.msp files eating up my disc space!

windirstat outputWorking on a system recently, I noticed that its 20 GB primary partition was low on disc space. There was nothing immediately obvious as to the cause, so I broke out the windirstat utility. This gives a visual representation of the filesystem, using different sized blocks to identify large files, and color codes each file to show the data type. This great utility immediately pointed out some large files with the .msp extension that were taking up 5GB of space on the disk. Continue reading “.msp files eating up my disc space!”

Sonicwall NSA 2400 Review

Upgrading from a Sonicwall Pro 2040 Enhanced

I recently had the opportunity to use the new Sonicwall NSA 2400. The Sonicwall name has been around for a while, known for making low-to-mid level network firewalls with available security service options. In the past I had used a Sonicwall Pro 2040 with the enhanced firmware – providing IDS/IPS, gateway antivirus, gateway antispyware and content filtering in addition to the firewall function. This new Sonicwall NSA 2400 was going to replace the Pro in a production environment.

The unit arrived Fed-Ex, in good shape. Sonicwall seems to double box their products, and then cushion the device in a layer of protective foam. The kit included the NSA 2400, a console cable, some ethernet cables, a power cord and documentation. Rack mount ears are also included- interestingly enough, these are a different hole pattern than past Sonicwall devices I have encountered. The NSA 2400 was preloaded with SonicOS Enhanced 5.0.2.0 from the factory. Continue reading “Sonicwall NSA 2400 Review”

Quickbooks shipping manager problem | settings unavailable or problems starting the add in

You may receive Error 25002 or Error 11949 in the log files or event manager as an indicator of a problem in Quickbooks when setting up or using the shipping manager add-in.

Assuming the Quickbooks settings for shipping manager have already been set, a profile has been created on the computer. It appears that the Quickbooks shipping manager settings are per-user, so the first method of correcting the problem is to go into the settings and delete the ship information and close the shipping manager settings. If this does not work or the settings for shipping manager are unavailable, there is another way to reset Quickbooks’ settings: Continue reading “Quickbooks shipping manager problem | settings unavailable or problems starting the add in”

MASS CMR 201 17.00

New Regulations for Protection of Massachusetts Residents’ Personal Information

Code of Massachusetts 201 17.00 deals with the protection of personally identifying information. These guidelines were enacted as law, and deal with information security standards and notification of security breaches. The laws apply to businesses that “own, license, store or maintain personal information about a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts “. Massachusetts is not the first state to enact such laws, but rather has followed along with the new trend- creating regulations based around information security and the protection of state residents.

Personally Identifiable Information (referred to as PII) is loosely defined as a data entity including the first name or first initial, last name and combined with other non-public information such as financial account numbers, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or PIN numbers that when combined, create a unique profile of a person. The combination of these factors would be useful in assuming an identity or committing fraud using another party’s name. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts declares that lawfully obtained publically accessible information is excluded from being categorized as PII, as is information gathered in good faith. Oddly enough, Mass CMR 201 17.00 does not apply to state government, but a separate executive order (501) does. Continue reading “MASS CMR 201 17.00”

Playing back .vox files using Winamp

Need an audio player for .vox files? Vox files are commonly created by Dialogic boards in telephony applications. These sound recordings use very small amounts of space, and usually a VOX file is encoded at a sampling rate of 8000Hz. To play back VOX files, software that understands the format is required. The free software Winamp can be configured to playback VOX files, with no additional cost to the user.

Steps for enabling .vox playback in Winamp

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Nedatanet’s Sirius Media Player Windows Icons

 

These are windows .ico files to be used in creating desktop shortcuts to the Sirius online player application. Create a new shortcut to http://www.sirius.com/servlet/MediaPlayer? and give it a name. Right click, choose properties, and then hit the Change Icon button. Browse to the location you saved the .ico of your choice to. Finally, hit OK. Now click it, log in and rock out.

Mouse over, save as, preserve the .ico extension using these images