Boot Times Windows

Set up custom views in Event Viewer
Boot times 100
Boot degradation 101-110

Slow boots are a pain to diagnose but possible.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174750-boot-times-monitor-event-viewer.html

Shut Down Shortcut

shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f
grab an icon from somewhere

rundll32.exe Powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Sleep

Mozy Is Great and Cheap

My new Mozy post ...

Online backup pricing can be confusing, especially for multiple computers. I needed to call Mozy to get a real price. In the real world I am backing up 4 office computers with Mozy using a 10 GB limit (which for some reason is 11.6 GB) for $109 per year. I am consuming 3.4 GB currently. I am selective as to what backs up, documents, spreads and QuickBooks files. Picture folders are huge so I use local backup for them.

For my laptop I use Mozy free with 2 GB limit.

Mozy can be slightly irritating with initially selecting the files to back up. As with any new setup a little learning is required if you wish to customize things. Mozy defaults to backing up all the user files which would include the photo files. Customizing takes longer to explain than doing it.

Accessing all the backed up files from each PC and downloading them is simple, much easier than when I used Carbonite.

Remove All Traces Of Printer Drivers

Rarely but sometimes a previously installed printer driver will leave traces that will make installing that driver again is impossible. This may happen with network installed printers being changed. Here is a procedure to remove all traces of printer drivers.

http://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/questions/211/Remove+all+traces+of+a+printer+driver+on+Windows

Check If Your Router Is Leaking Port 32764

http://www.router-backdoor.de/?lang=en

Android Gmail Mark Unread

I use the is:unread search in Gmail extensively. I also like to delete the junk and not archive.
First off I don't use the swipe function. It appears that the swipe will only archive and can not be set to delete.

Long pressing an email item will select it (or tapping the email's icon). Select as many as you wish. Watch the third icon in the upper right. It should show an open envelope. If not then be sure it does or all those deleted emails will be included in the is:unread search. It was not clear what that third icon did.

Windows 7 Network Share

If on a private network, sharing a folder should be simple on windows 7. If sharing with "everyone" is no threat then do this. Right click on the folder and open "properties".

Select the "sharing" tab and the "share" button.

Add "everyone" to the share name list.

Everyone's permissions will default to "read" so you must change the default to "read/write". Don't forget to click the "share" button.

Then click "advanced sharing" and "permissions".

Make sure that "everyone" has full access permissions. 

You should now have full access to that folder and its files from any computer on the network.

Steam Is A Great Gaming System Even For Single Player

Company of Heroes is one of my favorite games. Installing Company of Heroes is a pain in the butt. Worse yet is losing the CD and trying to find the correct "no cd" fix. The Steam version allows you to bypass all that forever. Fortunately I had stored my serial numbers. Just use those numbers for Steam and let Steam install their version of the game. Life will be much simpler. The non-Steam versions can be installed but I could not get them to work without asking for the disk. I have not bothered figuring it out because Steam "Tales of Valor" works well enough for me.

Unfortunately Rise of Nations is not on Steam (my second favorite game). RON is not a problem installed locally. I have bought three RON's and still need to use a torrented version because I have lost all three disks.

I don't play online but Steam still has virtues for my single player needs.

But there is a lot not to love. Replaying a saved game still defies my attempts. I can't get it to work off-line. Turn Steam off when not using or it may drag down the bandwidth for some reason.

Flash Drive and PC Benchmarks

I just bought a Sandisk Cruzer 32 GB (I think USB2): This is quite good:

My old Patriot Xporter 8GB: This is more typical.

Corsair Survivor 32GB USB3 on USB2 port:

Corsair Survivor 32GB USB3 on USB3 port:

I always throw a copy of portable TrueCrypt on the drives. I guess it can be cracked but not by anyone I know.

Here are some PC benchmarks
Toshiba Satellite just bought for $125

Oh my this HD is sad

Generally this thing is not bad for $125 and does what I need in a pinch. Actually it is quite good.

AMD Phenom II X4 B55

i5-2500K

Plextor PX-128M3

Gateway P7811FX (best laptop I've ever had and refuses to die)

Lenovo T410