How to schedule Windows 7 to shutdown
Many people ask me how they can get their computer to shutdown at night automatically. With windows XP I used a nice little freeware program that would sit in the tray, but with Windows 7 it is much easier. There is a task scheduler built in that you can take advantage of.
Click on Start>Control Panel>System Security>Administrative Tools and you’ll see the task scheduler there.
Click on that, and then ‘Create Basic Task’ (on the right hand side):
You’ll see the following screen come up. Give the task a name and a description so you know later on what it is for.
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iPhone 4S Low Volume
The release of the iPhone 4S has caused the (now) usual rush of customers wanting the phone as soon as it’s released. I must say, I’m rather impressed with the improvements over the iPhone 4.
Also I have seen a few users that have experienced problems also. Every one of them has been a user issue that I have seen, and I just wanted to share an experience that I have come across a few times already.
A friend was complaining about low volume levels whilst on a phone call. Yes the volume was turned right up. I thought ‘mmm might have a dud iPhone here’ but before I gave my friend the bad news, I asked her ‘dumb question, but have you taken off the original plastic screen protector?’ The response was a roar of laughter which told me that this was the problem.
So, it doesn’t hurt to go and check the basics first. With the film that is on the phone when you take it out of the box, the phone speaker is covered up – hence the low volume problem.
Failing that, try a hard reset of the phone before contacting Apple.
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How to install memory MSI U135 DX
The U135 DX Netbook is a Atom based Netbook that is not too bad for a portable PC but in my opinion 1Gig RAM is not enough for a machine running a Windows 7 (albeit starter edition) operating system.
So, what options do I have to throw more memory in? Not too many. It comes with 1Gig built in, and only has one slot for another 1Gig. Will it make a difference? One way to find out – hence this post.
The type of memory required is DDR3 204pin SODIMM 1333MHz. I bought mine off Ebay as I could not find anywhere else to buy it.
Ok, let’s get to it but before I do:
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any problems caused by the following instructions. They are provided for your information only, and could possibly void your warranty.
If unsure of the procedure described below, then don’t do it and a get a professional to install the memory.
Prerequisites:
Anti static wrist strap for the procedure
Phillips head scewdriver that fits exactly into screws
The Netbook and your memory.
Before you start, turn your netbookover and locate the screws that you will be removing. There are nine, one of which is located under your warranty sticker (see pic below, with screw locations highlighted in red). Also, remove the battery.
MSI U135 DX
Proceeding past here will probably void your warranty as we will need to break that sticker to get to the screw, so if you want to keep your warranty stop here.
Remove all the screws, and then gently grab the base of the case from the top (up near battery). There are two tabs (located in battery bay) that may require a slight push to release the base but it should start to lift up (there is no real force required, so if it doesnt move with only a slight effort, try to work out why).
What I noticed when I did it was that the right hand side came up quite easily but on the elft hand side the external monitor port connector was holding me back, so in the process of left the base up I moved it to the left in order to move the base away from the monitor connector.
Base off:
The location of the memory slot is easy to find 
Note, when you go to put the memory in, it will only go in one way. It will slide in at about 45 degrees, and once in you can gently push down to a horizontal position when two tabs will grab the module and keep in down.
To put the Netbook back together, reverse the removal instructions and enjoy the Netbook. If something has gone wrong it will not boot at all, so go back and check your work.
The final question – Was it worth the effort? Absolutely. The Netbook runs much better and doesn’t seem to hesitate when opening up programs. It is a much more enjoyable to use.
Cannot Change Logon Screen rtlgina2.dll
With Windows XP, you have the abililty to change your welcome screen (which is much more pleasant on the eye)
to a logon screen (similar to what you would see at your workplace:
They both work the same, the change is pretty much cosmetic only for most users.
How do you change it? Well, from within control panel>user accounts there is a link labelled ‘change the way users log on or off’. From there you would change that to your desired preference. All of 15 seconds work – normally.
I came across an interesting situation the other day where I could not change it. I received an error say that the rtlgina.dll file was missing. Yeah that helps me ….. /sarcasm.
I bit of searching around and found the problem to be related to the software I installed for my Netgear WG111 USB wireless adaptor. The welcome screen and fast user switching had been disabled and I could not enable it without getting a message about deleting this rtlgina.dll file.
Anyway, how do I fix it? Bit more searching found that Doug Knox, a MS Most Valuable Professional (MVP), wrote a program to reset the registry to use the standard windows gina DLL file and return the use of the welcome screen in Windows XP.
The registry fix can be found here
Intro to Mediawiki
If you ever wanted to create a fairly easy yet powerful database of articles then mediawiki is for you. What is it? If there was one word to describe it, then I would say Wikipedia.
What does Wiki mean? The word ‘wiki’ is a Hawaiian word. Wiki-Wiki in Hawaiian means very quick or fast, and this perfectly describe one of the best features of Mediawiki.
Mediawiki is a software platform written in PHP that creates webpages for display in any web browser. The pages can be group into subjects, interlinked to each other with a lot of customization available depending on your needs.
For the technically minded, the backend utilises SQL for the database, with the software typically running on a Linux or Unix based operating system. The pages are served to you thanks to the web server (Apache on a linux box) that is running on your box. The resources that it requires are fairly minimal unless your database is quite large, but for small or medium business you don’t need to outlay thousands of dollars for a server. If the database is going to be large, one might consider getting a hosted server and installing Mediawiki on it there.
Most IT support staff would have operating system knowledge and would be able to set one up without too much difficulty. Maintenance would only be required at the beginning to finetune settings etc, and database backups kept regular like any other produvtion data.
It can not only be used for business, but charities or even at home dpending on your needs. With my limited knowledge, I had a mediawiki up and running on a OpenSuSe install in under 30 mins so i know it’s not rocket science.
Having said that, if you ever forget your admin password like I did, all is not lost. Check out my other post on this site.