Dylan Greene dot com

It's been a while since I've posted here so I figured I'd start with a tip.

I like to keep my machines updated by using Windows Update, Microsoft's free update tool that makes sure you always have the latest patches installed without letting Microsoft know what you have installed. With the recent virus outbreaks, you'd think that people (especially IT Admins) must be avoiding Windows Update at all cost because Microsoft has had fixes for these issues on there well before any virus was even written. In the case of this ramped email virus that flooded everybody's inbox, a fix for Outlook has been available on Office Update for about two years.

Anyway, at work I got a new machine, and imagine my surprise when Windows Update suddenly stopped working and reported Error 0x800A138F. Searching Google I found that people were quick to blame Windows 2000 Service Pack 3. It has nothing to do with Service Pack 3 guys!

I looked at the Windows Update logs on my machine, and what do you know? Microsoft switched from hosting the updates locally to using bandwidth company Akamai to host their updates. Akamai has hundreds if not thousands of servers, many of which I block because they are known to be used to host ads, and I've taken the stand that since I've rarely seen a helpful ad that I want to click on, I might as well prevent them from even loading, making web pages load faster and be less cluttered with junk. Well, what do you know... Microsoft's Windows Update has been moved to an Akamai server that was once (and maybe still is) known to host ads.

So basically, by blocking that server, I was blocking Windows Update access to the catalog of updates, and the tool could not run.

If you are having this problem the akamai.net address to remove from your HOSTS file is a248.e.akamai.net.

If you want to block ads by simply updating a text file in Windows, check out How to make the Internet not suck as much. It's updated regularly.

UPDATE WITH MORE HELP: (Sept 2, 2003)

Try visiting https://a248.e.akamai.net/v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/getmanifest.asp right now.

You should see something like:
<catalog>
<provider />
catalog>

If you do not see this, then you are being blocked from a248.e.akamai.net, the server that Windows Update uses to store the update list.

If this is the case, then you should look at your HOSTS file. This file is located here:
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc (Your Windows directory might be called WinNT or something else, and it might not be on your C drive).

Open the HOSTS file in notepad. It might be a large file and take some time. Search for a248.e.akamai.net. Remove the whole line, including the ip address. Save the file. You shouldn't need to reboot but you should close all IE windows. Now try https://a248.e.akamai.net/v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/getmanifest.asp again.

If it works, then go to http://WindowsUpdate.Microsoft.com and get your Updates. If it still does not work then your company or your ISP may be blocking this hostname.

If you are using Internet Connection Sharing then all computers use the HOSTS file from the main computer. If you are using some shareware program for blocking ads then you should check to see what servers it is blocking. If you are using a illegal Windows XP key that you got from a friend or off the Internet, then Microsoft may have blocked you from accessing Windows Update.

If none of these things fix it, post here. Windows Update is something that should always work, but if it doesn't there might be something bigger wrong with your machine, such as spyware, a virus, a bad install, incorrect security settings, or lack of sufficient harddrive space.

Let me know if this helps, and be sure to check out the rest of my site.

BrickFest 2003 photos are here!

BrickFest 2003 had over 250 adult fans in attendance for the seminars, competitions, and build events, as well as over 380 visitors to see the creations. Nearly everything you will see in these photos has been designed and built by LEGO fans.

Click on the photos and add captions. Feel free to link back to your Brickshelf or personal page. A full URL including http will automatically become a link.

This is it ladies and gentlemen, this is the last of the Seattle photos. It has taken us over a month to post them, but we guarantee you will love these as much or as little as the rest! Click on the vacations tab for the preceding seven days.

Last night I got an invitation to BloggerCon 2003, a conference on blogging hosted by Dave Winer. The $500 fee is a bit steep for me since this isn't work-related, so I'll have to pay out of pocket, but the speakers are all top notch, plus I have lots of ideas I want to share with the great minds that will be there.

Here's something I ponder late at night: Is RSS for humans or computers? There are many RSS readers out there, most of which parse HTML. So RSS must be for humans. But there are also tools that use RSS for searching, cataloging, and contextual relationship finding.

Why do I ponder this? If RSS is for humans, then the content needs to be human readable and should contain HTML markup as needed. If RSS is for computers, then it does not need HTML markup, but perhaps should include some other form of markup, such as trigger words to help search engines (the classic "chips" as in computer, not cookie or potato).

In addition, since straight RSS is rarely read by humans, why is there so much redundant information in it? By redundant I mean that after a tool has downloading the RSS the first time, much of the content can be ignored after that. Since it is impossible today to cache part of an XML file and only retrieve what has been changed, the entire RSS file must be downloaded every time there is a change. In today's world of smaller-is-better, especially when trying to save bandwidth, processing power, I would think that this extra information, such as blog owner, contact, blog name, language, generator, should be in a separate file, with reference to it in the main RSS file. Now this sucks for the first time you do a GET, because you need to GET two files instead of one, but after that you are GETing less.

The next problem is how many items should be in an RSS. The more items, the more helpful the RSS could be, but the more redundant it is to software that keeps an up-to-date copy. Perhaps weblogs.com should point to a special RSS file that only as items changed from the last time weblogs.com was pinged.

Well, should I bring these questions to BloggerCon?

Today is the first day of Brickfest 2003, one of the biggest LEGO fan conferences. I was there last night to set up my moonbase module, a high speed no-holds-bard moon race, which Chris and I built yesterday in a couple hours. The moonbase modules we saw last night other than ours looked like they took a couple a months to build. I'll be taking lots of photos and uploading them here when I have time.

On Sunday, from 10 till 4, is an open house, when you can come and see what people have built. If you are anywhere close to Arlington, I highly recommend stopping by. We're in the red brick Arlington GMU campus building. Go to the Brickfest 2003 web site for more information.