So I awoke this Christmas Eve morning to a present from my Windows 7 machine - a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with the an error code of c000021a. Doing a bit of research on this error, I found... nothing helpful.

For hours I worked on the issue. I tried everything I could think of:

• Reboot into Safe Mode - Failed. It gave me the same error as if I was trying to boot normally.
• Launch Startup Repair - Startup Repair was able to detect that I was having issues booting, but was unable to fix the issue.
• System Restore - Tried to perform a system restore, but the computer said that before I could restore, I need to turn on System Protection (which was already on, and which I could only get to by booting into Windows - GRRRR!!!!)
• Command Prompt (Disk Checker) - No errors with the hard drive (at least its not a hardware failure)
• Command Prompt (SFC) - I attempted to run the system file checker from the command prompt (through startup repair), but at first it was saying I could not run it because another repair operation was running. I then found that if I ran the following command, it should have worked through startup repair:

  SFC /SCANNOW /OFFWINDIR=C:Windows /OFFBOOTDIR=C:

  But, that didn't work either. :(
• Renamed all AVG Files - I thought (at one point) that AVG might be to blame, because the last couple of files I saw Safe Mode processing were AVG related ones. So, I renamed all related AVG files, and tried that. Nope.

After all that, I was quite discourage. I hadn't backed up any of my files yet, and I would have liked to back up my files properly. Eventually, I ran across this article, which didn't really have anything to do with my particular error, other than they couldn't get their PC to boot either. I tried performing the answer in the article:

  
Keep tapping F8 during the early boot phase.
  
Select Repair from the menu that looks like this one:

   http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode
Log on as Administrator if prompted.
Select Repair when prompted.
Select the Command Prompt from the menu that looks like this one:

   http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-are-the-system-recovery-options-in-Windows-7
Identify the correct drive letter for your Windows installation. It could be a drive other than C: but it won't be X:. You do it by typing the commands

    dir C:Win*

    dir D:Win*

    dir E:Win*

    until you find the Windows folder.

    I will call that drive "Q:".
Type these commands:

    cd /d Q:windowsSystem32config

    xcopy *.* Q:MyRegBack

    cd  RegBack

    dir
Examine the dates of the Software, System and SAM files. Were the files created before or after your problem became apparent?
If they were made before the problem became apparent then you can type these commands:

    copy /y software  ..

    copy /y System  ..

    copy /y Sam ..

    (the two dots are part of each command)
Reboot normally. If things do not work out then you can backtrack by copying the original registry files from Q:MyRegBack to Q:WindowsSystem32config.

Answer by Pegasus [MVP] at Microsoft Answers

Low and behold, this worked! As you may imagine, I was pretty happy :) So now, time to do a proper backup...

Mobile web design is gaining more an more popularity these days. And why shouldn't it? Just about everyone has an iPad, an iPhone, an Android phone or a Android tablet. And if you don't have one, chances are, you know someone who does.

Because of this, I have been doing quite a bit of research over the past year. Mainly as a result of work, but also because I was just interested in how some web pages are able to detect and change their appearance simply based on an address or user agent.

As a result of my research, I found a few different websites, I now have bookmarked whenever I need answers regarding mobile design.
And, I'd like to share those resources with you :)

1. http://mobile-patterns.com/
2. http://mobilewebbestpractices.com/
3. http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/ui-guidelines-mobile-tablet-design

To take things a step further, perhaps you want to build a particular "application" for the phone, but don't necessarily want to be limited to browser technology. Perhaps you need access to the GPS, or the battery. In these cases, I found that there are quite a few application frameworks out there for the phone that help you accomplish this. This doesn't mean fully programming an app for the phone; some of these frameworks allow you to build hybrid applications, which allow you access to both the web, and native features of the phone.

1. http://the-m-project.net/index.html
2. http://phonegap.com/

Ok, so you are probably thinking to yourself:

"What do I care about digitalBrink.com? This dudes been dead for like a year and a half...".

To which I would reply: "I've been learning. A lot."

So, what do I have that you would want?
First, better programming skills. Since I started my job at Asset Health, Inc., I have been learning a lot. I have been learning about Action Script (Flash), better OOP design, jQuery, prototype and just really fun ways to get websites to do what you want. It's all pretty sweet.

Second, I have also been doing side web design work with my partner in crime Nick Dymond (http://www.nickdymonddesign.com/). After working with him (and reading a lot of Smashing Magazine articles, I have learned quite a bit about both User Interface Design as well as User Experience Design. I'm getting a lot better. Really.

Third - Ugh... I got nothing. :(

So, I'm planning on updating this site more regularly, as well as making more instructional videos for YouTube (thanks to all who have subscribed already).

So, a few cool things to get started:

1. Stabyourself.net - This guy is currently working a Mashup of Portal and Super Mario Bros. It's looking pretty sweet, I can't wait to see the final result :)
2. Smashing Magazine - This I can't help but reiterate enough. These guys know what they are talking about
3. Humble Indie Bundle #4 - Pay any amount you want for a number of Freakin' Sweet Indie games. All accessible through Steam, I might add. Plus you decide how much of what you pay to the Developers, to the site, and to one of a couple different Charity's. It's pretty awesome

So that's all for now. Check back frequently - you'll be glad you did!

Ok, so if anybody actually reads my website (probably not), then they are wondering "Dude, where have you been?". Well, I recently got a job (Yay!), and it has been keeping me QUITE busy. On top of that, lots of family occasions and other similar things have kept me pretty detained as far as updating my website is concerned.

So, whats new?

First, I got the new job. It's pretty sweet - I get to program all day long, and they pay me to do it :) How much better can it get? Second... nope that's it. I've been so busy, there really is nothing new to report.

DokuWiki ToDo Plugin: Update

I have just updated the DokuWiki ToDo plugin today. The new version is 8-16-10. This new version fixes an issue where, upon checking a box where the action text is in a different language (ie: not ASCII), it would not decode the text properly. The new version does decode this properly. Not a big update, but should help anyone who is using the program with a non-English language.

Good news everyone! The Programs section is finally active! After playing around with a couple different design ideas, I finally have one that I think fits the website the best. There may be some small adjustments to it here and there (such as link colors and such), but overall, it is finished and ready to be used. Enjoy!