Archive for PC

O2 Joggler

26/10/2011 / Rich / 6 comments

I bought a Joggler off a guy I found selling one on gumtree. I had been after a Joggler since they were first announced by O2 but only just managed to get my hands on one due to O2 discontinuing them.

After first setting it up with the default o2 firmware. I was bored, so I did some googling and came across the Joggler Wiki (http://jogglerwiki.com/) I downloaded a few different flavours of Linux, but only managed to get Ubuntu (maverick 10.10) working. Although it worked, it wasn’t great with the touchscreen. When you plug in a keyboard and mouse it worked far better, I decided to use it as a small TV loading tvcatchup.com in Firefox but it couldn’t cope; it jumps, stutters and is generally unwatchable.

I’ve considered a few options for the Joggler such as:

An interactive alarm clock.

As part of an ICE (In Car Entertainment System) install.

Or using it as a Network Monitor system.

So now I’m not sure what to do with it, it can’t be used for what I was going to use it for.

I do like the idea of using it as part of an ICE system, however this would mean cutting into the dash board to mount the touch screen, removing the back stand which also acts as the heatsink as well as finding a suitable way of powering it in car! So for the meantime it shall remain boxed up waiting for a suitable use.

If anyone spots any cool uses for the Joggler please do tweet me or comment on here to let me know.

Category: PC, Tech Stuff / Tags: , , ,

Top Five – Problem Solving Applications

13/04/2011 / Rich / No comments

I’ve decided I’m going to try and do a weekly top five. It could be anything from top five pubs to top five cars, to top five CPU coolers (or something equally techie) This week I am starting it off with:

The top Five problem solving Applications I couldn’t live without.

1) Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Free Edition
MalwareBytes Anti Malware Logo
I’ve not found many bits of malware that this software doesn’t get rid of on a full scan. Sometimes it can be made difficult to get it to run if the malware is that good at its job (or bad depending how you look at it) However if you do have difficulty getting it to run number four on this list may well help you out!

This needs to be installed on the machine with the problem, but takes twenty seconds to install, and then another twenty to download the latest updates

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

2) Firefox + AdBlockPlus + xMarks

Firefox LogoNot a problem solving tool as such, but I’ve listed this app plus two extensions as one app, as for me I don’t have FireFox without the other two. It makes life so much easier to have all your bookmarks and passwords synced from all my other machines. It means I have the guides for those not so familiar problems that I have seen and forgotten about in the past in the “how to” bookmark folder. It also means you can Google anything wherever you have an Internet connection!
I have it installed on my laptop, as I’m not sure how stable the extensions are in portable FireFox.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/
http://adblockplus.org/en/
http://www.xmarks.com/

3) AngryIp Scanner
Angry IpScanner Logo
This IP scanner helps you scan a range of IP addresses that you define, Its amazingly helpful at tracking down routers, printers and other network kit that comes with DHCP setup by default. It lists the IP with the hostname next to it.

Can be run off a USB stick or installed. I generally have it on a USB stick. However keep in mind that overzealous Antivirus software may flag this up as a problem due to its nature.

http://www.angryip.org/w/Home

4) HijackThis
Malwarebytes Logo
HijackThis alongside http://www.hijackthis.de/ The website is a log file analyser, this will tell you from the log file that HJT creates what is good, bad and unknown files, registry keys and startup items. The app scans your hard disk and the website compares the log against the default options as well as what has been rated by users.

HijackThis can also be installed or run off of a usb stick. Which makes it very handy if the spyware stops you running from certain programs, you can just re-name the exe file and away you go!

http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

5) NetStumbler
Netstumbler Logo
Is a wireless network sniffer, It helps establish the things that are causing your wireless problems. It tells you how many other networks in range are on the same channel, its signal strength, its encryption type as well as the signal degradation. Awesome bit of software, Never leave home without it when you don’t know where or what the problems you are going to be facing are!

There is a NetStumbler portable, however I do not think it is as up to date as the installable and I have never had much luck with the portable version.

http://www.netstumbler.com/

So that brings an end to the first top five, if you think there are other apps that should be on here or that I have missed let me know your thoughts!

Category: PC, Tech Stuff, Top Fives / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Internet Browsing

12/04/2011 / Rich / No comments

I use Firefox as my main browser, as do many other people in the world. However I have 3 Google email accounts that I use – My personal account, my work account and my own business account. Now these all play along nicely most of the time, until you need to login to the admin panel of one of the domains, or I need to login to one of the other Google domain accounts that I administer for other people and companies.

This then causes Firefox to throw a massive wobbly and the only way around it is to completely clear the cache, cookies and logins. Then you need to re-login in the correct order of accounts so that you get your iGoogle (which is only setup on one account) back.

I tried to use Internet Explorer (spit) as the browser that I used to login to the domain admin panels, however even with “delete browsing history on exit” button ticked, with all the options also ticked. For some reason it still kept me logged into accounts, which was a major pain when I needed to login to another account on another domain.

I tried Google Chrome however this didn’t have an option to clear the cache etc. on exit. Until I discovered the Click&Clean extension. This enables you to clear the browsing history and cache on exit. With the massive added benefit that it actually works!

So fair play to google (or actually www.hotcleaner.com) although unless something dramatically changes chrome will not become my main browser, but (for now) it is installed on both my machines.

Category: Me, PC, Tech Stuff / Tags: , , , ,

Rants

27/02/2011 / Rich / No comments

*Warning* my first post for a month and it’s going to be a big long and full of rant’s! *Warning*

PART1 – Fucking Vodafone Rant

#1 – Vodafone – Where on earth do I start? After posting this http://www.richardhickson.com/2010/06/08/vodafone-sure-signal/ and then following it up with a post here http://www.richardhickson.com/2010/12/04/mobiles/ how much can things change in the space of six months?

My sure signal stopped working almost as I hit submit on the latest post. I contacted Vodafone about this first of all via twitter; they told me to log the problem on the support forum. Which I did, the support forum asked me a few questions, and then they told me to email support using the contact form on the website. This I also co-operated with and did.

I was expecting a quick turn around on this bearing in mind I have been passed from pillow to post. But no! I am now receiving an email from Vodafone about once a week asking me either some more questions or just fobbing me off.

Adding the shit service I’ve received personally to the awkwardness Vodafone gave us at work in moving 150 numbers from Vodafone to o2. I will not be renewing my contract with Vodafone when it finishes in July.

PART2 – IT Rants

Now I am meticulously tidy with my computer, some may even say a *slight/massive case of OCD (as posted here http://www.richardhickson.com/2010/10/23/window-sizes-in-window-7/) However a few things are really pissing me off lately.

#2 – iTunes – Thee most annoying heap of shit software on the planet. Really fucks me off that you have to manage an iPhone using this software. When you update iTunes it changes your shortcuts (for example try pinning it to the start menu) Once you run the update its gone, now I don’t have only a few apps installed on my machine so to try and find the application again is a complete pain in the arse! Pinning a program to the start menu is just another fucking shortcut. Why not leave it there?

#3 – Adobe – This includes Reader and Acrobat! They are both a complete c*nt. Why on earth would you create programs that automatically create a shortcut on your desktop? Who on earth loads up adobe reader and then opens a pdf? Next to nobody I bet! That’s not to mention all the start-up entries and services they put into MsConfig.

#4 – Microsoft Word 2010 – Now this is one that is driving me mad when writing this post especially (I write all posts in MS word for spell checking.) The zoom, if you have word maximised and want the zoom at 100% it shows you two pages at once side by side, which I find very distracting. To get one page on its own at 100% you need to shrink the word window down. This is equally distracting if you have something open in the background that changes on its own accord – For instance TweetDeck, Facebook or even the windows 7 Wallpapers set to change of their own accord!

Now I know the first two may only be small rants, but when you’re so meticulously tidy with your computer, they need to be sorted out before I can carry on using it!

*Delete where appropriate

Category: PC, Phones, Rants, Tech Stuff / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Ever had a “J” at the end of an email?

16/11/2010 / Rich / No comments

Today a Lady was emailing me, An at the end of every email there was a “J”. Her name did not start with a J. So i was a bit confused…..

It turns out that “J” is displayed when a Smiley gets lost in different email systems.

I thought I had it figured out, and so I went looking to see & I was right. Have you ever typed a smiley :-) , and whatever program you were in automatically made it into a smiley? Well, sometimes the code that makes that happen gets lost as it goes through the various email programs and ends up as just a "J"

Update for precision:
- Office use MS Word as HTML e-mail editor
- The "smiley" is replaced by a Winding font character.
- The uppercase "J" is a smiley in the Winding character set.
- The "J" will appear each time the text is kept but the font info is lost.
Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_people_put_a_J_at_the_end_of_email

So there you have it. Its a smiley face, lost in translation!

Category: Mac, PC, Tech Stuff / Tags: , ,

Window Sizes in Window 7

23/10/2010 / Rich / No comments

I am very OCD about my Computers. Almost everything is setup how I want them to be. Yet one thing bugged me and I’ve just found the fix. Whenever i opened My Computer/Doc’s etc. it always opened at the bottom of the screen in the middle like the attached screenshot (click the image for the full size).

Window Sizes

The way around this I found after googling for a while, was to set the window where you want it and the size you want it. Hold down the left ALT key and close the window. This seems to save the size and location of the window. So that the next time you open it, it’s where you set it to be, not where windows 7 thinks it should be!

Category: PC, Tech Stuff /

Projects

14/10/2010 / Rich / No comments

Right…In my spare time I need something to do. Therefore, if you have an unhappy pc send me an email, No backups drop me a line, want a website designed? let me know! will take on all work! All times of day/weekend/evenings covered!

Category: Mac, PC, Tech Stuff /

End of the Road for Xmarks

30/09/2010 / Rich / No comments

So here I was on this very blog raving about Xmarks back in July.

Yesterday I started up Firefox, got told there was an Xmarks update so I ran it. Once it installed, up pops a page on Xmarks.com with some bad news. There closing the doors, switching off the server’s and closing the service.

The blog goes on to basically say that they have explored every avenue to try and make the add-on make some money. Yet they can’t due to there being so many other good free add-ons that do the same.
At the same time there is not one that has such good cross browser compatibility and is more importantly as fantastic as Xmarks.

The password and bookmark sync is brilliant, I use it across my five different machines (one Mac, two laptops and two desktops) using all different browsers. It has also saved my life on various occasions when hard drives have died, without it I would have lost all my links that I have built up through 8 years of working in IT.

Although it’s not all bad, it does appear that the Firefox sync will still work if you use your own web server. I will investigate this and find out and post back in the future.

However, I and many other people commenting on the shutdown of xmarks have said that we would be more than willing to pay a yearly fee to keep the service going. Fingers crossed something will happen!

Category: PC, Tech Stuff / Tags:

Migrating from one pc to another…….quickly

13/07/2010 / Rich / No comments

Yesterday I received my new work laptop. Luckily it took me less than half an hour to move everything I needed across to it.

I use dropbox for all my documents. Installed this on the new laptop and BAM five minutes later I had all the documents on the new machine. The other fantastic thing I use is Xmarks which sync’s all Firefox bookmarks and passwords.

The only thing that took the time was installing all the apps, programs and utilities. However I have seen this as a good opportunity to have a clear out and not install any that I don’t use!

Category: PC, Tech Stuff / Tags: , , ,

CS5

15/06/2010 / Rich / No comments

I’ve been playing with Adobe CS5 today. Edited a couple of pictures with varying degrees of success. However ive uploaded my favourite and will upload the rest when I get time.

Before
Image Before

After
After Editing

Category: PC, Photo's, Tech Stuff /
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