First Impressions

After enjoying life without a roommate for one whole day, I met my new roommate when he moved in on Monday. Since HFS didn't notify me at all that I would even be getting a new roommate, I was dripping wet and shirtless when I saw him.

Thanks HFS, thanks a lot.

Vacancy

Here's what my dorm room in Haggett Hall looks like after my roommate moved out today.

mailto Bug in Vista

Something really weird happens in Vista when I click on mailto links in Firefox (Here's an example of the links that I'm talking about: email someone). When I try to open any mailto links in Firefox, Internet Explorer opens and tries to handle the link. A few seconds later 35 additional IE windows open in rapid succession for a total of 36 IE windows open! While the windows are fairly easy to close since they are grouped together, it's still extremely annoying that 36 windows pop up whenever I click on a mailto link.

How to Fix
I think the problem may have something to do with not setting up Microsoft Outlook even though it's the default email client in Vista. Since I detest Outlook, I'm not going to set it up.

Instead, I installed this Firefox Greasemonkey script to rewrite all mailto links in a webpage to open with Gmail in a new compose window.

In addition, I went into about:config and set the key network.protocol-handler.external.mailto to be false instead of true. This now has Firefox do nothing when you right click on a page and select "Send Link...".

How to do Backups with xcopy

The DOS xcopy command is like the copy command, on crack. Here's how you can use it to do incremental backups (only copies new or changed files).

xcopy "D:\Andy's Files\*" "I:\BACKUP\Data\" /h /r /s /e /i /c /y /d

Where "D:\Andy's Files\*" is the directory to back up and "I:\BACKUP\Data\" is the directory to back up to. /h copies hidden files, /r overrides read-only files, /s /e copies subdirectories including empty ones, /i assumes the destination to be a directory, /c continues even if errors occur, /y doesn't warn on overiding files, and /d copies only files that are newer than the destination file.

Spicy Food

Thanks Michelle, for the really spicy lunch today.

Blue Screening Vista

I thought Windows Vista was supposed to be more stable than XP. Last night I experienced not only my first bluescreen in Vista, but also my first reboot-bluescreen-reboot-bluescreen... cycle in Vista.

Don't Try This at Home
I was installing Alcohol 120% because I needed a program to burn my Ubuntu iso. Near the end of the installation, a red UAC dialog pops up asking if I wanted to install an unsigned driver. After I click yes, Vista bluescreens. "No big deal", I think, "I'll just reboot Vista and everything will be fine".

Just Try Rebooting
Well, I reboot Vista and immediately after I log in, I see a little icon appear in the system tray, and it's installing drivers. Frantically, I look for a way to stop it to no avail. About 10 seconds later, Vista bluescreens again. At this point I'm still not too worried because I think to myself, "I'll just start in safe mode; then I can run system restore." So I choose safe mode from the boot menu. Even before I can log in, while it's loading drivers, Vista bluescreens. "Okay", I think, "Now I'm really screwed."

Stuck Between a Sniper and a Hard Place
What I do next has almost no chance of success, but I do it anyway because I can't think of anything else. I boot Vista normally, and then I have about 10 seconds to fix the problem before Vista bluescreens again. The situation is similar to when I'm playing Day of Defeat: Source, and I know there's an enemy sniper looking for me outside, but I go up to the window anyway to try and snipe him first.

A Shot in the Dark
Recovery options exhausted, I try booting from my Vista installation DVD, not knowing anything about the recovery tools available. I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that there's an option to run system restore. I choose a restore point just before I installed Alcohol 120%. Vista reboots, I hold my breath, 10 seconds pass uneventfully, and then I exhale. I'm saved.

Irfanview Sticker

I saw this sticker on a lightpost near Hansee Hall today. It reminded me of the Irfanview icon.