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  1. Mercutio

    Suggestions for speeding up a Vista laptop

    A lot of the excess is coming from some new security features. Disk-space-wise, Vista keeps a secure copy of every executable on a PC, which can require a substantial amount of disk space. Vista also does a lot of very aggressive caching of files in RAM, which in theory should make things faster...
  2. Mercutio

    Thinkpad, worth the upgrade?

    I have an amazing difficulty imagining life with a notebook as a primary computer. I probably would've built myself a desktop and limped along with faster drives and a real screen until I could've gotten the "no compromises" notebook from China. I really don't think there's anything wrong with...
  3. Mercutio

    Blu Ray on the computer: Anybody done it yet?

    I rented "The Golden Compass" but I don't see any reason to own it. The only Disney titles I'm genuinely interested in are the Fantasia discs. And honestly, for a cartoon, I don't really see a difference in quality for being DVD vs. HD. Digital Playground has some porn titles in Blu Ray, but...
  4. Mercutio

    Larger LCD Monitors

    I got in a long argument a few weeks ago with another "techie" who swore up and down that widescreen represented an IMPROVEMENT, based on the argument that the 16:9 screen would have more pixels than "one size down" in 4:3. Apparently that's the monitor manufacturers' claim. They show pictures...
  5. Mercutio

    Firefox 3 beta

    One of my favorite Extensions is not supported by its original author any more. I have to turn of the Extension security checking to get it work. This makes FF3.0 bitch at me when I start it up. Which will be a problem every 60 - 90 days, I guess. I'm going to back up all my open tabs on all...
  6. Mercutio

    User Outlook inbox is empty?

    Is she delivering to Exchange or to her PST?
  7. Mercutio

    Blu Ray on the computer: Anybody done it yet?

    The main problem with Blu Ray is that the library available to date completely sucks. I have two drives (a burner and a player) and two movies (Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2). I use PowerDVD8. The licenses can be had on Ebay for about $5. I have it working on Server 2003, so I imagine that it...
  8. Mercutio

    Connecting a PDA to Exchange Server

    I completely hate myself for mentioning, but Windows Mobile smartphones normally ship with Office Mobile Edition, including Outlook Mobile. I've tested Exchange installations with it and it pretty much does Outlook stuff - it syncs Calendar, Email and Address Book and generally behaves the way...
  9. Mercutio

    Suggestions for speeding up a Vista laptop

    For reference, a Celeron 430 (1.8GHz) on an i945 with 1GB RAM and a Seagate "AS" 7200.10 (i.e. total slug) will score between 2.0 and 2.2, with "Windows Graphics" as the lowest score. "Gaming Graphics", amazingly, is higher. I don't know what the deal is with score variations, but I see them...
  10. Mercutio

    XP SP3: What's The Word?

    I've deployed it on about 300 stations so far. I only had one issue, and that came from a spyware infection rather than a problem with SP3 itself. I'm told by people with older machines (P4s, basically) that there's actually a subjective performance benefit to installing it. I did 75 Vista SP1...
  11. Mercutio

    Is Ubuntu the nix that finally brings Linux mainstream?

    Ubuntu can install from Synaptic. You certainly don't have to use the command line to install apps.
  12. Mercutio

    Thinkpad, worth the upgrade?

    He may have been looking at a vendor web site rather than directly at Lenovo's. XP Pro is a $22 upgrade from Vista Home Premium, which is what ships on Thinkpads by default.
  13. Mercutio

    Thinkpad, worth the upgrade?

    My current Thinkpad T61 is an absolutely top of the line model, tricked out, every available option except the integrated camera. C2D 9500, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, 14" screen. The machine clocked in at about $3000 with a 3 year warranty. Thankfully, I wasn't the one buying it. Lenovo is no longer...
  14. Mercutio

    FairTax

    So people who for whatever reason are wealthy should not have to contribute in any greater amount to the well being of their country than those who live in trailer parks and eat ramen noodles five nights a week, and that's what "fair" is? 'Cause I would say that's unbelievably, moronically selfish.
  15. Mercutio

    FairTax

    That's not fair either. That's the opposite of fair, since it would put the highest burden on those least able to pay.
  16. Mercutio

    Hot Deal: 4GB Corsair USB Flash Drive for $99 AR

    JFV10. They're slow for copying little files, but do very well with larger ones.
  17. Mercutio

    FairTax

    A lot of the unemployment issues have to do with their immigrants as well. France offers citizenship to residents of its former colonies (eg Algeria), who come for the promise of a better life, but find out that France doesn't have work for them. The end result of that is a bunch of pissed off...
  18. Mercutio

    You sucjk at Photoshop

    Watch the videos. They're funny.
  19. Mercutio

    42" HDTV recomendations?

    The PS3 is architecturally different from a PC. From my understanding, it's closer to how a mainframe works, with lots and lots of little execution units rather than a few monolithic ones. I'm not sure that a PC does have more processing power than a PS3, depending on the task. It's just...
  20. Mercutio

    Hot Deal: 4GB Corsair USB Flash Drive for $99 AR

    The Transcend 8GB model I like was on sale last week at Newegg for $32. I have two already but I bought one for each of my coworkers.
  21. Mercutio

    Hobbies

    Lately, since I don't have the desire or motivation to do anything else, I've been scanning the various craigslist metros for the most bizarre personals ad I can find. This has replaced my previous hobby of find the weirdest crap available on ebay.
  22. Mercutio

    Politics 2008

    The galling thing about the tax rebate thing is that it's not a rebate. We're going to be borrowing the money to do it (having already spent this year's tax revenues) and therefore we'll be paying interest on it until the end of time. Taxes realistically do need to go up. There is no way to...
  23. Mercutio

    Beverages

    Indiana finally got its first Jamba Juice last year, about 20 miles from where I live. I love the big fruity and expensive milkshakes. I stop in those places whenever I see one now.
  24. Mercutio

    Poll: Anyone like to cook?

    I use... 1 or 2 cans kidney beans 1 can "spicy" chili beans 1 can black beans or sometime no-fat refried beans 1 can of corn, drained 2 cans of stewed tomatoes 1 big onion, chopped fine 1 big green pepper, chopped fine Half a jar or so of jalepenos, or a couple fresh ones chopped fine A good...
  25. Mercutio

    Best Ingredient for Single Topping Pizza

    I've not found a dough I like well enough to do the make my own thing. California Pizza Kitchen frozen ones are pretty good though. I like the Megherita one best.
  26. Mercutio

    Beverages

    PUI tonight?
  27. Mercutio

    Politics 2008

    Fundamentally, there's almost no difference between Edwards, Clinton and Obama. The question really is down to voting for a white chick, a black guy with a funny name and the usual guy in a blue suit. But the way I see it is this: Hillary is not Bill. She's got a lot of skeletons in her closet...
  28. Mercutio

    Politics 2008

    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...
  29. Mercutio

    Spyware App Updates

    OK... Whatever this thing is, it's operating in Safe mode as well, right? That suggests it's either convinced Windows that it's a service that should start in safe mode, or it's convinced Windows that it's necessary to open or work a system file (usually Explorer.exe but sometimes WinLogon)...
  30. Mercutio

    FairTax

    That the French have issues with integrating immigrants into the culture that its native residents are taught to treasure really is not part of its social welfare programs. The programs themselves appear to be working well.
  31. Mercutio

    FairTax

    They already get patented drugs that they're allowed to reap vast, vast profits on for 14 years. Do you think that sum of money somehow insufficient? Do you think that 14 years is not long enough for a real-live breakthrough drug to net billions of dollars in return? We certainly could put a...
  32. Mercutio

    FairTax

    Yes. That is exactly what I'd like to see. Saving people's lives - or even saving them from mild discomfort - isn't something that needs to be mixed with a profit motive. Think about how hilarious life would be if you had to wave $100 bills in the air to get someone to come put out your house fire.
  33. Mercutio

    FairTax

    I don't think that it's an issue of the average person not being smart enough. Most people know they don't need a pill for "restless leg syndrome." I think it's indicative of corporate culture and priorities, and of a need to change the rules under which drug companies are governed. Everyone who...
  34. Mercutio

    Home Theater Parts

    Onkyo/Integra parts have been very good for me over the years but I will offer some caveats. 1. One of the things that attracted me to its products was a longer warranty period. I had some Sony ES-class hardware that spent more time in the shop or being shipped than it did in my home theater...
  35. Mercutio

    Poll: Anyone like to cook?

    Have we had a discussion on how to make a proper pot of chili? We should do that, because it is 1 degree F out today where I am and chili sounds good.
  36. Mercutio

    42" HDTV recomendations?

    That's not anything close to the same thing.
  37. Mercutio

    Best Ingredient for Single Topping Pizza

    Article on Regional Pizza styles. There continues to be no good pizza where I live. In fact, I have to say that I have been to three local restaurants that, in successive weeks, have held the title of "Worst Pizza I have ever had in my life." I'm not sure if it's a characteristic of the area...
  38. Mercutio

    You sucjk at Photoshop

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

    MAC vs Windows

    A bittorrent search for 'kalyway' is handy if you'd like to give Leopard a try... So anyway, if you want a non-black thinkpad (why?), you can take matters in your own hands. Or try these guys who have more classically inspired options.
  40. Mercutio

    Spyware App Updates

    Can you post a Hijack This log?
  41. Mercutio

    Hobbies

    I read comic books and science fiction and collect enough pornography that it qualifies as some kind of science project. :) And I build PCs and help people with computer problems on internet forums for my own amusement. That's pretty damned geeky. On the other hand, I've just described...
  42. Mercutio

    Multiple-office file server

    Nope. Server 2000 supports dfs (lowercase) just fine.
  43. Mercutio

    Spyware App Updates

    Run MMC. Add Snapin. Add Security Configuration and Analysis. Create a database (right click SCaA, Open Database) Select a baseline template. Choose "compatws.inf" Right Click. Configure Computer now. See if anything changes. What that does is changes all the Local Security Policies on your PC...
  44. Mercutio

    Spyware App Updates

    Uh, also, those problems aren't coming up in a spyware scan because, technically, they aren't spyware. They are a potentially normal configuration for a Windows PC. You need to be working with Killbox and Hijack This. It might do well for you to take a look at your \system32 folder for files...
  45. Mercutio

    Spyware App Updates

    More than likely, you've got either a set of registry hacks or a really hilarious group policy applied. A lot of crap from Freeze.com, for instance, installs a registry hack that removes the Display applet from control panel. If you have the basic workstation security template you might try...
  46. Mercutio

    Multiple-office file server

    NFS sometimes has issues with file locking when it's used in a distributed fashion, though those issues may have been specific to some implementations I've used. It certainly does work - and you don't need Solaris; Microsoft has been offering Services for UNIX as a free download for quite a...
  47. Mercutio

    Multiple-office file server

    dfs?
  48. Mercutio

    Spyware App Updates

    Windows Defender is positively the most useless security application in the history of EVAR. Anyway, if you look on the torrent sites, you will find that such tools do exist, usually as BartPE distributions... which can with only a little modification be made bootable on Thumb drives.
  49. Mercutio

    8x6 Tablet - $35

    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.
  50. Mercutio

    42" HDTV recomendations?

    Greg, upconverted DVDs are just DVDs with slightly fewer blocky artifacts on HD displays. Don't expect any miracles. In fact, don't particularly expect to notice any differences at all.
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