Windows XP SP2 annoyances

I was trying to install Windows XP service pack 2 on one of the machines at my work place. I was not able to install as I was getting a "Win32 Access denied" error everytime I tried to install. Also, on some machines with SP2 I could not see the "Network connections" and could not access the dependancies tab in the Windows Installer service. My colleague at work, Clerita finally found the soln. to the problem thanks to some extensive searching and sleepless nights and some help from the google groups.

The soln. to the problem is to change a few settings in the Default Domain Policy on your server.

The relevant part of the Default Domain Policy that caused this is shown in condensed form below:

Console Root
{Group Policy}
Computer Configuration
Software Settings
Windows Settings
Scripts (Startup/Shutdown)
Security Settings
Account Policies
Local Policies
Audit Policy
User Rights Assignment
Impersonate a client after authentication .

Resolution: Change the above policy setting for Impersonate a client
after authentication to: Administrators, , SERVICE.

Restart the workstation twice (once to pick up the change in Group Policy and again to be affected by it at Windows startup)

And folks this thing really really works. This is not a very common problem and the research we had done to find the needle in the haystack was tremendous.

For complete update on this issue visit:
XP Annoyances

The above link was really helpful as not a lot of solns. were available on the net. Also, for a change some informative post on my part after a very very long time.

Dilbert - Being ethical

Garfield - Cool as a cucumber

Calvin - Mud Slinging

Calvin - Go play outside...

Calvin - Uncle Max is here...

Calvin - Dad Wanted...

How to put to use wasted things.....

The wife comes home early & finds her husband in their master bedroom
making love to a beautiful, sexy young lady!

"You unfaithful, disrespectful pig! What are you doing? How dare
you do this to me the faithful wife, the mother of your children! I'm
leaving this house, I want a divorce!"

The husband, replies "Wait, Wait a minute! Before you leave, at
least listen to what happened"

"Hmm, I don't know, well, it'll be the last thing I will hear from
you. But make it fast, you unfaithful pig, you!"

The husband begins to tell his story . . . "While driving home this

young lady asked for a ride. I saw her so defenseless that I went ahead

and allowed her in my car. I noticed that she was very thin, not well
dressed and very dirty. She mentioned that at she had not eaten for 3
days. With great compassion I brought her home and warmed up the
enchiladas that I made for you last night that you wouldn't eat because

you're afraid you'll gain weight; the poor thing practically devoured
them."

"Since she was very dirty I asked if she wanted to take a shower.

While she was showering, I noticed her clothes were dirty and full of
holes so I threw her clothes away. Since she needed clothes, I gave her

the pair of jeans that you have had for a few years, that you can no
longer wear because they are too tight on you, I also gave her the
blouse that I gave you on our anniversary and you don't wear because I
don't have good taste."

"I gave her the pullover that my sister gave you for Christmas that you

will not wear just to bother my sister and I also gave her the boots
that you bought at the expensive boutique that you never wore again
after you saw your co-worker wearing the same pair."

The husband continues his story . . . . .

"The young woman was very grateful to me and I walked her to the
door.When we got to the door she turned around and with tears coming
out of her eyes, she asks me:
"Sir, do you have anything else that your wife does not use?"

Calvin - Value of time

Is henry leaving Arsenal???

This info was given to me by a friend of mine, Shivanand.

Arsenal still remains my favourite club in the English premier league, whatever maybe their league position. I like the way they play football. They play the beatiful game the way it is meant to be played, with grace and beauty. Beautiful on the ground passes with mind blowing tricks to create space from nowhere. This may
not be efficient but, it is a treat for your eyes if you are a football

aficionado. And who can represent the Arsenal spirit better than Thiery Henry. He personifies what Arsenal is made up of.

Henry is probably a very close conteneder to the spot of top striker of his times. He's not only a goal scorer but also a provider. The way he makes space for himself and his teammates within the box is spell bounding and beyond belief sometimes. But, he does it. The 28 year old has been a great asset to Arsenal. He holds the key for Arsenal now since Vierra has left for Juventus.

The rumour about Henry leaving Arsenal comes as a very unpleasant shock to me, since I am a diehard Arsenal fan. But, as a neutral observer I have to be fair to the guy. Henry is not only a great footballer, but also a great competitor and good person on and off the field. If he decides to move on I am sure he would have moved out for a change in his already sparkling career and add some more glory to his already glorius career. I will be following him wherever he goes to and still admire him for the way he plays his game. I also admire the modesty and humility with which he accepts the success that comes with his exploits on the field. Truly a great man.

As and Arsenal fan I wish he would stay on with Arsenal forever. But, as fan of Henry I agree with whatever he decides to do. Anyway, I wish him all the luck for the future.

Here's the news in detail:

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has revealed that he fears striker Thierry Henry may decide to leave the club at the end of the season.

The 28-year-old has been linked to Barcelona, although the Frenchman played down such reports in December.

However, Hill-Wood told the Daily Star: "At the back of my mind there is a fear he will decide to go.

"I have no evidence - other than maybe I have been here too many times before with players and have become cynical."

Arsenal are understandably eager to keep hold of Henry, who overtook Ian Wright as the club's record goalscorer earlier this season.

Henry's contract runs out in the summer of 2007 and Hill-Wood added: "I am realistic enough to know that if he wanted to go he would and there would be nothing we could do about it.

"If he thought a move would better his career then we could lose him.
"It would be a shattering blow to lose him. We are as keen as mustard to keep him - he knows we are ready to talk about a new contract and will stretch every muscle to keep him."
Henry shrugs off Barca talk

Google all the way?

This bit of info was sent to me by my friend Anil.

Google looks all set to rule the world by the looks of their present undertakings. Google maybe the best thing to happen in the field of computers since Microsoft Windows (on the basis of accessibility to all). The search engine has anyway achieved historical status. Now, Google is foraying into the field of desktop machines as well, albeit in their own way of taking one small step at a time (release free beta and then release the pro version after the beta has raised a public interest, can be caled mass hysteria if you use a computer that is). They have already tied up with Sun, which may boost the Open Office suite Sun has already built. Smart strategy that(if someone is good at something and you are good at another and have mass following, then link up).

Whether Google will take over as the best in the field of computer technology and informaion management, time will tell. But, the kind of mass interest their products generate-even before it is released- surely shows signs of Google not backing down from this challenge as well(after all they could manage the internet using their search engine).

Surely the competitors are not bunny rabits. After all they have been at the top for years. Microsoft has been on top for more than a decade, which is no mean feat in a rutheless world where everyone's after you. But Google-even though it is a $3Bn company- is taking baby steps towards the stop. Will it be stopped in it tracks or will it be Google all the way?

Read this blog for more info about the Google desktop computer. Will it be called a PC?

See you in the future...

The kind of things us humans can think of is bewildering. I had this post in my inbox and voila! here comes a new post. The article is an interesting read. We may or may not see the future. But, what lies in the future will never sieze to amaze us. This attempt is one more in the long line of attempts to make the future look more interesting even if we cannot see it.


FutureMe.org

In the year 2009, on the 25th of April, a man named Greg is supposed to get an e-mail. The e-mail will remind Greg that he is his best friend and worst enemy, that he once dated a woman named Michelle, and that he planned to major in computer science.

"More importantly," the e-mail says, "are you wearing women's clothing?"

The e-mail was sent by none other than Greg himself — through a Web site called FutureMe.org.

The site is one of a handful that let people send e-mails to themselves and others years in the future. They are technology's answer to time capsules, trading on people's sense of curiosity, accountability and nostalgia.

"Messages into the future is something that people have always sought to do," said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future. "In a way, it's a statement of optimism."

Matt Sly, 29, came up with the concept for FutureMe.org about four years ago. He was inspired one day after recalling how during his education he had been given assignments to write letters to himself.

Sly, who partnered with 31-year-old Jay Patrikios of San Francisco on the project, said the site has made maybe $58 through donations. He is adamant that FutureMe.org is not a reminder service and that users should think long-term.

The site lets people send messages 30 years from now, though Sly's numbers show most users schedule their e-mails to be sent within three years.

"We want people to think about their future and what their goals and dreams and hopes and fears are," he said. "We're trying to facilitate some serious existential pondering."

He said a large number of the messages sent do one of two basic things: tell the future person what the past person was doing at the time, and ask the future person if he or she had met the aspirations of the past person.

"The tone of the past person is not always friendly," said Sly, now a Yale University graduate student. "It's often like 'Get off your lazy butt.'"

Recently, Forbes.com jumped on the idea, offering an "e-mail time capsule" promotion. More than 140,000 letters were collected over about six weeks. Nearly 20 percent of the messages sent are supposed to land in the sender's inbox in 20 years; others requested shorter time frames. Forbes.com is partnering with Yahoo! and Codefix Consulting on the project.

"A lot of people have kind of been freaked out by it," said David Ewalt, a Forbes.com writer who worked on the project. "It really makes you stop and think about your life in a way that you usually don't."

Another type of future message service can be found at sites such as myLastEmail.com or LastWishes.com, which promise to send messages to loved ones (or less-than-loved ones) after you die.

Paul Hudson, co-founder of the International Time Capsule Society, said e-mail time capsules were new to him.

"Part of the value of time capsules are that they are thought processes in the present," said Hudson, a historian who teaches at Georgia Perimeter College. "You define yourself when you do a time capsule. It might be a good exercise in introspection."

But sometimes the past is best left behind, said Saffo, who personally finds the whole thing "sad and really weird."

"The lesson about all these things, it's the lesson from time capsules, is you have to be careful lest you set yourself up for enormous embarrassment in two decades," Saffo said. "Do you really want to be reminded that you thought ABBA was cool?"

Service providers try to make the delivery process fail-safe through partnerships or back up software, and they urge people to hang on to their e-mail address, but there's no ironclad guarantee that the message will ever arrive.

Technology changes. Companies go out of business. Spam filters might get in the way.

Still, that hasn't deterred a sizable number of people from signing up.

On FutureMe.org, where more than 112,000 messages have been written, many writers are confident enough to make their e-mails — though not necessarily their names — public.

"I hope that I've learned to take responsibility for my actions — to not be passive aggressive and to not avoid things that are scary for me," one wrote. "I hope I've changed a little."

"Are you missing an eye? If so, I apologize." wrote another.

And, of course, the cautious optimist: "Hell, I hope you're still alive."

Something So True About Wives

My wife dresses to kill. She also cooks the same way.
-Henny Youngman
----------------------------------------------------------

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we
met.
-Rodney Dangerfield
-----------------------------------------------------------

A good wife always forgives her husband when she's
wrong.
-Milton Berle
------------------------------------------------------------

I bought my wife a new car. She called and said,
"There was
water in the carburetor."
I asked her , "Where's the car?"
She replied,"In the lake."
-Henny Youngman
--------------------------------------------------------------

The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.
-Henny Youngman
-----------------------------------------------------------------

After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, "You
know, I
was a fool when I married you."
The husband replied, "Yes, dear, but I was in love and

didn't notice."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When a man steals your wife, there is no better
revenge than
to let him keep her.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months - I don't
like to
interrupt her.
----------------------------------------------------------

My girlfriend told me I should be more affectionate.
So I
got myself two girlfriends.
---------------------------------------------------------

A man said his credit card was stolen but he decided
not to
report it since the thief was spending much less than
his wife did.
-------------------------------------------------------

;Man is incomplete until he is married. Then he is
finished.
----------------------------------------------------------

A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does
it cost
to get married?"
The father replied, "I don't know son, I'm still
paying."
----------------------------------------------------------

Young Son: Is it true, Dad, that in some parts of
Africa , a
Man doesn't know his wife until he marries her?
Dad: That happens in every country, son.
---------------------------------------------------------

Then there was a man who said, "I never knew what real

happiness was until I got married; then it was too
late.
----------------------------------------------------------

A man placed an ad in the classifieds: "Wife wanted."
The next day he received a hundred letters.
They all said the same: "You can have mine."
--------------------------------------------------------

A woman was telling her friend, "I made my husband a
millionaire."
"And what was he before you married him?" asked the
friend.
"A billionaire." she replied,
----------------------------------------------------------

Marriage is the triumph of imagination over
intelligence.
Second marriage is the triumph of hope over
experience.
----------------------------------------------------------

It's not true that married men live longer than single
men.
It only seems longer.
----------------------------------------------------------

Losing a wife can be very hard. In my case, it was
almost
impossible.
------------------------------------------------------

Just think, if it weren't for marriage, men would go
through
life Thinking they had no faults at all.
----------------
-----------------------------------------
A successful man is one who makes more money than his
wife
can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such
a man.
----------------------------------------------------------

A man meets a genie. The genie tells him he can ask
for
whatever he wants,
But his mother-in-law gets double of what he gets.
The man thinks for a moment and says,"Okay, give me a
million dollarsa and beat me till I'm half dead."
---------------------------------------------------------

Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for
marriage.
They've experienced pain and bought jewellery.
----------------------------------------------------------

The most effective way to remember your wife's
birthday is
to forget it once.

Beware of those clippers...

A little old lady is walking down the street, dragging two plastic
garbage bags with her, one in each hand. There's a hole in one of the
bags, and every once in a while a $20 bill is flying out of it onto the
pavement. Noticing this, a policeman stops her...."Ma'am, there are $20
bills falling out of that bag..." "Damn!" says the little old
lady....."I'd better go back and see if I can still find some. Thanks
for the warning!" "Well, now, not so fast," says the cop. "How did you
get all that money?" " Did you steal it?" "Oh, no", says the little old
lady. "You see, my back yard backs up to the parking lot of the football
stadium. Each time there's a game, a lot of fans come and pee in the
bushes, right into my flower beds!" "So, I go and stand behind the
bushes with a big hedge clipper, and eachtime someone sticks his little
thingie through the bushes, I say: $20 or off it comes!" "Hey, not a bad
idea!" laughs the cop. "OK, good luck! By the way, what's in the other
bag?" "Well", says the little old lady, "not all of them pay up"....

Garfield - Assorted

Who's the dumber?

There was a Sardarji who was down on his luck.

In order to raise some money he decided to kidnap a
kid and hold him for

ransom.



He went to the playground, grabbed a kid, took him
behind a tree,

and told him, "I've kidnapped you."



Sardarji then wrote a note saying:

"I've kidnapped your kid.

Tomorrow morning, put Rs.2,00,000 in a paper bag

and put it beneath the mango tree on the north side
of the city

playground".

Signed: "A Sardarji".



Sardarji then pinned the note to the kid's shirt and
sent him home to show it to his parents.

The next morning the Sardarji checked, and sure
enough a paper bag was kept beneath the mango tree.The boy was sitting
next
to the bag. Sardarji

opened up the bag and found the Rs.2,00,000 in cash
with a note saying:

"How can a sardarji do this to a fellow Sardarji?

Take the money, and Please leave my son."



Signed: Another Sardarji