BSchroer Blog

Vehicle VIN Decoder

2010-06-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

AnalogX VIN View: AnalogX VIN View is a free online VIN decoder that allows you to see the information about your vehicle based on your car's vehicle identification number. VIN View supports decoding of any vehicle identification number that was issued after 1978. Just enter the 17-character VIN number and click decode. On the decoded page, you'll see your VIN again and the position of each character, then on the bottom portion you'll see what position and characters map to what information.

CCleaner

2010-04-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

There are banner ads all over the place for tune-up programs and registry repair or cleaning apps, but most of them are about as useful as lips on a chicken. CCleaner, on the other hand is great at what it does. Two quick scans with CCleaner can rid your system of gigabytes of temporary files and tidy up crud hiding inside your Windows registry. CCleaner also lets you create a backup of the registry data it removes so that you can put it back if something goes wrong.

One thing to know about: the normal CCleaner installer offers the Ask.com toolbar. Simply uncheck the boxes when they appear to avoid installing it, or download the Slim installer instead.

Comodo EasyVPN

2010-04-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, most "geeks" probably aren't using EasyVPN but that doesn't mean it's not a geeky program. What does it do? It sets up a virtual network between any computers you install the program on. It's like having them all in the same place and plugged into the same router even if they're miles apart from each other. So what can you do with EasyVPN?

take remote control of your home or work computer

browse folders and transfer files

print documents to a remove, shared printer

Unlike a lot of other remote control (like GoToMyPC) and VPN programs, Comodo is free for use in both home and work settings.

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-04-26T08:11:00.001-07:00

Windows keyboard shortcuts can be found at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Keyboard-shortcuts.

Windows XP mode in Windows 7

2010-03-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

How to use Window XP mode in Windows 7 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/explore/use-windows-7-to-run-windows-xp-mode.aspx.

Test your ISP

2010-03-29T08:39:00.001-07:00

The University of California has an excellent tool for testing your ISP. Visit
http://netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu/ to test your ISP. My results were as follows:

Result Summary +/– (expand/collapse)
75-141-193-161.dhcp.reno.nv.charter.com / 75.141.193.161
Recorded at 11:32 EDT (15:32 UTC), Mar 29 2010. Permalink. Client/server transcript.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary of Noteworthy Events –
Major Abnormalities •Your DNS resolver returns results even when no such server exists
Minor Aberrations •Certain TCP protocols are blocked in outbound traffic
•Network packet buffering may be excessive
•We received unexpected and possibly dangerous results when looking up important names
Major AbnormalitiesMinor Aberrations
Address-based Tests +
NAT detection (?): NAT DetectedYour global IP address is 75.141.193.161 while your local one is 192.168.1.11. You are behind a NAT. Your local address is in unroutable address space.
Your machine numbers TCP source ports sequentially. The following graph shows connection attempts on the X-axis and their corresponding source ports used by your computer on the Y-axis.

TCP ports are not renumbered by the network.
DNS-based host information (?): OKYou are not a Tor exit node for HTTP traffic. You are listed on the Spamhaus Policy Based Blacklist, meaning that your provider has designated your address block as one that should only be sending authenticated email, email through the ISP's mail server, or using webmail. The SORBS DUHL believes you are using a statically assigned IP address.
NAT detection (?): NAT Detected DNS-based host information (?): OK Reachability Tests –
TCP connectivity (?): NoteDirect TCP access to remote FTP servers (port 21) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote SSH servers (port 22) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote SMTP servers (port 25) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote DNS servers (port 53) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote HTTP servers (port 80) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote POP3 servers (port 110) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote RPC servers (port 135) is blocked.

This is probably for security reasons, as this protocol is generally not designed for use outside the local network.
Direct TCP access to remote NetBIOS servers (port 139) is blocked.

This is probably for security reasons, as this protocol is generally not designed for use outside the local network.
Direct TCP access to remote IMAP servers (port 143) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote SNMP servers (port 161) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote HTTPS servers (port 443) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote SMB servers (port 445) is blocked.

This is probably for security reasons, as this protocol is generally not designed for use outside the local network.
Direct TCP access to remote SMTP/SSL servers (port 465) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote secure IMAP servers (port 585) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote authenticated SMTP servers (port 587) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote IMAP/SSL servers (port 993) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote POP/SSL servers (port 995) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote OpenVPN servers (port 1194) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote PPTP Control servers (port 1723) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote SIP servers (port 5060) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote BitTorrent servers (port 6881) is allowed. Direct TCP access to remote TOR servers (port 9001) is allowed. UDP connectivity (?): OKBasic UDP access is available.

The applet was able to send fragmented UDP traffic.

The applet was able to receive fragmented UDP traffic.
Direct UDP access to remote DNS servers (port 53) is allowed. Direct UDP access to remote OpenVPN servers (port 1194) is allowed. Direct UDP access to remote MSSQL servers (port 1434) is allowed. Path MTU (?): OKThe path between your network and our system supports an MTU of at least 1500 bytes, and the path between our system and your network has an MTU of 1500 bytes.

TCP connectivity (?): Note UDP connectivity (?): OK Path MTU (?): OK
Network Access Link Properties –
Network latency measurements (?): Latency: 89ms Loss: 0.0%The round-trip time (RTT) between your computer and our server is 89 msec, which is good. We recorded no packet loss between your system and our server. TCP connection setup latency (?): 92msThe time it takes your computer to set up a TCP connection with our server is 92 msec, which is good. Network background health measurement (?): no transient outagesDuring most of Netalyzr's execution, the applet continuously measures the state of the network in the background, looking for short outages. During testing, the applet observed no such outages. Network bandwidth measurements (?): Upload 1.1 Mbit/sec, Download 13 Mbit/secYour Uplink: We measured your uplink's sending bandwidth at 1.1 Mbit/sec. This level of bandwidth works well for many users.
During this test, the applet observed 15 reordered packets.
During this test, the applet observed 52 duplicate packets. Your Downlink: We measured your downlink's receiving bandwidth at 13 Mbit/sec. This level of bandwidth works well for many users. Network buffer measurements (?): Uplink 1200 ms, Downlink is goodWe estimate your uplink as having 1200 msec of buffering. This is quite high, and you may experience substantial disruption to your network performance when performing interactive tasks such as web-surfing while simultaneously conducting large uploads. With such a buffer, real-time applications such as games or audio chat can work quite poorly when conducting large uploads at the same time. We were not able to produce enough traffic to load the downlink buffer, or the downlink buffer is particularly small. You probably have excellent behavior when downloading files and attempting to do other tasks. Network latency measurements (?): Latency: 89ms Loss: 0.0% TCP connection setup latency (?): 92ms Network background health measurement (?): no transient outages Network bandwidth measurements (?): Upload 1.1 Mbit/sec, Download 13 Mbit/sec Network buffer measurements (?): Uplink 1200 ms, Downlink is good
HTTP Tests +
Address-based HTTP proxy detection (?): OKThere is no explicit sign of HTTP proxy use based on IP address. Header-based HTTP proxy detection (?): OKNo HTTP header or content changes hint at the presence of a proxy. HTTP proxy detection via malformed requests (?): OKDeliberately malformed HTTP requests arrive at our server unchanged. Thus, the proxies along your path are able to transparently forward invalid HTTP traffic. Filetype-based filtering (?): OKWe did not detect file-content filtering. HTTP caching behavior (?): OKThere is no suggestion that a transparent HTTP cache exists in your network. JavaScript-based tests (?): OKThe applet was not run from within a frame. Your web browser reports the following cookies for our web page:netAlizEd = BaR (set by our server)netalyzrStatus = running (set by our server)Your web browser was unable to fetch an image using IPv6.
Address-based HTTP proxy detection (?): OK Header-based HTTP proxy detection (?): OK HTTP proxy detection via malformed requests (?): OK Filetype-based filtering (?): OK HTTP caching behavior (?): OK JavaScript-based tests (?): OK DNS Tests –
Restricted domain DNS lookup (?): OKWe are able to successfully lookup a name which resolves to the same IP address as our webserver. This means we are able to conduct many of the tests on your DNS server. Unrestricted domain DNS lookup (?): OKWe are able to successfully lookup arbitrary names from within the Java applet. This means we are able to conduct all test on your DNS server. Direct EDNS support (?): OKEDNS-enabled requests for small responses are answered successfully. EDNS-enabled requests for medium-sized responses are answered successfully. EDNS-enabled requests for large responses are answered successfully. DNS resolver address (?): OKThe IP address of your ISP's DNS Resolver is 24.205.192.62, which resolves to pxy03renonv.reno.nv.charter.com. Additional nameservers observed for your host: 24.205.192.59 DNS resolver properties (?): Lookup latency: 48msYour ISP's DNS resolver requires 48 msec to conduct an external lookup, and 10 msec to lookup an item in the cache. It takes 38 msec for your ISP's DNS resolver to lookup a name on our server. Your resolver correctly uses TCP requests when necessary. Your resolver is using QTYPE=A for default queries. Your resolver is not automatically performing IPv6 queries. Your DNS resolver requests DNSSEC records. Your DNS resolver advertises the ability to accept DNS packets of up to 4096 bytes. Your DNS resolver can successfully receive a smaller (~1400 byte) DNS response. Your DNS resolver can successfully receive a large (>1500 byte) DNS response. Your DNS resolver can successfully accept large responses. Your resolver does not use 0x20 randomization, but will pass names in a case-sensitive manner. Your ISP's DNS resolver respects a TTL of 0 seconds. Your ISP's DNS resolver respects a TTL of 1 seconds. Your NAT has a built in DNS proxy. The DNS request was received from 24.205.192.59 No transport issues were discovered which could affect the deployment of DNSSEC DNS glue policy (?): OKYour ISP's DNS resolver does not accept generic additional (glue) records — good. Your ISP's DNS resolver accepts additional (glue) records for nameservers located in subdomains of the queried domain. Your ISP's DNS resolver does not follow CNAMEs. DNS resolver port randomization (?): OKYour ISP's DNS resolver properly randomizes its local port number.
The following graph shows DNS requests on the x-axis and the detected source ports on the y-axis.
DNS lookups of popular domains (?): Warning2 popular names have a moderate anomaly: we are unable to find a reverse name associated with the IP address provided by your ISP's DNS server, although we expected to find a name. This is most likely due to a slow responding DNS server. If you rerun Netalyzr and see this condition remain, it could be due to a misconfiguration on the part of the domain owner or your DNS server could be misconfigured or enabling a Man-in-the-Middle attack.

Name IP Address Reverse Name/SOA
www.citibank.com 192.193.219.58 X
online.citibank.com 199.67.181.11 X
77 of 77 popular names were resolved successfully. Show all names.
In the following table reverse lookups that failed but for which a Start Of Authority (SOA) entry indicated correct name associations are shown using an "X", followed by the SOA entry. Absence of both IP address and reverse name indicates failed forward lookups. Name IP Address Reverse Name/SOA
www.abbey.co.uk 165.160.13.20 X (pdns1.cscdns.net)
ad.doubleclick.net 74.125.19.148 nuq04s01-in-f148.1e100.net
www.alliance-leicester.co.uk 194.130.105.121 X (alice.ioko365.com)
www.amazon.com 72.21.207.65 X (dns-external-master.amazon.com)
www.bankofamerica.com 171.161.161.173 www.bankofamerica.com
www.bankofscotland.co.uk 195.171.171.21 X (ns0.bt.net)
www.barclays.co.uk 213.219.1.141 X (dns1.lon7.telecityredbus.net)
bit.ly 168.143.174.29 X (ns1.dn.net)
www.capitalone.com 208.80.48.112 X (chia.arin.net)
www.chase.com 159.53.64.105 X (ns1.jpmorganchase.com)
chaseonline.chase.com 159.53.60.54 resources-cdc1.chase.com
www.citi.com 192.193.103.222 citibank.com
www.citimortgage.com 192.193.218.222 citimortgage.com
www.cnn.com 157.166.226.26 www.cnn.com
www.desjardins.com 142.195.132.100 www.desjardins.com
www.deutsche-bank.de 217.73.49.24 www.deutsche-bank.de
www.e-gold.com 209.200.169.10 unknown.prolexic.com
www.ebay.com 66.211.181.11 hp-core.ebay.com
www.etrade.com 198.93.34.21 www.etrade.com
www.facebook.com 69.63.181.12 www-11-01-snc2.facebook.com
www.fdic.gov 192.147.69.84 www.fdic.gov
www.friendfinder.com 208.88.180.81 X (ii53-30.friendfinderinc.com)
www.google.com 66.102.7.99 lax04s01-in-f99.1e100.net
www.halifax.co.uk 212.140.245.97 halifax.co.uk
www.hsbc.co.uk 193.108.74.126 X (ns3.hsbc.com)
www.jpmorganchase.com 159.53.64.105 X (ns1.jpmorganchase.com)
mail.google.com 66.102.7.83 lax04s01-in-f83.1e100.net
mail.live.com 64.4.20.184 dp3.mail.live.com
mail.yahoo.com 66.163.169.186 l1.login.vip.sp1.yahoo.com
www.mbna.com 209.135.59.10 X (ns1.usi.net)
www.mbna.net 209.135.59.10 X (ns1.usi.net)
www.meebo.com 208.81.191.110 X (ns1.meebo.com)
messenger.yahoo.com 68.142.194.14 myc1.msg.vip.mud.yahoo.com
www.microsoft.com 64.4.31.252 wwwbay3vip.microsoft.com
www.nationwide.co.uk 155.131.31.10 www.nationwide.co.uk
www.networksolutions.com 205.178.187.13 www.networksolutions.com
www.newegg.com 216.52.208.185 X (pdns1.ultradns.net)
online.wellsfargo.com 151.151.88.132 percussion-on.wellsfargo.com
www.orange.fr 193.252.148.241 vip1.dyn.hpo.s1.fti.net
partner.googleadservices.com 74.125.19.167 nuq04s01-in-f167.1e100.net
www.paypal.com 64.4.241.49 node-64-4-241-4[...]orks.paypal.com
www.rbs.co.uk 155.136.80.222 X (ns0-08.dns.pipex.net)
www.schwab.com 162.93.206.80 wwwschwab-vip.schwab.com
search.yahoo.com 74.6.146.119 m1.search.vip.sk1.yahoo.com
www.sears.com 96.16.57.99 a96-16-57-99.de[...]echnologies.com
www.secureworks.com 67.107.53.168 67.107.53.168.ptr.us.xo.net
smartzone.comcast.net 76.96.26.12 webmail3.emeryv[...]ail.comcast.net
www.smithbarney.com 192.193.20.126 X (ns.citicorp.com)
www.sterlingsavingsbank.com 12.19.55.215 sterlingsavingsbank.com
www.ticketmaster.com 96.6.228.199 a96-6-228-199.d[...]echnologies.com
tinyurl.com 85.255.210.134 crp2.tinyurl.com
www.torproject.org 38.229.70.16 vescum.torproject.org
us.etrade.com 198.93.34.50 us.etrade.com
www.usbank.com 170.135.216.181 swiftsend.usbank.com
www.verisign.com 65.205.249.60 www.verisign.net
www.wachovia.com 169.200.89.101 X (sls-ns1.wachovia.com)
www.wamu.com 159.53.84.27 X (ns1.jpmorganchase.com)
www.wellsfargo.com 151.151.88.133 percussion-dd.wellsfargo.com
westernunion.com 206.201.228.250 www.wuagentlink.com
windowsupdate.microsoft.com 207.46.225.221 X (msnhst.microsoft.com)
wireless.att.com 135.209.168.22 origin-b2b-al[...]eless.att.com
www.yahoo.com 72.30.2.43 ir1.fp.vip.sk1.yahoo.com
8 popular names have a mild anomaly. The ownership suggested by the reverse name lookup does not match our understanding of the original name. The most likely cause is the site's use of a Content Delivery Network. Show all names.
Name IP Address Reverse Name/SOA
www.bing.com 67.131.38.17 X (dca-ans-01.inet.qwest.net)
www.f-secure.com 67.131.38.35 X (dca-ans-01.inet.qwest.net)
www.irs.gov 67.131.38.25 X (dca-ans-01.inet.qwest.net)
www.lloydstsb.com 141.92.130.226 X (ns0.bt.net)
www.nordea.fi 193.88.186.178 X (ns01.tdchosting.dk)
www.postbank.de 195.50.155.73 X (ns1.arcor-ip.de)
www.trendmicro.com 67.131.38.48 X (dca-ans-01.inet.qwest.net)
www.visa.com 67.148.71.32 67-148-71-32.d[...]atic.qwest.net
5 popular names have a mild anomaly: we are unable to find a reverse name associated with the IP address provided by your ISP's DNS server. This is most likely due to a slow responding DNS server or misconfiguration on the part of the domain owner. Show all names.
Name IP Address Reverse Name/SOA
www.ameritrade.com 204.58.27.105 X
www.bankofthewest.com 204.44.12.103 X
www.careerbuilder.com 208.88.82.22 X
www.sparkasse.de 212.34.69.3 X
www.tdameritrade.com 204.58.27.113 X
DNS external proxy (?): OKYour host ignores external DNS requests. DNS results wildcarding (?): WarningYour ISP's DNS server returns IP addresses even for domain names which should not resolve. Instead of an error, the DNS server returns an address of 64.158.56.56, which does not resolve. You can inspect the resulting HTML content here.

There are several possible explanations for this behavior. The most likely cause is that the ISP is attempting to profit from customer's typos by presenting advertisements in response to bad requests, but it could also be due to an error or misconfiguration in the DNS server.

The big problem with this behavior is that it can potentially break any network application which relies on DNS properly returning an error when a name does not exist.

The following lists your DNS server's behavior in more detail.

•www.{random}.com is mapped to 64.158.56.56.
•www.{random}.org is mapped to 64.158.56.56.
•fubar.{random}.com is mapped to 64.158.56.56.
•www.yahoo.cmo [sic] is mapped to 64.158.56.56.
•nxdomain.{random}.netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu is mapped to 64.158.56.56.
Restricted domain DNS lookup (?): OK Unrestricted domain DNS lookup (?): OK Direct EDNS support (?): OK DNS resolver address (?): OK DNS resolver properties (?): Lookup latency: 48ms DNS glue policy (?): OK DNS resolver port randomization (?): OK DNS lookups of popular domains (?): Warning DNS external proxy (?): OK DNS results wildcarding (?): Warning
Host Properties +
System clock accuracy (?): OKYour computer's clock agrees with our server's clock. Browser properties (?): OKThe following parameters are sent by your web browser to all web sites you visit:•User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0)•Accept: application/x-ms-application, image/jpeg, application/xaml+xml, image/gif, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-xbap, application/x-shockwave-flash, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, */*•Accept Language: en-US•Accept Encoding: gzip, deflate•Accept Charset: ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7Java identifies your operating system as Windows 7. Uploaded Data (?): OKThe following additional data was uploaded by the applet: •nxpage•raw_http_content
System clock accuracy (?): OK Browser properties (?): OK Uploaded Data (?): OK Feedback
Please take a moment to tell us about your network. All fields are optional. If you would like to contact us with questions about your results, please contact us with your session ID, or get in touch on the mailing list.

How is your machine connected to the network?
Wireless Wired

Where are you right now?
At home
At work
In a public setting (wifi hotspot, Internet cafe, etc.)
Other (please describe in comments below)

Feel free to leave additional comments below.

Your email address:

2009-03-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

One of my fillies made the September 2008 front cover of Horse and Rider magazine. This 2008 filly is by MAID DIGNIFIED and out of ONE RICH MAMA. ONE RICH MAMA is a great mare. She is an ApHC Champion, ApHC Versatility Champion and a bronze medallion winner. One of her daughters, VISIONS TO GO, is the dam of the 2008 Natonal Champion Weanling Gelding, MD RICH AND FAMOUS.

From the Appaloosa Horse Club blog at http://appaloosablogspot.com/2008/08/27/appaloosa-cover-girl/#comments, the following was noted:

It’s always a pleasant bonus when an Appaloosa makes the cover of someone else’s magazine. In this case, the September issue of Horse & Rider provides the stage and the spotlight. The star cover girl is a filly sired by Maid Dignified and owned by Bernice Schroer of Carson City, Nevada. The photo is by Gail Bates.

Our own local celebrity Juli Thorson, H&R Lifestyle Editor, says it’s been quite a while since an Appaloosa made the cover of the mag. The feature story is by Robin Gollehon, a member of Team Horse & Rider, who discussed how to evaluate a weanling that you’ve bred or are thinking of buying. Most of you know Robin as an active participant in ApHC events at the national and even global levels.

1. Richard Lankford Said,
August 28, 2008 @ 7:11 am
It’s great to have an Appaloosa on the cover of Horse & Rider.Another way to promote the Appaloosa horse and the ApHC.
2. Diane E Said,
September 2, 2008 @ 4:04 pm
I agree, this is good for our breed. I’d also like to say that the cover of this month’s AJ is absolutely great, and I also like the fact that the photo is on the home page of the Club’s website. That one photo says it all–why our breed and club can be so wonderful.

Great New Advanced Article on ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages

2006-05-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

K. Scott Allen has an awesome blog and regularly publishes great articles on .NET topics.

Last year he published a great ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages Introduction that you can read here. Last week he published an advanced ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages Tips, Tricks and Traps article that you should check out here. It goes really deep and does a great job of describing the control tree mechanics of how a master page and content page are merged together at runtime, how you can programmatically switch master pages on the fly from within a page, within a page base class, and even within an HttpModule (to enforce behavior across a site), how to build base-class "contracts" between master pages and content pages to programmatically share data or behavior semantics, how to use base-classes across your site to encapsulate common functionality (for example: meta-tags in headers), how URL re-basing works for URLs and resources, and a bunch more advanced topics.

Definitely worth checking out if you want to really push master pages hard and get the most out of them.

In Search of the Holy Grail (three column layout)

2006-05-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

An excellent article on creating a standards compliant "Holy Grail" layout of three columns, one fixed-width sidebar for navigation, another for ads or whatever and a liquid center for the real stuff can be found at:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/holygrail

Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason)

2005-10-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, I stumble across the website alistapart.com and should visit it more regularly. It seems to never fail to give me good tips but the one I have to tell you about is the article "Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or build a Website for No Reason).

This is one of the few articles that I keep using in my job again and again. In fact, I have actually printed a copy of this article and each and every time that I visit a new client/customer/user, I begin the meeting by handing them this article before we begin any discussion.

Afterwards, the conversation is really simple. I simple ask to fill in the blanks below when asked to develop or modify a web site:

The purpose of this web site is:

To convince... BLANK... (Whom)
To do… BLANK… (what)
instead of… BLANK... (Who's the competition or what problem are you trying to solve)
because… BLANK... (Why)

For example, alistapart fills in the blanks as follows:

To convince… ALA readers
to use… strategy to define the purpose of a website
instead of… ignoring it and moving right into production
because… strategy brings focus to the project and serves as a framework for all the components that make up a website (IA, copywriting, design, development, marketing, janitorial services, etc.).

Read the article.

SharePoint Style Designer

2005-07-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

James Milne has created a tool called SharePoint Skin to assist you in creating cascading style sheets for SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services. The Beta version is now up and running. Take a look at it over here.

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

.Net Applets

2005-04-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

Want to know how to go about creating a ".NET Applet"? - a Windows Forms control hosted within a web page? A good tutorial is available at
http://www.developerfusion.co.uk/show/4683/

Not as nerdy as I used to be

2005-04-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Thank god age means something. I recently took the nerdy score and am now only somewhat nerdy. A big improvement from the past. I think memory loss and old folk habits helped reduce the score. Click the link below and find your own "nerdy score."

Table Rendering

2005-04-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

From Microsoft Blog.

“IE renders pages differently from, say firefox. One of the noticeable differences is that IE waits for the entire page before displaying it.“ Actually this is not true and you can se from going to many pages that Internet Explorer does support progressive rendering of content as it arrives. This is true however for table rendering. When Internet Explorer encounters a table it measures all the content of the table before rendering so that it knows what the widths of the columns are to render the content correctly. On the other hand Firefox uses a different algorithm in that it renders the table contents progressively before it has all been passed. There are pros and cons to both approaches. In the case of progressive rendering a table it can result in an experience where content is initially displayed and then moved as the browser progresses creating a clunky and poor quality feel. On the other hand if we parse the entire table content first then it can take some time to display in the case of heavily nested tables. I’ve heard user feedback supporting both arguments and more than a few people have mentioned that they find Firefox’s rendering a little off putting in this regard.

There is actually a solution that should improve the performance of browsers whichever table parsing algorithm they use and that is for web developers to make use of the table-layout attribute in CSS. This was first introduced with Internet Explorer 5 and is now part of CSS2 and CSS2.1. This attribute will force the table to honor the declared widths of columns rather than size to fit. I’m assuming that Firefox does support this attribute but there is a lack of documentation on exactly what is supported in that particular browser.

Now you may be asking why tables didn’t just honor the specified widths to start with and the answer is our old friend compatibility. When developing Internet Explorer 4 there was another browser called Netscape Navigator 3 that was the most used browser in the world. We knew then that if people were to adopt a different browser then we had to render content exactly as they were used to. So we spent a great deal of time in IE4 emulating the parsing and rendering of tables that Netscape had implemented. That was some time ago but we continue to be able to render pages that make use of this rendering functionality. In recent years many people have moved to using CSS for layout in preference to tables and there are certainly advantages to that although there has also been some interesting debate about the benefits of a purely CSS based approach.

Tables have been used to position content on a page for many years but the truth is that they were never originally intended for that purpose. The wonderful thing about the web is that people will make use of functionality in new and interesting ways, they become reliant on bugs and strange behavior. As a result it becomes difficult to change without breaking existing content. The consideration of compatibility goes back to almost any platform, for example there was a great deal of work undertaken in Windows 95 before its launch to ensure that programs written for Windows 3.1 continued to work. As we move forward we need to be careful to ensure that existing web content continues to function. That doesn’t mean we cannot move forward though. Internet Explorer 6 introduced support for the strict doctype to allow us to improve our CSS support without breaking existing content. We expect to use this same technique in the future to allow us to make further improvements.

Mark of the Web

2005-04-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

From Microsoft Blog

A comment from Dave P on this blog touched on the interesting aspect of table rendering.
Dave said “IE renders pages differently from, say firefox. One of the noticeable differences is that IE waits for the entire page before displaying it.“ Actually this is not true and you can se from going to many pages that Internet Explorer does support progressive rendering of content as it arrives. This is true however for table rendering. When Internet Explorer encounters a table it measures all the content of the table before rendering so that it knows what the widths of the columns are to render the content correctly. On the other hand Firefox uses a different algorithm in that it renders the table contents progressively before it has all been passed. There are pros and cons to both approaches. In the case of progressive rendering a table it can result in an experience where content is initially displayed and then moved as the browser progresses creating a clunky and poor quality feel. On the other hand if we parse the entire table content first then it can take some time to display in the case of heavily nested tables. I’ve heard user feedback supporting both arguments and more than a few people have mentioned that they find Firefox’s rendering a little off putting in this regard.

There is actually a solution that should improve the performance of browsers whichever table parsing algorithm they use and that is for web developers to make use of the table-layout attribute in CSS. This was first introduced with Internet Explorer 5 and is now part of CSS2 and CSS2.1. This attribute will force the table to honor the declared widths of columns rather than size to fit. I’m assuming that Firefox does support this attribute but there is a lack of documentation on exactly what is supported in that particular browser.

Now you may be asking why tables didn’t just honor the specified widths to start with and the answer is our old friend compatibility. When developing Internet Explorer 4 there was another browser called Netscape Navigator 3 that was the most used browser in the world. We knew then that if people were to adopt a different browser then we had to render content exactly as they were used to. So we spent a great deal of time in IE4 emulating the parsing and rendering of tables that Netscape had implemented. That was some time ago but we continue to be able to render pages that make use of this rendering functionality. In recent years many people have moved to using CSS for layout in preference to tables and there are certainly advantages to that although there has also been some interesting debate about the benefits of a purely CSS based approach.

Tables have been used to position content on a page for many years but the truth is that they were never originally intended for that purpose. The wonderful thing about the web is that people will make use of functionality in new and interesting ways, they become reliant on bugs and strange behavior. As a result it becomes difficult to change without breaking existing content. The consideration of compatibility goes back to almost any platform, for example there was a great deal of work undertaken in Windows 95 before its launch to ensure that programs written for Windows 3.1 continued to work. As we move forward we need to be careful to ensure that existing web content continues to function. That doesn’t mean we cannot move forward though. In Internet Explorer 6 we introduced support for the strict doctype to allow us to improve our CSS support without breaking existing content. We expect to use this same technique in the future to allow us to make further improvements.

On Perfect Software: It's the Process, Stupid!

2005-03-14T21:12:00.000-08:00

Recently an old article I'd seen several times before surfaced on a couple of blogs, and I went back and re-read it. It's about the On-board shuttle group, and how they write perfect code. And I mean PERFECT. This is the software that makes the Space Shuttle go. What makes it remarkable is how well the software works. This software never crashes. It never needs to be re-booted. This software is bug-free. It is perfect, as perfect as human beings have ever achieved. The last three versions of the program -- each 420,000 lines long --had just one error each. I've lifted out and edited a few lines to save you some searching and reading time; what follows is really the essence of this whole concept:

This is all the work of 260 women and men based in an anonymous office building across the street from the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, Texas, southeast of Houston. Their prowess is world renowned: the shuttle software group is one of just four outfits in the world to win the Level 5 ranking of the government's Software Engineering Institute.

But, HOW do they write the right stuff?

The answer is, it's their process. The group's most important creation is not the perfect software they write -- it's the process they invented that writes the perfect software, and the process can be reduced to these four simple propositions:

1. The product is only as good as the plan for the product.

At the on-board shuttle group, about one-third of the process of writing software happens before anyone writes a line of code. NASA and the Lockheed Martin group agree in the most minute detail about everything the new code is supposed to do -- and they commit that understanding to paper, with the kind of specificity and precision usually found in blueprints. The specs for the current program fill 30 volumes and run 40,000 pages.

Most organizations launch into even big projects without planning what the software must do in blueprint-like detail. So after coders have already started writing a program, the customer is busily changing its design. The result is chaotic, costly programming where code is constantly being changed and infected with errors, even as it is being designed.

2. The best teamwork is a healthy rivalry.

Within the software group, there are subgroups and subcultures.

The central group breaks down into two key teams: the coders - the people who sit and write code -- and the verifiers -- the people who try to find flaws in the code. The two outfits report to separate bosses and function under opposing marching orders. The development group is supposed to deliver completely error-free code, so perfect that the testers find no flaws at all. The testing group is supposed to pummel away at the code with flight scenarios and simulations that reveal as many flaws as possible.

The results of this friendly rivalry: the shuttle group now finds 85% of its errors before formal testing begins, and 99.9% before the program is delivered to NASA.

3. The database is the software base.

There is the software. And then there are the databases beneath the software, two enormous databases, encyclopedic in their comprehensiveness.

One is the history of the code itself -- with every line annotated, showing every time it was changed, why it was changed, when it was changed, what the purpose of the change was, what specifications documents detail the change. Everything that happens to the program is recorded in its master history. The genealogy of every line of code -- the reason it is the way it is -- is instantly available to everyone.

The other database -- the error database -- stands as a kind of monument to the way the on-board shuttle group goes about its work. Here is recorded every single error ever made while writing or working on the software, going back almost 20 years. For every one of those errors, the database records when the error was discovered; what set of commands revealed the error; who discovered it; what activity was going on when it was discovered -- testing, training, or flight.

4. Don't just fix the mistakes -- fix whatever permitted the mistake in the first place.

The process is so pervasive, it gets the blame for any error -- if there is a flaw in the software, there must be something wrong with the way its being written, something that can be corrected. Any error not found at the planning stage has slipped through at least some checks. Why? Is there something wrong with the inspection process? Does a question need to be added to a checklist?

The way the process works, it not only finds errors in the software. The process finds errors in the process.

In the history of human technology, nothing has become as essential as fast as software. Virtually everything -- from the international monetary system and major power plants to blenders and microwave ovens -- runs on software. In office buildings, the elevators, the lights, the water, the air conditioning are all controlled by software. In cars, the transmission, the ignition timing, the air bag, even the door locks are controlled by software. In most cities so are the traffic lights. Almost every written communication that's more complicated than a postcard depends on software; every phone conversation and every overnight package delivery requires it. And yet, 80% of major organizations basically write software that sucks, because they don't have a process.

Think about it.

March 1

2005-03-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

Already the first of March!

Some people say that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" but I say "the squeakly wheel gets REPLACED!!"

Beautiful day today.

Things to be happy about

2005-02-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Democracy
The ruins of Machu Picchu
A detailed road map
A loving spouse
ESPN
Delighting someone
Not letting the snow stop you
Wondering whatever happened to....
Someone to do the dishes
Plush theater seats

Welcome!

2005-02-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Bernice Schroer's blog. This is the place to see what I am musing about