YouTube Music Searchable Aggregator

Recordlective can find music groups on YouTube, list them and play from the list. I'm logging it here to remember it. Free and no registration needed to use.

My New VelociRaptor 500 GB

I was using an old 74 GB Raptor as a boot drive on a shared family PC and it is to hard to keep people from installing things on the smaller drive. Besides it was outrageously noisy, especially when it gets close to full. So when Newegg wanted me to buy a new 500 GB VelociRaptor for $79, I just couldn't refuse.

This this is fairly quiet and very snappy but you can sometimes hear a little chatter noise. It does almost as well as some SSD drives I've seen and has a lot more space. Don't get me wrong, I'd take a good SSD any day but I'm very happy with this drive for the money.

Plex Server a Hulu Delight

Things keep changing. The last time I tried to access Hulu on Plex it did not work if memory serves me. Vanilla Hulu is working fine right now and I am getting caught up on my Fringe episodes on my smallish big screen. Why do I care? Why not just access Hulu with the browser. Cool factor is probably the only reason. I do normally end up going back basics in the end. My gosh I hate the advertising.

Now if I could figure out how to rename a movie file and persuade Plex to find that file and forget the old one, I'd be all set.

Yes Plex streams fine over wifi online and from my server PC.

Plex is one easy and very cool server setup.

I really need to find a way to build a smaller HTPC instead of using my gigantic towers but living with a bunch of wires running all over appeals to my inner geek.

Front Panel USB 3 Add-on Works Great

I had installed a new motherboard into an old Antec case. No front panel USB 3 back then. So I bought a Mediapc 5.25" All-In-1 kitchen sink add-on. Very please with the USB 3 performance. Front panel audio doesn't work, no surprise here. When does that ever work? Anyway, it is not worth fooling around because I would use USB headset anyway. SD card reader works. Have not checked eSata yet. But USB 3 is a win.

Company of Heroes Is Still A Great Game

I enjoy real time strategy games. When I play them I can't think about anything else so it is the great escape. I stick with the good ones long after others get bored with them. I also do no online gaming so that further limits what interests me. I like my games like my movies, things need to blow up and people need to get shot.

I started with Civ2, which is turn based, but after finding Rise of Nations, a real time based, I lost interest in turn based. Rise of Nations and its successor, Thrones, are terrific and I love everything about them. There are so many variations that I never got tired of it. Company of heroes is similar and I have been playing it to death for months. Good news is you can buy Company of Heroes Anthology for around ten bucks and it has all the upgrades. It has a strange install sequence so Google how to do it. Basically you need to use two serial numbers (provided) and install them separately. I muddled through it. You need internet access to play it which freaked me out originally but was really not an issue so don't worry about it.

Angoville is the first battle and a great place to learn and try new tactics. I feel like giving a few hints so here goes.

Build order is important with strategy games. This involves resource building and unit building. You start with an engineer so normally you send your engineer to the far reaches of you territory and build a barracks. While you have your engineer selected and after giving the build command, use the shift key and give your engineer future commands. Normally you send him out to capture future points. Which points will be discussed later.

Build a second engineer and send him on a capture mission also. I use my 50 munitions to upgrade this second engineer with a flame thrower which makes him battle capable as well as a bunker killer.

After barracks is built, build infantry, jeep, infantry, infantry, infantry, bar rifle. You will almost never build more infantry so it is important to retreat infantry when they reach 2 (or one if watching closely). Replenishing a squad is cheaper than building new. If you lose an entire squad don't panic and build another. You may be in a position to not need more because vehicles are now more important.

A jeep is very important because of their sniper killing ability, range of sight, ability to confuse machine gun teams and speed of travel. I build one infantry first because they are stronger than jeeps and snipers are seldom built fast because they are expensive. If you have infantry with no jeep against a sniper, he will chew them up. With infantry alone against sniper, charge the sniper and chase him off, one shot will do it. Be ready to retreat. Jeeps will reveal a sniper far out and are fast enough to chase him down and kill him. Jeeps are easy to kill and need micro but when used with infantry they can be effective even against infantry. Charge motorcycles with infantry and stay behind them.

I let the engineers capture my resources and use the infantry to capture the enemy's resources. Sometimes the enemy's most desired resource is obvious and it will normally be oil. In Angoville it is the oil left of their camp. Other maps it is harder to determine what the AI can't live without and you end up running around more, but you can bet it is oil close to the camp. There are various ways to win but keeping the enemy from resources is always involved. You can allow them to get the two resources left of the camp and still win easily but it is good training to keep it from them. The more difficult it is to take it the better because they will throw everything at it and allow your engineer on the other side of the map to build untroubled.

I had an aversion to capping resources originally because of the expense and this is a mistake. Once I found that four infantry was enough, I found that oil is the next most important resource. But don't go crazy because you will not need great amounts of it. You just need it early. So grab high yield oil early and cap one of the highest yields to increase the yield. Look for the 16 on the strategy map and cap that one. Some maps have nothing but 5s so on these you will use more ground troops longer. I try to get close to producing 50 oil and 80-90 munitions. This will allow building my armed half track and maybe the armored car. Sometimes I will build a second half track instead of or in addition to the half track, thus making life easy.

Munitions are the next important and you will want to produce more of this than oil so cap two 16's if you can. The reason for this is off map artillery strikes. With the jeeps long range of sight, an off map artillery can take down a building in one round. I normally keep blowing up the building for making anti-tank guns. You will probably take down a couple of these before being able to send in an armed half-track. Anti tank guns are not that big a deal but make things harder for light vehicles and I don't want them taking down my machine gun bunker I plan on building close to their camp. If the anti-tank gun wanders out of camp and away from the protection of bunkers, they can be easily charged and taken by infantry. Angoville does not need tanks to will easily. Actually few maps need tanks unless you get behind and need more fire power.

Angoville is a good example of effective bunker placements. Protecting the area just north of the enemy will shut them down from that side of the map. Bunkers are not free so two or three of them is the max.

Once you are producing enough oil and munitions and have taken all you can and set up defenses build a supply yard and motor pool. You will know when it is time becuase you will have replenished all you infantry or you will be retreating like mad and need help. Now either build a half track or upgrade production depending on how things are going. The first production upgrade will enable you to accumulate manpower faster and gain experience faster. I grab this either just after or before building the half track, usually just after.

Send your half track around to replenish troop while building its guns. Then, if nothing better is happening, send the HT into the enemy camp. There will be no anti tank guns to bother you because you have been busy blowing up the motor pool.

Now you have several ways to go. I like building a couple artillery half way to the enemy and take them apart while ripping up their infantry with the half track. Another good way is to call in a squad of Rangers and arm them. Ranger's bazookas are great at taking down buildings. They are not as good at fighting infantry so keep them out of harms way. But you have the half track to replenish your Rangers if need be.

I like setting annihilation and high resources. There is no great advantage to high resources except for cutting down on the micro of selecting troop builds in the beginning. Just key up your 4 troop builds and let it go. You will need to add another infantry and the bar as resources allow.

I rarely build weapon support center because the units are expensive in manpower and I often take these units from the enemy anyway. I do love mortars. Tanks are fun but not necessary so this eliminates the motorized strategy. I find it slow and cumbersome anyway. If I allow the enemy to dump a bunch of stug units in (which will happen if you let things go on long enough), I will quickly build M1s and grab sticky bombs asap.  Airborne can be fun and the paratroopers are tough and deadly. If going airborne you will want to max out on munitions. Air raids and bombing runs eat up munitions quickly. But I normally just do the first one (what ever it is called).

Healing my vary with versions but in Anthology forget building medical buildings and healing, ignore it completely. By the time a unit would heal, if it would ever heal, the game would be over. Maybe if you have a machine gun setup backed up with sandbags and infantry, you could throw up a medical building but don't expect much. Losing health does not seem to reduce effectiveness.

This is a great single player game and I would expect it to be great in multi-player for those who play online.

If COH asks for your CD suddenly don't panic. Their server is probably doing something and not letting you on. This is irritating but give it some time before you screw up the install by trying to fix it. It could be a problem but maybe not either.

Ipod Without itunes Use SharePod

Downloaded SharePod in my unending quest to avoid iTunes. I have not used it yet. Runs as a stand alone app.

Carbonite to Mozy With No Regrets (yet)

Edit: I installed Mozy Home by mistake and it would not uninstall. Here is a 64 bit Mozy uninstall program link.

Carbonite Pro was a great solution for me. They had the only plan I found to backup multiple computers for one flat fee under a data limit. It started out at $120 per year for a 20GB limit. Then they changed plans and raised price but I was grandfathered in for one more year at $120. This year's renewal was confusing. One rep. said I could have another year for $120 but another said I would pay $180 or I could pay $500+ for three years because the price will be $500 per year (yikes). My search showed $229 for 250GB so would the real price please stand up? That is a lot of space, I will give them that.

As a backup side note, I always install a separate hard disk on each machine for backup. Cloud is a redundant, off site backup. But I also use the cloud backup to access large files from a distance. It is easy to grab a large current accounting file from the cloud backup. Grabbing that file in other free ways is painful.

Instead of trying to sort the price out, I checked Mozy again. They now have a multiple machine, single price data cap plan and it is cheap compared to Carbonite if their price will truly be $500 per year, which really seems impossibly high. So I chose the 10GB cap for $90 with coupon. Increasing the cap is easy and flexible. I will just use free 2 GB accounts to back up laptops and miscellaneous machines. I limit backups to docs, spread sheets, pdf, etc. and not pics or videos so 2GB is enough for those machines. Carbonite would win the GB per dollar argument but if you don't need the space, why pay for it?

Insufficient time has passed to know all the warts but I like Mozy Pro's control panel much better than Carbonite's. I can access each machine existing on the Pro account under the control panel and download that machine's backup onto another machine. With Carbonite I had to log into carbonite separately with each specific machine's user name and password. The last time I used Carbonite to download files from a backup, it would not accept a multiple file selection and I had to download each file individually. Then of course Carbonite engaged in the pathetic anti Rush Limbaugh add cancel, pandering to the lunatic left. They deserve retribution for simply not having a sense of humor. All things considered, I am happy to throw Carbonite out into the street.

I appreciate Mozy's Live Chat support.

Install GooManager For TWRP Replace Clockwork Mod

TWRP is a replacement for Clockwork Mod. It has graphic interface. An easy way to install TWRP is to use GooManager. Open GooManger, menu and select "install open recovery". My phone did not even need to reboot.

Here Are My Android Apps At The Moment

Android Apps That Work

Here are a few Android apps that work well on my Galaxy S3 (I am resisting the word awesome).

ES File Explorer
The file browser you need. This is not only a browser to copy, move, delete files from your phone's SD but is a simple as pie network server. Just search for the IP address of the Windows machine and enter it along with that computer's log in name and password. Now you can stream or copy files over to your phone. Or maybe you want to stream them. That works too.

AirDroid
Maybe you want to do all this wirelessly. Start AirDroid and enter the IP that AirDroid shows into your computer's browser, then enter the code that AirDroid gave. It is magical. GoodReader for iPad does this.

Moon+ Reader
This one handles mobi. Forget the other readers unless you want Kindle and Google also for text trapped inside their ecosystems.

MxPlayer
This plays the video streams over LAN through the ES server.

The list could go on for more standard apps ...

You Version - Great Bible Program

http://www.youversion.com is a great Bible program. There is an app for iOS and Android which work well for Bible in a year reading schedules but I also enjoy the website on PC. The ESV translation of the yearly schedule has a pleasant audio function when I don't feel like reading. Whether on tablet, phone or PC, there is no excuse for not completing a Bible reading in a year. (If you thought about having an excuse.)

This is no heavy duty Bible study program but for quick access and devotional reading it works fine.

Audio stops on iPad

I still can't keep track of what iPad app will continue playing audio when out of focus. The Google reader app will not but if you play audio through reader in Chrome it continues to play. So I am yelling! Can't wait to try a Nexus tablet. I'm ticked at Apple's law suit and will not buy another Apple product. There are so many reasons to dislike this company. Yes, I'm in a bad mood.

Edit: This is not as big an issue once you get to know which apps do and do not continue to play in the background.

Problem Steps Recorder

Problem Steps Recorder

Is someone trying to explain to you what is happening but you don't get is? Or would you like to make a little movie of how to do something on the computer instead of taking for ever explaining it to people who just don't understand?

Simply open the start menu and type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file ready for emailing.

This and other tips are found here.

SPH-L710 Galaxy S3 My Favorite So Far & Rooted

Galaxy S3 is my favorite phone so far. I finally decided to root Android for the first time. I followed this guide and it worked fine. Rooting instructions has several instruction steps but this method is not difficult. I put this off because it looked like too much work, it was not. I am currently on 10/23 and  beyond now. Tips are at the end of this post.

This video tutorial is better. The Odin version is newer and the auto reboot is checked and battery removal is not mentioned. I believe this older tutorial needs to be modified to the method of the first tutorial. I included it because it is such a good video and has basically the same info except for the modified instructions.

I installed the Wifi Tether for Root from the play store and it also worked fine on the Sprint network using the original factory ROM.

I have no clue what BusyBox does but I installed it. Here is a reasonable explanation. Sounds like it is not totally necessary for simple root.

Here is the XDA Sprint Galaxy S3 page

I am holding off on custom ROM ....

I am not quite sure what is going to happen when a new update is pushed out. Of course I did not back up the original so if an update breaks things it will be a session. The factory ROM appears easily available. I was going to wait for the Jelly Bean update before rooting but oh well ... I believe that the phone will not auto update over the air if rooted. If update is desired follow the link below or find the update modified for rooted device.

This covers updating if rooted.

How to Install the CyanogenMod 10 JB
here is the xda site
change log
possible camera improvement
Pandora 1.7 will not stream on 3G so need 1.6

I'm not touching this yet ..... when the bugs settle down I plan to try it.

Update: I installed the 8-15-12 Build: http://d-h.st/KOL and it works great. I am free at last!
The chat room says new builds should work by simply installing over old with no wipe necessary. Wouldn't that be nice?
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=gs3-sprint
channel= #gs3-sprint

What are the benefits of CyanogenMod? All the Sprint bloatware is gone. The interface is fast and crisp and the Samsung stuff is gone. I much prefer the Google voice commands over Samsung anyway. I did have one crash in two days and had to pull the battery. This CyanogenMod is still a preview but everything I tried so far has worked. Wifi hotspot works but root allowed that. Galaxy 3S stock is great but Cyanogen is faster and cleaner.

I just updated to nightly build 902. I downloaded on the phone, no PC required and booted into Clockwork. No wipe needed, just backup and install new mod over old then reboot. It has the new CyanogenMod boot screen, very nice.

I do love CyanogenMod 10.

There is a 5 second call answer delay before caller can hear you. This is supposed to be fixed with the 905 build, a welcomed fix.

905 installed. 3g didn't work so pulled battery and cleared the 2 caches. Now it works. I will use 905 until the forum reports some major release improvement.

I think each flash works better after giving it a day or two to settle in. At least it seems so.

Test from my basement. Forget it, I forgot to turn wifi off. If it's looks to good to be true ....

But I did get this, once, sometimes I can't even get 3G. I don't think it is a CM10 issue. There are too many variables to make judgements other than if it works, I am happy.

I just got this with build 910 from basement. Just moving the phone a couple feet will change the speed drastically in my basement.

Benchmark

Quadrant benchmark

910 is a good build for me. Pandora over 3G shows visually but I get no sound. 

Here is some information on corporate PRL (preferred roaming list). I have not tried it yet. Some say it helps speed and some say it helps roaming.

No. 25006 is the normal consumer PRL (currently). The corporate PRL is what goes out to phones on corporate accounts - accounts owned by corporations for company-owned phones. PRLs starting with 240xx are corporate. PRLs starting with 250xx go to everyone else.

get file here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31313444&postcount=5264

To install:

1. Download and extract prl file from zip

2. Place file on INTERNAL sd card

3. Make a copy of the file and name it "TEST" (TEST.prl)

4.. Make nandroid backup

5.. Flash TW rom

6.. From dialer hit ##DATA#

7. select view>>PRL Write

8. Hit write PRL and let phone reboot

9. Go back to CM10

Here is an interesting list of apps for the Galaxy S3.

For what it's worth, the external SD is not seamlessly used. If you must direct programs to us the external SD, a directory bind could work.

Tips:
1. LTE handoff try "home only" under "mobile networks"
2. Clockwork Mod is fine but I use GooManager and TWRP. Cyanogen 10 also has an auto update in "about phone" that will download nightly and use TWRP to reboot recovery.
3. Samsung USB driver
4. If you get an "open with this program" selection and make the wrong "always" choice do this to fix: Settings>Apps>All>Media Storage and "Clear Defaults"
5. If you want the stock Jelly Bean leak
6. Set up lan server in ES File Explorer
Find the IP of the computer on the network to which you wish to connect.
Enter that IP into "Server"
Enter user name and password for that computer
Display name is anything
Now when you tap the server, the shares on that computer will be listed.
You can now download files from the network shares.

7. AirDroid will allow you to access the phone files from a wireless computer.

8. If you want stock Jelly Bean go here and here.

9. Jelly Bean 4.2 stuff here all in one zip here

10. Change log
11. Flash for Jelly Bean 2011.1_11.1.115.11
12. On TW to fix data reception problems try dialing ##72786#
13. Interesting file manager to try.
14. Force roaming Roam Control
15. Things to rename for battery save found here.

I've jumped ship on CM10.0 because CM10.1 is the new nightly and has too many problems. FreeGS3 is a Touch Wiz mod and works great. I'm going to stick with it until CM10.1 is ready and then reconsider. The 3G radio works better in a TW rom.

TV Used AS PC Monitor Keeps Turning Off

Edit: As usual I will tell the solution first: change Windows desktop resolution. Video players and games will have their own resolutions.

My current frustration (I need to bury this piece of crap Vizio VA370M in the back yard) is my TV if used as a PC monitor keep turning off. I can't keep it on long enough to even experiment with settings. All the standard settings to keep the PC from sleep on the monitor/machine side are correct so it needs to be a setting on the TV which I assume does not exist.

I have found no help on line, and will record any solution I find here.

Let's try Vizio chat. I will print the results to these questions:


Do any firmware updates exist for VA370M?

TV keeps turning off when hooked to PC even though PC sleep settings are off.

ROKU sound distortion over HDMI


 Christopher: Thank you for contacting VIZIO Live Chat, the home of Entertainment Freedom for All.  This is Christopher in South Dakota. Have you ever contacted us before?
 Me: no
 Me: I assume you have my questions?
 Christopher: no firmware is available for this model. try re adjusting the resolution settings.
 Me: adjusting on the TV?
 Christopher: no on  the pc, start at the lowest setting and work upward.
 Me: I will try. Do you have any idea about the Roku/WDTV sound distortion over HDMI? I have two other Vizio models that work fine.
 Christopher: do you have other cables to try?
 Me: I have tried different cables, swapped end for end, tried composite and all the standard ideas.
 Christopher: does this happen with the other tv's?
 Me: No the others work fine. I have tried different HDMI ports also.
 Christopher: How old is this model tv?
 Me: I don't know, maybe 3 years.
 Christopher: the hdmi ports may be going bad.
 Me: I have tried HDMI combined with composite for sound but that does not do it. Limited setting on both TV and ROKU side so don't know if they are smart enough to determine where the sound is originating.
 Christopher: Here is the number to our repair technicians they will give you a diagnosis.
 Me: I don't see a number?
 Christopher: VIZIO does have two partner companies who are certified to perform repairs on VIZIO TV's.  You can reach them at ITI- (888)248-2708 and HD Repair- (800) 713-2671.
 Me: Thanks. Have a great day.
 Christopher: Thank you for contacting VIZIO Chat Support!  If you need our assistance again in the future you can contact us by Chat, Email, and Phone service.  That information is found on www.vizio.com.  Have a great day!

So .... I will try lower resolution for the monitor shut down problem.
OK, setting the PC resolution lower "fixed" the monitor shut down. This vizio has some problems with 1920 res. I got to 1280x768 and it still worked. At least I can keep the monitor on to troubleshoot.

Still no help on the Roku ... maybe the HDMI ports on the Vizio are truly broken.

DuckDuckGo is a secure search

We all love Google search results but may not want all the tracking. The tracking is probably harmless market research but if you have a Libertarian streak ...

DuckDuckGo is the answer plus check out the Bang search!
Why not default your search to DuckDuckGoog and get it all.

Does Fannie Mae Have You Mortgage?

http://www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/

If you are under water on your loan Fannie may come to the rescue. Look up you property here. This search needs to have specific info so it may be better to simply call your lender and ask them. If it is on letter or number off in how Fannie has it labeled, of course, it will not show up.

Reset Your Modem or Router?

My internet is slow, what can I do.

Charter or other Internet Provider (IP)
  connects to
Cable Modem (the IP's cable connects to the modem for internet signal, the modem is often rented from the IP and is their responsibility to keep working or replace. The modem has one in and one out connection to provide signal to one single computer or a router to distribute (route) signals to multiple devices. You can connect a computer directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable and run speedtest.net. This would eliminate the router and accesspoints and show if the modem works properly. In reality, if the wired internet speed is slow it is usually a modem or IP problem and not the router or access points. Modems, like all things electrical, may need to be unplugged from electrical current from time to time and be reset. If speed is slow try this first before calling IP. Disconnect power from both the modem and the router and wait 15 seconds. Now connect power to the modem. Then connect power to the router. This is all very simple.

Modem (disconnect power for a time to reset)
Router and access points (disconnect power for a time to reset)

Check your speed with some online speed test. Search for it by name "charter speed test" etc. Or use speedtest.net.

You should now know which piece of equipment is causing the problem and either call the provider or buy a new piece of equipment.

Why would I post this? So I don't need to write it again.

Check Amazon For A Sprint Phone Upgrade

I recently moved my Galaxy S2 down the food chain and upgraded to Galaxy S3 on Sprint. I did it at the local Sprint store for $250. Checking Amazon's price never occurred to me. Amazon has a Galaxy S3 Sprint upgrade for $99. But we do need to support our local store owners. Amazon pays no tax in my town and the guy is renting his store space from me. You may not have such loyalty feelings and who could blame you.

The Galaxy S3 is the best phone I have had. When Jelly Bean comes out it will be even better, so I'm told. The Sprint network is challenged in my two home areas but the data package and pricing is too good to pass up. Our local store says Sprint is adding 100 new packages a day in our small town area of 11,000 population and the network can't keep up at the moment. Maybe things will get better because Sprint is trying to upgrade its service.

Samsung is simply the Android phone king of the hill right now.

WDTV Forum Is World's Worst

Edit: The sound problems I experienced was indeed the HDMI incompatibility with the particular Vizio TV model I was using. I don't know why the WDTV worked with the bad TV until I updated the firmware but once things went south, I could never retrieve it. I grabbed another Vizio we had and both Roku and WDTV work fine. Now we have another thing to worry about when selecting a new TV, will it work with streaming boxes. I suspect the newer and better models may have improved HDMI. Below are my struggles.

I have a WDTV Gen 3 and installed the new (1.10) firmware update. Henceforth the sound had echoes and was generally quite terrible. So I went to the WD community forum and registered to ask for suggestions. While the guys on the forum were helpful and friendly, the forum itself holds a world's record for crappiness. I had to register three times to make three posts. Finally it remembered my log in with the third name/password combination but, being a craptastic record holder, they have an equally terrible Captcha security that is unreadable most of the time. I guess this is one way to hold down posting volume. But even if you miraculously discern the cryptic alpha numeric code, chances are great that you will be thwarted by an "unexpected error". I have yet to find a decently accessible forum community for the WDTV device. Probably the captcha requirement vanishes after a certain number of posts if you can tolerate the procedure long enough.

As to my sound problem, I rolled back to the previous firmware (1.09) and still had sound issues. I love the device which had been flawless up until the point of upgrade. I think it may have something to do with the WD being able to sync with the TV's HDMI. My Vizio model has such HDMI incompatibility with ROKU as to make ROKU unusable with this TV. Things finally straightened out after I tried the composite video (which was intolerable) and then went back to HDMI. Maybe it forced both the TV and WD to freshly negotiate a sync. This is only a wild guess but it seems to be working fine now.

This said, we do live in a world of digital coincidence. The router may have been doing something improperly, Netflix could have been wonky, or what ever else might have been causing the problems. The moral of the story is to not give up trying different options and combinations. This may have worked with the new firmware update but I'm not going to risk it. Version 1.09 works for me and I will avoid 1.10 unless something goes bad again.

These little boxes are nice but if you can use a computer for streaming don't bother with these boxes. But WDTV and ROKU, when they work, are great. When they don't, you are in for abounding frustration.

My Netflix stream is once again very high def. and the audio is crisp and clear.

There, I got that out of my system.

Oh, oh ... I'm hearing a little clicking/tapping sound. I may not be out of the woods yet.

Well, things deteriorated fast so I might as well do the v1.10 again, reset, unplug and fire up. Streaming just fine now. I'm wondering if I didn't have a grandson gaming and sucking up all the bandwidth? Time for extreme measures so I put the WDTV on highest priority QoS on my DSL router. Let's see if that helps. My MTU is 1462 which should be acceptable for DSL. My gosh, the picture is fantastic on this thing.

Windows 8 "I don't think so."

I just installed Virtual Box and the leaked RTM Windows 8. Yep, I hate it. At least that's done and I don't need to think about it again. Odds are slim that I will touch it again.

Then again it may be the Metro start page that I find useless and couldn't get over. Start8 from Stardock will dump that foolishness and help a return to sanity. There are certain to be a plethora of Metro killers down the road. Do I care? Not really.

Windows 7 As Virtual Router

Free and open source Windows 7 virtual hot spot. Why use it? If one notebook can get connection but another device can not, this could work for the second device. Two people in a hotel room, one with a notebook and one with an iPad. Now you can both be on line because chances are the iPad is going nowhere with the hotel connection. The virtual hotspot program wants to enter an auto start which I disallowed.

Or you can set the hot spot up yourself by following this.

VPN Provider

In case I want to use VPN
https://proxpn.com/

or this?
https://www.shrew.net/

AutoHotKey Script

Running the autocorrect script you may need to modify if using win+h for voice.

In the ahk search for #H and add ; to disable.

I need a place to keep some AutoHotKey script.

Great Hot Key List 

; IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT GETTING STARTED: Lines that start with a

; semicolon, such as this one, are comments.  They are not executed.

; This script has a special filename and path because it is automatically
; launched when you run the program directly.  Also, any text file whose
; name ends in .ahk is associated with the program, which means that it
; can be launched simply by double-clicking it.  You can have as many .ahk
; files as you want, located in any folder.  You can also run more than
; one .ahk file simultaneously and each will get its own tray icon.

; SAMPLE HOTKEYS: Below are two sample hotkeys.  The first is Win+Z and it
; launches a web site in the default browser.  The second is Control+Alt+N
; and it launches a new Notepad window (or activates an existing one).  To
; try out these hotkeys, run AutoHotkey again, which will load this file.

; http://xahlee.info/mswin/autohotkey_key_notations.html syntax list
; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJxteBFvuEU best video

; https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Hotkeys.htm
; https://www.youtube.com/user/klogeanders/search?query=autohotkey
; https://www.autohotkey.com/download/AutoCorrect.ahk (spell_check)
; Using Keyboard Numpad as a Mouse Script
; ^ = ctl
; ! = alt
; # = win key
; + = shift key

;`n (next line) ` is on the tilde key
; :: (runs command)
; ::xyz:: (auto correct)

;'n will force next line

;adding the letter o in the first :o: will eliminate space after line

:r: treats everything in the string as raw text "!"for example
; Examples
;::bla:: blahblah@hotmail.com (this is auto correct)
; #z::Run www.autohotkey.com
;opens a web page

;Repurpose function keys

;F4::Run "C:\Program Files\Open\Program.exe"

;return

;Open folders

;#1:: Run, Explorer "C:\Downloads" ;Win + 1

;return

#SingleInstance,Force

; Windows=# Alt=! Shift=+ Conyrol=^

; v1

CoordMode, Mouse, Screen

^+m::

MouseGetPos, x, y

WinMove A,, %x%, %y%

return

; not needed use Win own ctl + w or alt + F4

 ^q::Send !{F4} (closes current window)

;pin window on top

^SPACE:: Winset, AlwaysOnTop, , A 

return

;Run Notepad

^!n::

IfWinExist Untitled - Notepad

WinActivate

else

Run Notepad

return

;Run Notepad++

!n::

IfWinExist Untitled - Notepad++.exe

WinActivate

else

Run Notepad++.exe

return

;opens Chrome still open new chrome session not sure how to fix

#c::

IfWinExist chrome.exe

WinActivate

else

Run chrome.exe

return

; Convert text to upper

^u::                                                               

 StringUpper Clipboard, Clipboard

 Send %Clipboard%

RETURN

; Convert text to capitalized

+^u::                                                             

 StringUpper Clipboard, Clipboard, T

 Send %Clipboard%

RETURN

; Google Search select text - Ctrl + Shift + C

 ^+c::

 {

  Send, ^c

  Sleep 50

  Run, http://www.google.com/search?q=%clipboard%

  Return

 }

return

^!d::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, dd-MMM-yyyy

StringUpper, CurrentDateTime, CurrentDateTime

SendInput %CurrentDateTime%

return

^!0::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyy-MM-dd

SendInput %CurrentDateTime%

return

SwitchToWindowsTerminal()

{

  windowHandleId := WinExist("ahk_exe WindowsTerminal.exe")

  windowExistsAlready := windowHandleId > 0

  ; If the Windows Terminal is already open, determine if we should put it in focus or minimize it.

  if (windowExistsAlready = true)

  {

    activeWindowHandleId := WinExist("A")

    windowIsAlreadyActive := activeWindowHandleId == windowHandleId

    if (windowIsAlreadyActive)

    {

      ; Minimize the window.

      WinMinimize, "ahk_id %windowHandleId%"

    }

    else

    {

      ; Put the window in focus.

      WinActivate, "ahk_id %windowHandleId%"

      WinShow, "ahk_id %windowHandleId%"

    }

  }

  ; Else it's not already open, so launch it.

  else

  {

    Run, *RunAs wt

  }

}

; Hotkey to use Win + T to launch/restore the Windows Terminal.

^!t::SwitchToWindowsTerminal()

Gimp 2.8 Is Here

Gimp 2.8 is here. For Windows users this is the best place to get GIMP.

Anti aliasing is improved. I didn't like the text entry at first but like it now. The old way of text entry is still available but I have not reverted to it. Gimp 2.8 is very good.

Finding working plug-ins and extensions can be a struggle. This link provides and install program for many of the plug-ins in one package and claims to keep them up to date. Of course reinstall of the plug-in would be required. I was shy about using it and tried install the GAP portion, which is impossible to find anywhere else. GAP worked perfectly. Here is the full link:
https://code.google.com/p/gimp-extensions/downloads/detail?name=GIMP_Extensions_v2.8.20130215.exe

I has many plug-ins including G'mic. FX Foundry, liquid rescale, etc. I don't know if it installs Script Fu but I would dare let it install everything after my experience with GAP.

Creating a contrast mask works great if parts of an image are too dark or dull.
gaussian is 1% of average image size HxW/2x.01=gaussian amount

I think this is much better
I did sharpen with unsharp mask. Keep radius below 1 and raise amount

Same here but also added grayscale mask and sharpened after resize
He suggests selecting the foreground but I just dropped the opacity of the gray mask.
I lost some water color by not deleting the background from the gray mask.
I think the gaussian blur calculation helped also. Larger than I would have imagined.
This works wonders.

Here I selected and deleted the gray mask from the water and sky. It does look better.
This saves an unacceptable picture.

This is another method.

LAN Chat With Pidgin

Edit: I don't like it.

We have a small local network with three/four PC stations. I have searched for years for a good, solid and free way to chat. I can't remember all the different programs I've tried over the years but some worked on older versions of Windows and then faded away. I had given up and had been using Google but despite working well over the internet, it didn't seem to serve us very well locally. One of the drawbacks for us is Google Chat is tied to Gmail and when we had an employee change we needed to play around. I want the chat tied to that specific station, no matter who is using it and without the ever evolving creepiness of Google Chat.

One last time I searched and discovered how easy it is to set up Pidgin. You need to have Apple's Bonjour service set up which almost made me bolt, but everything has big memory now and resources are not a problem. File transfer works great also.

Here is a link to show how simple the setup is.

I like using a hot key to bring up the buddy list but you will need a third party plug in dll for this. Find it here.

Apple Ipad 3 WoW (at first, but then)

Edit: IPad can be a problem in multiple hotspot locations. On your next hotel stay, your iPad may be a $500 paper weight unless you understand a few things.

I will try to explain this:
IPad has a weak radio compared to most notebooks or phones. On Windows all radios are listed and you can just pick one even though it is a weak signal. Apple will list also but the list has fewer items due to the weaker radio and will not list these weak signals. Also if iPad has once tried to connect to a stronger signal it will want to return to that signal and chances of listing a weaker signal is even more remote. Removing my case didn't seem to help reception.

Physically go to where you may receive a stronger signal from the weaker access point. This may be as simple as stepping into the hallway. If the additional locations are listed fine. If not, go to "wifi" and "forget" the current location the go to "settings" "general" "reset" and reset the network. Hopefully IPad will now list the new location as an option. Once you connect successfully it should be remembered and you can go back to you room and still have connection.

Just to clarify, you may have connected through the access point last night in the hotel, but this morning that access point is bonkers. iPad will insist that that access point is the only one available and you will need to beat it into submission ... is that clear?

To check if something was totally trashed with the iPad, I set up a virtual hotspot with my Win7 notebook and iPad connected to that just fine. So we need a Windows notebook to use iPad in hotel rooms? At times the answer could be yes. This is not outrageous if one person has a notebook and the other only has an iPad. Hey, at least it works. This can be handy also if one notebook connects to the router but another can't. It may be able to connect to the virtual hotspot. Now you are both happy.

This network connection weakness may be less irritating when I get accustomed to babysitting but it is a weakness in the iPad. Will this keep me from buying a third iPad? Maybe. In the end I could be wrong about this whole thing but so far this has been my experience.

..........

All my tablet agonizing is finally over. I had finally decided to get a Nexus 7 Tegra 3 if I had to have a tablet, or maybe wait for a Nexus 10 if there ever is one, but my children gave me an iPad 3 for my birthday. I would never have purchased an iPad because of my disdain and revulsion to all things Apple, which I will forego denouncing here for lack of space and time. Well, you just can't take a gift back so I'm an iPad man.

Not that you could rip it out of my hands, mind you. The iPad is one slick machine. My phones are Android which is getting better with each new version, but iPad does everything so seamlessly and intuitively. Now I understand why everyone is so in love with Apple. (You will still never get me away from PC and I will have an Android tablet someday.) Honestly, I never believed I would be so impressed with a tablet. My wife has wanted a tablet and I, of course, could not decide what to get her. When I first got the iPad, I told her she could have it because I really had no use for a tablet anyway. Guess again. I will now need to buy my Wife an iPad.

The iPad starts almost immediately and navigation innovations are slick once you discover them (can you say five fingers?) . It has dual GHz wifi so it connects to either 2.4 or 5. The speaker is room filling and better than most laptops. This is hard to explain. I am not talking quality but several people sitting in a room can hear the iPad better than laptop speakers but I don't know why. Of course the screen is wonderful but all that is standard iPad bragging.

I did not expect Google information to be so seamlessly integratable with iPad. Setting up a Microsoft Exchange server to Gmail is easy so the native iPad apps for mail, contacts and every other app that uses your contact list work flawlessly. Google makes a search app for iPad that runs other Google apps, such as Google Docs, that is easier to use than accessing Google Docs on Android. What a trip. And the free Dragon dictation app is shockingly accurate. Just talk up an email message in Dragon and send it from the contact list that Dragon grabs from the exchange server. Dragon even got "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to the admiration of us all.

Would I rather use a "real computer"? Yes, but the portability and instant on of the iPad, without sacrificing functionality completely, does have it's application. No, I will not be doing a spreadsheet, but I can edit one. I will not be creating complex graphics, but I can take and construct some quick snapshot presentations. And all ordinary surfing, reading and entertaining is a walk in the park. We should expect all that. What I didn't expect is how everything works so extremely well.

The original gift was an iPad 2 x 16 because that was available but I grabbed an iPad 3 x16 to compare and decide. I am keeping v3 just for kicks and because I hate returning things. If the screen brightness is cranked up the battery drops faster but it is gorgeous. You don't need the screen turned up but it is nice to have if you want it. The v2 is lighter and felt as responsive as v3. We are keeping v2 also. If I were to buy again I'm not certain which I would get. I think I may save the $100 and go with v2.

iPad does not really multitask in the traditional sense. I like to listen to things while reading and this is inconvenient. Some apps will play in the background, Spotify, Tunein Radio. I would jail break the thing but don't want the hassle of finding old iTunes and not upgrading. I'm sure to find other hateful big brother Apple hairy handedness.

Downloading podcasts and finding them is a hide and seek adventure. They do not show up in "podcasts" "downloads" or "purchases". Video podcasts are in "videos" and audio podcasts are in "music" under "more". Eventually they may show up in "library" but maybe not, jury is still out. Library tab may not be available tab until things have been downloaded in iTunes.

The good news is that audio podcasts being played on iTunes will play in the background while you do other things. Just play and press the bottom button to close the program and iTunes will keep playing. I was trying this with a video podcast and the audio would not continue.

I like to listen to streaming audio while reading other material. Some third party application audio will contuse to play in the background, Tunein Radio for example will play, but some apps will not. The lack of true multitasking (whatever that really means) makes this all feel clumsy.

I may return to express some further ideas about my iPad. But for now I am pleasantly surprised that despite being a Windows/Android user, I feel that I gave up nothing having an iPad and actually gained something by having an Apple device. Maybe I should give iTunes another try? That would be going to far.

Stuff I need:
A stylus would be nice.
A case is a must.
Goodreader (I hate buying software, how Android of me.) Got it and works great to transfer files wirelessly to the iPad and read various file types.

SSDs are not created equal

I suppose the motherboard/controller makes some difference but SSDs vary greatly in performance. The disappointing Samsung performance is running on a 3GB Intel controller which could be the issue.

Here is my first one. It is in my notebook and I am very happy with it but it is not top shelf. The good news is it is a larger drive and I could feel good about installing some programs on it because I really don't want it to live forever. Real world performance from my user perception is pleasantly fast and responsive. My notebook is a decent Intel dual core so it was a good performer but this SSD really brought it to life.

My second one is a Plextor M3 Series PX-128M3 for $99 which performs much better. I have not timed the boot to Windows desk top but we are talking seconds. It runs on an i5-2500K overclocked to 4000 and the speed is blazing. 

My third and soon to be installed somewhere is a SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC064B/WW 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC. User experience reports are impressive if my luck holds. I am looking forward to the fun. I paid $64 from Newegg. They had a 256 for $190 and its reads are reported to be 700 vs 500 but the way I set these up I do not need that large a boot drive. Yes, the larger drives could be considered a "better deal" in dollars per GB but why pay for more than you need. I will probably symbolic link the program folders on this one in addition to the users folder even though it is large enough to have a good supply of programs in addition to the operating system. I'm still hung up on not writing to the drive.

Here is the Samsung and it is disappointing compared to the Plextor M3. It starts out fine but I don't understand the severe drop. Normally the speed variations are due to another program's drive access but both drives on the 3GB controller show large variations. The drive on a 6GB controller is constant across the drive. Also the Samsung is a gen 3 drive and showing as gen 2 so I question how accurate PCWiz is at reading the controller and drive separately but it does read the controller correctly as opposed to reading the drive only. 

Lenovo SL410 Clean Install

We all know (don't we) that a clean install helps the operation of a new notebook. I just got around to the little Lenovo SL410 I bought for my wife. It always disappointed me with it's piggish slowness and horrible touch pad sensitivity. Once again a fresh install of Windows did its magic. All the Levono crap was making the notebook under perform.

To Lenovo's credit, they did have a full range of Win7-64 drivers on their support site. One mysterious driver that presented three unknown entries of "base system device" stumped me for awhile. An SD card driver was already installed by Windows so I overlooked the card reader but that was the culprit. The remaining unknown, power management, I am hoping gets picked up by Windows update although, from what I read, this may be some type of "special" Lenovo design blah, blah for power management.

Well, installing Lenovo's power management driver worked but not the one on the product page. It is this one v1.65. I ended up with a couple Levono patches but I don't know which driver they belong to. I need to watch the add/remove programs when installing drivers to see what is happening.

This thing could take 8GB of memory and could sure use more than the two it comes with if you are like me and do lot's of different things quickly. Cleaning it up helped but it suffers quickly with multiple programs working. My P8400 Gateway beats the pants off this thing. I should test a few things to see if something is dragging it down.

The hard drive appears fine for a 5400 RPM:

Running Windows Experience Index was what I imagine passing kidney stones to be like.

But yes, installing fresh OS is the only way to go. Never think that some notebook brander has done you a favor with their own software. 

This thing is still laggy. It could be due to only 2GB of memory and I am accustomed to 4 or 8 and do many things as once. 

My New WDTV - It Is Magically Magnificent

Great looking little black box, same size as Roku2. Hooked to Ethernet and downloaded new firmware which it detected and started downloading first thing. The download took only a couple of minutes and updating a couple more. My Roku2 and my Vizio had HDMI compatibility problems so I am anxious to see if WD will have the same problem. The good news is, WD has a composite feed in case of problems. It is an odd looking composite feed with one small plug into WD and three standard into television.

The home screens are pleasingly beautiful, puffy white clouds on blue skies and green grass, starry nights. Logging into Netflix was remote painful as usual (I could have plugged in a USB keyboard) but the log in was accepted and no authorization needed on the Netflix end. HDMI seems to be working perfectly and the video definition is awesome, even though I still have Netflix set on "better".

I have had episodes partially load and stop. I reverted back to main menu and restarted Netflix, then loading was normal again. No total reboot was required. WD seems to like playing to the end of a file instead of backing out of one and starting another.

Netflix's dashboard is smoother, faster and better looking on Roku but with Roku you must click on the icons to access a readable description. With WDTV you just highlight the icon and a side screen has the description. WD boots faster than Roku. Did I mention the video is stunning? I was so fed up with the sound problems I was having with Roku/Vizio (not every Vizio model) that my frame of mind is admittedly open to easy impression. And impressed I am. No composite for me, it's HDMI all the way. I think the picture is better on WD but that could have been degraded somewhat on the Roku from HDMI problems too.

WDTV must be 2.4 GHz only so I am stuck with G speed. I do appreciate that my router broadcasts N over 5 GHz and G over 2.4 GHz so that the G devices don't slow the N devices down. G works fine for even on "best" over wifi. I wonder how long it takes after the video quality selection is made on Netflix for it to take effect?

How about media shares over a Windows network? Freaky easy. Check out this video tutorial. It worked the first time. I would never have guessed at some of the settings the video tutorial showed, so watch it. I logged in with the name and password of the computer containing the share. I don't remember the video mentioning the option to not allow Windows to manage homegroup (the last option) but I chose to not allow. My first choice was an mp4 encoded video. It was perfect and over wifi, not one beat skipped. I love this thing. If I were to choose between WDTV and Roku, I would choose WDTV but Roku has many more internt streaming options. Most of those are just as well accessed through a computer, so based on the superior local streaming, I lean toward WD. I like them both when they work. Here is another tutorial on setting up network share if you had trouble. Here is the forum thread.

I may try a Plex server for it's attractive index.

Naturally the mp4 would be easier than mkv so that is next. How about a big ISO file, no problem. I can't believe the quality. It has been awhile since I was this pumped about a piece of hardware.


Don't forget your Android remote app.

Not many sites talk about different things to do/use on WDTV. Maybe it is limited but what it does do, it does it well.
Fliungo is a must try.

Netflix With Roku Over DSL Optimization

Four Tweaks That Helped My DSL Roku/Netflix
Edit: Bottom line is the 37" Vizio model I am using has HDMI incompatibility with both WDTV and Roku. Two other Vizio models I have work just fine. Still, some of the below experience may help in some instances.
---
After beating up on my network, I tried USB streaming and found sound distortion so network is not the issue. It must be the TV's HDMI, a cable or the Roku itself. The following DSL tweaks may be worth while anyway. I finally found other Vizio owners with the same Roku 2 sound distortion issues. Only fix is HDMI to component conversion box from Monoprice. Vizio VA370M seems to have no firmware update path. Apparently this problem is new to Roku 2.

These settings may help but if you have a TV that works with Roku no adjustments are probably needed.

DNS (Netflix recommended currently) (set your computer's NIC to other to override if desired)
Primary 208.67.222.222
Secondary 208.67.220.220

MTU (1462 was Netflix suggestion)
Open command prompt.
Ping www.google.com -f -l 1420 (the last switch is the letter L) and keep increasng/decreasing until no fragmentation/no loss then add 28 for header resulting in 1448 MTU ultimate. This was my number but actual numbers will vary. This is to find the ultimate MTU number. Once found the "ultimate MTU" must be entered into the router, often located under the WAN category and usually has a 1500 default. Online chatter suggested 1462, 1492 and others. But this test will give you the actual number that works for your particular setup and location.
See instructions here.

Set Roku MAC addresses to static.

Set Roku Mac addresses QoS (Quality of Service) to highest.

I can finally get through an episode of X-files with no sound distortion. Some movies are still impossible. 

My New (Refurbished) Netgear DSL $40 Modem Router

Edit: This is has been a great modem/router. It has not skipped a beat in a year with 5 heavy stream users in the house. I am considering buying another just in case this one goes down.

Netgear DBND3300v2 for $40 off eBay factory refurbished. It looks brand new. I had to reset by inserting paper clip with power on until power light showed red before accessing the setup page. Default log in is admin and password. Default IP is 192.168.0.1.

Here are the settings for Centurylink because the wizard will not set it up correctly:
Basic settings
Does Your Internet Connection Require A Login? NO

Internet IP Address:
Get Dynamically From ISP

Domain Name Server (DNS) Address :
Get Automatically From ISP

Under ADSL settings
Multiplexing settings:
LLC-BASED
VPI: 8
VCI: 35

It would not update firmware because it insisted on trying to use the most recent which was for Germany only. I had to download the latest for North America manually and then install. Worked flawlessly. Current firmware V2.1.00.53_1.00.53NA

The DBND3300 is beautiful to look at but I would not try to sleep with it in the same room. The LED display is 4th of July competitive. Think NORAD at DEFCON 5 in all its light flashing glory. Would I buy this again for $40? Yes, most definitely. Just be aware that you will not be doing Roku at N speeds because the N radio is 5 GHz. and Roku is 2.4 GHz only.

My Google Chat Lists Everyone On The Planet

Google Talk Friends List Getting Out of Hand? Try Bankruptcy

If you are also troubled by this “friend overload” problem, try the bankruptcy route – that means remove all existing friends from Google Talk in one go and make a fresh start. You can either manually remove Google Talk friends by right-clicking each of the names or use the help of GMail.

Here’s how you can do the clean up:

Step 1: Export all your existing GMail contacts to a CSV file. [Contacts > Export > CSV]

Step 2: Goto GMail Contacts again, click the “All Contacts” tab and scroll to bottom of the screen. Do a “Select All” and click “Delete” – this will also wipe off all your current friends from Google Talk.

Step 3: Now just import the original contact CSV file back into GMail so you don’t lose any of the email contacts. [Contact -> Import -> CSV] None of your GMail contacts would show up as friends in Google Talk now.

You can now selectively add friends to Google Talk. Click the Add button in Google Talk and tick the GMail contacts whom you would love to see in your Google Talk as well.

To adjust Gmail to not add contacts to chat automatically go to gmail > settings > chat
No I don't want to chat with the plaintiff"s attorney!

Free Usenet

UsenetStorm - Free Usenet Online - Download your nzb files for FREE

UsenetStorm gives you FREE unlimited access to Usenet, straight through your web browser. No more need to configure tricky news reader software. Just submit your nzb in the box above and we will make the download available to you. Downloading from Usenet made simple. Did we mention it's FREE ?

Usenet access from your IP provider has gone by the way. Here is a free, though limited, access. I have not used it yet.

Search for your file here.

Read all about it here.

Plextor M3 Series PX-128M3 Adventures

I grabbed a Plextor M3 for $99 after rebate. I don't have machine I want to put this in but couldn't pass it up. I keep looking for the right price on a new motherboard and cpu but nothing yet.

Flashing the 1.5 firmware to the Plextor was easy. The download is a bootable ISO which must be burned to a CD. I unhooked the SATA cable from one drive and hooked it (and power) to the SSD. With bios set to AHCI the drive was not recognized but changing to IDE worked. Now to wait for a system deal ....

Found here and will be back when I set up the Plextor M3.

It's a winner.

Monoprice Ear Buds Are Great

These little babies are great. Current price for Enhanced Bass Hi-Fi Noise Isolating Earphones at Monoprice is $7.11, Ears are different, I know, but these are the most comfortable ear buds I have ever used. Sound is rich and they fit so well that outside noise is reduced. I will be buying more of these. Remember, Monoprice bases shipping on the total order amount instead of stacking shipping on each item so buy a bunch and get over it.

I always look for cables and adapters on Monoprice first but earbuds? Who would have thunk it?

Painful Install Win7 From CD and Removing Old Windows Install

I've been lusting after a faster computer. First I'm going to spruce up the old one to see if I can stall off spending money. More memory should help. My old Gigabyte 965P-DS3 won't recognize anything but a FAT 32 Flash Drive so I'm stuck installing Windows from the CD. I threw a couple more GB RAM and wound up installing Win7-64 because I can't stand seeing the unusable memory. I must have decided against 64 originally because the machine only had 2GB of memory. Back then I was suspicious of 64bit driver problems so didn't use it unless I had over 3GB of RAM. Now I would use 64 on everything.

I flashed the BIOS to F14 within Windows and then had a little dance to do with the old Gigabyte-me and JMicron AHCI. Those were the days. I see originally I used IDE so I must have given up on AHCI. This time I set JMicron to IDE for the CD and set the orange Intel controller to AHCI for the hard drives. It worked.

This thing is snappy, maybe I'll keep using it. Every item working in Device Manager. Now to OC a bit. Something had happened long ago and I had reset it to stock. Nothing big, 2719 Mhz should be enough. I have not tested it yet and maybe won't. I ran it faster than this previously. I'm trying avoid crawling into the case to clear cmos. I seem to remember the jumper was cleverly placed under the graphics card or heat sink. Same guy who thought up the Ctl-F1 trick presumably.

I didn't trust things working and I need to use it so did a dual install and now I'm stuck with the old OS system partition. I'll probably just leave it but it does bug me. I know it is possible to get rid of it with some risk but I need this thing for work. I don't want to install everything and then decide to risk removing the partition. The easy way would be to back it up with EaseUS, delete the partitions and restore. Thinking ........
Another thing not to worry about. Partition Wizard merged the newly formatted old OS partition in front of the OS partition without incident.

Well that was nothing to worry about. In Windows Disk Manager I right clicked on the Windows partition that I wanted to be active and made it so. Until I rebooted it looked like nothing had changed but things changed. Before I rebooted I ran EasyBCD and made sure that my desired partition had a boot menu (which was unnecessary). I used EasyBCD's bootloader setup and installed BCD and wrote MBR to the desired drive. (Windows install has a mind of its own as to where the boot files are. I just looked on one old HP refurbished with C: and D: drives. The D: drive never had an OS and did not originally come with the machine but it was the boot drive. Now I know why the recommendation of only having one single drive attached when installing Windows 7. I ran EasyBCD and wrote the files to C: and both the computer and I are happier. Actually EasyBCD is no witch doctor. You can do it all with Diskpart and BCD editor but the pain is not worth the geek credits.

Then when I rebooted and checked disk manager, deleting the old partition was now available. I held my breath, deleted the partition and rebooted successfully. Making the partition active and EasyBCD installing proper BCD and MBR was the key. Now I want to join those two partitions. More thinking .....

I'm going to try Partition Wizard "moving and resizing". If it tanks, I have an EaseUS system backup ready to save the day.

Found this handy old OC guide: (I have mixed RAM so expected trouble be none showed.)
Remember ctl-F1 to access RAM settings. (wow, who thought of that?)

Once the BIOS screen is up, hit Ctrl+F1 to turn on all the tweaking extras (required for all Gigabyte mobos).

 Go into the Advanced BIOS Features section and set the following to Disabled:
- Limit CPUID Max. to 3
- CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)
- CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2)
- CPU EIST Function

Why are we disbaled-ing them? They're throttling functions that will throttle back the CPU... which we don't particularly want.

 Hit Esc to go back to the Main Menu then enter the PC Health Status section and the Fan Speed Control Method to Disable (not necessary in the long run, but I do it anyway since the fan is pretty quiet at full speed).

 Hit Esc to go back to the Main Menu.

-  Enter the MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) section and do the following:
- Set CPU Host Clock Control to Enabled
- Set CPU Host Frequency (MHz) to 376
- Set PCI Express Frequency(MHz) to 100
- Set System Memory Multiplier to 2.00
- Set DRAM Timing Selectable to Manual
- Set CAS Latency Time to 5
- Set DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay to 5
- Set DRAM RAS# Precharge to 5
- Set Precharge dealy (tRAS) to 12
Most RAM will actually work at 4-4-4-12 but this is a guide for lazy people so I figured I'd go with 5-5-5-12 since it's bound to work.

20 minute test is good enough

Does Your Internal Hard Drive Show As Removable In The Tray?

FIX: AHCI/SATA drives showing in "Safely Remove Hardware"

Regedit your way to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\ SYSTEM\\ CurrentControlSet\\ services\\ msahci and create a new KEY called "Controller0" inside Controller0, create a new KEY called "Channel0" Now inside Channel0, create a new DWORD called "TreatAsInternalPort" set this value to "1" (this sets SATA port 0 (Drive C)to no longer show up in "Safely Remove Hardware")

Now, go back into the Controller0 folder again. inside Controller0, create a new KEY called "Channel1" Now inside Channel1, create a new DWORD called "TreatAsInternalPort" set this value to "1" (this sets SATA port 1 (Drive D)to no longer show up in "Safely Remove Hardware")

And so on, until all internal SATA ports are set to be treated as Internal. My motherboard has 6 SATA ports, so I have set Channel0 to Channel5.

Credit
This has bothered me on some setups. This fix works.

Time For A New Build Decision

Time for a new build for my office. I don't need to upgrade. My old Intel C2D e6400 is good enough for office work, but I can send the motherboard and CPU down the bookkeeping food chain so why not give my office life a little excitement. I need to do one of these every now and then to satisfy my obsessive compulsiveness. I bought the old Intel CPU/mobo combo used from Technodanvan on the DFI forum so it owes me nothing. It should live out its life happily crunching numbers the way computers are meant to live out their lives.

But what to buy, that is the question. I thought I had put all this upgrading behind me and then Newegg had this deal on a Plextor M3 SSD 128 for $99 and if I'm going to all the bother of installing an OS on an SSD, I'm not doing it for an old C2D e6400 rig. I already have a couple sticks of 4GB G-Skill Ripjaws that I couldn't pass up some time ago for $25 so a motherboard, CPU and cooler should do it.

I just set up a Dell Intel Sandy i5-2500 and I am not overly impressed with it (I partially cleaned the Dell crap off but didn't do a clean install, which may have made a difference) (once I got all the Dell stuff cleaned out I am more impressed). Some things are shockingly fast.  I'm sure the 2500k overclocked would be impressive but then I would want Ivy Bridge but that has heat problems so I had given up and figured I'd wait for next gen. But now I have my new SSD and it needs a home so I am leaning toward jumping the fence and grabbing an AMD FX-8120 Zambezi for $159. Why not the FX-8150? These faster chips don't have as much overclocking room so bang for buck suffers. And people are complaining that the 8150 is hot and not complaining about the 8120. I'll just save the $40 and be happier. There is a lot of love coming from the 8120 people and that always sways my decision.

For a motherboard I will stick with ASRock. My last two ASRock 870 EXTREME3's were great to set up so why go anywhere else? The difference between the 970 for $99 and the 990FX for $144 appears to be in Crossfire, which I will likely not use. But then again the 990FX includes a USB3 front panel unit the fits into a 3.5 drive space so the $40 difference is really only around $10 because I want front panel USB3 and I don't want to buy a new case. So 990FX wins the day. Or ... GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 ro $139 after rebate.

That only leaves the cooler. I love the Noctua NH-D14. It is a quiet and efficient monster but $85 just rubs me wrong since the curiosity factor is missing (I have one on another unit). Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus it is for $29.

The Plextor is at "packaging" stage on Newegg. The guys over on HardForum (where I saw the deal alert) say these are fast and great. I put my first (and only as of yet) SSD in my laptop. I thought at the time my 240GB size might be on the small side. Now I realize the 128GB may be overkill for me. I still only have 15GB used of my 240GB. I redirected the user profile to the HD and when I install, I manually choose the HD for most programs. Here is my SSD install blog post.

My OCZ SSD is no huge deal for bench marks but the performance for me in real world operation is something I would hate to give up. This could get interesting if the Plextor can achieve speeds reported.

Those dip patters have always been there but at least is is consistent across the drive. The SSD is 3.75 times faster than the HD. Tests say it is still at 100% with estimated life remaining of 7+ years.

$  99 Plextor M3 Series PX-128M3
$159 AMD FX-8120
$144 ASRock 990FX
$  29 Hyper 212
$431 Total

vs

$  99 Plextor M3 Series PX-128M3
$219 Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge (205 at Amazon)
$134 ASRock Z77 Extreme4
$ 29 Hyper 212
$481
$ 30 Front Panel USB3 if I want it.

$50 difference? Agonizing decision.
The costs add up but I am an "enthusiast" and must live up to my label. I have everything else. Maybe need a PSU.

Then again I may decide to do nothing and delete this post. The SSD may be just what my C2D e6400 needs for redemption and regeneration.

Today more parts were established.
$ 19 for Hyper 212 after rebate Newegg
$ 69 ASRock Z77 Pro 3 picked up at Microcenter 50% off (not doing dual video anyway but I wanted the Extreme 4 - couldn't pass up the price. If I had thought more, I would have done the Extreme but saving $50 is a good thing and it has everything I really need at the moment.)
$169 Intel I-5 2500K Microcenter (currently $219 everywhere else)
Here is an overclock guide to check out.

Now for power supply. I'm not going dual video so I shouldn't need a Tesla coil. I hate buying power supplies. I tend to over buy for stability and because of the memorable occasions from the past where I went to add something and didn't have enough power. Any supply can be DOA so holding your breath is appropriate. I think this time I will try a lower budget item and see how it goes.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT the crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Continuous Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most important,

A single GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card NVIDIA specifies a power supply that has a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 30 Amps or greater. (check for your card)

When you overclock the i5-2500K to 4.5 GHz you will only be drawing an additional 4 Amps from the +12V rail. 

I may not even use a separate video card so the power supply could be cheaper than usual but the mother board needs a 12v 8 pin (or 2 x 12v 4 pin). I am not finding cheaper PSU units with these connectors. OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W at $50 after rebate it is then. I'll be ready for that game monster video card in the future or one of the "deals" I already have in my closet.

Parts are all in, let's slap it together:

Plextor performs nicely:

PCWizard shows both controller and drive interface version.

WD Black performs as expected:

Updated the Z77 to 1.60 bios in Windows successfully.

Crazy thing when I did symbolic link for Users I ended up with a duplicate Users folder in D: that I can't access. I will need to use Linux to delete it. I can't delete it from repair command prompt because it has the same name as the real Users folder.

Windows boots so fast the little colored lights don't even have time to join on the boot screen and not even overclocked yet.

My first use of Hyper 212 and it was a pleasure to install. This could be the easiest heat sink and fan I have every used. For $19 discounted I can see why Newegg has sold a zillion of them.

I had the Hyper 212 loosely attached and no paste to get started. This is always good enough to start and I hate to lock things down in case things need to be changed. I decided to set CPU at 40 to see if it would boot and it did. Then I figured a short burst of prime couldn't hurt. Yikes ... the temps shot to 98C ... how do I turn this thing off!!! Time to paste this baby down. I left the voltage on auto ... I wonder if it is auto adjusting above spec. on auto? Maybe I could under volt and reduce heat?

Fresh AS5 on Hyper 212, one fan with CPU at 40, Vcore at +.005. Running Prime temps much better. I could leave this for everyday use without problem but I do like stress temps at 50C max. This is not a cool chip but temps will improve somewhat a the AS5 ages. Maybe 60C is the new 50C with Sandy Bridge. I can't see getting to 4.5 under 60 but maybe temps will not rise. I doubt a second fan will do much, the fins are cool now as it is and the air feel cool. If I do push/pull it would be good to have the PWM controlling without drawing all the power from one header. 

This Rosewill splitter looks like a perfect solution. I could power the push/pull and one case fan all from the PSU but speed controlled by the PWM. Shipping is a killer so Amazon is the way to go. It doesn't qualify for free shipping but shipping is only $2.74. It is better than fighting with a fan controller. First I will hook up a second fan on a 3 pin header to see if a second fan actually helps. I remember that my Noctua 14 included a Y cable that allowed its two fans to work properly off of the single 4 pin PWM header but this PSU connection is a better solution.

I stuck this into an old Antec Sonata which is not air friendly but I'm not going for some super ultimate overclock, 4 GHz is good enough, 4.5 GHz might be possible without setting the house on fire.

If you can adjust your mind to a 60C max instead of 50C, then life is good.

On board video works well but Windows Experience is not overly impressed. My old 8600GTS scores 2 points higher. I thought maybe removing the video card would reduce heat but nothing changed. Maybe the processor runs hotter when using on board video so the trade is equal. Who knows.

My 1600 ripjaws score high 7's WIE. This thing really rocks and rolls. Installs finish in a flash. Everything just smokes and is silky smooth. It is unquestionably the best system I have ever had. The 2500k is the right choice. I would still like to see what Zambezi is like, maybe someday when prices tank. But when Sandy can be had for less than Zambezi it makes no sense to look elsewhere. I am looking forward to encoding some video.

I guess hot is OK for these CPUs. 4500 is easy but it blue screens on 4700 and I don't want to up vCore.