Sep

26

Fix Hibernate in Windows XP

Filed Under Fix, Howto, Windows | Leave a Comment

Usually in Windows XP when you click Start -> Turn off Computer you have following options:

  • Stand by
  • Turn off
  • Restart

But there is another option called Hibernate. As name suggests when you choose that option your computer goes in deep sleep. This is different from Stand by mode and Shutdown and actually is in between.
In that mode Windows XP does the same as Stand by, but in addition writes memory dump on the hard drive and turns off the PC.
After you power up the PC the memory dump is loaded in the memory and computer resumes operation as after stand by.
It takes a bit more time for that operation, but is much less hat initial power up.

How to enable Hibernate?

  1. Make sure that you are logged in with administrator account. You can do that by going in Start -> Control Panel -> User account
  2. Go to Power Options and choose Hibernate tab
  3. Check Enable hibernation
  4. Now you are able to hibernate your computer

Troubleshooting:

  • I do not have hibernate icon

If on turn off menu you do not have hibernate icon it means that you have newer computer BIOS that supports Stand by by lower power option.
If you want to hibernate you need to press Shift button until hibernate icon appears.

Sep

10

How to disable VLC Media player system tray popup

Filed Under Fix, Howto, Linux, Windows | 8 Comments

Sometimes is annoying having all this popups when VLC is minimized and track changes.

Here is how to disable them:
Go to Tools-> Preferences -> All -> Interfaces -> Main Interfaces -> Qt
and uncheck Notify on track change.

Apr

12

Unit conversion in Spreadseets

Filed Under Howto, Linux, Windows | Leave a Comment

Recently I had to create a table to convert from lb to kg.

The way I did it was to start spreadsheet program – Excell or OpenOffice.org and fill up the conversion formula and desired data range.

1. In a cell fill the conversion in my case 1 lb = 0.453592 kg I used cell B1

2. Fill up a column with desired data

3. in next column type the formula =A3*$B$1

4. Copy the formula to other rows

5. Done

This method could be used for other conversions just by changeng the value in B1

Mar

28

Random name folders in Windows

Filed Under Fix, Windows | Leave a Comment

After updating my Windows machine I found that few folders with cryptic names are created in root directory.

They look like this:

28/12/2006  07:33 PM    <DIR>          1822a56c32dc8dbcf5
11/02/2009  09:42 PM    <DIR>          89b3b50a7b1b96838a89
30/08/2007  06:19 PM    <DIR>          a8ccd1e2d466bc402f

I’m used to the folders created after update in \WINDOWS and after I’m sure that there is no problems with the update they could be safely erase, but this was something new.

After browsing the contens my initial thougths were confirmed those were temporary folders from windows update.

So I erased them…

Jan

8

Another way of saving ink

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There are different ways of saving ink/toner, but SPRANQ has different approach – punching holes in the font.

Here is a sample:

ecofont

The good news is that it is available under GPL.

Take it from here.

Dec

24

Print envelope with OpenOffice.org

Filed Under Howto, Linux, Windows | Leave a Comment

In the era of e-mail and internet less and less people use regular mail, but sometimes you need to send a letter to someone.

Typing the address can be annoying and sometimes unclear so let’s put your computer to work.

To print your and recipient address on an envelope you can use manual formatting on a page, but if you follow the instructions here the process will be more automated.

So what we need:

  1. Printer – you want to print with something
  2. Envelopes – and something to print on
  3. OpenOffice.org (OO) – and some tools

Note: If you have MS Office you can use it too. See at the end…

1. Start OO and create empty document in writer

2. Go to Insert -> Envelope

You will see similar window:

step1

Add your address (if it is not already filled in) and Recipient address.

3. Select envelope format

Next click on Format tab

step2

Choose your envelope format and addresses positioning

4. Setup your printer

It is not done you need also to setup your printer. Click on Printer tab:

step3

Select correct envelope orientation and setup your printer to use envelope as paper and correct paper source (usually manual feed).

6. Ready to Print?!

When you are ready click on New Doc.:

step4

Here you can add your logo and preview how the envelope will look like.

When you are sure it is OK just print it.

First few times you will be on trial and error, until you correctly print, but after will be straightforward.

For Microsoft Office users:

If you have Office it is not obligatory to download ind install OpenOffice.org.

The procedure is similar, but on step 2 you go (at least in MS Office 2003) to Tools -> Letters and Mailings -> Envelopes and Mailings…

Dec

17

GPU acceleration in Acrobat – Take 2

Filed Under Howto, Windows | Leave a Comment

Or the benefits of upgrade…

As already mentioned in my previous post Adobe added 2D acceleration in Acrobat reader in version 8. Unfortunately for me that feature was not available for the card in my laptop.

Today I’ve decided to upgrade to v 9 and for my surprise 2d acceleration was available and turned on by default.gpu-accelleration-acrobat-take-ii

Nov

21

GPU acceleration in Acrobat

Filed Under Fix, Windows | 1 Comment

I did not notice right away, but since version 8 of acrobat there is GPU hardware acceleration. For now only 2d and no CUDA or AVIVO, but still a step in right direction.

Unfortunately Adobe did not enable it by default so you need to do it.

Here are the steps to follow:

Start Acrobat

Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Page Display

If your video card is supported in the rendering section you will find “Use 2D GPU Acceleration”. Just check it as shown below and enjoy.

Nov

18

Upgrade HP/Compaq Presario 1950NX

Filed Under Fix, Windows | Leave a Comment

My PC is HP/Compaq Presario 1950NX and it come with integrated Video Card (Nvidia 6150) and 1G RAM.

Even it has good CPU (Athlon XP 3800) lack of memory and slow video card did not allow me to use high detail settings even on older games.

To improve the performance of the system I’ve added 1G of RAM (~$50) for total of 2G (4×512M).

And added PCI expressx16 video card from DiamondMultimedia Viper HD 2600 XT 512M (~$65).

As usual the upgrade was not flawless.

I’ve disabled the driver of NVIDIA card as noted in installation document that come with the card (always read those documents they contain important instructions) and set from BIOS PCI express as primary video controller.

After that I’ve installed the card and then the drivers from the CD.

Up to here no problems…

But after I started video player I noticed that simply there is no sound. As usual I verified the cables – so many times I simply did not plug them, but everything was OK.

Then I opened control panel -> sound and audio devices to see for my surprise that the sound card was set to none.

Next step was to check Device manager – only one adapter was listed – ATI Function Driver for High Definition Audio…

After seeing this It light up – The Video card has HDMI output and is capable to transmit audio via that connection. This was counted as sound device and since in BIOS onboard audio was set to AUTO it was disabled.

Simply setting it to Enabled bring back my sound.

Nov

9

New version of Sumatra PDF – 0.9.3

Filed Under Windows, news | Leave a Comment

It was a while I did not check the status of the project, but after I opened my application it detected new version and prompted me do I want to update.

So now I have version 0.9.3. Here are the changes made from my last update:

0.9.3 (2008-10-07):

  • fix an issue with opening non-ascii files
  • updated Japanese and Brazilian translation

0.9.2 (2008-10-06):

  • ability to disable auto-update check
  • improved text rendering – should fix problems with overlapping text
  • improved font substitution for fonts not present in PDF file
  • can now open PDF files with non-ASCII names
  • improvements to DDE (contributed by Danilo Roascio)
  • SyncTex improvements
  • improve persistence of state (contributed by Robert Liu)
  • fix crash when pressing ‘Cancel’ when entering a password updated translations

As usual latest version can be downloaded from official web site.

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