HI SYN!

Windows update issues post SP3 install

Yesterday I finished the re-install of my IBM ThinkPad T42 using the factory install disks. After completing the re-install, I diligently started the Windows Update process to make sure my laptop was up to date before pushing all my data back onto it.  After 2 patches, SP3 update was next and I let it do its thing for the next few hours and went to bed.  This morning I woke up to try and install a few optional updates and generally wrap the reload up and found I couldn't install ANYTHING! .NET 2.0 had a critical update that would take, nor would any of the optional hardware and software updates work. Finally after googling around I found a post here that says:

This problem will not exist on the final version of SP3.

It can be fixed by running this command:

regsvr32 wups2.dll

Sure enough, after registering that dll file with the above command I am now able to apply all updates to the system.  Good for both future reference and for anyone googling around wondering why they can't update their XP system anymore!

Domain Registration

Last night I read a story about how our favorite company (Network Solutions) which controls the US Domain Name system (and the costs associated to it) has decided to raise the price... again.  So I hopped onto registrar account and checked out the status of my domains and nearly missed renewing a domain!  Since I have only a few domains that im using for personal (and work purposes now!) I'm renewing them for a few years before the "man" decides to raise prices again and again each year.  And I though yearly raises in apartment rents were bad :(

colo vs dedicated server

I've been shopping around the past few days for either a colocated server space for an old box I have (AMD 64 4000, 4GB memory, 300GB HD) or a deal on a dedicated server.  I've pretty much decided on going with Burst.net unless one of my recent quotes come back with a great deal since I cannot stand spending $50/mo on a Celeron with 512MB memory and 80GB HD vs what I can get for $70/mo. There is an interesting thread on WHT that I stumbled upon dealing with the question of why cheap colo costs more than cheap dedicated:

This is probably a dumb question, but I've been curious about something. While shopping around for either a cheap dedicated server (less than $75/mo) or a cheap colo for a 1u server, I have noticed that the cheap dedicated servers are often less than a cheap colo, which seems odd to me since with a colo you bring your own machine. For example, Sago Networks has cheap dedicateds for $50, $59, $79 etc. yet their cheapest colo option is $99. For Sago's $50 dedicated you get 1000GB transfer and 2 IP's, and with their $99 colo you get only get 100 GB transfer and 1 IP. And Sago is not unusual in this respect. I've priced other providers that fall into this category and they have similar differences. So why is colo more expensive than dedicated for similar, if not lower, features?

Read the rest

The reason I'm going to a dedicated/colo server (again!) is because this VPS has proven too unstable for me.  I can't deal with my sites being up and down or painfully slow because another VPS is eating up all of the hosts CPU. Plus I can't run any game servers for fun!  I also will get about 10x the server for 2.5x the cost which I think is a good deal and I get to put some of my old, idle hardware into action.  This decisions seems Win-Win for everyone.