Thursday, March 5, 2009
More Tweaks for Vista...and XP and Win7 and Linux
My never ending search to make our PC work faster and faster lead me to this TweakHound. Aside from the normal tweaks, one can find vital info also like free software and OS feature that is not of much use. The site caters to Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Linux
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Error: "xxxxxx has stopped working" in Vista
It all started when I can't access my Lenovo ThinkVantage Access Connections software. Everytime I start it, Vista will give me "Access Connections has stopped working" and doesn't show any reason why. I had called the Lenovo hotline and for more than 45mins of downloading, reinstalling and rebooting, still got the same problem. The lady support agent promise to call me back for update as she doesn't have any clue why it is so.
On my own, I tried doing Windows Update only to find out that .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 won't install. And the rest of the software updates I downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads also gave me "setup.exe has stopped working".
The .Net Framework is my only clue and after checking, it turn out that the Framework 3.0 that is part of Vista is not enabled. I might had disabled it when I was trying to "tweak" my vista. Now that I enabled it from the Windows Feature (Control Panel>Programs>Windows Feature), I was able to update .Net Framework 3.5 SP1. And best of all, the ThinkVantage Access Connections is now working.
PS: I had been searching for solution regarding Access Connections sudden "stop working" error and it seems that there are so many users having the same problem. I hope my find can help them.
On my own, I tried doing Windows Update only to find out that .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 won't install. And the rest of the software updates I downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads also gave me "setup.exe has stopped working".
The .Net Framework is my only clue and after checking, it turn out that the Framework 3.0 that is part of Vista is not enabled. I might had disabled it when I was trying to "tweak" my vista. Now that I enabled it from the Windows Feature (Control Panel>Programs>Windows Feature), I was able to update .Net Framework 3.5 SP1. And best of all, the ThinkVantage Access Connections is now working.
PS: I had been searching for solution regarding Access Connections sudden "stop working" error and it seems that there are so many users having the same problem. I hope my find can help them.
Understanding Vista's ReadyBoost
I guess many heard of Vista's ReadyBoost feature, if you haven't I suggest you check out Wikipedia's entry. Yup I don't want to go into the pros and cons of it. For now, I would just like to share Windows Vista's registry on ReadyBoost which I had found here.
In summary, ReadyBoost user can tweak the registry via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows NT>CurrentVersion>EMDMgmt
(copied) Here are a few important parameter values:
DeviceStatus
2=ReadyBoost ENABLED
4=ReadyBoost DISABLED
CacheSize
Maximum Cache Size is 4090.
DoRetest
0=NO (box checked)
1=YES (box un-checked)
Here's the example:
CacheSizeInMB ffa (4090)
CacheStatus 1
DeviceStatus 2
DoRetestDevice 0
HasSlowRegions 0
LastTestedTime 1c74d5fcc5dca36
(128156188249279030)
PhysicalDeviceSize 1ebf (7871)
ReadSpeedKBs 12df (4831)
RecommendedCacheSizeMB ffa (4090)
USBVersion 20000 (131072)
WriteSpeedKBs daf (3503)
Note: always remember that a reboot is needed for any changes to take effect.
In summary, ReadyBoost user can tweak the registry via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows NT>CurrentVersion>EMDMgmt
(copied) Here are a few important parameter values:
DeviceStatus
2=ReadyBoost ENABLED
4=ReadyBoost DISABLED
CacheSize
Maximum Cache Size is 4090.
DoRetest
0=NO (box checked)
1=YES (box un-checked)
Here's the example:
CacheSizeInMB ffa (4090)
CacheStatus 1
DeviceStatus 2
DoRetestDevice 0
HasSlowRegions 0
LastTestedTime 1c74d5fcc5dca36
(128156188249279030)
PhysicalDeviceSize 1ebf (7871)
ReadSpeedKBs 12df (4831)
RecommendedCacheSizeMB ffa (4090)
USBVersion 20000 (131072)
WriteSpeedKBs daf (3503)
Note: always remember that a reboot is needed for any changes to take effect.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Why are we not getting full 480Mbps with USB 2.0?
I was curious myself on why the High Speed USB2.0 claims to transfer data at 480Mbps (mega-bits per second). A search got me into this post which comes with a short and simple explanation:
Are you perhaps worried that you are not moving data around at the claimed 480 Mbps. If so, you would be right. 480 Mbps is the bit data rate of all the communication that occurs over the USB bus. Out of that has to come a certain amount of house keeping - this is the USB host controller actually controlling all the hubs and peripheral devices, deciding what can talk and when. Of greater impact is that USB is implemented as a single bus, thus communication can only take place in one direction at any one time. The 480Mbps therefore represents the total data rate in *both* directions [1]. The remaining significant bottleneck is that the USB host port requires considerable processor support and if the processor isn't ready to service it, then it has to wait.
Contrast Firewire, where although it is only rated at 400 Mbps (in the common IEE1394a incarnation) the actual practical data rate is significantly higher because, being a dual bus system, you get 400 Mbps in *each* direction. Equally significantly the Firewire ports are able to operate more or less autonomously without processor support and thus don't have to wait. The housekeeping requirements are largely similar buthere is no need
to hand over data direction. In practice, the differences are usage dependant, but a 33% increase in speed is the sort of minimum that you can expect from Firewire.
[1] USB1 had another drawback in that communication with slow peripherals (1.5 Mbps) operated at that speed from end to end which had a major impact on the faster (12 Mbps) communications. USB2 solved this problem by requiring USB2 hubs to buffer the data and then up convert it to 480 Mbps for transmission to the host, and similarly for reception from the host.
Are you perhaps worried that you are not moving data around at the claimed 480 Mbps. If so, you would be right. 480 Mbps is the bit data rate of all the communication that occurs over the USB bus. Out of that has to come a certain amount of house keeping - this is the USB host controller actually controlling all the hubs and peripheral devices, deciding what can talk and when. Of greater impact is that USB is implemented as a single bus, thus communication can only take place in one direction at any one time. The 480Mbps therefore represents the total data rate in *both* directions [1]. The remaining significant bottleneck is that the USB host port requires considerable processor support and if the processor isn't ready to service it, then it has to wait.
Contrast Firewire, where although it is only rated at 400 Mbps (in the common IEE1394a incarnation) the actual practical data rate is significantly higher because, being a dual bus system, you get 400 Mbps in *each* direction. Equally significantly the Firewire ports are able to operate more or less autonomously without processor support and thus don't have to wait. The housekeeping requirements are largely similar buthere is no need
to hand over data direction. In practice, the differences are usage dependant, but a 33% increase in speed is the sort of minimum that you can expect from Firewire.
[1] USB1 had another drawback in that communication with slow peripherals (1.5 Mbps) operated at that speed from end to end which had a major impact on the faster (12 Mbps) communications. USB2 solved this problem by requiring USB2 hubs to buffer the data and then up convert it to 480 Mbps for transmission to the host, and similarly for reception from the host.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Vista Tweaks
Since the day I had my Lenovo ThinkPad notebook which comes with Vista Business Edition, I had been trying to tweak the OS to speed things up. I had to admit, Vista is a lot slower than XP. My friends who are Vista users also ask of possible tweaks to speed up their machines. There are plenty of tweaks found in the internet, but I come across this HowtoGeek site which groups a lot of fixes and tweaks that might be very useful one day.
There is this Fix It site from Microsoft that shows how to fix Windows issues as well.
There is this Fix It site from Microsoft that shows how to fix Windows issues as well.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Create, Edit, Reize Your HD Partition for Free
Paragon Software Group now has Partition Manager Express that allow users to create, move, resize and format partition. Although only works on Windows 32-bit, it is worth to be included in my blog. Below are its main features:
Redistribute Unused Disk Space
Gain additional space in an your existing partitions by easily resizing and moving partitions with through the smart Resize Wizard.
Organize and optimize your hard drive
Add partitions with the highly intuitive Create Partition Wizard. Leave a core partition to host Windows and automatically create a new partition for work and data files in a logical, intuitive place.
Prepare your hard drive for backup
Simplify the backup process by separating your data from your Operating System. A structured approach allows you to have a separate location for your OS, your data, and your backups.
Dual boot user systems
Many applications still don't work with Vista, so why not keep a copy of Windows XP? With separate drive partitions, you can install several operating systems and have a choice on startup.
Redistribute Unused Disk Space
Gain additional space in an your existing partitions by easily resizing and moving partitions with through the smart Resize Wizard.
Organize and optimize your hard drive
Add partitions with the highly intuitive Create Partition Wizard. Leave a core partition to host Windows and automatically create a new partition for work and data files in a logical, intuitive place.
Prepare your hard drive for backup
Simplify the backup process by separating your data from your Operating System. A structured approach allows you to have a separate location for your OS, your data, and your backups.
Dual boot user systems
Many applications still don't work with Vista, so why not keep a copy of Windows XP? With separate drive partitions, you can install several operating systems and have a choice on startup.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Iphone Ringtones - M4R files
Iphone users who wants to add ringtones have currently one choice to do so (at least for regular users)... that's it, user have to buy ringtones from itunes store. Searching the web shows that using itune v7.4.x, user can import any music file and have itunes convert it to AAC file. And from AAC file, convert to M4A file then renamed to M4R. I haven't tried this approach as I don't have copy of the old itune v7.4.x, but you can surely learn how to do using this YouTube link I found.
Incidentally, I also came across this website which have a few free ringtones. I will continue to search for more sites which have free ringtones... or best if I can find a freeware converter that converts MP3 or any known audio files to M4R format. I'll surely keep you all posted.
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