rob's log

I loathe you AIM

rob — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:57:07 +0000

If I type:
“hey check ( this ) out”

You traslatate that to html
“hey check out ( this )

i like it”
Then you translate that to smileys
“hey check ( this &nbsp[smile]

out”

Making me look goofy, 4/5 workdays.

Many have asked where certain photos are

rob — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:59:29 +0000

So, if you happen to be looking for pictures from my Wedding or Cruise to Cabo San Lucas.

Look Here

Look, a post

rob — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:04:50 +0000

So, I haven’t posted in a while… we’ll just skip over the mass of personal events that deserve journaling for today…

Here’s my list of common performance fixes and tweaks I notice most people can do, to get your computer moving good again.

CCleaner - A good all around cleaning app, clears up some space on your hard drive, and clean up your registry (warning: there is a default option to delete all your cookies - most people don’t actually want to do this)
Decompress - Many people turn “NTFS Compression” on all their files without realizing. Mostly, by way of an app called “Disk Cleanup WIzard”. There are rare instances where ntfs compression is a good thing, and it should certainly never be done on your Windows directory as this will slow it down immensly.

Easy-Slow Way: Go to My Computer, Right-Click C: and goto properties (follow suit if you have more than one hard disk). Uncheck the box that says “Compress drive to save disk space”, also uncheck the indexing service if it’s checked. A prompt will ask you if you want to apply it to subfolders -> yes, you do. (This does take a few hours)
Harder-Scheduled Way: Create a scheduled task (Start>Control Panel>Scheduled Tasks>Add Scheduled Task). Hit next pass the info message. ‘Browse…” to C:\Windows\System32, select compact.exe (might just say compact), Hit OK, Hit Next. “Perform this Task” -> “One Time Only”, Hit Next. Pick a time for this to run later, Hit Next. If you have a password type it both places (if not leave it blank), Hit Next. Select “Open advanced…”, Hit Finish. Under Run, change it to “C:\windows\system32\compact.exe /u /s:c: /a /i /f /q“. Hit OK, you’ll have to do the password bit again.

Defragment - Fragmentation occurs on all hard drives, for most any operating system under the sun. It occurs most often as when large quantities of files are added and removed, especially if those files are big - like all you files sharers out there. Goto Start>Programs>Accessories>Disk Defragmenter. Click Analyze. If says to Defrag then do so, or…

Create a scheduled task (Start>Control Panel>Scheduled Tasks>Add Scheduled Task). Hit next pass the info message. ‘Browse…” to C:\Windows\System32, select defrag.exe (might just say defrag), Hit OK, Hit Next. “Perform this Task” -> “One Time Only”, Hit Next. Pick a time for this to run later, Hit Next. If you have a password type it both places (if not leave it blank), Hit Next. Select “Open advanced…”, Hit Finish. Under Run, change it to “C:\windows\system32\defrag.exe c: /f“. Hit OK, you’ll have to do the password bit again.

Tweak Performance - A couple of easy windows tweaks to get things running smoother Right-Click My Computer>Properties, Go to Avanced Tab, Click Performance.

Remove Slow Animations - Uncheck everything saying slide or fade, you won’t miss them all that much.
Adjust Your Paging File - Select the Advanced Tab, and hit Change…, (I agree with the author of TweakGuides.com on this). Set your initial and maximum paging file to 2048MB is generally good for most all users, on most all systems.

Clean Up Your Start Menu - Go to Start>All Programs, if you see a lot of stuff (like 2-3 columns), then it probably takes a long time to load. You can delete those things by right-click start and then click ‘Explore All Users’. Make sure not to get rid of shortcuts you may need, and do keep the Accessories and Startup folders the way they are.
Get Rid of Startup Apps - Goto Start>Run…, Type “msconfig”, Click the Startup Tab. Go thru the list carefully. If you don’t recognize something - use google. In general, nothing needs to startup with your computer. However, you may want things like your mouse driver, anti-virus app, and specialty applications you use to start up. But, everything here is typically expendable.
CheckDisk - If your drive access is still slow, and your computer is a little older you may want to check the disk for problems. Goto Start>Run type “chkdsk /f”, and prompt will ask you if it’s ok, say yes “y”. It runs on your next reboot.
AntiVirus - If you have a virus, or just for online safety make sure to have an anti-virus app on hand like AVG Free
Beyond these and it will probably require some serious diagnosing and work.

Chicken with a side of ice-cream

rob — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 02:34:07 +0000

Right-side
The upcoming CS3 is as enjoyable as sliced-bread. They seemed to have cured themselves of the several of the things I despise about their Shop. (1) The menus behave - multi-screen, large-size, small-size, changes - the tool menus grow, shrink and hide appropriatly and are easier to look-at - nicely stolen Macromedia MX/8 family. (2) The item windows no longer can get stuck off screen or under a toolbar. (3) It loads faster. But, it’s buggier, the tools seem like they take longer switch gears (and, this is longer than CS2), but it doesn’t feel like my computer is dying just to do these changes - but then it is day 1, and it is the beta.

Update: The trial only lasted for 2 days! And, I return to loathing Adobe. I don’t want to purchase CS2 just want the upgrade in 5 months.

–
Left-side
“Q14: What is sin? A14: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism). Nicely said. I think of the gray questions I’ve pondered or have been asked. And, the different analogies used to describe an intuitive rule-of-thumb. But “any want of conformity unto” is much clearer than simple transgression.

Back On-Line

rob — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:06:01 +0000

After 2 long weeks my laptop is back with a fresh motherboard. My theory: Toshiba didn’t anticipate me using my tablet w/ a 2.0 p4 and nVidia 6600 to play games like oblivion for 3 hours, while blocking the ventilation - because, well it’s on my laptop. Probably hear from them again in a few weeks ago.
So, it my continue-dom of creating sites - for… the fun of it. I made a site to broadcast sermons for my church http://www.churchofchristcast.net/. It was found, with no direct invitation by me - and advertised in the church newsletter - neat-o.
If your using podpress - it’s good to know: PodPress Wiki: Why does my audio sounds like Donald Duck/chipmunks?

The Wii

rob_bot — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 00:07:17 +0000

So 2 years ago, no questions asked - PS3 is going to be the best thing since bread slicing video games -

But, I’ve more and more impressed with the underdog, and now they have me wanting to preorder - Zelda

Miss my camera

rob — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 20:12:54 +0000

Ughh… my camera is still out of commission - at this point it seems Kodak may have beaten me - I may just go and get my own. They won’t fix my camera (for the second time) because I don’t have my receipt, because it was a gift. On the plus side camera have apparently come down. I can get something nice in the 4mp range for just around $150 - http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html which is half of what I was looking to spend last year.

Theme

rob — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 19:30:06 +0000

I’ve been thinking - I really need a theme to my blog. The problem with something like myname.com is that all I can write about is my day-to-day life. Which is interesting enough living it, it’s not an interesting thing to describe. Hence, how are you? what did you do today? tend to be dull questions. It’s more interesting to tell a story or describe a thought, than just blurt life. And, a theme like the Pedia-Digest brings that out as opposed to rob’s log.

Anywho - photos

Taking a Beating

rob — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:23:30 +0000

So, we went biking again today. But, this time it was straight up, I got probably 10% of the distance we we’re planning, JT and I we’re spent (I was near nausia).

Very humbled. Eat before biking - will do.

jTheologian

Texas Hold’em

rob — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:36:29 +0000

So, I’m kinda good, kinda lousy at Poker. I can always seem to reach to the final few, but then I rather quickly fall apart.

In the group it can be a bit easier to read what people are trying to do and how they are reacting to the card turns. There’s more time as the bet moves around to build a bet, scare, bet strangely. But, when it gets down the few, the bets get big, and you can’t make small moves, it’s harder to fold a hand. But, that’s really the fun I suppose