Jaczz

Is It Worth To Spend Time On Old PCs?

July 6, 2008 on 9:03 pm | In Windows | No Comments

One of my co-workers called this weekend and told me the problem about his old desktop, a P4 running Windows XP Home… The PC does not have an Internet connection. He has been talking to level III technicians for a few days and bought a new modem from RoadRunner, no luck at all.

I suggested him buying a new Ethenet Card and disabling the on-board ones. A new card installed and the computer is still “acquiring IP address”, no connection! can’t even ping loopback address (127.0.0.1). Huh? Is motherboard going bad? or it’s about time he needs a new computer now?

Before giving up, I tried Windows’ System Restore… It worked. Don’t know what he did to his computer… but I spent THREE hours on this OLD computer that he’s still not thinking of getting a new one.

Windows 7 Due In Late ‘09 With Touch Screen

May 28, 2008 on 7:43 pm | In Windows | No Comments

Similar to iPhone’s touch-screen technology, Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, will equip with Microsoft’s Surface technology that been used on tabletop computers. Check a Vista blog and a video demonstration of this multitouch technology…

Source: Ballmer and Gates on Windows 7

Microsoft Finally Released XP SP3…

April 21, 2008 on 8:40 pm | In Windows | No Comments

Been waiting for so long, Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is out today… Confirmed by a post on Microsoft TechNet, Microsoft finished its “final touch” and released it to computer manufacturers. SP3 will not be ready for Windows Update until April 29… A leaked version of SP3 (see below) was available for a small group of testers and installed.

Final Ultimatum - Microsoft To Yahoo! [Updated April 7, 08]

April 6, 2008 on 2:15 pm | In Windows | No Comments

Getting no response from leaders of Yahoo!, Steve Ballmer takes the final ultimatum to Yahoo! Board Directors and threatens to go agressively take over.

A letter from Steve Ballmer to Yahoo! complaining there is no progress since the first offer…

[Updated 4/7/08] Yahoo! Inc. rejects Microsoft’s bid again… in a letter from Yahoo! Board of Directors signed by Jerry Yang, Yahooooo needs more GREEN!

Safari - Apple Software Update For Windows Vista

March 24, 2008 on 9:25 pm | In Apple, Windows | No Comments

In the middle of surfing the net, Apple Software Update window pops up and asks if I want to install Safari 3.1. I’m wondering why Apple’s update “invading” my Windows system? The fact is….

For the first time, Apple closely ties its Safari web browser to its iTunes and QuickTime software. Safari is not going to become a main browsers like IE and Firefox in the next year; but Mozilla developers worry that this Software Update will make Safari surpass Firefox in the next few years. Safari for Windows, Apple’s another big move!

Micosoft’s “Home Office” - “Albany”

March 22, 2008 on 11:09 am | In Software, Windows | No Comments

Microsoft is working on a web-based Office Beta codenamed “Albany”. Challenging the uprising of Google Apps and Google Docs, which are the most popular web application for home users now, Microsoft’s “Home Office” will be a competitor to Google’s.

If someone can get basic word and spreadsheet done on web for free, why he/she needs to spend hundreds of dollar on Microsoft Office? There are more and more high school and colleges students using Google Docs since its convenient and free. They don’t need to carry their USB drives every moment; directly save their works on Google servers and retrieve them from any computer with an Internet access.

“Home Office” is a big move for Microsoft in post-Gates era. Hopefully, new leaders have more opensource minds…

Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Released Today…

March 18, 2008 on 7:06 pm | In Windows | No Comments

Microsoft released Vista’s first Service Pack today to Windows Update, making it available to most of Vista users. The standalone version (32-bit in 434MB and 64-bit in 726MB ) is available in Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft strongly recommends to install SP1 via Windows Update [see note from Vista TechCenter]; however, some users won’t see the SP1 on their update list probably in mid April.

Quickly checked my Windows Update see if SP1 is there… no luck!

‘m not rushing to download SP1 since its size gonna slowing down my connection speed. I prefer wait and see this major update in Windows Update…

Error 1705 Cannot Uninstall VMware 5.5 in Windows Vista

March 16, 2008 on 8:40 pm | In Windows | 4 Comments

Tried to uninstall VMware 5.5 from my Pavilion notebook running Windows Vista Home Premium, an error message saying that I need to stop VM Authorization Service before I can proceed. I manually stopped VMAuthdService under Task Manager and continue the uninstallation…

Error 1705 appeared; and I click YES to continue. OMG! Blue Screen Of Death!!! I couldn’t believe that this still exists in Vista.

I tried running regedit to remove all VM related entries in Windows Registry; but that still could not solve my problem. Unable to get help from neither Microsoft nor VMware, I googled and found a really good tip for this problem… get into command line… D: is the drive that stores installation file and /c is for “Cleanout installation registries information”.