How to put a program in the startup for Windows 7 or Windows 10

Recently our office has undergone a change from Windows XP to Windows 7. Win XP has been a good operating system but since Microsoft abadoned it, companies had started to adapt Windows 7.

Well of course in connection to that, customizations need to be done. Right now the way for the startup folder has somewhat changed.

the simple way to place a shortcut is using the following location
C:\Users\<YOURUSERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

I created a youtube video to show the slideshow of my journey.

https://youtu.be/BDpiCZn2tQA

Hope you enjoy the video.

Coffee Cup

Avast Premium Blocking Network and Printer Access

After our office server crashed, I managed to reinstall the Windows operating system but somehow I cannot connect to it like what I am usually used to. I was first thinking of the motherboard or network problem since what was broker was the hard drive (it had a knocking sound).

The only thing that changed in my whole setup was the Anti Virus. I was previously using Avast Free Version but right now, I wanted to try the Avast Premium version.

After seeing my Windows Firewall being controlled by Avast, it got me thinking that what if i disable the Firewall feature from Avast.

To my surprise, it was the answer that I was looking for. I created a youtube video to show the slideshow of my journey.

https://youtu.be/n5BZGoHUNn0

Hope you enjoy the video.

Coffee Cup

Renewal of Bureau of Immigration Annual Fee in the Philippines 2018

As a resident alien here in the Philippines for so many years, it is mandatory that we need to pay an annual fee to the Bureau of Immigration. If you still have the paper type ACR form, you need to change it to the ACR I-card type that is the same size as a credit card.

It’s a yearly thing that we (alien’s) have to undergo. I just hope in the future they can make this annual thing an online deposit thing like when you want to get your NSO birth certificate. They deliver it to your doorstep. I’m happy at least it’s a start.

Coffee Cup

 

When to apply
I have read that you have from February 1 until March 1 to apply for this. Any exceeding month after this you will be charged PHP 200.00 per month until the month that you pay your annual fee.

How to apply?
* Present original ACR I-Card or paper-based ACR, passport visa page of latest arrival and official receipts of previous Annual Report payment.
* Secure the Order of Payment Slip.
* Pay the required immigration fees.
* Get the Official Receipt.

Now this one i got from their BI website. The funny thing here is the small sentence at the end that says you need to bring your previous annual report payment. so it’s a must not to throw away your previous receipts.

How much does it cost?
Annual Report (AR) Fee PHP 300.00
Legal Research Fee (LRF) PHP 10.00
for each immigration fee
except Head Tax and Fines
TOTAL PHP 310.00

Please Note: Monthly fine of P200.00 for delayed Annual Report (reckoned from March 2 of the current year).

Annual Report Fee is assessed once the arrival of theapplicant falls on or before Nov. 2 of the preceding year.

*** Fees are updated as of 06 March 2014 and may change without prior notice.

Source : http://www.immigration.gov.ph/services/alien-registration/annual-report-a-r

Word Press : How come my image does not upload? Http Error detected.

Now this one is quite an experience. I have been a programmer and web designer for a time now and have been stomp encountering this problem.

I am new to wordpress so as expected, i thought uploading a picture to attach to my blogpost would be done in a flash.

But no, as it turns out, it kept saying “Http Error”. So alas, again, i thought about it overnight and as it turns out, the secret was to lower the image size.

 

Upload picture error
Upload picture error

Aside from the error message, it seems to have uploaded the file but with a uncategorized picture on the screen. Then it hit me.

Disabled looking picture icons
Disabled looking picture icons

I used a graphic software to lower the screen size and viola! from 2900×1800 (which was taken using my phone), I resized it to 1000×628 and it turned out ok. I was able to upload my picture.

Well the message wasn’t really specific on what i needed to do but hey, at least I got the thing to work.

Crazy issue with the world’s most used blog posting app.

Coffee Cup

S.O.P. Before Formatting a Windows Computer

As a programmer for some years already, I have seen my shares of people asking me to format their Windows PC.  And true enough, a lot of people in the IT world sometimes skip steps that I feel that I need to share to you guys in order not to suffer the horror of missing files and folders.

Many of my steps are pretty straight forward. And as the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. I will also include scenarios that you may encounter along the way.

Step 1 – Prepare the Backup Hardware

Start first by preparing a large external drive or USB thumb drive beforehand. It would probably be a good idea if it would be empty and without your personal data so that just in case d files are infected with a virus or malware, your files are pretty safe.

Case Scenario: If you can still open the computer and you can still login, that is well and good for you. But just in case the windows operating system is corrupted or the user forgot their password, what you can do is you can install a windows operating system on top of the existing one to get the files. Just make sure not to erase and you want to keep the existing windows operating system.  Windows usually renames the old one as WINDOWS_OLD folder and Program Files to Program Files (OLD), I think. This step is a little tedious since you will be redoing the formatting again later to have a clean slate. But this step is surely worth the time.

Step 2 – Create Folders In Your External Drive

To me, I am a bit of an organization freak for files and folder. What I usually do is I start with the folders: Drive C, Drive D, Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos. Once you have these folders you can start moving the files.

Bonus Tip: You may wonder why you want to move the file instead of copy. The reason for the move is so that just in case the operations get cut, you get to continue where you left off. Instead of guessing what folder you stopped on. Anyway, you get to format the whole drive so no need to leave the file in the hard drive.

For the Drive C and Drive D files, you get to see IT tech created folders like like util for utilities, or mboard for motherboard which is pretty important if you will format the computer. For me personally, I create folders like Software and Drivers to house all of the freeware software that I install. The reason in doing this is so that if a brother or sister or coworker needs the software that I installed, I just ask them to copy the software from the unit I just reformatted.

Step 3 – Use the Search or Find Window

Before we use the find option in windows to look for common files that we might have missed after our first sweep, please go to the Windows Explorer and open the hidden files and folders options. This tip is pretty useful if your pc is already infected with a virus as they always hide them from users.

Once you are done, try look for doc (MS Word), xls (MS Excel), pdf (Acrobat Reader), zip files. The most common file that we all have are jpg or jpeg picture files, not to mention the avi, mpeg or mp4 movie files.

Big tip no. 1: If the user is an architect, you might need to google file extensions for Autocad files. If your friend is an artist you might need to look for Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw files.

Big tip no. 2: It is still best to ask what files he or she commonly uses especially if the user is a student. Sometimes they need file extensions needed for their school projects like Visual Studio files or Maya.

Step 4 – Backup the System Settings

In this step, we will be going to 4 settings in the Control Panel of the computer.  Before I usually open up Microsoft Paint press the print-screen on the keyboard to save each one per file. That was in the golden age when I haven’t even got my own mobile phone. These days, I use my phone’s camera to get a snapshot which is one of the wonders of modern technology.

  • Device Manger – To access this, you need to click the Devices The Device Manager tells you all of the drivers are located to make your computer works. If you did not find any driver installers on your computer, chances are, this is your best bet to know what the computer needs.
  • System Information – To access this, you need to go to click the System This page will tell you the computer name, and also the version of windows the user is running.
  • Software Installed – To access this, you need to go to click the Programs and Features. This page lists down all of the software the user uses. It is good to inform the user of the software that he needs to reinstall by himself. It’s not always guaranteed that what software he has you could bring back again. An example of these are game software (e.g. in my time, Red Alert, Warcraft and Star Craft) and specialized (e.g. software like Autocad and Adobe Suite that might require serial keys)
  • Network Settings – To access this, you need to click the Network and Sharing Center, then Change Adapter Settings. This step is needed if the computer you will try to format belongs to a computer or if it is for a school. Since both institutions sometimes configures devices like laptop to access their network using IP address and Default Gateways. This will take you to the individual LAN and WIFI adapter the computer has. You need to copy the IP address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway if they are present. If both settings are set to Obtained IP Address Automatically, no need to do anything for this step.

Well, that’s it for me. After following these steps, you should be able to proceed with formatting the computer with a clear conscience that your friend or office mates would not be crying by your side for lost and unrecoverable files.

How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To

So far this topic has peaked my curiosity and for some, it could be the answer we are looking for for pc slowing down especially if we just connected to the internet.

It’s a helpful tip that i tried myself.  The link of the source is indicated below. But for those who want to get the ball rolling, at the command prompt using administrator powers, type the following command and press Enter.

netstat -abf 5 > d:/activity.txt

The –a option shows you all of the connections and listening ports, the –b option shows you what application is making the connection, and the –f option displays the full DNS name for each connection option for easier understanding of where the connections are being made to. You can also use the –n option if you wish to only display the IP address. The 5 option at the end will poll every 5 seconds for connections to make it more easy to track what is going on, and the results are then piped into the activity.txt file.

I waited for about five minutes and then press Ctrl + C to stop the recording of data.

Once you’ve finished recording data, you can simply open the activity.txt file in your favorite editor to see the results, or you can type activity.txt at the command line to open it in Notepad.

The resulting file will list all processes on your computer (browsers, IM clients, email programs, etc.) that have made an internet connection in the last two minutes, or however long you waited before pressing Ctrl + C. It also lists which processes connected to which websites.

If you see process names or website addresses with which you are not familiar, you can search for “what is (name of unknown process)” in Google and see what it is. It may be a system function you don’t know about or a function of one of your running programs. However, if it seems like a bad site, you can use Google again to find out how to get rid of it.

Source : https://www.howtogeek.com/98601/easily-monitor-your-computers-internet-connection-activity/

What TCP port does InterBase use?

Before it was like clockwork, this port is no mystery to me. But recently, especially today, i had to write it down somethere.

I guess this comes with age.

Magic interbase port is 3050. This must be both in the INCOMING and OUTGOING windows firewall settings.

Coffee Cup

Delphi / Interbase : General SQL Error invalid transaction handle (expecting explicit transaction start)

i have using delphi 6 for quite some time now and it seems that errors of the past still haunt us today.

experiencing this error code when i try to create a duplicate entry of a delivery receipt transaction. one of the suggestions i got was to disable the optimization checkbox in delphi.

after doing this it unfortunately did nothing. so i searched again, it turned out that a lot of people assumed it was a problem with the database.

what i did was to trace, line by line, my code until i reach the StoredProc in question. What i did was to put a try… except outside the storedproc procedure and everything went into place.

hope this article can help somebody in the same pickle jar as me.

Pocket Calculator Turns On by Itself and Keyboard is Shorted

I had a case today where the several pocket calculators turned on by itself and some of them even types a digit by itself.

another strange thing is the keyboard of the computer seems to keep the solid green light while the USB mouse seems to be unaffected by this strange scenario.

i transferred the cpu to another location and tested and it turned out fine. no hangs no keyboard anomaly or any of that.

then finally, somebody suggested that the monitor is the culprit. i changed the monitor and all is well.

the monitor is now relocated to the archives and this is quite an x-files episode i can tell you that.  life in the computer world just got it’s own taste of the paranormal. if somebody can explain it to me in layman’s terms i would really appreciate it. hahaha.

Coffee Cup

Welcome to our first blog post!

Hi and greetings from Basic Website Solutions. Welcome to the website. Get ready because we plan to provide helpful tips and comments from our daily walk in the world of software development and website design.

Aside from this we will also tackle the life of living in our time here in the Philippines.

We hope you enjoy your stay!

BWS Team