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LangaList 2006-06-01 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
--- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- New supercharged jv16 PowerTools 2006 can fix, Dozens of new powerful features, yet still Special 25% discount for the first 500 buyers: --------------( the above is an advertisement )--------------
1) A Burning Question
I probably should have said, "can only be read *reliably* in CDRs with burning software active." That's because a CD's "table of contents" isn't written until the CD is closed, and most standard, non-burner CDs need the TOC to access the CD content. Note that XP contains built-in, basic CD burning functions as part of the OS: If you're using XP, it may be that you really do have burning software running (in the OS itself) but didn't realize it! <g> But in any case, the way to make a CD nearly universally readable on almost any CD hardware is to close the CD. That "finishes" everything, writes the table of contents, and leaves the CD in final, most-accessible format--- which is what you want in backups! More info? See: Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- Speed up your Computer, Free Performance
Scan! --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) Peter Norton re: "Webaroo"LangaList reader Peter Norton--- yes, *that* Peter Norton, whose eponymous tools are now produced and sold by Symantec--- is a fan of Wikipedia, as am I. But he's been playing with a new Wikipedia-based tool I hadn't heard of. It sounds like it could be good, once the paint's dry and they've worked out the glitches:
Thank you, Peter! If anyone wants to try Webaroo it's here: http://www.webaroo.com/ Click to email this item to a
friend 3) Mothballing A PC
A PC stored in a reasonably controlled environment--- no environmental extremes--- will most likely endure the long sleep just fine. You'll want to make a complete image backup first, of course--- copy everything from the entire hard drive to CDs, just in case. Store the CDs away from the PC so that if something happens to either the CDs or the PCs, the other has a chance of surviving. In most cases, you can just shut it down normally (a full shutdown--- not hibernation or suspension), unplug everything, and wrap the PC in a heavy trash bag (for moisture and dust protection). If you want to be very thorough, put the PC into its original packing or something similar that will provide a modicum of shock- and abrasion protection. (Moving supply stores and parcel-shipping stores are good places to get boxes and packing materials.) Store the wrapped/boxed PC in a dry, indoor environment where the temperatures are comfortable for humans--- nothing near freezing or below, and nothing like desert heat--- and where the humidity will be controlled at least enough to prevent condensation, mold, and mildew. A rule of thumb: if it's comfortable for humans in ordinary indoor clothing, it'll be fine for a stored PC. If you have no such place available (your own, a friend's, a co-worker's...) then a small climate-controlled locker in a self-service storage facility often costs only a dollar a day or so, and can fit an entire small office's supplies within. Note: Most PC's contain a small coin-type battery to keep the BIOS alive when the power's off. In newer PC's these often will be lithium cells, and can last 5 years or more. While coin-type batteries rarely leak, the very safest thing would be to remove the battery and store it in a zip-lock bag or other leak proof container. With newer PCs. the original battery will probably still be good a year from now. PCs older than a couple years may use a simpler form of battery; and may already be well into the expected lifetime of the cells. In instances where you're not sure if the battery will survive the storage period, it's smart to remove and safely discard the old battery (they contain toxic materials and so should not simply be tossed in the trash); and plan to buy and install a fresh battery when you take the PC from storage. Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- For Yourself, --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) Reader-Experience With A Recommended Tool
Thanks, Russ. All the tools from Terabyte Unlimited are pretty good. They can be a little geekier than some others to use, initially, but work well and are priced very attractively. Click to email this item to a
friend 5) When Following The Instructions Leads You Astray...I mentioned in a recent newsletter that I'd gotten some new WiFi gear for my home and office. It's a Netgear "wap54g" access point, and the hardware's well done. But the instructions are something else. First--- a minor annoyance--- there's no paper documentation to speak of; you have to go online or use the setup CD to access the manual in digital form. Alas, this is becoming increasingly standard. The setup software itself is very basic, and just gets you to the point where you can access the detailed web-based setup pages stored within the WiFi hardware itself. OK, that's fairly standard, too. For security purposes--- to keep anyone else from being able to change your setup's configuration--- the web-based setup pages are password protected. That's a good thing. When it's time to access the web-based setup screens, the manual says this (it's an exact quote, lifted from the manual):
I dutifully entered admin as the user name and admin as the password, and clicked OK. Nothing happened. I tried it again, Nope. A third time also failed--- and then the software locked me out, thinking I was an unauthorized hacker trying to break in. Start over. Caps lock off? Yes. Type slowly and carefully, sure not to make a typo? Yup. But the same thing happened: Three tries, and I was locked out. I went online to see if the manual there might be different from the one I was working from, on the setup CD. Nope. It too said, "Enter admin in the User Name field. The first time you open the Web-based Utility, use the default password, admin." Except that it wouldn't work for me. I tried the FAQ. No help. So, I then read about how to reset everything back to the factory defaults and did that. In fact, I did it three different times. Nothing worked. Something was preventing admin/admin login/password from working as the manual said it should. I went to bed frustrated. The next day, I tried again, just in case I was missing something obvious the night before. Perhaps I was repeating an obvious mistake.... Nope. No dice. So I tried tech support; one of those slow-motion chat sessions where you know you're one of 47 different chat windows on some overworked technician's screen. I'd pretyped a complete trouble report in Notepad, listing exactly what setup step I was trying to follow, exactly what was going wrong, and all the things I'd done so far to correct it on my own. I pasted that into the chat window. The Tech, though, followed what must have been an official script, walking me through all the basics ("Are the indicator lights on; is the unit plugged in?"). But eventually, I was able to prove that, indeed, I really was at the screen I said I was, and really was having the problem I'd reported. Finally, towards the end of the long chat session, I typed in frustration, "Look, I'm doing everything the manual says, but something is preventing the admin/admin login/password from working as it should." The Tech then typed back: "There is no password. Just type admin as the user name and hit OK." What? Well, OK: I did, and it worked. So let me get this straight: When the manual says "...use the default password, admin" what it really means is "...leave the password field blank." I admit it: I harbored some unkind thoughts towards whoever produced the setup manual with that incorrect--- dead wrong, in fact--- information. This kind of error used to happen more often with paper manuals; corrections were hard to fix, and could only be made in subsequent printings. But on a website's manual, there is absolutely no excuse for glaring errors to persist, uncorrected. It's a simple edit, and then the correct information is available to all. I really like the Netgear hardware, and--- once I was through the login--- it was easy to set up. But this was one of the worst manuals I've seen in a long time; not a matter of simple typos or fractured English, but rather information that's simply 100%, completely, utterly, dead wrong; information that cannot and will not work. Doh. Note to Netgear: hire a copyeditor, OK? Click to email this item to a
friend 6) PR Budget = $0.00Long-time readers know this newsletter is a one-person private project of
mine: It's not part of some publishing empire's stable of publications. It's
just me here! <g> There's no budget, staff or facility to handle outreach and
promotions: The newsletter depends on word of mouth to grow. May I ask you a
favor? In each issue, I try to offer you useful, interesting and amusing
factoids to help you with your hardware, software, and time online. Can you take
just a minute to help me out in return? Full info and "Recommend" form:
http://langa.com/recommend.htm . Thank Click to email this item to a
friend 7) Does That Movie Seem Slightly Slo-Mo to You?
Oops, sorry. You're right, of course. It's 24 fps. I'm a recent convert to HDTV, which has its own morass of standards--- Standard (4:3 ratio), Pseudo widescreen (16:9), HD 4:3, HD 16:9; progressive and interlaced, DTV, SDTV, EDTV, HDTV, RPTV, DVI, DLP, LCD, LCOS, plasma.... Yikes! One of the digital cable channels available to me shows IMAX-HD films, which are shot at 48 FPS. I'm guessing that's where the "8" came from in my mis-stating the frame rate of standard movies. But a 28 fps movie played at 24 fps would seem somewhat lethargic. Amusingly, some TV broadcasters actually do the reverse and play 24 fps movies at a slightly faster speed to make them fit a time slot without editing, and/or to open up more slots for ads. But that's not what I was thinking of: I was just plain wrong. Again, the correct number for standard movies is 24 fps. My apologies. (BTW: I ended up with a 1080i/720p plasma HD unit. Fabulous picture. <g> ) Click to email this item to a
friend 8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming...Thousands of your fellow readers have "Loaded the code." Please click over to
http://langa.com/code.htm , and maybe
you can join them! (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://langa.com/link.txt ) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At JazzMan "For all your yesterdays" Lance's Rants Online self-help/support groups AI VI PI Tags Custom Application Database
Design Intellitorials WKS Images "Chilli Man" PC Max Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 9) Air, Oil, Water...
Actually, you're right; water is better. The ability of a substance to absorb heat is called it's "specific heat," or more colloquially, its "heat capacity." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_heat_capacity Water has the advantages of having high specific heat while being cheap and readily available. But it is an electrical conductor unless all traces of minerals are removed, as in laboratory-grade distilled water. And even then, it's hard to keep pure because the water may react with its container or the object being cooled, causing corrosion and/or becoming a conductor. Water also has a relatively narrow operating range--- freezing to boiling--- which further limits its applicability. But, it can be used, if done with care. Here's coverage of my foray into the world of water-cooled PCs: http://tinyurl.com/gytkk Oil has a lower specific heat than water, and is more expensive, but can more easily avoid the problems with corrosion and electrical conductivity. It also has a wider operating temperature range than water. OTOH, it's flammable and messier. The vegetable-based oils can go rancid and/or attract undesirable attention from animals; the mineral oils pose toxicological and other environmental hazards. Given the above, you can see why most PCs are air cooled. Air is free, ubiquitous, non-conducting (under normal conditions) and its use as a cooing fluid is environmentally neutral. It has only half the specific heat of oil, and a fourth that of water, but you can make up for that by using either twice as much or four times as much air (by weight) to accomplish a given cooling task. And unlike oil or water, you never have to clean your rugs when you spill some air. <g> Click to email this item to a
friend 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) Plus! Edition Only:Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains about 40% more content including:
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 15) Just For Grins
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