Realtek HD audio fails install

Problem:
I am using SP3. When i try to intall realtek HD audio drivers the installer program tells me "install failed" and exits. Looking in device manager shows that i have no drivers installed. Its really annoying. SoundBlaster 16 was easier to get working!

Solution:
The problem is that the MS Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) High Definition Audio also known as HD Bus drivers are either not isntalled or corrupt. Since i am running SP3, they are suppose to be there, so there is something wrong with them.

Step 1: Go into installed programs and uninstall the HD audio drivers. (if they are not there go to step 2) It will complain that a bunch of stuff will probably stop working if you do this. Ignore this warning, and all like it. I mean, who cares if some stuff breaks a little, you just want a 'multimedia PC in 2009'!

Step 2: Reboot your computer, You will need to reinstall the HD bus, the installer for that is called KB888111 and can be gotten here. Now, since you have service pack 3, you wont be able to install these, because windows thinks that you already have them. You need to trick windows into thinking you have SP2:

Step 3: Get into regedit (google it) and edit the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows\CSDVERSION
Set it to 00000200 from 00000300. Restart windows.

Step 4: Install KB888111, install your audio drivers. Reboot. Change the above key back to 00000300 (or dont like me, i mean, who cares?).

If this does not work for you, you should just reinstall windows, or, get a real sound card. Ive never had more problems getting sound to work then with this HD audio crap.
Also, i hear this will also work for other sound cards that use this UUA crap.

Selenium 1.0 Beta 2 jar download

The new selenium jars aren't readily available on the selenium hq download site! it looks me a good 5 minutes to track down the jars.

selenium-core-1.0-beta-2.jar
selenium-remote-control-1.0-beta-2-dist.zip (the jar is in the zip)
selenium-server-1.0-beta-2-standalone.jar
selenium-server-coreless-1.0-beta-2.jar
selenium-java-client-driver-1.0-beta-2.jar

Intellij port in use when starting tomcat

Problem:
Recently, i started to get "Error running Unnamed: Address localhost:8080 is already in use" errors when starting tomcat through intellij. I checked netstat and nothing was using port 8080, restarting the computer didnt help. Interestingly, i could start tomcat from the command line on port 8080.

Solution:
The same day, ESET NOD32 3.0.684.0 Antivirus was pushed on my box. It was the evil problem. I needed to disable the following things in it in order to get tomcat to launch again:
Setup -> Advanced -> Web Access Protection -> Uncheck "enable web access protection"
Setup -> Advanced -> Web Access Protection -> HTTP -> Web Browsers -> put [x] on java.exe and idea.exe

apply and reboot.

Good cooking resources

http://blog.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/