SyntaxHighlighter

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index

When I recently moved a site from the dev location to the live location, I got presented with Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index when trying to make a database connection.


This obviously wasn't happening on the live and the connection string, which was in the Web.Config file, was correct. I was using SQL authentication and the password had both semi-colons (;) and ampersands (&) in it. I wasn't sure which character was causing the problem. As I was able to, I changed the password for the user (removing the ;&). All worked a treat then :)

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Test a POP3 Connection (Telnet)

I often find myself needing to be able to check a username and password combination for somebodies email connection (normally because they have forgotten their password - again!). A really quick and easy way to do this is using telnet. Here's the easiest way to do it, from the DOS/command prompt:

> telnet mail.mydomain.com
> user my_user_name
> pass my_password


At this point, if all is good, you will have made a successful connection. Show all messages as a list using:

> list

If you want to see the contents of a specific mail then use:

> retr mail_item_number

If you leave the connection with no activity then it close the connection itself, but preferably use:

> quit

There are some more telnet commands here. Also, if you using an IP address, you may well have to use a port number (usually 110). e.g. 123.123.123.123 110

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel with authority

I recently had this error (Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel with authority) when trying to make a remote call from a C# web app. I hunted around and came across this article on thejoyofcode.com.

ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = new System.Net.Security.RemoteCertificateValidationCallback(
    delegate
    {
        return true;
    }
);

So I used the suggested code to bypass the certificate verification, but got a trust level permission error. In order to get round that I modified the Web.Config file to have the trust level set to Full.

Just for the record, this is a quick and dirty hack while I sort out what the actual problem is ;)

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Free File Recovery

We've all been there - deleted a file we shouldn't have - oops! Well, thanks to this article on LifeHacker we can take a big sigh of relief and use MiniTool Power Data Recovery.


It's free for personal use and chargeable otherwise.

Labels

.net (7) ajax (1) android (7) apache (1) asp.net (3) asus (2) blogger (2) blogspot (3) c# (16) compact framework (2) cron (1) css (1) data (1) data recovery (2) dns (1) eclipse (1) encryption (1) excel (1) font (1) ftp (1) gmail (5) google (4) gopro (1) html (1) iis (3) internet explorer IE (1) iphone (1) javascript (3) kinect (1) linux (1) macro (1) mail (9) mercurial (1) microsoft (3) microsoft office (3) monitoring (1) mootools (1) ms access (1) mssql (13) mysql (2) open source (1) openvpn (1) pear (2) permissions (1) php (12) plesk (4) proxy (1) qr codes (1) rant (4) reflection (3) regex (1) replication (1) reporting services (5) security (2) signalr (1) sql (11) sqlce (1) sqlexpress (1) ssis (1) ssl (1) stuff (1) svn (2) syntax (1) tablet (2) telnet (3) tools (1) twitter (1) unix (3) vb script (3) vb.net (9) vba (1) visual studio (2) vpc (2) vpn (1) windows (4) woff (1) xbox 360 (1)