Early this morning, Scoble had asked how XP SP2 is working out so far.

Well, I'd like to say that I've made myself happy with XP SP2. As most of you know, there's only the update version, and not a full install CD yet. So, being the geek that I am, I wanted (or needed? - nay, wanted) to rebuild my home PC from scratch. Its' been itching for one since I screwed up a SP2 RC2 installation a month ago.

Okay, so I didn't want to install XP SP1a then install XP SP2 on top, I wanted to just pop in a CD, install XP, and have it with the latest updates. So, most geeks out there are going...just slipstream the installation CD. Right! That's exactly what I did, and as of this morning, I had a bootable XP w/SP2 installation disc. My steps:

1. Make a directory to store the integrated (slipstreamed) OS:
    mkdir <DEST DRIVE>:\XPSP2_Int\Pro

2. Copy my Windows XP w/SP1a to my hard drive:
    xcopy <CD DRIVE>: <DEST DRIVE>:\XPSP2_Int\Pro /E

3. Extract the XP SP2:
    <CD DRIVE>:\xpsp2.exe /X:<DEST DRIVE>:\XPSP2Temp

4. Integrate, or slipstream XP SP2:
    <DEST DRIVE>:\XPSP2Temp\update\update.exe /Integrate:<DEST DRIVE>:\XPSP2_Int\Pro

5. Follow the instructions for making a bootable CD here. Note: You'll need the boot image, which I found off of the same site (Step #2 on linked page).

So, after 4 CDs (I had several bad burns, not sure why)...I had a bootable Integrated Windows XP SP2.

PS: I'm recalling my commands from memory, so if there is a mistake, please let me know.

...crappy online support. Case in point, I updated my and my girlfriends machines to XP SP2, and afterwhich our not so legal McAfee 7 crashes constantly. Okay, okay, yes I know its wrong so I was actually going to go purchase McAfee VirusScan 8. I go to their site, see it and go, hmm, I wonder if McAfee 8 will work with XP SP2...I better check with customer service before plopping 60 bucks down for it.

So off I go to Customer Service...and since a picture paints a thousand words...

Err, you gotta be kidding me...okay, so off I go to Technical Support...

Now...I'm no computer programmer, oh wait I am, scratch that thought. So like, how the heck am I supposed to get:

• My question answered from Customer Service?
• My question answered from Technical Support?

Riddle me this, McAfee...maybe I'll go buy Norton, unless someone in the blogosphere can answer me this simple question, does McAfee VirusScan 8 work with Windows XP SP2?

Yesterday, I stated that I had to prepare a presentation for my .NET User Group, and after 3.5 hours of quickly throwing together a presentation and demos, I was done. Yay! I luckily only had enough time to leave work (yes late), drive to the Microsoft office, setup my laptop, and then go! Call that close? I would.

Onto the presentation, nay, discussion. I say this because I wasn't presenting, everyone in the room was having a discussion about ASP.NET Server Controls, and I was just leading it. I was amazed that my technical level that I put together enthused everyone in the room. Wow. So after 2 hours later we had to actually stop our discussion with content left to cover (using events). I tell you what, I've never been so psyched and tired at the same time, what a rush.

So, if you'd like to check out my presentation & demos, you can download them here. I do have to reiterate, that some of the content may not be as accurate as what it should be since I threw it together in 3.5 hours. Enjoy!

I just returned from one of the best movies I've seen this year, "The Village" by M. Night Shyamalan. If you go to movies.com and check out the average score, it got a 1.17 out of 5. I think I need to say that the reviewers didn't actually understand the movie, and the 43% "go and see it on the big screen" general audience (poll) did. It's got several twists that give it the type of movie for anyone who liked "The Game" or "Sixth Sense". Definately a see it now movie...just bring a pair clean underwear.

You know what word is fun to type? Queue. Mississippi could fall into this category as well. What are fun words you like to type? What are hard ones that you hate?

Saw something extremely cool while taking a tour of Miami today, that was just a "must blog." The picture below, is the backside of BillG's summer home in Miami, FL. I sure wish I could live there...living next to the guy who created Asprin and Viagra, that estate ($49 Million) is wonderful itself.

Well, one quick note from my vacation...today's my 23rd birthday, and what better way of spending it than sitting on the beach in beautiful blue skies. Yes, I've actually done that this morning, and plan on doing it later. So, off to lunch then back to the beach!

For those of you keeping tabs on me...I'll be leaving for a week long vacation to Florida this evening. Yup, thats no programming, no work, no stress...just sitting on the beach getting burnt. So, don't expect me to respond if you have a pressing issue directed towards me. Catch on the flip side

So all of you who've be such great users of Lookout (like me), did you know that they just got bought out by Microsoft? Here's their blip:

"Today we are delighted to announce that Microsoft has acquired Lookout. The reason we're so excited about this is because Microsoft and Lookout are now altering our product plans to build our next product with the best technologies from each camp. This will enable us to take Lookout where we never previously dreamed it could go."

Hopefully this means that there will be better integrated search in future versions of Outlook. Maybe I should just read the additional info.

Update: Okay, so now this sucks because you cannot download Lookout anymore and they won't be producing any more patches. Looks like MS bought them out for the primary reason of search and MSN. How to make something great suck.

So I had to make a change to a demo at work today, which is checked into VSS. This change basically was to modify the color of an element in CSS (which happens to be on every page, thats about 250 demo HTML pages).

Ohh, stupid me...I didn't check the files out before doing the Find & Replace, so now I'm having to click "Check Out" 250+ times everytime this value is found and replaced.

Word of the wise, make sure you do a check out of all files if doing this type of find & replace.

Well, back to it, about another 15 min of hitting "Check Out"...

Update: After 5 min. I just realized that I should open up VSS manually and check out the files there...ahh much better. BTW - it was 553 files, not 250...I would have been doing this for 30 min.

Update 2: Another good way to render VS.NET useless is to have 550 documents open at 1 time. Also, closing the windows takes about 5 minutes.