All 33 entries tagged Computer Stuff

1. It turns itself off at random intervals (It's either the processor or the RAM or the power supply… I think)
2. Sometimes only one speaker works and I have to prod the headphone socket to make it work again
3. It's over a year old!

Might get a Mac Mini – it's unix-based but well supported (not to mention super cool looking!) so it could be the best of both worlds. Any Mac users want to comment? Only problem with that is I'd then have to use a USB caddy for my 180gb drive and I'm not sure if I could cope with the constant noise!

Other options are:

1. Wait until my current PC dies completely
2. Try to fix the problems myself
3. Pay someone to fix the problems
4. Get a new PC
5. Just use my laptop for everything

(My PC is primarily used for playing & storing videos & music as it is high spec – my laptop is used for work and is good but not great spec)

Now, if you click on any of these a Details button appears (yes, appears, it wasn't greyed out so you'd know it's there, but never mind that's not the point). If you then click this Details button, you get a popup box, as you might expect, which says similar to the following:

Object: c:\windows\regedit.exe
Result: ok

Where's The Detail?! That's less information than is in the main table! Who took the time to program that little feature?

If you have multiple computers on your desk (I have my desktop and my laptop) just run the Synergy server on the main one and the client on the other[s] and you can jump between them as if they were one computer.

Now I effectively have three monitors!

Unfortunately it doesn't work with UltraMon, but since I keep most things on the primary monitor that's not much of a problem.

iTunes

1. Run regedit
2. Browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
3. Create a new key called wmplayer.exe
4. Create a new string value called Debugger
5. Set the value to "c:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe"
6. Test it (no restart required)
7. Exit Registry Editor

The same thing applies for making the Calculator button launch PowerToy Calc too. Of course your keyboard may be more flexible.

Winamp

For Winamp there is an additional complication: The "Debugger" is passed the filename as a parameter. iTunes ignores this but Winamp thinks it's a filename and tries to play it. Here's how to do this for Winamp:

1. Download ProgLauncher
2. Extract ProgLauncher.exe and Notepad.cfg somewhere. I chose the Winamp folder. Rename Notepad.cfg to ProgLauncher.cfg (or whatever you want as long as they match).
3. Open ProgLauncher.cfg in your favourite text editor
4. Change the first line to Winamp.exe (may need the full path)
5. Change the second line to ""
6. Change the third line to whatever path you want (e.g. the full path to My Music)
7. Save and close the file
8. Run regedit
9. Browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
10. Create a new key called wmplayer.exe
11. Create a new string value called Debugger
12. Set the value to "c:\Program Files\Winamp\ProgLauncher.exe" (change as necessary)
13. Test it (no restart required)
14. Exit Registry Editor

Please let me know if this helps you (comments below), or if I've missed anything, etc.

I've just installed all updates to the (rather minimal) packages I installed, and since the anorien server is internal it took less time to download the 233 MB than it did to install them! I'll miss this network next year!

Anyway, back to configuring it…

My 160Gb drive, which I bought only a month ago, broke while I was transporting it this weekend. When I had it at home it was fine, when I plugged it in here it was broken. Recover and format both failed, so it's now unusable. Fortunately it was mainly full of videos (replaceable), but I did lose some of my photo collection. Luckily I have copies of the best ones on my internal HDD for my screensaver.

This is the second external drive of mine that's broken, excluding the one that was DOA, and Richard's drive broke just last week. I'm now going to go out and buy a load of DVDs – at least when they break it only costs 25p to replace and theres a lot less data lost!

It has a 2 year manufacturer's warranty, but as it's sold as internal I don't know if they'll fix it. I'll find out when I have less other stuff to do, like burning DVDs. Oh and revision.