• "Hmmmm... these x-rays look a little odd.  Oh wait, I had them upside down..."
• "You do have good dental insurance, don't you?"
• "I am so hung-over...."
• "I wish I could afford a new drill bit. This one is just so dull and rusty..."
• "What do you mean we're out of novocaine?"
• "Sure, I'm planning to use gas.... just not on you."
• "Have I ever told you how much I enjoy garlic and onion sandwiches?"
• "Sterilization? That's for wimps."
• "New Mercedes, here I come..."
• "When you wake up, you may find some of your clothing missing. That's completely normal."
• "Mind if I film this session for a medical journal?"
• "Hope your day's going better than mine. My spouse just left me for someone who looks.... like YOU!"
• "Let's have a look at those teeth... Cha-ching!"
• "License to practice? What's that?"
• "Front desk? You'd better cancel my other appointments for today."
• "This is a self-serve dentist.  Just let me know when you're finished."
  

The steri-strips over my incision are starting to come loose and are expected to fall off of their own accord in the next day or two.  The little bit of the incision that's already visible doesn't look too bad.

I'm not feeling too bad. I got a little tired late in the day at work, but walk and some decaf coffee perked me up enough to get through the rest of it.  There is a small amount of pain left in my throat, and the incision area itself occasionally burns a little, but I haven't had to touch the prescription painkillers for days.

There are lots of doctor visits in my immediate future... follow-up about the surgery, planning for the radioactive iodine treatment, working out a dose of synthetic thyroid hormone, and whatever else might arise in the meantime.  Still, I'm happy to have the cancer out of my system and to continue on.

From time to time in Windows administration and patch management, it's necessary to know whether a machine you're about to do something to is waiting on a reboot. When an installer program needs to replace a file that's in use, it can't do that, so it places the file on the disk with a temporary name and places a value in the Windows Registry to indicate that the file needs to be renamed at the next reboot. Therefore, if you want to detect whether a given machine needs a reboot in order to complete the work of a previously-applied hotfix, patch, or software install, you can look at that value in the Registry to see if there's any work to be done on the next reboot. If there is, the machine needs a reboot. If there's nothing there, the machine doesn't need a reboot.

The Registry key you need to examine is a MultiString Value called, aptly enough "PendingFileRenameOperations" located on the following Registry path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Below is a sample VBScript to perform a test of the local or a remote machine to see if a reboot is needed based on the PendingFileRenameOperations key. The script must be run with Administrator permission on the system to be checked. If run without Administrator permission, the script will be unable to connect with the remote machine and an error will be displayed.

When executed, the script prompts for the name of a PC on the network, which can be the PC you're using at the time. If no PC name is entered, the script aborts. Otherwise, it makes a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) call to the Registry provider on the remote machine and requests the value of the PendingFileRenameOperations key. If an actual value is found, this means that PC requires a reboot. If no value is found or the key isn't there, then the PC does not require a reboot. A message is displayed for the user indicating if the machine in question does or does not need to be rebooted.

I hope you'll find the script useful.

dim oReg

'
' Set a constant we'll use later
'
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002

'
' Ask the user for a PC name to check and abort if they
' don't give us one.
'
strComputer = InputBox("Which PC do you want to check?",_
                 "Reboot Need Checker")

if strComputer="" then
  wscript.quit
end if

thePC = ltrim(rtrim(strComputer))

'
' Use the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) capability
' to connect to the remote computer's Registry provider.
'
on error resume next
set oReg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _
           strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")

If Err.Number <> 0 Then
   MsgBox "Could not connect with WMI to PC " & strComputer & _
          "'s Registry.", vbOKOnly, "ERROR!"
   wscript.quit
End If

'
' Use the WMI Registry Provider to look up the reboot status in
' the remote PC's Registry. Display an error if we can't do it.
'
strvalue = "NOTHING"
strKeyPath = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager"
strValueName = "PendingFileRenameOperations"

oReg.GetMultiStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,_
                         strKeyPath,_
						 strValueName,_
						 arrValues

If Err.Number <> 0 Then
     MsgBox "Could not read reboot status for the PC " & _
	        strComputer, vbOKOnly, "ERROR!"
     wscript.quit
End If
    
'
' If arrValues returns a non-zero value below, then there are filenames in
' the PendingFileRenameOperations key, and therefore a reboot
' is needed to complete those rename operations.
'
if arrvalues > 0 then

   msgbox strComputer & " requires a reboot at this time. ", _
          vbokonly,"Reboot Needed"

else

   msgbox strComputer & " does not require a reboot. ", _
          vbokonly,"No Reboot Needed"
   wscript.quit

end if

The web is full of a lot of interesting, funny, and informative stuff. I was walking back from the cafeteria today with some of my co-workers when the topic of web sites came up. I shared with them the web sites I like to visit every day if I can find the time. I thought you might find the list useful, so here goes...

• Woot.com: This site offers a different product every day, which can be almost anything, at a deep discount. The product offered can be a hard drive, a golf club, a hammock, a laptop computer, a big-screen TV, or any of hundreds of other items. If you like the item they're offering and the price, you buy it. If not, move on. Some of the best parts of this site are the product descriptions, which are some of the funniest stuff on the web. I also enjoy their podcast, which usually contains music reminiscent of They Might Be Giants or Devo. Occasionally, Woot does what they call a "woot off" where a long string of items is posted one at a time on the site until each one sells out. They just finished one of these yesterday.
• Sellout.woot.com: This sister site to Woot.com also offers an item each day at a discount. This is a different item from the one on the main Woot site, but is sometimes complementary (e.g., an iPod on one and an iPod docking device on the other).
• Shirt.woot.com: This sister site to Woot.com offers a different T-shirt each day. The prices are more reasonable than most other t-shirt sites on the web, and the shirts offered range from the artistic to the geeky.
• User Friendly - The Comic Strip: If you're a technology/IT person like I am, you'll appreciate the antics of the characters on this web site, who work as consultants, tech support, and corporate IT. The strips tend to poke fun at science, technology, and related issues.
• Dilbert - The Comic Strip: If you have a corporate job, it's pretty easy to identify with this classic syndicated comic strip.
• Giveaway of the Day: This site offers, for free, a Windows software product that you'd otherwise have to pay for. Each day it's a new product. The product might be a utility like a disk defragmenter, a project management tool, a video editor, a PDF to HTML converter, or something else. If the product is useful to you, it's free if you download and install it immediately. (I also find it useful practice to repackage these downloads using Wise Package Studio.)
• Game Giveaway of the Day: This sister site to giveawayoftheday.com offers, typically less often than once a day, a game you'd otherwise have to pay for. Again, you may not like some of the games they offer, but it's hard to argue with the price (free).
• Yugster.com: Like Woot, Yugster offers 1-2 products a day and sells them until they're gone or it's time to bring on the next product.
• Fark: This web site is kind of like a "headline news of the weird". It features stories from all over the web, and all over the world, focusing on the more offbeat, bizarre, and humorous. I like to read this one on my lunch hour.
• iGoogle: Google offers a customized home page for users who set up an account with them. Using this customized home page, you can display the top technology headlines from any site with an RSS feed (like this one). You'll be able to tell instantly if something useful or interesting appears on your favorite sites without leaving your web browser's start page (assuming you set iGoogle up as your start page). I use it to keep track of Crave: The Gadget Blog, technology news sites, Slashdot, and CNet News.

• Amazon.com: I like to check in to see what Amazon thinks I might be interested in. Often, they're right. I keep a "wish list" on Amazon.com so that friends and family members can get ideas for gifts I might like.
• Newegg.com: This site specializes in computers and computer components at inexpensive prices. When I need a bit of technology, I usually look here for it first. If they have it, it's often going to be at one of the lowest prices on the web.
• Pacific Geek: This site offers deep-discount computer technology items, including lots of cheap little electronic gadgets and toys. My office is decorated with a lot of crap from here.
• Think Geek: This is kind of the "Sears Christmas Toy Catalog" for geeks. You can find a million little gadgets, gizmos, and things that us geeks find amusing. They offer products like a duct tape wallet, caffeinated soap (really!), bumper stickers that say geeky things like "Got root?", and animated doormats. I keep a wish list here, too.

One of the things Google is famous for is a saying along the lines of "don't do anything evil" which is to sum up their attitude as a company. Earlier today, they released the "Chrome" web browser for Windows, a new approach to how browsers should work and designed from the ground up to handle web-based applications.

Having spent a few minutes with the browser, and keeping in mind it's a beta, I'm reasonably impressed. It seemed to be quick, properly rendered the pages I pointed it to, and didn't gobble up lots of system resources in the process. However, being a Windows administrator, I have a couple of problems with it.

Chrome doesn't install in the typical "C:\Program Files" location where (by default) applications are supposed to be installed. Instead, Chrome installs in the "C:\Documents and Settings" directory for the person who runs the installer. That's weird, and not something I'd expect from Google. Still, in and of itself, it's not exactly "evil".

The "evil" thing about Chrome is that it not only doesn't respect the "C:\Program Files" default installation location (and doesn't let the person installing it change that location), because it chooses to install in the "C:\Documents and Settings" directory it bypasses the normal protections against unauthorized users installing software on a system. Normally, a user requires administrator permission to install a software package like Internet Explorer, FireFox, or OpenOffice.org. Corporations rely on this to ensure their systems contain only licensed, authorized software. They rely on it to prevent unauthorized and potentially dangerous software from making it onto their systems. Using "Documents and Settings" as a way to get around these protections is, in my view, pretty "evil" and certainly beneath Google.

There are quite a few commercial systems management products out there for Windows. As with any product space, each has its strengths and weaknesses. Altiris, for example, offers incredible power. LanDesk may lack some of that power, but is far easier to use. As far as I know, there's no comparable systems management suite consisting of primarily open source software. I'm considering changing that situation.

In the past couple of years, I've begun learning a lot of new things about scripting for systems administration, deploying patches, repackaging and deploying software, and generally maintaining the health of systems on a network. I've shared bits of that knowledge here, as I've had the time and desire to write them up. But I've never taken things to the "next level" and actually converted that knowledge into a usable tool set.

For example, I have a DOS batch script which will deploy a specific Microsoft patch to a specific computer from the command line. I have another script which can simultaneously execute a command on multiple systems. Another set of scripts will run a CHKDSK on a remote system, examine the output, determine if any "significant" errors exist, instruct the system to repair errors on the next reboot, and reboot the system. Other scripts can check for impending disk failure, low disk space conditions, etc. Taken as a whole, these scripts would be useful for a small shop (say, 1000 PCs or less) to manage their systems. Extended a bit, they could probably handle a larger network of machines.

Because I'm starting to get the "itch" to create something, I'm toying with the idea of developing my own equivalent of an Altiris or LanDesk that's built using free or freely-available software. That way, the small organization with 20-150 PCs can manage their system like the bigger shops. And the bigger shops who may not have the money for one of the commercial products can still reap the benefits of automated systems management, without the expense.

This is still just the germ of an idea in my head. My existing scripts are too site specific and undocumented to be widely used without a lot of tweaking. And heck, I may not even have the programming and scripting skill needed to pull off some of the things I would consider critical to such a tool. (For example, minimizing network bandwidth usage by transmitting a software package to one machine on a subnet, then transmitting the package from that machine to others on the same subnet might be more than I know how to accomplish.)

Still, it's fun to think about...

• No wild animals. I've had them slip onto my plate at different times and I've never liked any of them. This differs from many of my family members, who enjoy deer, rabbit, goose, duck, pheasant, squirrel, etc.
• Don't mix my meat with fruit. That means no "apple chicken" or "lemon shrimp".
• Don't mix my chocolate with fruit.
• Don't feed me fish. Can't stand it. (That includes trout, catfish, perch, cod, etc., but does not include shrimp, scallops, lobster, or crab.)
• Don't offer me pork, unless it's bacon, sausage, or ham
• Don't offer me the entrails of any creature (I've even been known to pick off a sausage casing if it bugs me).
• No desserts that include cheese, except for the Indian dessert Rasmalai.
• No raisins in anything. Period. Not breakfast cereals, not cakes or cookies, nothing.
• Salads should not include fruit or croutons, or any fruit flavoring.

That's pretty much it. I'm willing to try almost any food from any ethnic group on the planet provided it fits in with the above list.