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  • Microsoft Update – 0x8002802B Error

    On a couple of my PCs now I’ve had a problem where Microsoft Update stopped working, reporting the error code 0x8002802B. Looking this up in the Microsoft knowledge base yielded no results, but a quick Google and I found a “Fix it” utility from Microsoft. Sadly, that didn’t fix the problem.

    After much trawling I found an answer – and this worked for both instances (both of which occurred months apart).

    Either, open up the command prompt (click on Start, Run and type type in CMD) and type each of the following lines in one at a time OR cut and paste them into a .BAT file and run that (I do the later).

    REGSVR32 MSXML3.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL
REGSVR32 QMGR.DLL
REGSVR32 QMGRPRXY.DLL
REGSVR32 JSCRIPT.DLL

    You’ll have to click “OK” when each line is run, but there’s no reboot required – simply restart Internet Explorer and try out Microsoft Update again.

    I should add too, that automatic updates from the system tray still appear to work when this error occurs.

  • Speed up your internet with the Google Public DNS

    Google have released details of a public, global Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service that they’ve created.

    Simply replace your default DNS server settings with their own and you could – potentially – see a speed improvement in your surfing. I’ve already done this and can already see a noticeable improvement, with no issues (yet) experienced.

    You can either change these settings on a per-computer basis or on your router (I’ve done the latter). The new DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (in which ever order you want).

    Google states that their aims are to provide greater speed and with improved security. Of course, whether you choose to allow Google to (potentially) track your domain usage, is down to your own level of paranoia. Personally, I’m happy.

    Let me know your own experience.

  • Add Twitter links to your WordPress posts

    Want an easier way to add links to Twitter user pages? Here’s a quick solution.

    Add the following code to your functions.php file within your theme folder…

    add_filter('the_content', 'link_to_twitter');
function link_to_twitter($content) {
    $start=strpos($content,"[@");
    while ($start!=0) {
        $code=substr($content,$start+2,strpos($content,"]",$start)-$start-2);
        $content=str_replace("[@".$code."]",'<a href="http://twitter.com/'.$code.'" target="_blank">@'.$code.'</a>',$content);
        $start=strpos($content,"[@",$end);
    }
    return $content;
}

    Now, you simply need to simply specify a Twitter username within square brackets and it will be replaced with the same username, but now with a link to Twitter.

    For example, add [@dartiss] to your post and it will display as @dartiss.

  • The mobile phone search goes on…

    Ok, quick catch up. My phone contract expires in a little over 2 months. My supplier – Carphone Warehouse – will be contacting me in a couple of weeks to get out of my contract early if I stick with them and my network (O2). The problem is that I’m after an HTC Hero, which is not available from O2 at Carphone Warehouse.

    My plan was to leave it for the contact to expire, then I’ll have my pick of the offers. However, today, I was in the Westfield Centre (Derby) and popped into Phones4U. I had a good look at the HTC Hero (although for a working model, head to the 3 shop!) and I was approached by an assistant. I explained my situation.

    Much to my surprise he had a solution – they would pay off my remaining contract if I signed up them. They have the Hero on Orange. For the same price I’m currently paying I could have 1000 free minutes of calls, unlimited texts and unlimited internet (which is actually 512MB. Don’t get me started on how they can call this “unlimited”. Besides, most other networks offer 2GB, so this isn’t necessarily a fantastic deal). It was tempting but I never make a decision there and then.

    I popped into Carphone Warehouse to see what they thought! Except… they’ve recalled the HTC Hero. Anyone know why?

    Later, back at home I read more on the Sony Ericsson X10. It’s an Android phone which includes an 8.1MP phone and a decent flash. Before my current N95 I owned a Sony Ericsson K800i, and I miss its excellent camera. The X10 sounds ideal – assuming Sony don’t mess it up. Anyway, it’s due early February – just as my contract expires. Nice.

    So, I think that’s my plan – wait for the contact to expire and check out the Sony.

    Next Day Update:

    Carphone Warehouse have an excellent customer support presence on Twitter, so I asked them about the HTC Hero recall. After some checking they got back to me.

    The result… there is no recall, and they’ve checked with various other stores and they happily have stock. Hmm. The assistant at this store was quite insistent though that it had been recalled across the company – I wonder why he’d have thought this if it wasn’t the case. It’s not as if he wouldn’t have wanted the sale…

  • Google Chromium OS

    Details of the Google Chromium operating system have been sloshed around the internet since they were announced yesterday.

    And, you’ll be happy to hear, I’m not going to repeat them.

    However, watch the video below (taken from the Chromium website) and, in particular, the last few seconds. Do you see that boot time? And they’re looking at how to get it better. Superb.


     
    One last thing to note – if you haven’t noticed already from some of the press releases – there’s no intention to release this as a package for people to update their existing PCs. Instead, Chromium OS will be supplied to hardware manufacturers for release on new products. This, apparently, is because Google are going to have a strict hardware policy (e.g. only solid state hard drives).