As I was creating my previous post, I went to upload the preview for my screenshot. Normally, this would go without a hitch except for the awkward changing of the hyperlink after the upload to the location of my screenshot in PV:Gallery. However, the new Wordpress 2.5 apparently has a new system. The control for uploading media is in the form of a pretty sweet Thickbox modal window and is much more AJAX driven than the old one. However, when uploading the preview image, I hit a brick wall. I was given an error as WP processed the upload that “An error occurred in the upload. Please try again later.”

Trying again later, I was given the same error.

Fortunately, I found a great fix for this small bug. All that it requires is editing the .htaccess file in the Wordpress root folder by adding the following code snippet to the beginning of the file:

After reuploading the .htaccess file, the upload worked like a breeze. Even better, this new interface makes it much easier to change where the image is linked to.

Source: Honkiat

I recently have had problems with connecting my Creative Zen Vision:M to my computer. The computer simply stopped recognizing the device. At first, the ZVM icon appeared under My Computer although the Creative Zen Vision:M Manager said that the device was not connected. On the ZVM’s screen, the menus displayed instead of the normal “Docked”display. When I checked Device Manager under Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Device Manager, there were no apparent driver problems with the device.

However, from there it went downhill.

In trying to fix this, I not only officially screw up the driver, I also caused the computer to not recognize the device at all, other than the annoying, “there seems to be a problem installing this hardware” message.

After sifting through many “solutions” to connection problems in the Creative Labs forums, I finally found a solution that works, not just for me but for others who were on the verge giving up hope and bombing Creative Labs…literally.

Here is how you can restore contact between your computer and your Creative Device. Warning! This involves some WGA workarounds! Hehehe…

1. Download Windows Media Player 11 here.
2. With an file archiver program such as WinZip or WinRAR, open wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe and extract all of the files into a folder.
3. In the extracted files, there should be a number of .exe files.
4. Go to Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Device Manager
5. Make sure that your Creative device appears under Removable Devices. It may say Creative Zen Vision:M or simply MTP Devices. You may need to plug your device in for this. The icon for your device may have a yellow triangle on it, signifying that there is a problem with the device or the driver.
6. Right click on the item for your device. Select Properties. Leave the properties window open. Unplug your device.
7. Execute the following .exe files in this order:
   1. wmp11.exe - The Windows Media Player 11 program files
   2. wmfdist11.exe - The WMP11 Distribution Pack
   3. umdf.exe - User Mode Driver Framework. Note: This file is very important!!!
8. If any of the wizards ask you to restart your computer, select “Do not restart now.”
9. After finishing running the three .exe files, go back to the Properties window for your device and uninstall the driver.
10. Reboot
11. Connect your Creative Device and it should be working again.

If you have had troubles with the newest version of Windows Media Player on XP and want to revert back to 10, but have had problems removing it through Add/Remove Programs, here is a failsafe method of removing WMP 11.

1. Go to Start Menu
2. Click on Run…
3. In the Run dialog box, type in the following: C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallwmp11$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
4. An uninstall wizard will appear. Follow the wizard through the uninstall process.
5. After the uninstall process completes, reboot your computer.
6. After starting up, WMP11 will be removed.

Note: if you start Windows Media Player 10 after removing 11, the configuration wizard may still be that of WMP 11. However, after completing the wizard, you will see that it is actually WMP 10. This may be due to the fact that some components of WMP 11, such as the Windows Media Player 11 Runtime, and URGE, are still there. However, this will not affect WMP 10.

Beginning with my wacky reverse text post, I am creating a new category, more like a component, of my blog: tutorials. Although I am a hard-core techie, the tutorials I post will not only be limited to technology, but may also include any random how-to manual.

To access my tutorials without filtering through the other posts:

1. Go to sidebar
2. In the Categories widget, locate Tutorials category
3. Click on Tutorials category
4. Voila! (….so cheesy…)

This will do for now. I might create a link somewhere sometime later.

~DC

‮Lately, there has been a new hype, the Backwards Text Phenomenon!!!.

‮Apparently, theres a little trick on Windows that allows you to type reverse text. Although there are people in various forums now spamming in reverse, there is also an ongoing fierce debate over whether or not this is a Windows bug.

‮Well, but or not, here is how you can go backwards too!

1. Before you go post something somewhere, like a forum, type the following without spaces: & #8238;
2. Then after the semicolon, start typing what you want to say
3. Then post it!

‮With any luck, what you type will be reversed.

‮~DC