WebCake Ads Removal Instructions

WebCake is a browser extension that shows ads in Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox. In the screenshot to the right you see it showing a banner ad at the bottom of the page and a floating coupon ad to the right when browsing amazon.com.

If you see ads labeled "Webcake Ads" while browsing the Internet you have the WebCake software installed on your computer. You can also see it in Firefox's Add-ons tab and Chromes Extension tab as the two screenshots to the right shows.

You may also see files such as webcake.exe, WebCakeIEClient.dll, OptChrome.exe,  WebCakesetup.exe, WebCakeDesktop.exe and webcakedesktop.updater.exe running on your system or on the hard-drive.

How To Uninstall the WebCake Ads

Luckily it's easy to uninstall WebCake. On Windows, just open the Windows Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove (or Programs & Features in Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8) and select Remove or Uninstall for WebCake. Done.

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How to view the current queries running in a MYSQL database

The SHOW PROCESSLIST mysql command will show the live queries in your database. This can be quite useful if you are troubleshooting a slow web application or if you are getting the "too many connections" error message and suspect that it is caused some inefficient query to the database.

The output from SHOW PROCESSLIST looks something like this:


| Id | User | Host | db | Command | Time | State | Info                                                                             | 43930645 | username | host:44495 | dbname | Query | 1906 | Locked | DELETE FROM Cache WHERE id LIKE '/file/%-34333/' |
| 43933139 | username | host:50412 | dbname | Query | 3041 | updating | DELETE FROM Cache WHERE id LIKE '/file/%-72655/' |

In most database applications that I've built queries finishes within a second. And in this case there are two queries that have been running for 1906 and 3041 seconds, which clearly indicates that something is wrong.

In my particular case the WHERE LIKE queries had to touch a large number of rows even though the id column was indexed. This happened because the majority of items in the Cache table began with "/file/". I reduced the number of rows the database had to take into account by storing the ids in reverse order and reversing the LIKE query.

Diablo Auction House Error 31073

I've currently getting error code 31073 when creating any auction on the Diablo 3 gold and real money auction house on the EU servers. I've submitted a support ticket to Blizzard:

Hello Blizzard,

I'm getting error code 31073 when creating auctions on EU gold and EU real money auction houses. Is there anything I can do to avoid this error when creating auctions?

Thanks

/Roger

I'll keep you posted when the customer support reply to the ticket.

Diablo launcher stuck initializing on the Mac

Does your Diablo Launcher hang at "Initializing" on your Mac after downloading the critical launcher update this morning?

This is a work-around which will help you play the game until Blizzard comes up with a real fix.

1. Start the Diablo launcher.
2. When it asks you for your Mac admin password to make some system changes, click Cancel instead of OK.
3. The launcher continues without hanging on"Initializing" and the Play button is enable.
4. Press Play. Did that solve the problem?

Scrolls - Game play capture

Game play capture from Scrolls - the upcoming game from Mojang. In this movie capture I play a match against the medium level AI. The capture is from a pre-alpha build.

Hope you will enjoy this game as much as I do.

Scrolls - A first look at Mojang's next game

I'm currently playing the pre-alpha of Scrolls, which is Mojang's upcoming card game. I'm figuring out how to best play the game by doing quick matches against the AI. The Easy and Medium difficult level was no problem to beat, but Jon Kågström's Hard level AI wipes the floor with me. Good job Jon!

Want to test the Alpha? Sign up here.

Update: 2012-06-17: Posted more screenshots upon request.

Screenshots

The scrolls configuration startup screen

The login screen

Choose single- or multi-player matches.

The Deck Builder

The tutorial

Gameplay against medium level AI

Gameplay: AI Great Wolf attacking

Me getting my ass kicked at hard level

How to avoid loud fans when playing World of Warcraft on the 2011 MacBook Pro 13"

Some time ago I retired my old Dell XPS laptop for a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" with a solid state drive. I don't have much time for gaming these days, but from time to time I would like to cast some holy paladin heals in the Warsong Gulch battleground in World of Warcraft.

I was worried that WOW would be to tough for the Intel HD Graphics 3000 card, but to my surprise it ran in 60 fps when running around in Goldshire:

There was a problem though, when running up to Stormwind to search for some new gear and enchants at the auction house there was a major increase in the fan speed. The auction house area is quite crowded on the Silvermoon server. The previously silent Mac was not so silent anymore :(

After some searches I found the follow work-around: The console in WOW allows you to limit the frame rate of the game with the maxfps console command. I created two macros, one that sets the frame rate to 5 which I use when I'm in the crowded Stormwind area, and another macro which limits the frame rate to 30 which I use inside the battlegrounds. Here's a screenshot of how I set up the 5 fps macro:

With these two macros I can play the battlegrounds with a reasonable frame rate and visit the city centers without having the Mac noticeable increasing its fan speed.

Did this solve the loud fan problem when you play World of Warcraft on your Mac?