CurlingSteve

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Posts posted by CurlingSteve

  1. I find Google Earth's search has been giving reasonable directions.

    But (obviously/likely anyway) those are the same directions you get from Google itself.

    Then again, I do like "flying" the path to see where I'm going.

    The best mapping/directions I've experienced is DeLorme's Street Atlas 2003.

    That, combined with an EarthMate USB GPS dongle is fabulous.

    It plots my route (on a laptop on the passenger seat), gives voice instructions, and so on.

    It even recalculates my route when I go "off course" to lead me back on the path.

    I also have Street Atlas 2006, but I prefer the older (2003) interface.

    (Although i will admit I haven't given 2006 a fair road test).

  2. While it's possible, I doubt your information was stolen by someone hacking your computer to find the information.

    Unless you have lots of ports forwarded/exposed by the router and firewall your computer's information should be safe.

    In spite of your precautions, I'd bet you got "spoofed" or ended up sending information on a non-secure channel regardless of what the site might have "promised".

    You might want to alert your credit card company that your account may have been compromised.

  3. I use (and love) the WRT54G, it's been the most reliable and stable router I've tried.

    And the older models (check the serial number) run Linux, and can be enhanced with third party firmware.

    While I am currently running with "stock" firmware, I've tried several of the enhanced packs and they've run well.

    Sveasoft has what most folks feel (myself included) the best upgrades around.

    Keep in mind, newer WRT54G routers either don't run Linux or won't accept these modifications.

    Take a look at a few of these Google links for more...

    Google - Linksys WRT54g QOS

  4. No problems with the current updates (on 2 different laptops).

    And while I hate IE7, it too is working properly.

    Apparently "for security reasons" IE7 isn't as customizable as IE6, as in rearranging buttons and bars around.

    A couple of RegEdits help, but I'll miss IE6.

    Then again, I use Firefox for virtually everything, so I really don't care about IE7's "flaws".

  5. First check the cable from the card to the monitor and its connectors.

    In my experience, 9 times out of 10 that's the source of the problem you describe.

    If the connectors are firmly attached and clean, it may be that the cable got pinched and some wires are shorted.

    Next, try the monitor on another machine.

    If the monitor behaves on the second machine you can rule the monitor out.

    Try a different monitor with the card.

    If that works, the card should be ok.

    If you get this far, the only other thing I can think of is the driver for the card.

    If you updated the driver, roll it back to a previous version and see if things work.

  6. "No Icons or Start Bar" tells me Explorer.EXE either isn't loading at all, or hasn't finished loading.

    Next time, when you CTRL-ALT-DEL (planning to log off then back on) take a look on the Processes tab and see if Explorer.EXE is running.

    -------

    Do you have a lot of icons on your Desktop?

    I'm wondering if all that time is due to an icon cache rebuilding or loading up.

    -------

    Have you tried booting to Safe Mode?

    If so, does the Desktop still take "forever" to load?

    -------

    What happens if you boot normally, but let it take a long time (say 20 minutes).

    Will the Desktop/Start Bar come up if you wait that (unreasonably) long?

    I'm wondering if you let it fully reboot that way a couple of times that XP may work its way past the problem.

  7. For a few systems where trying to hit F8 at just the right time, that BOOT.INI edit is very handy.

    Instead of trying to catch teh "F8 window", hitting any key will allow you to select Safe Mode from the Boot options list.

    I suggest editiong the Timeout from the default 30 (seconds) to 3.

    That way there's a reasonable window to strike a key and casually select the mode you want to boot to.

    But it counts down fast enough that you don't feel like you're waiting "forever" when you want a normal boot.

    MSCONFIG's BOOT.INI tab can change the timeout (and other boot options) if you don't want to use Notepad.

    FYI, This is the BOOT.INI I use, which includes booting to the Recovery Console.

    [boot loader]

    timeout=3

    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

    [operating systems]

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Safe Mode" /fastdetect /safeboot:minimal

    C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

  8. I was fooling around with RAM-disks at one point to use them for temp file storage, etc.

    But the RAM disks appeared to the system as a hard drive, which System Restore insisted on including in its snapshot.

    When the RAM-disk was cleared and rebuilt, say on a reboot, the Restore Point(s) were rendered invalid and unusable.

    I used BartPE to copy off valid Restore Point sets so I could reload them after fooling around.

  9. Well, unless your beer is pasteurized there's no boiling or high temperatures involved.

    While distillation is a high temperature (sometimes) process, most beers get their alcohol from fermentation (yeast converting sugars to alcohol).

    And the grains are often grown with manure (organic fertilizer also known as sh*t) in the soil.

    And don't condemn the entire E. Coli race because some members cause sickness.

    Your body requires certain E. Coli strains to function, you'd be dead without them.

    That said, let me think...

    Beer or water, beer, water, beer, STOP THERE!

  10. You'll get a feel for assembly programming with any of those assemblers.

    And the concepts for 16 bit programming apply to 32 (or 64) bit as well.

    It's more a case of how small you need to break a task down to than anything else.

  11. Of all the nights for my cable to be out!

    But it came back on in time for the last half hour.

    And now with A&E rebroadcasting the earlier days in 4 hour batches, I'm in heaven.