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Why is the redistributable package for .NET 2.0 22MB while the 3.0 - 3.5 versions are only 2.7MB or so? And should I be installing both, like the old VB runtimes, or does the 3.0 series supersede 2.0?

Outlook 2003. Google Apps for domains. Four users. Their settings are all correct according to Google. I've removed the Antivirus software they were using from their PCs entirely. I've deleted and recreated their Outlook profiles. I've deleted and recreated their PSTs. Besides the E-mail...

I am having to move my office at the moment. I'm being moved from one storeroom closet to an even smaller one. As a result I'm having to throw out a huge collection of spare parts. Today I'm tossing working Socket A, 754, 939 and 478 motherboards, Pentium 4 and various Athlon and Sempron chips...

Has anyone made any serious attempt to learn Powershell yet? I'm playing with Exchange 2008 and there are features that are not exposed in the GUI that must be configured with Microsoft's new command line interface.

Something I'm kind of stumped on today. This dick that I do work for, hereafter known as "dick", has an Act 2008 setup. He has apparently been using Act for his very limited CRM needs for about 15 years. I'm talking Windows 3.1-era, here. So he has an accumulation of Act data. Maybe 20000...

I have three laptops in my office right now. On one of them, I was told that some of the keys on the keyboard don't work. All the keys on the keyboard are working, but the thing has so much spyware it's in the 15 minutes to start XP category. On the second, I was told that it "has trouble...

I'm dealing with a guy right now who keeps telling me Outlook is sluggish on his PC and, in fact, a lot of Outlook clients in his office aer sluggish. So I look. The guy has a 7.4GB Exchange Inbox. Other people in the same office have 1.4, 2.5, 2.8GB and likewise complain of E-mail slowness...

I've got a 2008 Server machine. Well, actually, I have five of them. But two of them are really, really, really slow. Slow beyond reason, given their hardware specs. These boxes aren't really DOING anything. At the moment they're domain controllers and they have a couple file shares. I've even...

This thread shall before spiffy non-woot items such that might be found on sites like Fatwallet or Dealtime or something. Anyway, Amazon.com has a $50 MIR on the very expensive but very nice Logitech diNovo Edge Bluetooth keyboard today. Which brings it down to $85. I use the...

This is the case I bought for my kid class builds.. It's $52, has a fair PSU but is extraordinarily well constructed for a case at that price. The important part is that right now Newegg is selling it with free shipping. Since shipping on a case is usually $15 or so, I thought I'd point this...

The Inq is reporting that nVidia may have a chip level defect on very common G84 and G86 GPUs. Basically, and this is no surprise to yours truly, the chips are all destined for a short, overheated life after which they will die. The G84 and G86 are found in GF8x00 cards that aren't 8200s or...

I just got done with an interesting call from a Dell CSR. I ordered 10 Latitude 630s about 10 days ago for a customer (sob, the result of an argument I did not win). Normally Dell ships and products arrive about four days after I place the order. This batch didn't, and I didn't even get a...

This is a shot in the dark, but does anyone have any advice for how I'd go about finding replacement power bricks for various devices? I've got a 15" KDS LCD here that I don't have the brick for. It's a perfectly good monitor, but the person who gave it to me didn't have the power connector...

OK, there's this total dick I sometimes do work for. He's a dick. I mean it. I can barely stand the guy. Other people can barely stand the guy. But his office is right next to mine, so when he needs help with his server, I walk over there and help him out. For some reason. Not because he pays...

Opinion time: An acquaintance of mine is about to undertake her first ever computer build. She wants to do it on her own, which basically means asking me for help selecting parts, but her doing all the work for assembly. She does not have much money, so I am thinking I will share with her a...

I'm doing my "Teaching Kids how to build computers" classes again this summer. As in years past, this means buying low-end parts by the score. Here's the system: Celeron 430 1.8GHz CPU Intel branded 945-based uATX motherboard (with no PCIe slots, something I didn't notice until after I bought...

Acronis is looking for beta testers for its Exchange backup server product. They indicate that people accepted in their beta testing program will receive a totally sweet copy of Echo Workstation for free. I don't know how many of you have test setup where you have both Server and Exchange...

Anyone have any strong opinions on the current crop of Presidential candidates? I'm liking Obama, even though he's not a big fan of NASA. I don't know anyone who is willing to say they would vote for Hillary. Edwards is... present. I suspect he's going to have a cabinet position from one of...

Donny is a very pathetic person but you sucjk at photoshop. Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Geeks.com has an 8' x 6' Epazz brand drawing tablet for $35 today. I can't ever recall seeing a largish one that cheap.

I'm playing with an interesting modification of Thunderbird right now, called Spicebird. It's available for Windows and Linux, and it's sort of a hybrid of the Tbird client I'm used to and Outlook. It has an integrated calendar, RSS/widgets and support for Jabber-based IM, which is handy if you...

So I have some printers. They are shitty printers. HP 7150s. They are filled with suck and also with lose, but I have several of them and I thought it'd be nice to attach them to a nice, lpr-based print server. Maybe I'll even run out of ink for them before they all die. These printers, instead...

Latest news on the eSATA spec is that it'll offer power integrated in the existing data connector. While I don't see any mention that the connector will be compatible with existing products, I know I'd be glad to see it in either case.

Read this guy's tech advice column. See if you can find the part that's really, really, scarily wrong.

For no particular reason, here's the numbers for the classroom PCs I built in December. Number of PCs built: 60 All parts save the case came from Newegg.com. Antec NSK3380 case Intel 946GZis motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz Crucial 2GB DDR2/667 DIMM NEC Optiarc 18x SATA DVD Burner...

System restore is off. I've tried using Sysprep on both, just sysprep on Vista, ImageX (makes a .WIM file just like the install DVD), Straight cloning the drives using about five different methods (including three different versions of TrueImage). What's happening is that I end up with either...

WD ships a 1TB NAS that is prohibited from sharing audio or video files. Just what *I* want for my birthday...

Once again, I have the opportunity to purchase new printers for my classrooms. The people I work for demand photo-printing, and strongly prefer the biggest rip-off of desktop HP Photojets. My objections: 1. Current HP PJs install 300MB of drivers. SRSLY. 2. Assholes keep stealing power packs...

Class action settlement cash.

Anyone had the opportunity to play with a Dell Vostro for longer than two minutes? I got to hold one for a couple minutes, and it felt as craptastic as an Inspiron typically does. One of my business customers is showing a lot of interest in them as a cheaper alternative to the Thinkpads (They...

I just decided to buy a nifty new Thinkpad T61. I already have a T60, but that machine is for my personal business and not for my trainer job. So I bought another one. It came with a 100GB 7200rpm SATA drive. A not-known-for-reliability Hitachi drive, but a 100GB SATA drive nonetheless...

Here we go. $220 for an X2/6400 seems pretty reasonable for me.

I have a customer who likes Yahoo and Realarcade sorts of games. She wants a new PC, and she is completely OK with spending money if I think it's a good idea. My recent experiences with older women who play computer games has been mixed - two of them started playing Nancy Drew games that...

Adaware launched a 2007 version back in May. Spybot just upgraded to version 1.5 and introduced a simplified update process. Both programs offer full time IE/Registry monitoring, which is as painful and annoying as ever, but both seem to fulfill some demand Vista has for active malware...

http://www.cdburnerxp.se/home

Does anyone have a socket 939 HSF sitting around? Preferably an AMD retail one? I just bought a pair of Masscool fans that were advertised as working with 939, that don't.

Through my trainer job, I have come into contact with a mid-sized business - an architecture company - which is generally serviced by another contractor-type guy. This guy likes to set up Windows Servers as primary internet servers; directly connecting his Windows machines to internet...

$100 for a 1.7MB program that allows full PDF editing on Windows. The Foxit Reader is 1.5MB, and unlike the almost gross incompetence of Adobe's products, it doesn't make web browsers misbehave. It doesn't constantly bug me for updates and although I don't know this for sure, I'll bet it's a...

This thing looks kind of sexy.

So says the New York Times.

OK, nothing is going to make me hate IE less. But I found this Add-On for IE7 which provides two much-needed and missing features. Specifically, installing this provides AdBlock-like functions and inline spell checking, such as those provided with many browsers that are actually good.

Maybe it's time for a photography forum. There are three active photography threads at the moment, and each of them seems to have some fairly lively discussion.

Ms_Nitsirk, who is a person I know, had about three inches of water in the quasi-office basement/dungeon thing where she works. Only a couple of her PCs might be affected but my limited experience in that area is that if you let a PC dry out, it'll be OK. On the other hand, my limited...

I haven't been posting lately because, frankly, for the last couple months I've been just about as empty and depressed as I've ever been. I haven't had anything I wanted to say or to talk about. I've been sleeping with any time I wasn't working and that is literally all I've been doing. I was...

Verizon and Sprint both offer a Cellular-based data service called EV-DO. Speeds are supposed to be pretty quick for wireless - around 700kb/sec and prices are not unreasonable ($50/month). Has anyone tried these services? Do they work all over the place or just in certain areas? Are speeds...

I bought one of these earlier this week. I plan to plug in a pair of mini-PCI 802.11 cards I have sitting around and to turn the whole thing into what I hope will be a vastly more powerful and reliable access point than the Linksys units that keep breaking on me. If I get any good at building...

Has anyone had any experience with ZFS? Fushigi, maybe? Or Gary H? I've been reading a bit about it, and it sounds really sexy.

Recently, I had the opportunity to build 100 identical systems. Strictly speaking, 94 of them were assembled. So all these numbers are out of 94: Motherboard: GA-M61SME-S2 Failures: 2 DOA, 1 moron-can't-listen-to-instructions-related (ATX12V in backwards, system powered on and smoke came out)...

Assert control over the entire break room and the office with a window!