Recent Posts

1651

Living Room / Re: Comic Strip Generator (and March Caption Contest Announcement!)

« Last post by nudone on March 02, 2008, 09:19 AM »

it looks like mouser has a thought balloon and cody has a speech balloon so here's what i think...

cody: would you like a cup of tea, mouser? there aren't any worms in it.

mouser: if that is true then why has your beak grown like Pinocchio's nose?

1652

Living Room / Re: the award for most clueless pc user ever - my candidate.

« Last post by nudone on March 01, 2008, 10:14 AM »

that sounds kind of typical with a few non techie people i know - they don't quite get the idea of actually 'installing'.

if they can see that there is something on their computer that has the right name then what else is there to do?

in other words, they can see an icon on their desktop saying 'superprog' hence superprog must be working - even though it is just the installation file for superprog that they've downloaded onto their desktop. (superprog being a name i've made up.)

i've had this a few times from one person i know - they must use the computer at least a couple of times a week but they 'refuse' to remember how to get around the problem.

1653

Living Room / Re: the award for most clueless pc user ever - my candidate.

« Last post by nudone on March 01, 2008, 07:39 AM »

to be fair, they don't use the computer very often - i'm amazed they managed to send a single email on the old computer - maybe they didn't after i'd shown them (regardless of the detailed step by step notes they wrote down to help remember).

the mouse problem that the phone call was about can be understood a little. they thought the scroll wheel was the mouse button so they'd been pressing that all the time.

i can't quite understand how they thought they'd be able to turn the computer on without pressing the power button on the tower - what else is there? maybe they thought you only had to press the power button on the monitor - they did give me the impression that they thought the mouse button did everything - including acting as the power button for the computer.

perhaps they would have been better with an apple machine?

1654

Living Room / Re: free email without frequent login requirement - recommendations?

« Last post by nudone on March 01, 2008, 02:57 AM »

umm, i realise i should have done that now.

i'll have to think about whether it's worth doing it as they'll only probably send about 3 emails a year.

1655

Living Room / Re: free email without frequent login requirement - recommendations?

« Last post by nudone on March 01, 2008, 02:31 AM »

thanks for the helpful suggestions everyone. i've set a gmail account up for them. they are likely to actually forget what email provider they are using after they've been abroad so picking an obvious one like google will help them remember - i hope.

this couple would win the award for most clueless pc users ever - bearing in mind they have had a computer since the windows 95 days.

i've made a new post about them here.

1656

Living Room / the award for most clueless pc user ever - my candidate.

« Last post by nudone on March 01, 2008, 02:27 AM »

i set a new machine up for a retired couple this week as they were tired of their old windows 95 based machine. i knew they weren't really keen on computers nor the internet but they've sent emails and done the basics for several years.

so, i was dismayed when i got a phone call from them one day after setting the new computer up for them...

them: "hello, there seems to be a problem. i can't get the computer to turn on."

me: "so the power button doesn't work?"

them: "the power button?"

me: "the silver button on the front of the tower case."

them: "oh, i have to press the button on the THE TOWER? that's strange."

me: "well, it's the same process to what you did with the previous computer."

them: "oh!"


second phone call...

them: "i'm having trouble with the mouse now. i can't click on anything."

me: "so when you click on an icon or button nothing happens?"

them: "i can't click on anything because there aren't any buttons on the mouse."

me: "er. the buttons are in the usual position at the front either side of the wheel."

them: "oh, let me try again. yes, you are right. i couldn't see the buttons so i didn't think there were any."

me: "no problem, just let me know if you need any further help. good bye"


beat that. they've been using a computer for several years and were completely lost the minute they tried to use a new machine. i expect they'll not be able to do anything at all with it - i've shown them how to connect to the internet and use gmail - something they'll never be able to do ever again i expect.

1657

Living Room / free email without frequent login requirement - recommendations?

« Last post by nudone on February 28, 2008, 04:26 AM »

i've been asked if there is a free email service that does not require frequent (monthly) logins to keep it active. it's for an elderly couple that always spend summer abroad for several months and wouldn't have a clue how to access their email unless it is on their own computer at home.

they have lost their email accounts several times because of infrequent use, and they are using a dial-up pay as you go service that does not provide an email account.

is there an email service that anyone can recommend, is free, and doesn't have the restrictions that yahoo and hotmail has (i don't know what gmail's service implies)?

thanks.

edit: i see that gmail's period of inactivity is 9 months. this might be enough but i believe it will be safer to use something that doesn't expire for at least 12 months.

1658

Living Room / Re: look at the size of my recycle bin !!!

« Last post by nudone on February 28, 2008, 03:20 AM »

yes it is xp, and so it will work.

1659

Living Room / Re: look at the size of my mouse mat !!!

« Last post by nudone on February 28, 2008, 01:27 AM »

  now that is inspired.

1660

Living Room / Re: look at the size of my recycle bin !!!

« Last post by nudone on February 27, 2008, 06:02 PM »

ah, so there is a good reason to have vista afterall.

1661

Living Room / Re: look at the size of my mouse mat !!!

« Last post by nudone on February 27, 2008, 03:50 PM »

i have to admit that if i could buy one as big as the table then i would do. a bigger mouse that requires both hands to move it would be cool too - or maybe just a mouse that is so big it fills the space of the new mat and makes everything seem normal again.

on a serious note, i bought the mat with the intention of cutting it up and only using a third of it - that is the area i'm actually using for the mouse right now (the rest being under the keyboard). i've a 24" monitor and i have the mouse speed set quite low - this is to make my movements more precise with graphic editing software. hence a large mat allows me to make large sweeping movements if i need to - so i get the best of both worlds - precision without sacrificing large movements.

i've also used padding under the keyboard for several years. when this extends forward to the front of the desk it makes things really comfy for resting your wrists on. maybe i'm just fragile but i notice that my wrists ache after long periods of lying on a hard table top. so, this super large mouse mat now doubles up as wrist mat also - and nothing slides about which is handy.

(secondary purpose will help when playing shootemup games - or so i'm lead to believe.)

1662

Living Room / Re: look at the size of my mouse mat !!!

« Last post by nudone on February 27, 2008, 07:16 AM »

Is that two Cody mugs I am spotting being used as penholders?

-ThalSwe (February 27, 2008, 06:53 AM)

er, it's three cody mugs being used as pen holders 

you'll need a desk extension there nudone

I like those "floppy" mouse pads, got one lately, (steelpad) and have the edge of my table rounded so I can let it hang(out) over the edge

-tomos (February 27, 2008, 06:59 AM)

i was going to cut the mat up into two or maybe three sections and just use a smaller section as it would still be super sized - but it seems to make sense to put it under the keyboard, i.e. maybe you could do that instead of letting it hang.

1663

Living Room / look at the size of my mouse mat !!!

« Last post by nudone on February 27, 2008, 06:22 AM »

fans of the ridiculous will appreciate my new purchase - an aimb.pad xl mouse mat. (it's 45 x 90 cm.)



(for those of you that are into big things you may also like to see the size of my recyle bin.)

1664

Living Room / Re: The Best Games You've Never Played

« Last post by nudone on February 26, 2008, 09:35 AM »

i bought the standard half-life 2 when it came out. probably played it half a dozen times all the way through (going through the difficulty levels).

did episode 1 twice i think.

done episode 2 once - possibly the fun is starting to wane.

BUT, as you've got the orange box you'll also have 'Portal' which was a load of fun to get through - more fun than episode 2.

out of everything i've played, Far Cry still stands out as having the most replayability - well above crisis (good first half, tedious second half). BUUUUUUT, half life 2 is definitely the best single play once all the way through experience - it really is an adventure - and that's why you should play it.

1665

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by nudone on February 26, 2008, 02:22 AM »

if the switch ends up like you say then i don't think i'll be able to clean it as it's sealed inside a tiny box. i only dripped a couple of drops of wd-40 onto it (i didn't really blast it) so hopefully it might have just been the right amount.

1666

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by nudone on February 25, 2008, 04:09 PM »

Ewwww... WD-40... bad idea. It leaves a gummy residue!

-Darwin (February 25, 2008, 03:24 PM)

oh, i thought it was the stuff you were meant to use for this kind of thing. it's all i had anyway. seems to be working at the moment.

1667

Living Room / Re: NEW Cody desert island wallpaper

« Last post by nudone on February 25, 2008, 04:04 PM »

haha, an excellent tale. and probably true.

the original desert island wallpaper, the beach, that Deozaan refers to can be found here

1668

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by nudone on February 25, 2008, 02:21 PM »

seems i was wrong about the 'dog hair' being the problem with the mouse.

it's the left button micro switch. i thought these switches were meant to last forever - i've had the mouse two years and it was an expensive logitech one at the time so i see no excuse for poor quality parts.

anyway, i've blasted wd-40 down the switch. not sure if it's made a real difference yet.

1669

Living Room / Re: NEW Cody desert island wallpaper

« Last post by nudone on February 24, 2008, 02:03 AM »

2560 x 1024 ?? (dual monitor)
Cody travels FARR and wide, you  know!

-BigJim (February 23, 2008, 08:05 AM)

sorry, i can't really do that one without editing the original image. if there were several requests for this size then i'd spend a bit of time making the changes.

Very cool! Some questions arise after gazing at the picture details:

 1) Who is the captain of the bathtub?
 2) And the captain of the distant ship in the horizon?
 3) Is Cody disoriented by the loss of one of his eyes?

-Lashiec (February 23, 2008, 07:39 PM)

1) probably the answer lies with the shark nearby.
2) i don't know the answer to that one - it's too far away to see.
3) who knows what Cody is looking at. but, sometimes you just can't see what's right in front of your face.

1670

Living Room / Re: NEW Cody desert island wallpaper

« Last post by nudone on February 23, 2008, 07:08 AM »

Who's in DC02? Would it be cody's rich uncle?

-jgpaiva (February 23, 2008, 04:53 AM)

i think it must be - who else could afford their own DC submarine.

wow, nudone! That's beautiful!

-TucknDar (February 23, 2008, 04:57 AM)

thanks, TucknDar.

now make me one in 1024x768

yes there are people from the stoneages who want a pretty wallpaper too 

-housetier (February 23, 2008, 05:01 AM)

i've added a 1024 x 768 version. (i think it works but maxthon is now blocking me from attempting to download from the link - firefox appears to work perfectly though.)

1671

Living Room / NEW Cody desert island wallpaper

« Last post by nudone on February 23, 2008, 03:45 AM »

somehow i forgot to post this wallpaper at the end of the 'Draw Cody competition'. the picture was specially printed as a full size poster that became part of the first prize that Audrey Maximus won.

now seems as good a time as any to upload the images so here they are.

a couple of other 'halloween' wallpapers are also available. Click here to view the original post (iff you haven't seen it).

If you don't see the correct pixel width and height dimensions for your monitor but you know its aspect ratio then just download the wallpaper with the same aspect ratio - it should then scale to fit properly. If you aren't sure about the aspect ratio of your screen then you will most likely be able to find it here http://en.wikipedia....Video_Standards2.svg

desert island


dimensions: 1280 x 1024, ratio: 5:4
desert-island_1280-x-1024-(5;4).jpg (237.47 kB. 1280x1024 - viewed 557 times.)

dimensions: 1440 x 960, ratio: 3:2 or 15:10
desert-island_1440-x-960-(3;2-or-15;10).jpg (208.58 kB. 1440x960 - viewed 553 times.)

dimensions: 1600 x 1200, ratio 4:3
desert-island_1600-x-1200-(4;3).jpg (244.27 kB. 1600x1200 - viewed 560 times.)

dimensions: 1920 x 1080, ratio 16:9 HD TV
desert-island_1920-x-1080-(HD-16;9).jpg (369.79 kB. 1920x1080 - viewed 572 times.)

dimensions: 1920 x 1200, ratio 16:10
desert-island_1920-x-1200-(16;10).jpg (305.06 kB. 1920x1200 - viewed 537 times.)

dimensions: 1024 x 768, ratio 4:3
desert-island_1024x768-(4;3).jpg (120.93 kB. 1024x768 - viewed 573 times.)

1672

Post New Requests Here / Re: bigger screen area than monitor size - with quick scroll features

« Last post by nudone on February 19, 2008, 03:45 AM »

here's another feature suggestion - maybe a good idea - maybe not.

as the program involves moving your windows around into a satisfactory layout before you start using the 'giant screen', it would be helpful to make moving an individual window quicker/easier to position.

what i mean is that although you can quite easily move a single window in the usual manner by dragging the title bar - it would be easier if you could drag a window by dragging it from anywhere within its own window - NOT just the title bar.

i've seen this done with utils before, i.e. you hold a key down and then just click and drag within the window and then the window moves just like you had dragged it using the title bar.

i think being able to do this would make the positioning of the windows on the 'grid' a lot easier. you could easily adjust the position of windows that were only slightly visible on screen without having to drag everything over to see the window titlebar.

(a key combo like win + alt + mouse click could be used to invoke the function.)

1673

Living Room / Re: local pc shop owner speaks truth on xp license - or takes me for a fool?

« Last post by nudone on February 19, 2008, 01:56 AM »

i don't think i've been in a computer shop that i thought i could really trust - that stems from me usually knowing more about pc's than the person behind the counter so it's easy to detect the bullsh*t when it inevitably starts flowing out of their mouths.

as this was the owner of the shop that was giving me the license 'tip' i suspect he knows the truth about how many pc's it covers. i didn't believe him but i thought it worth checking on the forum just in case he knew a 'microsoft secret'. he being the 'authority' as a pc shop owner i had to be prepared to accept he was right.

no doubt, the shop owner thinks he's helping me out or saving me money - and therefore winning my custom rather than going elsewhere.

there are a couple of other local shops i'll get a price from - it will be interesting to see what 'freebie' they try to tempt me with.

1674

Post New Requests Here / Re: bigger screen area than monitor size - with quick scroll features

« Last post by nudone on February 18, 2008, 05:18 PM »

no rush. just very glad you can work on it whenever you can.

1675

Living Room / Re: local pc shop owner speaks truth on xp license - or takes me for a fool?

« Last post by nudone on February 18, 2008, 03:07 PM »

ah, i can see where the 'three personal computer' figure has come from then - whether the shop owner knows the truth of the situation or not is hard to say i suppose.

i'll use the links provided by qwibbles for future reference. thanks.