It amazes me how bad some online shops still are. I’m sorry to start out on a negative note, but there are still a large number of resellers out there that don’t see the link between how their website looks and feels, and how many products they sell. Whats the the point in getting 5000 hits if 4998 of them are wasted because users don’t trust you? When I visit a web shop I immediately form an impression of the company based on their website. It helps me decide whether I think it’s safe to order a product from them or not. When I visit a site that looks like it’s been whipped up in FrontPage I lose confidence and immediately move on (this is measured as your site’s ‘bounce’ rate). Maybe it’s unfair but it’s a bit like eating out, if the restaurant looks rough and ready from the outside, I’m going to try the Italian down the road.

To highlight my point I’ve decided to go a bit old skool; I’ve been looking for a ‘real’ chess set (that doesn’t beep or flash) for the coffee table so I thought I’d try and buy one online.

As luck would have it chess resellers are a brilliant example (I’m sorry chaps). You know when you are trying to find something and all you keep getting are sites that look like they’ve been put together by an Eastern European gang just to steal your credit card details? Welcome to the world of online chess shops. That was until I [finally] found a chess shop that seems to have bothered with good web design; Regency Chess based in Bath. A shining example to behold perhaps?…..well yes, pretty much actually. They look like they’ve put a lot of effort into their site, they were quick when it came to delivery and they were really friendly when I spoke to them on the phone. When I’m impulse buying, I want (no need!) whatever it is I’ve ordered…yesterday.

I ordered a chess set from them at 11am on Thursday and….. alleluia…. it arrived at 10:15 the next morning. I’m no chess geek but the set they sent me looks really nice. It’s a 14” folding chess set with weighted pieces, the board is made from a chunky hardwood (I think it is Sheesham Wood) and it actually feels like it’s worth the £90 I paid for it. Yes, I could have bought something cheaper but some chess sets can cost hundreds, even thousands, and this feels like a good balance. It could easily pass for something twice as expensive. I got emails to tell me my order had shipped, communication was great and everything was properly packed.

I don’t often recommend or plug websites, not that many impress me, but I have to say I had such a good experience I felt compelled to use them as an example of a how specialist web stores should be. Take a look at their site, and then perform a search on google and look at some of their competitors sites. You’ll see what I mean. They’ve obviously spent a lot of time developing their site, making it easy to use without spending an absolute fortune.

Anyway that’s my geekout for today, Staunton Chess sets equal Regency Chess. Search Engine Optimisation PLUS good design equals better sales.

I recently had a problem with a computer located over 300 miles away, it had a nasty malware infection and I didn’t fancy a 6 hour drive. Very often, it’s easier to blow-away a computer and reinstall the operating system rather than spending days scanning and cleaning trojans, viruses and spyware, but sometimes that’s not the easy option.

I started to think about the possibility of cleaning the machine remotely, but I’d need control over the computer whilst it was in safe mode.… well it would have to be safe mode with networking, at least. I often use VNC for remote control (its open source), but as far as I knew I couldn’t get it to run in safe mode with networking….or could I?

This is a guide to using VNC in safe mode (safe mode with networking). Tested with ultraVNC (www.uvnc.com) on Windows, haven’t tested with realVNC: -

1.    Get ultraVNC installed on the target computer. Make sure that you are able to access it; it needs to be installed as a service. You can talk someone through this over the phone. Yes, you may need port forwarding configured at the target site; but if it’s part of a WAN you won’t necessarily have to do this. VNC uses port 5900. Check VNC is working properly.

2.    Download Bootsafe; This is a utility that will allow you to restart the machine in Safe Mode , and Safe Mode with Networking (which is what you need to use). Remember if you restart the computer you won’t be able to hit F8 remotely! that’s why you need to use bootsafe and it needs to be on the target computer.

3.    Open the command prompt on the target machine (Start, Run, ‘cmd’)  and enter the following:

REG COPY HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\winvnc HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\winvnc /s /f

This adds a registry key that allows VNC to start and work in safe mode with networking.

4.    Run Bootsafe on the target computer; select ‘Safe Mode – Networking’, click on ‘Reboot’.

If all goes to plan then you should be able to connect to the machine after it reboots in safe mode with networking. Use ‘ping –t’ ; you can see when the machine reboots and when it comes back to life. VNC Safe Mode !

Yes, there are other ways that you can achieve remote control in safe mode, but this did what I needed it to do. There are paid tools like logmein and you can also try VNCscan (I couldn’t get it to work). I’ve since cleaned a couple of machines using the VNC Safe Mode method and it has been surprisingly effective. If you’ve got malware problems try ComboFix combined with malwarebytes.

Standard warning: Step 3 adds a registry key to windows. Editing the registry could damage your computer. Do not edit the Windows registry unless you are confident about doing so.

Since I received my new iPhone 3G, I’ve been wondering why Apple didn’t add an option for text message delivery reports to the iPhone 3G software (SMS delivery reports). Sometimes when you send a text message you just want to know that its been delivered properly! I used to have delivery receipts turned on permanently on my Nokias and was disappointed when I found I couldn’t turn on delivery reports with my first iPhone (running on vodafone).

Now that I have switched to O2 I’ve discovered that there is a way to get delivery reports for individual text messages! Although this isn’t the blanket solution (built in option) that I’d hoped for it is still useful when you want to confirm that someone has received your text message.

To request an SMS delivery report in the UK (O2) simply add *0# to the beginning of the text message and continue the message as normal. When the SMS is received a delivery report (delivery receipt) will appear as another iChat bubble on your iPhone; below your original message (you get a text message back).

SMS delivery report codes are different for each mobile network and each country. Some mobile networks do not offer SMS delivery report codes. These codes will work on other phones as well as iPhones. Here are some codes for other networks. You need to type the code before your text message, and its probably best to leave a space as some providers require this. They are also case sensitive:

UK Mobile Networks
O2 prefix *0#
Orange *0#
T Mobile prefix *0#
Virgin prefix *0#
Vodafone (unconfirmed) – *NOT#
Tesco Mobile *0#
Channel Islands; Jersey Telecom *0#

US and Australia Cell Networks
US T–Mobile prefix *noti#
Australia Three *not#
Australia Vodafone – No code exists

European Mobile Networks
Belgium Base prefix *N#
Belgium Proximus prefix *R*
Czechoslovakia o2 prefix YYYY
Denmark prefix *0#
Denmark Bibob prefix *KV#
Denmark Three prefix *NM#
Estonia Tele2 prefix *T#
Estonia Elisa prefix -K-
Estonia EMT prefix *0#
Finland Sonera prefix *0#
Germany T-Mobile *T#
Germany Vodafone D2 prefix *N#
Germany O2 prefix *N#
Germany e-plus prefix *N#
Greece Vodafone GR prefix *#
Greece Wind prefix *0#
Greece Cosmote *0#
Holland T-mobile prefix NM#
Hungary T-mobile prefix **0#
Ireland O2 prefix *R*
Ireland meteor prefix *R*
Italy Wind prefix *n#
Luxembourg Tango prefix *0#
Norway Telenor *k#
Poland PlusGSM prefix XYZ
Portugal Vodafone prefix *NOT#
Romania Orange prefix *NOT# or *NM#
Slovakia Orange prefix *?#
Spain Movistar prefix *N#
Spain Yoigo prefix *N#
Sweden Telia prefix *KV#
Sweden Comviq prefix KV#
Sweden Telenor prefix ##
Sweden 3 prefix *kv#
Sweden Tele2 prefix kv#
Switzerland Sunrise prefix #*#
Switzerland Swisscom prefix *NOT#

Other Mobile Networks
Vodacom / Mtn prefix  rrr
Singapore SINGTEL prefix #R#
Brasil Oi prefix *N#
Brasil Clario prefix *N#
Israel Orange prefix NM#
India Vodafone prefix *NOT#
Qatar Qtel prefix *N#
Maxis Malaysia *N#
Egypt vodafone prefix *VF#
Egypt Mobinil prefix *NM#
India Ideal prefix YYYY
India Vodafone prefix *NOT# or *N#
Lebanon MTC Touch prefix *N#
Angola Unitel prefix *N#
Algeria Djezzy prefix *N#
Indonesia telkomsel prefix *N#
Indonesia Satelindo prefix R#
Serbia Telenor prefix *!#
Serbia MTS prefix *!#
Croatia T-Mobile prefix *r* or *r#
Croatia Tele 2 prefix *R*
Croatia VIP prefix !
Turkey Turkcell prefix *N#
Bangladesh Grameenphone prefix YYYY
UAE prefix *N#
Greenland (Tele Greenland) prefix *!#
Bangadesh banglalink prefix *n#

If you have other codes, please post them in the comments and I will add them. Thanks!