Recent Posts

5476

Living Room / Re: What ya got, and how d'ya use it ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 07:47 AM »

Hmm - I said ADSL/Wifi router - I assumed it would be understood by the ADSL bit that I meant a modem - in what sense has any router without a modem got anything to do with ADSL ?

Reviews on Amazon.co.uk are a bit varied with the dg834 model - dropped internet connects and poor WiFi connection seems common. At least with my current Linksys machine it works 99% of the time.

5477

Living Room / Re: What ya got, and how d'ya use it ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 05:15 AM »

Any UK based users got any recommendations for an integrated ADSL/WiFi (11g) router ?

-Carol Haynes (July 23, 2006, 04:18 AM)

.dk based, but it's pretty damn hot and humid here, so...

I got my mum a Netgear FWG114p - it does ADSL routing, firewalling, access-pointing (11/54mbit) with security, print serving (unfortunately our printer isn't supported ), etc. It's been very reliable, never needed a reboot, and looks sexy.

-f0dder (July 23, 2006, 04:33 AM)

Unfortunately that doesn't actually have an ADSL modem built in.

The http://netgear.co.uk...d_router_dg834gt.php looks possible - shame it doesn't include the print server too.

5478

Living Room / Re: What ya got, and how d'ya use it ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 04:18 AM »

Wow - looks like a hypermarket ...

LAN: Buncha Linksys equipment of questionable reliability. Our 8 port router was giving out under high load for a while (overheating? just needed a reboot every time) and I have a wireless router from a friend on which the wireless doesn't work, lol.

I am glad you said that - I have been having problems with my router recently - probably the hot weather but it has needed rebooting a few times to get the thing to work. Doesn't help that it has never let me get to the config screen consistently (web browsers often seem to give up trying to connect even when the thing is working properly). Frustrating.

Any UK based users got any recommendations for an integrated ADSL/WiFi (11g) router ?

5479

Living Room / Re: Quick change artists — WTF?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 03:19 AM »

I think that was just to anchor the cloth so that it didn't flap and reveal the change - but maybe I am naive

Personally I don't really care how they did it - it was such a brilliant performance.

5480

Image Manager Shootout / Re: keywords and image management thoughts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 02:37 AM »

It's interesting that there was a huge outcry when the Adobe LightRoom beta was made available on the Mac but not on the PC (it is available on both now). Presumably this was because the Mac version was aiming to compete with another product and they weren't so interested in PCs.

Recently Mac users have been complaining that a lot of Adobe stuff seems to be more PC-centric. Not really surprising since that forms the vast majority of their market these days (by a big margin) whatever the historical situation was with the Mac.

5481

Living Room / Re: What ya got, and how d'ya use it ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 02:22 AM »

Hi Hellie, strikes me as damn good value. Which eBay shop was that?

5482

Living Room / Re: Paul Thurott bitten by WGA

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 23, 2006, 01:14 AM »

Telephone them? There should be a contact number with the WGA warning messages. Failing that there are MS Offices in most countries.

5483

Living Room / Re: What's the best registry cleaner? Ask Leo says: none

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 22, 2006, 08:43 AM »

Best solution is to make a windows recovery disc (including a registry image) before undertaking any major registry surgery.

You can do that from Windows Backup (see Start > Accessories > System Tools > Backup) on the "Welcome" tab hit Automated System Recovery Wizard (in the WinXP version anyway). You will need a blank floppy.

If you trash your system you can use the Windows repair function by booting from the original windows CD.

5484

General Software Discussion / Re: Need something to delete "undeletable" registry keys

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 22, 2006, 08:31 AM »

I've written to the author of Registrar Registry Manager requesting clarification about his licensing policy (on one page it says "updates for life" on another it says minor upgrades are free) and to ask about either academic licensing or a donationcoder offer. I've yet to hear back but I've got my fingers crossed. Like Josh I can't justify $60+ at the moment... I'll keep you posted.

-Darwin (July 22, 2006, 12:40 AM)

I hadn't seen free updates for life but when they recently upgraded from version 3.3 to 4 it was free to licensed users.

5485

Living Room / What ya got, and how d'ya use it ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 22, 2006, 08:28 AM »

No this isn't a porn thread (well not intentionally  )

Having just upgraded to 2Gb of RAM I was wondering what computers people are using these days. How about listing your specs here so we can all see what people use, and how about a list of your favourite or most used apps.

To get you started here is my system ...

Number of Computers: 2 (both desktops)
Connections: Wireless LAN via Linksys Wireless Access Gateway (a combined wireles/wired Router and ADSL modem)

Computer 1 (my main machine) ...

Home build
Windows XP SP2
Athlon XP 1600+ (seemed fast when I bought it a couple of years back)
2Gb DDR PC2700 memory (Crucial)
Two WD Caviar IDE ATA100 drives each 160Gb/7200RPM
Plextor DVD +-R/+-RW (single layer)
Plector CD R/RW
TWO WD Caviar IDE ATA100 drives (each 120Gb/7200RPM) in a striped RAID array (for fast access stuff and temporary storage)
Creative Audigy 2 ZS Pro sound system
Creative 7.1 surround speakers
ATI Radeon All in Wonder AGP card (old but works well enough)
iiyama LS902UT monitor (19" CRT)
Canon 3200F flatbed scanner
Canon PIXMA ip5000 printer (with CD printing adapter)
Wacom Graphire A6 tablet
1394 adapter (PCI)
Linksys wireless card (PCI) + extension/booster aerial
Cheap no brand LAN card (PCI)
Logitech Zoom webcam
Lexar USB2 mutlicard reader
Belkin UPS

Computer 2 (used mostly by friend I share with)

Home build
Windows XP SP2
Pentium III 900MHz
512Mb memory
On board Intel graphics and sound / generic brand 17" monitor
Two old drives (Maxtor + Fujitsu)
Old DVDROM (Matsushita)
Canon 3000F scanner
Canon S520 printer (prints well but buttons don't work!)
USB2/1394 adapter (unbranded but works great)
Belkin UPS
Plextor CD R/RW

My most used software:

MS Office XP (esp. Word and Outlook)
Firefox (permanently loaded) / Roboform
Bookmark Buddy
Firetrust Benign (filters nasties from HTML email)
Mailwasher (dump spam at the server)
Ad Muncher
ESET NOD32 AV
Agnitum Outlook FW

Favourite software:

Adobe PhotoShop CS2 (been ugrading since version 6 and have still only scratched the surface of this great app)
Pixmantec Rawshooter Premium (now trying Adbobe LightRoom beta)
Sony Vegas 6, CD/DVD Architect &  Sound Forge 8
TMPGenc XPress 3/MPEG editor 2/DVD Author 2 (great combination for quick transfers of TV recordings to produce DVDs with easy menu building)
VMWare Workstation

Lots more but these are the main 'toys' I am addicted too.

Lots of utilities / playing with stuff discovered (often on DC)

5486

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 07:35 PM »

Really brilliant - this project has come such a long way since I last downloaded a copy and had a play. Congratulations on an excellent job.

5487

Living Room / Brilliant quick mapping and route finding for Outlook (XP and 2003)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 07:07 PM »

This is a really neat addin for MS Outlook (XP and 2003) which allows you to add route directions and a map to appointments. You can also send them to contacts - either via an Exchenage netowrk or within an email message body.

Works really neatly. Don't be put off by the fact it says US ENglish only, it found my little UK village no problem (just put the village name in the box and it jumped straight to good old Yorkshire).

It's a free download from:

http://www.microsoft...g=en&Hash=HW8DBG

If you haven't got Outlook and want to see what you are missing you can also use it live on a webpage at http://local.live.com/

Here is a map and directions from my nearest airport to my house (for anyone who wants to visit). Note you can zoom in much closer and get really detailed street maps in towns and cities.



and here is how it looks in Outlook XP. This is the new Location tab in calendar appointments:



Note this is a highly zoomed image very close to the Lester B Pearson Airport in Toronto. The blue line is the route and the red circled numbers are the way points described in the text above.

The bottom button on the left links to the website version.

5488

Living Room / Windows Powershell from Microsoft (free)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 06:35 PM »

Overview
Windows PowerShell is a new task-based command line shell and intuitive scripting language for system administration that provides comprehensive control and automation for Windows administrators. Windows PowerShell makes administrators more productive by improving the manageability of the Windows operating system and applications that run on Windows. Exchange Server 2007 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Microsoft Operations Manager “V3”) will be built upon Windows PowerShell.
The key features of Windows PowerShell include:


    * One hundred and twenty nine standard utilities (called "cmdlets") for completing common system administration tasks such as working with the registry, services, processes, Windows Management Instrumentation, event logs, etc..

    * Intuitive, task-based scripting language and support for existing scripts and command line tools..

    * Designed for consistency so all tools and system data stores follow a common syntax, common naming conventions and information can be easily shared/piped between tools.

    * Simplified command-based navigation of the operating system (including drives, startup files, and registry).

    * Powerful object manipulation capabilities (objects can be directly manipulated or pipelined to other tools or databases).

    * Designed for extensibility so that independent software vendors and enterprise developers can easily build custom tools and utilities to administer their software.

Free download here:

http://www.microsoft...9&displaylang=en

this is the 32 bit version but there is a 64 bit link at the bottom.

The documentation pack is here:

http://www.microsoft...F&displaylang=en

5489

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite RSS Feeds?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 03:37 PM »

Certainly

5490

Image Manager Shootout / Re: keywords and image management thoughts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 03:34 PM »

I don't think the Adobe flagship apps are particularly slower on PCs these days. Personally I think Windows LightRoom will be something special - having just brought in th ePixmantec crew to help produce it I think its RAW handling will be excellent. I am also sure the final product will be heavily optimized too - at the moment it is even slow browsing folders-  which is not typical of Adobe software.

5491

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: MS Virtual PC is now free

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 03:30 PM »

It's been a while now since the last update - what incentive is there now for them when VirtualPC is free? Can't help feeling the desktop version may be made free and stop active development. Let's hope not.

5492

General Software Discussion / Re: Need something to delete "undeletable" registry keys

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 03:28 PM »

The free version is a bit lite (but still better than regedit). I managed to get the professional version a few versions ago at a discount. It is really useful. You can also edit registries remotely with it!

5493

Living Room / Re: A new use for all those wave files

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 10:05 AM »

Na - it caught my imagination, that's why I remembered it For anyone who wasn't around last October (or missed it then) it is well worth a look.

5494

General Software Discussion / Re: Need something to delete "undeletable" registry keys

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 10:03 AM »

LOL - Actually I used to use Win2000 with RegEdt32 but I am now on WinXPSp2 and didn't realiuze that 

My excuse is that I don't generally use regedit/regedt32 at all (and haven't since I shifted from Win2000) as I use Resplendant's Registrar Registry Manager which is much better and has a lot more useful stuff over and above Regedit. It's registry bookmarking is excellent and the search and replace is super quick, plus you see all the references to a search on a single page - which is much easier than wading slowly (very s...l...o...w...l...y) through the whole registry to find something.

5495

Living Room / Re: A new use for all those wave files

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 09:49 AM »

Yes it is good (check out https://www.donation...p?topic=1127.msg7648 though - it has been posted before last October)

5496

Living Room / Re: Quck change artists — WTF?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 06:43 AM »

Brilliant - just shows what you can do with your clothes off !!

And another http://www.youtube.c...=related&search=

5497

General Software Discussion / Re: Need something to delete "undeletable" registry keys

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 04:58 AM »

use regedt32 instead of regedit and you can set permissions on keys to whatever you like.

Just right click on the key or subkey and choose 'Permissions ....'

5498

General Software Discussion / Re: Photo panorama creation

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 04:53 AM »

Thanks Andre - I like PF too

5499

Living Room / Re: Humans recreate Space Invaders in a lecture hall (video)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 21, 2006, 04:52 AM »

That's because they have been widely puclicised and the server probably can't cope (I have seen them mentioned in at least two large distribution newsletters).

5500

General Software Discussion / Re: Wow: Microsoft Acquires WinInternals/SysInternals!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on July 20, 2006, 02:23 PM »

Welcome back Sentinel - in such good voice you included you eulogy twice in the one post

For those who want to grab Sysinternal tools you can get them from the website (which seems to be working again) or if you just want to download the lot 'en masse' use Internet Explorer to visit ftp://download.sysinternals.com/Files and selct all and copy to a folder.