David Vielmetter

Adventures in stupid technology

  • Maximum Terminal server connections exceeded

    So I’m working on some guys’ server via RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) from the comfort of my couch and suddenly my wireless connection drops because the neighbor uses his Microwave from hell. After reconnecting I get the dreaded ‘Terminal server has exceeded it’s maximum number of allowed connections’ message.  Here’s how to get back in.

  • Products that contain bisphenol-a

    Bisphenol-a or BPA is a monomer for polycarbonate plastic. It chemically reacts with other liquid chemicals (monomers) to produce molecules of polycarbonate or epoxies (solid polymers). This has been revised from my previous post after receiving Kevin’s kind update below. Unfortunately recent studies have shown that when plastic containers with BPA are heated or chilled,…

  • Clients get error 0x8004010F from new Exchange Server

    Recently I worked on an Exchange Server 2003 deployment project. After the server was added to the existing Exchange environment, clients kept getting error (0x8004010F): ‘The operation failed. An object could not be found.’ on Outlook. This is how we resolved the issue.

  • Website stats that don’t suck

    In effort to help customers place their AdWords/AdSense better, Google has released the best website statistics package ever…and yes, it’s free. Google Analytics (GA) is probably the best free alternative to those costly site statistics hosting add-on packages. It utilizes an easy to use AJAX interface with live interactive graphs and maps. Here’s how to…

  • Automatically skip ads and burn shows to DVD

    A little while ago I did a segment on how to build your own dvr. Well, since then some users on the SageTV forums have created better customizations and add-on modules that allow you to not only auto skip ads on recorded TV shows, but also to burn them to DVD with the ads removed.

  • Replacing Toyota key fob batteries and more…

    My 2004 Toyota Corolla is a great little car. It consistently goes 38 miles on a gallon of gas and costs nearly to nothing to maintain. Recently though, there were a few things I’ve had to replace myself because the dealer just charged too damn much. The DIY maintenance procedures I’ll cover in this article…

  • Task Manager says svchost.exe uses 100% of my CPU

    It is hard to believe that this tiny (14kb) program originally created by Microsoft has been the source of so much controversy. Also known as the Generic Host Process for Win32 Services, svchost.exe has been exploited by a slew of computer worms and viruses because it is such an integral part of Windows XP. Throw…

  • Paranoid about hard drive crashes? Just clone it!

    Working in the help desk and computer support industry for past 10 years has taught me one important lesson about hard drives – they will fail! Some fail after 6 months, others take longer, but eventually that photo and music collection is going bye bye. Here’s what you can do to protect your stuff without…

  • Dell bloatware slows down Microsoft Outlook

    I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron E1405 Notebook loaded with Windows XP Professional and Office 2003 Professional. Everything on the notebook worked as expected, except Microsoft Outlook 2003. Almost every task in Outlook took much longer than expected, especially when opening calendar events or displaying reminders. Turns out the fix was removing software pre-installed by…