Category Archives: General Computer Stuff

Block Specific Addresses with Windows Firewall

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Recently I’ve had periods where my computer or Internet connection seems to bog down. I started looking to see what was happening and found I had a security problem. So, if you use Remote Desktop or have your Windows Login Service exposed to the Internet for other reasons, you should probably read this.

System Explorer History - click to enlarge

System Explorer History – click to enlarge

I’ve heard the news and seen the articles on the Cyber War. I have my firewall and anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-etc… So, I feel pretty safe. But, I do use Windows Firewall in Vista. It is a decent enough firewall even if many do knock it.

But, I kept having periods where my computer got sluggish. Also, recently my Internet connection speed would shift into s l o o o o w motion. So, I started looking to see what was happening.

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Second Life Crashing SkyDrive Problem

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Crashing when uploading textures and several other assets is caused by having Microsoft’s SkyDrive and similar software installed. There is a possible fix for SkyDrive. I assume a similar fix for other cloud drives would work.

Windows Registry - Skydrive

Windows Registry – Skydrive

I first saw MartinRJ Fayray describe the fix in the SL Forum. The fix requires editing the Windows Registry. If you are not familiar with editing the registry and the associated problems, avoid these steps until after you have read up on registry edits and have decided you are up to it.  Continue reading →

Is 3D Safe for Kids

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I was answering a question in the SL Forum about 3D and Second Life. The involved people seemed short on  info about how 3D works for single screens. So, I was looking for a good explanation of the state of the tech. I came across an article at Tech Crunch.

Title: A Guide to 3D Display Technology: Its Principles, Methods, and Dangers

The word ‘dangers’ caught my attention. How can 3D be dangerous? This is a 2010 article. But, it points out the nature of the human visual system and brain and what fooling it with 3D displays does. Something I had never heard of or thought about.

It seems people coming out of long 3D movies are having problems with depth perception. Oh fun! More incompetent drivers on the road.

The real problem pointed out is for young children. We really have no studies or solid data on the effect. But, the points made in the article seems intuitive, which doesn’t make them right. But, it is a serious consideration for those raising young children and exposing them to 3D TV and games.

Apparently this is enough of a problem that Samsung posted this warning on their site:

READ THE FOLLOWING WARNINGS BEFORE YOU OR YOUR CHILD USE THE 3D FUNCTION.

Update: See VR Matrix Disassociation from Real Life.

 

Google Sign In & Security

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Working with some new client computers I ran into some VERY annoying problems with the Google Chrome Internet Browser. There is an initial Sign In which seems hard to turn off.

Browser Market Share

Browser Market Share

In my search to find out how to turn off the annoying Sign In I learned several things about Chrome and Chromium. If you don’t know, The Chromium Projects according to Chromium’s home page are:

The Chromium Projects include Chromium and Chromium OS, the open-source projects behind the Google Chrome browser and Google Chrome OS, respectively. This site houses the documentation and code related to the Chromium projects and is intended for developers interested in learning about and contributing to the open-source projects.

While I knew about Chromium being the open source side of Google’s Chrome browser, it had not dawned on me that this was the place to get information about Chrome. Duh! Well… we all have our stupid moments… and I didn’t even have to go blond. It is not the end-all-be-all source and Chrome often does not work as Chrome does, has files in different places, and different or missing registry entries at least they have some information that can help. It is very much like Linden Lab viewers and Third Party viewers… the same but different.  Continue reading →

Windows 8 Hands On

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Yesterday I was helping a friend with a new Windows 8 Laptop. Best Buy had an awesome deal for two days, about 70% off. Yay!

The previous laptop died and we recovered the hard disk and put it into an external drive case. All I needed to do was move the files over and get MS Office installed.

Since I had heard the Metro interface could be turned off, I started looking for how to turn it off. Plus there are a number of programs that purport to do it for you. One is supposed to let you switch back and forth. Well… they don’t work and Microsoft has removed the ability to turn off Metro.  Continue reading →

Windows 8 and RT Review

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Because I would with small businesses with 10 and fewer employees I deal mostly with Windows computers. In that time I found what I think are the best Windows Tech manuals. The author is Mark Minasi and he has written a series of Windows Server 20XX books that I rely on. So, when I saw his review of Windows 8 and RT is was interested.

You can find his review here: Mark Minasi’s Windows Networking Tech Page Issue #103 November 2012.

The following is a quick take of what Mark wrote. I warn you this is my take on what Mark wrote. Read his review to get his words.

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Internet and Cellular News

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If you live in an area where your Internet connection suffers from lost packets or your mobile phone sounds horrible and has trouble streaming data, you have hope. A new breakthrough in how the Internet and digital transmissions handle lost packets may improve your life.

This breakthrough is all about how lost packets are handled. Think of the Internet as a pneumatic tube, like at some banks’ drive through services. Those with the clear tubes and cylindrical carriers you put your check and ID in to send to the teller and they return cash to you in them. Internet packets are like the carriers. But think of all the tubes coming from the drive ups you use into a single tube. If your carrier bumps into another it jams in the tube. In the digital world it sort of magically returns to the starting point.

A traffic controller in your network card and system handles those collisions. It uses a mathematical algorithm to decide when to send the packet/carrier on its way again. The idea is to prevent packets from various computers and devices from being sent at the same time. It is inefficient and slows things down.

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nVidia Drivers 306.97 Released

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The last driver out was 306.23 released on September 23rd. This newer 306.97 was released on October 10th. I’ve been running the 306.23 since the September release. I haven’t seen any problems in Second Life™ with 306.23. Unless the Pathfinding Characters failing to render correctly in the SL Development Viewer is related to the driver, which doesn’t seem to be the case, more later.

nVidia Driver Updates 306.97

I have seen the behavior of my Vista-32 change with 306.23. There seems to be a serious video lag in several places. Moving icons on the desktop is one place. Moving the icon appears to leave a copy of the icon behind. It can take 10 to 30 seconds or longer for the left-behind-icon to disappear. In some cases I have to do something to make the screen update before it goes away.

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