Another helpful hint....
By Ray on October 5, 2008 - 10:54pm
If you'd like a little more Vista info then just click on the link. This is about keyboards and mice, in case those are giving you a problem.
computers
Test your PC...
By Ray on June 30, 2008 - 9:19am
Would you like to test your firewall for leaks, or check your broadband speed?
Then here's where you can do that, and it's free.
If you have a firewall, you should be sure it works, and this will tell you.
There's another speed test called Speakeasy with several locations including Seattle where you can also test your speed. I like it because Seattle is close, and therefore there aren't a lot of hops in between to slow things down.
A word about Adobe's Shockwave Player 11
By Ray on June 25, 2008 - 10:17pm
I've just wasted about two hours trying to get Shockwave Player working again, after
some 'housecleaning' spoiled the previous version. I discovered that Adobe has changed
the list of 'Xtras' for the latest versions, and downloading the latest version 11 will
result in error messages saying 'SWADCmpr.x32 not found' or something similar.
This is a Sound Wave Audio Decompressor file without which the install is incomplete and
the player won't run.
The solution is to go onto the Adobe Shockwave downloads site, and look for a stand-alone
installer for an older version such as version 9 or 10, before they removed many of the
'Extras' which apparently are still needed. When I installed the version 9 player, it had
all its required 'xtra' bits, and it works just like it should. Their latest version 11
wouldn't work at all for me. So if you have this problem, that's how to fix it.
Note: After you get the older version installed successfully, and do a reboot, you will likely be invited to accept an update of the program to the latest version. When you accept that, you will have the most recent version, and it will work properly once again.
Headline: 'Next Microsoft O/S has touch controls'
By Ray on May 28, 2008 - 10:01am
That headline prompted this to Dear Editor at the Vancouver Sun...
Dear Editor:
Accessing the Windows operating system isn't the main problem
that most of us have with Microsoft - it's what we're connected to
afterward that makes us cuss a lot.
I refer specifically to their 'everything Microsoft' philosophy, at the
expense of a more adaptable operating system foundation which
could better support all the wonderful third-party software now
available, such as Open Office, the free office suite that many find
superior to the Microsoft version, and others like Mozilla's great
browser 'Firefox' and equally great email program 'Thunderbird',
both of which are more secure and more resistant to infection
than Microsoft's versions.
Microsoft has opted to design a program aimed at the gamers and
the 'show & tell' crowd, at the expense of a really reliable and bug-free
operating system that the business community could embrace. That's
how many of us see it, and discussing this with Microsoft gets us nowhere.
Enjoy your day,
If you are using Windows XP.....
By Ray on May 16, 2008 - 8:54pm
If you, like me, are still using XP Pro, and you've been repeatedly nagged by Microsoft to download and install their SP3 cummulative update for Windows XP, there may be problems.
One of those problems is that any changes you've made to the appearance of your user interface (GUI) will be wiped out by the installation of that SP3. Many of us have been using third party themes, such as the Vista Transformation Pack, to give our reliable old XP Pro the newer appearance of an interface like Vista uses. There are free themes available for that. But if you've done that, and you install the SP3 update, none of those will work, because their enabling executive files have been removed by the update. To get those back, you must use 'System Restore' to revert to your previous setup. The good news is, now that you've installed that SP3, you shouldn't be nagged about it. So just leave it in a dark corner, and carry on as before. If you've been keeping up to date with your updates, then you probably don't need it anyway.
How fast is your computer? Test it with this...
By Ray on May 8, 2008 - 8:28am
If you'd like to test your computer's download and upload speeds, there's a free test you can use at this site to find out. Just select a test site from the list (for example, 'Seattle') click that button to start the test, and wait for the speedometer to finish working and show your results. Works for me.
A little good news for Windows XP users....
By Ray on February 23, 2008 - 9:44pm
I found this announcement last week, and volunteered to give it my best shot, so this morning, along came a really big download from Automatic Updates, with this new Service Pack. Maybe I should explain: this isn't the final version of SP3, but rather Release Candidate 2, which is more or less like a beta. If we find it OK, then the 'Carved In Stone' version will be released a bit later on.
If you're wondering what happens if you agree to accept this version now, here's the poop -
Automatic Updates will download a rather large file onto your computer. Then, your computer will be scanned to verify its contents, the space available on it, and your key codes. Next, it will take an inventory of everything related to Windows on your machine. Then it creates a back-up of all that. Then, it chooses a conveniently empty part of your drive on which to unpack and install this service pack. Only then does it actually begin to install files, and that process will go on for the best part of three-quarters of an hour. After that, it will do a clean-up of its work, update the Registry, and register the new installation. After all that, you are invited to reboot, and your new Service Pack 3 begins life on your machine.
Screenshot of Microsoft's release of SP3 for Windows XP
By Ray on February 23, 2008 - 9:15pm
If you download the file mentioned in this article, the main download will then come from Microsoft's Automatic Updates - and it's a biggie, Folks. Takes about an hour to get it and then wait for it to be installed. But it does make XP run better. I got it this morning.
Sometimes, I'm not as computer-savvy as I thought....
By Ray on February 11, 2008 - 8:20am
Just when I get feeling really smug about how skilled I am at doing all this stuff, along comes the Fickle Finger of Fate, and takes me down a peg or two...
Once again, I've learned that all is not always as it seems, and specifically, newer drivers don't always make your goodies work better. I downloaded a more recent driver for my almost new graphics card, an ASUS/ATI/AMD creation with its own 256 Mb memory, thinking newer is better. WRONG! After installing, when trying to scroll a page, everything moved in weird
up-and-down jerks instead of moving smoothly. Exit new driver, and back to old one. Problem now solved. So, newer is not always better.
I knew that, or should have, because I went through something very similar with the keyboard program. I'm using a Microsoft Digital Media Pro keyboard, and have discovered the hard way that it doesn't like their latest drivers either. It works best on the Intellitype 5.2 one.
Moving along here, have a look at this for an idea whose time has come - but only in the U.K. Wonder why not here...
Enjoy your day, everyone.
