Avast Causing Network Problems? Slow network transfers with large files.

I just reconfigured my data server because it was begging to become cluttered with old software. I also thought that it would fix my slow network transfer speeds. I am running a 100Mbps network so I shouldn't have to wait days to copy over a few gigabytes.

So after re-installing Windows on the server I installed all of the necesary software that the server usually runs, Orb, VMware Server, Zumocast, UltraVNC, etc. I also installed Avast.

I now wanted to copy some movies over to a shared network folder. I went to copy about 20GB worth of media. I was able to get about half way through the transfer and it just froze and hung there. I was very aggravated because I just wanted to copy some files over, nothing complicated.

I then realized that Avast has a network monitor, I was wondering if that caused my problem. I decided to uninstall Avast from the server and next thing you know it I didn't have any more problems with my network. Even though I still ran Avast on the client computer. My best guess was that the old server did not have the processor or RAM power that was necessary to scan large amount of network traffic. I now have AVG running on the server instead of Avast and it so far appears to be operating just as normal.

BOOTMGR Error! - Solution! + Partitioning Errors In Windows 7

So today I thought that I would re-size the partitions on the main hard drive that's in my current Windows 7 build. Now just for some background information, I have my hard drive in two partitions. One for system files and another for all of my personal files. I do this in case of an OS crash and the need to re-install the operating system. I don't have to go through and find all of my files. They are all in once place and I only need to wipe one partition. Anyway... trying not to get off topic... I wanted to remove some of the space from the operating system partition and relocate it to my personal files partition.

So I decided to use the built in disk manager, that was my first mistake, to shrink the OS volume. I was able to do that. The hard part was extending the secondary partition using the freed up space. To my surprise this could not be done. So that made me angry.

I ended up downloading GParted and using that. Before using GParted I had to reboot my computer to finalize the crap I did with the Windows partitioning software.When I rebooted I received an error about my BOOTMGR. To be honest I have no clue what that is other then a boot manager.

To fix this problem I just used my Windows 7 installation disk and started the recovery mode on the disk. This automatically fixed that problem! :)

So after all that I was finally able to use GParted to get my hard drive partitions to the correct sizes that I was seeking out for.

000Webhost - Site Under Review

Just a few days ago I launched a new website. This site was just a simple two page site explaining the simple steps for a certain task. I have used 000Webhost before and I greatly enjoy their free hosting services.

So my disappointment came when I launched the new site I had mentioned above. The site worked perfectly the first few days. It even got good page rank for some keywords on Google. After about five days 000webhost decided to put my site under admin review. My site has now been under review for the past Two days. This is very annoying and it is ruining my SEO. I can't even verify the site with webmaster tools.

I guess there is nothing I can really do at the moment. I will just have to ride this one out. I will try to post again when my site is back. If it ever comes back.

UPDATE: So I sent them a support ticket asking about what was going on with my website. Withing a few hours I had a response saying that my site was all approved and an apology for the inconvenience. I was so happy to see this great customer service, especially considering that I am using their free hosting service!

Review of the AMD Phenom II x6 1055T 2.86GHz

Today I have a hex-core 2.86 GHz CPU review from AMD. I recently bought this for my new computer build. The chip has six real cores built into it which in turn gives me a lot of power. I am currently using the stock heat sink and to be honest, it cools but its way to loud. I never have temperatures above 42*C on full load with Prime95. The only problem is that on full load the CPU fan runs extremely hot. I believe that eventually I will have to get another heat sink.

AMD Phenom II x6 1055T 2.86GHz

Now I have a few friends that were able to get an entire 1GHz over clock with this chip, but obviously they had a better heat sink.

Pros

• Fast and Powerful.
• Fairly prices. I bought mine off of Newegg for about $175.
• Runs cool.
• Can be over clocked.

Cons

• Loud stock heat sync.

In conclusion it's a solid processor. I enjoy having all of the power under the hood. Even though I seldom have to run all the cores at full load unless I am rendering video, I still like having some overhead.

Computer resolution resets when windows loads - The Solution!

I recently had this strange problem. I bought a new 23" LED monitor to upgrade from my old 15" CRT (I know, I know... I just recently got rid of my CRT... anyway...) I connected the monitor to my computer and set it to 1080p, its native resolution. When I rebooted my computer it would display at the correct resolution but after a few seconds it would change to a VERY low resolution.

Well the problem turned out to be a service that was running. It was a service for Windows Live Mesh. I disable it and ta-da; everything worked! (Services can be accessed by right clicking on "Computer" in the start menu and going to "Manage" for those of you that aren't sure where the Windows Services could be edited from)

So I hope this helps others solve the problem. I looked on the Internet and it was very, very hard just to find this solution. Whatever, there goes Microsoft messing up out stuff again. I don't even use Mesh. If I have to access my computer from out of my network I just use LogMeIn; if inside my network I just use VNC. 

Set up a DNS (Domain Name System) Server on Ubuntu or Debian with BIND

I recently was attempting to set up my local network to have a DNS server on it. I didn't want to have to continue to memorize all of the IP addresses on my network. I have a server running multiple virtual machines with VMware server and within those virtual operating systems I have each one assigned to multiple IP addresses.

So simplify my network I wanted to have a DNS server set up so that I could simply type a name like "website.tld" into my browser and it would point to one of my local web servers.

So I went about searching for a good guide on the Internet and I finally found one on YouTube. In the video the man sets up the server on Ubuntu but I was able to use the same guide to set it all up on one of my virtual Debian machines.

So below are the four videos that basically teach you how to set up the entire thing from configuring the BIND DNS server to configuring Linux and Debian computers to use the new DNS server. (Note: I recommended you click the YouTube logo in the player to watch the videos on YouTube, they are sort of hard to read here.)

One thing I would like to add that I did myself in the house is that I added 8.8.8.8 as a secondary DNS to all of my computers just in case my DNS server went down I could still use Google's primary DNS. If your router supports this through DHCP you could also configure your router to have out the DNS information along with the IP addresses.