Starship Enterprise Bottle Opener

It’s super shiny, functional and resembles the NCC-1701 starship. Best of all, it’s a bottle opener. Read on…

Mobile Sync Center Vista

My Vista laptop has been in production now for 2 weeks and I decided it is time to "sync" my old Treo 700w with it.

Of course I want a new phone that may play nicely with Vista, but here are the steps I took to get some sort of sync with my Treo. (Make sure your Treo is tethered by the USB cable)

1. Download this link (you have to do the "validate" drill)

2. Right click on the saved drvupdate-x86.exe and Run as Administrator.

3. Accept the license.

Now you are at the Setup Device interface and you can select the items to sync. (I recommend that you uncheck "Contacts" because that will completely hose all Contacts, hours and hours of fun)

Next, next and you are DONE.

Infrared and Bluetooth with a 3 year old phone and Vista…well that is never going to happen. Read a book or watch an old movie instead. All we get is USB for our throw away phones and that has to work for now.

DELL Offers XP

Dell has a Web page devoted to its new policy, Windows XP Availability, which notes that the last day to buy a computer with Windows XP preinstalled under the current rules is June 18. Afterward:

When selecting your operating system, you will see an option called "Genuine Windows® Vista Business BONUS" and "Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate BONUS." With these options, you may…have Dell factory install Windows XP Professional. You will also receive a backup media disc for Windows XP Professional, as well as the media for Windows Vista.

In other words, Dell provides optical discs for both XP and Vista, so you can change over at any time.

Makes you wonder if any other big name OEM’s will follow suit and install XP for us. Read on…

Default Yahoo Mail Email For IE 7

If you use Yahoo Mail as your email and found that when you click on a "mail to" link in Internet Explorer, a default Outlook Express or some other email program opens that you don’t use or want.

So how do you get it to recognize your Yahoo account?

You just need to install Yahoo Messenger to get the correct plug in. Once you have installed Yahoo Messenger, you need to set your default email client to Yahoo! Mail in IE by going to Tools >> Internet Options >> Programs >> Email. (Vista is a bit more convoluted and I haven’t tested whether this works)

Aftwerwards, go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall Messenger if you don’t want it on your computer. (Just don’t uninstall Yahoo! Browser Services or Yahoo! Internet Mail.) Read on…

Speed Up Vista

If you are looking for a bit more performance from Vista, here is an article that shows you how to tune it  up. Read on…

StarDock MyColors

If you are looking to dress up your plain Jane Windows desktop, Stardock has released MyColors for you.

The included Diamond theme is free, and MyColors itself is free as well. Additional suites can be purchased such as themes licensed by the NBA, NCAA, Ford, and others. Even if you don’t purchase additional themes, you still get a phenomenal suite for both Windows Vista and XP. Read on…

NewEggMall.com

NewEgg.com is one of my "go to" websites for all my computer needs and has the best online vendor service and support.

"Enter NewEggMall.com, a new site that’s the answer for everything else you need!" Read on…

Holographic Storage

If you need 300GB’s of storage and a 50 year storage life, you won’t have to wait much longer. InPhase Technologies will be shipping out their holographic storage units next month. With a price tag of $18,000 for the unit and $300 for the disk, yes, it’s out of my price range.

A holographic disk isn’t much bigger than a DVD, but it holds 30 times as much data. A gel-like film inside stores bytes throughout its entire depth, not just in one or two flat layers. A laser burns a checkered pattern—representing 0s and 1s—into the film at several angles, packing in more information. Read on…

QuickBooks Pro 2008 Hosed By Windows Update

I wanted to share an issue with QuickBooks Pro 2008.

What is happening:

After installing a Windows Update from Microsoft, QuickBooks does not open. The Loading QuickBooks splash screen appears briefly or flashes on the screen, and then disappears.

Why is this happening:

This issue is caused by a damaged component of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

Here is the article from QuickBooks and the workaround. Read on…

Thanks go to Lori Lawrence for this heads up.

Windows XP Service Pack 3

Neowin.net has posted the scheduled release of XP SP3:

April 14, 2008: Support is available for the release version of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP
April 21, 2008: Original Equipment Manufacturers, Volume License, Connect, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers
April 29, 2008: Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Download Center
June 10, 2008: Automatic Updates

As with any service pack update, wait a few weeks before installing to make sure any install issues are patched. Read on…