|
Please visit the LangaList Home Page Please note: Older issues may contain information that is now out of date How To
Subscribe and Unsubscribe is at the end of this
note. Mailing List Trouble? See
http://www.langa.com/help.htm Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!) An easier-to read formatted
HTML version of this newsletter is available The
LangaList 2004-04-01 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 1) Is "XP" Pronounced "Oink?"Hello Fred! I look forward to each issue of your newsletter and, as a "Plus" subscriber, cannot think of a better 'buy'. To me, your newsletter is priceless!XP is a larger system, no question, but many of its appetites can be controlled through system settings. And many of the rest can be controlled through good cleanup practices. See: Ten Ways To Make Windows XP Run Better http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011204S0009 Ten More Ways To Make Windows XP Run Better http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17500569
Maximizing ''System Restore'' In WinME and WinXP System Setup Secrets For Windows XP Make Windows XP Self-Maintaining Clean Up XP As for HD size, let's deal with that in the next item, below. Click to email this item to a
friend 2) Hard Drive Size Confusion[continued from above] Drive size is an area rife with controversy and confusion. There was even a lawsuit launched last year because some consumers thought they'd been victimized by deliberate misrepresentations of drive sizes. ( http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/18/2245200 ) I'm not so sure there was any deliberate misrepresentation, but it's undeniable that three main areas cause a lot of confusion: (1) the difference between gross and net disk capacity; (2) fuzziness between base-2 and base-10 size descriptions; and (3) hidden recovery partitions that may consume disk space. A raw, unformatted disk has a certain gross capacity, but partitioning and adding a file system consumes some of the available space even before you add any files: the partitions and format structures go *on the disk* and thus consume some space before the first file is ever saved. By analogy, think of a physical filing cabinet: It has a certain volume (length times height times width). You might think that would easily convert into how many sheets of paper the cabinet would hold because each sheet of paper, or each ream of paper, also has a known and finite size. But once you equip the cabinet body with drawers, sliders, hangers, Pendaflex organizers and file folders--- all of which occupy some space--- two things happen: First, the cabinet becomes much more useful than just an empty cubical space; but second, the net volume available for paper storage actually goes down. Same with hard drives. The gross or raw capacity is a real measurement, but you can't use the drive in that state. You have to get it ready for use with partitions and formatting. How much actual, useful space you end up varies by partition type, format type, cluster size, and so on. One of the valid reasons why vendors use gross and not net disk sizes is that they'd end up covering the entire box with all the possible capacities the drive might deliver, if they had to account for all possible partitioning and format variations. One very crude but somewhat useful rule of thumb is that you'll lose roughly 25% of any disk's raw capacity in prepping it for actual use. This number can be high or low--- it's only a ballpark guesstimate--- but it gives you at least a rough idea of what you'll net, which is always--- always!--- less than the raw capacity of a drive. Then, there's the confusion between binary and decimal math. Many hard drive manufacturers use the ISO (and common parlance) definition of a "gigabyte," which is "one billion bytes," or "1,000 megabytes." But most people familiar with the binary nature of computers consider a gigabyte to be 1024 megabytes. (See http://www.pcguide.com/intro/fun/bindec.htm ) Thus, a binary gigabyte is somewhat larger than a decimal gigabyte, and that's where the bad blood comes from: Some consumers thought they were getting binary gigs, but actually got decimal gigs. On a large hard drive, the differential adds up. The reason it went to court is that both sides are correct. <g> The
power-of-two interpretation is technically correct; but the decimal
interpretation reflects common usage even in other tech areas. For example,
a 56Kbps modem is said to operate up to a nicely decimal 56,000
bits per second. In common speech, even in some tech areas, people
routinely round large binary numbers to nearby decimal numbers that are easier to deal
with. It's technically imprecise to do so, but it's also very human. Lots more
info: Finally, in the case of drives shipped as part of preconfigured systems, vendors often use hidden partitions to store "system recovery" data that lets you put your PC back to the as-delivered-from-the-factory state in the event of major trouble. These recovery partitions can consume a significant chunk of the disk, leaving you with far less available for your own purposes. See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-06.htm#1 for more info. So, when you add it all up, a hard drive may seem to deliver far less than you thought you'd be getting. Whether you actually are getting less or not depends on how you view the three factors, above. Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 3) Free RAM Testers
There's a bunch, James. Perhaps the best known is the
venerable MemTest86: Microsoft also offers a free memory tester of its own: see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-08-21.htm#2 Click to email this item to a
friend 4) Any "Magellan" Fans Out There?Shortly after life formed on earth--- well, OK, not *that* long ago--- the Lotus Software corporation expanded from its core spreadsheet business and brought out a quirky but incredibly fast DOS-based disk-indexing tool called Magellan. (Later, there was an unrelated web search engine also called Magellan, but that's not what I'm referring to.) The original Magellan software resided on your hard drive and built a local index of every word on your system. When you needed to search, the software only had to refer to its index, instead of re-opening every file and folder. Indexed searching is more common now, but it was a new thing for PCs when Magellan first came out, and even on the ancient, steam-powered PCs of the day (OK, I'm exaggerating again; but not by much this time) Magellan was truly fast. I loved Magellan. So did Mike Elgan ( http://www.mikeslist.com ):
Thanks, Mike! It does look interesting; It will index everything including your email, contact lists, files, etc. The software runs on 98SE/ME/2000/XP, and has a 15-day free trial version. Alas, if you keep it, it's fairly expensive: $99. I'll have to try it for a while to see if it's worth keeping, at that price. Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 5) Pop The Top For Cooling?
I don't recommend that as a long-term solution, Yiftah,
for reasons I'll get to in a moment. But it *is* a great way to test your PC's
cooling: If you remove the side
(or top) of your PC and see a large reduction in heat, it's a sure sign that your
fans are underpowered or that your
case doesn't have sufficient air intakes. First, noise usually increases, and my recent article was mostly about trying to reduce noise. A closed case helps to contain the sounds made by the PC's fans, drives, etc. Second, a closed case (usually metal) also helps to contain the radio-frequency emissions generated by the various components of a PC. Opening the case may increase interference between your PC and other devices--- radios, TVs, portable phones, wireless networks, etc.; or vice versa. There are tertiary problems too, because you may end up with things inside the case that don't belong: spills, dust, pets, etc. So, if your "pop the top" test shows a large temperature reduction, I'd suggest you first try adding slow-spinning, quiet fans to the system to increase the ventilation rate. (See http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18400732 ) If that doesn't work, then the current case doesn't have enough air openings, and you might look at replacing just the case itself: Replacement cases (with a new power supply and fan) can be had for $20-30 or so; look for those that specifically mention fan openings or extra air intakes. ( http://langa.com/u/3w.htm ) You'd just transfer the components from the old case to the new, and you'd then have both a cooled system AND a properly closed case. Click to email this item to a
friend 6) It's a new month......and right now your chances are the best they'll ever be! To have a shot at winning one of three FREE ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS to the
LangaList Plus! edition I give away each month, just use the following link to
recommend the LangaList. (If your name is drawn and you're already a Plus!
subscriber, your current subscription will be extended by a full year.) Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Help For Linux NovicesEnjoy your news letter and learn something new with each new letter. Plus reader from the start. I know what you mean, Aubrey: Each OS has its own jargon, syntax, and gestalt. In some ways, knowing one OS well can actually be an impediment at first to learning another, because you have to "unlearn" one way of doing things before you learn a new way. It does get easier as you go, but it can be daunting at first. Fortunately, there are some excellent sites out there. Some of the ones I've used: Newbie Guide: Linux Shortcuts and Commands: Easy 'info' guide General: Click to email this item to a
friend 8) More Reader Sites!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 ) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting
At Rudy's Roadhouse MBM Designs G-Com Biscuit Eater Vanramblings DodsonTech Creative Endeavors Domain Names Concrete Landscape Edging Webb-Secure Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Hi Fred, I was receiving
your free newsletter for a while and --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Easy Cure For Win2K/XP Profile Problems
Thanks, Tim. With luck, most users will never need this tool. But those who do will love you for having suggested it. 8-) Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsMarking the return of warmer weather here in the northern hemisphere, reader Anne Nolen sends along this item:
Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:
DID YOU KNOW--- that Plus! subscribers have access to
additional special features, extra content and links on a private web site? All
that, plus 30% more content in every issue, for just $1 a month! Click to email this item to a
friend (Give a gift subscription to
the LangaList Plus edition! See you next issue! Best, An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. UNSUBSCRIBE (instant removal!):
http://www.langa.com/leave_langalist.htm CHANGE ADDRESS? LIST TROUBLE? HAVE QUESTIONS? OTHER PROBLEM? NEED HELP? See http://www.langa.com/help.htm This newsletter is SPAM PROOF and requires two levels of subscriber confirmation
before delivery begins: See
http://www.langa.com/info.htm |
|
Please visit the LangaList Home Page |