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frost Install Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 7 from a USB Jumpdrive - Subscribe
Install Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 7 from a USB Jumpdrive
by FrosT

Disclaimer
I am in no way responsible for losing data, corrupting jumpdrives or harddrives due to you choosing to follow this tutorial. Do any and all of these actions at your own risk with understanding it may do damage to your data, as such you should backup all of your data before proceeding. I have done this myself and it worked great. Remember that Windows 7 is a BETA release and if you do not already have it I cannot help you in finding it. Same goes with XP and Vista, if you do not have a valid/legal copy of either I cannot help you find one, so do not ask. Thank you.

Introduction
For those who do not know, I am an IT Professional. As such my job demands me to re-image computers on a regular basis. For the most part I just use a premade universal image. This works great, but every now and then I need to install Windows XP, Vista or 7 (testing purposes) on a machine without all the crazyness of an image (policies and what not). Since I have never been a "good" cd keeper, almost all my CD's/DVD's are trashed within the first 5 uses. As such I decided to go out and buy an 8 GB Jumpdrive to try and find a way to fit all three of those operating systems on to one medium and not have to carry 3 CD's/DVD's around. Due to this I spent about 5 hours reading through tutorials on WinPE 2.0 and BartPE. Well since BartPE does not allow you to install Windows 7 (not sure on Vista) that was not the option for me. As such I set out to install WinPE 2.0 on a jumpdrive.

Well this went relatively seamless, except for the fact that I do not use Windows Vista on any of my computers and I really did not want to setup a machine with Vista just for creating this jumpdrive to install all 3 operating systems. Instead I found an alternative usage to the Diskpart program that is recommended. The reason the Diskpart program would not work is under Windows XP it does not show removable storage as being a disk to list. In Vista, removable storage devices are shown, and if you use Vista, the tutorials you can find on google will work just fine to setup the jumpdrive to be bootable. If that is the case, you can simply skip over this part of the tutorial.

Preparation
First up, we need to take the jumpdrive (for just one OS you can use a 4GB, for more than one an 8GB is needed) and make it bootable. The easiest way to do this is with the HP Boot Utility. I do not have a direct download to it, but you should find it somewhere on Google. After you have that utility you need the Windows 98 SE Boot disk which can be found also on Google. If you do not have a floppy drive, which I take is very likely to not have one, we need a way to "mount" a floppy disk. Luckily there is a utility for that as well! Download the Virtual Floppy Drive software. Now once you have those files and installed the Virtual Floppy Drive and the HP Bootable USB utility we need to mount the Windows 98 SE Boot disk to a virtual floppy. Finally we will need Bootsect so we can change the boot sector later on to use a newer version.

Mounting Windows 98 SE to Virtual Floppy Drive
Open up the VFD program and click Start, I do not recommend installing it as a service unless you want to continue using it. Next click on the Disk 0 and click “Create“ (I think it is create) and make sure it is set on 1.44 MB 3.5“ and click ok. Now you should have A:\ show up in Windows Explorer (unless you set it to be something different). Let's open up the boot98se.exe and click ok and it should extract the files to the floppy. Great, we have the files on a virtual floppy drive, let's open up the HP USB Bootable Utility. Once that is open we want to format the drive as Fat32 and click on the “Dos Startup Disk“ or whatever that checkbox says. Browse to your Virtual Floppy Drive and use that.

NOTE: THIS WILL WIPE ALL DATA FROM YOUR JUMPDRIVE. BACK IT UP OR LOSE IT, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST DATA.

I generally check the "Quick Format" but you can do it how you want. Make sure the right jumpdrive is selected, if it is not select it. Once you are sure click the “Start“ button to format the jumpdrive and make it bootable. We are nearly done, we now just have to go into a Command prompt (Start > Run > cmd) and locate the bootsect.exe and run "bootsect.exe /nt60 E: /f" Where E: is the drive letter of your jumdrive. It should change the boot sector to use the updated version (bootmgr) file.
Now we are onto to the WinPE 2.0

Getting Win PE 2.0
Well since I cannot write this tutorial better myself, I will direct you to the tutorial I used to get a valid copy of Win PE 2.0. Remember, do not do the Diskpart potion if you are on XP and followed the above steps. The best tutorial that helped me out was the one from Svrops.com. You can find the tutorial at Svrops WinPE 2.0 Tutorial. This tutorial will show you how to add features to Win PE 2.0 etc. When you get to the part about making the ISO, which is not necessary. However, copying the winpe.wim to the /sources is important and renaming it to boot.wim. Now we simply need to copy everything located at C:\winpe\iso to your jumpdrive's root directory. (C:\ being the name of where you put winpe). Once you have it copied, you now have a bootable version of WinPE 2.0 on a jumpdrive. Now it is time to copy the windows file. I made separate directories for each version of windows (WinVista, WinXP, Win7) and copy the CD files straight to that. If it is in .iso format, mount the ISO and copy the files that way or burn the .iso to a CD/DVD then copy it. We need all the files from each CD/DVD or Image in the folder. Once that has been done, you now have all 3 operating systems on one bootable jumpdrive. Let's boot into WinPE 2.0 on a system you would like to install one of the three operating systems.

Booting up Into WinPE 2.0
Since I am not familiar with all BIOS and computer setups I would suggest, if you do not know how to boot to USB, googling how to for your system. There should be plenty of those out there. I will not waste time answering questions about how to do that, so do not ask. Booting into WinPE 2.0 will take a few minutes. The command prompt you initially see may look like it is "hanging" on winpeinit (or something similar) if so, just be patient. After 1 or 2 minutes it should pop up a new line you can type on. From here, I am not sure if the jumpdrive was mounted for me before or not. To check, try just typing in E:\ or D:\ depending on how many partitions/drives are on that computer it may be one of those or further down. You know the system better than I do. So try those first. After each one do a DIR if you see your WinXP, WinVista, Win7 folders in the directory listing then that is the drive and you can simply cd to whatever version you want and run setup.exe. And it is as simple as that.

However, if that did not work correct for you, at the command prompt type diskpart. Do a list disk and see if your jumpdrive is there (look at the size to verify) if it is do a SEL DISK X (where X is the number the jumpdrive is listed as for me it was 1). From there do AUTOMOUNT. This should mount the drive. So exit out of the diskpart and go through the process above until you locate the jumpdrive. Switch the windows version you want to install and install it.

Editor's Note:
After I tried installing WinXP using this method I found that you need to run the following command to install Windows XP and not the executable:

D:\os\WinXP\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:C: /tempdrive:C: /makelocalsource.

Make sure D: is your jumpdrive's letter and \os\WinXP\ is where i have my XP extracted to, so modify that to be what you put it as.
Also Make sure you replace C: with the drive you want to install Windows to. (I would also verify that the drive is mounted with DISKPART before running the above).

After that is done running, remove your Jumpdrive and reboot and it should load into the Windows Installation.

Ending Notes
This process worked great for me, if it does not work for you, well I am sorry. There are just too many variables that it can go wrong. So please ask questions, but first do your own research. I will not take time to help someone who did not bother helping themselves. If you find an error or an issue with this tutorial please feel free to comment and let me know and I will look into correcting it.

Thanks for reading.
9 Comments
Mood: ok
KeyWords: Windows, WinPE 2, USB, UFD, VFD, virtual, boot, sector, utility, install, windows 7, vista, xp, diskpart, install, from, usb

frost Attempting to Adopt a Dog in Colorado Apr 6th, 2009 - Subscribe
Attempting to Adopt a Dog in Colorado
by FrosT

Introduction
Well my wife and I have been attempting to find a dog to adopt in Colorado. We have been actively trying for a couple months and have had some good and bad experiences. Particularly the bad experiences come from one company, Colorado FurBabies. Well here is the full story that will hopefully help you avoid the same issues we had.

Finding a dog
We have been looking and thinking about a dog for some time and decided to actually contact a place to see if we could meet a dog. First off we had to submit an application. The applications they make you fill out are somewhat of a joke if you ask me. I am sure there are good reasons for it, such as making sure that the home can become permanent for a dog and the person applying fully realizes what they are getting into. More of the joke, for the Colorado Furbabies, it took about 1-2 week lag time for our application to go through. Then after it went through a house inspection was needed, which took another 3 days or so. This was not "horrible" but because of this process we were unable to adopt or even visit/meet a few great looking dogs that we were heavily interested in. This was very disappointing to us.

So after we found out that the dogs we wanted to meet were no longer available we looked up other dogs and let them know of the one we did want to meet. Granted, this dog did not stick out as "we want this dog" like the other ones had, but we were willing to meet with it and see for ourselves if that dog would work out. Which brings us to the next problem.

Trying to get a Visit
Now, I heavily understand that personal issues take precedent over anything else. We contacted the foster person to get a viewing. They stated that they would email us, 4 days later no email. So we called them attempting to setup a viewing for that night. They stated they would email us the address. Well 4 hours later no email, and it was about 9:00 at night and I do have to work in the morning and they were about 45 minutes away. So that would put us home well past 11 o'clock. Not acceptable in my terms. They should have emailed us like the agreement.

Then they had to go out of town for the personal issues and as such delayed the viewing again. A couple days later we scheduled a viewing where we would drive out the 45 minutes to meet the dog. When we get there no one is home. We waited around for about an hour to find out that the dogs got loose, which we understand can happen. Since they still had not found the dogs we did not feel like waiting around anymore and left for home (a 3 hour trip for nothing). Again, I know things happen that are out of our control.

Finally, the next day, the foster person drives the dog over to our house. When they get there we do like the dog, but the dog is younger than was advertised. We did not really care to have more or less a "puppy", which this dog was obviously still in (pretty heavily) the puppy stages. (Maybe if they would provide a closer estimate of age we would not have even asked to see the dog). We let her know that we need to think about it, because even though the dog was still younger, we might want to adopt it. After some heavy discussion over the next couple days we decided that the dog was not for us and let them know...

The Aftermath
The next day we get a nasty email from a person who works at the Colorado Furbabies. In essence they basically thanked us for wasting the dogs time and that it was our fault for not taking the dog. Hold on here...how is this our fault again? Because your foster holders are incompetent of contact us back on a timely basis? It was not our fault it took them 4 days to get a hold of us for a visit and then failed to email us essential items. And then we took our time to drive out there to have the dog gone missing...and this is our problem. No way. Screw you.

Given that email from the person, I would highly suggest that you do not even attempt to adopt a dog from the Colorado Furbabies association. They are very unprofessional, unreliable and they blame you for not taking a dog that you do not want because they were incompetent of getting you a viewing time in a timely fashion. Through this experience alone, I do not know if I will adopt a dog again. These people want to help dogs and yet blame you for their own problems of not being able to run an adoption agency, as I see properly. By also making you wait 2 weeks to know if you get accepted, then it being up to the foster person to contact you, who may or may not fall through the deal depending on how reliable they are. This is just unacceptable in my books.

Ending Notes
Feel free to try and adopt a dog through the Colorado Furbabies, hopefully your experiences are better than ours were. As for me, I am fed up with this bull shit they pull you through. From the time it takes to know that you can even adopt a dog to actually meeting the dog was just a pain in the ass. I would not have posted this blog, if the volunteer or worker had not sent us that nasty email and worded it like she did. There is no reason for a professional company to send an email like that. Personally blaming us for their problems is just ridiculous. Well I hope I can save you from a bad experience. As for me, I would rather go to a breeder instead of adopting a dog because of this experience. Thanks to Colorado Furbabies, I will now no longer make my efforts to adopt a dog and help with the dog over population. Thank you.

As a side note, I do not necessarily blame the foster person, as they had some personal issues going on. I do however blame the main contact of Colorado Furbabies, for blaming us for holding the dog up, when we never asked for the dog to be held, and we could not get a viewing due to lack of communication from the foster holder.

Related Entry:
Do NOT Adopt from Colorado Furbabies
18 Comments
Mood: Pissed off
KeyWords: colorado, furbabies, review, denver, bad, adopt, dog, foster, puppy, communcation, horrible, un-professional

frost EMovies Will No Longer be Supported Feb 24th, 2009 - Subscribe
EMovies Will No Longer be Supported
by FrosT

Well it has been a long ride for EMovies, which was first developed for better Search Engine Optimization for my sites. However, Yahoo has changed their whole site design and instead of re-coding EMovies I am canning the project. This is mostly due to lack of support. It is extremely sad how people will just use software, which I was giving free help to many people via email, and in return offer you nothing, not even a small donation.

Well this is dis-heartening to me, but with as much time as it would take to fix the EMovies and without any support or funding, I am not going to continue this project. Maybe one day I will be bored and re-make it for the new Yahoo Movies, but that is very unlikely.

Thank you for understanding. Have a great day.

Related:
Add Free Movie Listing Reviews to your Website
4 Comments
Mood: beat
KeyWords: emovies, free, movies, listings, reviews, website, support, broken, down, yahoo

frost MySQL Database Backup .MYI and .MYD Feb 1st, 2009 - Subscribe
MySQL Database Backup .MYI and .MYD

Introduction
Hello everyone!

Long time no post, I know. Well really I have been busy with work, a wife and a new baby being on the way. Well anyways, this article is about how to restore a backup to MySQL from a .MYI and .MYD file that you may have. Our dedicated host backs up only these files and does not use the mysqldump utility to create a full SQL backup of our database. This is fine, but makes a bit extra work. So let us get started.

Determine Your Version
First we need to determine the version of your server's MySQL database. Mine was 3.23, old I know. I do not know if you can mix and match .MYD files so I just downloaded that and installed it on my local computer. I would suggest doing the same, this way you are messing with copies of the actual database instead of the real thing.

Creating a Database
Now we want to go into the MySQL console on your computer and create a new database, this database name can be anything. For this tutorial sake I will use "backup". Now that you have created a database "backup" it is time to get the table structure from your current database. The table structure is necessary for this process, if you do not know or do not have it, I am not sure if this will work for you. Try anyway you can.

Lucky for me, I was just trying to get a user's data back whose entries were accidentally deleted. So I had my full table structure online and just did a phpMyAdmin Export of the table structure and ran that through my personal computers MySQL command line tool. This creates 3 files inside of c:\mysql\data\backup a .frm, .myi and .myd. This is exactly what we want!

Restoring the Actual Files
Now what we are able to do is copy only the .MYI and .MYD files from your backup and paste them into the c:\mysql\data\backup directory overwriting any files that are in there. This will basically put our data into those tables.

To test that the data was input successfully, open the MySQL command line tool and use the database "backup" and do a "select * from `yourtablenamehere` LIMIT 1" If no results are returned then it did not work, try restarting your MySQL server and then try again, this generally works. If not, then post a comment and I will try and help you out.

If that worked, you now have a working backup of your database! Now to export this data.

Export the Backup Data
Exporting the data is rather easy. Just use the mysqldump tool and run a command like this to get all that data into a SQL statement you can import into your current DB via phpMyAdmin:

mysqldump -uroot desk yourtablenamehere > yourtablename.sql

This is assuming the user is root with no password (the reason I do not set a password was this is strictly on my localhost and I have a firewall setup to block all external connections to MySQL). You can replace any of that with the user information you use. That should now create a file yourtablename.sql with all of the SQL. This may have a create table at the top of the file, so manually edit the file and remove that portion to avoid any errors when trying to import via phpMyAdmin.

Now just copy that text file or upload it to your phpMyAdmin and that data should be re-inserted and you are up and running again!

Ending Notes
This tutorial was made to backup minimal data for a user, what I really did was ran a sql command to only pull at that user data and create a new able with it. To do that also just do this:

create table yourtablenamebup SELECT * FROM yourtablename WHERE conidtion=something

Then you can just do a dump of that table and have just the information you need and not every information!

This tutorial is meant as a reference, be sure to backup all data before attempting it as I am not responsible for any lost/corrupted data for mis-use or use of this tutorial. This tutorial as worked for me many times in the past following those instructions.

Please use at your own risk!
1 Comments
Mood: dizzy
KeyWords: Mysql, backup, .myd, .myi, files, server, dump, mysqldump, tables, database

frost Tips to Avoid Spyware and Virus's Feb 27th, 2008 - Subscribe
Tips to Avoid Spyware and Virus's

Introduction
The past weekend I was working on a friends computer and he wondered how and what I use to avoid getting spyware and virus's. I laughed at the question and while trying to think of the words to explain how I avoid getting spyware and virus's I simply said, "I know what not to download". And as ludicrous as it may sound spyware, 90% of the time is initiated by users. The other 10% is not having up-to-date software, such as Internet Explorer. Which prompted me to write this exert on how to avoid downloading and installing spyware, and virus's on your on computer not knowing, so let's get to it!

Pay Attention and Read
The biggest problem is that most people do not bother to read the fine print, which is where a lot of companies can get you. Taking the extra 30 seconds to read the fine print can save you hours and hundreds of dollars (which would be spent fixing the computer). First off let's look at a legitimate download, which everyone needs in this day and age, Acrobat Reader. As much as it sucks, Adobe tends to bundle software with their application. Although it is not Spyware, what they bundle will slow down your computer with unnecessary software. The Photo Album is not something everyone needs or wants, especially when for most people the default windows picture viewer is plenty. But yet when you download Adobe Reader, the default check mark is set to download Photo Album with Adobe Reader. Why? Because Adobe knows that most users are not computer savy and will not un-check it thus making their name bigger and make you feel like you NEED Adobe software to do anything.

Another company that will bundle software by default is Yahoo!. Anytime you download a game, or software from Yahoo! They bundle their crappy Yahoo! Toolbar. Which I have seen slows systems down up to 30% and most users do not even know how the toolbar came to be on their system. All they had to do was un-check one simple box, which of course is somewhat hidden and not noticeable because Yahoo! Wants you to depend on their software. In the end, companies are deceitful because they want money. Simple as that, so do yourself the favor and read and know what you are installing. It will save you numerous headaches.

Keep Windows Up-to-Date
As much as I do not like Windows Update (slow, and very inefficient) keeping windows software up-to-date will help you prevent spyware and viruses. Reason being is exploits are found every day in Windows software which could allow someone to inject spyware to your computer through a website, email or another means without you even realizing it. The big one is Internet Explorer, I highly suggest moving over to Firefox. That is my personal preference and have not had one issue with spyware leaking through like I have had with Internet Explorer. Keeping windows up-to-date is key to fighting spyware and viruses especially since there are many people who dislike windows and intentionally try to exploit it to disrupt it's users.

Do not download Freeware
Freeware online is often times bundled with Spyware galore! If you want to download free software make sure it is from a trusted source, such as Download.com, who regularly checks software on their website for spyware. No matter what avoid downloading any type of screen savers. As cool as some maybe, those .scr files are opening for massive invasion of privacy and attacks. The worst software to download is Screensavers so avoid it at all costs. Again anything you do download be wise and conscious about what the software is and how necessary the software is.

Keep Firewalls Active
Now a days with Cable and DSL a lot of people have Routers, if you do not I highly suggest getting one, as they come with a Hardware firewall, which ultimately protects you more than any software firewall could even dream about without taking up your computer's resources. A lot of your probably remember a few worms a while back that hit a ton of computers, Code Red I think was a huge one for DSL customers. When this worm hit the only really protected computers where those that had a hardware firewall in place to block certain ports which the worm infiltrated on. There are always worms circulation through the internet that attach to computers who do not have the port or an update to fix the worm blocked.

I have Spyware!! Help!
Once you have reached the stage that your computer is infected with Spyware, you have two choices. First choice is to download my favorite program, Spybot Search and Destroy. I have used this program for many years and if the spyware can be removed without a format this program will do it. Your second choice, which most people do not like, is a clean format. Basically wipes all of your software off and restarts you from ground zero. Personally I format my computer every 3-6months whether my computer is infected or not. But for the average user that is not viable. I would suggest that your computer is formatted every 1 to 2 years. Just to keep it running smooth and clean. When the computer is formatted you know that it is spyware, virus and any type of malware free.

Ending Notes
In the end avoiding Spyware, Malware, Worms and Virus's does not require some high priced virus or spyware checker. All it requires is a little work and a little time to make sure you are downloading and installing software you want and making sure it is not infected or bundled. I have not ran any anti-virus or anti-spyware software on my computer since 2000 and the only time I get infected, is when I consciously realize that I downloaded something I should not have. Luckily I have multiple harddrives and I always make sure that my main Windows Drive has nothing important on it so I can format it without worrying about losing any personal or important data. Well I hope this will help you to avoid Spyware and Virus's and keep your system running clean and smooth for years to come!

Related Articles
Spyware Tips for Avoiding and Removing
(Note I know the two are very similar but it does not hurt to re-iterate from time to time)
9 Comments
Mood: swanky
KeyWords: spyware, malware, virus, avoid, remove, prevent, bundle, software, freeware, adware, help, stop

frost Popular Torrent Usages Feb 7th, 2008 - Subscribe
Popular Torrent Usages
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently I have been approached by a few people who have asked about torrents. The main question I get is the legality of a torrent and the ethical issues involved with downloading torrents and seeding, or uploading, torrents. Really the torrent community has a bad reputation, for merited reason. Most torrents are used to transport illegal and pirated material. But for the few people who do not use torrents in this way, the legality views can hinder their projects and plans.

Torrents Save Money
Torrents are an ideal solution for any small software company starting out. The reason being is that bandwidth is expensive. A torrent can easily save a small company starting out or even a larger company money by utilizing a system where peers help share the files.

The Torrent system is also ideal for Non-Profit organizations to help get their software or files out to their employees for little to no cost all the while having the volunteers be able to help out with their own computer bandwidth. The biggest organization to utilize the BitTorrents would be the Linux community, who offers free open-source operating systems for those who cannot afford Windows and or want more functionality from their computers.

The Ethical Views
Torrents are noted for their bad reputation and for a lot of people this will shy them away from ever downloading a torrent. For the few companies that choose to use Torrents this will effectively limit their customer base. Torrents, in it self are not unethical; however, how torrents have been abused by many software pirates is. If you are downloading a torrent to obtain a copy of software, the best way to make sure what you are downloading is not illegal, is first check the companies website (if it is hosted on a 3rd party website). See if the software you are downloading requires to be purchased. If it does you have a couple options, one you can help out the business by informing them of the torrent. Two you can download the software from that torrent, but be sure to buy a genuine license key. Three do your own research; talk with the company etc. doing this will save you from having any type of lawsuits for downloading illegal software.

Just remember that not all torrents are bad or good. Always virus scan what you downloading and make sure the software you are downloading is legal, if not go straight to the company.

Ending Notes
In the end Torrents are not all illegal, although there is a vast community out there that do use torrents illegally, torrents can be considered a viable solution to expensive bandwidth; thus allowing companies, non-profit or profit making, pass along their savings to their customers all the while making access to their files easier. Remember a lot of time and effort go into making movies, games, and software. Give credit where credit is due.
6 Comments
Mood: chillin
KeyWords: torrent, bit, bittorrent, legal, illegal, linux, organizations, computers, bandwidth, afford, price, cost, solution, community

frost Tips for Creating Aeonity Blog Templates Sep 24th, 2007 - Subscribe
Tips for Creating Aeonity Templates

Introduction
As some of you may have noticed, I created a new template for my Free Aeonity Blog. Well given how much work it took I found a few tips and tricks that can help everyone on the community to figure out our crazy template system!

Always Backup
Make sure you backup your current template, especially if you like it and you have modified it recently. I usually open notepad and copy/paste everything into that and save it to my desktop as template_bup-date.txt This way I will always have that version incase everything gets messed up beyond belief. Also that version of the template can help you figure out the coding scheme for ETS (Easy Template System) which is what Aeonity currently uses.

Design First, Implement Later
Since Aeontiy does not have a "testing" center for templates the best way to go about designing a new template is to actually design it first. Get everything exactly how you want it and make sure it works in the browsers you use most (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera etc). Once the template is done in full html without any of Aeonity's template coding structure then you can start implementing. But do not implement until you have everything how you want it. I would use real life examples as the text and subject material etc. This will give you a good feel for what the template will look like.

Implementing the New Template
Now that you have the design completed how you want it, the time to implement the new template design is now. Open up the backup file we created of your current/old template. Note the very top, {mask:main}, and the bottom {/mask} as those are key. Without that Aeonity will not accept the template. I generally start with the navigation as that is easily and generally static. So take the navigation portions and insert the links and code in them. It should be generic and easy. Next I code in the blog portion. This will be looped for however many blogs you display on your page, so remember that. Insert the {body}, {subject}, {date}, {mood}, {custom_text} where you put them on your template inside the {mask:blog} {/mask} portions.

Finally I code the comments. This part can be tricky with the add comment portion. The add comment portion will only show up when a user clicks on the actual blog. To do this the {set} is used and as stated before their should be an example on the current template. To get the add comment form the way you want there are a few different choices. You can create it on your own and not use the {add_comment_block} Aeonity provides or you can style the add comment section using the classes that Aeonity's default code has in place (view source on your current blog for that code). This should allow full custom ability for the comment block.

Ending Notes
Now that you know the tips and tricks hopefully it will be less frustrating to attempt to create a new template for Aeonity. In the future at some point we will be creating a whole templating section on Aeonity, where you can create templates and test them without disrupting your current blog. Unfortunately that is quite a task and it does not look to be done in the future but is of high priority as we want to move to the new Web 2.0 interfaces. To do that we need templateors and we want them to be able to template in ease. Questions about templates, features etc, for now use the contact form until a FAQ has been generated for you. Thanks!

On that note if you need help converting an already designed template shoot me an email at frost [-at-] aeonity [-dot-] com. I will not design any templates but am more than happy to help implement them.
4 Comments
Mood: smart
KeyWords: template, aeonity, creating, editing, backup, blog, tips, tricks, styles, code, html, css

frost Save The Internet Aug 24th, 2007 - Subscribe
Comcast recently made a news release that it will be pulling the plug on Bit torrent seeding ports. What this means is that the Linux community is going to take a huge hit from not having their distributions seeded, plus many other free based companies that do not receive any profits from their products.

As such I took action by visiting
Save the Net and told My Story on why Comcast should not do this.

So go ahead and tell your story. Help us save the internet from being crippled by ISP companies such as Comcast and AT&T! Speak up!

Here is my story from the above link:

Bit Torrent traffic is not all illegal. A lot of us help out the Linux community and other Open source free software communities by seeding legal software distributions which in return saves them bandwidth. Having this stupid logic in place prevents great feats like that from happening and will basically shut down the Linux community as no one can afford to buy hosting for as much traffic as they bring in.

Stop trying to take control of the internet, I will be looking into a new company to take my money and not limit me. Thanks Comcast for making not want to give you my money anymore. I sure as hell wasted my time and money by switching from DSL.
11 Comments
Mood: chilled
KeyWords: save, internet, comcast, att, speak, voice, limit, torrent, traffic, seeding, your, story

frost Win a 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser Jun 7th, 2007 - Subscribe
Win a 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser
by FrosT

Win this 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser

Introduction
Do you want a chance to win a 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser? I know I do. Your question is, where can I find a sweet deal like that? Well for starters you can Buy $3.00 Raffle Tickets for a chance to win. Now the question you have is why is there such a sweet deal to win this 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser, which has definitely been DECKED OUT? Well let me explain how the 1990 FJ62 Fully Customized Raffle vehicle came to be.

1990 FJ62 Fully Custom Land Cruiser
Thanks to Rising Sun Land Cruiser 4WD Club and many other people the Raffle Vehicle, 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser, who has put in many hours of wrench work and has received many donations from awesome vendors. Without the vendors, the donations or even the wrench work, this vehicle would not be as sweet as it is now. Why not give it a try for just $3.00 a Raffle Ticket? This is a win-win situation, as the money you put into the Raffle tickets will be used as such:

The proceeds from the ticket sales are distributed through the Associations Funds as follows: 30% to the Land Use Fund, 10% to the Promotion Fund, 40% to next years Raffle Fund, 5% to the Office Fund, 12.5% to the Scholarship Fund and 2.5% to the Sunshine Fund. All unused monies in the Raffle Fund at the end of the year will be transferred to the General Fund.

Ending Notes
There is really no reason you should not spend at least $3.00 a Raffle Ticket to enter for a chance to win a 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser and help keep 4WD trails open. What are you waiting for? Hurry and Buy a $3.00 Raffle Ticket to win this AMAZING 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser!

References:
The 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser Raffle Vehicle
Rising Sun 4WD Club
Buy a $3.00 Raffle Ticket to win the 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser Raffle Vehicle
A picture of the 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser
8 Comments
Mood: great
KeyWords: toyota, land, cruiser, landcruiser, rising, sun, risingsun, 4x4, 4wd, offroad, raffle, vehicle, 1990, fj62, custom, mod

frost Mile-Hi SkyDiving near the Mile High City May 30th, 2007 - Subscribe
Mile-Hi SkyDiving near the Mile High City
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently I took my wife SkyDiving at Mile High Skydiving (Mile-Hi Skydiving) in Ft. Lupton, Colorado. Roughly 45 minutes North of the Mile High city, Denver, Colorado. If you would like to read about the whole anniversary you can read about it at my other blog.

Mile-Hi Skydiving is a very professional and friendly place. The two trainers my wife and I received were very knowledgeable and enjoyed Skydiving for a living. The Skydiving experience was a tremendous one and one that we will never forget. We owe it all to Mile-Hi Skydiving.

The Skydiving Experience
The Skydiving at Mile-Hi Skydiving was excellent, the view was spectacular and everyone was friendly. From the moment we walked into the hangar till the moment we got back to hangar we never felt left out or looked down upon. It was actually quite funny as we went up with a group of experienced Skydivers and you could just tell every one of them was saying, "I remember when I was sitting in their position." It was a very calming feeling that actually helped calmed my nerves before I jumped out of the airplane to Skydive.

This whole breath taking experience, which I do mean literally, is one that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Skydiving is a ton of fun and I hope I get a chance to do it again in my life. Mainly because I was so nervous during the whole plane ride and free fall that I would make a mistake that I was not able to "fully" enjoy the experience.

The Cost to Skydive
Mile-Hi Skydiving costs are reasonable compared to other skydiving centers. For a first time jump, or Tandem jump, it costs $185, per person. An extra $80 for a video of the jump. The Tandem jump was very educational and will make the next step hopefully less scarier and more enjoyable. The next step is the Accelerated Free Fall which costs $300, where you jump with 2 instructors who guide you through how to know when to pull the parachute cord etc. I hope I do get a chance later on in my life to further myself in Skydiving and learn to enjoy the experience instead of barely knowing what happened.

The Addiction
After the jump I really said, "I am good and I do not think I will ever Skydive again." Well about 30 minutes after I said that, I wanted to go again. Skydiving, which I now understand, is very addictive for the adrenaline rush you feel, which is an intense one that will have you tired and smiling for days. I can say that I would love to Skydive a lot more, but do to money constraints I do not see me Skydiving anymore anytime soon. Hopefully one day I will go back to Mile-Hi Skydiving and maybe even do all the jumps required to be fully certified to have $23/jump fees.

Ending Notes
If you are near the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado, I would highly suggest you take the 45 minute drive up to Ft. Lupton, Colorado and Skydive with Mile-Hi Skydiving Center. You will have the best time of your life and feel a real accomplishment. Skydiving is something you should experience at least once in your life, as it was the best time I can ever remember having.

References:
Mile High Skydiving (Mile-Hi Skydiving) in Ft. Lupton, CO
4 Comments
Mood: care-free
KeyWords: skydiving, mile-hi, mile, high, center, colorado, denver, ft. lupton, thrill, fun, awesome

frost USBank: Prevent Over Drafting Charges with New Alerts May 10th, 2007 - Subscribe
USBank: Prevent Over Drafting Charges with New Alerts
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently I was over drafting on an account due to insufficient funds. Well I was quite mad that a week later USBank finally sent me a letter stating this and was upset that they could not email. Before I went on a wild rampage on the phone with a customer service representative I decided to check USBank's website to make sure this option was not available.

New Alert Feature to USBank Online Banking
What I found was that sometime between this year and last year USBank added a great feature, without notifying you of this feature of course, that you can now get an email and even a text message upto 3 different addresses for a Negative Balance, when your Account's balance reaches a certain amount or when items have been posted or withdrawn. This new alert feature from USBank is a great and appreciate feature by me.

The Negative Balance
How USBank works is if you over draft from an account you are charged $31, plus $7 for every day after that which your USBank account is under $1. If not taken care of in 14 days you are charged another $31 fee etc. USBank does inform you via a postcard within 3-4 business days, but buy that time you are already out money and chances are you probably made more than one purchase recently. With the new feature you can prevent banks getting a ton of money from you! Here is how to set up the alert.

USBank Alert Setup
Start off login to USBank Internet Banking. Once you are in the Internet banking you should see a menu on the left hand side with a Text Link called "Alerts." When you over over this link it should take you to Security or Account. Click on Account.

Once you are here select and account to setup the alert on. Yes you can even set one up on your USBank credit cards. After you select the account, the next step is to choose the type of alert. Choose your alert and follow the instructions, enter your EMail or phone number for text messages. Once done click Save and you have succesfully helped prevent yourself from being screwed out of a lot of money by USBank.

Ending Notes
I remember seeing a TV Story on this exact topic, how banks do not offer sufficient means of notifying you when you have over drafted on your account because they like that money. Well maybe USBank listend to that article and decided they needed to try and help their customers keep their money and not lose it. Either way I am very pleased with this new Alert feature that USBank so kindly offered me.
2 Comments
Mood: brave
KeyWords: usbank,alert,internet,banking,negative,over,draft,fee,balance,account

frost KTorrent, Linux's uTorrent Alternative Feb 28th, 2007 - Subscribe
KTorrent, Linux's uTorrent Alternative
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently converting over to Linux I have found that my favorite torrent program, uTorrent, is not supported by the Linux OS. This boggled my mind, and instead of using Wine for Linux, I went hunting for a new program that can be comparable to uTorrent for the Linux operating system and well I found one. KTorrent was the exact program I was looking for. Plain and simple plus very easy to configure! Honestly, if I had to choose between uTorrent and KTorrent, I would definitely choose KTorrent over uTorrent and here's why.

KTorrent's Ease of Use
KTorrent was very easy to use and configure. It gave you just the right amount of options to have total control of your torrents. uTorrent was also very easy to use and configure except it gave you a little too much options, and at times it seemed that some options did not work the way you wanted them to. Now it could just be the user, but with KTorrent when I set the Seeding ratio, I expect the torrent to stop seeding when this ratio is reached. I could never get uTorrent to stop seeding once that ratio was reached. But with KTorrent, I set that ratio to 1.5 and once it the 1.5 ratio, what did you know? KTorrent automatically marked the torrent as finished and stopped seeding! The other options are which ports to use for transfer and where to download files etc. which uTorrent does give you access to, but the way KTorrent has the options laid out make KTorrent remarkably easier and simpler to use than uTorrent.

Transfer Speeds of Torrents
When using uTorrent I would always wonder if I was getting the best speed out of that torrent and if my settings were a little bit off that would slow the torrent down. Not with KTorrent! Since I started using KTorrent I found that my speeds remain very high all the time without doing any special configuration. I have not even installed Peer Guardian on my new Linux system yet and KTorrent still works like a champ. I download everything a lot faster than I ever did because of the way KTorrent laid out the options and gave me the way to configure each port. Basically in every comparison KTorrent runs faster, and smoother with easy configurations than uTorrent ever would.

Ending Notes
When using Linux, I would highly suggest KTorrent over uTorrent with WINE. Due to the fact that KTorrent will provide you everything uTorrent does and than some, it should be an easily selection. No use in battling with WINE when you do not have to. As for windows users, uTorrent is probably your best bet of Bit Torrent software as I do not think KTorrent runs under Windows.
14 Comments
Mood: aggressive
KeyWords: utorrent, ktorrent, bit, torrent, bittorrent, comparison, review, linux, windows

frost Converting from Windows to Linux: Hard drives NTFS to Ext3 Jan 22nd, 2007 - Subscribe
Converting from Windows to Linux Tips and Tricks
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently I undertaken the task to convert over to the Linux Operating System. After searching the Internet and reading through many tutorials it became clear that the NTFS File-System is not compatible with Linux other than being Read from. At least not with Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Release. There in created another task for me, converting all of my hard drives from Windows NTFS to Linux Ext3. Here is how it all came out.

Programs Required
There are a few programs that are required in order to convert from an NTFS file system to a Ext3. The first is Partition Magic 8.0. Very handy program for any task. Remember if you are using 64 Bit Windows, Partition Magic 8.0 may not work. So do a Google search to locate a program that will work.
The next program needed is Ext2IFS, click here to get Ext2IFS. Ext2IFS allows you to mount an Ext3 or Ext2 partition in Windows and be able to write files to that partition/hard drive. Once you have a partitioning program and Ext2IFS we are ready to get started with converting your Windows formatted NTFS hard drives to Linux formatted Ext2/3 hard drive.

Converting NTFS to Ext3
The logic behind switching from NTFS to Ext2/3 is not really complex, but requires a few items, such as free space and multiple hard drives. Starting out lets realize that one way or the other you have to copy all files that you want to keep off the hard drive and store them on a separate hard drive, or else they will get lost. There is no way to do a straight convert and save all your files from NTFS to Ext3. For me this was not too challenging of a task. I currently have 2 Western Digital Hard drives. One is a 120 gig hard drive and the other is a 160 gig hard drive. I also have a Maxtor 500 gig external hard drive and an 80 gig internal hard drive. All the drives were NTFS formated. What I did, since my 500 gig Maxtor is my static drive was copied all files I would not need to manipulate to that drive, such as music, videos and applications. Now I still had files that I needed to modify, I stored those on the main partition with Windows XP installed. As I know I will not convert that hard drive as I will use that same drive for my main Linux drive.

After copying the files from my 120 gig to either my 160 gig or my 500 gig hard drive depending on the files I started up the Partitioning program. I deleted the current partition on the 120 gig hard drive and created a new Linux Logical Ext3 partition. The next step was to hit "Apply" to make the changes. After a reboot the changes were made and I could no longer see my 120 gig hard drive in Windows. Now here is where the Ext2IFS comes into play. After installing Ext2IFS I loaded the program and mounted my 120 gig hard drive to an un-used drive letter. Now running Windows Explorer I can magically see my 120 gig ext3 hard drive and I can copy files from my 160 gig hard drive to the newly created 120 gig ext 3 hard drive. I repeated the process for creating the 160 gig to an Ext3 Linux hard drive. Make sure you copy the files that you need from your main drive to a Linux one, before moving onto the installation of Linux, or else you will lose the files.

Ending Notes
After the process above has been complete it is now time to locate a Linux distribution that is correct for you. The next tutorial will be available within the next week for installing Ubuntu Edgy 6.10 with a few tips and tricks to help making the transition from Windows to Linux a fairly easy switch.

Disclaimer
I take no responsibility for lost data. Remember to always backup data especially when trying to switch operating system as unknown obstacles can appear. Data lost as a result to following this guide is not my fault, use this guide at your own discretion, as I will not take blame for anything that you do to screw up yours or someone else's computer.
7 Comments
Mood: peachy
KeyWords: windows, linux, ntfs, ext, ext2, ext3, installing, converting, convert, ubuntu, hard drive, hdd, mount, guide

frost Isagenix is a Complete Waste of Time and Money Dec 18th, 2006 - Subscribe
Isagenix is a Complete Waste of Time and Money
by FrosT

Introduction
If you have not been keeping up with my Isagenix project please read the following blogs:
  • Life Re-Charged - Isagenix
  • Life Re-Charged with Isagenix: Day 2
  • Life Re-Charged: Isagenix Day 3 - Cleanse Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 4 Cleanse
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 5 Shake Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 6 Shake Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 7 Shake Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 8 Shake Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 9 Shake Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Day 10 Cleanse Day
  • Life Re-Charged Isagenix: Finaly Day

    Questions EMail me at frost110 [-at-] gmail [-dot-] com or simply comment on any of my Isagenix Life Re-Charged Blogs.

    My Isagenix Experience
    As you can read from the blogs listed above I did go through the whole Isagenix process. To be honest I would have been better off drinking water on my own with a healthy shake each day. Or even going to a Head shop and buying their detoxification kits. Isagenix may work for some people; it did not work for me at all. For the price of $160 for just 1 9-day cleanse (They recommend you do 2-3 a year) I could of easily bought 2 weeks worth of health groceries. Heck on that note for the price it would cost me to do Isagenix for the whole year I could buy myself an annual Gym membership, and feed myself for the whole year and have money still left over. Let's move onto a more in-depth look at my expierence with Isagenix.

    Isagenix Caused My Sickness?
    The Pre-Cleanse days were horrible. They were just like the shake days, and all it really did was make the cleanse 11 days, which is an insanely long time to go with little food. As I stated on my last day I was completely drained of all energy and ended up getting very sick. The sickness lasted for 2 full weeks. Not as severe as I explained in the blog, but it was still there 2 weeks later. I do feel that the sickness came from the Isagenix Cleanse. Some people might say that it was the toxins coming out and it just did not come out all the way. I think that because I let my body be mal-nourished, which Isagenix claims it keep you fully nourished, and at that low point the cold kicked into high gear and hit me very hard.

    If anyone knows me, they know that I only get sick once a year for about 2 days with a cold. I do not get sick in April, it is always October. The symptoms I experienced are left on the previous post. I do know I was coughing for 2 weeks straight with a sore throat after the Cleanse.

    My Final Thoughts on Isagenix
    Well after everything I did not lose any significant weight, maybe 5 lb's but what else would you expect from not eating for a week? That and my weight usually varies 5-10 lbs any given week. No I was not perfect in following the Cleanse exactly, but I followed it pretty damn close to receive no results like I did. I will not forgo another cleanse, my wife is thinking about it but very hesitant after my results.

    Isagenix conned me out of $400 easily with their whole elaborate pyramid scheme. I am just sad I believed in Isagenix so blindly. I now realize that the only way to truly lose weight is to eat better and exercise. There is no quick fix solution like everyone wants. I know I want a quick fix bad, which it could be seen or else I would not have spent $400 on this product that did not work for me.

    One good thing did come out of Isagenix, I realized that I am in control of my body and that all I have to do is put my mind to anything and I can do it. I hope to use that as a huge motivator to get healthy and fit for the Summer of 2007 with real exercise and smart eating habits. I am going to be trying out a site called Sparkspeople.com I do not link to them only because I just started on it. Give me a month to post information and how the Sparks Diet is coming along.
    • 25 Comments
    Mood: neurotic
    KeyWords: isagenix, cleanse, day, 9-day, hoax, bad, horrible, hard, waste, money, time, complete, diary, journal, log

    frost Toledo, Ohio Neighborhood and Community Trash Problem Dec 4th, 2006 - Subscribe
    Toledo, Ohio Neighborhood and Community Trash Problem
    by FrosT

    Introduction
    A fellow member of Aeonity titled Neighbor Toledo, Ohio Blog as sparked this article entry. After viewing weeks and weeks worth of posts, it seems that no one is listening. Well I am going to help the cause by summarizing everything I have read on their blog and promote the city of Toledo, Ohio to clean up an obvious trash problem.

    Toledo, Ohio's Bus Stop Problem
    Currently in Toledo, Ohio there are many bus stops without trash cans. In return this causes many people to just throw their trash on the ground next to the bus stops in Toledo, Ohio. What are visitors suppose to think when they are touring the city of Toledo, Ohio and see trash everywhere? A simple trash can at the bus stop would clean up the surrounding bus area dramatically and make the city of Toledo, Ohio more presentable. As stated in the Bus stop trash spot light on these stops this week, Toledo Ohio, " I have written to the Solid Waste Department about most of these sites and it is really frustrating to report them time and time again. Sure, I could just forget about it, but this is where I live…" Obviously they care about the city of Toledo, Ohio where they reside. Why is the city of Toledo, Ohio not taking any actions to help their city become cleaner?

    Toledo, Ohio's Alley Way Problems
    In Toledo, Ohio Alley way's are becoming filled with people's trash, which just like the bust stop issue, does not help the morale of the city of Toledo, Ohio. Without stricter rules and consequences in place people will continue to be lazy and make the city of Toledo, Ohio look like a trash dump. After reading the Toledo, Ohio Blog titled What is the use of the trash rules, In Toledo Ohio, when they are not enforced? personally I would not want to visit a city, like Toledo, Ohio, that cannot control their own trash problem. When will the city of Toledo, Ohio take the matters away from the concerned citizens and start to clean up their city?

    Toledo, Ohio's Park Problems
    In the Polonia Park off of Dexter in Toledo, Ohio, as reported by Neighbor of the Toledo, Ohio Blog, the park as seen in the entry titled More spotlight images of trash and alley messes in the Pride Filled City of Toledo, Ohio is obviously very trashy which in return makes members of the community not want to go outside and play with their children at the park for the fear of what they may come across. Why does the city not enforce an Anti-Littering law with a fine attached to anyone caught throwing trash? Why not provide the residents of the community of Toledo, Ohio with trash cans to help prevent such catastrophes from happening?

    Ending Notes
    As a final note this blog is to help a concerned community member of Toledo, Ohio, who obviously is trying as hard as they can to bring a clean city to the dirty city of Toledo, Ohio. If you are concerned about current status of the city of Toledo, Ohio, help out Neighbor of the Toledo, Ohio Blog, and write an email of concern, linking to this blog if you must, to mayor.toledo@toledo.oh.gov regarding the un-clean status of the city. And ask the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio, why does he not help the community by helping making the city of Toledo, Ohio a clean and enjoyable city?

    Resources
    mayor.toledo@toledo.oh.gov - Mayor of Toledo, Ohio's Email.
    Toledo, Ohio Blog
    3 Comments
    Mood: glum
    KeyWords: toledo, ohio, trash, city, community, neighbor, dirty, un-clean, alley, park, bus, stop, cans

    frost Reliable Denver Colorado Mortgage Broker Nov 29th, 2006 - Subscribe
    Reliable Denver Colorado Mortgage Broker
    by FrosT

    Introduction
    Recently Lyndsey and I bought our first home. In doing this we faced many new faces and talked with many people. Out of everyone that helped us through this process it would not have been nearly as painless if we did not have the help of Rod Shuster from Clarion Mortgage Company.

    Finding a Reliable Mortgage Broker in Colorado
    When we started with our home buying process I did not know where to even start looking for a reliable and honest mortgage broker. In light I took of by googling many keywords without any success. Finally when I was talking with my Brother-in-law, Leif, he told me of Rod Shuster, which we helped him out by installing his security system. He gave Rod a call and gave me his number. Rod was more than happy to help me out and was always upfront and honest. Lucky for me I received this lucky break through my brother-in-law which meant I did not have to go with a person whom I could not trust to be honest with me.


    Colorado Mortgage Broker
    Rod is a mortgage broker located in Colorado. Rod, a Colorado Mortgage Broker, strictly works off of referrals, which also shows me that he would not try to scam anyone like so many other people have been scammed. If he did, than obviously Rod would not be in business for very long. Whether you live in Lakewood, Denver, Littleton or other many cities in Colorado, Rod, a Reliable Colorado Mortgage Broker, can help you through the painstaking process of purchasing a home. Along with being very reliable Rod was more than willing to explain any part of the mortgage that we had questions on and even gave us great tips about buying a house that we would not have known to do otherwise. For example when drafting up the contract Rod suggested that we higher a Real Estate Broker just for the paper work. A very wise suggestion which the seller, Lyndsey and I all agreed that would be better in the long run. In return to providing us with a mortgage he also made sure that Lyndsey and I would not get taken advantage of or end up kicking ourselves in the butt over the contract not being drafted up correctly.

    Rod Shuster, Reliable Colorado Mortgage Broker
    Rod Shuster, has proven to Lyndsey and I that Rod is a very reliable and trustworthy mortgage broker for the Colorado area. Through his knowledge and his actions we will definitely contact Rod Shuster, a reliable Colorado mortgage broker, for any more our home buying ventures. If you are looking for a great and reliable Colorado Mortgage Broker, I would highly recommend Rodney Shuster. Just give him a call at (303) 660-4210 or shoot him an email rod [-@-] shusterinc [-dot-] com. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed with Rod Shuster, a Reliable Colorado Mortgage Broker.

    Ending Notes
    While Lyndsey and I were at the closing yesterday signing the paperwork the lady from Security Title and Kevin White, our Real Estate broker, both made a very high statement about Rod Shuster and the way he works. Kevin stated that Rod kept him in the loop every step of the process and he was never in the dark on any part of our mortgage process. The lady from Security Title agreed and said she did not even doubt that the paperwork would be there on time and properly filled out. After all of this Lyndsey and I are very appreciative of Rod Shuster, a Reliable Colorado Mortgage Broker, for being the person he is and being upfront and honest with us every step of the way. Thank you Rod Shuster.

    Note:
    If you would like to talk with me about Rod Shuster feel free to call me at (720) 984-9780 (Jim Worthen)

    Resources
    Rodney Shuster
    rod [-@-] shusterinc [-dot-] com
    (303) 660-4210
    Reliable Colorado Mortgage Broker

    Related Articles
    Buying Our First Home in Lakewood CO
    Safehome Inspections - Quality Home Inspections in Denver CO
    1 Comments
    Mood: electric
    KeyWords: reliable, mortgage, broker, colorado, denver, lakewood, rod, shuster, clarion, broker, buying, first, home, honest, trustworthy

    frost Tracking Traffic to a Specific Link Nov 21st, 2006 - Subscribe
    Tracking Traffic to a Specific Link
    by FrosT

    Introduction
    My very first PHP script was dedicated to logging how many times a specific link has been clicked. The first version of the script the stats were logged to a flat file (text file located on the server) to avoid the need of MySQL. The LinkScript code will not immediately be available, but I will post it here in the future. Let's start with the history of LinkScript.

    History of LinkScript
    The first LinkScript was developed as a tool to count how many people have clicked on a specific link. The simplicity of this initial script allowed for all the data to be stored in a flat file on the server. This eliminated the need of MySQL for those uses that did not have access to a MySQL database on their server. The initial script would open the file, grab the line that is being accessed parse the data update the counter and than write all the lines back into the file with the newly updated count. This strategy shows a few problems, namely was errors would often be thrown due to write access and sometimes data would be over written.

    At this point I had learned MySQL in and out and was able to tie LinkScript into a MySQL database. Although the original version of parsing a text file is still accessible, the flat file is not ideal. Incorporating a MySQL database allowed room for a lot of expansion. The expansions included, anti-hotlink options, extra statistics, including referrers and IP addresses of users clicking the link. The script was fairly simple, whenever there was a link you wanted to track you simply added the link to the database, and than the database would provide you with a URL to use to track the link. On that note let's get into the logistics of LinkScript.

    Logistics of LinkScript
    Tracking links can prove to be a difficult task, but one well worth it if you want to find out how popular a link is. The steps for the LinkScript would be as follows; add a link to the database, including name, description and the actual link URL. From this information the script would store that data in the database and return you the URL to use to track the link. This URL originally was in the form of linkScript.php?linkID=3. This may be changed for ease of use by adding a track back name so instead of linkID=3 it would be link=tack-back-name. Now when a user clicked on that link they would be re-directed to the file and or link that was requested. If the link indeed was a file, the PHP script knew that and if the anti-hotlink option was on for that link it would check the referrer and verify that the user came from the website. If they did not come from the website, or it looked like headers were modified they would be denied the file.

    Future Revision to LinkScript
    I have been working on future revisions for the LinkScript which include optimizing the database and the code and incorporate Object Oriented Programming into the script. Also a factor that may be looked into is making the actual links SEO friendly and figuring out if writing that would be worth the effort. In essence the URL would from linkScript.php?linkID=3 to /link-script/file-track-back-name.ext I am not sure if that would prove to be worth the effort but is definitely something to look into for the next revision.

    Ending Notes
    As of right now the code is not available as I have not worked on this script in a few years. I am currently looking into that code and doing many revisions and some optimization of the script and once that has been completed expect to see the script available under the resources section.

    Resources
    PHP.net
    0 Comments
    Mood: starstruck
    KeyWords: tracking, count, counter, traffic, link, script, linkscript, mysql, database, text, file, write, free, code, optimized, click

    frost Add Free Movie Listing and Reviews for your Website Nov 2nd, 2006 - Subscribe
    Add Free Movie Listing and Reviews for your Website
    by FrosT

    UPDATE
    Please read EMovies Will no Longer be Supported

    The code below is free, but no longer works.


    Introduction
    Emocium and Aeonity bring you code that was just released as Open Source. EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews v3 has been in the making for 3 years and was once sold for a price of $150. We are giving you this code for free. Since I am the author of the code I can release EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews v3 to the public. Read on for some insight into EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews and how it all works. Remember PHP and Apache is required for EMovies to run.

    Webfetch Scripting
    What is a webfetch you ask? A webfetch is a script that reads a webpage of another site off your server and grabs that content for manipulation by a certain script. EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews is simply a webfetch script that uses the Yahoo Movie Listings page to pull its results. Due to this fact the more popular the script gets on your server the higher risk of Yahoo blocking your IP. At a later time I may cook up a scheme to cache results. If someone else feels prompted to create a cache for this script, which would be awesome. If the results were cached and re-cached about every day or maybe even every Tuesday this would significantly reduce the requests to Yahoo which decreases the risk of your IP address getting blocked by Yahoo's Servers.

    Does Yahoo Know?
    As far as I know Yahoo does not know. I alerted them once before I started selling the script and had an Email stating we had the authority to sell it. Since than I lost that email and because of that selling the script is no longer a viable option due to legal reasons. I will not take any responsibility for actions taken against you from Yahoo. Use at your own risk.

    EMovies Revision Histrory
    When EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews first started out it was running a template system I created. This template system was not powerful enough and very hard to code. The code for EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews was also straight parse code, no functions or classes anywhere. Later on after I learned Object Oriented Programming, I implemented EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews to run off OOP. This significantly increased the speed and efficiency of EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews. At the same time OOP was incorporated into EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews I created a Search Engine Friendly script for Search Engine Optimization.

    Currently the script provided is the SEO version of the script. This SEO version is not the same version that was deployed on Emocium.com due to a few reasons. After 1 month of the SEO script being implemented we ranked #1 on Google.com and Yahoo.com for any time of movie listing search. A person could find "Denver Movie Listings" and we would pull up #1 over any other results. We were averaging 15,000 hits a day. Well about a week after we hit this high volume of users Yahoo blocked our IP for a month. After that I figured it was not worth the risk to be banned permanently from Yahoo.com. Thus I trashed the original SEO script.

    Note the current script is optimized, just not as hardcore as the older version. Once that happened I chose to revamp the script again using a new template system. The Easy Template System (ETS), in hope to provide an easier means of modifying the EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews templates. Remember if you need help with a template search Google.com for the Easy Template System. After the new template engine was released a few copies were sold and than EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews was left un-maintained. This was about a year ago. Since than I fixed the script to work and decided to release it to the general public.

    What is Asked of Me for Using EMovies Script?
    All I will ever ask of anyone who uses my EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews is to link back to Emocium.com on the site that uses EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews, or leave the Powered By information intact.

    Ending Notes
    The EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews script has worked for a long time. Anyone who knows how to code should be able to fix any problem arises. If not please contact me at frost [-at-] aeonity [-dot-] com and I can look into the issue. Please do not mis-use my EMovies Movie Listings and Reviews and remember to be courteous and link back to Emocium.com. That is all I ask for a script that cost many people $150 a year and a half ago. I do accept donations, if you would like to donate please use the button below under resources. Thank you.

    UPDATE
    V3.2 - Fixed movie times not displaying properly and added a new feature in config.php that will allow a user to set a specific zipcode to always display. If this variable is set to false it allows the user to choose the zipcode. Files update: emovfunc.php, process.php and config.php

    Resources

    EMovies - Movie Listings and Reviews v3.1 Download
    EMovies - Movie Listings and Reviews v3.2 Download
    PHPClasses.org
    Emocium.com

    Examples
    InsideHighlandsRanch.com
    20 Comments
    Mood: indescribable
    KeyWords: emovies, movies, listings, reviews, free, add, website, emocium, free listings, free reviews

    frost Cache Basics Using PHP and Apache Oct 30th, 2006 - Subscribe
    Cache Basics Using PHP and Apache
    by FrosT

    Introduction
    Working on a new project I found a need to use caching. After searching the internet and asking a few questions on different forums I was able to get a handle on how to properly cache a document using PHP and Apache. Not only will I provide you with document information but the code to a Cache class that I created. Onto the explanation!

    Why Cache Files with PHP and Apache?
    As most people know caching is not always the best option. You have to ask yourself this questions first, "How dynamic is my content?" If your answer is extremely dynamic, chances are Caching is not for you, at least not in its entirety. Certain pages or files you may not want cached at all, that is perfectly fine. Other files it may make perfect sense to cache them. For example if you have a header and a footer inside PHP files and your header and footer files never change, those can easily be cached without caching the main part of the document. What will caching the header and footer do for you? This would mean less load time for the main page for the user. The only content that has to be generated is the main content. As appose to if the header and footer are not cached every time a call is made for that particular page the header and footer is re-created. This will increase the load time and decrease the pull on your server.

    Why Not Cache Files using PHP and Apache?
    As stated before some people caching is not a viable option. Meaning their content that is generated is small enough that it would not matter. Or the amount of incoming traffic to their website is not enough to make a difference. A lot of times people will say that it would take too much effort to cache their current site without much of a benefit. This may be true and if that is the case I would say caching is not for you. However if you even think that caching files would help, there is no harm is trying.

    The Caching Process with PHP and Apache
    The caching process using PHP and Apache is extremely easy. For some people there is a lot of confusion, which hopefully will be avoided using the class I provided. PHP uses a few functions include ob_start() which is designed to capture output before it is displayed on the users screen. The ob functions are very handy when attempting to cache file because you can have any page, whether it be your site or off site captured and cached. Basically what happens is you get all the data you need to display the page, than you call the ob_start() function. As this is happening you print out the entire page just like if you were displaying that page. Once that is completed you call the ob_get_contents() and than ob_end_clean() function which will say "Ok do not capture any more data being output." From here you have the entire page in a string from the ob_get_contents(). Now that we have the whole page in a string we can choose to start that in a text file or in a database.

    If you prefer to have all your cached files in a text file than you just use the fopen() and fwrite() functions to do so. If you are like
    me and hate having to manage text files etc another viable option is to store the cache in a database. I prefer the database as appose to a text file because a database is much easier to manipulate for me. That is just my preference. Once you have that file cached and stored the process is over, unless you want to take this a step further (which I know you do).

    Caching with gZip, PHP and Apache
    Since we are already caching the page, let's also make it smaller for storage. This is done using a remarkable function called gZip. gZip basically takes a file and reduces the size. For example at a compression level of 3 (1-9 9 being highest compression) a 48KB file is reduced to 18KB. That is a significant amount of spaced saved. I stated the compression of 3 because using that level gives you plenty of compressions without the heavy load to the server. A level 9 compression uses a lot of system resources to complete. For most people's use a level 3 compression will be sufficient. Lucky for you I included in my Cache class the gZip compression. This will automatically compress any page you cache to gZip format. When retrieving the page for displaying purposes, if the user's browser does not support the gZip format it will unzip the content and display it normally, no functionality will be lost.

    Why use gZip as a part of Caching?
    After a page is cached the time to load that page is significantly reduced. If you take this process a step further and gZip that page before sending it to the browser the time is again significantly reduced to view that file. As long as the user's browser supports the gZip compression there is no reason to be sending them a 100KB file when it can be 25KB. This will reduce the bandwidth that your site is putting out and increase the speed on the end-user's side. gZip is a major plus no matter how you look at it. With the only issue being if the user's browser does not support gZip all you have to do is code for that. As I stated before I have done this for you already. Using the class I created you will not have to worry about that logic and how to get working correctly.

    Ending Notes
    Caching with PHP and Apache is an excellent idea for almost any web developer. This will provide you with amazing speeds, lower server strain and less bandwidth used. With the use of gZip everything stated before is increased. The gZip functionality is one that is widely available but not used due to lack of information to developers. That is what I hope to change. The advantages of using gZip are clear cut without any disadvantages. I hope this guide helps you.

    Resources:
    http://www.emocium.com/files/clCache.phps
    9 Comments
    Mood: astonished
    KeyWords: cache, gzip, zip, php, apache, programming, program, basics, howto, code, file, class, speed, efficiency, server, decrease, load, increase

    frost McDonalds Monopoly Game - Who Needs Railroads Oct 20th, 2006 - Subscribe

    McDonalds Monopoly Game - Who Needs Railroads
    by FrosT

    UPDATE
    As of right now I have Pennsylvania and B&O Railroad. I also have a person who says they have Reading Railroad. If you have Shortline please contact me. This is being done in the US, I am not sure of international rules but yea. Shortline is still a key peice. Thanks everyone for the great response!

    Introduction
    I recently visited a McDonalds, not my greatest move as I almost got sick, but I found the Monopoly game was on going. Well this new variation of the game advertises, "Get 5 Rail Roads and win 5 Million Dollars". After peeling back my playing stamps I found I had the B&O Railroad. I hate McDonalds and that is the reason why I am creating this post! Read on for details.

    Let's Get Together
    I figured that why let McDonalds get away with $5 million dollars? If I have one peice and 4 other people have the other Railroads required, lets split that money. I do not have a problem with that at all. I am making a call out to anyone who has a McDonald RailRoad who wants to get together and attempt to win $1 and a 1/4 million dollars. As of right now we will need Reading Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and Short Line Railroad. If you are interested in this offer I am making please email me at frost [-at-] aeonity [-dot-] com for details. I am good to my word as I will always be.

    What Railroads Do You Have?
    What Railroads do you have, please contact me as you already know my card. I have the B&O RailRoad and need Reading Railrod, Pennsylvania Railroad and Short Line Railroad for the McDonalds Monopoly Game. If you want to attempt to get $1 and a 1/4 million dollars with me contact me at frost [-at-] aeonity [-dot-] com. Note: if you possess 2 of these magic Railroads, your pot increases. Like I said EMail me for details.

    Ending Notes
    I know this is a long shot blog, but hopefully someone out there shares the same interest as me. If you do contact me and we can discuss details on the Monopoly Game $5 million dollar Railroad prize! Thanks!
    18 Comments
    Mood: introspective
    KeyWords: mcdonalds, railroad, b&o, pennsylvania, reading, shortline, short, line, game, prize, split, collect, 5million, monopoly, game