Archive for October, 2009
Utilities: Filename Randomiser
Posted by Adam in Programming, Windows on Wednesday October 28, 2009
Program Information:
This is a small program to change the filenames of all files in the target folder to something random and uniform. This may be useful for, as an example, a number of photos in a directory that are displayed in filename order.
It should go without saying that if you run this on a directory it will rename everything in that directory, so take care.
Remotely controlling OS-X via a web page
Posted by Adam in OS X, Programming on Saturday October 24, 2009
WARNING: Please read before continuing ▼
Difficulty: Expert
Time: varies
Last Updated: 24th October 2009
Applies to: OS X
Applescript is a scripting language provided by OS X that has the ability to automate significant portions of the system.
PHP has the ability to, given the right configuration, make arbitrary system calls, including applescript.
Using the two together, one can remotely control a number of functions on an OS X system via a web page.
Mixing C++ and Objective-C code using XCode
Posted by Adam in OS X, Programming on Tuesday October 20, 2009
WARNING: Please read before continuing ▼
Difficulty: Expert
Time: varies
Last Updated: 20th October 2009
Applies to: Objective-C
With the release of the iPhone SDK and the growing popularity of OS X, Objective-C is becoming the language of choice for a significant amount of projects.
One inescapable fact in the programming world is the existence of legacy code. Moving to a new language typically means porting or rewriting existing code entirely in the new language. In the case of Objective-C, most existing C and C++ code can be used directly.
Renaming the admin user on a WordPress 2.8+ blog
Posted by Adam in Improving Security on Friday October 16, 2009
WARNING: Please read before continuing ▼
Difficulty: Easy
Time: ~5 Minutes
Last Updated: 16th October 2009
Applies to: WordPress
By default, WordPress uses “admin” as the log in name for the first user. With this information, a prospective cracker is only a password away from your wordpress admin account. By changing the admin user name, the minimum amount of information required for any miscreant to access the account is increased.
Removing Antivirus Pro 2010
Posted by Adam in Fixing Errors, Improving Security, Windows on Monday October 12, 2009
WARNING: Please read before continuing ▼
Difficulty: Easy
Time: ~30 Minutes
Last Updated: 12th October 2009
Applies to: Windows
Antivirus Pro 2010 is a variety of malware that pops up fake antvirus notifications attempting to coerce you into paying for a full version to remove these fake infections. Whilst its constant nagging is irritating, it is relatively mild as far as malware goes and is fairly simple to remove though it is often packaged with other more serious malware.
Manually relocating the Windows 7 User Profile Folder
Posted by Adam in Setting Up, Windows on Thursday October 8, 2009
WARNING: Please read before continuing ▼
Difficulty: Expert
Time: ~30 Minutes
Last Updated: 8th October 2009
Applies to: Windows 7 ONLY
Relocating the user profile folder is a procedure that can make backing up massively easier. User specific data, such as music and videos, can be moved to another drive, leaving only the core OS and programs on the primary hard drive. It can also act as a cost saving measure, using a small, fast, expensive drive to install the OS to, and a slow, but big and cheap drive to store user data.
Recovering from ‘ImportError: No module named pysqlite2′ after upgrading python on a Gentoo Linux system
Posted by Adam in Fixing Errors, Linux on Sunday October 4, 2009
WARNING: Please read before continuing ▼
Difficulty: Moderate
Time: ~30 Minutes, depending on CPU speed/internet connection
Last Updated: 4th October 2009
Applies to: Gentoo Linux
Symptoms:
When running emerge after a major upgrade of pythons core files (dev-lang/python), you get an error similar to (other information may be included in the error message):
ImportError: No module named pysqlite2
emerge will fail to work as a result of this. Additionally, if you run /usr/sbin/python-updater, that will fail too, with a similar error.