Changing Default Browser in Vista

I have been having problems setting the default browser in Vista. Originally, I had problems setting Firefox as the default browser for all functions computer wide, eventually, through some trickery and a tip found on CNET I fixed that problem. Recently I installed Google Chrome browser...which I like a lot in some ways. But again, I had problmes getting it to be the default browser. I searched for some tips on how to fix this, but the browser is so new, there is not much information. Yesterday I discovered Mozilla Minefield, which is the next version of Firefox, currently in alpha dev. It is still super buggy, but it did manage to take control of my existing Firefox install. This screwed things up really badly on my computer and I decided I had to fixe the Chrome default problme once and for all. 

A lot of my problems on this Vista install seem to be caused by user access level issues. Vista says this makes my computer more secure. I say it makes things break and not work correctly. I found a posting on Techarena.in which shows exactly how to overcome this default browser issue. Here are the steps to follow:

1) Make sure Chrome is closed.

2) Right click the Chrome shortcut and select Properties.
3) Go to the Compatibility tab
4) Check "Run as Administrator"
5) Run Chrome
6) Click the "Allow" selection in the UAC prompt
7) In Chrome, go to Tools / Option and select "Make Chrome my Default Browser" (this step is what most people suggest to do from the beginning, except it wont work unless you are running as administrator, and even then it might not work correctly.)
8) You may want to remove the Run as Administrator option as you will get hit with the UAC prompt every time you open Chrome or a new tab.

This process totally works, it fixes all of my default browser issues including default links from outlook and google desktop search. 

Confused about Obama vs McCain/Palin

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

 * If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

 * Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers,  a quintessential American story.

 * If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

 * Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

 * Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

 * Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

 * If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,  spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of  13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

 * If your total resume is: local weather girl,  4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

 * If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

 * If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

 * If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

 * If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible. 

 * If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

 * If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude",  with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

 OK, much clearer now.

Google Chrome Doesn't Work with...

I have been using Chrome for a few days now, actively, at work. Here is my review:

Thinks I like about Chrome:

-Ability to pull a tab out of the window into its own window.

-Individual tab processes

Things I don't like about Chrome: 

-The way it handles multiple logins for a single page in the "remember me" functionality. It tries to suggest the login you want to use, rather than allow me to select the login I want to use as Firefox does. 

-Chrome seems to have trouble keeping Flash from crashing. This is partially improved by the ability to kill the Flash process and have it restart without restarting the browser

-Lack of extensions/add-ons that I am use to in Firefox (especially mouse gestures and session saver)

Things I have found to be broken or simply not work correctly in Chrome.

-Amazon MP3 Dowloading Service

-Some parts of facebook (friend suggesting)

Additionally, I cannot seem to figure out how to do the following:

-Make Chrome my default browser (which enables me to click on links and have them open in Chrome, also enables me to continue to use Google Desktop Search). Though I think this has mostly to do with the messed up way my vista installation works with my default browser. It took me forever to get it properly associated with Firefox in the first place, and now I forgot how I got that to work. 

Finally, major corporations that develop products and services that only work with Internet Explorer is still a huge problem, and is certainly not solved by Chrome. I am specifically referring to companies like JP Morgan Chase, ADP, American Express and of course Microsoft. I really think that designing your product to only work on one browser is massively anti-competitive and someone needs to bring suit against large companies that do this. 

My Amateur Radio License

I found my Amateur Radio License listed on the FCC website. Neat.
What is weird, though, is that I found it using a new search website called Cuil.com (pronounced "Cool")
See it here: KB9IVG - Matthew Arata

Outlook Slow? Use Archiving!

I was having major problems with slowness while using Microsoft Outlook 2007 with my company exchange server. I searched for some tips on how to speed things up and found this article. The article describes several different things you can do, but the one that clearly worked was using the archiving function. This option can be found in Tools->Options->Other tab->AutoArchive. I set mine to archive anything older than 12 months. I think it takes a while to move the items, but soon enough it had duplicated all the folders and moved mail from my inbox over to a replicated inbox in the "archive" folder. It seems to be having a problem moving items from a folder I called "old work email," even though it duplicated the folder and appears to have moved "some" items.

Overall, outlook is now running MUCH faster than it was earlier this morning.

Remembering Joe Wishnoff

Joe Wishnoff, my colleague and friend, passed away on 7/14/08 from a disease called IPF. He was very passionate about things like SEO, pagerank, inbound links, etc... So in an attempt to ensure searches for his name reach pages that are related to him, I am collecting links about him in this post.

Save JoeW - The site Joe Wishnoff started to coordinate his fundraising and chronicle his experiences.

ServerCentral Remembers Joe Wishnoff

WebHostingTalk Remembers Joe Wishnoff

Joe Wishnoff on Facebook

Joe Wishnoff on Friendster

Joe Wishnoff on LinkedIn

Joe Wishnoff, legacy guestbook memorial

Joe Wishnoff, obiturary in the Tribune

Link through Dennis' blog on an article on Joe Wishnoff, written by Teresa Geiger, Dennis also wrote several other posts about Joe on his blog.

Joe Wishnoff's Holding Company, Sion Networks

Joe Wishnoff included in the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis 3rd Quarter 2008 Newsletter

Joe Wishnoff mentioned on the Host Review blog

Thread about Joe Wishnoff on WebHostingTalk Forum

Young punk to unseat old republican stodger

Kim blogged about this guy, probably after seeing it on digg, who is going to win a Kansas congressional seat simply because of the internet. All he needs is 3000 people to donate $8.34 a piece. I think he will do it, NO PROBLEM. He summed up his initial foray into politics with a great cartoon. I gave him my $8.34, and I don't even live in Kansas!