Not able to 'Safely Remove Hardware' in Windows?

If you're like me, always struggling to find the trick to safely removing or unplugging external drives without the hassle of seeing this error message popping-out of your screen.

-The device 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later-

This can be quite annoying particularly if you just want a quick and easy way to take out your drive at that time!

Found the solution and discovered this free application called Unlocker that can do the unlocking literally to whatever system that is accessing your external drive.

You need to install the small exe file and after it's now ready for right-clicking the drive to unlock it.

It can actually show you who's reading the drive and simply 'Kill the process' to stop accessing the drive.

After that it's now ready for the proper and guilt-free 'green' arrow safely-remove-drive option.

With all this, it still better than actually restarting your Windows!

Intranet Presentation at the OATSIH Workshop

I was asked by Department of Health (NT) to do a presentation at the OATSIH Workshop held in Alice Springs (20th May 09) to explain about the Intranet site we developed and used at AMSANT.

There was a good number of people who listened to the talk with interest as I explain the practically of having a collaborative tool for all the staff to use. Including the challenges of having remote offices and the on-going training element to keep the staff interested in using the Intranet.

Getting into the Bandwagon of Twitter

If you're new to Twitter like me, finding motivations to tweet is a challenge.

I'm still evaluating the pros & cons of posting little trivia about myself for the rest of the world to see.

If I consider myself that famous as Kevin Rudd or Barack Obama with a thousand or

more followers (twitter patrons) and I don't mind that kind of attention.

Knowing what famous people and celebrities do to boost their on line profile through use of social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace and now with Twitter.

I bet it'll be a long way for me to increase my followers more than ten (10) and obviously from close friends that I have already (followed) added on my list.

Still the joy of tweeting needs to be seen as a way to connect yourself to the rest of the virtual world and signalling that you're not alone!

Try to read other Twitter related topics by clicking here.

Why reinvent the wheel if you have Google Docs templates!

Checking up my Google Docs today found this interesting red link that tells about New! Submit a template - a link to vast resource of document templates (Document, Spreadsheet & Presentation).

Different formats of doc resume, planners, calendars, business forms and a lot more.

Normally I look for the MS Office Online for these types of template but it's a lot quicker to use the Google Docs because it's already part of the site, no need to download anything!

Goodbye Google Page Creator!

It has been couple of years now that I've been using Google Page Creator, and it's disappointing to hear the news that Google is pulling the plug to this very easy to use and quick web publishing app.

I have created a number of sites using the Google Apps interface to manage and maintain different page templates that incorporates flash banners, calendars, picasa galleries and forms.

Sample websites like - Radio Larrakia, The Arch Rival & Balmac House.

Google Page Creator enables you to run or embed Javascripts (to create dynamic navigation) and flash banner animations (not only Picasa or Youtube videos) that can make the look&feel more exciting that the default templates.

Migrating to use the Google Sites is not very easy to do, due to the limitation to add these scripts and inline embedding is quite impossible.

I'm hoping that this is not totally the end of the line for a not-so-famous but very useful app like Google Page Creator.

Back to blogging again!

It might already been a year since I posting something on this blog and I'm happy to get back to blogging again. Ofcourse with some fresh and new ideas to share coming from different news feeds and blog of interest.

With everyone tweeting these days, I've started to create a twitter account and possibly start tweeting as well, but to tell you frankly I'm still struggling to find the real value of putting every minute - moment of your life as tweets for other people to read and gossip on any story or news you posted on your twitter.

Finally! I have received my TAA40104 certificate today...

It has been a couple of days that I've been following up DHRCA regarding my TAA40104 certificate and today I've finally got it. Four months ago I'm only dreaming of actually getting to this day to see my name printed on a piece of paper validating my competency in training and assessment under a nationally recognised Vocational Education Training (VET) course.

Looking at all the folders I've compiled and put together over time, I can say that I have accomplished something for myself, learning to organise well, structuring my notes and ideas, including writing journals and blogs. I've also met some great people in the class that inspired and challenge me to finish all the assignments just like when you're back at school in the early days. I've also realised the importance of summarising my notes after the class, saved me a lot of time later on when I'm compiling my Cluster folders. I would say I have improved my note taking and listening skills particularly in understanding the unfamiliar VET concepts and terminologies. As a technical person coming from an IT background, trying to understand the practically of the methodology and approaches used in gathering proof and evidences can be a real stretch to my patience as suppose to just the actual training delivery which I have done many times before.

At the start, I'm a little bit apprehensive on how I can manage my time well and let alone demonstrate competency on this unfamiliar course but after attending the regular sessions every week for 11 days and seeing the motivation from my classmates and teacher, I started to appreciate the learnings and the skills that I can improve in the process. The presentation in front of the class, the planning and facilitation exercises gave me the boost that I need to build confidence and understanding of the concept of the VET framework.

Thanks to Carole Buck (mentor & teacher) and to my classmates for the inspiration to finish!