In the post I made earlier entitled “A Geek’s Toolkit Supplement: Loaded USB Drive ” I spoke of what I described as “branding files”: Files that I add to the operating system to indicate that I am supplier, builder, and maintenance tech for a particular computer.

I can hear your brains whirring; so before you start thinking that I’m up to something naughty I’ll show you exactly what I mean. Oh yes; this only works if you have Windows XP installed, so don’t go trying it with a Linux or a OSX installation and then comment that I’ve messed up your operating system or “I can’t find those files in Ubuntu!” – “It doesn’t work with Leopard!” You’re quite right; it doesn’t – So be forewarned.

If this information has already been added to your operating system by the manufacturer then I suggest it best to just leave it anyway.

(Why are you playing about with your computer like this anyway? What do you hope to achieve? Oh well; your problem, not mine.)

The aim of the exercise is to customise Windows XP’s general tab in the System Properties dialogue box that you call up by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting Properties.

This customisation involves adding support contract information and a logo. It involves using only Notepad and whatever program you like to use to create a 256-colour bitmap.

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OK let’s start with the details: I won’t tell you exactly what details I put for computers that I build; so for this exercise we’ll assume that these details are regarding a computer built by the Acme Computer Corporation:

The computer is a Datamax, model 55102. Support line is 1-800-ACME…

Open Notepad and type the following text, replacing the example with your company’s details etc:

[General]

Manufacturer=Acme Computer Corporation

Model=Datamax 55102

[Support Information]

Line 1=Call 1-800-ACME for technical support

Line 2=  ">.invalid

Line 3=500 Billion Byte Drive

Line 4=Pixelgraphicsville, USA

Save this file to %windir%\Windows\System32 as Oeminfo.ini

Create a 256-colour bitmap of your company’s logo that is no more than 96X96 pixels in size. Save this file to %windir%\Windows\system32 as Oemlogo.bmp

Yes I deliberately soiled the picture: ‘Better safe than sorry.

To see the results either right-click on the My Computer icon or press the Windows and the Break key simultaneously.

And that’s how it’s done – No registry edits, no hacking into anything. This is a white box system builder’s trick; but it’s no massive secret. The files aren’t permanent anyway; if you remove them or reinstall your operating system the dialogue box reverts to default.

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Monday

I AM as powerful as the lightning, as necessary as the wind, as beautiful as a rainbow and as open as a beautiful waterfall.

Tuesday

I AM committed to honouring myself to create complete success in healing my life, and my environment. I love myself as Goddess loves me and I set an example for others to know their truth NOW.

Wednesday

The resources I need to complete my project are brought forth now. The individuals I require to assist with this endeavour are ready now. Our lives and hearts join forces to manifest this new and exciting adventure – which will positively affect the hearts of mankind forever!

Thursday

I AM claiming joy in my life as I ascend into my higher self to see with enlightened perception the right action in all situations. I willingly perform this action without hesitation.

Friday

I have transformed my desire for abundance into an openness to receive this abundance on all levels and in all areas of my life now.

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the very foundations of your world.

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After a pleasant-ish May and a below-average but reasonable June; July’s weather in the UK started out wet and continued that way – With low-pressure trough after cyclonic front piling into the islands and bringing precipitation after downpour – Added to which the developing lows running in from the Atlantic were sometimes so deep at the centre that the isobaric representations of them on weather maps were resemblant of something usually occurring from late October to April over the British Isles, with gale-force winds uprooting trees in places – We seem to now at last have a respite: Sunny skies and warm temperatures are forecast for the immediate future – Although a possibility of the odd heavy shower triggered by the heat is predicted towards the end of the week in the South.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/

Every subsequent raindrop began evoking memories for some of July 2007, where an entire month’s worth of rain fell in hours in a number of places in England, leading to flooding and massive property damage -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_Kingdom_floods

http://tinyurl.com/6jw4xd

- Not made any better by the inaction and unpreparedness of incompetent local authorities – Who were neither standing by for the forecast disaster nor able to cope with the aftermath. Hundreds of households, mainly in the Midlands, and upper Southern counties, watched in horror as roads turned into rivers and swathes of water, topsoil, vegetation, and raw sewage flowed through their properties.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/6911778.stm

England – July 2007 

So what of the rest of this year? Will the UK be basking in sub-tropical heat or swimming in torrents of mud?

I haven’t seen any predictions of expected weather trends as yet; but for what it’s worth; here’s my own long-range weather forecast based on the signs I see in nature:-

July will end with a warm and sunny climax in the South and Wales; although showers – Some heavy and thundery – will occur towards the end of the month. The North and Scotland will continue overcast with sunny periods and a Westerly breeze.

Early August will see the high pressure  system currently affecting southern parts building over Scotland and Northern France; bringing a south-easterly and settled air-stream to the entire UK: however another low-pressure from the Atlantic will threaten thundery periods of rain in the South.

As the high pressure system trundles north-easterly a second anticyclone will develop off Devon and build across the entire UK; bringing fine, sunny, settled conditions throughout the middle of August. Towards the last week of August and into September that anticyclonic area will fragment allowing another series of Atlantic lows to infiltrate the UK’s atmosphere – Bringing a return to unsettled conditions and longer periods of rain.

 
Picture taken near where I live in May 2008

Based on my forecast, (I can’t see much further than what I stated.) the message is to enjoy August – “Summer 2008 Part 2″ – as I feel a rather wet, although at times warm, September looms. (With possibly severe gales in October?)

How accurate or reliable is this forecast? Well I’m usually more right than wrong on this type of thing: It’s a combination of Witch’s intuition and female intuition. Nevertheless I could still be quite wrong: Keep your eye on the Met Office and BBC’s weather forecasts for more. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk

Addendum 31.07.08

Well I got the July forecast right to a greater degree; but the signs have changed and I no longer expect August to be quite as summery as I’d expected. Overall I’m expecting a settled, sunny, and largely dry month with occasional short periods of rain or showers; but I can’t currently be any more informative than that I’m afraid, as I’ve become a little confused myself to be honest: There are signs in nature right now indicating both excellent and lousy weather, and it’s hard to know what to make of it.

I’m not and never was a trained meteorologist; I rely more on the “country girl” forecasting method. Maybe it could be a mixed bag of weather for August; or maybe the signs will change again in the next week or so? Who knows?

I won’t be updaing this particular article again; but if I notice anything marked I’ll return to the subject in anoher post.

I had a couple of appointments in England’s capital city today.

The weather forecast which I heard yesterday sounded fairly OK: Rain was forecast to hit Southern England by 1PM and would probably get as far east as London by about 4PM, by which time I’d be on the London Underground and wouldn’t get any chance of getting wet until I got home – By which time the rain would have cleared. Perfect.

Having planned the day thus; I expected some heat with rising humidity before the rain, so a thin top and a light cardi were in order, and a cotton skirt was a good idea. It was rather grey and cool when I left home; but that was early in the morning and I expected it to warm up somewhat – Especially in London which of late has always been a degree or two warmer.

I got talking to a girl on the train- Hi if you’re reading this (I won’t mention any name as I didn’t ask for permission to do so anyway.) The PO Box number on the card I gave you is wrong BTW because it’s an old card; I’ve just realised that, but all the other information is current. The correct PO Box number is 2191 if I’m going on a Christmas list . I hope you enjoyed the day more than I did. All the best.

(At this point I think I’ll have a small-print rant regarding a totally unrelated issue to do with completely different people:-

Since that PO Box is Kustom Komputa’s box I’ll just state here that I notice that a few tards from the newsgroups have caused Google to be filled with a load of negative crap in relation to Kustom Komputa by making derogatory comments online whilst using the name “Kustom Komputa”: Listen tards; Kustom Komputa is a small personal enterprise knocking out the odd unique computer to a number of customers. All I get from it is pocket money if I’m lucky, as well as the joy of creating a new computer and making another customer happy. It’s not Microsoft or Dell; and don’t think that you can make yourself look big or better by openly criticising it. OK so some Lintards are better web designers than me: Good for them. End of issue. Also nobody has phoned Kustom Komputa regarding the matter of “AquireCredentialsHandle on Vista”, as stated in some of the Linux forums. (I have absolutely no idea why the author stated that they did.)

To cut a long story short I emerged at Waterloo Station to the same dank and dismal overcast weather as I’d left at home. As the day continued it seemed to start raining every time I emerged into the open and stop every time I went indoors. London seemed to lack that feeling of life in the fast lane today: In fact it seemed dead and uninteresting. I’m not sure if it has something to do with me getting old(er) but the “zing” has gone out of a lot of things and appeared in others which I never used to have much interest in at all.

Eventually I did a bit of window shopping, since I was quite wet anyway, and had to drag myself away by the ear from several items of clothing and jewellery that almost had me reaching for my purse, and probably would have had me reaching for a wardrobe extension and a larger overdraft facility had I purchased them.

So all-in-all the day could have been worse, but it was rather non-descript and it won’t be going down in my personal history record as anything worth going on about. So why am I going on about it here? I’m not. End of story.

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