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I'm actually kind of stunned that MediaPlayer doesn't just use IE for everything by default, since it's so trivial to use the IE .OCXs to do Internet stuff. What is Microsoft going to do with Vista, where IE will supposedly be an uninstallable, optional component?

Acronis can be had for $25. Buy a 160GB drive for maybe $70. Buy a USB external case for $20. That is reasonable and it is EASY to set up. Make one full system backup and do daily incremental backups of the documents and settings folder, less some Temporary Internet Files/FF cache-type...

MSDN subscriptions are *SO* worth the money. I let my personal one lapse. Are they still doing the $300/year one?

.... it obviously wasn't a domain controller then. Playing with an E6300. Using the sucky stock cooling, I've taken it from 1.83GHz to 3.2GHz. It doesn't have much in the way of software loaded on it, but it's happily running 3DPipes and not overheating.

Why not just rip his CDs again in something that won't slap retarded DRM on them?

Get the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack. That will include everything he needs, unless he's listening to licensed .wmas or something. You don't want WMP downloading unfamiliar codecs anyway. It's possible to construct a video file that will force WMP to download spyware.

My cat likes to run off with my glasses if I don't get up and feed him at feeding time. He usually just bats them around the floor a few times but this time they are not anyplace I can find them.

If you are, good luck finding one. They aren't easy to come by.

My cat stole my glasses. I cannot see and I have been feeling around for them for hours now. This sucks.

Yes. Lots.

Except for the DRM...

Why didn't you have a redundant system in the first place? Didn't you have your Directory backed up? Couldn't you restore to another machine, even temporarily? If I had to spend roughly 20 hours doing emergency service on a client site, there's no doubt in my mind I would lose that client...

He's probably dealing with local retail pricing. He may not live in the US. And he may not have a credit/debit card for ordering things off the internet. US$300 and Newegg.com would buy something close to top of the line from nVidia; a 7900GT could be purchased with enough left over to buy a...

What? Having a system that's too complex to actually repair?

I've heard of Zimbra as an Outlook/Exchange replacement. It's web based. It's dirt cheap. It scales well. It is a LAMP app and it is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about. In the past I would probably have recommended HP Openmail, which was a drop-in Exchange replacement (including...

The Exchange/Outlook system only seems better until you realize the fantastic amounts of money your company is throwing at just continuing to use Exchange and Outlook.

There's such a thing as iCal for Calendar sharing. It's a standard protocol and clients exist that handle it. Vista comes with one. Sunbird is another. Yes, Thunderbird *does* do what most people need. Most people need access to E-mail. Not to Notes or Calendars or weird IM systems or whatever...

Almost everything Telarc releases is worthy of a listen, really.

I don't bother. I teach users how to create and weight their own dictionary and weighting and let them work it out. Usually there are very specific things that annoy people and most think spam is just a fact of Internet life. I haven't had anyone step up to demand I fix all their spam, so I...

I usually use Spamihilator for people with retarded E-mail programs.

I'm playing with the RTM Vista Ultimate build 6000 now (cough). All the hardware on my Thinkpad T41 was detected and works perfectly. Sound and everything. First time I've seen that. My T41 has a sub-1.0 performance index despite 2GB of RAM and an 80GB 7200rpm hard drive. Vista likes to hate...

I think that it won't be too long before displays start coming with Digital Audio Projectors rather than speaker setups. Seems like a decent enough fit to me.

In other words, people are putting up with the limitations of their crap software because they paid for it and they don't know there's anything better. ddrueding, it's your job to show 'em.

Apparently this will be 9001. I stopped looking at the post count a while ago, fellas. I'm happier to see Tannin and Handy and P5 and ddrueding and time and i and Sol and CityK and Buck and Santilli and Clocker and Gilbo and jtr and paugie and Coug and everyone else upping theirs. I feel like...

There's a set of instructions for doing several versions of IE on the same Windows install here. Or you could load load one version or another in a virtual machine. I do almost all my software testing in VMs these days. Makes life a lot easier. IE7 CSS support seems to be touchy and/or crappy...

#1 matters a great deal in a lot of circumstances. It's not a "slow computers" issue so much as a "Why doesn't your mail program show that bit of text in the floating, square-margin textbox I so clearly used?" Those capabilities should not be present if not everyone can use them. #3 becomes more...

William Byrd - Mass for Four Voices, Ave Verum Corpus (Motet) Glass/Eno/Bowie - "Heroes" Symphony Eno - Music for Airports Rachmananinov - Vespers I have plenty of time to listen to music today, since I'm trying to figure out just how pathetic Vista (RTM) is on our current classroom PCs. From...

I do not think so. BTX has been killed? Really? When did that happen?

I will say that the warranty on $250+ cards is often "Lifetime" or 5 years or something similarly ridiculous. I got into an argument with someone who works for BFGTech (BFGTech is a local company) and one of his counters to my "Everything nVidia is an utter pile of shit" argument was that they...

My problems with Outlook: 1. Defaults to using MS Word as an Email editor. This is like using an Uzi to kill mosquitoes. Particularly annoying for those of use whose email programs are text-only. 2. Improperly places new content in replied messages above any quote in a reply. I strongly prefer...

I've had *ONE* ATI card fail, going back as far as I can remember. It was a Radeon 9600 or 9700. They shipped my replacement back from Canada Next Day Air and there was a handwritten note in the package that explained what was wrong with the old one and that I shouldn't ever have it happen...

It's all about the fact that HDCP wants "single trusted source" for everything. I have a feeling that it'll be a while before our options are what they actually should be.

Apparently, All-in-Wonder was one of the first things to be tossed after the ATI/AMD merger. So... no, it won't be that.

I dimly recall needing a patch to install it. Or you can just play in a VM. I bought Interstate '76 when it came out only to find that it won't work if you have more than one CD-ROM in your PC. I only recently got around to putting it on in a VM. It plays, which is more than it did before.

Really? I heard it on the 1st while the people at the drugstore were taking down Halloween stuff. Anyway, here's my random thought for the day: 99% of web sites do not understand the point of the Internet.

Hint: If you teach people to use a decent mail program - one that doesn't have its own programming language, people won't use Outlook. But back on topic, proper mail systems use standards-compliant SMTP for mail exchange and offer IMAP or even plain old POP3 for delivery. I can use any E-mail...

At the beginning of the year, I read something about Intel engineers building an inexpensive ($25-ish) and utterly reliable watercooling rig using off-the-shelf parts. The article suggested it might be available in the near future, but of course I've heard nothing about it since.

After a considerable amount of thought, I believe the appealing thing about the music I heard was its resemblance to the light but complex jazzy stuff I remember hearing in a couple really nice department stores my mother used to frequent when I was really little. Which is probably not what they...

Try it with surround. It'll be much, much easier.

I'd be able to use a proper E-mail program and a maintain a proper E-mail storage system (IMAP) for them. That's the difference.

One of the things that I've seen since Shrub took office is a slavering devotion to the White House version of reality. Bush has gotten a pass on dozens of issues that, had they taken place under Clinton, would've led to congressional hearings and unhinged conspiracy theories. The Washington...

I seriously can't believe it's useful. Can't. If I saw an adult doing it, I would laugh at them. Anyway, there are three acceptable forms of communication. 1. Face to Face. Duh. 2. Phone. One I'm not terribly fond of. I actually dislike talking to voice mail systems, too. 3. E-mail. There are...

I think he's going to try to peddle it to one of his other contractors or employees. He really isn't savvy enough to sell it on ebay.

Two of my favoritest games are "Master of Magic" - which I still play pretty regularly, and "Alpha Centauri", which I play less often because it's a longer and harder game. I really like Alpha Centauri for the sweetness of being able to design military units. I like the idea of having to...

I have a very wide selection of Microsofty Ebooks. Probably a good thing to bone up on for an IT support guy. PM me if you need anything, i.

Freaks! All of you!

The P180 has 6 internal 3.5" bays with space for the grommets and stuff. For one of the two I have, I had one of my students fabricate a 5 (3.5")-goes-into-3 (5.25") tray so I could place additional drives. At a minimum you could put in 3 more drives in the 5.25" bays. Who needs a DVD burner...

Customer of mine has a Dell Latitude C400. He's had it 3 years and it's NEVER been out of its dock. 3lb. laptop used as a desktop. It's cosmetically perfect. It's a 1.2GHz P3 system, 256MB RAM, 30GB hard drive. And it weighs 3lbs. The guy can't find the CD-RW or floppy drive it came with. No...

I'm still having trouble with the idea that people send text messages to begin with.

Civ 4 is buggy and stupid and Civ 2 or Civ 3 are just better games. Or Alpha Centauri, best of all.