"You can continue working while this update is being installed."

LOL... only on a different computer.

Tags: computer

Anyone know how I can install a Japanese font into Firefox?  I still won't be able to read those web pages, but at least they'd look prettier if with a font instead of rows and rows of ????????

Tags: computer, interwebs

Need to get a new router so I can share the cable internet among computers.  I see now they've moved on down the alphabet from "Wireless G" to "Wireless N", but does this matter for anything with a wireless notebook that's two years old? 

Tags: computer

My mom asked me to research desktop PCs for a possible Christmas gift for a family member out of town who has only a decrepit, ten-year-old, second-hand laptop with overheating issues. So I'm poking around the Dell web site, and...

For serious? The smallest hard drive that comes with a new PC is 500 GB? Good grief, how many pirated MP3s and ripped from DVD videos does the average PC user need to store these days? I have a 250 GB hard drive on my desktop, I've had it for four years, I have Office and several games installed, and I still have over 200 GB of free space.

What annoys me the most is how the el-cheapo entry level machines are now better spec'ed, save for the video card, than this PC under my desk that was pretty damn uber when I bought it in 2004. :P

Tags: computer
Current Mood: nerdy

First day back at the office today after my vacation.  Two weeks sure seemed a lot longer looking at it on the approach than it does on the departure.  I miss my friends already... and I'm also a bit jealous of the ones who've still got more conventions to look forward to this summer.

Here at work, we'll be getting upgraded from Office 2000 to Office 2007 on Wednesday.  So I'll finally be installing the copy of Office 2007 that I bought over a year ago on my PC at home, too.  Sometimes I work on Excel stuff at home, so I've held off and continued to use Office 97 to avoid backwards incompatibility issues.

For those who didn't make it to Chicago for The Gathering 2008 who have t-shirts and Anthologies coming to them... I have all the stuff and I'll be mailing it all out by the end of the week.

For those (like me) who are already looking forward to The Gathering 2009... we have special early pre-registration rates that are good until this coming Friday.  Get membership for $50, or get a package that includes the banquet and a t-shirt for only $100.  Go here to register.

Tags: computer, gathering of the gargoyles, vacation, work
Current Mood: okay

Fuck Excel.  I'm so sick of having spreadsheet that I've spent hours formatting print fine on one printer and then something in a random cell goes wonky when I go and print a run of 150 copies.  Oh well, what's a few more trees, right?

Tags: computer, rant
Current Mood: annoyed

Wanted:  Assistance from someone knowledgeable in the workings of phpBB2 to help me figure out what is ailing the Gathering of the Gargoyles forum.

http://www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com/phpBB2/

Occasionally it loads, but most of the time it comes up with:

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 120 seconds exceeded in \\NAWINFS04\home\users\web\b2908\rh.gathering\phpBB2\db\msaccess.php on line 176

That might as well be Egyptian hieroglyphics to me.  :/

Tags: computer, interwebs, tech help

Did you know:

The very first spam e-mail was sent on May 1, 1978 by a DEC marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

The contents of that historic message can be viewed here.

Quiet a bit wordier than, "Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you."

Tags: computer, interwebs

I find it awfully misleading that the specs Dell provided for my PC stated that the memory was upgradeable to 4.0 GB when I come to find out after upgrading my video card that there's no way to address more than around 3.0 GB of physical RAM with a 32-bit processor.  This fact of computing life, explained here in some detail, was unknown to me until I rebooted my PC after installation of the new video card, checked the "System" properties under the Windows Control Panel, and saw that my 3.0 GB of installed memory had become 2.5 GB.  Had the Cookie Monster come along and eaten one of my original memory modules, I wondered?  I powered down, checked that all was still secure in the slots, and booted again.  BIOS showed 3.0 GB of total memory installed, but Windows still recognized only 2.5 GB.  Only after asking a few people who I knew to be more tech savvy than me and searching the internet a bit did I come to realize that I was "missing" half a GB RAM because the new video card held 512 MB, which was being counted first.

Essentially, this means I've hit the ceiling as far as RAM goes on my machine.  Apparently, 1.0 GB of the addressable space was already taken up by system ROM and various factory installed PCI cards.  When I added the 2.0 GB of new RAM to the original 1.0 GB, I pushed it right to the limit, and adding the new video card pushed it over.

Presumably, this shouldn't affect my system's performance much for gaming, since there's now 512 MB of dedicated RAM on the graphics card where before there was zero, but it still annoys me that Dell's specs say the machine can handle up to 4.0 GB of RAM and every time I visit their site, they're trying to offer me more memory.  And I'm glad that I didn't pay the extra $300 they wanted for 4.0 GB of RAM when I ordered the system back in 2004.

Tags: computer
Current Mood: nerdy

Yesterday I went through the cabinet and shelves on my computer desk.  Historical stuff that I found:  The OEM installation CDs for Windows 95, 98 and ME from every PC that I've ever owned.  An owners manual for a 15" CRT monitor (I remember when that was considered HUGE).  Almost three dozen America Online CDs still in the shrink wrap, going back to Version 4.0.  Enough phone wire to string a line from here to Los Angeles.

My desktop system is getting a makeover as it enters its fourth year.  I've installed a new set of Logitech speakers and scrapped the crappy set from Dell that have always had a strange background hiss no matter what I do, and today I'm installing a new video card.  Early next week, I should be getting a new monitor, as well.  So it'll feel like having a brand new computer except for the big hit to the wallet. ;)

Tags: computer
Current Mood: geeky