CoffeeFiend

Why bother with that executable in the first place? All it does it show a HTA anyways. Plus, the path is hardcoded in the executable. Why not just call mshta.exe yourself, instead of calling OEMFactoryRestore.exe?

There's a LOT more to it than just performance. The development tools is also one of the big points. I make ASP.NET apps, so I stick to discountasp.net myself. But yes, it's more expensive than extremely oversold PHP hosting. But that same oversold & dirt cheap LAMP hosting is enough to run a me-too personal blog with like 10 page views a month or whatever (that's what a LOT of people are doing with it)

it really depends what you're looking for, how much work you're willing to do, and how much you're willing to spend. Cheap & "lots" of work? There are free TCP/IP stacks for several dirt cheap MCUs. A cheap MCU and an ethernet module should run you around $20 total (probably even less if you're willing to build the module yourself from a generic realtek chip). Cheap and less work? You can buy tiny embedded computer boards (that can run Linux or what not), which have an ethernet port. You'd need to add some kind of enclosure yourself eventually. Finished product, almost no work? Same thing as above is also sold in pretty cases, but for more $. But then again, the small size eventually costs extra. If I had to do something like this, I'd probably build something around this module, which pretty much already has everything you need, short of a source of power. Just add a tiny 3.3V voltage regulator (tons of simple ones under $1) and a small battery and you're done (or even use power from a USB port, even a zener could also work for this) Obviously, some electronics, networking and programming knowledge is required. It's about as small as it's going to get and not too expensive.

Depends on the industry I guess. All our products are tested, more than once too (and then a percentage taken as samples, for further testing, like temperature tests, vibration tests, etc) But yeah, there will always be a small percentage of DOA products no matter what you do.

No. This page isn't from Google. It's just someone who made a page that looks somewhat like Google's (poor imitation even -- nothing's centered), and it happens to be the first search result (mainly because the name is in the URL, and also because you used the exact search words from its page), and that's where "I feel lucky" takes you. It's not that funny... heh

I decided to change the scale this month, the top of the chart (max) is now 1.5%. Combined Win9x market share dropped below 0.5% and just might be below the iPhone's next month (it's already higher than any specific Win9x "flavor", just not all of them combined yet). Linux has mostly gone back up to its previous position, and has about 75% more users than all Win9x combined. It had dropped significantly last month, but it's back up over the NT4 market share again. I've been excluding NT4 from the pic for clarity, and since it's mostly an horizontal line at ~0.7%, but next month, we'll get a newcomer to this picture: Win2k. It would have been here if I didn't reduce the max to 1.5% (it's at 1.58% right now). Also, XP hit below 2/3rds, and vista broke the 20% mark. Eventually we'll see Win7 (betas or RTM) on there too... At the current rates, all Win9x combined will be down to 0.01% total (rounded up) by 2010 (only 13 months away). By then, Win2k should be around 0.25%, and Linux over 1%. XP around 50%, Vista around 30%. But eventually Win7 will be out, and it'll start replacing XP & Vista boxes...

For the most part, the extra cost comes from the processor that does the XOR'ing (to have good speeds in RAID5/6 without high CPU load)... But yes, they do have more features (like staggered spinup), and the software can be better too. You could do software RAID0 or RAID1 using the OS' mechanisms and not run into those issues, without the extra cost of those fancy cards. Those cards are great, until they fail. Then it's just a different nightmare. A different card won't recover your old array, and sometimes the exact same card but with a different firmware won't either. And when it fails a few years down the line, it can be real hard to find one of the exact same card to recover your data. That's when it's not a PERC from some very well known manufacturer, who insists on doing a test that will actually wipe your array clean, just to ensure it's the controller that failed! (been there, done that, wasn't exactly fun). Still gotta have offsite backups I'm only using the ICH9R in RAID0, so no worries. And all my important docs are also backed up every once in a while, on an external drive, stored at my dad's place like 200KM away (in case of theft, fire or what not) Edit: In fact, I kind of wish there were some inexpensive 12 port SATA cards, RAID or not (with staggered spinup), at a half-decent price ($300 perhaps). Don't need a fancy processor on it, just a lotta ports.

Don't touch anything. If you can't figure out the manufacturer from looking at the laptop itself, then it's best you don't try to disassemble things (you might break something), to then try to buy RAM that might work and all that. Take it to a decent computer store around your place, tell them you want more RAM in it. They'll know what it needs, what it can use, how to install it, and they'll be glad to sell you what you need also. Installation fees shouldn't be too high either (I've seen plenty of places that would do something like this for like $20).

Your router should hand out the proper DNS infos. If it doesn't, make sure it was setup properly. Otherwise, install wireshark and do a capture of a DHCP request on one of your machines.

Insertion fees are higher than $0.15 if you start at a dollar or more. And it's not just insertion fees either. There's also the reserve fees (1% of reserve price, so if reserve is $200, there goes $2 extra). And if you want a buy it now option, then that's extra yet again. All of which you pay as often as you run the ad, which could be many times. Then once it finally sells, you pay 8.75% of the first $25, and 3.50% of the rest. And then Paypal's fees of about 3%. And that's assuming you don't get any extras like bold, gallery, or anything like that. And that you're not paying for extra or larger images either. It does add up quickly to more than you expected it to. Too bad it's not computer related at all?

That's a matter of opinion... It's always being updated, sometimes daily (right now it's 3 days old). And it's one of the most well known sites when it comes to networking. If someone bumped a thread from 2002 (that says to check MS's homepage or another such trivial & irrelevant thing -- and also when it's totally trivial to google for anyone who might actually need it: type "port list", hit "i feel lucky" and you're actually there!) just for saying "interesting page!", I wouldn't care either if the page has been updated since then. It was completely pointless at the very least & no better than bumping any random thread from 6 years back for no reason whatsoever. Besides, most good networking tools (wireshark, MS' network monitor, etc) already have that kind of stuff "built in" so you normally don't even have to look them up anyways. Now, for something actually interesting, a 1:1 quote from another site, referring to someone whose posts are 99% of the time totally unrelated to the main subject of this board (and bumps threads a lot, despite previous warnings): Not like he actually cares in the first place either, just seeing how he's banned from forums.catholic.com, www.vbulletin.com, etc. And that 99% of his posts are blind copy/paste also posted on tons of other forums where they're equally unrelated (like here on msfn, then here, here, here, here, ... and then all those posted under other user names, like here, here, here, here, ...) Around here, when someone copy/pastes the same totally off-topic/unrelated/pointless stuff over and over and over again on tons of forums for no reason at all, we call that spam (and then there's the pointless thread digging too)

Check the latest Intel roadmap. Most C2D's (and even Quads) are being discontinued in the next 6 months. And with more i7 models being added soon and upcoming price drops (also on DDR3 and such), it'll quickly become mainstream. And yes, I'm looking at the price of the whole platform too. Good AMD motherboards (the very few of them) aren't any cheaper. And yes, DDR3 may cost more now, but that's also very quickly changing. Give it a year, and it just might cost the same. Edit: also looks like I'm gonna bump up RAM to 8GB instead of 6GB (someone I know with 2x2GB of DDR2 800MHz on his hands and no use for it!)

It wasn't unstable. And that hasn't changed as it's still the same SP3. I'm also a Firefox-only user, but then again, any point in not installing that update?

Why would you seek hosting located in Canada? It doesn't matter so much where it's located, as your visitors will be from all over the world. I'm quite happy with my USA hosting myself (at discountasp.net). domain name wise, I like to use namecheap.

Of course it's a a little of both. But the way it looks now, the next AMD CPUs will be slower than the entry model Core i7, which will soon be a lot cheaper as Intel will stop selling all C2D's in the next few months. AMD may have a cheaper offering, but when it's slower than the entry level Intel CPU... Just like the current Phenoms, they're dirt cheap because they're just not fast (comparatively speaking). Just like the old AMD & Cyrix days, cheaper but slower. It might be good enough for some people, but not really enough for a company to "rise from the dead" (like when the Athlon64 was kicking netburst's butt)

From the performance increases we've seen on their brand spanking new Opterons (Shanghai), and assuming their desktop chips make as much progress... It'll still take more than that to catch up to i7 unfortunately. I guess they'll keep being the budget CPU company for a while longer. Anyhow. I just bought 4GB more of Corsair today (2x Antec 300, 2x Seasonic SS-350ET, 4GB of 800MHz Corsair DDR2 and 2 pairs of Sony earphones for $200.93 CAD including UPS dlivery and taxes in!) I'll soon find out how it plays with the old OCZ.

The problem with those kind of things is, it 99% likely won't sell the first time. You could relist it many times, and pay near the item's worth in fees by the time it sells (unless you get very lucky and someone just happened to be looking exactly for that). And it's not like you can even try to sell with no reserve to lower your ebay fees, as the first and only person looking for it will bid, and you'll get $1 for it. Personally, I'd probably contact a place that sells such things 2nd hand, and ask them how much they'd give you for it. No waiting, no ridiculous ebay fees (or any of the usual hassles selling on ebay), just an honest amount, straight in your pockets. They'll hold onto it for weeks or months, and sell it at a good price to whoever needs it then. Likely, they'll be able to test it and provide a warranty, which you can't do yourself (selling as-is with no warranty on ebay isn't a recipe for getting big $ either). It's more or less the same thing I do with photo stuff. Stores will gladly buy your old stuff, to resell it at a profit. I'd probably get a few $ more selling it on ebay (photo stuff is a lot more common, there's LOTSs of buyers). But all the stuff you got to do... Handing out many shipping estimates, answering tons of questions, tracking #s to email and all that stuff for every item... And ebay + paypal fees are not so low. It's just not worth the hassle IMO.

Microfiber cloths are nothing high tech nor new either. We've been using them on photo gear for ages. It works good indeed.

The same way using a carriage is a great way to avoid engine problems, or that being Amish helps avoiding power outages, yeah. Seriously, last time we've had ANY spyware/virus or anything, was in the pre-XP SP2 days. And I even let the kids be admins and everything else. No AV running or anything. I don't even understand how people manage to get those things anymore. They must be doing something terribly wrong for all that stuff to happen. Malware certainly doesn't just appear like that on your machine, it has to come from somewhere. My current main machine (running Vista x86) has never got any malware ever. The kids' XP install is around 3 years old, and I don't recall removing any malware from it during those years either. Those who always have to clean lots of malware or reinstall XP all the time ARE doing something wrong, no doubts about it.

And I'd have to say exactly the inverse. I didn't use to get too much spam there, but the last couple years has been just brutal. I even got spam addressed from myself @ yahoo (forged sender). There are days when I get more spam on my yahoo account than I get in the entire year on gmail. Sure, the premium may help, but why pay for that when gmail does better for free? Also, gmail is just all-around better. Better interface, no annoying ads in your sent emails (like for their personals or garbage toolbar), more space, tagging, etc. And Google will still be around next year I'd sooner pay for gmail than use yahoo for free.

DDR3 is dropping down in price so fast it's unbelievable (ncix even has a 2x1GB 1333 CL9 kit on for $40). That's perhaps twice as much as a decent DDR2 kit goes for, which isn't too bad of a price premium for such cutting edge stuff. Some mobos for Core i7 can be had for cheap-ish too already (~$50 more than good P45 mobos -- not bad at all for a X58 board!). Now if only core i7 had price drops... It's gonna be pretty cheap soon I guess.

Possibly if you can figure out exactly what it is first. Even then, selling price isn't so much the issue, as waiting for someone who needs that specific part. Those things aren't exactly in high demand, doubly so now with everybody moving to voip. There's really only 8 of the 16 ports on the card, and nowadays a 8 port FXS card (for asterisk/trixbox/whatever) can be had for under $300.

The thing is, it's not a short period of time. 7 years is just about forever when it comes down to technology. Similarly, in 7 years, we moved from the P1 (1993) to the P4 (2000). In 1994, we were still using Win 3.11, and in 2001 we had moved to XP. In 2001, a 40GB HD was $250, now you can get 1.5TB drives for $150 (62.5x more GB per $). 7 years ago, we had very basic cell phones that only made calls, now we have iPhones, blackberrys and smartphones with cameras/java/mp3 player/SMS/email and what not. We had CRT 480i TVs, now 1080p LCDs are getting cheap (~7 years before that, and I remember even seeing some B&W TVs left). 7 years ago, we had very basic DSLRs for a LOT of $, now you can get fairly decent kits for $500. Flash memory was almost unheard of (by most people) back in 2001, and it's come down in price a ridiculous amount since then (I remember shopping for 1GB CF cards back when they were $600 not even that long ago, and I got a 2GB SD card for like $6 a couple years ago). Etc. And it'll stay that way. The brand new Core i7's will look slow in 7 years from now. The yet unreleased Windows 7 will likely be 2 or 3 versions out of date. Everything hardware/software/consumer electronics will have changed a LOT again.

No kidding. I've had a yahoo mail account since like '95, and I ditched them recently for gmail. Yahoo's spam filters are worthless. You need those 15 filters to keep your sanity. Let's put it that way: I get about the same amount of spam everyday on yahoo (and that's after filtering it) as I got in a whole year with gmail (w/o any custom filtering). Plus, yahoo is quickly dying. Their shares hit below $9 yesterday... So much for refusing MS' offer at $33/share

Wattage by itself doesn't mean much. Some 350W PSUs could handle that, whereas some generic 550W PSUs could die with that kind of load. What model is it? The other thing that comes to mind is, why keep 4 old tiny hard drives? Just the hard drives by themselves cost you around $40/year in power, whereas you can get a modern and very fast 640GB'er for like $70 if you shop around. More space, less power, lesser electricity bills. The drive will pay for itself several times. Edit: looks like puntoMX beat me to it.