Update: It would help if I posted a link wouldn’t it
http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

If you can’t find it either, take a look at the picture below.

Find the Standalone Flash Player

Zen starts tonight at 9pm.

You can see more programmes at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/.

Why force installation of a download manager for files that are only a few megabytes? It’s an overhead that simply isn’t required. I don’t need any more rubbish installed on my computer and neither do you.

The links below will take you to the official install files. Download to your local machine and install directly.

Flash installer for Firefox, Safari and Opera

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

Flash installer for Internet Explorer

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your oldnonsense.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You don’t have to change that much for it to make a great deal of difference. A few simple disciplines can have a major impact on how your life works out in the next 90 days, let alone in the next 12 months or the next 3 years.” — Jim Rohn

“Earn as much money as you possibly can and as quickly as you can. The sooner you get money out of the way, the sooner you will be able to get to the rest of your problems in style.”– Jim Rohn

No, I don’t want to install every point release.

When I say “Do not update”, I really mean it.

Seems Java’s hard of hearing. Despite unchecking the “Check for Updates Automatically” check box, it was still checking for updates and trying to install them.

Turns out that Java’s Control Panel will only accept changes made by Administrators, so any changes you make will be quietly ignored.

Solution (for Vista 32bit):

Click “Start”.

Copy “C:\Program Files\Java\” into the search area at the bottom.

Open the bin folder inside the highest JRE release number (jre1.6.0_07\bin in my case).

Right click “javacpl.exe” and select “Run As Administrator”.

Unselect “Check for Updates Automatically” and click OK. You’re done. No more Java updates. You can still update manually from the Java Control Panel whenever you want.

You can do this by running the “SQL Server Surface Area Configuration” tool and clicking “Add New Administrator”.

For posterity, you can add a comment to a windows batch file by adding “REM” to the start of the line.

REM This is a comment

REM This is also a comment

I was using the batch file to automate the encryption of the system.identity element for multiple sites on a web server. I’ll cover the syntax for that in a separate post.

‘Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention
of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways -
Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other -
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and
screaming ‘WOO HOO, What a Ride’

At God’s footstool, to confess,
A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.
“I failed,” he cried. The master said,
“Thou didst thy best. That is success.”

And I have to say, I was rather moved.

“Thou didst thy best. That is success.”

All too often, we look around and compare ourselves against what we see. We rate our achievements against those of other people, when the true test of accomplishment is against our personal best, not someone else’s.

In the past, I have not done my best. Worse – I have not even tried to do my best. I have coasted along, doing just enough to get by. Just enough to pay the bills. Just enough to get through school. I feel I have wasted those years. I have whittled away at time, till all that was left is the shavings of my life scattered on the floor.

No more.

It changes. Now. Today. Right this second.

No matter how poor at something I turn out to be, I want to be able to look at my progress and say “I did my best. That is success.” That is the promise to myself.

See you on the far side of better.