Stuf 2 Kno

Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:16:00 +0000

When I first read about this program, I thought that this couldn't possibly really be any good. A list of all the files on my computer, really? Wow. Isn't that what explorer or any other file manager is for? However, I have come to LOVE this little program. I use it to find, well, Everything! Where did I put that program, or data file, or -- you name it. The bigger our hard drives get, the more difficult it is to remember where we put things. Everything will find it for you. Try it a few times and if you're a digital pack rat even a little like me, you'll love it.

Ebook Conversion - lit to epub

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:30:00 +0000

This may well be a multi-part post as I am exploring the wonderful world of e-books. For the record, I have a Sony Reader Touch that I like very much. One of my favorite things about it is it's ability to read just about any type of file out there. However, sometimes, I have found books in the Microsoft Reader format or "lit" files that are not readable on the Sony. After struggling with converting said files, I have finally found a conversion that accomplishes the goal of moving the lit file to an epub file, but it also does it cleanly and relatively professionally. I am still learning, and there are a few tweaks I would like to see before I am completely satisfied. Here is my current preferred process:

Using 'convert lit' freeware, I was able to unwrap or "explode" the lit file into its various components, the primary one being the html file. Since epub files are simply formatted and compressed xhtml, I then proceeded on.
Opening the file with 'Sigil' another free tool that allows the full conversion of html to a proper epub. This is currently the only "WYSIWYG" epub editor available, and has been a great tool. It will automatically run code cleaning software so that your book stays valid. It will also do an auto-scan so that you can make sure your book is at least generally in the proper format for an epub.
Finally, when I was satisfied with the output from Sigil, I then imported the book into my 'Calibre' library. While the book may look great there, and work properly, you may be surprised to find that it may not exactly be formatted for your reader. The final step for me was to use Calibre to do a final conversion from epub to epub, formatted properly for my device.

This solved all my issues, and provided me with a very clean, readable, and enjoyable file to read on my Sony. Again, there are a few more things that I would like to be able to add to the file, but my next step is to conquer the pdf to epub conversion.

crcdisk.sys system halt

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:03:00 +0000

Once again, I booted from the Vista Install disk, which tried again to do Startup Repair, with as little success as before. Again, I did more research, and found on the social area of TechNet a forum discussion about this error. Finding that the issue had been marked solved and the thread closed, I followed the solution provided by PH85PH and was able to repair the system!

Corrrupted Master Boot Record

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:45:00 +0000

I first got an 0x0 code that I didn't document, which after looking up told me I was experiencing a problem with the Master Boot Record (MBR). I rebooted using my Vista Ultimate Disc, and ran the Startup Repair, to no avail. I then did some research, finding an article on Microsoft support about using bootrec.exe appropriately to repair the problem. This did create a different set of circumstances, but certainly not a fix. I was able to get the system to now respond to the F8 key, but with any startup I was now getting a crcdisk.sys system halt.

Acronis Migrate Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:43:00 +0000

This is my latest adventure with Windows Vista. I was called upon to repair a computer with a failing hard drive that still had data on it. Since I was not on a time schedule for this repair, I decided to try some alternatives to just pulling the data and installing fresh on a new hard drive. I did purchase a new hard drive, but I was determined to retain the user's previous files and environment.

I found a new tool from Acronis Migrate Easy, which after installing on the failing system, prompted me to burn a boot CD to run the migration. Everything progressed smoothly, and seemed to be running well. However, I made a critical error: I did not create a restore point. Since all seemed well, I uninstalled Migrate Easy and rebooted. This is when the real problems started.

Netflix on your TV

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:59:00 +0000

In case you're not 'in the know' the DVD-by-mail and video streaming service called Netflix has gone international! There are many ways to get the service in the U.S., but I will not be covering those here. In Canada, there are currently only three ways to view the service:

1. Hook your PC or Mac to your TV
2. Sony Playstation 3
3. Nintendo Wii

Netflix has made this a bit more confusing for consumers as they try to let those who do not wish to figure out how to connect their computer to their TV, and do not own a game console that there will be other ways 'available soon' through various Blu-Ray players, etc. While there may be ways to do this currently if you are a technology maven with a strong grasp of networking, most should stick with the three options I have listed here.
I will have a follow-up article on how to connect your TV to your computer.

Update 2010/11/08:
According to the Netflix site today, they are supporting the XBOX 360, as well as Samsung Internet@TV devices, some Insignia and Toshiba Blu-Ray players.

Display Myths Shattered: How Monitor & HDTV Companies Cook Their Specs | Maximum PC

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:29:00 +0000

A very interesting article came to my attention today, related to one of my favorite topics, television and monitor screens. As has been addressed before, there are so many specifications that can mislead the consumer as they try to make as good a decision as possible. Unfortunately, the companies that produce screens know this, and do what they can to obscure what may likely be an inferior image with what seem to be excellent specifications. One of the resources that I use extensively is a company called DisplayMate Technologies Corporation. They're business is to evaluate the state of the display industry, applying good scientific rigor to these evaluations. A recent article (2010/05/18) at MaximumPC drew attention to the fact that much of what people know about televisions and monitors is mere marketing spin to promote one product or another.
If you are interested in the way companies try to obscure the facts of their displays, and to gain a greater understanding of how modern screens work, take a look at this very informative article.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/display_myths_shatteredLet me know what you think!

New Photo Site

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:11:00 +0000

Just want to spread the word about a cool site that popped up recently. Some of my readers are pretty interested in/excited about photography, and this is a site where you can view photos, comment, take part in discussions, and possibly become a better photographer.
Take a few minutes to check out FotoDaddi you won't be disappointed!

Switch to Chrome Browsing

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:16:00 +0000

I have recently switched my main browsing from Firefox to Chrome. I was waiting for a good implementation of Adblock and now that it is here, I am enjoying Chrome very much. It is very quick, and displays most sites very nicely. The browser has matured well, and I highly recommend it.

Here's my list of installed extensions:

Adblock, Clip to Evernote, Google Share Button, Speed Dial, WOT and Xmarks.

Safe and happy surfing!

Free U.S. and Canadian Calls on Gmail with Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:52:00 +0000

Today I installed my browser plugin for Gmail Voice. After the installation, I merely had to restart my browser, and I was ready to go. I called home, and later called my cell phone company. It was nice to use my USB headset while I was on hold and could still check my email and Facebook. The call quality wasn't bad at all, even though the full-duplex broke up a bit while talking to the cell company. Regardless, I'll enjoy the free calls throughout the US and Canada, at least through the end of 2010.
Congrats Google! Here's hoping for a future roll-out of full Google Voice in Canada!

Will 3D-HDTV Flop?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:28:00 +0000

There's some pretty strong words in the air over at Audioholics from Chris DeBoer as he publicly announces the coming death of 3D-HDTV in the home.

I must admit I concur with his opinion.

3D: The Most Predictable Flop in Recent History

TouchpadPal

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:54:00 +0000

One major frustration in using a notebook computer is bumping the touchpad accidentally while typing so that your cursor moves somewhere you don't want it to be, and sometimes you even lose the text that you were working on. Now a freeware application from DeSofto that will automatically disable the touchpad while you are typing on the keyboard. Unfortunately, it is only compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7, no MacOS or Linux.
Try TouchpadPal today and let me know how you like it!

No Audio WDTV

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:15:00 +0000

While an awesome player of all things multimedia from a USB storage device to your television, it's not always perfect. Here are some known audio issues that I have discovered.

The WDTV cannot pass DTS out the HDMI wire, so you must remux it to AC3 to hear the audio. That thread can be found here:
http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=54.0
You could just hook up an optical cable to your DTS capable home theater receiver, as the player cannot read the DTS information, and therefore cannot pass it out. The receiver, however can do a great job with this superior audio format.

An issue with the WDTV appears when files are made by newer versions of mkvmerge starting with v 4.1.0. Compression is now set by default, and the WDTV cannot currently uncompress the audio. There are some ways to fix it, the most expedient seemed to be mkWDclean from matroska to fix the problem. They have a current source package, and also a binary for win32 ready to go. Here's a link:
http://www.matroska.org/downloads/mkclean.html

After some failed attempts to get the mkWDclean to compile and work, and faced with the unappealing idea of working solely at the command prompt level, I decided to do some reading about a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for mkWDclean, or something that would allow me to repair the problem. I quickly found tips on videohelp.com and a quick blurb from user mrbass that would let me fix the issue. After downloading mkvtoolnix gui, I was able to open a file, point it to the audio portion and then remux the file. So far, this has worked perfectly for me with no loss of quality.

Hopefully WD will soon release a firmware patch to resolve this problem, but in the meantime, at least I can still work around it.

0xc0190036

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:53:00 +0000

To make my previous post completely clear, here is my version of Videobored's instructions taken from the above technet social link:

1) insert your windows vista install dvd and boot from it
2) get to the point where you are about to actually begin the installation
3) press shift f10 to bring up the command prompt window
4) run chkdisk using this command "chkdsk /f c:" (without the quotes of course)
5) it will flag one or more files as having problems, write down EXACTLY what the filenames are of those files
6) once chkdisk is finished, you have to go find those files and delete them, to do that you can use this command:
dir c:\ "myfilename" /s (replace myfilename with the file you are looking for)
7) when it finds the file, make note of it's full path and location, write it down if you need to
8) navigate to the directory that contains your file using the cd command, like this:
cd c:\program files\common files
9) rename the corrupted file using the ren command: ren filename.exe filename.bad
10) go back to step 6 and find the other files that chkdisk marked as corrupted, keep repeating all the steps until all the files are renamed
11) reboot and choose to boot normally. The service pack should go through the rest of its install properly this time and replace all those corrupt files that you just renamed.

!! 0xc0190036 !! Vista Service Pack Error

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:25:00 +0000

The past couple of days I've been challenged with fixing an unresponsive notebook. I'd forgotten how stressful yet rewarding the process can be!

My recent technique for checking the health of a pc is to run the latest version of the Ubuntu Live CD, allowing me to retrieve data from the hard drive to portable devices before attempting repairs. This usually works well, but this time I was stymied. While the BIOS and the Live CD would see the hard drive, I was not able to mount it to read the data. Upon placing my trusty copy of the Vista install CD in the drive, the issue seemed to be repaired, and the system was restored. Upon further review of the system, I noticed that NO updates had been done, up to, and including Service Pack 2. Being a good tech, I ran the updates, and SP2 started installing normally.

As you can guess, all did not proceed well. The system finally hung on the error:

!! 0xc0190036 !! 4893/47063 (PresentationFramework.dll)

Google being my favorite troubleshooting tool, I did several searches, and finally found the link that this article ties to, a discussion on this issue, and the various possible remedies. What eventually worked for me was to boot once again with my trusty Vista install CD, go into advanced troubleshooting, and open the command prompt. Once there, I did a directory search using the '/s' subdirectory switch to find the offending file. Then I navigated to the directory, and renamed the file with a '.cpt' (my short form for corrupt) and restarted Windows normally. As the forum indicated, the SP2 installation was able to deal with a missing file, not a corrupt one, the update finished, and now all seems to be well. This seems to be a common issue with both SP1 and SP2 updates in Windows Vista. I'm not sure whether this has been resolved in 7 yet, but I'm publishing this in the hopes that others will be helped.

Canadian Tax Filing for Free

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:39:00 +0000

It's tax time again, and what with all the pain of paying the taxman, who really wants to pull more money out of your pocket for tax software. After all, isn't it rather counter-intuitive to be paying money to pay money?
In order to resolve this situation, I looked at the list of "Certified Software for the 2010 NETFILE Program (2009 tax return)" and worked my way through to find which ones were 100% free. Just about all of them had some form of free version for low income individuals (under $20,000) or students, but only 3 of the programs listed were 100% free for any wage bracket. This is a listing of those I found:

Programs to download:
StudioTax 2009
UDoTaxes

Web based applications:
5dollarTax

Hope this helps some of you with your tax time, and not paying to pay your tax. I haven't checked these, so ease of use is up to you to let me know!

Firefox Add-Ons

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:32:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, co-worker of mine tried to get me turned on to Google's browser, Chrome. I used it briefly, (perhaps a day or two) and then went back to my standby, Firefox. While Chrome might even be faster, and may use less resources than Ff, I found that I couldn't get by without my favorite plug-ins and add-ons. To that end, I am putting up a list of my current add-ons and am inviting you to comment or tell me which are your favorites. Here's my list:

Adblock Plus
AniWeather
CoolIris
Coral IE Tab
Fission
Flagfox
Integrated Gmail
Speed Dial
WOT
Xmarks

Plasma vs LCD

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:06:00 +0000

Following up on my HDTV primer last year, I wanted to draw more attention to this great article on the flat-panel wars. These people that conducted the tests are scientists, engineers, and display enthusiasts. What I find most interesting is that almost all their findings go against what just about anyone on the street will tell you they've heard. Please read the article and pass along the information.
Enjoy!

Disposable Email

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:21:00 +0000

Nobody likes spam, but sometimes you can't get around having to give out an email to get something you want. On those occasions, I like to give out an email that exists only for a short time, and then ceases to exist. There are a few sites out there that do this, but my favorite is 'guerrilamail.com' This service allows you to make an email account that will last for one hour, then cease to be there. The beauty of this is that it allows you to get a permission sent to you by a site bot, use it, then never get any more messages from that site. Ever.
Enjoy!

Rockbox

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:58:00 +0000

I'm all about doing things a little differently, and experimenting with the technology I have around me. Based on a /. news article about a version change, I discovered this wonderful new firmware for my mp3 player. I just happened to have a device that is compatible, but there are many different players out there that work with Rockbox. I especially like that it now allows me more complete access to the device, and I feel I can use all of it, and not just the ones that the software designers decided I wanted. I can choose my own background, my own interface, my own font, set all my own methods of operation... the possibilities for tweaking have greatly expanded.
A while ago, my 3 year old saw me wearing the player, and told me he liked my little computer. My wife thought that was funny, but he was right, it is a little computer, and now I finally have total access to that computer.
Try it out, let me know what you think!

SyncToy

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:53:00 +0000

We all know we need to back up our files. The problem lies in taking the time to do it. It's tedious, and when we sit down at the computer, we want to be entertained, or do some work, not take care of tedious tasks. So we get a backup program for the computer, and do our backups on a semi-regular basis. This is a much better state of affairs, but the problem I have with this scenario is that if my data is lost, I must do a complete restore of all my files in order to recover a couple of key items. If this is an entire database, or hard drive backup, this makes sense. If, however, all I want to do is have a copy of my pictures, or documents, I still have to restore all the files, not just the ones that I want. This is where SyncToy comes in.
SyncToy allows you to easily and graphically choose a folder to sync from (called the left folder) and a folder to sync to (called the right folder). This can be done so that any things deleted in left is deleted in right, or it can be set to make sure all files in both right and left are there, or it can make sure that all new files in left are in right as well. To view the files, you just open them up as usual. This is perfect for an external hard drive, or making sure all the files on your laptop are on your desktop, etc.
Try it out, after all it is free!

New TV Season

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:36:00 +0000

A new season of TV is upon us, and we are enjoying the return of some of our favorites, mourning the loss of old favorites, and finding new ones to fill in the gaps. I'm sure some of you still use the TV Guide, but I'm here to let you in on my favorite TV listing site: Calendar for TV. Keep track of when new episodes will be airing of your faves, and whether you've watched them. Also, since you sign in, your TV watching schedule is available anywhere! Ever sit down to watch your show and find out it's a re-run? Never again! Wonder when that mid-season replacement you don't want to miss starts? Wonder no more!
I know I've mentioned this site several times before, so write in and tell me how you use it!

A New PC With XP?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:43:00 +0000

If you are willing to spend extra to have it done, you can still get a new PC with XP instead of Vista. The question is, should you? I, for one vote against many, say no. If you're getting a 'new' PC, get it with Vista. More things that you may want to use and run over the next few years will be likely to be supported by Vista. Meanwhile, even now, when you downgrade to XP, some things on your sparkly new laptop may not run.

For a more comprehensive argument:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xpsp3.asp

Thoughts, objections, rants? Share!

Transferring Large Files

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:20:00 +0000

I went looking for a way to transfer a large file, realizing that the maximum size I could receive in my gmail account was 10 MB. I found this site http://lists.econsultant.com/top-10-online-file-storage-transfer-services-download-limit.html that listed several options. My favorite is the Megashares, since if you're going to use a large file transfer service, you might as well use the one that offers the largest file size!
Happy sharing...

HDTV FAQ

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Let's clear up a few common misconceptions about what 'HDTV' is and isn't. I'll be adding to this article for a few days, so bear with me.

1. Broadcast resolutions considered to be current 'HD' are either 1280x720p or 1920x1080i. There may be some modifications of this per broadcast, but these are the standards. Digital cable or digital satellite is not necessarily HD. Standard Definition (SD) has been broadcast digitally in these mediums for several years with a resolution of 720x480i. DVD movies are not HD, and run in the same resolution as digital cable or satellite.

2. 'Full HD' is sales jargon for 1920x1080p, and generally the screen has processing capabilities to upconvert any incoming signal to 1920x1080p. This often misleads the consumer into believing that unless they get a '1080p' TV they are not getting HD. A 40" or 42" screen viewed from a distance of 8' will have very little to no discernable difference whether it is a '720p' or a '1080p'.

3. The difference between LCD and Plasma: crutchfieldadvisor, cnet, youtube

4. If you subscribe to either cable or satellite, and watch that content exclusively, your old television will continue to function as it does now, right through the US analog broadcast shutdown. Only those relying on terrestrial broadcast television (ie: antenna [NOT satellite]) will be affected.

5. Canadian cable companies do not guarantee HD signals known as clear QAM will be broadcast through your coaxial connection. Some smaller companies do broadcast them through their network, others do not. These signals can start and stop without warning, or move to a different channel. In order to see consistent HD from your Canadian cable provider, you must purchase or rent a set-top box (STB) from your provider. This is also true for satellite, in that in order to see HD content, you must have an HD STB from your satellite provider.
One remaining caveat when setting up your HD STB, make sure you have an HDMI, DVI or compontent cable carrying signal to your TV. Most technicians will hook up the coaxial cable only, leaving you watching your HD STB through SD channel 3 or 4. This is not HD. Channels 3 or 4 are NTSC and cannot carry an HD signal.

6. There is no such thing as an 'HDTV' antenna. Terrestrial HD is transmitted in UHF, and can be received on any antenna capable of receiving UHF, such as a rooftop antenna. There are antennas that will work indoors, however, it will depend upon your proximity to the broadcast tower.

7. Having an HDTV with a 'digital tuner' does not mean you will be able to get rid of your STB from your cable or satellite provider. (see #5) The digital tuner in an HDTV is ATSC in format, and will only receive those signals. Those signals are only broadcast through the air in the UHF bandwidth.

8. The measurement that you see a screen sold as refer to it's diagonal size, not it's horizontal width.