Gadzooki

Tips to Maintain High-Speed Internet Connection in Your Home

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In today’s wired world, it pays to have a fast internet connection. This will greatly benefit those running a business from home or people working from the comforts of their home.

Unfortunately, there are always issues when it comes to having access to a high-speed internet connection. Some subscribers complain that despite paying for a high-speed plan every month, a consistently fast connection is not always guaranteed.

fast-internet-connection

So how then can you ensure that your internet speed is as fast as you want it to be? There are certain things that you need to check and this apply to all internet subscribers regardless of the type of plan they have. You can also visit the iinet blog to get updated information on everything related to the internet.

Background Activity

You may wonder sometimes that even with your upgraded subscription, your internet access is still not up to speed. When this happens, try to check your computer’s background activity. [Read more…]

SugarSync … Oh baby!

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The best sync program for Windows Users.

I’ve stumbled upon this blog post from CNet blogs, talks about a sync program called “SugarSync”.  Catchy name right?  Well after reading the blog, I feel that it is rightfully named.  For windows users who haven’t really had this easy tool, It does taste like sugar… stress free sugar… zero (!) as Coke and Pepsi would call them.

Standard sync programs require both PCs to be turned on.  SugarSync has something like a “clearing house” that accepts data from the online PC.  Once the other PC goes online (even while the host is off-line), it gets the data from the “clearing house”  and syncs it from there.  Too cool eh?

It costs $49 for a year with 10GB of space.  $149 for a year with 100GB of space.  It is made by SharpCast.  Webware.com ran the same ratings as CNet, it is probably good.  Go to www.sharpcast.com and try to download a trial copy.

I’m a 3-month old Mac user and I think this is very much like .Mac.  While .Mac’s subscription is almost $100/year for 10GB of space, I went to ebay and got it for just $40.  Still, I think SugarSync is aptly priced.  I would like to see more feature coming up in the near future that would include some of .Mac’s powerful ones.  How about email service, FTP service,  web hosting service?  Ah, I’m just a demanding fellow I guess.

Nonetheless, I’d say this is a good product by and by.

Online Work Makes One Platform Agnostic

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As I write this, I’m running Windows on my laptop, here at the dinner table. It’s been almost a year since I worked on Windows, meaning actually running it for a few hours and doing real work with it. With my computers usually running some flavor of Linux or Mac OS X, Windows has mostly only been run only in those rare instances I need to run Windows-specific software. My most recent acquisitions, being an Asus Eee (running on Linux) and a Mac desktop, have brought me farther away from Windows, I was almost tempted to wipe it out from my laptop.

And yet here I am. I’ve booted up good ol’ Windows XP because my wife wanted to play Sims 2 (to get ideas for home remodeling). Looks like I haven’t forgotten how to use it.

Or perhaps it’s because I’ve learned to be platform-agnostic when it comes to work-related matters. With a lot of apps these days running over-the-web instead of locally, you would learn to be such. A lot of my documents and spreadsheets are hosted on Google Docs, so I could access them from any computer of mine, anywhere. My task list is on TaDa list, and my schedules are on Google Calendar. Let’s not forget Gmail. And then there are the instant messaging apps, which you could actually run online, or through cross-platform software (like Pidgin).

Then, of course, most (if not all) sites I work on run WordPress. So it’s usually the same thing no matter where I access the sites from, no matter what browser I use. Sure, there would be some differences in how shortcuts or keystrokes would be used on a Mac compared to a PC (such as the big CMD vs. Ctrl issue), or differences in the workflow (such as using alt-tab instead of Expose). But it’s essentially the same.

Still, being platform agnostic in terms of blogging means I would have to be well-versed with other blogging software as well, instead of just WordPress. I’ve had my share of using Blogger, Typepad and Movable Type, though not as extensive as my experience with WordPress. Managing a blog network with all blogs running WordPress I would have to be an expert (or try to be). But working mostly with Web apps, the Web browser has been my main “platform” so the operating system it runs on becomes a secondary concern.

And so as I close this, I would probably move back upstairs to my home office to fix some sites on the Mac, or perhaps even on my Asus Eee (small screened as it is, you could still squeeze out lots of productive time due to the fact that you can take it anywhere). Different OS, but because I’ve made the browser my “platform” I don’t think I would need much adjusting.

The Gimp: My Image Editor of Choice

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I had been doing a lot of twitter account setups because I wanted to have twitter accounts dedicated to the many blogs I’ve put up for AdSense monetization. So since when I was setting up my DummyGeekGurl twitter account, I had reached saturation point for tweaking the design, plus, I wanted the wallpaper background kick-butt in a big way, I decided to put off tweaking the design.

That, and I was pretty sick over the past few days, only to find out that I may really have diabetes (type 2) now. But last night, I felt okay enough to make this kick-butt (in my own not-so-humble opinion) wallpaper for my DummyGeekGurl Twitter. [Read more…]

I’m Back, With Windows XP SP3 News!

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Hello guys, gals, and geeks. 😀 I had to take a vacation, or else I would really be loopy beyond repair by now. I’ve been noticing something buzzing in the air lately, and it’s not the Christmas anticipation. It’s something related to all things geeky.

What’s that? Windows XP SP3?

Yes, you heard right. Windows Vista was such a flop that Microsoft decided to develop the pet OS instead: Windows XP. [Read more…]

2007 and Beyond: An Exciting Era for the OS Wars

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This is an exciting year for the OS wars. With Gutsy Gibbon just released last 18th of October, the Mac OS X Leopard being released today, and the dust over over Windows Vista not having settled yet, I think things are looking up for the OS horizon. We are back in the glory of the 80s, folks, when OS competition was healthy, with the freedom of choice at an all-time high, and enthusiasm for computers and software on an unparalleled level.

It’s just that today, this enthusiasm is magnified, to levels that “exponential” doesn’t even cover. [Read more…]

Play WoW using your Xbox 360 Controller

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I’ve been using my Xbox 360 Controller to play every game installed on my Vista Laptop, starting from Doom3, Civ3, Oblivion, Half-life 2, Halo, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Battle for Middle Earth 2, Etc.. Even Using it on a few MMO’s like Freestyle Online, and World of Warcraft.

And the experience is great, better than the feeling of messing up my laptop keyboard, because of frustrated keypresses that leads to smashing your keyboard. Plus the neck strain because you have to be close to the monitor and keyboard at the same time.

Now for Other games I used the Pinnacle Game Profiler Software,which is free to download but costs you if you want to upgrade it. For the game, World Of Warcraft I specifically use Switchblade which is fully configured to use your Xbox 360 Controller wired or wireless to play World of Warcraft. Yippeee, its free to download, but you also have to register for xfire gaming service. But it’s still cool, what a little bit of typing mean if you can comfortably play WoW, with a great Controller right. Now the only thing that is missing are the free chips and dips.

Detect Invisible Contacts on Yahoo Messenger

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Victimized by my Invisible contacts, in a sick and weird joke to disturb me in my blogging trance. I searched for ways to check and see if they are really out there lurking waiting for a chance to pounce at me and start asking insane questions that have no answers.

There’s the easy way :

The easy way number 1 — Using the Yahoo! Conference settings

  1. Click on the Contact to open a conversation with that contact.
  2. Click the Conference button and he Conference window will open up.
  3. Click the Invite button. If the Talk button is highlighted, then your contact is online, if not he/ she’s offline.

The easy way number 2 — Using the Yahoo! Doodle IMvironment

  1. Click on the Contact to open a conversation with that contact.
  2. Click the IMvironment button.

    3. Select See all IMvironments then pick Yahoo! tools and Doodle

  3. If you see the Doodle IMvironment, then your contact is offline, if the screen is blank he is actually online

And now there’s a much easier way :

For those who are lazy, this should spare you a few clicks go to these sites to find your invisible Yahoo! friends.

  1. Invisible.ir
  2. Xeeber

If you got more ways to check for Invisible YM Contacts, share them…

Vista Performance Improvement with these Updates

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While waiting for SP1 or the Tuesday Patch on October 9, though I’m waiting for the SP1 for quite some time, I’m starting to think if it would do me any good to wait for it. Microsoft has wordlessly release four updates for Windows Vista which will improve the performance and reliability. Although these “hotfixes” are not yet available on Windows Update. But You can download them and install them on your own.

Here’s the Detailed List of the Windows Vista(KB941649) update improvements:

  • It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
  • It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
  • It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.
  • It improves the stability of Internet Explorer when you open a Web page.
  • It improves the stability of wireless network services.
  • It shortens the startup time of Windows Vista by using a better timing structure.
  • It shortens the recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity.
  • It shortens the recovery time when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
  • It improves the stability of Windows PowerShell.
  • A compatibility issue that affects some third-party antivirus software applications.
  • A reliability issue that occurs when a Windows Vista-based computer uses certain network driver configurations.

And While Your at it, I downloaded this Hotfoxes, better check it out too:
1. Update for Windows Vista (KB941651)

  • This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.

2. KB941600

  • Cumulative update rollup for USB core components in Windows Vista

3. KB941229

  • Several issues that are related to the Media Center Extensibility Platform.
  • An issue that affects digital cable card components when you use Scientific Atlanta cable cards.
  • Interaction issues that occur between Media Center PC and Microsoft Xbox 360 when Xbox 360 is used as a Media Center Extender.
  • Autolaunch issues that occur with video CD (VCD) media.