Chad Z. Hower a.k.a. Kudzu's Blogspace

Important notice! It's time for me to go now....

I will be leaving Microsoft on September 30. This has nothing to do with Microsoft, and I wish I was able to stay on board as I love my role at Microsoft. However I have a family issue which will not allow me to continue in my position at Microsoft.

But I'm still here - in fact this change might allow me to be a bit more flexible in how I can work with the community. I will still be speaking at developer conferences and working with user groups, just as an external person. I'm still "here" to say - so if you are planning an event feel free to contact me. In fact, now I am not restricted to just the MEA region, and can now more easily visit Western Europe, CEE, Russia, and Asia. I just returned from TechEd Asia in Malaysia and would love to return again.

I will also continue to blog and in fact I should be producing more articles as I am quite a bit behind on writing. I plan to increase my magazine articles as well and I want to start producing web casts, but specialized web casts that are compatible with low bandwidth connections in the region, so stay tuned!

Finally to those I had started working with in the academic space: Don't worry - academics is something that is important to me and I plan to expand my work in this area.

Since I will no longer have access to this blog, please update all your RSS feeds and so on to use my personal tech blog. All my blogs can be found at http://www.KudzuWorld.com/

To all my friends in Pakistan

It appears after my last trip to Pakistan there is still some confusion about why some of my sessions were not presented as planned. I think it must be due to the understanding of the word "crash". More

The mystery of the cursed case

Over the years I have encountered a lot of really weird computer problems. But my latest one has me more perplexed than ever. Can you solve the mystery of the cursed case? More

Gulf TechNet & MSDN Road show

Unfortunately I will not be on this tour as I have conflicting events, but if you are in the Gulf area be sure to check this out! Cities included the tour are: Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Manama, Doha, and Kuwait City.

Power up your engines for the Microsoft Gulf TechNet and MSDN Roadshow! These interactive and highly technical sessions are bound to accelerate your on-the-job skills. Our handpicked presenters are seasoned IT Pros & Developers with extensive real world experience. That means you'll get straight-up technical content and inside scoops on the latest tools and technologies with lively demonstrations and lots of time for discussion. This in addition to networking with peers and winning lots of prizes from Microsoft! More

Disk shrink tips

Having trouble with a disk shrink utility? Either it will not shrink the disk or will not shrink it as much as you would like? This is likely the problem. More

The YouTube of video games

Hoping to spur interest among video game enthusiasts, creative types and students, Microsoft will offer a consumer version of the professional software tools used to create video games for its Xbox 360 console. More

Why 100% hardware RAID is best

Everyone knows software RAID is slower and because of this most RAID installations are using hardware RAID controllers. But most RAID controllers require special software drivers. And in many cases, that is just the start of your troubles. I just built my system with a transparent RAID controller requiring no software. Here is why I chose this specifcially and when you should consider this too. It is not the best in all cases as often the hardware software combos can offer other features, but especially in workstations transparent hardware shoudl strongly be considered. More

When is RAID 0 a good idea?

Everyone told me RAID 0 was a bad idea. But I am always the odd man out. But in my case, RAID 0 really is a good idea. Here is why.

Super Computer Specs

Ok, it is not really a super computer. But it is FAST, and it is portable. I will match it up against any laptop around, and it will best most desktops as well including a few servers. And I do not see many people carrying servers as small hand baggage. Here are the specs for the custom machine I just built. More

When 4 = 3

I just built a new machine and loaded it up with RAM to 4 GB. Little did I know that I would need a 64 bit version of Windows to use it all. After all 32 bits allows for 4 GB of address space, and the Microsoft web site says Windows 32 bit can handle up to 4 GB. But in most cases, if you want to use more than 3 GB of RAM, you will need to use a 64 bit version of Windows, and even then you may still be stuck at around 3 GB depending on your hardware (Even if it says it supports up to 4 GB).  More

Awesome utility for system info

Do you work with a lot of computers? Always wondering how much memort it has, what CPU, how much disk spaces is free, what the IP is, etc? Here is a wonderful utility for that. It integrates all this information directly onto your desktop background. More

My new Super Computer

I have not used a desktop computer for more than 10 years now. I have always used laptops. I did not even use monitors or keyboards because I hated switching. But finally I am gonig back to a desktop, or at least something with the roots of a desktop. I am building a portable super computer. More

Remote desktop and custom resolutions

I use remote desktop a lot. But 800x600 is too small, and if I use 1024x768 then it goes full screen and its not convenient to move between host and guest easily. To compound this, I run multiple remote desktops as well as virtual PC's. What I really want to do is run remote desktop in about 1000x720 so I get a large screen but still have quick access to the task bar and system tray of my host. Remote desktop has no options for these custom resolutions, but you can edit the RDP file.  More…

Multilingual Applications

I am starting to see more and more applications which offer localization. It is important that more and more vendors realize that not everyone is fluent in English. However when localizing software there are some simple yet very important steps to take. I have presented whole sessions on this, however today I want to address just a single point. More

PDC Sessions Posted

Looking for my slides from Pakistan Developers Conference? More info