Author: Dave Farquhar

Toggle between two registry settings with another simple script

Dave Farquhar Windows

On the heels of yesterday, the same technique that swapped hosts files can be adapted to toggle registry settings too. The registry, if you’re not familiar, is a central database that stores Windows configuration settings.

Perhaps you want to be able to toggle your screen saver timeout from the default of 1500 to a value of 9999. That way, you can easily choose between the screen saver interrupting you or not. I run into a problem when running certain emulators with the screen saver timing out on me; this would solve the problem.

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Bargain SSD? Maybe more like hard bargain SSD

Dave Farquhar Hardware , ,

Dealnews had a shocking deal today: An OCZ Vertex Plus 60 GB drive for $45. That’s an after-rebate price, but even writing off the $10 rebate, at $55 the drive is still priced historically low.

I didn’t buy one. And I didn’t buy three. Here’s why.
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Toggle between two hosts files with a simple script

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , , ,

A longtime reader wrote in asking if it was possible to easily toggle between two hosts files. There are several possible uses for this. When I’m at home, I need to address my web site by its internal, private IP address. On the road, that private address obviously doesn’t work. He wants something like this for other reasons; I believe he’s blocking ad servers with his hosts file and needs to unblock one or more servers temporarily for select sites to work properly.

This solution would make my Computer Science 203 professor rescind the B I received in his class if he saw it, but it works, and I don’t think he reads this blog anyway.

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15 years ago, at the home of the blue shirts

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , ,

Consumerist had some fun today at the expense of a Best Buy ad from September 15, 1996.

Here’s the kind of price deflation we’ve seen in 15 years.
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Two commands to fix Internet connectivity

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , , ,

I can think of two times someone has asked me to fix their computer when it has suddenly lost the ability to connect to the Internet. Assuming there’s nothing wrong with the modem or the network card, the problem usually comes down to something messing with either the TCP/IP stack or the Winsock. Security software frequently does this, as does malware. A few years ago, I briefly worked for an ISP that provided a security suite based on F-Secure, and that program was notorious for breaking the Winsock.

Here’s the simple fix.
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In lieu of a tip jar…

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

A longtime reader asked me today if I have a tip jar. The short answer is no. But if you like what you see here, I am on the Amazon affiliate program. So any time you follow a link here to Amazon (whether it’s in a post when I mention something on Amazon, the banner ad on most of my pages, or this link: Amazon.com) and buy something–even if it’s a different product than what I linked to–you’ll get the same pricing on Amazon as you always would (promise!) but I’ll get a small commission.

The commissions help to underwrite the cost of running the site and occasionally buy a little something for the family.

Microsoft: No x86 apps for ARM

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So, The Register reports that Windows on ARM will not have compatibility with apps compiled for x86. Intel has been saying this for a while, while Microsoft has been mum. So now we know.

There are arguments both for and against having an x86 emulation layer.
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SSDs trend closer toward $1 per GB

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

In March, I predicted that we’d see SSDs selling for $1 per GB by late 2012. I’m happy to say it’s possible we may get there sooner than that.

In fact, if you shop around now, it’s possible to find USB flash drives for very close to $1 per GB, and sometimes you can get an SSD for $1 per GB if you find a sale. It will be short-lived, you can’t be picky about brand or controller, and you’ll probably have to deal with a rebate, but you can do it.

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Is that price a good deal or not?

Dave Farquhar Saving money , , , ,

So you’re shopping online, and want to know if you’re getting a good deal on something. It’s pretty easy to shop around, and check multiple web sites to see how they’re pricing an item. But sometimes prices change over time, and wouldn’t it be nice to know if pricing on the item is relatively stable, or if it’s something that frequently goes on sale for less?

Enter the Camelizer.
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Good news for Marx train enthusiasts

Dave Farquhar Toy trains , , , , , ,

Kalmbach has decided, after more than a decade, to release a new Greenberg Pocket Price Guide for Marx trains (here’s my review). Although the O’Brien Collecting Toy Trains guides have a section on Marx, the Greenberg guides have always been more complete and more accurate. The most recent O’Brien guide from 2006 completely omitted Marx’s 3/16 line, a difficult flaw to overlook. That’s why the out-of-print Greenberg book from 2001 remained the standard for all these years and in recent years used copies commanded prices of $100 and more.
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