Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
On behalf of myself and the team I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
As my dearly departed Grandpa used to say:
“May the best parts of last year be the worst parts of this year”
Scheduled Service Outage - Monday, September 24 from 1:30AM AEST to 6AM
Due to UPS (uninterruptible power supply) upgrades at the data centre. All Razorstone Service will be down from 1:30 AM Australian Eastern Standard time on Monday 24th September 2007 and are due to be restored by 6am.
This is part of our drive to improve our services to you.
We apologise in advance for this outage.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us.
Sphere: Related ContentUnexpected Razorstone service interruption
Due to unforeseen server issues. There was a period of down time over this last weekend and Monday morning. We deeply regret and apologize for any inconvenience and distress this interruption may have caused you.
All service are back up and running.
We are closely investigating how and why these problems occurred and adding extra safeguards to drastically reduce the likelihood of a re-occurrence. This is not our normal level of service and we are making every effort to ensure you enjoy your usual trouble free services.
Again, please accept our sincerest apologies.
Sphere: Related ContentHow to find a file that was opened via Outlook, modified and saved but, the modified file has disappeared
Have you ever opened an attached file in Outlook, edited it, saved it and closed it only to find all your modifications have disappeared? Don’t despair, there is a way of finding those elusive modified versions of the attachment.
This is how to find those files in Windows XP
- Click on the ”start” button (bottom left of the screen)
- Click “Run…”
- Type: cmd
- Hit ”Ok” button
- At the command prompt type: cd “C:\Documents and Settings\Toby\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\
Replace “Toby” in the above with your windows user name and include the double inverted commas - Hit “Enter” key on your keyboard
- Then type: dir
- Hit “Enter” key on your keyboard
- This will give a directory listing in the format: Date Time <DIR> folder name
- Open “My Computer”
- Put this in the address bar: C:\Documents and Settings\Toby\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\
Again replace Toby with your Window’s user name. - Add the name of one of the directories i.e. OLK22 to give C:\Documents and Settings\Toby\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK22
- Hit “Enter” key on your keyboard
- This should show you the contents of this super hidden folder and with any luck you will find various versions of your file. If there are no versions of your file in that folder try steps 12 and 13 with the other folder names.
- Save the file to a new location such as your desktop
Hopefully this will help someone, no guarantees, but it worked for me.
Sphere: Related ContentWireless Broadband - is it any good?
Recently there has be a lot of talk about wireless broadband and how it will save the world, especially in rural areas. But can it? There are a few factors that dictate if you can get wireless broadband and it’s quality.
- Line of sight - can you see the wireless station?
- Distance from antennae
- How much traffic is being used by other wireless users in the area - the bandwidth is shared between users
- Wireless signal interference from other sources
- Topography
- Atmospheric conditions
- The type of wireless being offered
Wireless will provide increased coverage over rural areas but, there are many factors that will determine if specific locations can get wireless. For instance, I live in hilly terrain without line of sight to any wireless antennae. The likelihood of getting wireless currently is zero. The only way to find out is to get a qualified engineer to check your location.
What are the alternatives
- ADSL if you are within ~4km of an ADSL enabled exchange (although, I have been quoted by a Telstra technician 13km - which is completely wrong!)
- Cable (limited availability in major cities only)
- ISDN (requires an extra separate phone line and is slow)
- Satellite
Advantages
- Works anywherethat the satellite dish can see the satellite
Disadvantages
- Expensive
- Requires un-hindered views of the satellite (roughly north in Australia)
- Satellite delay - means VOIP is unworkable i.e. Skype has ~4 second delay
Where does it leave us?
Wireless is not a silver bullet for rural communities but, then again neither is satellite. Currently, ADSL and cable are the preferred options but, if you don’t have the option: it is satellite or wireless. Between the two of them most rural properties will be covered and for those last difficult few - it’s good old narrow-band. Dial-up.
Sphere: Related ContentFree EzPz sites and 30 day free trials
Today, Razorstone is very pleased to announce the introduction of three new EzPz (easy peasy) packages. Each comes with a thirty day free trial (except the free version because, well, that’s always free).
Get your own sexy website in under a minute!
Why would you want a free website? afterall, making a website is complicated, it all takes far too much time and you don’t want to have to learn new web languages or some complicated administration system.
Well, that is where the EzPz system comes in. It does all the complicated stuff for you. It’s fast, intuitive and it even looks really cool. If you can use a word processing programme like Word then, you are more than qualified.
What sort of websites can I make?
Pretty much anything you like. As long as it isn’t offensive. You could advertise your business, make a site about you, your family or even your dog! It’s up to you.
What if I want more?
EzPz grows with you, when you need more you can just upgrade your account and add features such as eCommerce, email newsletters, online booking, slideshows and more. An Ezpz website can be as big and powerful as you need it to be . Where you take it… that’s up to you.
So, what are you waiting for. It only takes a minute, no credit card, no downloads, no worries.
Safari on Windows: font problem
Recently Apple launched a beta version of Safari for Windows. This
version works in the traditional Mac style, which can be confusing for
those of us who have not had the pleasure of using a Mac before.
There are of-course some issues with the this beta implimentation.
The main one I have found is, that none of the fonts appear either in
the page or on the application window.
Luckily there is a solution (discovered by Grupenet.com) which,
I will precis below:
- Navigate to this directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\
Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari (Windows XP)
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\
Safari (Windows Vista) - Download this Fonts.plist file [right click: Save Target As…]
- Replace the old Fonts.plist with the one you just downloaded
- Set the properties file of Fonts.plist [ right click: Properties] to “Read-Only”
If that doesn’t work:
- Unclick ”Read-only” of Fonts.plist
- Open Fonts.plist in Notepad
- Edit the location of the fonts to match your system
- Save and reset the properties of Fonts.plist to ”Read-only”
If it still doesn’t work:
- Navigate to: “C:\Program Files\Safari\Safari.resources”
- Make sure it contains: “Lucida Grande.ttf” and “Lucida Grande Bold.ttf”
- If not, download them and put them in the “Safari.resources” folder
Domain tasting or kiting
What is Domain tasting or Kiting?
Put simply - it is the practice of registering ICANN-regulated top level
domain names for up to five days to test if the domain name can create
a viable income for registrant.
Why?
Money - in a word. There is a “grace period” of five days for each
domain registered. If the domain name is cancelled within this
period then:
- the cost of the domain is refunded
- the domain name is re-released.
During this five day period, the registrants conduct a cost benefit analysis
of how much traffic the domain name receives and the likely advertising
revenue. If the domain is likely to make money then it remains registered
otherwise, it is cancelled - with no strings attached.
It’s a try before you buy scheme - on a large scale.
Where does the traffic for these domains come from?
Some of the domain names are mis-spellings of other site addresses or
generic terms that might be directly typed in or previously registered
names which have lapsed.
Why is it an issue?
This practice is almost at an epidemic level - according to Bob Parsons
of GoDaddy.com the number of registrations in February 2007 was
55.1 million, of those 51.5 million were cancelled within the
5 day grace period. That’s over 93% of registrations.
This means the pool of domain names for people who genuinely
want to register domain names is shrinking.
I have experienced this practic first hand. Iwanted to register
a domain name. I had checked the previous day and it was still available.
I tried to register it the following day only to find it was taken.
Tough luck, you say “everyone knows it is first come first served“.
Fair comment but, on further investigation it appeared to have been
taken by one of the domain tasting companies and sure enough I waited the
5 days, and, low and behold it became available again.
So, all’s well that ends well. Yes, in this case, but what if I had persued the
domain names and perhaps offered money to the domain taster for it? They
would be “quids in” on a domain they probably would have cancelled. I would
be out of pocket, but, with the domain name I wanted.
To date ICANN has introduced no measures to reduce or eliminate this practice.
Let me know your thoughts…
Sphere: Related ContentWelcome to it’s a web thing!
As an incredible shock to one and all - yes, it’s another blog.
To make a change we are going to try and make this one not only
interesting but, informative and not too rantty (is that a word?) .
Ok, but what is it going to be about?
I’m glad you asked that. We are going to talk about the state of the
web - the good, the bad, the humerous and the downright stupid.
There is also going to be some geeky stuff too (well it is a blog!).
Enjoy….
P.S. Let me know what you want to see here….
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