Erich Stauffer

Author: Erich Stauffer

  • Hope For Black Screens after Laptop Lid Closed and Reopend in Vista

    Dear NVIDIA Customer,

    On behalf of the NVIDIA Vista Quality Assurance team, we would like to thank you for your participation and assistance in improving our products.

    We are writing to let you know that there will be a new Windows Vista Beta driver release available to download from NVIDIA in the next few days. This is a new driver which will support GeForce 6, 7 and 8 series graphics boards; it does not support GeForce Go mobile GPUs. Please continue to check with your notebook manufacturer for a new driver for GeForce Go GPUs. GeForce FX users should continue to use the v96.85 driver.

    The Vista Quality Assurance homepage has up to the date information on when the driver will be available to download, so please continue to check this website: http://www.nvidia.com/object/vistaqualityassurance.html.

    Here is a summary of new features and bug fixes this new driver addresses:

    New Features

    • GeForce 7 series SLI support
    • GeForce 6 series SLI support
    • GeForce 7950 GX2 support (both GPUs are now operational)

    Key Bug Fixes

    • Improved OpenGL performance
    • Improved NVIDIA SLI performance at high resolutions
    • Brief corruption (flickering, boxes) on screen at Windows Vista login, CTR-ALT-DEL (Task Manager), or other function that requires Vista User Account Control
    • Playback issues when playing TV/DVD/video in Media Center with Aero enabled
    • Outputting via TV-Out shows only a black and white display
    • HDTV output does not keep HDTV resolution after restart
    • Adjusting Video Color settings from the NVIDIA Control Panel are not getting applied.
    • Change Flat Panel Scaling page does not correctly work in the NVIDIA Control Panel.
    • Brightness, Contrast and Gamma values remain the same in Adjust Desktop Color settings once closing and opening the NVIDIA Control Panel.
    • Corruption on DVI monitor while going to hibernation from standby
    • Call of Duty 2 has no performance gain when SLI is enabled
    • Madden NFL 07 while playing the screen will freeze, but the game will continue to run and you hear the in-game sounds.

    General application compatibility fixes

    • Products Supported
    • GeForce 8800 GTX/GTS
    • GeForce 7 series
    • GeForce 6 series

    When the driver is available, please view the driver Release Notes for a full list of bugs fixed, known driver issues, products supported, and operating system and application limitations. NVIDIA will continue to provide new drivers that will fix more known driver issues.

  • The TV of the Future

    HP seems to be leading the pack in Ethernet TV’s. This model has a media center built in that can stream video from another PC, such as a Media Center PC, either wired or wirelessly. This is the future of television because our society is desensitizing to time and place. By recording your TV on a media center and watching it whenever and wherever (within reason) you want, you’re untied from both the timing of the show and the tube you’re watching it on. Right now I can watch TV on the Media Center PC or on any laptop in the house. I’ve got a remote control for one of the laptops, but I hardly ever use it. The replacement of cathode-ray tube coaxial TVs with Ethernet TVs is basically like replacing each old type of TV with a smart-TV that can play streaming content as well as regular live TV. One might ask why not just use a PC, which can do other things? My answer is BECAUSE it can do other things, its usually not best for watching TV on the fly. The cost of one of these TVs is $1700 right now for a 37in LCD flat panel, but it will come down over time.

  • 3 Good Things About Vista, 1 Bad

    First, the bad news: Internet Explorer 7 in Vista resets toolbar settings everytime its reopened. Any changes you made, such as adding “Links” to the toolbar, will be undone after closing the program and reopening it.

    Now, for the good news: First, when copying your old files onto your new Vista machine, simply dump your entire “My Documents” directory into the “Documents” directory and Vista will prompt you to put the “My Pictures” and “My Videos” folders into their respective “Pictures” and “Videos” directory. Second, the sound control has a mixer to change volume levels for individual programs; a great feature for listening to music while chatting on AIM. Third, many more printer drivers are built into the operating system, allowing for easy installation. It’s almost like using a Mac.

  • More Vista Problems, Fixes

    StartupCPL has been a staple for administrators using previous versions of Windows, but Vista both has a startup program monitor built in (Windows Defender; also available for XP) and Mike Linn’s Startup Control Panel is not compatible with it. So one would think that you could disable or enable programs loading at startup using Windows Defender, but I have not found a way. If anyone knows, please post a comment. So far, the only way I have found is to use MSCONFIG. And to run that, you’ll have to hold down the Windows Key+R on the keyboard then type “msconfig”. Once in MSCONFIG, click on the Startup tab at the top and disable or enable programs from loading. Roxio Creator 9 is designed to run in XP and Vista, but Sonic DLA causes a driver conflict on my computer and I had to disable it using MSCONFIG (its called CommonSDK in MSCONFIG for some reason).

    WORKGROUP is the default workgroup in Vista Home Premium and so far I’ve found that one can only see other computers on that same workgroup. I suppose this is for security reasons as Vista is supposed to be more secure, but its kind of annoying since XP defaulted to using MSHOME as its workgroup name so at first, it seems that your old XP machines are not available. Either change your XP computers workgroup name to WORKGROUP or change your Vista workgroup name to MSHOME. I did the latter and this fixed it. Also make sure your network discovery is set to on (it will prompt you if it is not). You’ll see a green bar at the top of your file explorer as it searches for computers on the network, something XP never had. This feature is very nice as XP just seemed to lock up as it searched. I’ve noticed that this ‘real-time reporting’ is a basic feature of Vista as it also acts in the same way when Add/Remove Programs is loaded and it fills in the programs installed as it finds them, like in Windows Search. Nice feature.

  • External SATA (eSATA) Enclosures and MHT in Firefox

    Adaptec has been slow to release a 2.5″ external SATA enclosure compared to the major manufacturers relatively fast switch to almost exclusive use of SATA drives in laptops. My second choice would be Vantec’s version found at Newegg for $30.

    The MHT plugin for Firefox only works in version 1.5. Its called MAF which stands for Mozilla Archive Format. Although Firefox is forcing users to upgrade, the programmers have been slow to keep MAF up to date so I am forced to use Internet Explorer for MHT.

  • Dr. James Dobson’s Twelve Steps of Intimacy

    James C. Dobson, Ph.D., is founder of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization that produced his internationally syndicated radio program. A licensed psychologist and marriage, family, and child counselor, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in the field of child development. The author of more than 30 books, including his most recent bestseller, Bringing Up Boys.

    Written extensively about in Love for a Lifetime: Building a Marriage that Will Go the Distance and mentioned specifically during one of his Focus on the Family radio programs, Dr. Dobson recounts the 12 steps of intimacy:

    1. Eye to Body. A glance reveals much about a person — sex, size, shape, age, personality, and status. The importance people place on these criteria determines whether or not they will be attracted to each other.

    2. Eye to Eye. When the man and woman who are strangers to each other exchange glances, their most natural reaction is to look away, usually with embarrassment. If their eyes meet again, they may smile, which signals that they might like to become better acquainted.

    3. Voice to Voice. Their initial conversations are trivial and include questions like “What is your name?” or “What do you do for a living?” During this long stage the two people learn much about each other’s opinions, pastimes, activities, habits, hobbies, likes and dislikes. If they’re compatible, they become friends.

    4. Hand to Hand. The first instance of physical contact between the couple is usually a non-romantic occasion such as when the man helps the woman descend a high step or aids her across an obstacle. At this point either of the individuals can withdraw from the relationship without rejecting the other. However, if continued, hand-to-hand contact will eventually become an evidence of the couple’s romantic attachment to each other.

    5. Hand to Shoulder. This affectionate embrace is still noncommittal. It is a “buddy” type position in which the man and woman are side by side. They are more concerned with the world in front of them than they are with each other. The hand-to-shoulder contact reveals a relationship that is more than a close friendship, but probably not real love.

    6. Hand to Waist. Because this is something two people of the same sex would not ordinarily do, it is clearly romantic. They are close enough to be sharing secrets or intimate language with each other. Yet, as they walk side by side with hand to waist, they are still facing forward.

    7. Face to Face. This level of contact involves gazing into one another’s eyes, hugging and kissing. If none of the previous steps were skipped, the man and woman will have developed a special code from experience that enables them to engage in deep communication with very few words. At this point, sexual desire becomes an important factor in the relationship.

    8. Hand to Head. This is an extension of the previous stage. The man and woman tend to cradle or stroke each other’s head while kissing or talking. Rarely do individuals in our culture touch the head of another person unless they are either romantically involved or are family members. It is a designation of emotional closeness.

    9-12. The Final Steps. The last four levels of involvement are distinctly sexual and private. They are:

    • (9) Hand to Body,
    • (10) Mouth to Breast,
    • (11) Touching Below the Waist, and
    • (12) Intercourse.

  • Vista Premium Prices

    For simplicity, I’m only going to compare Premium because its the lowest cost version that still maintains the main differences between XP and Vista (Aero Glass and Media Center).

    Upgrade (Must install on top of XP):

    Wal-Mart and Staples: $160

    Newegg: $120

    Complete (Fresh install):

    Sam’s Club: $218

    In general, the complete version is going to cost about $100 more than the upgrade. This is most likely because if you went out and bought XP today, you’d pay around $100 for it so Microsoft is getting their money one way or another.

  • VMware Converter for workstation to virtual pc and virtual machine migration: VMware – VMware

    VMware Converter for workstation to virtual pc and virtual machine migration: VMware – VMware

    Convert Physical Machines to Virtual Machines – Free!

    Use the intuitive wizard-driven interface of VMware Converter to convert your physical machines to virtual machines. VMware Converter quickly converts Microsoft Windows based physical machines and third party image formats to VMware virtual machines. It also converts virtual machines between VMware platforms. Automate and simplify physical to virtual machine conversions as well as conversions between virtual machine formats with VMware Converter.

  • IE7, IE6 Problems, Fixes

    First off, if you upgraded XP from Service Pack 1 (SP1) to Service Pack 2 (SP2) and did not start out with SP2, DO NOT UPGRADE TO IE7! It will not work! It will open, display “Connecting”, but go nowhere and, to add insult to injury, be unable to uninstall or roll back. The only two options if you have already installed IE7 in this situation is to use another browser instead such as Firefox or reinstall XP with SP2.

    Like I mentioned before, if you want to use Roxio’s DVD Builder, it WILL NOT WORK with IE7. You have to uninstall it for Roxio to work, but once you do, some of the features of IE7 stick around like the much-hated clipboard paste dialog box. Also, the new version of Blogger does not work in IE6 after rolling back from IE7. However Firefox works with it and that is what I am using now. A caveat about Firefox though, I do not reccommend upgrading to 2.0 yet.