Had a user call reporting their computer shutting off suddenly. On reboot, they received the message "On last operation CPU reported a thermal event" Well.. This told me that the CPU fan had probably choked and the CPU had overheated causing the PC shut down. Upon inspection I found my initial thought was only partially correct. The CPU had overheated, that was obvious, because the heat sync below the fan was completely clogged with dust... or a small feline, I'm not sure which. BUT, The fan … [Read more...]
CSS – Long URL
This is an older post that did not make it through to the new site when I converted to WordPress. Hopefully this will still be relevant to someone out there. CSS and the Long URL: I was working on a webmail client a while back and had been having a few design problems. Sometimes when you subscribe to a blog, forum or usergroup the e-mails from those respective subscriptions will include an "unsubscribe url". This Blog does. Now this URL can be really long and, in a normal email client … [Read more...]
The First Microsoft Bing Ad
I ran across this a little while ago. Microsoft has launched it's first Bing commercial and, it's not terrible. Nothing Earth Shattering but it's a pretty good commercial. I've used "Bing" a few times and I'll say one thing, it is quite fast returning results. I've not put it head to head with Google yet to see what it does or doesn't get but it is fast and I like the way it sorts the results. I think I will try a few head to head searches this weekend to see how they compare. And, I may even … [Read more...]
Microsoft Zune Update
Attention all Zune owners out there! I just read over at the Supersite for Windows that Microsoft will be releasing the Zune 3.0 software/firmware update on September 16, 2008. The update adds some interesting features to the player. One makes use of the built-in FM tuner. Supposedly, if you are listening to the FM tuner on the Zune and hear a song you want, you will be able to tap the pad and purchase the song via wi-fi through the Zune Market Place. Another new feature is the addition … [Read more...]
Speed up File Copy in Vista
I've been using Vista Ultimate as my primary OS now for nearly a year and, I have to say I'm having VERY FEW problems. Certainly not the horror stories you read all over the web and, really no more than I had with Windows XP Pro. It may have something to do with the machine I built to run Vista. (It gets a 5.4 on the Windows Experience Index) I get no system freezes, no " … [Read more...]
Remote Desktop Slow in Vista
I am using my Vista Ultimate machine primarily now for day-to-day work.. And everything is running quite smoothly to be honest. No crashes, no freezes, no spyware.. Everything is great. I help manage SEVERAL servers across my WAN and use Remote Desktop to great effect. But, last week a new Server was added. I logged in with my trusty Remote desktop to start setting up an SFTP server. Only, this time everything was WAY WAY WAY Slow... I mean I was waiting a good thirty seconds between clicks. … [Read more...]
Outlook error: 0x800CCC90
The other day a client called me reporting that he was unable to download his e-mail with Outlook 2003. He reported this error: Your incoming (POP3) mail server has reported an Internal Error. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet Service Provider (ISP). The server Reported: -ERR problem retrieving message. Now, this is a horrible error.. Really only because it is so vague. Microsoft says this about that error: CAUSE This … [Read more...]