So I tried to be smart, uninstalled Microsoft .NET Framework from Add or Remove Programs and it was successful. I encountered another problem which is I can’t get .NET Framework to install no matter what I did. Now I don’t even have any version of .NET Framework installed on my computer which is even worst than before. Last time I could at least run other .NET Framework applications except one of it but now none at all!

I remembered finding Aaron Stebner’s WebLog on how to manually cleanup the .NET Framework but I still couldn’t get it fixed. In the end I ended up reformatting my hard drive and reinstall Windows just because I couldn’t get .NET Framework installed again (I had some .NET Framework apps that I urgently need to use). Lucky you all now, if you had the same problem, Aaron Stebner has created a cleanup tool which automates removing Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5.

Aaron Stebner’s .NET Framework Setup Cleanup Utility contains support for automatically cleaning up the .NET Framework 1.0, the .NET Framework 1.1, the .NET Framework 2.0, the .NET Framework 3.0 and the .NET Framework 3.5.

This tool automates the manual cleanup steps for the .NET Framework 2.0 that Aaron Stebner posted a while ago (I went through the manual steps before and it was not easy). These steps have helped solve most of the known .NET Framework 2.0 beta uninstall issues that Aaron know of. In addition, the tool can be useful to return your system to a known (relatively clean) state in case you run into any .NET Framework 2.0 installation failures so that you can try to install again.

The updated version of the cleanup tool contains options to clean up the .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 separately and all versions simultaneously in a single step. The cleanup tool contains logic so that if it is run on an OS version that includes the .NET Framework as an OS component, it will not offer the option to clean it up. This means that running the cleanup tool on Windows XP Media Center Edition or Tablet PC Edition will not offer the option to clean up the .NET Framework 1.0, running it on Windows Server 2003 will not offer the option to clean up the .NET Framework 1.1 and running it on Windows Vista will not offer the option to clean up the .NET Framework 2.0 or the .NET Framework 3.0.

The .NET Framework cleanup tool is very easy to use. Just download, extract and run cleanup_tool.exe. Select the version of .NET Framework that you want to cleanup and click the “Cleanup Now” button. The cleanup process takes a while, so be patient and don’t close the cleanup tool or restart your computer.

This tool is designed as a last resort for cases where install, uninstall or repair did not succeed for unusual reasons. It is not intended as a substitute for the standard uninstall procedure. You should try to perform an uninstall from Add/Remove Programs before using this cleanup tool. The last time I uninstalled .NET Framework was disastrous, so ONLY uninstall .NET Framework when you have no other choice.

[ Download .NET Framework Setup Cleanup Utility ]

Technorati Tags: cleanup, uninstall, remove, .net, framework

Ecorio, one of the ten G1 apps that was awarded $275,000 at the Android Developer Challenge recently – helps you keep track of your carbon footprints. The app constantly runs in the background while you are traveling, and keeps track of your trips through G1’s GPS navigation system.

After calculating down on how much you should cut back, it provides you solutions through its three features of Reduce, Inspire and Offset. These features provide some convenient alternatives to erase your carbon footprints – checkout the video above for more.

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PayPal is acting responsible or at least pretending to be by helping parents tighten their children’s spending. The new system, PayPal Student Account, provides parent with an easy way to give their children some financial independence (a check on their spendings to be precise). It lets parents create up to branch their main account into four divisions (at most)  and thus distribute an amount in cash at one time or fix it up as a recurring one (pocket money). The money children have can be spent on any Web site that accepts payment via PayPal. It also facilitates easy transfer by simply texting get $(followed by the amount) to PayPal, which upon approval from the parents is transferred.

Call it saving parents from the every day squabble when it comes to their children asking for cash or putting some sort responsibility upon the young ones to spend money efficiently, I think it’s going to work both ways, until the bright kids figure out a way to transfer cash at will (you know what I am talking about).

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Not included are the browsing history or session cookies which is a bit unfortunate as it could mean to log into several of the websites again if they require that. The extension becomes available in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer after installation where the sessions can be stored or loaded.

The Internet Explorer sessions are stored in the program directory by default. The extension provides the option to store them at the Amazon S3 Service instead which costs $0.150 per GB but has the advantage that the sessions are available online and can therefor be loaded from any computer with Internet connection.

Another option would be to send the session per email or upload it manually to the Internet to access it from a second computer.

One interesting aspect of the session manager for Internet Explorer is the ability to manage the stored urls of each session. Single urls can be loaded in the browser. It is also possible to delete urls from the session.

IE Sessions supports Internet Explorer 6 or on Windows XP or Windows 2000. Windows Vista users should read the information posted on the website about Vista compatibility first before they install the extension.

Internet Explorer Sessions

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Mr. Freiburghouse explains that a Yotify query is an alert with smarts. Yotify.com uses the word “scout”. Users provide information about their interests, and Yotify combines ads, collaboration, and search. To be fair, Mr. Freiburghouse notes that Yotify.com is skewed to shopping. And, towards the foot of the article, Mr. Freiburghouse quotes the Kelsey Group regarding Google’s market share. A consumer oriented search system, even with the lift of social search and software agent technology has its work cut out to gain market share.

I gave Yotify.com a quick look to refresh my memory.  I ran a query for “quad core processor” and the system at 8 10 pm Eastern displayed:

A user can share results, get alerts hourly or daily, and use the related searches feature to refine the query.

This type of system will appeal to an individual who wants to obtain shopping, travel, and articles listed in classified ad systems. I fiddled with the Web log function, but it was less useful than the shopping content. Over time, the Yotify.com index will add poundage.

Why did Technology Review rev its engine when it learned about Yotify.com? My speculation is that Yotify.com is different from Google. Yotify offers social and collaborative functions. Yotify has lots of buttons, controls, and options to make the user feel as if he or she has control over the results. I think an hourly update on a “quad core CPU” might be just what the doctor ordered for a Technology Review editor needing a break from the intellectual cage match at the publication.

I am waiting for Yotify.com to create an enterprise version. Granted the Craigslist.org content may have to be swapped out for something more substantive. Procurement teams and information technology professionals looking to deploy a search system that works may find the Yotify.com technology applied to a regulated industry like pharmaceuticals just the cure for ails information access. Until there is an enterprise version, I like Yotify.com as a system that offers some interesting features for consumers. If you are intrigued by consumer search systems, give Yotify.com some attention.

Stephen Arnold, in Beyond Search

And here’s their video!

Yotify Video Tour from Yotify Blog on Vimeo

To those of you with a feed addiction, it may come as some surprise to learn that RSS adoption is still surprisingly low across web users– even those who spend a lot of time on the internet. Most people are unaware of the technology or if they are – even less interested. A lot of people simply prefer email subscriptions and depending on the target audience of a blog this can be nearly equal with RSS subscribers. Even here on MakeUseOf, a substantial number of our subscribers are using email for updates.

There are hundreds of interesting ways in which RSS feeds can be put to use. Yahoo Pipes is one great example and this is something I’d like to write about in more detail at a later time. For now however I’d like to introduce you to PostRank.

What is it exactly?

“PostRank is a scoring system developed by AideRSS to rank any kind of online content, such as RSS feed items, blog posts, articles, or news stories. PostRank is based on social engagement, which refers to how interesting or relevant people have found an item or category to be. Examples of engagement include writing a blog post in response to someone else, bookmarking an article, leaving a comment on a blog, or clicking a link to read a news item.”

The 5 ‘C’s are used to determine the popularity of any particular post, I’ll leave you to check it out for yourself if you wish to find out more detail, but in essence this criteria includes the following:

• The creation of a blog post responding directly to another blog post. This is the biggest determinate of a post’s popularity.
• Commenting on a blog post – the second most important measure of audience engagement and the quality of the article.
• Discussion – this involves mentioning a post on other social networking services like Twitter.
• Sharing – submitting a site to Digg, or bookmarking it using a service like Del.icio.us
• User activity on the page – clicks and page views, not given too much weight in PostRank.

Using this system, blog posts can be run through PostRank to determine just how popular (and therefore how good) the posts are. In the example mentioned above, this is how NewsGator implemented PostRank.  When viewing one of your feeds online, you can choose to change the view to show only the most popular items – a useful feature for when in a rush.

Why Would You Want it?

For me the biggest issue I have is finding time to read all the feeds I subscribe to. While personal blogs may only get updated once a day, large multi-author blogs (like one particular blog you may be aware of) are updated much more frequently while other sites focusing on news will be updated constantly 24/7.

With this constant flow of information it’s become increasingly necessary to have the ability to filter out articles which are not of interest to you, and instead simply read the articles which are.

This is where PostRank comes in.

What’s great about this is that no matter what RSS reader you use, be it web based like Google Reader or a desktop application like FeedDemon you can still use PostRank to filter your feeds.

PostRank is both an online RSS reader, service and also an API which developers can choose to include in their applications if they wish. One notable online service which have done is this is Newsgator Online a few months ago.

How Else Can I Use It?

To use PostRank on any feed simply submit it to the PostRank website.  I’ve shown an example in the screenshot below.

If this is a fairly popular feed you’ve submitted then it’ll already be in the system.  If it’s a bit more obscure than you may have to wait a day or so for it to be fully submitted (I’m actually only guessing, I have no real idea how long it takes. Perhaps someone else knows?). In my own experience any feed I wanted to use was already submitted so I’ve had no issues.

After this you can choose what to do with the feed.  You can select from 4 different rankings:

• All Posts
• Good Posts
• Great Posts
• Best Posts

You can also filter the feed by any keywords you want.

After doing this, if you decide you would like to use this feed in your own RSS application then simply click the ‘create new feed’ button. Using this feed you can simply import it into whatever application you already use and replace the feed which may be overwhelming you slightly.

If you decide to create a PostRank account then you can use the site as your web based feed reader.  You can save submitted feeds and change them as you like. If you don’t want to sign up then if you want to make any changes to the feed you’ve created you’ll have to start over again – although it’s not really that inconvenient.

Hopefully some of you can find this useful, I know I did.  Has anyone else already been using it in this way?   You may also want to check out Mark’s previous article on using PostRank and AideRSS in Google Reader.

(By) Laurence John was born naked, screaming and utterly helpless at some point in the last century. With the help of talented programmer and fellow MUO author Wez Pyke, Laurence is working on a new Blog; extendably.com, check it out!

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If you’re like me, sending holiday cards is one of those “necessary evils” of the holidays. A new service, Ecardlets.com, hopes to make the process a little easier — at least for your friends with iPhones.

Ecardlets.com is a San Francisco, CA startup founded by ex-Microsoft and ex-Googlers, and has just launched its initial public beta of the first-ever ecard platform designed specifically for the iPhone. The unique three-dimensional greeting cards take advantage of the iPhone touch screen by allowing recipients to open and flip the cards with just a flick of the finger.

I tried out the service today by sending myself a few cards. The service couldn’t be any easier to use. Simply design your card and hit “send.” The service sends a text message to your AT&T iPhone recipient which includes a link to your card. Then simply swipe your finger to open the card and read the enclosed message.

There are plenty of stock cards ready to send (there’s even a “Congratulations on your new iPhone” card), but the service will become a lot more interesting as more people begin uploading their own card designs. The site offers a Photoshop (PSD) template that you can download to make your own ecardlet that others can then send. Right now you have to email your designs to ecardlets.com but the site is working on a system to enable user-generated ecardlets.

So spice up your greeting cards this holiday season and send your iPhone-toting friends something different.

Ecardlets.com is, at least for now, completely free to use…so send to your hearts content.

If you have been using twitter to track real time news like terrorist attacks in Mumbai or natural disasters like tsunamis or hurricanes, you would have realized that twitter is in its emerging stages of being able to provide refined real world news in real time. This is exactly what StanzIQ, a real time search and information service wants to do for you and guess what they have even raised $1.5 million in venture funding from True Ventures and other individuals like Jack Moffitt, Patrick Mahoney and Brian Zisk.

According to information provided to Mashable:

The StanzIQ team originally built a phenomenal XMPP-based infrastructure for acquiring, sorting, and distributing data in real time in order to build the Internet chess community Chesspark. The aim was to build a real time game and community on top of the XMPP suite of protocols which is perfect for managing real time data. We have spun off the chess site and turned our attention and our toolset to a much bigger challenge.

The StanzIQ team has lead the drive on building numerous Open Source Applications and Protocols which are now used by companies ranging from giants like Microsoft to indie developers like Rogue Amoeba, not to mention their work on XMPP which is used by companies including Google, Cisco, Neuros and Yamner. StanzIQ has a number of Open Source tools which it has built, some of which are also licensed commercially including Speeqe, Strophe (in 3 languages), Punjab, and Palaver.

The system is currently in private phase.

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