| Windows XP view settings weirdness |
[06 Nov 2009|09:42pm] |
I originally posted this to a message board (one I found when I Googled the issue) but it seemed interesting enough to post here too. (Plus, it may help others who notice the same problem and Google it.)
Basically, I have one folder (that's not even on the system volume) that seems to share its "view settings" with the system's "My Computer" folder.
Keep in mind that this my brand new P4 system that I just put together and installed Windows XP SP3 on less than a month ago.
Here's what happens:
1. The directory "P:\Images\Fracts and Walls\Mine\uploaded" contains a lot of images, so I set that folder to "Thumbnails" view.
2. I close or leave the folder. If I go back to it right away, it remains in "Thumbnails" view as it should.
3. Next time I open "My Computer", I find that it's set to "Thumbnails" view too. I don't want that. I set it back to "Tiles" and enable "Show in Groups".
4. If I open the first directory while "My Computer" is still open, it is still in "Thumbnails" view... BUT, if I close "My Computer" first, then open the first directory, it comes up in "Tiles" view with "Show in Groups" as well, and that is wrong!
5. Similarly, if I leave the other folder open (after fixing it), "My Computer" still comes up in the correct view (specifically, whatever view it had the last time I closed it, which should be "Tiles"). But, if I close that other folder, "My Computer" will be reset to the incorrect "Thumbnails" view next time I open it.
Here's the most interesting bit: When I renamed the folder from "uploaded" to "upload", the problem went away. Renaming it back again brought back the problem. Seems like I found a good workaround, but keep in mind that it might not be ideal in all cases.
From this, I can conclude several things:
( It gets a bit technical here; I even use the word "hash" once... )
Considering the relative age of XP, I really doubt anything will be done about this, no matter how much complaining is done by those affected. If I am to expect anything from Microsoft, it is merely that they take a close look inside Windows 7 to make absolutely sure it doesn't have the same problem. (Then again, that won't help me until I can earn enough money to afford Windows 7. In this economy, that'll take years!)
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| Gamblings, ramblings, tramplings and manglings |
[26 Oct 2009|04:44pm] |
I thought this new 3GHz P4 would be slightly faster than the Athlon 3400, but I wasn't sure. Replacing the MB and processor was a bit of a gamble. I'm also running on half a gigabyte of memory instead of the full giggity; I had to do that to make use of the dual-channel functionality. Extra performance with less memory, yay!
Anyway, my computer is now mostly rebuilt. I've got the hardware side done (unless I decide to change something) and I've started on reinstalling all the software I was using.
For example, I'll be able to get back on MSN and AIM pretty soon... Just as soon as I remember my passwords... And decide whether to use the new Trillian (I vaguely recall someone saying it was a pain in the Astra?) or stick with the old one.
A message on the Java download page said I had to download Java in order to use the "Sun Download Manager" (apparently programmed in Java) to download Java. That irony had me laughing for a while.
We just upgraded our internet connection here, too. We used to have (and enjoy) a nicely inexpensive 256Kb DSL connection, but that just isn't fast anymore due to all the massive web bloat caused by everyone else having 1.5Mb connections.
See, I used to like YouTube because they had good video compression. They managed reasonable quality using what I assume was a 512Kb/s bitrate. Meaning, with a 256Kb internet connection, it'd only take twice as long to download a video as it would to watch it. Ten minutes to download a five-minute video, which wasn't bad. Suddenly, though, YouTube more than doubled their compression bitrate (which I maintain was completely unnecessary). That meant that, instead of waiting 5 minutes for the first half of the movie to download, I had to wait 20 to 30 minutes for 3/4 of it. That was not cool.
But anyway, now we have that speed too! (And just in time! Between updated Trillian, updated Java, and updated ActivePerl, I've downloaded over 100MB so far today.)
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| A toss, a loss, gathers moss. |
[24 Aug 2009|03:49am] |
Nope, that didn't work.
I was only about 30% sure it would, though.
The next thing to try is to actually disconnect the drive from the SATA controller (in addition to leaving the controller disabled).
I'm about 60% sure that'll work.
And then, if necessary, I can revert all the I/O controller drivers back to those I got from the ASUS site, not the newer drivers I had to download (from the VIA site) to enable DMA mode on the drive. (For those who don't know, DMA is what makes drives fast enough to actually use, so it's kindof important.)
I'm about 90% sure my computer will be stable again after I do that.
But I'm tempted, really tempted, to just say "screw it" and toss the whole motherboard (with Athlon XP 3400+ processor) in favor of an Intel board with a 3.0 GHz P4 with Hyperthreading. (Information on which of these two processors is actually better/faster/stronger has been very inconsistent. Gaining dual-channel support should make up for any potential performance loss, though.)
The problem is, at the moment, I don't have enough space available to take my computer apart to do any of this. This whole thing's going to be stalled until I can get another, much more annoying and time-consuming project out of the way. That could take a few more months. ("Work is never over.")
Which means a few more months of neglecting some of my favorite message boards, webcomics, even my E-Mail. (But not dA, LJ, and YouTube, which I can keep relatively up-to-date with on the family computer when the parents aren't hogging it.)
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| It turns blue and explodes! |
[01 Aug 2009|02:34pm] |
I spent nearly $100 on wireless equipment about a month ago, and now NewEgg's got a bunch of adapters and a wireless router on sale for $10-$11 each. Alas, such is typical of my luck, it seems.
What's up with the video cards with 896 MB of video memory? For people who can't afford a full gigabyte but for whom 768 MB just isn't enough? Or is it more like, "Hang on, this video card's nearly finished. Just let me put in these eight 128MB memory chips and-- Oh! I dropped one! Meh, doesn't matter. No one's going to be using the full gigabyte anyway."
Yeah, after supposedly fixing my computer, I apparently vanished for another month. Why? Because, even after detecting and replacing defective memory, and replacing the power supply with a more stable one while I was at it, I was -still- getting random blue-screen errors (although less frequently; maybe every 30 hours of use on average, instead of every 6).
So, now I've tried something else: Disabling the onboard VIA SATA controller. (And also, consequentially, a new SATA DVD-RW drive, which I'll have to replace.)
Why? Because, while researching a different problem, I happened by pure chance upon rumors of instability in the VIA 8237 SouthBridge, which happens to be what my ASUS K8V SE board has.
( And I quote... )
These are just rumors, of course, but I decided to try disabling the SATA controller anyway (at least in Windows, because the BIOS doesn't have "disabled") and, after around 24 hours total of intermittent computer use so far, I haven't had a blue-screen yet. Maybe that did it.
(But if all else fails, I can replace the motherboard. I've got an Intel MB with 3GHz P4 just waiting to be put in something!)
Here, have some music: Doublesight (3:40, 1.47 MB)
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| I'm baaaaaaaack et cetera. |
[08 May 2009|07:11pm] |
I learned something really interesting...
Apparently, it's entirely possible for a memory board in a computer to be tested very thoroughly (and repeatedly) with one program, pass all the tests with flying colors every single time, then be tested with a different program (one I don't use as often but it's practically standard procedure after I replace a power supply) and pass all the tests... except for one.
Considering that the test that fails is called "Block move", which sounds to me like the sort of thing Windows XP would do a lot of, that seemed to me like a good reason to replace the memory.
So, in addition to replacing the power supply in my computer (after confirming that the motherboard was reporting only 11.7 volts on the 12-volt line, which may be within tolerance but I still didn't feel good about that), I've also replaced the memory because that was apparently the problem after all.
Now that my main computer is back online (and running great so far), I get to spend weeks catching up after a couple of months of neglecting most of my usual internet hangouts.
This new power supply (it's a Thermaltake, one of the better brands) is so much quieter than the previous one, by the way... Almost scarily quieter!
So, how have you been?
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| Gotta take my computer apart. |
[20 Apr 2009|12:34am] |
Going to be mostly offline for a few weeks.
(I've been away for about a week already, actually.)
Long story short, my main computer has been acting like either the memory, the processor, or the hard drive controller is failing. Therefore, based on my experience as both a computer repairman and someone who watches House, I'm going to start by replacing the power supply...
But first I gotta finish fixing a bunch of other computers, belonging to neighbors, that are sitting here on the basement work table. One of them has a new hard drive, so I had the fun of transferring all the files and settings to it (and simultaneously to a fresh Windows XP install because the previous one was corrupt) from the old one. That's a more time-consuming endeavor than one might think! Another one needed a replacement motherboard, so I rushed to eBay and had to buy three before I got one that was suitable, and then I had to replace and update a bunch of drivers (including one that had to be copied and installed by hand because Windows XP wouldn't boot up, not even in safe mode)... And then there's another neighbor who wants a new hard drive installed in his computer so I get to spend a little time on that, next.
So it's probably going to be a while before I'm back up and running at full capacity again... so try not to post too much stuff because it'll be some time before I can get to it!
(The good news? This is how I earn money.)
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| Utah, the Winter Wonderland |
[09 Apr 2009|07:16pm] |
Now on YouTube: Utah, the Winter Wonderland
It should be fairly self-explanatory.
I was originally just going to post a video of about 60 seconds of snow footage (because someone suggested that), but it ended up turning into something slightly different...
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| Java Platform API documentation, StevenRoy style |
[28 Mar 2009|08:31pm] |
Hey, Java programmers! Beta-test this:
Java Platform API documentation, StevenRoy style
It should be fairly self-explanatory, especially to anyone who's perused this documentation before. The part I modified, of course, is the navigation frame on the left; the rest is the same ol' documentation loaded directly from Sun's site. (Even though this causes "Access Denied" errors every time one of those pages tries to set the window's title. Working around this by mirroring the entire documentation archive is not an option.)
I'm planning to add a search function at some point in the future.
Bring on the critique!
(By the way, this is a great example of what happens when I program a tool for myself to make my own programming tasks easier, and then later suddenly realize, "Hey, this could be useful for a lot of people! I could fix it up and share it!")
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[26 Feb 2009|03:05pm] |
What a certain website says when I try to use a certain feature:
"We are currently experiencing difficulties with Internet Explorer..."
What that really means, at least to me:
"We don't know how to program JavaScript that works with Internet Explorer..."
They get credit, though, for at least acknowledging that there is a problem in the first place. Just being able to say "yeah, we know about it and we're working on it" makes a lot of difference. (Especially if it seems sincere.)
That is why I respect YouTube slightly more than deviantART right now.
---
Meanwhile, in other news: "I Killed The Lupus", the music video!
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| What the what? |
[12 Feb 2009|03:03am] |
Today, I was watching a show and heard a certain line of dialogue...
An hour or two later, I just happened to ponder that particular line, and I completely cracked up when I suddenly realized how completely ludicrous it is when taken out of context.
It was a young boy, shouting with glee, "I did it! I killed the lupus!"
As soon as I can, I'm getting an audio clip of that and inserting it into a House scene, or something...
(And I just know there's at least one of you who recognized that line instantly. What can I say? My friends are white and nerdy!)
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| (Insert random Unicode character here) |
[24 Jan 2009|03:23am] |
Simple BSRH decompression routine finished and confirmed working.
Alternative Java Platform API documentation frame finished and confirmed working (at least in IE).
Plus, I got to spend some time battling with the "Seneka" virus on a neighbor's computer. Nasty piece of work, but I did eventually get it all.
It's been a busy year so far.
It's really, really foggy outside right now. Really. And I love it! A perfect night for playing with flashlights and laser pointers! I wish we could have at least one night like this (but five at most) every year!
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| 02009 |
[01 Jan 2009|12:07am] |
Things I'm currently hoping to accomplish this year:
- Worry less about what people who don't even know I exist think of me.
- Finish some old programming projects, instead of constantly coming up with new ideas. (How many ways to impress people who don't care, that I'll never finish anyway, do I need?)
- Earn some real money... Ideally without having to rely on employment or the economy in any way! (I'm looking at you, PCH!)
- Hug a fursuit.
- Find out if my tablet works, preferably before spending money on a stylus for it. (Any idea how I'd go about this?)
And I think there was something else, too. Something about world domination. Oh well, I'm sure I'll remember it later.
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| Here, have some music... |
[28 Dec 2008|02:27am] |
I just put these back online:
"Topaz" (1.9 MB, 4:46)
"Futility" (1.5 MB, 4:26)
Now that Christmas is overwith and the season is winding down, this is just my way of thanking all of you who read this, for your presence. :)
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| Merry Miscellaneous! |
[27 Dec 2008|12:46am] |
So it turns out BSRH is a little harder to decompress in Java than it is to compress in Perl. I'm working on it... intermittently.
Finally watched Wall-E for the first time, just a few minutes ago...
Has anyone else ever found the Java Platform API documentation rather clunky to navigate? That's something else I've been working on lately. So far I've managed to impress myself with some rather nifty JavaScript.
At one point, I managed to get IE to complain: "'4' is null or not an object." What the heck kind of JavaScript error message was that? First, I cracked up for a few minutes. Then I fixed it.
Any of you want to see it when it's done? ...Didn't think so!
This year, for Christmas, I expressly forbade gifts of socks, underwear, or any other kind of clothing. I believe that was a good move, although, as a result, my winnings were only a fraction of last year's, and also slightly stranger: They included a Bart Simpson doll, a cute little stuffed chicken, a little plastic clapping-hands toy with blinking lights, et cetera. I really should take pictures of the lot. It'll be amusing.
(Also, "JW", I did get your card. The little fox, though "generic", was quite darling! I love it! Thanks!)
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| What you say? |
[13 Dec 2008|03:41am] |
What if the infamous line "All your base are belong to us", and the equally ludicrous dialogue surrounding it, were not just a result of some terrible English translation?
What if, instead, it was really a prediction? A prediction of how the human race would actually be speaking in the distant future?
I was reading some unrelated comments on some YouTube videos, and then this thought just happened to suddenly occur to me, for reasons that I'm sure are already apparent.
...And that's just sad.
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| Perl speed. |
[04 Dec 2008|01:16am] |
( A quick little program... )
I whipped that up in less than two minutes. See if you, in less than two minutes, can figure out what it does!
In less than two minutes, I started up Notepad, typed up the program, started up Perl, and copied and pasted the program into the interpreter and ran it, without even having to save anything or come up with a filename. How many languages are there that lets people program like that, so quick and easy?
Right now I'm thinking of Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5, my all-time favorite version of BASIC. I loved QB45. I miss QB45.
I've been thinking of inventing my own version of QB45... (But right now other projects must take priority, even if there is absolutely zero demand for anything I do or may have to offer in the near future!)
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