Category: Tech

  • An Obstacle to Going Microsoft-free

    I recently found a major obstacle to going Microsoft-free. I could switch to Linux, if I had the time to fool with it, at the moment, but it appears I am stuck with Microsoft Word, still. While I really like OpenOffice.org 2.0 (OOo), it doesn’t have native support for creating tables of authorities (a.k.a., tables…

  • Windows XP Pro SP2 Hibernation Problems – Fixed?

    I have mentioned before (here and here the problem of “too much” memory causing crashes and failed hibernation/standby attempts in Windows XP laptops. Microsoft has made a hotfix available, but it’s still in testing (until 2007, from the looks of it), so you have to call and ask for it (which is free). It seems…

  • Computer Annoyances

    When I’m writing a program or web script, I usually test it on my own system before deploying it to its final destination (a web server, application server, etc.). Tonight, I made the unpleasant and rather disturbing discovery that Norton AntiVirus 2005, if it’s set to scan outgoing mail, may scan memory before a program…

  • Civ IV – Problems and Play

    Well, I got Civilization IV running on my system, so I have wasted a lot of time, this weekend. Getting it to run was insane, however. For reference, I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 with the ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 (32MB) graphics card and a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. These are the steps I had to take…

  • Stupid, Cost-Conscious Me

    I’m kicking myself for opting for the cheap graphics card when I bought my laptop. William talked me into finally checking out Civilization IV, but it turns out my graphics card can’t hack it (only 32MB, and 64MB cards are required). I’m quite tempted to go buy the game, see if it will run, and…