Custom software developer. IT consultant. Geek.
John Pattison
John R. Pattison is a Principal Consultant at Info et Cetera Consulting, based out of Worcester, Massachusetts. John focuses on developing custom line-of-business systems and leveraging cutting-edge technology as an enabler for smaller companies to achieve their business objectives and effectively compete against larger businesses in their market space. John is an MCPD, MCSD, MCDBA, and MCAD, and holds a BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Management Information Systems.
Posts by John Pattison
Windows Live OneCare beta 1.5 available publicly; works on Vista!
Oct 11, 2006
I got an e-mail last night saying that Windows Live OneCare 1.5 beta is available for download (note that this e-mail also said I could share this information with anyone who might be interested, so I’m assuming you’re interested if you’re reading this).
This is great news for anyone running Windows Vista. As I vented in a previous post, I have a OneCare subscription for my home computers, but was really frustrated when I found that I couldn’t install OneCare on the machine I upgraded to Vista RC1. Vista build 5500 or above is now accepted for OneCare, though RC1 is More >
Free service to remotely access your computer
Oct 4, 2006
I recently ran across a great product for remotely accessing computers behind a firewall or NAT router. Usually, I use Terminal Services / Remote Desktop for this, but there are some situations where you need to access a remote computer and you don’t have control over the router to forward ports, etc. The most well-known solution to this problem is GoToMyPC (they seem to advertise the most). However, GoToMyPC charges $19.95/month for one PC.
A free alternative I have found is LogMeIn Free. This is the free version of LogMeIn’s paid product, so it doesn’t include premium features such as file transfer, remote More >
Wow!I was quoted in an article on MSNBC
Oct 3, 2006
I was going through my blog logs (that sounds funny) today and noticed a bunch of hits coming in from MSNBC. After closer investigation, I found that the following article links to my previous blog entry about Snoopstick:
MSNBC: New ways to protect your children onlinehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14739883/
It appears that this is a syndicated article from WPMI-TV in Mobile, Alabama, but it’s still pretty neat that one of my blog entries is quotes in an article that’s posted on MSNBC. I’m just amused by the fact that you can now search MSNBC.com for “Pattison” and find a reference to me. This just shows the More >
File transfer status window in Vista
Sep 15, 2006
It’s always the little things that impress me the most. I guess that’s because I don’t expect developers to pay attention to the little things when they’re working on so many big things.
One such example is the File Tranfer Status window in Windows Vista. I guess I expected to still see the folders with flying documents, but today when I was transferring a large set of files, I was pleasantly surprised to find a new file transfer window. This one is not only pretty, but useful! Take a look… it shows you the actual file transfer speed (averaged, so it’s More >
No OneCare on Windows Vista… yet
Sep 15, 2006
One thing that I was really disappointed with when I installed Windows Vista RC1 was that I couldn’t install Windows Live OneCare under Vista. Anyone who gets the Info et Cetera Consulting newsletter (or ever talks to me) knows how enamored I am with OneCare. It’s just a really slick product that works effectively with a minimal amount of configuration.
According to a blog post I found, there’s a new OneCare version 1.5 has entered internal beta testing at Microsoft which includes Vista support. Unfortunately, it won’t be available for public beta testing until next month.
It really surprises me that Microsoft More >
Windows Vista RC1
Sep 14, 2006
Last week, I installed Windows Vista RC1 on my Averatec C3500 Tablet PC. The experience has been fantastic! Windows Vista RC1 feels smooth and polished. Driver installation was the only slightly tricky bit. I did a fresh install of Vista (wiped the drive during the installation process) to make things as smooth as possible. After the installation, here were the problems I had:
- Wireless card (802.11g MiniPCI Wireless Network Adapter): Was detected but did not have a driver. However, my wired LAN port was fine, and when I connected it to the Internet, Windows automatically downloaded and installed a driver for More >
Printers disappearing in Windows Server 2003 after installing SP1 – PrintUI.dll file missing
Sep 13, 2006
I recently ran across an interesting problem at a client with a server running Windows Server 2003. After installing Service Pack 1, the Printers window was completely empty. The printers were still visible from other computers over the network, but they were missing when viewed from the console. The problem ended up being that the file PRINTUI.DLL was deleted during the service pack installation. Apparently, the same problem happened at this client after installing Windows XP SP2. The solution was quite easy — just copy PrintUI.dll from another computer running the same operating system.
I haven’t run across this anywhere else, More >
Snoopstick – Clever idea for paranoid parents
Sep 1, 2006
Here’s a clever idea for parents who need to monitor their children’s online behavior… But first, a brief disclaimer. I’m not really interested in getting into a debate on the ethics of using a product like this. It is obvious that this product could be used to monitor unsuspecting adults (e.g. spouses), which I wouldn’t suggest. It could, of course, also be used to monitor employees, who in my opinion should expect nothing less (but don’t forget to tell them that in a formal signed privacy policy). As for children, though, I think that in today’s world it is too More >
Free Windows Vista Upgrade Coupons Coming Soon?
Aug 21, 2006
Several people have now asked me “Should I go ahead and buy a new PC this year or wait until Windows Vista comes out?”
Windows Vista — the next version of Microsoft’s client operating system — is currently expected to hit the shelves in January 2007. This means that Microsoft is missing the big holiday season.
This is good news to PC manufacturers, who generally have their strongest sales during Q3 and Q4, with sales slumping during Q1 & Q2.
This is still an officially-unconfirmed rumor, but should come as welcome news to anyone holding out on buying a new computer due to More >
Better way to input text on a Windows Mobile device
Aug 17, 2006
I recently discovered Tengo, a product that streamlines stylus-based text entry on Windows Mobile devices. It works on PocketPC 2003 and Windows Mobile 5, including phone editions.
I was a bit skeptical at first, but I gave it a try (since it’s FREE) and I really like it. The idea is similar to predictive text entry on a phone, where it guesses what you’re trying to type. Tengo takes the standard QWERTY keyboard and divides it into 3 rows and two columns. So if you know the keyboard, you can pretty easily get used to tapping where you’re supposed to. And More >