there and found WP Optimize. I like the size of this utility, but ultimately thought there were better options out there.

I found WP DB Manager filled 90% of the reason I have to sign into phpMyAdmin. This plugin also includes some nice database backup functionality, including scheduling, that may replace WP DB Backup for me.

Lastly I tried Clean Options. This is a nice utility to help clean orphaned records from the options table, which in my case was the second largest table in the database. I quickly ran the utility and deleted 50+ old options. Once very nice feature of this plugin are the Google links to the option to help in determining whether the option is safe to be deleted. I am really indifferent with this plugin, especially since I could probably filter through the options just as fast manually as I could with the plugin, but it is nice to have GUI to work with.

In the end, it really does not matter what you use, just so long as you do it. 🙂

New Theme

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I have been meaning to update the theme here on Carpentology for quite a while, I just never seem to find the time. For the first time (ever, I think) I have gone with an out-of-a-box theme of Open Air.

Updates

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I think that I have left this site neglected for far too long. I made some configuration changes on the back end for some speed enhancements, but what it really needs is a database overhaul and a new theme. And maybe some more posts. 🙂

WGA Failed after Vista SP1

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I actually had no intention of installing Vista SP1 any time in the near future, but my wife somehow decided that my computer needed to be shutdown all the pending updates needed installed. After the argument I decided to assess the damage.

I didn’t notice anything initially, but after the next reboot (I have a laptop, so it does get rebooted frequently) that day I noticed that Security Center no longer recognized NOD32. Odd. I search and find a numeric of references of NOD32 not having access to WMI. With this being the only current symptom I decide do try and repair the NOD 32 installation.

I download the latest version and try and go to add/remove programs via the run dialog. No window. I try and go to the control panel. The window open and closes. I reboot. The same thing happens after I reboot. I reboot again, this time into safe mode Everything works correctly in safe mode. I reboot. After this reboot I get a security center warning about windows updates. I open the Security Center and try and clear the warning. This is when Vista finally tells me that it thinks my copy is not genuine.

I try to validate my copy of Vista. No such luck. The validation tells me to start the software licensing service. I open services and attempt to start it. It will not start and does not show an error code. I attempt to check the event log. No luck there either. The event log service will not start either. Shit.

Google and I become close friends over the next hour. A dozen attempts and a dozen reboots later I find a forum post on not being able to open the control panel. I go ahead and open a terminal with administrative priveledges and run:

ATTRIB -R C:\WINDOWS\System32 /S /D

I reboot. The applicable services start and I am able to successfully validate. What a great way to spend three hours on a Saturday.

Upgrades all around

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I have a basement full of computers. Not nearly as full as it once was, but full none the less. For the first time in a year, I am off for a whole week. Since my wife watches kids during the week, construction projects are out. You can guess where this is going.

Almost two years ago my wife’s computer went down with a bad hard drive. I set her up with one of the “spares” and she has been using that ever since. Her box was the first to go under the knife. I installed two Hitachi 160G SATA drives. It took me a couple of attempts to get everything right, but when I did it worked out great. I did a full install of XP Pro in 8 minutes on an AMD 2400 (2.0 Ghz) with 512M RAM. I bumped up the RAM to 2G and everything is hunky dory.

Next up is the ridiculously expensive laptop I bought that fried itself in under two years. Wish me luck on that one.