Dell Keyboard problem

This morning, after Windows self-installed KB2739159, I wasn't able to use my computer. This is because the package update did something wierd to my Dell keyboard (KB-212-B). When I tried to tap the return key to wake up the computer it wasn't responding. I rebooted the computer a couple of times but with no response. Even the Cap-Lock light wasn't working

I was able to get another keyboard, and did a reboot and that worked. I reconnected the old keyboard and saw that it had to reload the drivers before I was able to use it.

I confirmed that its the KB2739159 update as this is the entry in the logs before it shut down at 2am this morning.

A reboot is necessary before package KB2739159 can be changed to the Installed state.

Thanks Microsoft for implementing auto-boot. That was a great way to start up a Friday morning.

Outlook 2007 Shortcut

When typing an email using Outlook 2007 if you click the Alt key you'll see some bubbles appear in the header menu. These are guides to which key to press to perform that action. For example, Alt-1 would save the email. If I type in H,N,O,P additional short cuts will show for that area.

Some useful short cuts:

ALT-H-AF	Insert File
ALT-N-P	Insert Picture
ALT-P-B	Show BCC field
Alt-H-I	Highlight
Alt-H-S-R	Dictionary

ADODB.Connection error '800a0e7a'

If you are getting the following error when try to run as ASP code:

ADODB.Connection error '800a0e7a'
Provider cannot be found. It may not be properly installed.
/inc/require.asp, line 184 

The code on Line 184 references opening a Microsoft Access Driver:

s = "PROVIDER=MSDASQL;DRIVER={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};DBQ=" & Server.MapPath("db/rcf.mdb") & ";"

The reason you are getting this error is because Microsoft hasn't made a 64 bit driver for Access. You best solution is to try running the ASP code in a non 64 bit environment. (i.e Install it on another machine.) Sorry for the bad news, but this will stop you from spending hours searching for a solution that doesn't exist.

ASP .NET Issue

This morning I was trying to create a short cut of a directory that contains .NET code and being severed by IIS. However, I accidentally moved the directory to the desktop. When I moved it back users were seeing: "Failed to start monitoring directory changes"

I worked with one of my co-workers into finding the problem. We restarted IIS, that didn't work, we deleted the entire directory and reloaded the SVN version via TortoiseSVN but that didn't work. We finally found the solution on Microsofts Help and Support site. The problem was the directory lost a permission that it needed.

I hope this helps someone else who might encounter the same problem!

Programmers File Editor Replacement

For years I would use PFE (Programmers File Editor) to write my code, even thou the application is no longer supported. I have a zip version that I put on my laptop and on my website so that I would always have it available. The application doesn't work that well under Windows 2000+, but for most features its fine. You really can't be the price.

I have recently moved on to NotePad++ as a replacement. The application is also free and it pretty much does everything that I want a text editor to do: Ability to open up multiple documents, show line numbers and a quick search and replace.

My all time favorite editor on the Windows platform is Homesite. I used that alot when it first came out and then when Macromedia purchased it and integrated it to Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver allows to you create a setup a custom tab to have the buttons that a developer may need for a particular project.