Microsoft has quietly released a RC build of Vista SP1 to the public. You can get it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb738089.aspx I installed it and did notice a small performance increase overall, but boot time
seems longer. I had a “Crash” a few days later where my screen was black and only the cursor was shown. I had to reboot to clear the problem, but other than that it seems an improvement. Again, I suggest waiting for the official release. Note that according to the readme you will have to uninstall this RC1 before installing the final release. The install took about an hour(!) to complete. One of the benefits is that if you have a system that is not activated, it will allow you to continue to use the OS, but will nag all the time instead of putting you into a reduced access mode.
Archive for December, 2007
Vista sp1 Release Candidate available for download
Posted by presson on December 27, 2007
Posted in Administrator, Main, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Phew! We’ve survived the practice test – Christmas.. Now for the final: New Years Eve!
Posted by presson on December 27, 2007
Those of you who know me know we throw a big New Years Eve party; we have 
folks of every age and from the various facets of our lives. It’s a ton of fun, and so far we’ve not had anyone get out of control (holding breath..) If you know someone who tends to get too happy, have them watch this hilarious
video a friend sent me. http://www.funnieststuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=657
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, Useful info | 1 Comment »
Happy Holidays to all ….
Posted by presson on December 24, 2007
My best to you and your family. If you stuck at home, check out some games to pass the time: http://www.miniclip.com/games/snowfight/en/
Posted in Fun Stuff, Games, Main | Leave a Comment »
Aluminum + Gallium + water = Hydrogen +Alumina
Posted by presson on December 24, 2007
Here is a discovery that allows on-demand production of Hydrogen for full-cells. 
Posted in Main, Technology | 1 Comment »
Simple way to increase efficiency of Solar Cells?
Posted by presson on December 24, 2007
http://www.physorg.com/news117290444.html
Shape them in a “V”
Posted in Cool, Main, Technology | Leave a Comment »
The Retroencabulator
Posted by presson on December 17, 2007
If you don’t know what a Retroencabulator is then you haven’t seen Rockwell’s video 
on their new product line. If you aren’t laughing at the end of the video, then you probably don’t speak/understand English: http://www.flixxy.com/rockwell-automation-systems.htm
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Office 2007 sp1 – A plethora of crashes
Posted by presson on December 16, 2007
(updated with screen shot)
I was happy to see that sp1 was available for Office 2007, as typically office patches are tested well. So far I’ve been very unhappy with the stability of Outlook 2007 after sp1. I constantly have “painting errors” where outlook’s task bar on the 
bottom of the screen is shown on top of my quick launch bar. I move my mouse over it and the quick-launch icons are painted properly, however, whenever this happens I am no longer able to pull up the outlook window. Vista shows the animation of minimize & restore, but no window is ever shown. The only way to recover is to right-click on the task-bar and select close. It happens 1+ times a day, which makes it incredibly annoying. Prior to sp1 this never happened. I’ve seen two other problems, but they happened only once each. I found another article talking about another known problem with no fix: http://techlogg.com/content/view/468/
Posted in Administrator, Main, Technology | 3 Comments »
Adding Search Providers in Internet Explorer 7.. and bypass some Internet Filters
Posted by presson on December 15, 2007
IE7 comes with a built-in search bar on the right of the address bar. If you pull down the right arrow, there is an option to choose where a search should occur. I use Google mostly, so I change the default to Google. There is also another option ” Find more Providers” which will allow you to add Ask.com (you can choose to eliminate any trace of what you searched for – which is good for looking for Christmas Gifts), or eBay, Monster, Amazon, Facebook, MySpace, Expedia, etc. You can also add your own provider, such as “http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=TEST“, which can be then used to bypass Internet filters in locations that have sites blocked. Use this knowledge wisely or you might want to monitor you user’s activities to see if they are already using this trick.
Posted in Administrator, Main, Technology, Useful info | Leave a Comment »
Super Mario Brothers – Can I count the ways?
Posted by presson on December 13, 2007
A collection of videos for your viewing pleasure of people who’ve taken the song stuck in the brains of millions and brought it to a new level..
The one that started it all:
There are tons more.. these were the best of.. and as an added bonus: I threw this in ’cause it’s funny!
Posted in Cool, Fun Stuff, Main | 1 Comment »
Engineers – look away fast..
Posted by presson on December 13, 2007
Now that’s funny.. 
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, Technology | 1 Comment »
Copter Game part Deux
Posted by presson on December 13, 2007
The Copter Game link is one of the most popular on the 
site, so I thought I’d follow it with an updated game for your playing pleasure..
Posted in Fun Stuff, Games | Leave a Comment »
"w00t" crowned word of year by Merriam-Webster
Posted by presson on December 12, 2007
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, Technology, Useful info | 2 Comments »
Microsoft is giving Windows Vista away for FREE for your feedback..
Posted by presson on December 12, 2007
Update: this is deadYou don’t see this everyday.. If you are dead-set to get Vista ( if you have XP 
don’t,) or want to upgrade to Ultimate here is your chance. You will have to fill out surveys, but to me seems a small price to pay: http://wfp.microsoft.com/
Posted in Administrator, Cool, Deals, Main, Technology, Useful info | 1 Comment »
Microsoft Releases Windows XP sp3 RC1
Posted by presson on December 12, 2007
There is a lot of buzz about sp3 for Windows XP. If you haven’t upgraded to Vista, 
you might want to check this out. NOTE: this is NOT the final release, so only install this if you are ok with running beta software. One of the benefits touted is a boost in performance of the OS. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68c48dad-bc34-40be-8d85-6bb4f56f5110&DisplayLang=en
Posted in Administrator, Cool, Main, Technology, Useful info | Leave a Comment »
Credit Freeze available for Identify Theft Victims
Posted by presson on December 12, 2007
Two years ago I lost my wallet at a pre-game celebration for the St.Louis Cardinals. I was with a group of friends, and someone else picked up the tab, so I didn’t notice it was missing until I returned to my car. After a failed attempt to find it, I gave the manager of the business my business card. I called the credit bureaus and asked for a 
hold, which cost me nothing. At the time the hold was for 6 months. Thankfully no one tried to use my credit cards, but remembering what was in my wallet was difficult. I had the foresight to made copies of everything I had in case this happened, but I had two new cards that I nearly forgot about. (Note to self: whenever adding a new card, update my list of cards carried.)
Apparently now for a fee (gee thanks!), you can now put a freeze on credit reports to prevent thieves from opening new lines of credit under your name. They also charge to thaw your account, which the fees are different depending on the laws of your state. Identity theft victims can freeze for free in most states, but still have to pay to thaw. To me, I think it’s insane that a consumer would have to pay to freeze/thaw your own credit report, but at least now there is a official tool to fight thieves.
Posted in Main, Useful info | Leave a Comment »
Thoughts about Microsoft Vista ….
Posted by presson on December 7, 2007
I’ve been using Vista long enough to know that I like having the richer GUI experience, but overall I’m unimpressed with compatibility and performance problems – and a general lack of drivers for systems that are older than a few years. I agree with the advice that home users should order systems with XP installed. You must have the latest hardware to have an acceptable experience, at least based on my experiences with Vista. Hopefully by the time Service Pack 2 is released most of these problems will be addressed, but SP1 is still in Beta.
I found this humorous video about Vista, and it speaks a certain level of truth on the subject:
Posted in Blogroll, Main, Technology, Useful info | 1 Comment »
Follow up to Eating Healthy
Posted by presson on December 6, 2007
In a Previous Article on Eating Healthy I talked about how I approach consuming less
calories while still eating the kinds of foods I like. I found a site that shows restaurant foods presented with the standard “Nutrition Facts” that are on food products in the US. Here is an example for a Steak n Shake bacon double cheese burger. Almost 1000 calories! hmm.. Guess I better skip the shake? Lookup what you like and think if it’s worth it. I don’t think skipping the bottom bun will help much with this sandwich.(updated link) http://www.calorie-count.com/ Just type in the food in the search box.
Posted in Main, Medical, Useful info | 2 Comments »
For folks with Kids in the US
Posted by presson on December 6, 2007
Chuck E Cheese coupon thread.. at least pay a reasonable price when you go..
Posted in Deals, Useful info | Leave a Comment »
Liquid Sculpture
Posted by presson on December 6, 2007
Amazing real photos of liquid formations. This is something you have to see! I was amazed at what I thought was computer generated (I’ve never seen shots where there is a tilt to the splash. The artist varies several items to get the unique shapes. While you are there, check out how it’s done.http://www.liquidsculpture.com/fine_art/image.htm?title=BigHatLittleHead
Posted in Cool, Main, Photography, Technology | 1 Comment »
Understanding Einstein’s theory of Relativity
Posted by presson on December 5, 2007
This site can take as little or as much of your time as you are willing to give to 
understand time. For the quick tour, click on the links on the right for short videos, but there are many links that dive into far more detail after each animation is completed. http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/
Posted in Cool, Main, Technology | 2 Comments »
