stuffzone:unlimited

ATI - Invalid Display Adapter Error - Adapter Disabled - Incompatible Driver (4870 X2)

2008-10-25T05:07:00.003-04:00

I ran into quite a few issues trying to install a new video card today, the ATI Radeon 4870 X2 by Sapphire on Vista Ultimate.

After pulling the previous Nvidia 7950 GT from the system and barely fitting in the monstruous 4870 X2, I booted into Windows and proceeded to install the latest drivers 8.10. Prompted to reboot, I did and then disaster; Vista would disable at least one of the adapter saying something along the lines that the driver is not compatible with the VGA adapter installed. Something that made absolutely no sense.

I did try uninstalling and reinstalling many times, while also making sure there are no more Nvidia drivers and files left. Not much luck there for me.

Here's what worked after all:

- Uninstall any and all display adapter and ATI software from the Control Panel/Remove Programs, including the ATI Catalyst Install Manager. When finished and prompted to reboot, don't.

Download and install Driver Sweeper from Guru3D. It's a free and clean piece of software.

Analyze and clean for ATI and Nvidia display drivers using Driver Sweeper. If you get errors just close the program and reopen and do one at a time: ATI - analyse and clean, then Nvidia.

When done, reboot. When computer restarts, hit F8 to be prompted with the Safe Mode startup screen.

Disclaimer: The following stepsmay involve making changes to the registry either by using automatic software or manually removing files. Backup your registry first. There are many guides who show how to do that. I take no responsibility for anything that may happen by following these steps. They just worked for me.

Now I don't know if it's like that on all computers, but I had the option of enabling Low-Resolution (640x480 mode). I chose that option to boot. Once in Windows, I went to Device Manager and uninstalled whatever was under Display Adapters. Then I ran Driver Sweeper again and cleaned as much as possible for ATI and Nvidia files. If Driver Sweeper fails to clean some registry files, just check the location, run regedit yourself and delete these files manually.

Reboot. When back in normal Windows, I downloaded and installed the previous version of the drivers, 8.9 as I had read that some had success with that. After installing things seemed back to normal. I rebooted and then also obtained the latest hotfix for Far Cry 2 from ATI, which is a slightly updated version of the 8.10 drivers, somewhat newer.

That's it. Hope it helps somehow.

Quick Facebook Numbers

2008-05-12T09:45:00.001-04:00

If you've ever wondered how many servers it takes to run a website like Facebook, wonder no more. Although Facebook has never made it public, it is estimated to be around 10,000 servers, according to this CNET article.

Some other interesting numbers (all estimates):

Members: 70 million +
Revenue (projected for 2008): 350 million
Employee headcount: 450, with possibility to rise to more than 1000

Source: Facebook borrows $100 million

Hard Drive model numbers explained (WD)

2008-03-06T20:30:00.002-05:00

In case you wanted to know exactly what those extra letters and numbers on your hard drive mean exactly, here's a very useful information sheet. This applies only for Western Digital hard drives. As I come across similar details from other hard drive manufacturers, I will update this article.

Click here for the WD Model and Order Number Format

iPhone: Quick iPod Shortcut/Music Controls

2008-02-24T17:43:00.003-05:00

I have come across a little nifty shortcut on the iPhone that allows almost immediate access to the music controls. Almost everyone knows by now that the home button can be configured with different functions when double "clicking" on it. However, the same button seems to double as a shortcut for music controls, whenever the iPod application is running (actually, also when it does not).

I have configured my home button to go to Contacts tab whenever I am in in another application. Interestingly enough, however, if I double hit Home when I am at the Home screen, while there is music playing in the background, you'll get a little window with Previous/Pause/Next buttons.

Even better, the same little window with music controls appears also when double hitting Home while at the Lock screen! That's big.. at least for me.. because it means i don't have to slide and unlock and change to iPod in order to control the music (for when you are in the car for example and need to keep your eyes on the road ;)).

Now, if music is not playing and music (iPod) application is closed and you are at the lock screen, you can still double hit Home and get access to music controls and start playing the music! That again is big :).

To illustrate everything, here are some screenshots of what I've been describing:

At the lock screen with music application not running

At the Home screen with music playing

At the Lock screen with music playing and iPhone charging

At the Lock screen with music playing and iPhone not charging

Wow! Wanna have a 3D VR monitor?

2008-02-22T15:28:00.002-05:00

Gotta watch this... this would be so cool for so many applications. But for starters, I would like to see this for mere picture viewing, as shown in the video. Next, such a device on a gaming console, playing Call of Duty 4 online would be like the ultimate gaming experience today :).

Read the article

ZDNet: A dozen free & essential apps for Windows

2008-02-22T14:44:00.001-05:00

A neat little collection of free software that I happen to have already installed on my system; not all, but most of the mentioned applications. It's a great reference for when you have just installed/reinstalled Windows.

Read on at ZDNet...

Massive "laptops"

2008-02-21T16:48:00.002-05:00

We're starting to see more and more of these massive machines intended for portable scenarios. The Dell XPS M2010 is one attractive system with a number of features that to me were appealing enough to actually go for it, but now others seem to want to hop on the train of pleasing to the eye, sexy machines that stop others in their tracks.

HP has refined their original 20" HDX laptop, which was much more of an actual laptop than Dell's M2010 (since the M2010 is heavier, thicker and meant more for desk use than lap use). The new HDX has a 1080p screen ( which is a nice + ), offers a fast cpu which seems to actually not offer as much performance as one would think, and choice of blu-ray and hd-dvd drives. Despite all, the screen does not offer the same flexibility as Dell's M2010 sleek silver hinges, it does not have a wireless keyboard and mouse or a wowy pop-up slot dvd drive :).

I wonder how much of these HP will sell especially since HP's HDX page doesn't even come close to Dell's M2010 product information page.

Got a desktop? Got a laptop? Use Google Browser Sync

2008-02-21T16:13:00.001-05:00

I accidentally came across this little Browse Sync Firefox extension from Google which lets you use your Google account to synchronize Firefox browser settings among two or more computers. This is great because you no longer need to add bookmarks twice, on every computer, and everything is done in the background. Simply install the extension on both systems, choose a pin and you're in sync!

Google has a few more extensions for Firefox that you may find useful.

Quickie: What is an exabyte?

2008-02-21T16:08:00.001-05:00

An exabyte is hopefully the storage capacity of my next computer. Seriously now, an exabyte is a quintillion bytes, or a billion gigabytes!! My system currently has roughly one thousand gigabytes, which is called a terabyte. So I am getting there...

Lunar eclipse pictures

2008-02-21T00:11:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures taken earlier this evening by yours truly. The lunar eclipse took place today, February 20 2008, between roughly 9PM and 10PM EST. For those interested, the shots were taken with a Nikon D50 with a 70-300mm VR lens, in shutter priority mode. Images were cropped and resized, slight sharpening applied, however colors, brightness and contrast were left as taken. This was my first time photographing a lunar eclipse (on a very cold winter night).

I thought a little description from NASA may come in handy:

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the night of Wednesday, February 20/21, 2008. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

This page at NASA discusses this year's lunar eclipse in more detail. For more general info on lunar eclipses, read the Lunar Eclipse for Beginners.

Royalties: What the war was all about

2008-02-19T16:00:00.002-05:00

As always as far as business goes, it all boils down to money... lots of money. Read this article to see why Blu-ray put up such a big game and for some insight into how the industry works.

Forget about customer satisfaction or superiority of image quality. The real issue in the war between Blu-ray and HD DVD was about royalties.
...
Royalties were one of the primary reasons that it took so long to get manufacturers to come out with players that could handle both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. Manufacturers with dual-format players have to license technology from both camps, which boosts costs.

Read on at News.com

Comparison: Get In Sync with Syncing Software

2008-02-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

Get In Sync with Syncing Software

A great comparison from Tom's Hardware of different file syncing software; something I have particularly long awaited. Having used SyncToy until now, for fairly simple file syncing tasks between my desktop and an external hard drive, at times I have found myself needing more advanced features than what SyncToy current offers.

Vista: Backup Fails with I/O device error (0x8007045D)

2007-10-22T13:23:00.001-04:00

One of Vista Ultimate’s advertised virtues over other Vista versions are its Backup features. Why is it then that my first attempt to do a complete PC backup with Vista’s Backup and Restore program failed miserably?

What I wanted was simple: select the C:\ drive and make an image of that drive so that I can restore it in the unfortunate event if one of my RAID 0 drives fails. The image size was around 100GB and was to be backed up on one of the (many) SATA drives in the computer. After proceeding with the backup, all went smoothly until the very end, when the backup job failed with the following error:

The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error (0x8007045D)

I/O device error?? Where, why? My initial thoughts were that I may have corrupted hard drives or some other serious problem with no easy fix to it. Fortunately, the fix is easier than you’d think, if you know it that is. The problem seems to be with the contents of the shadow copies System Restore creates.

To overcome the I/O device error and be able to complete the backup succesfuly, you must reset the shadow copies. Here’s how to do it:

- Press Windows Key + Pause/Break to bring up the System Properties window (or right click Computer and choose Properties or go to Control Panel, then System and Maintenance, then System).

- On the left, click on Advanced System Settings.

- In the next small System Properties window that appears, go to the System Protection tab.

- On this tab, you most likely have Local Disk (C:) checked. To stop creating shadow copies, you must uncheck it and click apply.

- Now to reset the contents of the shadow copies, you must enable it again. So put a checkmark back next to Local Disk (C:) and click OK.

Try to do the backup again. It should work now.

He was a hacker for the MPAA

2007-10-22T09:40:00.000-04:00

Read on for insight into the practices of the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA), in its battle against online movie piracy. An actual battle alright since they are employing the same piratous techniques as those they are accusing of being pirates; pirates that cause the movie industry billions in lost sales every year.

In an exclusive interview with Wired News, gun-for-hire hacker Robert Anderson tells for the first time how the Motion Picture Association of America promised him money and power if he provided confidential information on TorrentSpy, a popular BitTorrent search site.

At Wired news.

iPhone: Corrupted Pictures Fix

2007-10-21T04:14:00.000-04:00

In case you get some errors in iTunes while syncing your pictures saying something along the lines of "The "image" was not transferred because it could not display properly", and then you found corrupted images in the respective folder in your iphone, try the following:

- With your iPhone connected, in the Pictures folder of iTunes, remove the checkmark next to the folder containing the problematic images and click Apply. This will unsync the respective images.
- Then open up My Computer, navigate to the image folder in question and rename the folder differently.

- Go back to iTunes and place that checkmark back again and click Apply to let iTunes sync those images back to your iPhone.

This should solve it or at least this did it for me. Let me know if you've had success with it as well.

Give your iPhone a paint job

2007-10-15T08:32:00.000-04:00

Even the most expensive and impressive devices can become unspecial and boring. The more people have it, the less special your special gadget gets. So if you've had your iPhone for a while and you're tired of its sexy looks, send it in for a brand new paint job.

ColorWare is the company that's been know to put new life into Apple products. They are now offering iPhone painting services, complete with a very nice website that allows you to entirely customize and preview every aspect of the iPhone: the back, the bottom, the frame, the button, the logo, the earbuds and the dock.

The cost? Not cheap. Depending on how heavily you want your iPhone customized, it can go up to $219. That is more than half of the cost of the phone itself!

Here's an image of how i might customize mine were I to go crazy one of these days.

Go and customize your own or read a review about the paint job quality here.

Firefox: the amazing PicLens extension

2007-10-01T02:16:00.001-04:00

A worthy Firefox add-on writing about, the PicLens extension is a blessing for those who often look at pictures on the web. And who doesn't?

What does it do? It completely changes your picture browsing experience on the popular image websites. As of the date of this post, it is compatible with Flickr, Facebook, Google Images, Yahoo Images, Friendster and Personal and commersites enabled for PicLens with MediaRSS (learn more about MediaRSS here, and learn how to use it here).

PicLens instantly transforms your browser into a full-screen slideshow experience. With just one click, PicLens makes photos and images come to life via an immersive presentation that goes beyond the confines of the traditional Firefox browser window.

So wait no more, install it today then go to your favorite supported web album and be amazed.

What? You don't have Firefox? Shame on you. Click here to install Firefox NOW!

Give Blogger Play a try

2007-09-19T18:40:00.000-04:00

Google has done it yet again. For those who have a few minutes to spare to stare at some images, or for those whose monitor is used for decoration purposes more than anything else, Google has come up with Blogger Play, a very simple, cool and functional slideshow that displays images just uploaded by bloggers worldwide, in no particular order, with no particular subject. I wonder how much monitoring goes into what Blogger Play actually shows.

So give it a try, you'll get the hang of it within a few seconds. Read more about it here.

Visit Blogger Play

Solution: iTunes doesn't detect iPhone in Vista

2007-09-19T18:01:00.000-04:00

Do a google seach on "itunes iphone vista problems" and you'll have a good idea of how many people are having issues syncing their iPhone to iTunes in Vista. The kind of problems vary a lot, but one more so than the others: Vista detects iPhone just fine, as Apple iPhone, but iTunes knows nothing about it being connected to the computer.

Some of the suggested solutions are as follows:

- Try a high-powered USB port, one that is not on your keyboard or other device but rather directly on the computer itself.
- Uninstall Apple Software Update, Apple Mobile Device Support and iTunes , reboot and then reinstall iTunes.
- Disconnect any other USB devices that may be conflicting with the installation, like webcams and such and reinstall iTunes.

Many people reported having fixed the issues by simply reinstalling iTunes as described above, yet many others, including myself, still experience the same issues after reinstalling 20 times. So what to do? Well, that's where it becomes blury for most and tricky therefore to fix it.

I concluded that the problems must arise from certain software of services that are running and preventing iTunes to install properly. To isolate this problem, you must disable any non-essential services and programs that run at startup. Do that by running 'msconfig' from the start menu (open Start menu, type msconfig and press enter).

I won't go too in depth as to what you need to disable and what not, since services and software vary widely from computer to computer. Also, be aware that your computer may have problems loading Windows if you disable some service or software that you shouldn't disable, so you've been warned.

On the services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services and then click Disable All. This will disable, theoretically, all services that are not essential to the running of Windows. Now go to the Startup tab and go through the list and disable by removing the checkmark from the entries that may not be required for a one time clean boot. Software like antivirus, cd-burning, acrobat, printer drivers, webcam drivers and software, etc. Once you're done, click Ok, and reboot the computer.

I should specify again, that this step (of disabling services and startup items) should be done after you have uninstalled Apple Software Update, Apple Mobile Device Center and iTunes, thus allowing you to boot clean(er) and install iTunes without risking other software or drivers to interfere.

Assuming you booted clean as described above, install iTunes (latest version) and pray that it will detect your iPhone when you launch it. If it does, you're good to go and now you just need to restore and enable the services and startup items that you previously disabled and reboot your PC. The msconfig utility has a column that shows when an entry was disabled so that will make very easy for you to know exactly which ones you disabled a few minutes ago. After restoring the services and startup items, assuming iTunes installed correctly and detected your iPhone when you booted clean, iTunes should no longer have trouble detecting the iPhone afterwards.

If iTunes still doesn't detect your iPhone, well at least you tried. If you do find another fix, post a comment here and i will update this post. Good luck!

Quickcam software woes: Uninstall and Reinstall Procedures

2007-09-15T11:36:00.001-04:00

I like Logitech products. My work area is filled with such hardware. But their software and drivers seriously lack. I dream of the day when they will get that part of the products right.

Until that magical day will come, we have to deal with the issues created by the drivers. So far, most problems were caused by the webcam drivers. What makes this even more frustrating is that due to Logitech's unified driver architecture, which means the same driver package is required for any and all (recent) webcams, whether you get the cheapest Quickcam or the most expensive, you are prone to be at some point affected by the driver issues.

What to do then? Uninstall and reinstall the quirky software. The problem? It's a longer process than it needs to be.

Logitech does provide fairly clear instructions on how this uninstall and reinstall of the Quickcam software should be execute, but these instructions are hidden deep into their user support forums. So to possibly make life simpler for some, i have dug up these instructions and posted them here for quicker access.

Link: How to uninstall and reinstall the Quickcam software

Link: Clean Boot procedures for Vista, XP, ME and 98. Click here for Windows 2000.

Quick Tip: Easily install fonts in Vista

2007-09-11T23:30:00.000-04:00

This may seem trivial for some, but it may be revealing for many others. While in Windows XP, there was no easier or faster way to install fonts other than copying them to the Windows/Fonts folder or creating a customized SendTo menu entry, Vista makes it much easier.

In Windows Vista you can quickly install fonts simply by right clicking on the font file and clicking "Install". Vista will automatically copy the font file to the Windows Fonts Folder and thus install it. You even get an installation progress bar with that!

Update 10/09/2007: I have come across a situation where the Install feature described above was missing in Vista. When right clicking a .ttf font file, I simply didn't have the option of clicking on Install, as it was simply not there.

Knowing for a fact that the functionality should be there, as far as font files are concerned, i was set to find a solution as I had to restore many font files and this is the quickest method of installing fonts in Vista.

After a few minutes of googling and pondering, i realized what the problem was: the .ttf font files had been re-associated with another program, ACDSee. Usually, the font files are/should be associated with "Windows Font Viewer". So, to restore the aforementioned functionality, right click the font file in question, go to Open With... , Choose Default Program and choose Windows Font Viewer, click OK. Right click again and you should see the Install option. Problem solved.

How beautiful simple can be

2007-09-11T19:35:00.001-04:00

Sometimes you come across a website that you just have to tell people about. The new microsite for Bentley, adverstising the 2008 Continental GT and Continental GT Speed models, is such a worthy site.

Why is it worth writing about it? The combination of refined simplicity, straightforwardness and eye ravishing photography make this website one to keep looking at. If you've ever been a fan of Bentley cars, especially the Continental models, you'll find best in class images and wallpapers to keep you happy for a good while. Make sure you go to Menu > Gallery & Wallpapers to savor and save them ALL.

Visit the website: www.continentalgt.com

Microsoft Professional Photography

2007-09-06T15:48:00.000-04:00

Filling out a survey for SyncToy today, I was redirected to Microsoft's Professional Photography site, which I knew nothing of. There are some great resources there, good reads and even photo contests.

A particularly interesting article (actually series of articles as it is in two parts) is The Ultimate Setup in which you can read how professional Sports Illustrated photographers set up their equipment to capture magazine-quality shots at the NCAA Final Four games.

While you're on the site, don't miss a great how-to for my favourite digital image processing software, ACDSee Pro. Read it here.

Adobe CS3 Custom Icons

2007-09-05T12:15:00.000-04:00

For those CS3 fans out there who may not be so crazy after the original CS3 icons, here are some which will hopefully make your day.

These icons were created by icon artist Adam Betts and they are for Mac users. For the Windows version, they were ported by Eli (the-ace) from DeviantArt with permission.

Mac OSX CS3 Icons: http://www.artofadambetts.com/weblog/?p=190

Windows CS3 Icons: http://the-ace.deviantart.com/art/Adobe-CS-3-Icons-Replacement-53728408

On a similar note, in case you've missed the Creative Suite 3 wallpapers by Adobe, here's a link.

Blogging with Word 2007 and… Blogger

2007-06-11T14:21:00.001-04:00

As you may have noticed, this is a Blogger blog. I've used it for a while, I like it, it's cool… and it's free. It's cool because it's free, but also because it's fairly capable for a free solution.

There are quite a few ways to publish posts to Blogger: by logging in to Blogger and using the regular interface, from within your browser via various toolbars, add-ons and extensions, via an email message or as few may know at this point, directly from Word 2007. One of the most popular blogging methods is probably the actual Blogger interface but, in order to save and/or publish you need to be connected to the internet. This is where composing the blog posts with Word 2007 comes in handy.

With Word 2007 you don't need to be connected to the internet to start jotting down ideas and write the entire post or fear that the connection will drop and you won't have any means to save or publish what you've written so far. The blog post is saved locally on your computer and when you are ready to publish and have internet connectivity, you simply click the Publish button and Word 2007 does its thing. Configuring Word 2007 to work with your favorite blogging platform is as easy as choosing your blogging provider and entering your username and password.

How do you start a blog post? In Word 2007, go to New and instead of choosing a "Blank Document", choose "New blog post". If you haven't configured a blog account yet, click on Manage Accounts and a small window will open where you can add a new account. Click on new, choose a blog provider, click Next and enter your username and password and you're done. The current blog providers available are:

Windows Live Spaces
Blogger
Sharepoint blog
Community server
TypePad
Wordpress

If your blog provider is not listed you can also choose Other and fill in details such API address and blog post URL, information which your blog provider should make available in its support section.

So here it was, a quick post about blogging in Word 2007, written and published directly from Word 2007. Give it a try yourself.

Direct from the Source: 10 Word Tips You Should Know

2007-06-09T19:39:00.000-04:00

Original blog post by Stuart J Stuple from MSDN Blogs (click title above to view the original article)

Mastering Word isn’t about understanding the architecture or the intent of the designers; it’s about finding the features and shortcuts that make your day-to-day job easier.

1. Copy just the formatting

Almost everyone knows how to copy and paste text to re-use the same boilerplate in more than one document. But did you know you can do the same thing with formatting? The Format Painter is located on the Home tab, it's that little paintbrush icon. When you click the Format Painter, Word copies the formatting of from the start of your selection and the cursor changes to a paintbrush. Now, wherever you click in your document, that same formatting will be applied. Whether your selection will just be text formatting or both text and paragraph formatting depends on what is included in the selection. And if you want to keep pasting the same formatting, you can double-click the Format Painter button to make it “sticky.” When you're finished "painting" just press Escape to release the painter.

2. Move from one spelling errors to another without using the dialog

Many people do a final edit of their document, checking each unrecognized word to see if it needs to be correct. There’s nothing wrong with opening the Spelling dialog to do this but you can accomplish the same text by clicking on the spelling icon in the status bar. At each unrecognized word, it displays the context menu with suggestions for you.

3. Change the formatting of an entire list

When you click on a number or bullet for a list, the entire list is selected. You can then apply text formatting for just that list without changing the paragraph formatting. You can also change the type of numbering or bullets used by selecting from the gallery associated with the bullet or numbering button.

4. Save a set of formatting as a style

Format Painter provides a convenient way of copy formatting from one spot to another but you can also store formatting for later use. Simply select the text that has the formatting that you want, right-click, and select Save Selection as New Quick Style. Once you give your new Quick Style a name, it will appear in the Style gallery on the Home tab.

5. Repeat an action

If you’ve just gotten through performing a complex task with a dialog and find yourself needing to do the same task again, you can click the Repeat button next to the Undo button or press Ctrl+Y.

6. Move between objects by clicking

At the lower right side of the window (just below the scroll bar) is the “Object Browser,” which consists of three buttons--a selection menu and a pair of Previous and Next arrows. One use of the Previous/Next arrows is after you’ve search for something using Find. When you close the Find dialog, the arrows are blue, indicating that you have a stored search. You can just click on the arrows to repeat the Find in the indicated direction. You can also use the “middle” button to select the type of object to browse. You can select to move among pictures, pages, headings, or any of a dozen object types.

7. Scale the text in your document

If you’re struggling to get text to fit in a certain number of pages, the first thing you’ll probably try is adjusting the margins on the Page Setup tab. But if that still doesn’t give you enough room you can select all of your text and use the Shrink Font button to reduce all of the text in your document--text at different sizes reduces proportionally so that your headings remain larger than the rest of your text. And you can squeeze just a portion of your document if you prefer; the command works on any selection.

8. Change the formatting of the standard paragraph

When you start a new document, Word makes some assumptions about the spacing of the typical paragraph (in Word 2007, it puts a bit of space between lines and almost a 1/6^th of an inch of space between paragraphs). If you don’t like that spacing, you can make changes to any sample paragraph and then right-click on the “Normal” Quick Style and select “Update Normal to Match Selection.” Any existing paragraphs in your document and any new ones you create will use this formatting.

9. Show or hide the gridlines for tables

Tables in Word 2007 do not display the dividing lines between cells by default. These lines are called gridlines and show the borders of each cell. But unlike “real” borders, they don’t print with your document. You can use the Show Gridlines command at the bottom of the Borders menu or on the Table Layout tab to control whether or not these lines are showing.

10. Templates are a convenient way to store the starting point for a document

Most of us have documents that contain boilerplate text that we frequently need to reuse. And most of us who have a standard document that we use as a starting point have made the mistake of saving over the original of that document. If you have a document that you frequently use as a starting point for other documents, save a copy of it as a Template (DOTX) on your desktop. Then, when you double-click on that template, a copy of the document will be opened—no risk of ever saving over the original.

Getting started with IIS7 in Windows vista

2007-05-27T19:12:00.001-04:00

Making the step from Windows XP Professional to Vista Ultimate may take some adjustment time, but, while for most people and most scenarios it won’t be much of a deal, web developers trying to do their usual thing (build websites ;) ) may find themselves stuck at one point: the very beginning.

In Windows XP Professional and IIS6, you’d start setting up your computer by enabling Internet Information Services in Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs/Windows Components. Installing Internet Information Services would also install the management console that allowed you to setup local websites. Alternatively, in XP Pro, you could define a “virtual site” by right clicking on the respective folder that contained the website, going to Properties, Web Sharing tab, and giving it a name; pretty simple. Well, in Vista and IIS7 it is no longer that simple… for some reason.

Setting up IIS7 in Vista was a bigger hurdle than I thought. Going to Control Panel, Programs and Features, Turn Windows Features on or off and then selecting Internet Information Services left me spending hours trying to figure out why web sharing was not appearing and how to get the iis management console. Why? As said above, Web Sharing via Windows Explorer functionality was simply removed… go ask Microsoft why… and also because, in Vista, the management console must be installed separately. So to be able to manage IIS7, make sure to select to install the IIS Management Console as well…which is under a different branch than the World Wide Web Service; see screenshot below.

Once you selected to install the IIS Management Console as well, you will be able to access it via Control Panel/Administrative Tools/ IIS Manager. Here’s a screenshot of what the new IIS7 manager looks like:

From that point on you’re on your own. I wanted to post this here to spare others some trouble for now.

Keywords: IIS7, IIS 7 Manager, how to manage IIS7, IIS7 web sharing, vista web sharing, configure IIS in Vista, configure IIS7.

Is a warrant needed to search your computer?

2007-05-03T00:24:00.000-04:00

What: Homeland Security agents obtained permission from elderly father, who lived in the same house, to search his son's computer for contraband.

When: 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 25.

Outcome: By a 2-1 majority, the appeals court ruled the search was permissible because the father had the authority to consent to the search of the computer in his son's bedroom.

Read on to see the logic used by the court...

Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision vs QuickCam Pro 5000 vs. QuickCam STX

2007-05-01T15:04:00.000-04:00

I found myself recently in the market for a webcam for PC. Since Creative and Microsoft don't really have any decent products that can compete with Logitech's line-up, especially at the higher end, I needed to choose between Logitech's QuickCam STX, QuickCam Pro 5000 and QuickCam Ultra Vision.

I am posting this since i couldn't really find in my online research any good comparison between these three models, so maybe it will be of help to others.

Since i do not have actual picture and video samples to provide for this post, the following are simply my own impressions based on a comparison between the models mentioned above in an interval of about three days.

I started with the QuickCam STX , which is considered as average, if not slightly better than average... compared to the $20 webcams variety (webcams that i highly advise to steer away from). Retailing at $79.99 CDN, you will often find the STX on special at $24.99, $29.99 or $39.99 CDN, depending on how lucky you are.

The image quality is decent for the price (on special), meaning that if you're only willing to spend no more than $40, you should be satisfied with the quality you get for your money. The image is a bit grainy and movement fairly jerky, while detail is minimal compared to the other webcams I mentioned; but certainly the best quality for the money in this price range. I would not recommend paying more than $40 for the QuickCam STX.

The next step up worth mentioning is the QuickCam Pro 5000. There is a huge difference in quality and detail between the STX and the Pro 5000. You will find the Pro 5000 selling for $120-130 CDN at places like BestBuy and FutureShop, or cheaper in the $80-90 range at other online stores. I purchased the webcam on special at $79.99 CDN.

Since i paid double the price for the Pro 5000, I expected a fairly significant difference in quality and there sure was. The sharpness, detail and lack of graininess are a few factors worth mentioning. Add to that the much better reaction to light conditions and the pretty funny Video Effects and you come to realize the price difference is certainly worth it. If you buy it for no more than $90 CDN, the QuickCam Pro 5000 is a great value for the money.

Greedy for having nothing less than the best, i couldn't rest until i also tried Logitech's top of the line, QuickCam Ultra Vision. It is certainly expensive, retailing at around $190 CDN, even though it is listed on Logitech's website at $129.99 USD, which converts to less than $150 CDN.

I was eager to see whether the difference in image quality between the Ultra Vision and the Pro 5000 was as big as the difference between the Pro 5000 and the STX and if the price difference is justified.

Since i already had the Pro 5000 installed, i simply connected the Ultra Vision to the computer and used the QuickCam software to switch between the two webcams at different resolutions.

I must say that the quality of the Ultra Vision is impressive, dare I say, comparable to that of an average camcorder. Very detailed, very sharp, life-like colors, by far the best of the three. People will not believe you're in front of a webcam and not in front a camcorder or some other higher quality video recording device. But is that worth the price difference of $100?

Well, no... but keep reading. The difference betwen the Pro 5000 and the Ultra Vision is not quite as dramatic as the difference between the Pro 5000 and the STX. Maybe that's due to the fact that the STX's quality really doesn't come anywhere close to that of the other two.

If i had to choose or recommend between the Pro 5000 at ~$90 and the Ultra Vision at ~$190 CDN, i would definitely say go for the Pro 5000. Why? Great value for the money, with a great quality, more than suitable for the average user. Trying to save a few bucks and getting a lesser quality camera than the Pro 5000 shows only that you really don't care enough to be seen. In that case, might as well not get any webcam.

But let's get now to the intriguing and somewhat upsetting part... As i said, the Ultra Vision retails at ~$190 CDN. So you can imagine my surprise when i found the QuickCam Ultra Vision Special Edition (a much nicer black version of the same webcam) on sale at BestBuy US, for $79.99 USD from $129.99 USD. That's more than $100 CDN savings !! So how come, I ask, is that possible? Why do we have to pay so much for the same product in Canada?

So what did i do? I returned the Ultra Vision to the local store and had a friend buy it for me from BestBuy US and ship it over, thus saving over $100 CDN or if you prefer to look at it differently, getting a much higher quality and value for the money for the same price i paid for the QuickCam Pro 5000.

So there you have it. If you need more information, feel free to leave your comments.

Logitech Vista Gadgets for your QuickCam

2007-04-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

Few may know that Logitech has made available some pretty neat gadgets for Vista's Sidebar. A QuickCapture gadget which makes it really easy to take snapshots and record quick videos, rather than launching the QuickCam software, and the MotionDetector gadget which transforms your webcam into a very cool video surveillance device.

Missing Icons or images in Vista's Help

2007-04-29T21:24:00.000-04:00

I found myself today set on finding a fix for a little annoyance i've had to put up with for a while now: icons and images were missing from Vista's Help and Support system. Apparently, this is a common problem. Fortunately, there's also a very quick and easy fix for it. It seems, for something, it has something to do with the .png file associations.

A google search led me to the solution as described in the last post on this page:

http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=680234

Right click on the .reg file link and select Save Link (or Target) As... to download the reg file to your computer. Once downloaded, double click the reg file and allow it to be imported to the registry. That will solve the problem.

The registry file is harmless, nothing dangerous in it, so rest assured it will not cause any damage to your computer.

Enjoy your restored icons and images in Vista's Help.

PNG.reg

Google: Trendsetter, online and not only...

2007-04-28T02:36:00.000-04:00

CNET News has an interesting article on, simply put, how great Google is.

There's no question that Google is a trendsetter. The company made Web search sexy, and lucrative.
With its lava lamps, simple doodle design, pampered employees and millionaires in its rank and file, it has become a cultural icon and an emblem of the gold-rush promise of the Web.
Google was ranked by Fortune magazine as the best place in the U.S. to work, and it has reached another zenith by becoming the most popular Web site. It's even become a verb in the dictionary.

Go on, read the rest of the article.

Vista CMD Command Prompt Problems

2007-04-18T19:00:00.000-04:00

I came across a little issue today that made me panic for a second. I opened up the Command Prompt window (Start/Run/cmd Enter), looking to flush the dns via the "ipconfig /flushdns" command. Oddly enough, all i got in return is an error saying:

'ipconfig' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I then tried other commands like "ping", "netstat", etc., with the same result; Vista would simply not recognize them.

What to do?

The quick answer is you need to run cmd as Administrator. How? One way is by opening up the Start Menu, type 'cmd' and in the results right click 'cmd.exe' and choose Run as Administrator.

If you find yourself using 'cmd' quite often, you can also create a shortcut for it on the desktop and set it to be run as admin by going to the shortcut Properties (Right click/Properties), clicking on the Advanced button and checking 'Run as Administrator'.

Exit panic mode. Breath :).

Bug or not? Windows CardSpace disables Aero Glass

2007-03-21T03:12:00.000-04:00

Snooping around the Control Panel ended up in clicking on something that appeared new to my eyes: Windows CardSpace. What is it? I am not quite sure and i don't care enough about it at the moment since it didn't really make any news lately. More information about it can be found on Microsoft's Windows Vista Help website.

The intriguing part about it is that it seems to disable the Aero Glass interface when it is launched; in a manner similar to other programs that are not entirely compatible with Vista. Since it is a default piece of software built into Vista, shouldn't it be compatible with Vista?

Vista Sidebar shortcut and more...

2007-03-21T00:23:00.000-04:00

I found myself tonight wanting to find a way to bring Vista's Sidebar to the front and access gadgets without having to click on the sidebar icon in the system tray or minimize all windows... via some sort of shortcut. A quick google search revealed that such shortcut does indeed exist and is built into Windows: Windows Key + Spacebar.

Quick list of useful Vista shortcuts:

- Show Sidebar: Windows Key + Spacebar
- Cycle through Sidebar gadgets : Windows Key + G
- Cycle through open programs using Flip 3D: Windows Key + Tab
- An alternate way to use Alt + Tab: Ctrl + Alt + Tab (lets you use the keyboard arrows or the mouse to select an open program)

View a longer list of Vista shortcuts on Microsoft's site: Windows Vista Help - Keyboard Shortcuts

Since tonight seems to be shortcut revelation night, here's another one that will hopefully make your day seem shorter: use a keyboard shortcut to quickly change to another search engine in Firefox's search box.

Why would you want that? Because, typing something in and then moving your hand to the mouse to select another search engine from the list (like IMDB) and then moving the mouse again to the search icon to click it or your hand back to the keyboard to hit Enter, can be tedious. So here's the shortcut: make it easier by simply typing in your search term, then pressing Alt + Arrow Down until your desired search engine is selected, then hit Enter twice (once to select the search engine and second time to execute the search). Much faster and simpler, isn't it...

1 Terabyte storage is here

2007-03-20T20:05:00.000-04:00

I remember a time, not so long ago, when 500GB hard drives were all the hype. Then, the 750GB drives showed up, and now, the terabyte is here. For those less technically inclined, 1 terabyte equals roughly 1,000GB or 1,000,000MB of space to fill up with your favourite music, videos, etc. Now does that seem big compared to that 80GB hard drive you have in your computer? That's because it IS big.

Anandtech just reviewed Hitachi's (formerly IBM) Deskstar 7K1000 model and the results were better than expected. Maybe such a drive will make its way into my system after all.

Our limited experiences to date with the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 have been terrific and beyond expectations. The overall performance of this drive has been phenomenal and is close enough to the WD1500ADFD Raptor drive that we consider it a worthy adversary... Overall, we think Hitachi's Deskstar 7K1000 is the best 7200rpm drive we have tested to date... With an expected retail price of $399 or $0.40 per-Gigabyte this makes the 7K1000 a true value considering its size and performance.

My only worry, which increases with the size of the hard drives these days, still remains: Doesn't the fact that your hard drive can hold so much more data mean that you can lose so much more data all of a sudden? But enough with the free scare, just buy it and fill it up. Yes, that's a dare.

Vista: Windows Live Messenger: Cannot hide menu bar solution

2007-03-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

Windows Live Messenger has an option to hide the menu bar for a more streamlined look. Recently, this option disappeared and i was stuck with a menu bar and no "hide menu bar" button.

In Windows Vista, this seems to be caused by Speech Recognition which enables the menu bar and hides the "hide menu bar" button. If you've enabled Speech Recognition to run on startup, try disabling it and see if that fixes it. Some users report mixed results where the problem randomly appears and disappears by itself. Closing Speech Recognition doesn't seem to restore the functionality, while a reboot may just bring it back.

See this link for more details: http://www.msghelp.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=10

Update: In many cases, going through the following steps has restored functionality of the hidden menu:

- While you have Windows Live Messenger open , start Windows Speech Recognition (do not enable it however)
- Exit Windows Live Messenger (don't simply sign out... close the program entirely)
- Exit Windows Speech Recognition
- Start Windows Live Messenger (you should now have the normal messenger window back, without the ugly menu frame around it).

Transform your Windows XP into Windows Vista

2007-03-12T16:23:00.000-04:00

So you don't want to buy Vista but you want to have Vista? Ok, just install this Transformation Pack.

Since I do have Vista, i haven't had a chance to actually try this out myself, but sure looks promising.

What you get:

Vista Transformation Pack will replace many of the resources in Windows XP/Windows Server 2003. It can change such things as:

Boot screen
Welcome Screen / Logon Screen
New msstyles files (visual styles)
New desktop and file icons
New toolbar icons
Progress Dialogs
Sounds scheme
System Tray icons
New Wallpapers
Windows Media Player Skins
And much more

Vista Media Center Review

2007-03-12T16:17:00.000-04:00

Here's a review of Vista's Media Center that provides some very useful tips for watching HDTV content on your Media Center PC, home automation and others.

What a lot of people don’t realize is, that most of the HD you can get on satellite and cable, you can get for free, over the air, and recorded directly into media center. (about 95% of the TV my family watches comes from the major networks, which provide free over-the-air HD. (Mostly Fox.) 24, Prison Break, American Idol, Bones, etc.) Also, for a lot less money than you think, you can toss in home automation and control it through your media center experience. Everything from turning off any lights in the house, to open the garage door, viewing security cameras, just about anything you could ever want!

Read on at Windows X's Shrine.

Vista Media Center: Shortcuts for recordings scheduling

2007-03-12T15:32:00.000-04:00

The traditional way to schedule a recording in Media Center is to go to the guide, locate the program you want to record, hit enter or OK on the remote control to see the program details and hit the Record or Record Series button to schedule it for recording. Then, you have to press back to return to the guide or Live TV.

These steps, while not too many or complex, can be skipped by using some useful shortcuts. While browsing the guide, you can hit Ctrl+R on the keyboard to tag the select program for recording. Pressing Ctrl+R a second time will schedule recording of the entire series. To cancel recording alltogether, press Ctrl+R a third time.

Alternatively, while browsing the guide, just hit the record button on the remote control to schedule recording of the selected program (instead of Ctrl+R on the keyboard). Press the record button again to schedule the entire series, and a third time to cancel the recording.

Now go practice it.

Vista Media Center: Mini-Guide: Arrow Up means Channel Up

2007-03-08T01:46:00.000-05:00

Came over today an interesting article about how to fix a little annoyance in Vista Media Center. The new mini-guide that pops up when you press the up and down arrows on the remote control works, many would argue, unintuitively: arrow up takes you one channel down.

This article shows a simple registry "hack" that changes the functionality by moving to the up channel when pressing the up arrow... thus fixing the problem.

Here are the steps:

Click on the Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories
Right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator
Click Allow to launch an administrator command prompt
Run reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings" /v ChannelBrowserArrowUpMeansChannelUp /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Now, if you are like i was, when i first read the steps... puzzled, that is, by the gibberish in the step 4 above, read on for the translation.

Step 4 above simply modifies an existing registry value by changing its value from 0 to 1. It does so via the command line, using the "reg add" command. This command is built-in and you can find more information by typing "reg add /?". Here's a breakdown of the parameters:

/v - value, under the selected key. In this case, the ChannelBrowserArrowUpMeansChannelUp under the ".../Settings/VideoSettings" key.
/t - type of the value; here being a REG_DWORD type.
/d - the data to be assigned to the value.
/f - A parameter that simply forces overwriting if the value exists (which it does).

Evidently, you don't have to do this via the command line if you don't want to. You can also simply do the following:

1. Fire up regedit via Windows Key+R (to bring up the Run... window)
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings
3. Double click the ChannelBrowserArrowUpMeansChannelUp value
4. Change the value to 1 and click OK. (leave it as hexadecimal)

To reverse the "hack" and make the mini-guide function as it used to by default, repeat the steps above but instead set ChannelBrowserArrowUpMeansChannelUp to a value of 0 (zero).

You will have to restart Media Center for the change to take effect. Enjoy.

NOTE: You may actually want to go back to the default way after applying this fix. While this somehow fixes an annoyance, it does create another. The slide-in effect that you see when moving from one channel to another (in the mini-guide), slides channels in contrary to what you would expect. I suppose this is why they made it work wrong in the first place and allowed for it to be changed (easily) via the registry; to compensate for the unintuitive slide in/out effect.

More precisely, when pressing arrow up, after applying the fix, the next/higher channel slides in from below... rather than from above. Instead it should slide in from above, as if going up and down a list which has entries arranged in a decreasing order (higher values higher, lower values lower). Try it and you'll see...

Now if that could also be fixed, then I'd be a really happy camper.

(Had I been a Program Manager at Microsoft, this never would have happened :P )

.NET 3.0, WPF and XBAP Blurp

2007-03-06T21:44:00.001-05:00

WPF? You know, Vista’s new “kickass” feature? With the latest Vista talk on almost every website, chances are you’ve heard about the Windows Presentation Foundation already built-in certain Vista flavours. It is what drives, among other things, the new Aero interface; Aero’s Flip 3D is another example.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the next-generation presentation sub-system for Windows.
It provides developers and designers with a unified programming model for building rich Windows smart client user experiences that incorporate UI, media, and documents.

Then what about XBAP? XBAP stands for XAML Browser Application and it’s Microsoft’s, Windows-only, Rich Internet Application alternative to Macromedia’s (Adobe’s) Flex technology. The difference? It is based on the .NET Framework 3.0 and only runs in Internet Explorer ;). It seems fairly promising, considering this example by the British Library, which recently made available some of the best (ancient) books using XBAP tech. It’s called Turning the Pages 2.0. The original Turning the Pages, which made the news a couple or so years ago, still lives.

Read more about WPF and XBAP. Also, check out this interesting interview with Microsoft’s XPAB Program Managers.

Coming up: SlickSurf.com Mouse Feet Impressions

2007-03-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

I received today the replacement mouse feet ordered from SlickSurf.com. They arrived in a little package as shown below. I'll give them a week or two to see how they stand up and then post some impressions here.

Your Wi-Fi can tell people a lot about you

2007-03-02T10:49:00.000-05:00

Traveler beware! Taking care of business right before jumping in that plane heading south may render your vacation... unpleasant. This CNet article discusses the risks associated with using your laptop on unsecured wireless network, such as those found in airports and even networks with low (WEP) security. The data that can be sniffed (intercepted) on such networks can vary from usernames and passwords used on various websites, to lists of wireless networks your computer has already connected to, and more.

Soon after a computer powers up, it starts looking for wireless networks and network services. Even if the wireless hardware is then shut-off, a snoop may already have caught interesting data. Much more information can be plucked out of the air if the computer is connected to an access point, in particular an access point without security.

Read on... at CNeT.

Media Center: Wrong guide listings no more

2007-02-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

One of the issues I’ve always had with Media Center in both XP Media Center 2005 and Vista Media Center is the incorrect information provided for the guide data. As a result, the channel numbers were always mixed up and, consequently, program info was either wrong or missing. Since the Guide is actually a very useful feature of Media Center which allows to see details for a program as well as schedule recordings, having a Guide that doesn’t work as it should can become somewhat frustrating.

The issues I’ve had, applied to my cable provider, Videotron Montreal, for my region, and may or may not apply to others. Let me know if this article helped you with your issues so I can post it here as reference for others.

I started by going to “About Guide Listings”, in Media Center’s Settings/TV/Guide. On the top, it shows the Guide data provider, Zap2it. On the bottom are your current Guide Settings.

A quick visit to Zap2it’s website, showed me a listing of TV schedules available for my area. Among them, since on my pc I have the analog/cable service and not the digital one from Videotron, were the two that could apply to me: Videotron Ltée – Cable (Montreal Métro) and Videotron Ltée – Cable (Montreal Laval). Obviously, since I do not live in Laval, I chose the Montreal Metro as option and proceeded.

As expected, the information I was shown corresponded to that I was receiving in Media Center; wrong channel numbers and in some cases even missing channels entirely.

By curiosity, I went back to the list of providers and chose Montreal Laval option this time. Surprisingly, the channel listing and schedule that appeared was actually the one I was looking for. All the channels were there and with the correct numbers. That’s the channel lineup I was looking to have in my Media Center.

So, no problem. I’ll just go in Media Center setup, and choose the new provider there as I did on the website, right? Wrong.

When setting up the Media Center Guide, you’re prompted to enter your zip code, just like on Zap2it’s website. However, the results returned are different. In the list of options, the Montreal Laval option is not there, since Media Center determines my postal code is not in Laval so that option shouldn’t be available to me. What to do then? The initial thought was to find some kind of hack that would allow me to manually edit Media Center’s Guide configuration file or something along those lines. But then, I thought again. Why don’t I just pretend I live in Laval?

So all I needed was a Laval postal code. Ok, Canada Post should help with that. So I went to Canada Post’s website, clicked on Find a Postal Code, entered the name of a major street in Laval and was given a bunch of postal codes to choose from. I picked the one that appealed the most to me, typed it in Media Center Guide setup, selected the Montreal Laval option for Videotron Cable, downloaded the newest listings and I am now enjoying a whole new, fresh and accurate channel lineup, just like I should.

Life’s good again.

Theater & DVD Movie List

2007-02-24T21:28:00.000-05:00

I am making this an on-going post that i will update regularly with new movie and dvd titles that i will have seen. With so many titles, it is easy to lose track of which movie you've seen and how worthy it was. Hopefully this will help.

300 - Tuesday, March 21, 2007

Wow.. simply wow! I was expecting a graphic movie and boy did it deliver! Amazing photography, filming, action, story, everything. Certainly one movie not to be missed. A very different war movie than anything so far, that makes you wish all battle movies were the same. I am not big on seeing the same movie twice, but this i will have to see again.

The Number 23 - Friday, February 23, 2007

Really great, definitely worth seeing, made my late Friday night. Being a psychological thriller, i must say, it was quite thrilling. Finally, a very different style and performance from Jim Carrey which suits him very well. Hopefully this won't be his last one of the sort.

24 hours without your computer... are you up for it?

2007-02-24T03:11:00.000-05:00

As the title says, think you can do it? Read below.

Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate!

Shutdown your computer on this day and find out! Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer?

http://www.shutdownday.org/

Vista: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT Blue Screen Crash

2007-02-16T13:16:00.000-05:00

You upgraded to Vista and are all excited about all the new cool features, like: Dreamscene (preview), Sidebar, Flip 3D, Translucent Windows and yes, snappier, quicker loading programs, etc.

What is that, you say? Quicker loading programs? But why? Why? Well... because of SuperFetch.

While SuperFetch will or at least should make your life... easier, it will put a lot more strain on your hardware; more specifically, your system's memory. As a result, all your enjoyment could come to a (temporary) halt by a dreaded blue screen crash...

So if you've gotten some of those crashes lately with Vista, and particularly those that give a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error message, wait before you decide to change out memory sticks. They may still be good but just a bit overwhelmed by all the new requirements... and need a little more juice to keep them working properly.

To fix the blue screen crash problem, you may try the following: go into the BIOS and see if you can adjust the memory voltage manually. If you can, increase it by 0.05v. Save and reboot and see if the crashes still happen.

If they still do, you may try to increase by another 0.05v, but proceed with care. Increasing voltage will also increase the operating temperature of your memory sticks which can possibly lead to them burning if you don't monitor their temperature.

Needless to say, playing with the voltage supplied to the different parts of your computer is fairly hardcore for some, so do this at your own risk. Other than that, enjoy...

If you've tried to increase voltage by up to 0.1v and the crashes continue, you really may have a memory problem.. or a temperature problem... or a driver problem. Try to cool those sticks off first or ultimately try different sticks; or wait for driver updates. Good luck.

UPDATE 09/30/2007: This memory management blue screen in vista may also be caused by overclocked memory. So check your BIOS settings and make sure your memory is running at its default speed. If it is overclocked, either bump it down a notch and then see if you still get the blue screen, or to isolate the problem quicker, run it at its default speed.

Some motherboards allow you to asynchronously overclock your processor and memory. That means that you may run the cpu at one frequency and the memory at another. In my case, i discovered that while having my cpu overclocked and the memory at its default speed, the memory was still running at the processor's overclocked speed. I believe that was the cause of the memory management blue screen errors. Running the cpu at its default settings, caused the memory to also run at the default settings, solving the memory management blue screen crashes. For those interested, this issue occurred on a Asus A8N-SLI motherboard.

Vista Sidebar Gadget: Polaroid

2007-02-16T12:59:00.000-05:00

So has the sidebar changed your life yet? Because it really shouldn't... But if you have plenty of photos laying around your desk, it may help you clean it up by moving them on your desktop.

Download it here: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=49c22971-b1ab-46ee-b5aa-6069923ac240&l=1

Granted, it would be nice if it allowed to easily resize each polaroid by dragging one of its corners so you can have different sized polaroids all over. Maybe in the next update...

And remember this:

Place photos on your desktop, rotate them and give them captions. Double click to start rotation, then click once to stop.

On a similar note, if Polaroids are your thing, you may want to give the Polaroid-o-nizer™ a try:

http://polaroidonizer.5gigs.com/

To top it all off, here's a tiny screenshot of my desktop:

Flex2: Populate ComboBox from RSS

2007-02-11T01:10:00.000-05:00

Starting out in Flex development, one of the "simplest" things I wanted to do is to populate a ComboBox with values from an RSS feed (XML). Surprisingly enough, despite all the Flex documentation available, i had a hard time finding exactly how to do it.

So here it is for those who may be looking for something similar:


<mx:HTTPService id="feedRequest"
 url="http://www.megaszu.com/photoblog/rss.asp"
 useProxy="false"   />

<mx:ComboBox
dataProvider="{feedRequest.lastResult.rss.channel.item}"
labelField="title" />

Note that the key is specifying the "labelField" property for the combobox. The below will not work:

<mx:ComboBox
dataProvider="{feedRequest.lastResult.rss.channel.item.title}"  />

Take a look at the actual feed to see its structure.

Of relativity, time and time travel

2005-07-03T12:31:00.000-04:00

You would think that by now we would have a little bit more insight into time travel, or at least have ruled for or against its possibility of existence. Apparently, while we cannot prove it is possible, we cannot prove it is impossible either, as a Princeton University astrophysicist says:

"No law of physics that we know of prohibits time travel".

Nobody really states that time travel is indeed possible, but if it is not, then we should at least be able to understand and show what makes it impossible.

Then why are there still people who push for the discovery of time travel, when they are aware the chances for it are almost inexistent?

They hope such extreme theorizing could reveal new features, gaps or perhaps paradoxes or contradictions in the foundations of physics as we know it and point the way to new ideas.

More on time travel in this News.com article

Less than 15 years ago, in the early 1990's, we portrayed 2005 and beyond, trough SCI-FI movies, as being this far away "era", so advanced and futuristic, totally different from anything we were used to. Well, here we are, and besides fairly miniaturized phones, ultra-thin lcd displays and in-car computers with gps navigation, the rest is just about the same. Granted, computers are much faster, but they all rely on century-old theories and laws. When will we, in our lifetime, see breakthroughs in technology comparable to the ones Einstein made at the begginning of the 20th century, when he was only 26 years old?

While on the Einstein subject, let us look at some of his discoveries. One of the papers he submitted at the age of 26, was on quantum physics - "the peculiar realm of the ultra-tiny in which certainties are replaced by fuzzy clouds of probability". In it, he used the quantum description of light, existing at the time, to explain that increases in light intensity were not due to higher energy electrons, but to a more abundance of electrons.

The word "quantum" refers to discrete packets of light--particles now called photons. Einstein's work helped show that light behaved both as particle and a wave.

In one of his next papers in the same year, Einstein tackled relativity concepts of that time. More precisely he introduced the idea that light did not travel in ether and its speed did not vary according to the moving speed of an observer. He stated that light travels at a fixed speed of about 186, 000 miles per hour or approximately 300,000 km per hour, regardless of anything else.

Other Einstein concepts laid the foundation for today's nanotechnology used to build the microprocessors of today's computers.

For more on Einstein, his theories and their effects today, read here

Bill C-38: The Civil Marriage Act

2005-06-28T14:21:00.000-04:00

So, was searching for TSN channel today, looking to get some Wimbledon fix. I came across this channel, CPAC Live, on which some people from the Parliament appeared to be debating. So I stopped flipping. I must have watched for almost half an hour. The debate at hand was on Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act, concerning the marriage of same-sex couples. The funny thing was that the "House" was housing less than 20 people; the rest, I assume, being on summer-long vacation?

One of the speaking members, notably Betty Hinton, Conservative MP for BC's Kamloops Thompson Cariboo, carried out her speech in a fashion that i found particularly appealing; enough to make me wanna write about it here. Of her arguments, two that left me thinking: 1. marriage is the intellectual property of the churches and not of the government, and 2. same-sex marriage is not a human-rights issue, but a social issue.

The rest of her speech, i googled it and partially posted it here, just to give you a taste for it. I highly recommend you read the rest.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to one of the most controversial bills we will see in this 38th Parliament. It is also gratifying to see so many Canadians speaking out on the bill. Regardless of whether they are in favour or opposed to it, it is generating an outpouring from Canadians, and that is positive.

This is a bill that they feel so strongly about that my office is being inundated on a daily basis with hundreds of letters and faxes, and they are not just from my riding. They are from all over Canada. They are from young and old alike. If we could get this kind of response during an election, we would have a 90% turnout at the polls.

I must be clear from the beginning that my approach to any emotionally charged issue has always been the same. I take the emotion out of the argument, examine the facts and reach a sound conclusion based on logic. I remain open-minded to any and all arguments presented and am prepared to shift position if new information is revealed.

My husband and children lovingly refer to this method of thinking on emotionally charged issues as Spock mode, so named for the famous Vulcan character from Star Trek. I make no apologies. It has served me well in both domestic situations and in 20-plus years of public service.

Based on that preamble, let us examine the facts.

Read the rest of Betty Hinton's speech here

Link to print copy of Bill C-38, directly from the House

Programming riddle

2005-06-25T12:17:00.000-04:00

A while ago i posted about a pretty addictive internet riddle.

Recently, I have just come across another riddle. This one is more oriented towards programming however. I have only completed the first few levels, so i don't really know how complex it will get.

For those with even some minor programming experience it should be great fun, i believe.

So challenge yourself here: Programming Riddle - The Python Challenge

TIME: 50 Coolest

2005-06-25T00:50:00.000-04:00

Check out this one, maybe there will be some sites you'll find interesting. The reputable TIME magazine has made a list with 2005's coolest sites. The list, of 50, is split into 5 categories:

Arts & Entertainment
Blogs
Lifestyle, Health & Hobbies
News & Information
Shopping

This year's finalists are a mix of newcomers, new discoveries and veterans that have learned some new tricks.

Visit: 50 Coolest Website 2005 @ Time.com

Next-gen consoles

2005-05-12T01:12:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting read on the upcoming game consoles and general facts about the video gaming industry. Wanna know who's the best seller, who owns the largest market share and what you should expect from the next generation consoles? The Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo's Revolution? Read on...

In mid-May, a key conference takes place--the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, where trends, and in some cases bets, are set...
... At this year's E3, slated for May 16 to May 20 in Los Angeles, all bets will be on new gaming consoles from the big three players--Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

Read here: Next-gen consoles take center stage | CNET News.com

Riddle Fiddle

2005-05-09T00:27:00.000-04:00

Got plenty of time after reading all the news, answering all your emails and winning a few hands of solitaire? Try your mind at this challenging riddle. If you get stuck at let's say number 2, and feel like the world is coming to an end, you can either quit or think of this:

Find the point of highest altitude within your neighborhood, and climb to it on the second Saturday of the month. Bring whipped cream, a rubber chicken, water, something to make a fire with and a pot.
Build a fire, boil the water, and throw the rubber chicken in the pot of boiling water, while shedding all clothes, covering yourself in whipped cream and start dancing around the fire singing N*Sync songs. Britney Spears, 98 degreez, et al will work just as well. Doing so may lead to you getting smitten by a blunt object. Continue anyway.
After 30 minutes to an hour, the police will come to arrest you; when this happens, let out a high-pitched shriek and start running around town. They will eventually catch you, and put you in a cell with a guy named Bob. He inform you he's doing time for abusing a corpse, and then force you to play a game called 'scrotal damage'.
At this point, the riddle is still not solved, but you'll have much bigger problems on your hands than solving a riddle on the internet.

(The above was taken from a forum, somewhere on the internet ;) )

Good luck and lotsa fun!

R.I.P. Macromedia

2005-04-19T00:21:00.000-04:00

The totally unexpected, and even undreamed of, has or is about to happen. Adobe is set to buy Macromedia. So what, you ask? Well, it sucks i say.

It sucks because for the past few years i have been an admirer of Macromedia's products, while having the total opposite feelings for Adobe's, with a few exceptions. Adobe and Macromedia are two completely different companies that have two very different orientations and mentalities.

I was glad that somebody (Macromedia) finally had the potential and apparently the ability to put up with Adobe in most product segments (desktop publishing, web graphics, web development, etc.) and create the much needed competition which usually allows for the production of more and more quality programs, features and new technology to hit the market, for the benefit of both users and developers/designers.

It could easily be said that Macromedia Dreamweaver was unrivaled as far as web development goes, thanks to its robust engine, features and great dev community, shadowing Adobe's GoLive software. Continuing to web graphics, the savvy designers know that Macromedia Fireworks simply did not have any competition. Its simplicity of use and time-saving features were and still are unmatched by any current Adobe product. [edit]As far as Flash, there is simply nothing much to add: it completely overran Adobe's alternative named SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)[/edit]*. Additionally, something that most people have yet to discover, Macromedia has recently put a knife in Adobe's butt with their FlashPaper2 software; the Macromedia (Flash) alternative to Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format).

So why am i not an admirer of Adobe products in general? Mostly because i have tried almost all of them, and i find them to be extremely cumbersome to use. It was about time that somebody put the same amount of power in the hands of devs/designers, but in a much more user friendly format; Macromedia did that. I am not saying that Adobe software is bad or not extremely capable; I am just saying that it is not as intuitive as it should be, or at least not intuitive enough for the PC market.

What market, you say? You heard right, the PC market -- that segment of users that do not use Mac computers, but rather Personal (Windows-driven) Computers. I personally compare Adobe to Mac and Macromedia to Microsoft. While i am not the biggest admirer of Microsoft, i must admit it has contributed greatly to the overall computing experience, helping to make this planet a more computer-savvy one.

I don't think it is too far fetched to say that Mac and PC users have totally different mentalities and attitudes towards different products and technologies; and it all resides in the lack/use of right-clicking. If that seems a bit funny or confusing, i would be more than delighted to further develop but in another post, since i have derived quite a bit from the initial subject... the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe.

To make the above few paragraphs more simple, i'll say that Macromedia has put the right tools in the hands of the right people. They have identified the need for differently-built software and development tools and they have gone full strength ahead to produce them and make them available to those who had possibly already started giving up hope; myself included.

So why does this acquisition bother me so much? Because without Macromedia on the market anymore, I fear there will be fewer and fewer technology breakthroughs and quality software hitting the market; and that saddens me greatly. However, i could be wrong. Maybe Adobe really will stand by their statements posted in the F.A.Q. about this acquisition (available here) and really use Macromedia's expertise to enhance today's technology and put up even greater products.

As far as the F.A.Q. goes however, i feel Adobe is not so honest, and attempts to hide their real reason for purchasing Macromedia: FEAR. Evidently that they hide it, how many people or as in this case, big-time companies, admit that they fear their opponents will drive them off the cliff? Take the time to read it, maybe you will get to the same feeling. Think why, when asked who proposed this acquisition, Adobe is giving such a lame answer: " the CEOs of each company agreed that this was a great time to combine forces". Indeed, it was a great time for Adobe to force their enemy on their side. Otherwise, they were to continue looking, horrified, how their market share keeps dropping and dropping, in favor of Macromedia's. The question asked was not whether both CEOs agreed or not, but rather which of them proposed it FIRST. I have a very hard time believing that they both, in the same instant called/faxed/emailed/sent letters/etc. to one another. One of them did it first and i really do not see ANY reason why Macromedia would be looking to join forces with Adobe; none whatsoever.

With all the above said and posted here, i feel slightly better. I just felt the need to share my thoughts on this subject, and if you managed to keep reading as far as here, i thank you. Now go back and revise those few paragraphs you skipped ;) .

Read more about the "disaster" here: Adobe to acquire Macromedia

*Thanks to steltenpower for pointing out Adobe's SVG is not quite sinked. However, the main point remains fairly unchanged: Macromedia's Flash raised way above SVG.

For those interested, read more about SVG here:

http://www.technorati.com/search/svg
http://www.svgopen.org/2005/
http://svg.org/

Samsung is now what Sony once was | CNET News.com

2005-03-15T01:49:00.000-05:00

An interesting article about what Sony was, and what it is now. The article portrays Samsung as the new Sony; it claims that among other factors, Samsung has the appeal of a premium brand, something with which i cannot totally agree with. While it does have the appeal of decent value for the money you pay, Samsung has yet to reach Sony's appeal in many areas of its product line and company policy; its products are good, but they have yet to qualify as premium, or top of the line. Is it maybe because they're affordable? Does price really change the way people think about the value of objects, or products in this case? Maybe so... but take a look, the article is an interesting read.

Samsung is now what Sony once was | CNET News.com

Why does PC support stink?

2005-03-01T13:12:00.000-05:00

Funny to some but certainly awful to others, whose memories of endless grief and frustration may come back almost instantly, this article goes to show, in a most entertaining way (think Oscars) why you should consider ditching using Symantec's antivirus products; better yet, why you should not pay for them. I wish I had just as good an article that goes after McAfee's as well.

Nearly three decades into the PC revolution, the computer industry's
post-sale support remains more honored in the breach than in the
observance.

Read: Why does PC support stink?

Atom vs. RSS: Who Cares?!

2005-02-26T16:19:00.000-05:00

While browsing around "investigating" the pros and cons of the two technologies, I came around this article, link to which i could not help posting here. Read on, you may get a good laugh out of it.

It’s one big pissing match, and all we have at the end of the day is a bunch of guys running around with wet pants.

Atom vs. RSS: Who Cares?! - Lockergnome's RSS & Atom Tips

New "Mail Delivery Subsystem" virus... proceed with caution

2005-02-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

I almost gave in to it, and opened the what seemed as a word document file. If it weren't for the application-like icon and "screensaver" file type, i wouldn't have known that the file wasn't actually a .doc file, but rather a .bat or similar executable which would have infected my computer with the Win32.Mydoom.am virus.

This file came attached, as a .zip to an email which had as subject:

Returned mail: Data format error
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem

The body of the email message was as follows (the actual domain name was replaced with 'mydomain', for privacy purposes):

Dear user of mydomain.com, mail system administrator of mydomain.com would like to let you know the following,

We have found that your email account was used to send a large amount of unsolicited e-mail during the last week.
Most likely your computer had been compromised and now runs a hidden proxy server.

We recommend that you follow instructions in the attachment in order to keep your computer safe.

Sincerely yours,
The mydomain.com support team.

So be on the lookout for something like that, especially if you have your own domain name and email server. As always, think twice before opening any kind of email attachments.

Can they even be called anything?

2005-02-08T15:12:00.000-05:00

Not to be judgemental, but how can you not pass judgement on someone who has nothing else better to do than spend loads of money on property that may not really be all that proper. You hear about eccentric people buying eccentric things on eBay, but this... this... this just doesn't feed the bulldog; hell, it doesn't even feed a chihuahua. Apparently, there are 'people' who value their virtual, gaming 'belongings' to such an extent, that they are willing to purchase an area, on a map, in a game, on some server, of some dude, for hundreds and thousands of dollars - just for the fun of it? Beats me.

"Project Entropia," a computer game where players exchange real-world money for in-game goods, services and property.

Read the rest! Real cash for virtual goods | CNET News.com

Froogle Shopping List

2005-02-07T23:47:00.000-05:00

Let your friends know what you wish for that upcoming birthday of yours, by putting together your own customized shopping and wish list with Google's help.

Here's an idea: post a link to your shopping list in your blog or why not even in your email signature.

Remember: Ask and you shall receive.

(Hint: While the shopping list you will create is private, the wish list is not; make sure you add the items in your shopping list, that you want others to see, to your wish list by checking that "In Wish list" checkbox)

While we're at it, here's mine.

Make your own Froogle Shopping List

Nice guys?

2005-02-06T22:44:00.000-05:00

To complement the very first article on this blog, about bad girls, here's an interesting article about nice guys; or not so nice?

Lavalife: Do nice guys finish last?

Since i couldn't make a direct link, you're gonna have to login as guest and go to their Polls&Articles section to read this article.

Backtrack: Bad girl

Funny face? Nasty Trojan

2005-02-03T18:31:00.000-05:00

Keep an eye out for the latest threat out there. See a pic of a funny old man? Laugh not.

"A new e-mail contains a picture of an old man pulling faces--and a dangerous
Trojan. This worm, dubbed Wurmark-F, travels as an e-mail attachment and
affects systems running Microsoft Windows. When opened, it displays a photo of a
man "gurning"--a British tradition of pulling silly faces."

From Cnet

Be still, my beating heart

2005-01-25T22:53:00.000-05:00

Was the XBOX 2 discovered a bit too soon?

Well according to an article on howstuffworks.com a schematic was discovered which seems to uncover how this next gen console will work.

Read the full story here

Here are some of the plans for the next XBOX:

The proposed plan is to release three versions of the Xbox 2 over the course of a year. The first would be available in the fourth quarter of 2005 and the last a year later, to coincide with the release of Sony's PS3. The three versions break down like this:

Xbox Next - The Xbox 2, plain and simple. No hard drive, but an optional one can be purchased at the rumored price of $100.
Xbox Next HD - Reports indicate it will include a hard drive and extra functionality. Rumors also point toward an extra-special, crispy incentive: a Halo 2: Directors Cut that will be shipped with the Xbox Next HD. This alleged Halo 2.5 is supposed to function at a higher HD resolution and include extra playable features. Team Xbox was the first to report this. Here's a quote from their source.

"Halo 2.5 will be an Xbox 2 launch title and is going to run in HDTV resolution with new, improved textures and graphical effects. All the stuff that people expected from Halo 2 but didn't make the cut will be there ... The technology that powers Halo 2 has been designed from day one to take advantage of the next generation hardware... In Halo 2, the Xbox was pushed to its limits, but now the game will reach new heights with the advanced hardware ... Now, here is the twist: Halo 2.5 will come preloaded with the optional HDD. It'll be one of the two reasons to get the Xbox 2 that comes with a hard drive. The other reason ... well, you'll just have to wait."

Xbox Next PC - Xbox Next PC is basically an entry-level PC that runs a Windows operating system (perhaps Longhorn?) and can play both Xbox and PC games. It may also include a CD burner, wireless keyboard, mouse and game controller. Users can check e-mail and run standard PC software like Word as well. Unlike other consoles, it will be meant to connect to an HDTV or PC monitor. Think of an Xbox version of a Windows Media Center PC. It's supposed to come out a year after the other two Xbox Nexts, to coincide with the release of Sony's PS3. The theorized price point is in the $600 range.

Look ma' ! No more film !

2005-01-25T18:35:00.000-05:00

New technology allows for movies to be played from a remote location, to the most remote locations, without too much of heavy equipment.

Hopefully soon enough, the next big-screen movie you will see will not be film-based and projected from a reel -based machine, but digital; played from a media center pc or similar.

Intel technicians in Hillsboro, Oregon, encrypted Rize (a feature film), which was shot on high-definition digital video. The file was streamed to Salt Lake City, then beamed via microwave to Park City and through a WiMax connection to the top of a 10,000-foot mountain.

Source: Wired News

53-keys New Standard Keyboard

2005-01-25T02:31:00.000-05:00

A bold departure indeed, since i hardly believe people would be willing to learn typing on a new keyboard style, The New Standard Keyboard proposes it as an alternative. This article also tells a bit of history of keyboard layouts, which may or may not be entirely accurate.

Tech-Blog.org: Technology News

Interesting search engine facts

2005-01-24T19:17:00.000-05:00

I wonder how many lifeless, prideless human souls, Britney Spears & Co. had to pay to rank numero Uno in search queries on Google for 2004, according to a Cnet News.com article:

Google's top query for 2004 was "Britney Spears," while America Online listed "horoscopes" as the most popular keyword. Most Yahoo users searched for "American Idol."

http://news.com.com/2163-1032_3-5547932.html?tag=st.lh

OLED's are right around the corner

2005-01-24T14:13:00.000-05:00

Now that CRT monitors are mostly obsolete, it will soon come the time of even LCD displays to be forgotten. OLED technology seems to be the next big thing in displays. Expect to see in the future tiny devices with brilliant OLED displays that will be vastly superior to the ones you see now in cellular phones, mp3 players and other electronic devices.

An OLED is an electronic device made by placing a series of organic
thin films between two conductors. When electrical current is applied, a bright
light is emitted. This process is called electrophosphorescence. Even with the
layered system, these systems are very thin, usually less than 500 nm.

Wave Report OLED
Sanyo, Kodak start commercial OLED production
OLED Displays: An illumination revolution.

AskMen.com - Bad girl

2005-01-24T00:16:00.000-05:00

AskMen.com - Bad girl

An interesting article at Askmen.com

	Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate!
	Shutdown your computer on this day and find out! Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer?