Our home computer crashed on Wednesday. It took me 20 hours of painstaking, stressful, ready to give up effort before I finally fixed it, loaded everything back, and could walk away.

Moral of the story: I hate windows.

This is the third time this machine has totally crashed in the last 5 years. The first time, windows wouldn’t boot past the “dell” screen. In case you unfamiliar, this is what shows up before the windows xp logo comes up. For that one, I had to use the dell/Win XP recovery console and do chkdsk /r about 10 times before I could get back into windows. Then, I wiped it and reinstalled.

Two years later, it happened again. But blue screen error. This was January 2010. I tried doing a parallel reinstall on it… 4 or 5 times. Gave up. Wiped it. And reinstalled and loaded everything back. Took a week— off and on to fix.

This last one happened exactly 2 months and a week after that. But for this one, we had some outlook contacts and Architect drawings we had to save. So that’s why it took me 20 hours of hard labor, pull your hair out work to fix it.

What didn’t work for me

I found lots of random resources online… and settled with the 9 ways to fix the hal.dll missing/corrupt problem.

I tried 8 of the 9, because the 9th one was to wipe it and start over… and if you remember, I needed a few important files on that computer before I was willing to wipe it.

What worked for me

Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a linux-based operating system that can be downloaded for free on the internet. If you are having a problem booting windows and want to see if you can access your hard drive and save a few important files, Ubuntu is probably your best bet.

So go online, search for Ubuntu, download it. Burn it to a CD (it’s an ISO file, so you’re going to have to find out how to burn ISO files to a CD). Then pop that baby in your broken computer and fire it up.

You’re going to want to make sure you select the option that doesn’t delete/affect your hard drive… it’s the first option. Then, once Ubuntu is loaded up and ready (it basically has a desktop like windows so you’ll know when it’s working), go under ‘places’ then ‘computer’ (hint: this is the walkthrough I used http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/)

So… you’ve followed the walkthrough, save your files onto a floppy or usb or something, and now you can reinstall windows.

My special case

Turns out my hard drive was failing… but I also blame it on Microsoft because this all started as soon as we updated windows and restarted. And I think the culprit might have been the update to Internet Explorer 8… but what pisses me off is that we weren’t even using IE8 as our browser– we were using Google Chrome!

Trouble with Ubuntu.

I had trouble getting Ubuntu to display on my monitor. It pretty much loaded up but right before it did, the screen went blank and it said it couldn’t display our monitor display.

So I found someone who said all you gotta do is hit F8 when it’s just about to finish loading…. well, that worked for me- thank God!

Trouble with our new Hard Drive

Wow did we have a lot of trouble. Well this was the last big one. After we salvaged our important information, and removed the old failing hard drive, we went out and bought a new a Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA drive from best buy. It was only $69 after taxes! And our old drive was a Maxtor 250 GB SATA.

I popped it in, and put in our windows disc, then fired it up. First thing I had to do was partition it and format it.

I partitioned the whole 500 GB and did the “long-form”/”regular” format. This is because all new drives must select this option because it is the first formatting. Drives that have been already formatted can use the “quick” format option… unless you are having problems with it – then it is a good idea to do the full format because it can clean out the bad sectors. (I use “www.windowsreinstall.com/ to help me through the process)

Once formatting is done and the files have been copied, it restarts and finishes the windows install.

Problem was, we got a black screen right after the “dell” logo popped up. Fortunately, no hal.dll stuff, but it was still a black screen. I later found out that our bios didn’t support LARGE drives and I couldn’t figure out a way to make it work, other than re-partitioning it to 250 GB.

THANKFULLY, that worked.

I saved the day again!! Brand new computer! And trust me, I WON’T be updating to IE8!

Too bad it took so long to put everything back on the PC. That’s another kick in the pants for me.

And last, I’m just praying for the day when we can get rid of the thing and buy a Mac.

Peace and love,

Nick

Again, we have to thank my favorite author Tim Ferriss for this one. In February of 2009 I came across a piece of information put out by Tim, toting his use of the software program, Evernote, and how much it has helped him become more organized while also reducing clutter.

Evernote is a program you can get for free that allows you to create a database of files, notes, pictures, videos under 25 mb, and actually capturing entire websites and then putting them into digital notebooks which you name yourself. You can have as many notebooks as you like and also tag each note to organize and search by keyword.

The notes are then synced with an online server that keeps your files save and accessible from any computer, plus, you can install the software on multiple computers… windows and mac compliant!

I’m pretty much obsessed with evernote and have close to 900 notes today. I am able to save more information, categorize and access notes and info quickly, and drastically cut down on clutter. In fact, I am paperless.

Going paperless is fantastic, but not easy. The key is to become a human filter when anything comes across your desk, or your doorstep. First, I recommend canceling and removing yourself from mailing lists and newsletters and advertisements (all that crap you get in the mail that you’ll never read or use) to minimize the input of clutter into the filter (you).

Then, every time you get something you have 3 options: recycle it, retain it physically, or retain it digitally. It’s important to gravitate towards recycling and saving digital copies… because that is the building blocks of a paperless lifestyle. Of course, if you need to save it and can’t scan it or take a picture of it to save into Evernote, you’ll have to keep it, but oftentimes you may not have to forever. Many things can be saved for just days, weeks, or months and then tossed into the recycling bin.

If you have any questions or would be interested on hearing more, I’d love for you to send me a comment or email. I would be more than happy to take a snapshot of what my Evernote looks like or how I use it.

http://www.Evernote.com

I have been getting free ringtones for the last 5 years – 100% free. Not even a red cent paid!

This is how I did it:

1. Find yourself a cool ringtone on phonezoo.com or mytinyphone.com

2. Download it to your computer.

3. Text it to your phone (assuming you have free texting) by using my favorite place, text4free.net OR bluetooth it (I prefer texting because sometimes I have trouble with bluetooth)

That’s it!

Now a few stipulations. What you are doing is getting a ringtone (snippet of a song or soundbite) by downloading it from a website. There are many more websites to get free ones from, but you might have to sift through the dirt to find the gold, so those 2 are the ones that I remember and have used most recently… that being said, you can also take one of your own songs in iTunes or whatever you use and record it and shrink it so it’s the proper size. But I find that most ringtones are already done in this fashion by someone else so I’ll just save myself the time by downloading one that’s already done. Last, when you are texting the ringtone to yourself, you’re going to be using MMS. Now I don’t believe you have to do anything special to enable or activate MMS. Regular text messages are SMS, while MMS are messages that can carry attachments — usually pictures or ringtones. Now don’t freak out, if you have received a picture, or have sent one before, you can do MMS and you’re fine. Also, you could test by sending a friend/family member a picture… or even just by sending yourself a ringtone by following the steps I’ve outlined above.

I hope these directions have been clear and helpful. Happy calling everyone!

Ever have this problem?

“Install WordPress (2/3)

The installation can not be completed:

- You chose to install in the main directory of the domain mydomain.net, but there are conflicting filenames, therefore we can not proceed. Following filenames already exist in the main directory of the domain mydomain.net (path=”/home/admin/public_html/mydomain.net/”).You must manually remove these files before proceeding with auto-installation:
wp-content

Click on the browser’s Back button to fix reported errors.”

Well, this happened to me. Every time I deleted they’d come back! This is how I fixed it:

What finally worked for me is to RENAME the folder wp-content to something different. I just added a bunch of random letters.

before: “wp-content”
after: “wp-contentsldfk”

I also had to rename the folders: “wp-admin” and “wp-includes”

Did a new install. Worked.

Not sure if it will work for you, but couldn’t hurt to give it a try

IMPORTANT UPDATE!! (07/08/10)

Submitted by Gareth Another way is to change the permissions of the files you are trying to delete. Regardless of how you are viewing your files….either by ftp software like Filezilla or through you hosting provider you can view all your files via ftp. Locate the files you want to delete, so in this case it is the wp_admin, content & includes files…….so individually click them and rename them as mentioned above, then on the control panel locate the change permissions button. Make sure all boxes are ticked so that the files are writeable etc etc etc…..save your changes then you can go back and try to delete……. ….and it should work…..it did for me. hope this helps guys

There are a few ways to get Duplicate Tab to work once you install Firefox 3.5…

Easiest Method: get yourself a changed version of this file: duplicatetab-1.0.2.xpi. You can download my finished version right here right now: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1965722/duplicatetab-1.0.2.nick.xpi
(Edit: If the link doesn’t work, try using ‘save target as…’ and then opening it with firefox or dragging it into firefox from your desktop-or wherever you saved it)

If you want to take the long route, your options are:
Option 2. Figure out ‘How to update Firefox or Thunderbird addons to work with a new release.’ You can do that here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-update-firefox-thunderbird-addons-new-release.htm

Option 3. Follow these instructions: From mikedepetris ( http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=83785&start=165 ):
- download duplicatetab-1.0.2.xpi (Edit: you can get it here http://twanno.mozdev.org/duplicatetab/installation.html)
- rename it to duplicatetab-1.0.2.xpi.zip or .rar
- extract install.rdf with a suitable archiver
- edit install.rdf
- change the line:
3.1a1pre
to
9.9
(this makes it good up to FireFox 9.9)
- save install.rdf and repack it in duplicatetab-1.0.2.xpi.zip
- rename it to duplicatetab-1.0.2whatever.xpi
- open the .xpi file and install the extension
- play :)

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone enjoys the newly updated Duplicate Tab extension 1.0.2, it should last you a while :-) I use Duplicate Tab all the time for my Mozilla Firefox 3.5, please leave a comment if it helped! :-)

I stumbled upon the blog “Can Do – And the Pursuit of Happiness” @tferriss and became pretty obsessed with testing Benjamin Franklin’s daily ritual. I came close to following it a few days, but struggled most with waking at 5 and bedding by 10. Today, I printed Ben’s Daily Schedule and created my own for customization purposes…

If you would like to customize your own for your day (I made mine with Excel), download here: Daily Scheme

A few new things. I’m planning on learning javascript. It’s a programming language for computers, and a great way for me to get my foot in the door in computing- which is what I’m most passionate about (aside from performing and writing music). I plan to teach myself, of course, online at w3schools.com and get Certified by taking some exams..

A couple of my closest friends have suggested the site, as it has taught them how to program.

I find that after talking with them, it’s a great way to get into the computing world, but more specifically, the online world. I’ll be able to understand some web programming, likewise build and edit sites with java, and branch out to more languages.

My friends and I agree that I have a good mindset for it – I enjoyed writing programs in junior high for my calculator, and I’ve heard that java uses the same basic ideas.

I’m retiring for the night. Talk soon.

Found some interesting reads the other day; a new approach to getting the job you want outside of college. The advantages of doing free work vs. an internship. With free work, you have more freedom of choice and more control over the work you do. Yes, it’s unpaid, but the relationship you establish and the experience you get are both priceless. In addition, the work is done over a period of weeks or months, not years (unlike a job, which usually last a year or more). The end goal, however, is to bridge over to paid work… once you’ve proven yourself, of course. Even if who you do free work for doesn’t hire you, they will be an amazing reference (and again, you’ve gained experience– both of which can be put on your resume).

If you are interested in reading firsthand about ‘Free Work’ I highly recommend going here, http://www.slideshare.net/choehn/recessionproof-graduate-1722966 it’s the most read slideshare slideshow today.

Cheers,

Nick

From the inspiration of Charlie Hoehn. Then add a dash of Alex J. Mann, and a pound of Tim Ferriss.

Fortunately for you, I am writing again. The biggest question remains: will I have the time to put forth regular posts with good content? Let’s hope I do.

As the title of this first post states, I plan to use this post as a launching pad for new experiments, news about what I’m currently doing and learning, as well as a way to keep track of my progress over the years.

Feel free to comment, or just read. I encourage you to start a blog for yourself and start networking.

Above all, I aim to be genuine and humble.

Cheers to productivity and progress!