Recent Posts

5076

Living Room / Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 25, 2010, 11:17 AM »

One thing I like is the style of the laser printer.
The paper is in an enclosed slot, reducing dust build up on the paper.

-cmpm (September 25, 2010, 10:11 AM)

100% excellent point - Not sure why I didn't think of it actually - Many of the top feed/open bin printers do have major issues with reliability and moisture/sensitivity/jamming issues do to the exposed media. Not to mention that most of the devices designed in this manner are also designed to be disposable ... Hence they're impossible/(way) uneconomical to repair.

I look at how many thousands a month, the higher or better is good I guess.
Not sure why it's measured like that, perhaps it's about business production.
I don't know if it stops after the output of 50,000 or 20,000 a month or what it means.

-cmpm (September 25, 2010, 10:11 AM)

This is one of the most popular topics (and point of derisions) at our office, Printer specs that look like this:
Monthly duty cycle 50,000 - 1000,000 pages
Recommended usage 2,000 - 5,000 pages.

In a nut shell "proper"/reasonably expected usage is between these two numbers, but approaching or exceeding the higher number will most likely void your warranty... and some models take abuse better than others.

On a side note, there are no "cheap" color laser printers. A low purchase price leaves you with a high TCO because the cartridges are expensive and contain very little toner. 2,000 pages may sound like a lot, but with the 5% coverage qualifier... reality puts it closer to less than 1,000. Not to mention that printing something that is just black & white does not guarantee that you won't actually be using a combination of all the color toners to get all the various shades of gray.

Many of the seemingly "cheap" mono printers suffer from the tiny toner cost issue also.

5077

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 25, 2010, 10:46 AM »

I'm thinking the original is signature-based and the new beta (which I'm running at work) has (some) heuristics. But I wouldn't bet money on it...Just have a vague recollection of it being discussed.

You're right about the 0-day privilege escalation thing ... But I can't help but think of Defensive Driving, because nothing is 100% fool-proof. User is (supposed-to-be) the first line of defense.

I just wish the definitions updates would run automatically independent of Windows Update. Because it's easy to miss an update on a 24/7 machine that's waiting for you to hit go.

5078

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 25, 2010, 08:40 AM »

If you get hit with a really new rootkit, chances are a realtime scan won't catch it either.

In a choice between reduced permissions solid results, and system crippling AV software's crap-shoot results... I'm on the fence here worse then ever (LUA never FPs). I'm currently still running MSE, but I've got more faith in a plain user account.

5079

Living Room / Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 25, 2010, 08:22 AM »

DPI isn't really relevant for a laser printer as it doesn't print dots (ala inkjets). If you're getting/looking at an MFP/AIO (something with a scanner) then it would apply to the scanning resolution...but that's about it.

Bottom line is what do you want to print Text, Graphics, or Photos? For truly photo quality prints you're stuck with an inkjet ($$) for low volume prints, or a solid ink ($$$$$) machine for high volume prints.

If you just want a good solid basic text (forms/letters/etc.) with some graphics (logo on top of form) type of printer that's not hard to do. Key points are (does it need to be a network printer) how many people Will print to it, and what is the expected print volume (rough estimates are fine) in pages per month.

Note: HP Network printers run between $100 - $200 more than the non-networked models. But! If the model you get has an EIO slot you can get JetDirect cards on eBay for $20 - $50 and end up with the same thing for less.

Note2: I tend to lean toward HP because I (work for an ASP) am the most familiar with them. But we do service/support all brands. Dell makes has some nice printers also.
Low end models are made by Canon
Midrange models are made by Lexmark
High-end models are made by Xerox

5080

Living Room / Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 24, 2010, 10:14 PM »

11x17 is the one requirement that will drive the price up (way up). But if you can find a HP LaserJet 5000 (eBay) that would be a good printer with a solid reputation.

Note: most of the duplex jamming issues are caused by sub-standard media and/or moisture (I see this constantly) ... So read any reviews with a bit of skepticism.

5081

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft finally allows small business use of Security Essentials for free

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 23, 2010, 03:33 PM »

Now that's the best news I've heard all day..! 

5082

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Pledge: VeggieWorld(?) - Children's Game

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 23, 2010, 03:10 PM »

Makes for a bit of a stilted reality I think. There are polite ways of saying no, and one must remember to view the comments in a childs context...not an adults (keeps stuff way simpler). Remember Bugs Bunny as a child? ...Notice what Ya missed when watching it years later? Hm... Was anybody shocked/offended/damaged for life? ...Nope.

How about keeping the negative & positive on topic/related to the nature/why the incompatibility. One needs more water and the other says "Eek! I'll drown..." ...And if both need much water "Yeah! Lets go swimming!" Now the "epithets" become part of the training.

5083

General Software Discussion / Re: what's wrong with my PC? (it's often soooo slow)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 23, 2010, 06:33 AM »

Heat is also an option, how much dust has collected on the heat-sink and power supply?

First things I check when I run across a machine that is slow/lagging but not spiking the processor are heat/dust and file system corruption (run chkdsk /r).

5084

Living Room / Re: Recommend an alarm clock mp3 features.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 22, 2010, 11:10 AM »

Well if you're getting a netbook ... T-Clock 2010 has configurable alarms, runs on Windows, and plays MP3s.

5085

Living Room / Re: Avoid Twitter Until Further Notice:

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 21, 2010, 11:46 AM »

One man's exploit is another man's Ad campaign - Somebody in a corporate boardroom somewhere had to go Hot-Damn skippy that's a great idea, and sign-off on it before it "hit" the web.

It's the marketing people that are screwing up the web, it always has been. The only lesson that can be learned from Donald Trumps show the Apprentice (where they sell inedible cupcakes for $20,000 a piece) is AnyThing for a buck.

5086

Living Room / Re: Awesome photos

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 21, 2010, 11:31 AM »

Fair point, but those rural farm folk were also much more active than we are today. If one was to use the bloated sloths in their hover chairs from the Disney movie Wall-E as the other end of the scale ... I'd say our current(ly) "advanced" society is on about the middle of that scale.

5087

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: Response to Question: Can shareware be released in the NANY event?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 21, 2010, 07:16 AM »

While work is making it next to impossible to participate this year, I'll have to agree with Perry. The NANY apps by design (as I understand it) are to be new previously unreleased/coded from scratch on a deadline etc. etc. so the assertion that they be lite versions is basically a given.

Yes, this more time has been given to get more complete/polished apps. But that doesn't require that they be jam packed with every conceivable feature ... Just that they be documented well enough for the average Joe to operate without having to resort to prayer.

Time limits, nag-screens, ad-ware ... icky. Granted my entry last year did contain a company logo on the about screen, and was only part of a suite of utilities that are to be a commercial product (if it ever gets finished). But it stood on its own just fine, and it benefited greatly from the user input I received. I've still got a To-Do list of things to add and/or tweak for when the project reopens.

5088

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Why Trying to be Productive is a Huge Waste of Time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 20, 2010, 12:06 PM »

Loved the article, thank you.

Trying to plan every second of your day is a great way to create stress. The only thing I plan on is that something will go wrong - I don't know what it will be, or when it will happen, I just plan on rolling with it when it arrives (e.g. Shit does not Happen on a time table).

5089

Living Room / Re: Awesome photos

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 20, 2010, 06:28 AM »

I didn't notice any "Health" clubs in there either... Interesting.

5090

General Software Discussion / Re: Current IE8 build renders the ACID2 Test correctly!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 19, 2010, 02:28 PM »

I just installed IE9 this morning ... While the UI is a bit too minimalistic even for my tastes, damn this thing is fast!

5091

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 19, 2010, 02:25 PM »

Although it would have been a tad more useful if he showed adding your own icon as the application icon as that's the more common case then sticking it in a picture box.

-MilesAhead (September 19, 2010, 01:32 PM)

Perhaps he followed the MSVS resource editors behavior a bit too closely, as I've always found it to be a bit of a PITA for much the same reason.

5092

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 19, 2010, 08:55 AM »

I usually end up doing battle with my ISP once every few years - Company has changed names several times, but I've had the account for 12+ years. Connection is quite stable for the most part.

I'm paying for (and getting) a 3.0/512 line.

I decided to vote 4/5 this morning, because it went offline for most of last night.

5093

General Software Discussion / Re: IE 9 and Flash 64bit betas

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 17, 2010, 07:01 AM »

I'm a minimalist - I do believe that less-is-more...To a point. This strikes me as beyond that point. The address bar needs to be long enough to show the complete address at least. And where the hell is the favorites menu? Cripes, don't make me hunt for stuff.

Granted I haven't actually tried it yet, but I absolutely hate the Chrome "user experience"...So I'll be exploring this with more than a bit of trepidation.

5094

Living Room / Re: Tipping - Why does this appear to be a "requirement"?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 16, 2010, 06:52 AM »

In Florida? $20? That's beyond insane.

As for the price of a beer... It won't change too much. People just won't pay, and that will keep it down.

-Renegade (September 15, 2010, 12:13 PM)

Most folks tip the barmaids/tenders well here - It's kind of an understood mandate - and it quickly reflects on the level/quality of service...

The good old dive bar beer joint (my favorite kind) is a dieing (dead actually) breed due to the insane amount of taxes placed on alcholic beverages (which is why I went bankrupt in one). The margin is so tight that if wages were "normalized" draft beer would easily hit $10 a glass (they're a buck or two now).

5095

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Poll To Help Decide Mouser's App

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 15, 2010, 07:09 AM »

Webcam Recording/Diary Utility +1

Just because I want to feel a little like the famous Start trek characters with their 'Captain's log, supplemental...' 

-Shades (September 14, 2010, 05:53 PM)

Okay when you put a Star Trek spin on it it does sound kinda cool.

5096

Site/Forum Features / Re: Idea: DC Cody Tshirts customized for an interest area

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 13, 2010, 01:10 PM »

Cody's wing holding the chopsticks as it plucks out something from a bowl full of alphabet soup style programming acronyms/languages.

5097

Living Room / Re: Tipping - Why does this appear to be a "requirement"?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 13, 2010, 12:56 PM »

Would the public go for such a drastic inflation?  And I think that I underestimate the price of the increase to cover such increases in salary...

-wraith808 (September 13, 2010, 12:29 PM)

As an example: Barmaids here are typically paid $20 for a shift - which can run up to 10hrs due to after hours cleanup activities - the rest of their "wage" is tips. ...I'd hate to think what a beer would cost if they were getting paid a flat/straight wage. 

5098

Living Room / Re: Tipping - Why does this appear to be a "requirement"?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 13, 2010, 11:35 AM »

I definitely think removing tipping as an incentive with all of the crap they have to put up with would make for worse service.  It does need to be there as an incentive to do better (and a reward for those that do)- humans don't perform their best without such incentives in customer service- it's a proven fact.  However, when you can give perfect service and get zero for tip, that does indicate the something is broken...

-wraith808 (September 13, 2010, 11:24 AM)

Quite true, and if it happened frequently enough over an extended period of time - One might just be inclined to muster up enough audacity to grumble about it aloud...

5099

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Final Release: Leap of Faith

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 13, 2010, 06:40 AM »

Cool, thanks, I'll have to grab the new one.

5100

Living Room / Re: Do virus scanners need to get stupid again?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 11, 2010, 10:54 AM »

Not to mention the insanely irresponsible shoot first and ask questions later policy many of the fringe/malware "Security" sites seem to have. Just Google anything.dll or.exe and many of them will surface.

There was a time these sites were (screened properly) helpful, but now... Hell last week I found several site that featured horrific warnings about the "deadly" Tclock virus...  ...Yeah that one. Unfortunately, being that it was Kazubon's build, I can't really do much...So I'll let it go for now.

These idiots actually had three (yeah that's right 3/three/III) pages of instructions on how to remove a program that consists of 2 binaries & a single registry key. WTF?

...Who do Ya trust? These days nobody - I'm even half tempted to think my own eyes might lie to me...