Tag: computers

Corrupt kernel32.dll solution

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It isn’t all fun and dongles, you know. Sometimes error messages happen and they need to be decyphered before you can even make a start on fixing the problem. Take this Acer desktop I have in for repair. It says “Stop: C0000221” on boot. Then there’s some stuff about “image kernel32.dll is possibly corrupt” and “header checksum does not match”. Thankfully, I found a solution. Kernel32.dll resides (on this XP Home machine at least) in c:\Windows\System32. And, having booted into …

Back to the 80s: Dongle Power!

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Remember dongles? They’re devices that often came with (usually expensive) software. You plugged them into a port on your computer, and the software wouldn’t run without them. It was a stone age anti-piracy device, basically. Well, lookee what arrived this morning: That’s right. It’s a dongle! A USB dongle, in fact. Ah, the memories. The hideous memories. Memories of software not recognising you have a dongle plugged in and calling you a pirate. Memories of losing the dongle and being …

Setup is formatting… Still…

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Why does formatting a new (super-fast SATA) hard drive take FOREVER? So far, it’s been going for about an hour. I wiped and reinstalled Tiger on an old G4 Mac mini last week in less time than this is taking just to format, and the mini has a slooooow 4200rpm laptop IDE drive in it. Yeah, I could do a quick format, but since this drive arrived in the smashed up box from yesterday’s post, I thought I’d best do …

Safari – on Windows

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Today was Apple’s WWDC ’07 keynote. I don’t normally get interested in these things, but I found myself reading a transcript of the event earlier. And the thing that stood out most? No, not Leopard’s new features. Or the fact that it’s only US$129 (or as Steve Jobs put it, “Leopard shipping in October. Basic version, $129. Premium version, $129. Business version, $129, Enterprise version $129. Ultimate version, $129.”). It wasn’t the iPhone either (no keyboard, so useless to me). …

More gadget wantage

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A while ago, I found out about the HTC Athena (eventually sold as the HTC Advantage). It’s a large PDA with a mini-laptop air about it. There was no way I was going to buy one, as they were ¬¨¬£750 or something. But now, I’ve seen the Asus EeePC.It’s a thing of wonder and beauty. Yes, it’s a little larger than the HTC, and no, it’s not a phone as well. But it is a lovely 7″-screened, DS Lite-alike mini-laptop. …

UK Internet Register scam

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One of the 8723875234 jobs I’m responsible for at work is the running and upkeep of the website. So, it came as no surprise to get a letter today about the renewal of the domain name. After all, it’s up for renewal soon. However, I was confused to get the letter from a company called UK Internet Register rather than 1&1 (the host), or Nominet. And here it is: Even more surprising, was the money they wanted for this renewal …

The inbox cannae take it anymore, Captain!

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At work, we use WebMarshal to filter internet access so the kiddywinks don’t access porn and games and MySpace and other Internet Evils‚Äö?묢. As well as blocking access, all page requests are logged and anything that hits a filter triggers an email to me. Earlier this week, I’d stopped getting WebMarshal emails (although other emails were fine). Considering I get a fair few each day, I realised that something was wrong. Either that, or Die Kinderen had suddenly all gone …

Dell 2407WFP and Geforce FX 5600 woes

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I took delivery of a new Dell 2407 widescreen monitor today. And very nice it is too. To test it, I plugged it into my MacBook, and within seconds I had a lovely 1920×1200 crystal clear display. Excellent. However, things were not all well when I tried it on my PC. I thought I’d recount the problems here, for the benefit of others who have run into the same problem as me. My PC has a Geforce FX 5600 graphics …

Happy Birthday, Mr Spectrum!

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25 years ago this week, a man named Clive Sinclair unleashed the future into an unsuspecting world. That is, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was released. The details of the machine and its history have been reported all over the internet already today, so I won’t bother duplicating any of that here. I should, however, point out how much the Spectrum changed my own life. As MJ Hibbett and The Validators so musically sang, my parents bought me a 48K Spectrum+ …

On the topic of screen resolutions: Q or Q?

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Warning: this post may contain scenes of a geeky nature. So I’m looking for a new monitor. Actually, two new monitors – one for work, and one for home. On my PCs, I love a huge resolution, running a 19″ Iiyama VM Pro at 1600×1200 at work, and a 22″ Iiyama VM Pro at 1920×1440. Mmm, screen real estate. Thanks to the aceness that is Expos‚àö¬©, I manage happily with “just” 1280×800 on my MacBook, but on a Windows machine, …

Gadget wantage

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I’m not really the sort of person who buys stacks of gadgets. I don’t have satnav, I don’t have a fancy digital camera, and it’s only in the last two years I’ve had a mobile phone. Computers, yeah (although I don’t upgrade them every five seconds like I used to), and consoles, of course. But gadgets? Not really my thing. Until I saw this. It’s a HTC “Athena”, which is now being sold as the T-Mobile Ameo over here in …

Tiny Laptop

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I found this today. I knew I had it, but had completely forgotten how small it was. Like, 24x17x4cm. Which is VERY small. Shame it only has a 233MHz CPU and no built-in network card.

Stupid design #145: Canon MV930

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The Canon MV930 is a cheap MiniDV camcorder. We buy a couple of camcorders at work each year, and they’re normally Canons. So this one arrived last week. And nice it is too. It’s got all the features we need, and it records onto SD cards and stuff, and is reasonably rugged and simple to use. However. It has one glaring problem. You see the big white button on the back? That’s the Record button. You press it, and it …