Obscure Windows XP networking problems: Disabling the DNS Cache

JSI Tip 6540. How do I disable client-side DNS caching in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003?

I'm having DNS problems with my Cisco VPN connection. I'm testing if it might be related to a bad DNS cache.

Update: Yep. That did it. I could connect to work via my Cisco VPN from my home LAN, or from a cafe LAN. I couldn't do it from the hotel though! I have XP firewall disabled. When I tried to ping a machine in the office I saw the DNS was returning an IP address of 1.1.1.1

I tried various VPN options and even reinstalled it. Nothing worked. Finally I made a wild guess that XP cached DNS values and that the cache was corrupted. So I did the search and found the above.

Then I did:

net stop dnscache

- after this the VPN wouldn't connect at all

net start dnscache

- the VPN connected and I was fine again.

Update: I've since learned ipconfig, the secret weapon of windows IP networking, has some useful options for debugging DNS problems. There's a secret glitch however, a windows networking guru tells me one must run /flushdns TWICE to really clean out the Resolver cache.

Here are the options displayed with ipconfig /?:

/all Display full configuration information.
/release Release the IP address for the specified adapter.
/renew Renew the IP address for the specified adapter.
/flushdns Purges the DNS Resolver cache.
/registerdns Refreshes all DHCP leases and re-registers DNS names
/displaydns Display the contents of the DNS Resolver Cache.
/showclassid Displays all the dhcp class IDs allowed for adapter.
/setclassid Modifies the dhcp class id.

BBC Internet Radio -- including podcasting In Our Tme

BBC - Press Office - Radio Player re-launched

This is the first podcast that's caught my attention.

In Our Time is also available via podcasting - the BBC is the first British broadcaster to use this technology.

Wake a Mac from a PC and vice versa

macosxhints - Wake a Mac from a PC and vice versa

The comments to this "hint" fill in more background on "magic packets".

Keynotes subversive XML file format

TN2073: Deconstructing a Keynote Document: Part One - Slides:

Will the same thing be true of Pages? Is Keynote a covert SVG implementation?

MacDevCenter.com: Keynote's XML Connections

MacDevCenter.com: Keynote's XML Connections

Not scriptable, but one can script the xml that Keynote reads .... Interesting.

Is Apple planning to replace AppleScript?

Apple - Discussions - Applescript

From a post I made to Apple Discussions. It may be deleted as it may be contrary to Apple's restrictive posting policy.

Pages is not scriptable. Keynote is not scriptable either.

I was interested in buying iWorks until I learned this. On the plus side both apps have an XML file format and the Keynote spec has been published (AXML). That's very good.

But what's the story with AppleScript? Has Apple decided to replace it with something else?

It's worth noting that iTunes/Windows lacks iTunes/Mac functionality because it doesn't have a scripting solution. I wonder if Apple is considering a cross-platform replacement for AppleScript. If so they may have decided not to invest in AppleScript support for iWorks.

If they're not planning to replace AppleScript, them I'm completely at a loss to explain why their premier desktop productivity software would not be scriptable.

OS/X Pages review

macteens : Review: Apple Pages (iWork '05)

One of the first reviews of Pages (iWorks). Overall this sounds like a much more promising app than iPhoto 5. I'll still wait until I have my G5 before trying it out. My comments:

1. Is it scriptable? A few AppleScripts, esp. if they have keyboard shortcuts, could work around many usability issues (fonts, etc). Unfortunately Keynote is not scriptable. So maybe Pages isn't either. Is Apple going to give up on AppleScript?

2. The file format, I'm told, is human readable XML with associated binaries. If true this is a major plus. But does Apple publish the file format specification? An open format is an essential requirement for any wordprocessing application that is not Microsoft Word. The good news is that Apple does publish the Keynote APXL spec; we'll see if they publish a spec for Pages as well.