How to Create a Windows Limited Account

A fellow blogger recently had a problem with a virus that rendered her computer not boot able. Here's a simple trick to help protect your Windows operating system from being compromised. Last year our computers at home were infected with a virus that was not detected by regular antivirus programs. The only thing that would stop our computers from being infected was to use a non-administrative Windows user. That way, the virus was only able to infect files from that user not all the files. And most Windows vital files can only be written to by an administrative user.

Here's how to create a regular user in Windows XP. I don't have Vista or Win7 at home, but the procedure is very similar.

1- Using an administrator user, go to Control Panel.

2- Open User Accounts, and open User Accounts again in the next window.

3- Select Create Account:

4- Enter a name for the new user and click Next.

5- Be sure to select "Limited" then click on the Create Account button.

And now you have a brand new limited account to safely surf the net.

Things to know:

To install some add-ons to Internet Explorer, you might have to temporarily have to change the user to "Computer Administrator". Once installed, you can switch it back to "Limited".

If your computer was previously infected, the virus might have changed the permissions to the vital C:\Windows directory to full access to all users. Unfortunately, the Home version of Windows XP does not permit to see or change permissions of the files. If someone needs it, I will try to find how to do this, otherwise the limited accounts will have access to the C:\Windows directory.

Some antivirus programs will not permit to be managed by limited accounts. But they will work fine.

If you get a virus using your limited account, you just have to logoff that user and logon with an administrative account, copy the data files you want to save from that user, go to Control Panel and Delete the limited account that has the virus. And that should be enough. And create another limited account.

One more thing, since you might not use the administrative user very often, make sure to note the password and keep it in a safe place.

Safe surfing!

Jasmine's mount Rajah

I could I have forgotten to talk about Jasmine's mount Rajah. She spent almost all her 90,000 golds to get the Bengal Tiger. Every Jasmine needs her tiger. And his name is Rajah of course.

Look at that cute tiger face!

Jasmine, my girl wizard

OK, time to present my third wizard. At the time, I wanted my wife to get interested in the game, so I made a girl wizard. And since she's a big Disney fan, I tried to find a name related to Disney. The only name I could find was Jasmine. I made her a Fire wizard because I really liked Fire School during beta, I had to have a Fire wizard.

She is my first wizard without the ability to heal herself. I had to learn how to fight almost all over again. Instead of long fights, I had to make the kill as quickly as possible. I had to use more blades and traps. Also the spells in the deck need to be more carefully chosen to make sure victory comes as quickly as possible.

She is now level 47. Her brother Gilroy already got her the Malistaire robe. She can't wait to be Grandmaster and wear it.

Next time, I will present you my next wizard: Blaze Darkflame. He's Balance-Death and at the moment, he is making the streets of Marleybone safer.

How to see other wizard's stats

I am interrupting my wizard presentation series with this little guide. Ever wanted to know what your friends or that wizard you just saw is wearing? A lot of people don't know that, so a thought I would show you how.

First, select a friend from your friends list or just click on a wizard around you, that you are curious about so that you bring his picture and menu on the upper right corner of your screen like this:

Now, click on the arrow on the lower left of the window. Look at the picture above, I have circled the arrow in red. You will then get the full specs of this wizard. See below:

The, you can click on the arrows on both sides of the title "Traits" to see which gear he or she is using. I have circled the arrows on the picture above:

And if you hover your mouse over the different items around the picture of the wizard, you will be able to compare your items with his or her's. In the picture, we can see that I have a pet Satyr and my friend has a Stormzilla. Looks like we both use our level 48 pet. Your gear is identified by the fist in the corner.

It's that easy...

Liam Hawkheart, Life Wizard

Liam is my second wizard, he is Life-Balance. Life is the school I would have chosen first. But in beta, it was not possible to skip the admission test that selects your main school so I decided to stick with my test result: Death school.

With Liam, I could have soloed every thing up to Malistaire. When he calls in his minion fairy, he's almost invincible. Outside of PvP of course. With life school, fights are long but almost always easy.


He has finished Dragonspyre and is now starting Grizzleheim. I did not do any farming, so he's not as well equipped as Gilroy, but he is using old crown clothes from his big brother.

Both Life and death wizards fight are slow paced. Their attacks are not very strong, but with their high healing capacities, they can take quite a lot of damage.

Liam is my first wizard to get a mount. The black stallion was purchased for 70,000 gold. I have not purchased crowns yet. My wizard get rich rather quickly. I rarely buy things and they sell almost all the gear they get from drops that they don't use. My next wizard is Jasmine. She just purchased a Bengal tiger for 90,000 gold. I will tell you more about her in my next post.

Gilroy Darkflame, Death with an Ice ring

Gilroy is my main wizard. He is a Grandmaster Death with Life as a second. He's been my main wizard since I started playing Wizard101 in beta, in June 2008. During the beta period, he was Death-Fire, hence the name Darkflame. He has been through a few wipes, and after the final wipe before the launch of the game, he switched his second school from Fire to Life. Since he likes to solo a lot, I was afraid he would have too much trouble in the new worlds that would be coming. It's a choice I came to regret, since he had no problem soloing using almost only his main school spells. I thought about changing back to Fire when it became possible, but it was expensive and housing was coming. Now that I have enough gold again, the mounts are here...


I am proud of Gilroy, he as been everywhere in the spiral and done every quests possible.




The Ice ring

Gilroy has a secret. He's probably not the only one, but still there must be a few like him. He is a Death wizard and he wears an Ice ring. Yes, he is wearing the Rime-Edged ring with +277 max health and +170 max mana. I have been asked that question a few time in the game, how come a Death wizard wears an Ice ring?

When Dragonspyre came out, KI forgot to make the new DS rings school specific. So at the time, He went to the DS ring store and bought the most powerful ring available. A few days later KI made the correction, and Gilroy was still wearing the ring. So the ring was now school specific but he was still wearing it. The only problem is, if he ever removes it, he won't be able to put it back on his finger. Since then, I have never found a Death ring as powerful as this one. Until he does, he will continue to wear it.

Gizmo

Gizmo, the pioneer dragon, is Giroy's favorite pet. He also likes Lord Midnight, his wraith pet. But the Gizmo reminds him of the adventure of beta testing. Pioneer dragon were given to the beta tester just before the game the game was open to public.


Next post, I will present my second wizard, Liam HawkHeart.

Crown Shop Bug FIXED

Just a little note to say that the Crowns Shop bug is fixed, at least for me. This fix came with yesterday's update.

My second wizard has bought a Black Stallion with gold. He's my only wizard with a mount. My main wizard, Gilroy Darkflame has enough gold for a permanent dragon, but he wishes for a blue one. And it's not available as permanent.

My next post should be to present you all my wizards. I currently have four wizards (Death-Life, Life-Balance, Fire-Ice and Balance-Death) I feel the time as come for a fifth one. And I think he will be Storm.

Easier Marleybone streets

My fourth wizard, Blaze Darkflame, made it to Marleybone today. He's Balance-Death. Of my four wizards, he's the one who had the less difficulty with Krokopatra. At this time she's still wondering what happened... He really kicked her ...beep... Well, he did have a secret weapon. Blaze is wearing one of the first generation Crown hat with Judgement. That spell can really it hard.

OK, to the point of this post. Has he made his way in Hyde Park, I noticed that our friends at KI made it easier for the new players in Marleybone. The Monsters on Hyde Park are walking much more in the middle of the street, leaving a space on both side wide enough to pass, just like a side walk. I don't know if they also changed the other streets, but if people are still complaining now about the missing sidewalks in Marleybone, they should have seen it before...

I remember my first time in Hyde Park, back in beta. I go caught the moment I set foot on the street. That was mad. Since then I had noticed that they made it easier, but what I saw today, is really child's play.

I still don't like Marleybone, too dark of a place. I will report back with what I think has changed.

Crown Shop Bug

I don't know if you have heard about it. Some people don't see the description and price of the items in the Crowns shop. Here's how my Crowns shop looks like:

I reported the bug to KI. But recently I discovered a workaround. On my computer, I always use a user without administrative permission. But the other day, I tried to play Wizard101 on my administrative account. And I had the surprise to see that my Crowns shop was not bugged. After promoting my usual user to administrative permission, it was working too. Removing the permission, the bug returned. I updated my support ticket with KI with that information. Mr Lincoln replied to my saying that information was very interesting.

A few days later, on Wizard101's forum, Mr Lincoln said:

**UPDATE** Seems we may have tracked down the problem and we are testing it
internally to make sure that it fixes the issue with the missing text on the
Crowns shop, without breaking something else. Please be assured that we will
keep you updated on the progress. Thank you to everyone who helped us
troubleshoot, as it initially seemed like a very hit-and-miss problem.

So be patient, a solution is coming.

Master Artisan!

Yay! Woot! I finally made it Master Artisan.

I don't know how, but earlier tonight I finished crafting the last bookcase. In about two hours I managed to find five Blood Moss and three Black Pearls. That must be a record, at least for me.

After that I wanted to craft something for me. I would have love to make the carousel, but it needed a lot of Black Pearls but I was sick of those pearls...lol. So I decided to make the Wyrm-Crowned bed. It did not need anything rare and it was my second favorite item. So here it is:

I was a little disappointed to see that it was smaller than the regular beds, but it still looks great. Not sure I will craft more, but at least I can craft what ever I want now. We'll see, maybe some cool recipes will come out in the future.

An Exhausted Wizard

This wizard is exhausted from searching all the reagents needed for the crafting quests. Gilroy still needs 9 Blood Moss and 8 Black Pearls to complete the last crafting task; the 5 bookcases.

I tried to encourage him with a big ice cream sundae, but it does not seem enough.

Wizard City needs an Ice Cream Parlour... That would probably give Gilroy what he needs to finally finish this quest...

Come on buddy! You're almost done!!!

The difficulty of writing in a foreign language

I could have titled this article "The frustration of writing in a foreign language". It has been much more difficult than I expected. I realized that my vocabulary is much more limited to information technology than I thought. At work, I have no problem writing about an IT subject in both French or English.

My blogging is very different from what I am used to write. And writing is much more different from speaking than I thought. Aside from the more elaborate vocabulary for writing, I always found it difficult to express feelings and emotions, even while speaking in English. The extremes are easy to express. The good and the bad or the black or the white are easy. What is difficult is all the shades of gray between the extremes. As a result, I feel that I am writing like a five year old with an elaborate vocabulary...

This does not mean I will stop blogging. But for time, I think I will limit my subjects to the ones that I feel more comfortable writing about. In the mean time, I should also begin to read English books that are not technical manuals.

Old Trades and Traditions Festival

Today we went to the "Festival Métiers & Traditions de Longueuil" which translates to "Old Trades and Traditions Festival". It is held in a park in old Longueuil during the Labor Day weekend. There was a blacksmith, a candle and a soap maker and all kind old trades that were the high tech of my grand parents. The temperature was ideal so there was a lot of people. Most of the time it was difficult to watch the demonstrations. There was so many people with their dog, that sometimes I felt I was in a dog show lol.

There was an ice sculptor. He was keeping his ice in a mini barn covered with saw dust, just like they used to do before freezers. They would cut the ice from a lake during winter, put it in a barn and covered with saw dust. The ice would stay frozen all summer long and until it was cold enough to cut more ice the next winter.

Saw dust covered ice blocks

My wife was more interested by the doll and candle makers. As for me, I liked the ice sculptor and the blacksmith. The few hours we spent there were very pleasant and interesting. I just wish the booths were identified. With so many people, it was difficult to see what were the demonstrations about.

Black Pearl Day!

This weekend I felt is was time for Gilroy to resume looking for black pearls. Well, it was a good feeling. Yesterday, he found two black pearls. I thought it was pretty good. But today was exceptional. He found six black pearls. Yes, I said six including one he purchased from the Bazaar. With those pearls, he was able to craft his second tunic for the Dragonspyre crafting quest. And I even have three out of eight black pearls for the third tunic.

I hope to be able to keep up this pace. WOOT :)

A New Name

Hi all!

I finally found a name for my blog: The Goofy Wizard. And a new name also comes a new look. Since in Wizard101 I am a Necromancer, I thought black was in order.

Speaking of Wizard101, I have been taking a break from the game this week. Searching for all those reagents was getting boring. So I am taking a small break before I get to hating the game. I will be back soon looking for black pearls again.

In the future, I will probably write more about Wizard101 but I will also continue to write about things in real life.

Like last night. I spent last night in a sleep clinic. I had what they call a polysomnography. I spent the night hooked up to a dozen electrodes that were monitoring my physiology during my sleep.

My doctor sent me to pass this test because I was complaining that don't get fully rested after a night of sleep, even if I feel I have slept well. And also because my snoring makes it difficult for my wife to sleep.

So, I arrived at 9pm last night at the clinic. The inhalotherapist showed me my room. I was surprised that it looked more like a hotel room with a real bed and not an a hospital room. I had a questionnaire to fill and the inhalotherapist briefed me on how the night will go. Then he installed the electrodes on my head, face and neck. The whole "hookup" procedure takes 45 minutes. Once in bed I had two more electrodes on the legs to monitor leg movement and a device in my nose that would detect if I was breathing through my nose or mouth. Then he made me test the electrodes. He made me move my eyes sideways and up and down. Breath by my nose, my mouth and even snoring. Move my feet one at a time.

Now came the time to go to sleep. Normally I should have fell asleep in minutes like I normally do. But I think I was a little nervous. It took me two hours to finally sleep. So I had four hours of sleeping time. In the morning, the inhalotherapist told me that he monitored some episodes of sleep apnea. But the data would have to be analysed and that my doctor should receive the report in about ten days.

Sleep apnea happens when the air ways are blocked during sleep and thus causing micro wakeups that are preventing the subject to go into deep sleep. And without deep sleep, there is much less resting.

So I should know more when see my doctor with the report. I will keep you up to date on this subject after I meet with my doctor.

In the mean time, sleep well!!

Black Pearls

Today I bought the Beckett Massive Online Gamer Magazine and got my Umbra Sword. It looks awesome, but I wish it would be more powerful. It gives five cards of 75 death damage and no extra pip.

I finally managed to find eight black pearls to craft my first death tunic. Those pearls are really hard to find. Tonight I found three pearls, that's my all time record. I usually find none or a single pearl per day. More and more people are looking for them, I will have to find a way to get on the game outside the busy hours to get more chances to find one.

Fiddler on the Roof

My wife got free tickets again. Today we saw Fiddler on the Roof. The show was in french so the title was "Un violon sur le toit". It was part of the Just for Laughs Festival. Even if the festival itself is over, some productions continue to play.

The show was at Salle Pierre-Mercure. We had to plan how to get there, since there are three festivals this weekend in Montreal and a lot of streets are closed. There is Diverscité, a gai festival, Osheaga, a music and arts festival and Les francofolies, a french music festival. Our plan was good and we got there with time to spare.

When we entered the theatre, it was very cold. But when the show started, we warmed up quickly. It was the first time a saw Fiddler on the Roof. I found it very entertaining and also instructive. I did not know the Jews were driven out of Russia by order of the Tsar. I thought it was only after Staline took power.

The actors were excellent. Most of them are well known local actors. I did not know Martin Larocque (Tevye) could sing that well. Golde, the milkman's wife was played by the always excellent Linda Sorgini.

Tevye (Martin Larocque) and Golde (Linda Sorgini)

At the end, the actors got a well deserved standing ovation. We had a great time. After, we decided to go back home for dinner as Downtown Montreal was very crowded.

Washing Machine Repaired

Yes, I finally repaired the washing machine. I thought of an easy thing to do. I cut the wire with the faulty connection before and after the multi wire connector. I connected the cut wires together bypassing the connector:

The faulty connector is the white and green block in the background, attached to the main motor. In the foreground is my bypass connection.

It was so easy, I should have thought of this the first time...

Brazil Brazil

This afternoon, my wife got her hands on a couple of complimentary tickets for a Brazilian dance show, Bale De Rua. The show was at Place des Arts downtown Montreal. It is part of the Just for Laughs Festival (http://www.hahaha.com/en/).

The show was great, full of energy. It even woke up my very hidden rhythm gene, LOL. I don't know why, but the audience seemed not to respond very well. The dancers tried to make people clap hands and sing with them, but the response was very shy. They danced on all kinds of Brazilian music. At the end, the audience gave them the ovation they deserved.

They really brought some sunshine in our miserable summer. Here is a video I found on YouTube:



It would have been a perfect evening if it was not for a flat tire on our car. The front-right tire was completely flat when we arrived in the interior parking. It could have been worse. We could have been outside in the rain... So I put the spare tire, you know, the one you wish was the same size as the others when you need it. Then we headed home slowly. In all we had a great evening.

Good Night!

Washing Machine Repair

I repaired the washing machine again today. I had repaired it last month, but I had not found the real problem. As I poked at the internal components, it started to work again.

So this time, I wanted to find the problem. I thought is was the control timer. So I got a another one ($25 used part). But the washer was still not emptying... :(

The guy who sold me the timer told me that timers were rarely faulty on that model. He told me to investigate the lid switch. This is the switch that stops the machine when the lid is open. I checked it, but it looked ok. So I decided to take a look at the wiring diagram that I found inside the machine. I found out that the lid switch was connected to two places: the control timer and the main motor. I knew the timer was working fine. So i decided to check on the electrical harness at the motor. I wiggled it a little and the machine started to work again. WOOT!! :)

Here is the culprit:

Since the repair shop was closed at that time, I decided to leave the faulty part in so I could close it up for the night.

Our washer/dryer set is 17 year old. My wife wants new ones. So we'll see later if I change the part or if we buy new machines...lol Our fridge and stove are even older. We are definitly due for new appliances... But i love taking things apart. I won't be alowed to play inside new appliances...

Take the bus!

De Lijn - Pinguins - Watch more funny videos here

Focus Group

Last night, I was invited to a focus group for a new ad campaign for a major Canadian cell phone company. As much as I despise publicity in general, I like to have the opportunity to give my opinion about it.

We were eight guests, 5 women and 3 men. We were presented a list of general ideas the company wanted to convey to the public. Then how these ideas would be conveyed to the customers. Each time we would tell the host how we felt about the different ideas. If, according to each of us, it was positive or negative.

The whole meeting was videotaped. There was a camera on top a one of the walls and microphones were hanging from the ceiling. The camera and microphones were very discreet and did not distract us at all. And on one of the walls, there was a large stained glass. We were informed that people were also watching us from behind the glass.

The two hour meeting ended on time and we were all "rewarded" with $80 cash.

Sorry I can't be more specific since we are under a non disclosure agreement. But I just wanted to share that I liked the experience

Broke my watch band again

Hi,

I broke my watch band again. I don't mind the fact that those resin bands don't last very long (2 or 3 years). What bothers me is that I can't find a replacement band for a reasonable price.

I have a Casio watch that I like a lot. The problem with this watch is that it needs a specific band just for this model. I could find some on the Internet for about $22 including shipping to Canada. This might sound reasonable, but I can buy a brand new watch in a local store for the same price.

This will be the second time I buy the same watch, just because the band broke. So I will end up with three identical watches and two broken watch bands...

I know, I could buy another model. But I like the display on this one and I can't seem to find another one I like as much. And also, resin watch bands are the ones I find the most comfortable. Metal bands tend to get caught in the hairs on my arm. Not that I am very hairy... Leather bands are fine too, but they are very rare on digital watches.

I realize the is not an expensive watch and $22 is not the end of the world. But still, it's not logical to change watch because the band breaks. What about the tripple Rs: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. This goes against the first two Rs...

As for Casio, even if I will be buying another watch, thumbs down to you.

Window Air Conditioning Unit

Hello fellow followers... if there are any LOL!!

Today, I took a day off from the job to catch up on a few spring chores and install a brand new Window Air Conditioning unit. It's a big 10.5K BTU. I am happy with my purchase so far. The A/C unit is running very smooth and most importantly very cool. It is making less noise than our old unit.

My wife has submitted her application to be an Olympic torchbearer. If she's selected, she will carry the Olympic torch for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on 300 meters (328 yards). I hope she makes it: Good Luck!!

Spread the feeling

I usually don't like publicity. But from time to time I find one that appeals to me. Since last week, we have these new Kraft Peanut Butter ads in the subway.

And there are a few more different ones. These ads are so simple and fun. By the way, sorry about the quality of the pictures, the train was shaking too much for my cell phone camera.

Kraft Peanut Butter has been par of my breakfast for as long as I can remember. So, i don't know why but this ad makes me feel good every time I see it :-) This is quite rare for me to really like an ad campaign so I thought I would share this with you all.

These ads are in French. The English version says "Spread the Feeling". And you can also help to spread the feeling by sending bear hugs. For every Bear Hug sent, Kraft give one peanut butter jar to a local food bank. If you wish to send a bear hug, go to this site:

http://www.kraftcanada.com/spreadthefeeling/

Thank you Kraft for the smile you put on my face every morning when I board the subway on my way to work...

Lawn mowing season :(

Lawn mowing season is here again...

It was three weeks overdue. On some spots it was almost 10inch high. On the last weekend of April these spots were already high enough to be mowed. This is unheard of for me, mowing the lawn in April. So I waited until I had no choice but to do it... lol

We also bought the annual flowers for our backyard. Oddly enough the least expensive place had the best selection and quality. :-) The weather channel says to wait until next weekend to plant the flowers. There is a small risk of freezing this week. But the long term prevision seems to show that summer will begin next weekend.

Still not sure where this blog is going, so I don't know what I am going to write about next...

I am not even sure of how long I will be able to keep posting...rofl...

Cirque du Soleil's Ovo

Last wednesday, i saw Ovo, the brand new show from Cirque du Soleil. The Big Top was setup in Montreal's old port. It was a sunny but cool day

As for the show, the performances were simply awesome. The action is in a world of insects. The costumes were stunning with bright colors. Since we were not allowed to take pictures inside, you'll have to go see them on the Cirque's website. http://tinyurl.com/cn83xb

The numbers i loved the most were the foot jugglers, the "couple on the rope" and the slack rope. The trampoline acrobats were also very exciting to watch at the end, bringing us in a big party finale!

Loved the show, go see it. I wish it comes to a town near you!!

OMG - What should I talk about?

Hmm, what sould I talk about in my blog?

My first language is french, so I will do my best to write in english. I also know a little italian.

I am not used to writing. I never held a diary... I will try to talk a little about JGoof.

He was born in December 2006, somewhere during the Christmas holidays. He came to life in Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK).

Although VMK's doors closed in May 2008. For me, only the doors between VMK and the real world were closed. In my heart, JGoof and his friends continue to live in VMK, it's just that this world is not accessible anymore for us.

Before I left VMK for the last time, I made sure to put teleporters in between most of his rooms and his friends' rooms too. That way they will be able to visit each other easily... His closest friends are RoseBonbon, PincesseMafalda, MickeyIsMyPal, Rajah, StitchFanPrincess and PrincesseMinnie.

After VMK was closed, i started looking for a new online game. Seems I was hooked to these games now... I tried Gaia. I named my gaian buddy Dagoof, since for me JGoof was staying in VMK.

Then in June 2008, I enlisted in a beta test for a new game: Ravenwood School of Magic Arts, I believe that's what it was called at the time. And now, this game is known as Wizard101. I have been hooked on that game since then. I haven't touch my Wii since...lol

I decided to take the name JGoof again, since I think i found a game worthy of his name.

I don't know where this blogging thing will bring me. Not sure which direction I will take, but anyhow, this is blog post #1 !!

BTW: You can also follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGoof

CYA later!!

JGoof