PageDefrag - Free Windows defrag tool from Microsoft

The words "Microsoft" and "free" are not often used together. So, it's worth noting this software --which I just heard about--which provides some system performance enhancement benefits gratis.

PageDefrag v.32: "One of the limitations of the Windows NT/2000 defragmentation interface is that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access. Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system.

PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial defragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. In addition, it defragments event log files and Windows 2000/XP hibernation files (where system memory is saved when you hibernate a laptop).

PageDefrag works on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003."

Geeky but old Windows Info

I found this page with some old but interesting info. A lot of it is still applicable. (I was searching for info on hacking Windows Explorer.)

Computer Viruses and Parasites - How they work and how to remove them
Windows Explorer configuration - How to make it friendlier
Computer Language Comparisions - C++, Delphi/Pascal, VisualBasic 6.0
Notes on Database Development - MS Access | Delphi | Visual Basic | Java | Firebird
Problems with System Upgrades - Includes a list of suggested debug tools.
Browser Wars - Some children just don't know how to play together
Internet Explorer - Various notes and comments related to Internet Explorer
HTML Examples - Learn by example
Various notes - Just a collection of unrelated technical data

Thanks to Robert Clemenzi for publishing this info!

Cool Windows Search Tool!

Agent Ransack - home: "Agent Ransack is a free tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack displays the text found so you can quickly browse the results without having to separately open each file!

Agent Ransack provides compelling advantages over similar search tools:

* Regular expressions that allow complex rule based searches.
* Immediate contents results view.
* Various wizards to walk the user through the searching process.

Agent Ransack is provided FREE of charge for the benefit of the Windows community."

Just Say No to the VC

SmartBiz.com: Small Business Resources - Bootstrapping 2.0: Smart, Marketable Ideas Trump Outside Capital: "One of the first lessons an avid outdoorsman taught me is that when you’re facing the unforeseen elements of nature, it isn’t smart to rely on outside help for survival. We sometimes forget that the same is true for business, particularly in light of the venture capital-fueled dot-com boom and rise of advanced Web-based (or Web 2.0) tools that are helping to redefine the concept of “bootstrapping,” or building a business without outside capital."

This is a great article that highlights what I think is an important principle that many entrepreneurs miss. Sometimes, big success starts with prudent but smart investment.

Dump file and directory listing to text file (DOS batch)

Ahh, the magical world of ".bat"! Having always used a GUI, I feel like some kid who missed out on years of television. Here's a gem I found that lets you get a directory listing from anywhere on your hard drive, using the "SendTo" directory. That's an invisible folder, kids, so make sure to turn that on in your Windows Explorer--at least for this. (Tools > Folder Options, under the "View" tab)

Windows Vista News Roundup

Amazon.com featured some nice links to news and info on Microsoft Vista. Here are the first 3. You can click the "Next" link to get to the others. Looks like Bill Gates will be making a few extra bucks this year!

Amazon.com: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade Additional License Pack - 1 PC: Software: "1. Windows Vista Home Premium (from reviews.cnet.com)
Windows Vista Home Premium is essentially warmed-over Windows XP Home Edition. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we ...

2. Microsoft Vista Basic (from reviews.cnet.com)
Windows Vista Basic is essentially warmed-over Windows XP, Windows XP SP3. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we ...

3. Six Versions of Vista Set for Second Half of 2006 (from www.winplanet.com)
The forthcoming load of operating systems includes two for businesses, three for consumers and one starter system for what Microsoft ..."

Fun with Spanish

This is an amusing joke a friend of mine passed on to me today. A Google search produced many mentions of what I knew was a popular "forwarded" email. Here it is:

The Spanish Computer

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'

'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether 'computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora' ), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador') , because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

THE WOMEN WON!!!

Electric Car Energy Source Breakthrough

Some cool electric car technology is coming out of Texas! Click here to read more about barium-nitrate advances--especially if you drive a Hummer.

Outlook XP gets ready for new DST

I just heard about this today! In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act. The Energy Policy Act changes the start and end dates of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier (March 11th, 2007) and end one week later (November 4th, 2007) than what had traditionally occurred. All computers will be effected as well as programs which deal with calendar information. For a link to update Windows XP, click here. This is Microsoft Knowledge Base issue KB928388. MS Outlook 2003, 2002 and 2000 will also be affected. The Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool will take care of these versions of Outlook. Outlook 2007 already has the time change factored in. There will also patches for MS Exchange. When available, the tool will be available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

For more information about how to prepare for changes in daylight saving time in 2007 for all affected Microsoft products, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007

New music from dead composers

Not only is UC Santa Cruz home of the fighting Banana Slugs, but it's also home base for David Cope. He makes new compositions based on the work of famous classical composers--all with the help of his computer, EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence). Feed your iPod these fake classics!

The pleasure of finding things out - Richard Feynman

I've heard so much about this guy that I've got to screen this one. 40 min documentary interview with Dr. RP Feynman- one of the greatest physicist of our times and a Nobel Laureate. Specially uploaded for students of NSIT. To download it, click here. If that doesn't work, try this link.

Cult of Mac

Every Mac news junkie should keep this blog on their RSS feed list: Cult of Mac. Leander Kahney and Pete Mortensen do a great job covering Apple product news. With all of the changes going on at Apple, they should probably change the name to "The Apple Cult" or "The Branch iPodians".

Write The Caption

Some of the funniest people are just plain folks who would never be caught dead standing in front of a brick red wall in a dimly lit nightclub. Here's another great Write The Caption site from the Charlotte Observer. Example: "We've replaced Rudolph's original nose with Folgers' Crystals!"

Great PHP/MySQL book!!

My latest book review on Amazon.com. (Apparently, my first, although I'd swear I've done some others on an older account.)

Amazon.com: Your Profile: Reviews

I've bought and begun so many technical books that just had me bored or baffled in a few pages. This book is a refreshing change! Larry Ullman is a very talented writer/teacher who not only has a thorough knowledge of his subject, but also has the skill to communicate that knowledge in such a way that he doesn't talk down to you or leave you in the dust. Although I'm not too far along in the book, I can tell that this is going to give me a good grasp of PHP and MySQL, something I haven't found in a lot of online resources I've tried. It's rare that I feel this way about a technical book, but every time I pick this book up and read a bit more, I am more and more glad I chose this book over some of the others. Another excellent part of this purchase is that the author has made himself available to answer questions. How great is that? It's like getting access to a professor for a fraction of the cost of taking a class. I plan on buying other books from this author as needed.

10 Worst Domain Names

Picking a good domain name that's not already taken is becoming increasingly difficult these days. In fact, just picking an unambiguous domain name presents a formidable challenge for some people. Here's a list of really unfortunate domain names.

Your Gmail signature where you want it

As much as I love Gmail, there's one little bug I've come to find a bit annoying. When creating a reply message, Gmail treats your signature as a "bookend" to your email history, rather than the close of the current missive. So, even if you are writing "I agree" to a 500 page email, it's going to plant your signature right at the end. Fortunately, someone who actually knows how to solve these sorts of problems has provided a free tool to fix the otherwise perfect Gmail. Tim Jarrett's Gmail Signature Float gets your signature back under your latest composition. You'll need to get Greasemonkey and load that into Firefox.

powered by performancing firefox

Jeff Buckley - Documentary From BBC

A very talented artist who was taken from us way to early! You can download this to view on your iPod or computer here.

The Power of Nightmares-Great BBC Documentary

Great 3-part documentary (3 hours total) about the illusion of terror and politics. This gives the best explanation and history I've seen yet of the rise of neoconservatism and radical Islam. This may cause you to re-think a lot of what's going on in the middle-east!
The Power of Nightmares I: Baby It's Cold Outside.
The Power of Nightmares Part 2: The Phantom Victory
The Power of Nightmares Part 3: The Shadows in the Cave

9/11 Mysteries (Full Length, High Quality)

This is a brand new public domain 9/11 Truth documentary about the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center complex. It's excellent. Pass this link on!

TerrorStorm (911, London, Madrid Bombings, Conspiracy)

The long-awaited arrival of Alex Jones' latest trend-setting documentary has arrived! TerrorStorm delivers a powerful sucker punch to the architects of global terrorism and how they stage false-flag events to achieve political and sociological ends. Alex journeys from the depths of history from the Gulf of Tonkin, the USS Liberty and Gladio through to the Madrid and 7/7 London bombings and robustly catalogues the real story behind the government induced fable. This film contains viable solutions on how we can reclaim human dignity and freedom and prevent the global population from becoming the slaves of a prison planet. Download or purchase the video at http://www.prisonplanet.com. (Hopefully, the quality is better than this version.) 83,000 views so far!