Recent Posts

3501

Official Announcements / Re: NANY 2009 Event Concludes -- 34 New Applications Posted

« Last post by cranioscopical on January 03, 2009, 08:08 AM »

Great job, Perry!
A bouquet for your efforts...

3502

Living Room / Re: HAPPY NEW YEARS DC!!!

« Last post by cranioscopical on January 01, 2009, 04:08 AM »

I began the year with a resolution to improve my memory.
So, to everyone here on DonationCoder, Happy 200...

3503

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Fried Babelfish

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 31, 2008, 11:44 PM »

Thank you!

3504

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 30, 2008, 12:40 PM »

I struggeled on, started my computer and installed the software.

I have left it running for an hour and it now passes the self tests.

Is this normal behaviour?

-Carol Haynes (December 30, 2008, 09:41 AM)

No. FYI, normal behaviour is swear loudly and then hurl the thing to the bottom of the garden.

If it's a relatively inexpensive unit I'd be inclined to soldier on.
The problem being, where to go in order to be assured of a replacement that's newer.
I've found it less hassle simply to replace cheap(er) APC back-up's than to bother with battery replacement.
New units are almost always on special somewhere.

Hope it works out for you...

3505

Living Room / Re: 2008 Cybernet Awards Are Out.. DonationCoder.com Wins Most Useful Forum!!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 30, 2008, 12:27 PM »

So what do we win? a million dollars? a deluxe mansion? or just bragging rights? i would prefer a million dollars but bragging rights is also good.

-gexecuter (December 30, 2008, 10:04 AM)

We win a million deluxe bragging rights and 15% discount on the rental of a small wooden hut. 

3506

Living Room / Re: 2008 Cybernet Awards Are Out.. DonationCoder.com Wins Most Useful Forum!!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 29, 2008, 02:52 PM »

It's the first day of the Cybernetnews.com 2008 awards and our very own humble DonationCoder.com site has just won the first place award for "Most Useful Forum".

-mouser (December 29, 2008, 02:47 PM)

Well done Mouser,  that's the cat's whiskers!

3507

General Software Discussion / Re: Shell Extension City's Best Freeware of 2008

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 28, 2008, 08:59 PM »

It's good stuff over there.

Where do you think FARR will come?   

3508

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 27, 2008, 10:35 PM »

With your USB keyboard try this experiment:

In windows open My Computer, right click on your windows drive, properties, tools, Check Now... and check the two options. Now click OK and because Windows is in use it will offer to scehdule a check at next system start. Click OK and then restart your system.

During Windows boot there will be an interruption with a blue screen and it will tell you a Disk Check has been scheduled, press Escape to cancle it. Try pressing Escape ...

-Carol Haynes (December 27, 2008, 07:44 PM)

If I do this from a command prompt -- chkdsk c: /f I get the 'schedule for next boot' option.
My keyboard isn't USB per se (Northgate Omnikey Ultra) but it's connected through an adapter to a USB port.
(The last mobo I bought had no PS/2 port.)
On XP Pro SP3 I haven't a problem causing the disk check to abort.
Is that because the keyboard itself wasn't designed to be USB?  Or am I just lucky?

3509

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 27, 2008, 02:28 PM »

At first I thought it was something the cats had eaten but eventually tracked it down to a Belkin UPS.

-Carol Haynes (December 26, 2008, 04:53 PM)

Tsk!  You should never run the Orangutang railway line from one of those!

3510

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 27, 2008, 02:24 PM »

Why oh why do they (still !!!) use 110 volt?

-Shades (December 27, 2008, 01:14 PM)

That's because, currently, the powers that be meet resistance when trying to move ohm.

3511

Living Room / Re: Merry Xmas

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 25, 2008, 07:53 AM »

Cody wanted to say Merry Xmas to everyone.

-mouser (December 25, 2008, 06:06 AM)

That was very creative! 
#89 was far and away the best one... so different from all the others.

Shame that Josh felt he had to eat that one...

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Remember, attitude is everything: as you unwrap what seems to be yet another pair of socks instead of something for your ink-jet printer, tell yourself there may yet be a surprise concealed within... a cartridge in a pair free!

3512

General Software Discussion / Re: Cannot open Paint on Vista

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 24, 2008, 09:21 PM »

And we spent the afternoon running one of these up and down our driveways so that our guests could get to the house.

3513

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 24, 2008, 02:55 PM »

Printers are so cheap now that it's barely worth what you save by eliminating them.

I, too, have an MX850.  It does a great job. Can't recommend it too much. I highly recommend it.

My opinion, though, is that you ALSO need at least a small laser printer.
They have so small a footprint now, and cost so little, that they must represent one of the all-time bargains in computer peripherals.
Staples was almost giving away the Samsung ML-2xxx family recently -- about $60 Canadian.  (I had to restrain myself from buying a skid full.)
I bought one for my wife a year ago. She doesn't print a huge amount, but there's no sign of the initial toner running low. Its print quality is virtually as good as that from my serious HP LaserJet

3514

Living Room / Re: What does it mean when unplugging the computer makes it forget the bios date?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 24, 2008, 02:44 PM »

When i remove power to the PC, and then turn it back on, the bios forgets the date and time.

-mouser (December 24, 2008, 02:21 PM)

You haven't one of those new-fangled mobo's with the Mouser BIOS do you?
They're the kind that initiate the boot process and then fade away for a while.

3515

Official Announcements / Re: DC-IRLDD Champaign, IL - New Years

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 24, 2008, 11:10 AM »

So far, I'm planning to spend the day at the beach.

-OldElmerFudd (December 24, 2008, 01:36 AM)

That's just plain cruel!
Where I am, we just had yet another foot of snow.
I don't need a snow thrower, I need a tunneling machine.

Merry Christmas!

3516

Living Room / Re: Christmas Gift Ideas Under $25... Make a List!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 23, 2008, 02:02 PM »

Beats using my electric shaver on the potatoes!

-cranioscopical (December 23, 2008, 08:58 AM)

An Electric Shaver?!?

-TAF2000 (December 23, 2008, 01:31 PM)

Have I been doing something wrong?
Surely you don't want mashed potato with a five-'o-clock shadow!
You do mash yours with a rolling pin, right? Or is that only for squash?

3517

Living Room / Re: Christmas Gift Ideas Under $25... Make a List!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 23, 2008, 08:58 AM »

Bit late, but I just received one of these
Beats using my electric shaver on the potatoes!

3518

Living Room / Re: Last second home-made gift ideas: HELP!!!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 23, 2008, 05:56 AM »

Print a gift certificate for each recipient.
It should bear this legend.

I was going to sing to you but I will not do so.

You'll be amazed by the displays of gratitude.

 

3519

Living Room / Re: PC Magazine to go all digital, no more print editions

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 23, 2008, 05:46 AM »

at one point it was one of those magazines that personal computer lovers used to just pour over

-mouser (December 23, 2008, 12:39 AM)

Coke? Coffee? Something stronger?   

3520

Living Room / Re: Your favorite quotes?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 23, 2008, 05:32 AM »

Say, don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

E. Harburg

3521

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009: The Challenge Graphic

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 22, 2008, 07:20 PM »

...or perhaps Cody focusing on his navel?

-CWuestefeld (December 22, 2008, 04:02 PM)

He does appear to be dressed as a navel officer!

Edit: Who wants to see [/quote] in the body?

3522

Site/Forum Features / Re: Longtime DC Member JoTo is in hospital again -- address for sending postcards

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 22, 2008, 07:18 PM »

You should be able to just address it on the back and apply postage...

-y0himba (December 22, 2008, 05:13 PM)

Apply postage?  Apply postage!
Are you made of money?
Print a photo of the stamp on the back... 

3523

Living Room / Re: What's the best way to sell old electronics?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 21, 2008, 11:58 PM »

some local youth club may be able to use the stuff, or some other charity if you are prepared to give it away

-Grorgy (December 21, 2008, 12:10 AM)

Just don't be surprised if they're a little fussy about what they'll take, or simply not interested.

-40hz (December 21, 2008, 04:26 PM)

It's a shame when that happens.
I wonder if the shaky economy will return us to a place where useful comes above new on our scale of values.

3524

Living Room / Re: Last second home-made gift ideas: HELP!!!

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 21, 2008, 11:41 PM »

You know, if you choose to print a relevant photo as a gift, that can be greatly enhanced by framing it nicely.
Assuming that you don't have picture frame on hand, or the tools and the time and the material to create some, a trip to your local Dollar Store can be quite rewarding.
The dollar store that's local to me carries a range of frames that would improve any photo from 4" x 6" to 8" x 10".
They're priced at -- you guessed it -- $1.
So, for a buck, some printer ink and a sheet of decent photo paper you wind up with a nicely-presented photo that's tuned to the recipient. Personalized and polished. I bet your sister could help you fit the pics into the frames so that you'd have a nice joint-venture gift for each lucky recipient.

Another idea would be to print up a fancy voucher that the recipient can 'cash in' for an hour of your time, to be applied to a chore of the recipient's choosing.

I, too, think the flip-book idea is great.

3525

Developer's Corner / Re: Can someone make an icon for me?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 21, 2008, 12:55 PM »

Not bad fenix