csxstudios blog

Automated Computer Maintenance & Optimization Tips

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:26:00 +0000

"Fragmentation is caused by creating and deleting files and folders, installing new software, and downloading files from the Internet. Computers do not necessarily save an entire file or folder in a single space on a disk; they're saved in the first available space. After a large portion of a disk has been used, most of the subsequent files and folders are saved in pieces across the volume.

...Defragmentation is the process of rewriting non-contiguous parts of a file to contiguous sectors on a disk for the purpose of increasing data access and retrieval speeds. Because FAT and NTFS disks can deteriorate and become badly fragmented over time, defragmentation is vital for optimal system performance." -http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag

I constantly add, move and delete files, so my own answer to the much debated question of "How often should I defrag?" is monthly. There are three programs I use to maintain my computer:

Auslogics Disk Defrag - Defragmentation
CCleaner - Registry maintenance
CleanUp! - Thorough disk cleanup

Auslogics Disk Defrag has a Schedule option to automatically defrag monthly. The reason I chose Disk Defrag over Piriform Defraggler is because by default Auslogics defrags all local drives automatically. Piriform will only let you defrag one hard drive at a time. Also, Auslogics Disk Defrag was an Editor's pick for MajorGeeks.com and is rated 5-stars by Editors on cnet.com.

CCleaner I have to manually run whenever I feel like I've bogged down my registry with installations and program removals. Usually monthly.

CleanUp! can be setup with Windows Task Scheduler using "C:\Program Files\CleanUp\Cleanup.exe -AutoRun". Since I'm all portable, I scheduled this daily.

Red One vs. Canon 5D Mark II vs. Panasonic Lumix GH1 Video Test

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:21:00 +0000

DSLR "combcams" in action make it so hard not to make an impulse purchase!

RedOne (body only) - $17,500 (Red.com)

Canon 5D MKII (body only) - $2,699.89 (Amazon)

Panasonic Lumix GH1 - $2,449.95 (Amazon)

LUMIX GH1 kit lens – the LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140mm/F4.0-5.8 ASPH./MEGA O.I.S. –provides a broad focal length range of 28-280mm (35mm camera equivalent) and supports continuous AF using the contrast AF system for both photo and movie capture. The low-noise lens design also seamlessly supports video recording by minimizing the mechanical sound generated by AF/AE actions.

View/Backup Gchats in Thunderbird

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:57:00 +0000

Create a simple filter that looks for "Chat with" in the Subject and apply the label "gchats" to see your conversations as a folder in Thunderbird:

Firefox Extension: 'Invisible Hand' - Automatically Comparison Shops BestBuy, Amazon & NewEgg

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Invisible Hand is a sweet Firefox extension!

Invisible Hand automatically knows what product you are looking at and gives you price comparisons amongst other major retailers. I typically shop between BestBuy, Amazon and NewEgg, here's how convenient Invisible Hand is in action:

BestBuy.com test:

Amazon.com test:

NewEgg.com test:

Backup Your Gmail with Portable Thunderbird & Gmail IMAP Extension

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:51:00 +0000

As much as we all love Google, it's downright scary entrusting your emails/life to them. They have the control, not you. So, today I've decided to reign in my 7 gigs of email history, organize it and store it away. It's time to take back control and here's how I'm going to do it.

I'll only need three things:

Portable Thunderbird
(http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable)

Gmail IMAP Account Setup extension for Thunderbird
(https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/6381)

Zindus extension for backing up contacts
(https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/6095)

I've created a 20 gig TrueCrypt volume to hold all my emails. Even though I have 7 gigs of data on GMail, I'm using two methods to backup my emails.

Method#1 is using POP.
Method#2 is IMAP.

The reason I am using both methods is the off-chance that I somehow accidentally reconnect a backup copy of my IMAP account with the new wiped out Gmail I'm moving to. Also because of the fact that after downloading 10,000+ emails via POP it is only downloading 1 message at a time and it still has about 5,000 emails to go...

Method#1 is pretty standard, setup Gmail in Thunderbird like a regular POP account. The down-side to this method is that it only downloads received emails, not sent messages and you don't have labels as folders.

Method#2 is only 4 steps:
First, install the Gmail IMAP Account Setup extension.

Then add your IMAP account under Tools > Account Settings... > Add Account... > Gmail IMAP

After it's setup, Thunderbird will need to restart.

Next, go to Tools > Account Settings... > Offline & Disk Space (make sure you're under your IMAP account)

check the box for "Make the messages in my Inbox available..."
click the button for "Select folders for offline use..." and check all your folders

Last, [*Update*: After a while I noticed the status bar does not show anything and you have no clue if it's still downloading messages, rather than using File > Offline > Download/Sync Now..., you can choose to Work Offline and it will ask you if you want to download your messages before going offline. Then you know it's still working in the background until it goes offline. Or continue below to use the old way.]

the old way:

go to File > Offline > Download/Sync Now...

check the box for "Mail Messages" and hit OK

That's it! Just sit back and watch Thunderbird do all the work.

While it's doing that, install and configure Zindus to backup your contacts.

Note:

You CAN~~not~~ sync your chats using this method. [*UPDATE*: I thought of a way to save chats. Apply a label to all your chats such as a "gchats" label and check that as one of your folders under Tools > Account Settings... > Offline & Disk Space...]
If you're storing this backup away and wiping your emails online, you should go into Offline mode and reset your gmail password to avoid any accidental syncing.

Daily Dose of Imagery - 'lightning city'

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Daily Dose of Imagery - 'birds and clouds'

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:55:00 +0000

1 Minute Photoshop Thoughts by recovering lazyholic on Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +0000

View the collection here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sock_puppet/sets/72157612295336783/

Sirius2Photography - 'blue light special'

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:40:00 +0000

FreeNAS & USB, Network, HD Transfer Rates / Speeds

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:01:00 +0000

I am currently setting up a FreeNAS (www.freenas.org) server for my home and that sparked my interest in ACTUAL transfer speeds among my various mediums. Before I dive into that I'll let the not so savvy in on what FreeNAS is and its capabilities.

FreeNAS is a a FREE Network Attached Storage operating system that you can load on older machines like Pentium4 PCs. It's for people who want one location to keep adding and sharing drives with whomever they choose. The OS is based on FreeBSD which is a ROCK SOLID OS. A million times stabler than Windows, yeah I said it! I will be using it for the following:

Combining my drives and using software RAID to automatically back up everything. If setup correctly, it can keep my files available even if one of my drives crashes.
Streaming Media Server to my XBox360 for watching downloaded shows
Streaming iTunes server to share my music

So the following is a test I did in a real business environment (I rounded a bit on the MAX theoretical rates):

Now currently I have 2 x 500GB USB drives and 1 x 1TB USB drive which all have a whole bunch of shows scattered on them. I have them formatted in Windows NTFS. However, FreeNAS DOES NOT RECOMMEND using NTFS. It recommends formatting to UFS which is touted to be faster, more efficient and more secure.

Pretty sad right now at 6MB/s. I am going to try and backup everything this weekend and try to use the recommended UFS on my drives. My goal is to upgrade my network to a gigabit network and be able to transfer my 700MB shows at 20-30MB/s via LAN. Which would be around 30 seconds to copy a show. Why? Because I want to be as close to the max speed of my USB drive as possible. It essentially will be my only bottleneck.

For now, I have a 7 port USB hub running FreeNAS off a laptop. I use USB drives because it just makes my life easier to plug them in a hub and I really don't need SATA speed.

I will post instructions on my setup and how it went with UFS soon. Until then, here are some videos and links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8-DrhYKTFE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S8ixAR4Opo

http://www.lagesse.org/freenas-tutorial-for-windows-users-part-one-installation/

http://www.hexteq.net/2009/07/17/freenas-tutorial-part-1-introduction-to-freenas/

Scientists Discover 'a new state of matter' with Aluminum

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:32:00 +0000

"Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion."

[Gizmodo via Physorg]

Daily Dose of Imagery - 'parking after rain'

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:19:00 +0000

KFC's Secret Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:43:00 +0000

This makes me want to get a deep fryer right now! Click the image below to see the video on how to make KFC chicken at home! (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2009/jul/24/food-and-drink-chicken)

Ingredients:

'KFC' mix
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons Accent (MSG)
GFC mix
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp sage
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried onion flakes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper

Bacardi Commercial Music Discovery - Matt and Kim

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Saw a Bacardi commercial way back and discovered a new band that I like called 'Matt and Kim'. I thought I would post about it after discovering it again in my playlist.

Here's the Bacardi commercial:

Below is their music video for the same song which is pretty sweet. The video shows them playing their instruments in the strangest places.

YouTube Channel
(http://www.youtube.com/user/mattandkim)

Matt and Kim Official Website
(http://www.mattandkimmusic.com)

'Ninja Assassin' Trailer - AWESOME!

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Now THIS is a sweet Ninja movie!

'Pandorum' Starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid (SciFi Horror)

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:36:00 +0000

From the producers of 'Resident Evil':

Funny Public Service Announcements for the Future

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Exclusive scene from 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Hilarious 'Wapakman' Teaser Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Apparently this is a teaser for a new Phillipine movie in development.

My Collection of Free Apps and Open Source Programs

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Below is my list of FREE and open-source programs by function:

Antivius & Firewall
Comodo Internet Security - Free for business/commercial use as well! The Comodo website has become a bit tricky. Just go get the Antivirus program for Home and you will actually get the full Internet Security package which includes the firewall for free. If you go to the Internet Security link it takes you to the pay version.
Firewall rated higher than the rest, click here to read the review.

DVD Player
VLC Portable (inlcuded in the Portable Apps Suite). - Not the best DVD player, but it's free.

Media Player
GOM - Automatically identifies and downloads any missing codecs for a media file! Keyboard shortcuts are the most convenient and intuitive I've seen in any media player.

File Compression/Extraction
WinRAR - Fast, clean and easy for ZIP, RAR, ISO, etc. Now with a 64-bit version too!

Batch File Rename
File Renamer Basic - easy on the eyes yet versatile with commands.

DVD Ripping
Handbrake - gotta love presets for output to different formats! Presets:

CD/DVD Backup, ISO and Burning
ImgBurn - Quick and easy to burn ISOs or create ISOs. Unfortunately you can't just copy a CD to another CD, you'll have to create the ISO first and then burn the ISO. Forces/helps you have an ISO backup of whatever you're burning though.

FTP Site Manager
FileZilla - Self-explanatory.

Screen Capture
Gadwin PrintScreen - Screenshots only, no image editing sadly. BUT you have these convenient options:

Copy captured area to Clipboard
Copy captured area to Printer
Send captured area via E-mail
Copy captured area to File

Notepad Replacement/Coding XML, HTML, etc.
Notepad+++ - Oooo colors...

Telnet Connection Manager
Putty Connection Manager - Of course you will need Putty first.

IP Scanning
Angry IP - better than Advanced IPScan. Pulls more fields, however Comodo thinks it's malicious but I trust it.

Why I Envy People with Digital SLRs

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Below is an HDR photo taken with a Canon 40D SLR by Audaciacreo.com. View his portfolio at http://www.audaciacreo.com.

Sweet shallow DOF @ 1.8:

'Killer Bean Forever' Review

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Jeff Lew,

You are a GREAT animator, but this isn't a great follow-up to 'The Killer Bean 2'... 'One man, one movie' is a very ambitious goal, but each of us has his weaknesses. You are a great animator, but not the best story teller. I felt that this movie was very anticlimactic. Maybe it was the over-the-top action, or maybe it was the voice acting or both. It just felt monotone all thoughout the film. The lines were a bit cheesy and it didn't help that the Killer Bean was literally invincible against any army. Even in front of an army of thugs, the Killer Bean just didn't care, and maybe that's the character you wanted to create. In doing so, you lost his emotional range and as a viewer, the Killer Bean was never really in danger. All the suspense was lost.

So, with that said, I move onto the action scenes. You had a few clever and humorous action scenes, but none compare to the bullet catch in 'The Killer Bean 2'. Nothing was that cool and heart-stopping at the same time. That's what you needed in this film to save the story, because the coolness factor was simply non-existent. Hollywood has re-packaged stories over and over throughout time, but there's eventually a hit among them. It's just how you dress up the package.

On the plus side, the scenes were beautifully rendered, reflections were terrific, rag doll effects were nice, animation was flawless and your shortcuts worked perfectly. My advice, two heads are better than one, especially if one is a real good script writer/story teller.

Still a fan,
csxstudios

Miller Ad (Beer and Makeup)

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:08:00 +0000

Great Miller Ad (click image to enlarge)

Killer Bean Forever DVD Arrived!

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:43:00 +0000

My autographed copy of the 'Killer Bean Forever' DVD by Jeff Lew finally arrived! Can't wait to watch it tonight!!! I will post a review ASAP.

GI Joe Trailer 2 HD

noreply@blogger.com (csxstudios) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:13:00 +0000

In theaters 08.07.09