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After hearing (and reading) all of the pros and cons on Windows Vista I decided to install it onto my own system and test it for myself. So after I partioned a 500 gig Seagate SATA (recently discussed) I actually decided to see exactly what all the fuss is about with this operating system. Let me tell you, it is absolutely NOTHING in comparison to what the prior operating systems I have worked with over the years. I didn’t know what to think when I was seeing some of the different icons on the interface.

The interface looked nice but what threw me off was the widgets on the right side of the screen. As soon as you boot up, it shows a round clock that reminds me of something I used to see when I was sitting in a cafeteria. Underneath it was a small box with changing photographs then underneath it was another widget. I suppose that was Windows way of helping the user so they don’t have to keep bring up the program itself. But my thought on that is, why bother having this clock that looks like a huge cafeteria clock when you already have a digital clock in the task bar.

I will admit after installing Windows Vista and exploring it for 48 hours, I started seeing things in a different light. The interface is surely different in comparison to prior versions of Windows. The largest improvement that I noticed with Vista is the system actually ran a lot faster of course it could have been because I was running a 3.1 gig dual-core with 4 gigs of RAM in comparison to my 1.3 gig CPU with 512 meg of RAM.

At any rate, I have been slowly installing programs which I used on my previous system and trying them out for a few days then if all works okay I will install another one or two. The one thing I had discovered on it which drove me totally batty was how a dialog box keeps appearing to confirm that I want to install a program. The second issue experienced with Vista was after I removed an application there were left over files that needed to be manually deleted. So when I manually deleted them I got a dialog box which told me I did not have the authority to. What I discovered shortly thereafter this is Vista has a setting that protects the user from deleting files so “just in case” something important is not eliminated. All in all Windows Vista is not a bad operating system.

Well the new computer parts have arrived as of yesterday from UPS. After eating a nice dinner with my husband of spaghetti, hot sausage, topped with roasted garlic tomato sauce (so yummy) we began putting the new beast together.

Before I go any further here is what I am running:

- 6000 AMD Athlon X2 Processor 3.1GHz 
- Asrock A780GXE/128M AMD 780G+ SB700 Chipset Motherboard
- DDR RAM F2-6400 2048 MB x2 (F2-6400CL6D-4D4GBMQ)
- PC-A59B Lian Li Black Case
- Power Supply: 500 watt from old system, unsure of name
- Hard drive: using my current an 80 gig Seagate until I find deal for a 500 SATA gig.

The items above are easy to obtain. For example, if you were to visit www.pricewatch.com or www.newegg.com and do a search for these products they will appear. Prices are constantly changing now since the quad-core is on the market now. I chose the dual core since I use business applications and programming applications more than gaming.

In just the first few hours of running this motherboard I was happily surprised by my discoveries. For example the installation into the case was fairly easy you just have to pay attention to where the pins are for the corners. The second discovery I made was that the motherboard and the chip sync quite well together. The third discovery I made was should I ever decide to obtain cards (sound, video) they are easily installed.

The best thing of it all I really like about this motherboard and why I purchased it was the on board video and audio. The motherboard came with a disk that supplied drivers to make each item work. It was very easy to set up my monitor once I installed Windows XP 64. As for my sound, it was a fairly easy matter as well with the on board audio. Something I have experienced is for some reason, it will play audio just fine however when Windows boots or exits, it will not play those audio files. I am slightly confused why but I think it is a user error and not hardware since the other audio works just fine. 

The CPU speed has amazed me when the system first started as I just could not believe how smooth it delivered the booting sequence. There is only a bare minimum of applications on the system at the moment so it is not even working at it’s hardest and I have not tested it out yet for a major program application or a game so I look forward to doing that in the coming days.

All in all, this was an excellent choice of equipment for a new system and I am very pleased with it. I wanted to leave a small blog regarding my purchase in case others would like to investigate these items on their own.

Once I have a new hard drive installed to replace the smaller one, I will need to reinstall an operating system however I will then have an ample amount of space for gaming again.

As someone who was a Q I, Q II, and Q III gamer, I remember those days of fraggin’ until eyes were bloodshot then crawling into bed with the sun on the horizon.

While I have been taking some time off during vacation, I decided to check out something called Windows Black. It was a suggestion given to me from a friend after we had a long discussion about Microsoft Vista. So I cleaned off things which I no longer needed for files from my C: drive, then formatted, then finally installed it.

Well, it looks great. Actually the operating system reminds me of Microsoft Vista which is what I am assuming this Windows Black is supposed to be. The suggestion was given to me from a friend after speaking to them regarding thoughts of what Microsoft Vista has become with the first service pack installed. It actually ran a lot cleaner than Windows XP oddly enough however I did find a few flaws here and there. Before I get to that flaw I will bring out the few good points.

I noticed after installing how quickly it booted and I mean fast. Now perhaps it could have been that I had many applications but I highly doubt it as C: was cleared out for the most part. On another good note, the interface was clean with good clarity. Since I am a multitask person who runs a lot of programs that is something which I tried as well and the operating system handled the task quite smoothly without giving me any bumps or wanting to crash.

As far as the not so good, I experienced the operating system not wanting to read my sound card. I have a Sound Blaster Live! from Creative Labs and I have heard others have issues installing drivers. Prior to the driver install I checked to ensure the device wires were connected and went as far as opening the case to ensure the device itself was properly seated into its own bay. Another thing I did was check the device settings by looking at it through Windows properties to ensure there were no conflicts with hardware running.

You can do that quite easily by going through your Desktop…. (right click)My Computer…
(left click) Properties… (left click)Hardware tab… (left click) Device Manager… (left click) Sound + to open it… Choose device from the Sound sub menu, then click Troubleshoot at the bottom.

After doing that, you will then see a wizard window appear which will then walk you through multiple questions and options to determine what could be causing an error or conflict with your device. Now in my case, I discovered Windows Black is not something I will use again because it did not work with the type of sound card I had. Secondly, for all induce purposes it was a trial to see exactly what this operating system was.

Since I did not have the hard drive room for Microsoft Vista I thought this would be something interesting and it served my curiosity. All is well that ends well, as of last night my system has been fully cleared of any remains from this operating system called Windows Black and I now have usage of my sound card once again.

It was a learning curve for me on two points. One, discovering this operating system but more importantly two, the ability to perform the process of formatting my partition then reinstalling the software myself is something which I need to be refreshed on.

After this weekend and considering what troubles I have been experiencing, I decided to build a new system and what is great about all this is the grand total is going to be under $500. This includes an 8200 A2 motherboard, a 3.0 Dual core chip, DDR RAM (2x 1gig), 1 mid tower case, and a 700 watt power supply. As for hard drives, it’s working out well because my husband is getting a terabyte to replace three large drives. In essence, I will be getting his 120 gig and keeping my 40 gig for storage.

I will be just fine as the motherboard has online video and audio which means I don’t have to run out and purchase a new sound or video card. Once I have the new hardware, I will write up notes for a full article regarding this new system being built to give everyone an update after it has been completed.

This weekend I needed to format my desktop and clean up the multiple files built over months of installation, moving, and deletion. For the past three months I have been reviewing options beyond using Windows because I just want out of the proprietary operating system. So, after doing some final checks I decided on trying out Ubuntu. The great thing about this operating system is the disc actually lets you try it out first before installing. In order to make everything work I had to follow a few short steps:

1) Burn the Ubuntu.iso file onto a CD-R

2) Enter into C-MOS and change boot settings so my CD-Rom was the first to boot up

3) Reboot the computer (be sure the Ubuntu CD disc is in your CD-Rom)

When I rebooted, I saw this really cool logo that Ubuntu uses with some options of how I wanted to proceed. I chose the test option for which the operating system then proceeded to place files on C: as if it was a real install but in essence it was temporary. I would say it only took about 10 minutes to run through this trial install between my CPU speed and RAM size. (3.0 gig CPU and 512 meg RAM)

Once it was completed, a peachy looking background appeared with a few small icons along the top and some along the left side. It was actually quite nice as the desktop was very open and not crowded with icons like Windows usually is on a desktop. To enter the Programs, Applications, and so forth you clicked on the name and there was a drop down of each section.

The user could actually set up how they wanted their desktop very easily by going through the drop down menus. There also was a help section available to guide them if they needed it. Another option available to use was called gadgets and they could be downloaded from the Internet by clicking on what is wanted and after installation they are either added to the list or automatically added to the desktop. I didn’t install everything to test it but I found the most intriguing game called Atomic that really tests your skill. It reminded me of the Windows Mastermind but this one was actually better. How it worked was giving you a chemical make up of something like HOH then it would show you two H’s and an O on this maze like board. The player’s job is to get the letters exactly like the photo. What makes the skill is really having to pay attention how you move the letters otherwise you cannot move onto the next level. Anyway, I only made it to level two as I am very addicted to those sort of things and didn’t have time to sit and fuss around with it. It is a lot of fun though for anyone who likes mind challenging games.

I tested out the Open Office programs that are pre-installed and I am impressed. I have used Microsoft Office for years so it was quite interesting to see how close in comparison these applications are. Ubuntu even comes with its own version of a Project application which I was quite impressed by.

I have not installed Ubuntu yet however it is something which I am keeping and I will be reviewing it again when I get a larger hard drive. Another review will be made either before or after then since I can review the operating system without installing it. Secondly, I want to install Windows Vista however I need a larger hard drive. I discovered after reading, Vista is requesting a 40 gig hard drive and unfortunately I have 40 gigs worth of data that needs saving so I need more space before an installation can take place.Once I have had the ability to install and try out Windows Vista, I will be posting my opinions.

A burning flame is lit to cherish family and friends lost on this tragic morning.

Have you ever noticed how many cell phones are on the market in comparison to six months ago? It seems like the number of cellular phones has doubled since I got my Motorola Razor v2 and joined Cingular a year ago. What really threw me was when Cingular joined AT&T. At any rate, now I’m looking at all the different companies on the market to see who offers what because I honestly can go with anyone and not feel guilty because of what happen with Cingular.

Currently I have a Go Phone because I don’t use it that often and that is what works for my budget being I am a graduate student. However, when I begin working somewhere I will start looking for a better rate. I haven’t quite decided which is better for me though in comparison. At this point, I’m still shopping around to determine what is going to be best for my benefit. Since there are so many cell phone types to choose from it makes things more difficult.

One thing I am sure about is I refuse to get something that works for my benefit, not the company’s. If it means another month to month, so be it. As for now, I’ll keep shopping until I see the right deal.

Well the last few days have been brutal! I have spent more time moving and rearranging on my desktop computer I’m actually tired and it still isn’t quite finished yet. It all started this past Saturday when I decided to analyze then defragment all of my directories.  What started out to be something simple turned into very long process as the main directory had a small amount of space on it.

So what I did was skim through my directories and uninstall programs that were no longer being used. I couldn’t make up my mind which I wanted to keep and that made things more difficult. The program I used was a real hoot as when booted then showed my C: drive, it was so messed up, the colors reminded me of Skittles candy!

I used this program called Tune Up Utilities which analyzed the system then corrected any registration errors. After that I ran another program called O & O Defrag. There still are a few other programs to be but I’m not sure if I want to remove them just yet. Eventually I will format and install Linux I just don’t have the time to go through all of that process.

It is about to get very exciting in our television world the next few months if it has not started already. All television stations will be changing from analog to digital as of February 17, 2009. This is an issue that is occurring by law so everyone with an analog television will be effected if they are not ready before hand. I’ll explain it in easier terms, this means residents who own televisions with antennas (aka bunny ears) will no longer get a signal. That also means they will no longer be able to receive their favorite programs. The good news is this can be corrected very easily. You have a few options to choose from depending upon your situation and how you wish to resolve it.

First, don’t panic. The next thing to do is calmly ask yourself the question,”do I want to keep my current television or do I want to purchase a new one?” That answer will help determine a lot. If you are ready to purchase a new television, keep your options open as there are multiple sets on the market so be prepared to ask questions and not settle with the first thing you see. If you are not in the market for a new television just yet that’s okay, you have other options.

You can purchase cable if it is available in your area. After you purchase cable, you won’t need to do anything else as you will have all of your television stations back. Another option is to purchase one of the many converter boxes available on the market. It is best to research the many boxes that are on the market and find the best product that will work for your situation. They come in various shapes and sizes so it is important to see what is available for your price range and your television. The National Association of Broadcasters built a web site that discusses the digital television conversion and includes information answering multiple questions regarding this conversion. The web site URL is:

DTV Answers

Apparently Google hasn’t budged yet. I saw an interesting article today discussing a letter from the ex AOL patriot that has been trying to push this deal through for Microsoft from day one. The most interesting of this has been the fact that Mr. Icahn would gain an extreme amount out of this merge as he has put a lot of interest in Yahoo and spent a lot of money to build a nice stock pile. It raises the question, who would actually get the most benefit out of this merger, Microsoft or Mr. Icahn himself personally? Microsoft has already made their millions with Windows. Yahoo is technically a risk investment that can slowly regain its profit.

I also wonder if Google has given up on the idea of obtaining Yahoo and assumes they would be safer without making a buyout purchase. At the same time, this situation also makes me visualize a snow lion hunting for prey. The lion (Google) will continue to circle until the prey (Yahoo) has gotten tired and stopped running. The lion can then pounce on the prey when the timing is right.

It will be interesting to see how things develop now that businesses are entering into their new fiscal year.

Just a note to the readers wishing you all a safe and Happy Memorial Day!

God Bless the troops across America and overseas! Thank you for your service!