Tuesday, November 30, 2010

VirtualBox

In my experiments with Windows 7 and XP-Mode I came across virtualization.

Windows Home Server - compared to a Linux server with Samba shares

I started a page (on my website - www.tempusfugit.ca) on this before - but couldn't see the need when it is so easy to configure a Ubuntu server.


Quote from Ed Bott's ZDNet posting:

As a product, it has built a passionate user base, filled with enthusiasts who have pushed the platform to its limits. As a business, though, Windows Home Server has been a dud, never really breaking out beyond its enthusiast base.

Links:

Friday, November 26, 2010

AMD Catalyst Control Center

This utility appears to be installed on computers that have AMD APUs.


The application shown above is seen when you select the CCC menu option and it allows you to set the advanced display options and to set profiles.

It would appear that there are automatic "recovery" profiles that get set when internal diagnostics detect that there is a potential problem with the graphics system.

Links:

Thursday, November 25, 2010

AVG finally shoots itself in the foot


 
What with all the nonsense about "Needing to update my Anti Virus Software" and the offers of ancillary products when I do. I finally decided to give MS Security Essentials a try out.

AVG 2011 Free Edition is just too much of a pain! Final straw was the constant placing of an icon on my desktop(s)**** - trivial I know! but it is just one of the annoyances that have been bugging me of late with them.

**** I run multiple computers with Windows on them and have been installing AVG Free on them as a matter of course. Although no fan of Microsoft I think that I will be switching over to their free A-V offering. Ubuntu Linux is the preferred solution, but in instances where I have to use Windows I may as well keep it as "pure" as possible.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

SLAPP - Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation

An acronym coined by Penelope Canan and George W. Pring, University of Denver.  Describing the bully-boy" tactic to silence critics by using the legal system.

What the WikiP page on SLAPP says:

A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition

I am not sure where the following quote was from, but it is related to blogging and the Internet:

......... if in your blogging you make a false statement, it is just that. So, just report things that you are know are true, or say that what you are saying is just conjecture.

A lot of what I blog about is speculation (conjecture)

Downloading from P2P could be construed as an action that a SLAPP be launched. Organizations such as EFF are likely to claim that such cases are examples of SLAPP. Those that are against this sort of legal activity are those that are the apologists (i.e. The Electronic Frontier Foundation), those that launch these suits are likley to be the copyright holders.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

File recovery from RRBackups data files

This post is a review of the procedures detailed previously in describing RR&R and the utilities RRUTILS.exe and IBMRRUTIL.exe

Links:
  • RRUTILS.exe  - The utility that can be used to recover data and manage the RRBACKUPS files and directories.
  • Other pages on this blog relating to RRBACKUPS

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Bin Selection for low TDP

This is the selection of processors for low power consumption.

This all started when researching whether a 95W processor would be a problem on a motherboard that had a recommendation of 65W.

The jury seems to be out on whether the 95W processor will be too much for the Zotec GF8200 C E motherboard - but it does highlight a number of points.

The TDP is a "nominal" or a maximum value for the specified processor (it is likely that your processor will consume less power and processors can be selected from production runs for units that exhibit low power  consumption)

These processors can be sold at a premium or they can get re-branded as low TDP devices. Due to the nature of how Intel and AMD market their products it is not clear how this manifests itself. Those at review sites, such as Anandtech, can speculate on this - but it will probably remain unknown to the
exact state of affairs.

In any case, it is probably true that processors that have a lower TDP are not necessarily better capable to be overclocked. This seems to be the #1concern of the "fanboys" on review sites.

NemesisChild On an AMD forum says: "Do your research!" - he also went on to talk about MOSFETS (only I don't really think that he knew what a MOSFET was! (apart from the fact that he/she may have read/been told that they are the transistors that provide power control to the processor)

GF8200-C-E with Phenom X3 8750 (95w TDP) 65w motherboard with 95w CPU - this is the board I want to use a 95W on ---- here one person responds with a list of approved processors that says you can't use anything higher than 65w, but then it looks like a Zotac moderator says you can:

Any processor compatible with any AM2+ board should run fine. A BIOS update may be needed to recognize the name of processors released after the most most recent BIOS.






Bin selection does not just affect the TDP but all specs:


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Scroogle

How to search the Internet and not let Google know what you are searching for and where located.

    As you can see below it does not stop anyone seeing your IP address and what you are searching for.

There is an entry on WikiP for Scroogle - they (whoever made the entry) are not that impressed with them either!

I use Google Analytics, but not for the sinister goals that Scroogle are trying to circumvent. I do see where they are going with their thoughts, however.

While the visits are somewhat anonymous when a visitor arrives on this site an entry appears in my server log:

216.26.214.81 - - [19/Nov/2007:13:50:08 -0500] "GET /nov_exp.html HTTP/1.1"  200 20098              ____/ /www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi"  "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U;  Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.9) Gecko/20071111 Firefox/2.0.0.9"

The fact that the visitor was a Linux user and they visited the nov_exp page tells me what I need to know about the visitor. The content of the page nov_exp is likely to be concerned with XP drivers for a wireless notebook.


Actually, Scroogle was probably the Linux user. The IP was probably not the originator of the search but, nevertheless, the visit was registered.


This was the first time that the string: "www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi" was seen


The "scrapper" is available to webmasters - but there may be a little bit of hypocrisy going on here?

 One of the benefits is that you can ensure that your employer cannot track your Internet searches as the search string is masked by the browser extension. Which, presumably has to be installed on the browsers computer. (April 2011 - not sure what I meant here when I first wrote this page - Nov 2007)

The way that it is approached it is if there is something really sinister with the way that Google collect information and what their intentions are. The fact that cookies are set - something the majority of websites do - and information is gathered - such as the users IP and the search string (keywords). This information doesn't have to be used for nefarious means. In fact it can be used to make your surfing experience better.

I am a totally commercial-free website - I use Google Analytics to track visits to this site. I know what I can and can't do with the information that Google collects for me. In fact, I would be surprised if they are even interested in the information that I monitor. As far as a Machiavellian plat with big business is concerned - I consider it a nonsense.

I do not use Adsense, in fact I think that it is a waste of time! The fact that Scroogle post such as the shot below is an indication that they are clueless.


If you wanted to stop Google tracking you, yes, you could turn off JavaScript but that would not stop the Adsense ads from polluting your screen.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

btguard update virtual machine stack overflow

I (formerly ****) discuss(ed) this issue on www.tempusfugit.ca on my page on Immutable Virtual Machines

I have seen various queries regarding this:

East Providence - btguard updates virtual machine stack overflow
Houston - btguards update virtual machine stack overflow
Basingstoke - btguard virtual machine stack overflow
San Jose - virtual machine stack overflow btguard

I am not sure if this is systemic.

**** Update May 18th 2012

Thank you to the visitor from Ottawa I am now migrating the information that was hosted on my website to this blog.

I will make a post for Immutable Virtual Machines here and expand on my theories regarding the use such VMs and the possible causes of this error being reported.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

AMD Fusion

This utility is used on Asus and other computers with AMD APUs to control the performance of the processor. It can be used to overclock and overclock APUs such as the AMD E-450.






The AMD Fusion Utility Recovery

This seems to be a function that is hidden from general usage. My 2nd AO522 has the options to control the display modes using AMD Catalyst Control Center (CCC), but I seem to have blown them away from my 1st.

Still, the AMD recovery functionality still seems to work.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Changing your company name

Why would a company want to change its name?

Google changed its name from Backrub to Google in 1997/1998
Other companies that have changed their names: