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2151

General Software Discussion / Re: McAfee Online Backup - New Web Service

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 22, 2009, 12:19 PM »

If it's a serious company, it's a given that they should have a backup system in place in case these kind of things happen. Since you can't really tell, as everyone says they backup their users data, and when shit happens, it turns out they don't, you're pretty much f***** up.

-Lashiec (November 22, 2009, 10:42 AM)

Like the recent near miss with T-Mobile/Sidekick - which was of course powered by Microsoft!

2152

General Software Discussion / Re: McAfee Online Backup - New Web Service

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 22, 2009, 03:37 AM »

What are your upload speeds?

I tried an online backup system (expensively provided by my bank) but it was almost unusable because the maximum broadband upload speed for most UK ISPs is 448kbs and in reality it is more like 375kbs. Trouble is it means it takes forever to upload any reasonable size backup.

Unless you have fast upload speeds unlimited backup is pretty meaningless - unless you are prepared to take weeks creating the intial backup.

The other issues I wonder about are:

• how secure is the data you upload (in terms of reliability of the backup)
• how secure is the data you upload (in terms of others looking at your data - including the employees of the service)
• how quickly can I get important data back - odd files will probably be OK but if I need a system rebuild how quick is the server at streaming your data back to you? It's all very well having 20Gbs broadband or more but if the servers only send at a low rate is it worth the hassle.

Can someone explain the advantage over buying an external USB drive or two?

2153

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 19, 2009, 06:41 AM »

Re software that works on XP - will it (probably) work on Windows 7 or will it have to have been specifically updated for 7 ?

-tomos (November 19, 2009, 05:59 AM)

If there is a Vista or 7 update it might be worth trying.

Lots of XP software appears to work without much problem. If not try using XP compatibility mode - just right click on the shortcut that starts the app and select XP compatibility (not the VM which will only work if you have Hyper V support in your CPU).

Some XP software may have problems with UAC in Vista and 7 if it expects to have the free run of your system. You can either turn off UAC (probably not the best solution) or give the software Admin rights (right click on the shortcut again and choose run as administrator).

I'd guess most normal apps should work without too much problem but low level tools and utilities may have more conflict issues.

2154

General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 18, 2009, 07:13 PM »

Carol[/b] the flip side: if you don't need it, enjoy the last good version as long as you like.

-zridling (November 18, 2009, 05:24 PM)

I got upgraded to ACDSee Pro (v1) for free IIRC. It was really buggy and their RAW engine for Canon was awful. I reported the problems and was told they would be fixed in version 2. The problem had been there through previous versions of the non-Pro vbersion so I wasn't going to pay something like $150 on the off chance they may have fixed a serious issue in a Pro product.

I use Adobe LightRoom now. I got a free version 1 (as I used to use a product Adobe bought out and they migrated customers to LightRoom) and I paid for the upgrade to version 2 which was considerably cheaper than the ACDSee upgrade prices (probably 50%) and actaully I have software that really does work with rendering that is probably best in class just about.

2155

General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 18, 2009, 10:45 AM »

That's why I never upgraded to ACDSee Pro version 2 - and I certainly won't be going to 3.

I know a lot of people like ACDSee and I used it for a long time but every version they produce has loads of bugs in it and most of these 'upgrades' seem to me to be most bug fixes and new bugs. Call me cynical if you like ....

2156

Developer's Corner / Re: Noupe.com - nice website with css/php/webdesign articles/tips/blog

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 18, 2009, 03:55 AM »

Nice find - bookmarked!

2157

General Software Discussion / Re: At last: MP3 Lossless!!!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 14, 2009, 03:49 PM »

On another note, one of the positives of my descent into old age is that I have no need to pay a premium to buy frequencies I can't hear anymore. Nature has now blessed me with mp3 ears.

-tsaint (November 14, 2009, 07:54 AM)

  That really resonates with me, as well. I like that, mp3 ears 

-Darwin (November 14, 2009, 09:09 AM)

Save me a seat on that bus also ... 30 years if open piped Harleys has had an impact on my hearing.

I am wondering if the Loudness War fiasco that Innuendo mentioned is why many tracks sound like the vocals are/have been washed out (barely audible) to me.

-Stoic Joker (November 14, 2009, 10:11 AM)

Ditto - my problem is I like to know the frequencies are there even if I can't hear them.

Seriously though I still buy CDs mostly. I hate paying the same price for audio downloads (or even more quite often) when I can have a shiny disk plus a booklet full of pictures and text, or in the case of classical music background info on the artists, performance and historical notes.

Maybe I am old fashioned but I do like to have the physical product. When I do download stuff more often than not I burn a CD anyway to listen on a HiFi system or in the car.

2158

Living Room / Re: a gmail system that works for me.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 13, 2009, 06:03 PM »

If you have a server with CPanel you can host your own POP/IMAP/Webmail very easily.

Suppose you have domain.com registered on the server.

You just set up email addresses in the Mail section of CPanel.

You get a confrimation of POP/IMAP settings in the results screen

To access via webmail go to www.domain.com/webmail and login with the email account details.

It comes with 3 different webmail applications.

Not as sophisticated as GMail but is is more secure and you can use https if you have a certificate registered for your domain.

2159

General Software Discussion / Re: At last: MP3 Lossless!!!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 12, 2009, 10:14 AM »

Am I the only one who thinks MP3 should've died a slow death by now?

-scancode (November 07, 2009, 11:56 AM)

MP3 is ubiquitous so it is unlikely to die out any time soon. Whether MP3HD will make any headway is debatable but give than lossy MP3 is prrety standard on all mobile players it seems very unlikely that manufacturers will stop supporting the format.

Also there are millions of people who have purchased in MP3 format - its pretty unlikely that people will convert MP3 to something else and lose even more fiddelity (assuming most people are even capable of figuring out conversion processes).

2160

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 11, 2009, 02:57 AM »

At least most of your students can still read, ours can hardly form sentences half the time.

-Stoic Joker (November 10, 2009, 11:13 PM)

That seems to be the biggest complaint from universities and employers of graduates in the UK too.

Given that the majority now do Arts subjects where they have to write essays how do they get in to university in the first place and how do they pass exams?

2161

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 10, 2009, 04:24 PM »

I don't mind the levity of the original post/poster ( ). There is something humerous and ironic that such a hi-tec bit of kit (understatement) can be destroyed by a piece of bread!!! What I do object to is the assumption that all scientists do is waste public money on stupid research - plus the idea that it is always US money that is wasted.

I have just started working my way through the Carl Sagan series Cosmos again and one of the things I love (and often brings me to tears) is the sheer beauty of the Cosmos and the research that goes into exposing how it works. The great shame is that Carl Sagan hasn't seen the fruits of some of his work that have really only started to emerge since his death.

It is very hard to understand why scientists are labelled geeks, boffins and nerds whereas people who read Dickens or the Bible are classed by many to be more intelligent (which is why we now have universities full of people studying literature and media studies and a huge lack of people interested in pursuing 'hard science') - I'm afraid I'm left scratching my head in wonder at how attitudes have managed to deteriorate to this point.

You only have to look at education in the UK in recent decades to see how science (and maths) have been dumbed down to the point that it is difficult to get to a point where undergraduate study is possible in many universities without extensive remedial work to get students up to scratch in the first year.

2162

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 10, 2009, 10:13 AM »

Billions of dollars went into this device, which was designed by "Top Scientists" ... that some bird-brain varment just fried with a bread crumb.

-Stoic Joker (November 10, 2009, 05:52 AM)

Actually no dollars went into this device. It was built by the EU not America (I seem to remember the US were asked to join in but as usual you said no because you wanted to build your own).

Refresh my memory...
...WTF are we paying these people for?

You probably aren't so there's a relief.

Actually I have a serious point to make ... its all very well for the press to enjoy the joke when something like this happens but science has been getting a really bad press mostly from technology numb-skulls and religious ignorami who would still be on a flat earth if they had their way. It's about time scientific advances and adventures were actually applauded - try living for a week without the scientific and technological advances you enjoy!!

Before you respond with "what's the point" of experiments with no practical applications who would have thought most kitchens would have refigerators and microwave ovens a hundred years ago or hospitals would have the imaging devices they have now. I bet back in the early 20th century Marie Curie & co. were fighting to keep their funding too!

2163

Living Room / Re: I'm Going to HELL! Please feel sorry for me... :(

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 10, 2009, 04:21 AM »

There is a fun webapp at http://www.speedtest.net/ (and http://www.pingtest.net/ ) which will tell you the speed of your connection from point to point in the world.

Best bit is the View World Results at the bottom. Take it all with a pinch of salt though. Apparently the average European speed is 6.74 Mb but it doesn't alter the fact that while some people are getting in excess of 40Mb there is a huge variation. Within 3 miles of where I live I have seen broadband speeds as low as 200Kb/s up to around 7500Kb/s. I have also seen customers who can't get broadband at all (even though all of the surrounding houses have it - some of the houses are joined together but neighbours have different experiences).

The whole thing is a lottery.

One of my friends was surprised that if she went from the north of England to Nepal she would stand a better chance of getting broadband and it would probably be faster!

2164

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2009, 07:18 PM »

Sorry but 32 bits can only address 4Gb - you can fudge it by adding offsets (mirrors) but it is a fudge. PAE is a fudge. You aren't physically addressing more than 4Gb at any one time it is like having a book - you can view any double page but you can't see 4 page at once - unless you use mirrors!

2165

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2009, 06:20 PM »

So you are saying my example is right because you can only see behind you when you turn round and then you can't see what you were looking at Using a mirror is cheating (swine)

2166

Living Room / Re: I'm Going to HELL! Please feel sorry for me... :(

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2009, 06:18 PM »

Only thing you'll want to use the net for anyway is checking the weather forecast (is the weather going to be good or great) and for finding out what's on next weekend (what's the venue for the next international cricket match)

-tsaint (November 09, 2009, 05:38 PM)

May also be wondering which fire to avoid and if there is going to be any water to drink.

I should take a big fire extinguisher and lots of bottled water with you

If you live in a colder part of the world you might want to bring a mobile air conditioning unit or a mobile shower unit for when the heat gets unbearable. Try dragging this behind you at all times:



Ooh and don't forget the factor 42 sun screen!!

(Ignore the sour grapes I'm actually quite jealous)

2167

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2009, 09:07 AM »

I agree with music apps - not that I am doing that much these days.

I went to see the Indigo Girls a couple of weeks ago. Two girls, 11 stringed instruments. The only hiccup was the guy they used to change tuinings between songs (3 times they had to retune themselves). Nothing like simplicity for a happy gig (and it was very happy).

Went to see We Will Rock You (touring in Edinburgh) last week and had to wait nearly half an hour before the doors were opened because of technical problems. I know there isn't much comparison but there was a fair amount of grumbling outside the door before being let in. Having said that it was an absoultely cracking evening once it got started.

2168

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 06, 2009, 08:04 PM »

The point was: A 32bit OS can address more than the physical limitation of 2^32 if the OS chooses to, (barring hardware limitations).  Thus it's an arbitrary limit imposed by the designer of the OS, eg. MS.

-4wd (November 06, 2009, 07:51 PM)

Not really accurate - a 32-bit CPU and OS can only address 4Gb at any one time. You can use an offset to point to that 4Gb if you want to but, for example, when you are looking at the 4Gb starting at 64Gb you can't see the 4Gb at 16Gb.

The 32-bit OS isn't really addressing more than 4Gb it is just using some trickery to make it appear that way and the software has to collude in the trickery to make it all work.

Working on that principle you could go back to 16 (or even 8 bit) computers and get them to address terrabytes of RAM. Some did - in the early 80s I had an 8-bit BBC Micro extension running CP/M that had 128Kb of memory (when 64Kb was the maximum addressable space). In fact it was an early dual processor system - each running with its own RAM but distributing I/O and display functions between the CPUs.

2169

General Software Discussion / Re: Has anyone tried Perfect Utilities ?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 06, 2009, 07:38 PM »

Thanks for the heads up. I guess I won't be updating in the future

2170

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 06, 2009, 07:17 PM »

A 32-bit operating system can address 2^32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes of memory natively.

The 32-bit versions of Windows use PAE to extend the addressable memory on 32 bit systems.

Standard consumer 32-bit windows can therefore address the full 4Gb of installed memory BUT memory mapped devices (such as graphics cards) have to be included in the physical 4Gb limit so if you have a 512Mb graphics card you will lose 512Mb from your physical memory because the graphic card memory is mapped to take the place of the missing memory.

There are a number of memory mapped devices and so commonly Windows can only actually see up to 3.25Gb of installed memory - the other 0.75Gb being used for device mapped memory.

In consumer Windows products PAE is available as an option but MS disables it so that it doesn't actually do anything.

2171

General Software Discussion / Re: Has anyone tried Perfect Utilities ?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 06, 2009, 07:02 PM »

NOD32 doesn't report errors on 3.02 but it immediately quarantines 3.03 with multiple infections.

I wonder if this is intentional or if the developer has an infection?

Here are the warnings I get from NOD32:

2172

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 05, 2009, 04:19 PM »

Thanks

2173

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 05, 2009, 11:04 AM »

Anyone using win 7 with dial up? Any issues? I have a client that used to use dial up without any issue but someone kindly installed Win 7 (not me) on her system and now dial up won't work.

I have found a number of support forums logging issues with dial up but without any real reason.

2174

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 03, 2009, 02:21 PM »

Now I see that BCD is just the term for the way that Vista boots, rather than boot.ini.

-J-Mac (November 03, 2009, 02:10 PM)

That's right. The trouble is that boot.ini was relatively easy to edit. BCD is much more complicated and hardwork. EasyBCD was written (along with a number of other attempts) to give an easy graphical interface. To a certain extent EasyBCD works OK but there are so many bugs it is hard to get exactly what you want and it only supports a small subset of the BCD command set.

2175

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 03, 2009, 01:40 PM »

I have the full version on DVD. If you want to do it as an upgrade from Vista boot into Vista as normal and then insert the disc and follow the prompts.

You can buy upgrades online with a download. Personally I think they are to be avoided as the DVD acts as a rescue media in case of problems. With the download you don't get that - although you can no doubt find instructions via google on how to produce an ISO file from the MS WIM file.

PS: Beware EasyBCD is buggy as hell.