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Newsletter from Fred
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Man, I thought the mineral-oil CPU
bath or the "hacking Furby" sites were funky (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-06-26.htm#1
). But readers have found even stranger ones. For example, Tim Cook found some
totally crazy New Zealanders who spent over $1,000 to cool their PC with liquid
nitrogen! Tim writes: I recently read your
article about hardware hacking and the section on overclocking where you went
over those that submerged their systems. I had seen these sites before and
thought they were very interesting but even more so would be what they are
trying to accomplish with liquid nitrogen and another liquid called Fluorinert
at http://www.octools.com These guys have spent a
small fortune on what they are doing, but very neat to watch:) --- Tim Yikes--- Fluorinert costs $500
gallon, and these guys needed two gallons. In the end, they were able to run a
366MHz chip at 650MHz without melting it--- but they did run into a minor
problem. (I won't give it away; check out the site!) Of course, for the $1000 they spent
on Fluorinert, they could have bought a new 650+MHz system, but this kind of
hacking is done more for fun--- er, I mean, the technical challenge, yeah,
that's the ticket, the technical challenge--- than for any practical reason.
<g> In any case, there's lots more
interesting stuff in the Byte Monitor column at http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20000620S0002
and in the associated discussion in the Byte Newsgroups, which you can reach
either by clicking to http://www.byte.com/nntp/monitor
or by pointing your newsreader to news.cmpnet.com, and from there to
cmpnet.byte.monitor. Join in! Click to
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The mail's still pouring in about
the "Resource Leaks; Part III" column and ongoing discussion at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/13.htm
. (You can find links to all three parts there.) Here's one email that's typical of
many I'm getting--- and, I have to say I love to get mail like this.<g> From: "JS Beatty" fred: read through the 3
parts in the langa list and in winmag, tried out the suggestions and ... WOW -
very pleased with the results so far, still tuning a little here and there but
am finding a much less leaky system ...how are you with roofs ? <g>
---John Glad it's working for you John ---
and all the other who've written in. With just a little virtual elbow grease,
almost any Windows system can be made to operate with impressive stability and
reliability! If you haven't checked out the series, you may be missing something
good! See http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/13.htm (And I'm lousy with roofs.
<g>) Click to
email this item to a friend Windows has some suboptimal (read:
stupid) settings. For example, with today's large hard drives, it's often
possible to set up a virtual memory swapfile on your own that's faster and
better than what Windows wants to do by itself. In fact, that's one of the
recommendations I made in the "Memory Leak" article mentioned above.
(You'll find full how-to details in the above link.) But although Windows will let you
make these swapfile adjustments, it then presents the results in a way that's
nearly guaranteed to confuse. For example, reader Rel Kempf was one of many who
ran into one of these Windows weirdnesses when trying to follow the example in
the "Memory Leaks" article (above). Fred, is there a default in
Windows 98 that prevents changing the swap file settings? I have taken the step
of manually changing the swap file parameters and unchecked the automatic
handling by Windows. When Windows asks "Do you wish to continue with a
warning attached, I check "yes". However, when I close the window,
coming immediately back, or restart Windows, the automatic setting is still on.
Nothing I have done will allow changing the automatic settings. I have Windows
98 4.1. Don't feel bad, Rel--- nor anyone
else who fell down this particular rabbit hole. It's just a really annoying
Windows weirdness. You see, Windows *wants* to manage
your swapfile for you; it (erroneously) believes it can do a better job than you
can. So it lets you change your settings, but the next time you come back to the
memory setting dialog (right click My Computer, then select
Properties/Performance/Virtual Memory) , the automatic setting APPEARS to be
back on. But if you look closely, you'll see your manual settings are still in
effect; Windows is simply trying to get you to select its automatic settings.
And in fact, if you then click OK, you *will* be undoing your manual settings,
and allowing the automatic settings to return. Instead, simply click Cancel and
your manual settings will remain intact. Note that Windows will offer the
automatic settings *every time you open that dialog*, hoping to get you to click
OK. Just ignore it--- click cancel, and you can control your swapfile just the
way you want to. Click to
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One of the free tools I mention in
the "Memory Leak" series (above) is Cacheman--- a simple, easy-to-use
front end to a variety of Windows hard drive cache settings that otherwise are
accessible only by spelunking deep into the guts of the system. Cacheman makes
adjusting the "Vcache" a snap. But some readers have had trouble
using the link I gave. If you couldn't reach the download page directly, simply
surf in via the front door at http://www.outertech.com
and then drill down to the Cacheman subsite. It's a couple extra clicks, but
you'll get to where you're going. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend The web is a fluid thing, with pages
and sites and page content coming and going. Lately, maybe more have been going
than coming. <g> Last week, for example, I mentioned
files on two sites: Vooshmaster's System Analyzer and "Memload." The Vooshmaster page has a heading
"My Free Software," and System Analyzer is listed below that heading.
Alas, it appears that the author has switched to a shareware model even though
the "My Free Software" heading remains. (Sigh.) The app may still be
worth the modest fee the author wants, but the confusion over freeware/shareware
kinda takes some of the edge off. Oh well. ( http://www.geocities.com/vooshmaster
) The Memload page is stranger--- the
site vanished completely less than a day after my last newsletter came out! It
was a free Tripod site, and maybe Tripod killed it due to the high traffic
caused by thousands of LangaList readers surfing over. (Free web sites often
have strict limits on file sizes and bandwidth allowances.) I've tried searching
for the app elsewhere, and although there are a million sites that mention
"memload," none I could find was the right one. If the site returns,
I'll let you know. Click to
email this item to a friend In the last issue, we discussed one
way to disable IE5's clicking sounds. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-06-26.htm#2
) But sometimes, an app or add-on
won't play by the rules; it may introduce a sound that you can't shut off via
the normal means. Reader Mara from San Jose has a fix: Hi Fred: One of the (many)
annoying standard Windows default dumping spots is the C:\Windows\Media folder
in which you will find a plethora of the sounds you love to pull your hair out
to. Many of the *.wav files are the ones that although not listed in your sounds
control panel, seem to play with a mind of their own. One solution is to delete
the files entirely, however sometimes this will present you with a system ding
sound indicating that the file was not found. The other is to create a teeny
blank (about a micro-second or two in length) *.wav file using Sound Recorder,
and duplicating it into the media folder with the names of the original
"click" or "chord" or "The Miscrosoft Sound" wave
files. Then the system plays the blank file when these others are called ... no
error, no sound... everybody's happy :o) Love your stuff! ~Mara Thanks, Mara. A lot of PCs will be
quieter tonight, thanks to you! Click to
email this item to a friend Tomorrow, on June 30,
I'll choose another monthly winner of a copy of "Poor Richard's E-Mail
Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins, Discussion Groups and Other
Powerful Communications Tools." This book has been described as "An
excellent, straightforward manual on email publishing, banner ads, driving
traffic and especially ethics." To have a shot at
winning, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a
friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may
gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a book! (Full details also available
via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 The more times you make
a recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning! Or, if you'd like to
try to win $10,000(!), try this link (full details also available here): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Either way, thank you,
and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend Do you have a home page or website?
(It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm,
and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have
"Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and
are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please
see http://www.langa.com/link.txt
) Speaking of which: Here's another
eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal: Click to
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Fred: Timing seems
appropriate - could they have gotten help from your research? http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nsw.nsf/docid/1999073012412507&src=n
Regards, Cam Hamel Probably just a coincidence. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend Yesterday (June 28) at 4PM EDT,
Microsoft lifted the reviews-coverage embargo on WindowsMe--- The
"Millennium Edition" successor to Windows98. There's already been a ton of
general, non-review coverage, especially in Scot Finnie's "Windows
Insider." See, for example, http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/insider/2000/24.htm
. But now we can start to get really detailed. The product won't be available for
purchase until mid-September, so there's plenty of time to look at the pros and
cons and to decide if you should stick with your current version of Windows, or
move to WinMe or Win2K. Don't let anyone or anything make you feel pressured
into a decision! There's *plenty* of time, and no need at all to rush into
anything. I'll begin ramping up preliminary
coverage in next week's LangaList. (If you've been a beta tester, please drop me
a note with what you think are the highs and lows of this new OS!) Stay tuned! Click to
email this item to a friend Bill Johnson writes: Fred, Thoroughly enjoyed your
Monitor column in Byte (on hardware hacking at http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-06-26.htm#1
) particularly the link to the anti-electronics project ( http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html
). That reminded me of what I
heard at the store the other day. An older woman was checking out and the
cashier was giving her her change. She told the cashier, "I don't want any
of those new $20 bills. I won't have any of the new fifties either. The only
reason the government changed them is because they can drive down the street,
shine a beam at your house and tell exactly how much money you have." Best, Bill Yikes, Bill! I bet she noticed the
presidential portraits are all *left of center* on the new bills, too. It's
another liberal plot! 8-) Click to
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