How to grant "log on as batch job" in Windows 7 Home Premium

I just spent an hour trying to figure out this one so I thought I'd share the wisdom...

If you have been trying to schedule a task and run it as a regular user in Windows 7 you will probably have come across this...

This is due to a basic security measure implemented in all recent versions of Windows which requires users that run scheduled tasks to have a special security right. (A similar security measure is also used in the services system but when you change the user in  the services manager it automatically grants the user the right and tells you its done so.)

Posted by Daniel: 11:14, Mon 1st Mar 2010

Gizmo of the Month - 3G PAYG Dongle with no expiry!

Vodafone are offering 3G dongles with no pay monthly fee and no expiry on download credits purchased. See here for details.

As far as I know they are the only company currently offering this, although if anyone knows otherwise I would be very interested.

Basically you buy the dongle for £39 with a gigabyte of credit for free, then when it runs out you buy another gig for £15. There no requirement to do this and there's no expiry on the 1GB you have purchased (unlike all other offerings I have seen). £15 per gig isn't very cheap admittedly but at least you don't have to pay it every month!

Posted by Daniel: 12:38, Thu 3rd Sep 2009

Codeigniter Hints and Tips

I'm actually feeling a bit guilty as I haven't added anything to this blog for quite some time, mainly because I've been so busy... but anyway to try and make up for it here's some hints and tips to help solve some real challenging problems I came across when using CodeIgniter...

How to get $_GET queries:

Now as many of you may have found out already, CodeIgniter basically discards  query strings (anything after the ? in your URL's) for what are essentially conceptual reasons. Now I have to say I do agree with their strategy but sometimes you absolutely have to use GET and there's no alternative.

(Updated: 15:16, Fri 8th May 2009)
Posted by Daniel: 16:36, Thu 7th May 2009

Ubuntu 8 - Is the penguin finally coming of age?

OK I admit it, I'm a Windows boy. I've been using Windows now from 95 through to Vista, working on networks from small businesses to large corporations. As much as I hate to admit it I even know a few registry keys off by heart... but that doesn't make me blind to what else is going on in the operating system world. Closing your eyes to other systems in the fast moving field of IT can often leave you stranded but can also mean you miss out on something which could improve your life dramatically. After all I might have more windows experience than a Canary Wharf glass cleaner but I still run my web servers on Linux and Apache because its the most sensible choice.

Posted by Daniel: 10:44, Thu 1st May 2008

SIP - Getting the most out of VOIP

What is VOIP?

Many people either have no idea what VOIP is, think its unreliable, or can't see the point in it. To be fair for people who have mobile phones with hundreds of free minutes and land-line telephones with free weekend and evening calls it can appear on the surface to be pretty pointless. However there are some advantages which may affect you:

More than one telephone line for free...

If you live in a household with three or more people in it you have undoubtedly encountered the situation where you either wanted to use the phone when it was already in use, or got annoyed by someone else constantly picking up your private calls. With VOIP this problem is solved...

Posted by Daniel: 12:09, Sun 16th Mar 2008

Gizmo of the Month - Techno-Balls

Out of all the Xmas presents I got this year, I had to tell you about this one. What looks like a simple marble run kit is actually hours of constant tweaking and adjustment to get that perfect swish mesmerising marble motion. If you are even slightly obsessive-compulsive like me you will love it!

I personally got the Techno-Balls "Hi-Lift Drive Helter Skelter" (269 piece set) and although once you've built and perfected it there's not a whole lot of room for customisation, it does take a considerable amount of time to do and makes an impressive gizmo ornament at the end of it. However fingers crossed I will get another kit next year and be able to combine the two to unleash some of that supressed creativity potential ;)

Posted by Daniel: 11:21, Sun 16th Mar 2008