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I wouldn't even let people HAVE wireless keyboards and mice. Anyway, I'm low tech about that stuff. I've been on projects where full bar coding schemes tied in to MS-SMS with custom asset tracking databases and all kinds of other crap. I tag the box. I tag the monitor. In a few cases I might...

There's an issue with Google's EULA that's really nasty from a legal standpoint. Basically they claim some kind of IP rights (to index and datamine) on whatever you do through Chrome. It's a webkit browser, so it should be on par with Safari or Konq as far as security goes.

25 millibits per second is indeed pretty slow. m = milli (thousandths) u (well, μ, if that character shows up) = micro (millionths) M = mega (millions) b = bits, the standard unit for data transmissions B = Bytes Just feeling a little pedantic.

My folks have had a serious run of bad luck with fairly high end laundry equipment. They lost three ~$2000 washing machines in three years (all of them in the "it's cheaper to get a new one than get the old one fixed" category), and they also had a gargantuan $3500 25 cubic foot fridge that...

AMD announced some price cuts today that undercut Intel dual core CPUs with three core Phenom chips. The Phenom 8750 (3x2.4GHz) is supposedly going to retail for $135 now, which is in line or a bit less than the current low-end Core 2s. I realize most people don't have tons of need for that...

Ahem. $99 slow ass OCZ 32GB SSD Don't all click at once.

Modern Promise SATA controllers aren't any better. I have a 4-port PCI controller that I can't get to work on anything newer than an nForce2 or Intel i915, under Windows or Linux. At least the crappy $20 SiL controllers work when you tell them to.

At the moment I own nine 1TB drives and 12 750GB drives. Most of the 1TB units haven't entered service yet, but they will the next time I get a free day on a weekend (I will probably also own more 1TB units by then). Capacity is still the only thing I'm interested in. I really should invest...

Sage Software's Act 2009 lists a 1Gbit network connection as a minimum hardware requirement.

Spore was supposed to be one of the bestest games of all time. Several gamers I know have told me how completely disappointing it is. Basically, if you take the most retarded parts of a bunch of games you actually like, you end up with Spore.

And a muzzle. And hopefully a full-body cast.

Oh. I also use User Groups (usually defined as distributiongroups on Windows Servers) to keep track of who needs which application. So there can be, say, a Wordperfect group vs. a Goldmine group. This is helpful for communicating about potential software upgrades or concerns.

Documentation can mean whatever you or the client wants it to mean. I tend to be thorough. I tend to do documentation for my own benefit so I go pretty light on billable time for it. With that in mind: I start with a log book in the server room. This is the most basic document of all. I take a...

At least John is cheating on his wife with a member of the opposite sex, unlike some self-hating "family values advocates" I could mention. And for what it's worth, John's wife is terminally ill and they've known that for quite a while. He may very well have been having his affair with her...

... and the Comcast thing just gets worse. $150 a month for Business Service isn't so bad, really.

As I said before, Democrats aren't particularly good for adult entertainment. Wanna bet this time next week I have a news posting about Minneapolis hookers with more business than they can stand? Also, I wanna go to a strip club named after a Puccini opera.

Dell Ultrasharp displays all have USB ports. They're kind of handy for things like webcams, USB phones, thumb drives et al.

I built a box for my dad for a retirement gift. He's all happy because I can bring whole series' worth of TV shows over on a thumb drive instead of waiting for me to burn DVDs. He is not using BluRay, though.

I've got several Shuttle K45s doing various things, but they don't have 5.25" drive bays. My HTPC is sitting in an Antec NSK2480 nowadays, but of course that's $100 and doesn't include a motherboard, either.

Apevia products are usually pretty unimpressive. Cheaply made. Or at least they were a couple years ago.

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...

Lots of things will slow down an internet connection. Home routers generally do. So does antivirus software. This is why a lot of techies don't like or bother with Antivirus software.

I've seen them on woot a couple times.

Most of the time, the people I'm dealing with have been customers for years. Most of the time, their needs aren't all that complex. Right now I'm looking at taking two new customers on for the first time in literally years and I can't believe I'm bothering to do it. It's such a PITA to work...

Er, the above only applies when dealing with HD discs of various sorts. Everything else is just peachy.

The default device doesn't seem to "stick": On my setup, at least, my choices are to either output sound through HDMI or to not have sound at all. If I tell Vista to only use Default devices, I get no sound at all. Everything is OK if I'm 1. Using a DVI input rather than HDMI (which I am...

If you're using ATI cards on Vista, it's either a requirement or at least there doesn't seem to be a way to make it switch to something else and still play back properly. There's no control over it in PowerDVD, either; the "use SPDIF" option goes gray while dealing with HD content. Even worse...

The monitor's USB ports are affected by the power state of the monitor itself. I've found - to my dismay - that plugging my phone in to charge on a lot of monitors that have USB powers only works if the monitor is on and displaying something. Not in standby and not off. On a cell phone this is...

I've built and sold a few Phenom systems. Some of the lower end CPU + motherboard combos can be had for only a tiny bit more than what a Q6600 costs. The general argument isn't for the CPU, it's for the high quality onboard video and other motherboard features. AMD's current offerings are not...

I thought the only reason to look at Craigslist was to find the skeeviest "casual encounters" postings before the admins modsmack them. Which, granted, is pretty much the same thing as what sechs is describing, only with different merchandise. The only things I've ever listed on Craigslist have...

I suspect that savings in line with using a ~15% more efficient PSU can be had by properly configuring S3 suspend on the systems in question. My main issue with the PicoPSU I can see there being an extra labor cost above and beyond just buying a case with an efficient PSU in it, like as an Antec...

I have another issue. How the hell is it worth the return on investment to buy and install a $50 mini-PSU in a case that already has a fairly efficient power supply in it?

Why are you using IE at all in the first place? Anyway, here's a short list of things to do: 1. Get the hosts file from mvps.org. Copy it to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts 2. Download Spywareblaster, install updates and Immunize 3. Download Spybot, install updates and immunize 4...

The classroom machines I maintain use Intel boards (946GZs) and CPUs (E6300s), Optiarc burners and Samsung or Seagate hard disks, along with smaller NSK3380 cases, but they have been magnificently reliable for me. Were I building my fleet today I'd probably use 45nm E7200s or the cheaper...

According to Comcast the issue in my case is actually an extra-crappy SNR on my cable modem. The guy I talked to also wanted to know how I convinced a Comcast rep to provide business services to an address with an apartment number. Anyway my DSL option is a Verizon-provided line. Verizon billed...

Doesn't BES rely on Exchange, too? And for that matter, does Blackberry push the calendar and contacts?

Some of my clients are on a service contract. In other cases, I do the work anyway just because I don't want there to be a crisis that would reflect poorly on me.

Nothing I'm doing is making me rich. Had I to guess, I'd say that Fushigi probably has double the annual income I do (including his benefits etc), and ddrueding probably manages some in the same general ballpark with about half the hours worked. I'm not doing what I do for money, either.

My trainer job has no benefits beyond my salary, but the thing that makes my job as happy as it is, is that my schedule, barring extraordinary circumstances, is four 10 hour days or sometimes three 12 - 14 hour days. I was used to spending three hours+ a day commuting before I took the job, so...

My parents have an Odyssey minivan that they use for long trips and to haul their dogs around. They're planning a driving tour of the Pacific Northwest in a couple weeks. I couldn't believe they wanted to drive that distance given gas costs, but apparently the particular model they have does a...

My Element came used from Carmax with 6300 miles on it. I literally put it in a shopping cart and went "check out." It took about 10 minutes to do the paperwork when I got there. With a 100,000 mile warranty it was under $15k and the interest rate on my loan was only 3.5% or something. That was...

Did I say weeks? I meant years. I've been on the clock 27 of the last 48 hours and worked two normal 8 hour days as a trainer on top of that, and that's the way I actually like things. I can't quite get away with working from home. I usually associate "home" with "needing to look for more...

I will say that the last time there was a serious storm, and I was running my cable connection off a UPS in a blackout, I had a DSLreports speed test that showed 22Mbps to a server in Texas. So if you want your Comcast connection to be faster, just cut everyone else's power lines. :D

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. They've been doing that since the end of June, I think. Unless they're planning to get even more severe.

I got paid $500 once to delete duplicate records in a Foxpro database (40 seconds of typing a SQL command, basically). That was pretty funny to me.

The point of working the way I do is so that I do not have time to think about anything but the next place I am going to do work, or the next thing I need to get done. If I stop, depression takes over and then I can't get anything done in the first place. Since I've been doing things this way...

I got them to archive Inbox E-mails more than 24 months old. That's a victory, right?

You must be better at dealing with the constant stop and go around Chicago and the Suburbs than I am.

Not at the moment. Actually it's just at my apartment, so I suppose it might be an issue just on my segment or local box or whatever, but my connection has just sucked for the last few weeks and I'm too busy to bother with calling them. Last I read, Comcast's traffic shaping plan basically...