Category: Tech Stuff

Man, this is hard. My Lenovo X41 is a dog compared with my work T42 machine. One of the reasons I bought the X41 was because I was so impressed with the performance of the T42.

I have read a number of posts indicating that the fault lay, not in the hardware, but rather in the software that IBM/Lenovo encumbered the unit with.

But guess what? You cannot get install discs from IBM/Lenovo for just the OS, you have to use their recovery discs which brings the PC to the same, sorry state it started in.

You also cannot purchase XP Tablet PC edition in retail outlets, although the Lenovo rep I spoke with suggested I may be able to purchase such from Microsoft for $300 or so.

I’ve already paid for a licensed copy of Windows XP Tablet PC edition, I just want to have it and only it on my tablet. I don’t want trial software and I certainly don’t want all the junk running on the unit that came with it and slows it down so severely.

I have already gone the route of disabling and removing everything from the unit that I can think of that won’t cripple it. This provided a great deal of relief but the unit is still slower than molasses, suffering from the stuttering cursor issue and very slow reboot times.

I picked up an install CD from a friend with an MSDN subscription, but of course it’s configured not to accept my OEM serial number. So I also ended up using his corporate number. But since it’s just for XP rather than for the Tablet PC edition, that’s all I’m able to install. 🙁

So I’ve just finished installing XP for the second time on my laptop (thinking that perhaps I made an error the first time) and have just vanilla Windows XP professional on there.

The bright side is, the X41 now boots up as fast as does my T42. So that proves to me that the hardware is not at fault. I’m looking in to other alternatives but I have a feeling I’m going to have to go with the miserable recovery process and then spend a couple of hours stripping out all the junk that I neither want nor need.

To Microsoft I say, “Grow up, this shouldn’t be this hard.”. To anybody considering the purchase of a Tablet PC, I say “Take heed – check out the various posts on the tablet PC communities. The X41 is technically very good but has been saddled with software that makes it perform as if it were a generation older than it really is.”.

More to come…

I’m currently on the phone with a Comcast rep as I type this post using my Blackberry. We had some spectacular thunderstorms move through here today. When all was said and done, my little Comcast-supplied Motorola SURFboard modem was no longer showing indications of activity on its “PC/Activity” indicator.

Resetting the modem didn’t help at all so I’m trying to arrange for a replacement unit. I can’t say what’s going on at the other end of the line, but it’s taking the Comcast rep *forever* to do anything.

The problem I faced the last time this happened was that I can’t just go into a Comcast outlet and swap the box. I’m going to have to wait at home for some vague 4-hour period until a Comcast tech can swing by and exchange the modem for me. Normally not a problem (waiting for service folks) as I can often just work from home. Of course *that’s* only possible when I have a broadband connection…

I’m not sure why these companies still think that the “Ozzie and Harriet” family still exists where the stay-at-home mom is going to be available to wait all day (9-5) for a service call while not offering *any* evening and very limited weekend service.

I’ll post an update if anything changes but I fully expect to be without my internet service until next Thursday when I *may* be able to get the replacement unit.

The rep is telling me that I can just take my old unit in for a replacement. I just finished telling him that, when I did that last time I was told the proper way to do this was to wait for the tech at home as they don’t stock these modems in the store, but that time they happened to have a service van outside so they got me a replacement anyway.

I think I’ll hedge my bets and make this guy set up the appointment for Thursday anyway and I’ll try to do the replacement at the store directly.

BTW I’ve been able to type this entire missive on my tiny Blackberry keyboard during the gaps while waiting for the rep to do whatever it is he’s doing at his end. And the call *still* isn’t finished!

As a quick followup, mysteriously my icon is back. I’m happy ’cause now I can quickly look at it if I think anything odd is happening and try to convince myself that I’m not the victim of a root kit exploit (thanks Sony BMG for putting *THAT* at the forefront of our collective consciousness).

I *did* just apply the latest of Microsoft’s Updates and rebooted. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

This is a little thing, but recently my Local Area Connection icon (that little icon showing two overlapping computers that each flash depending on whether you’re uploading or downloading information), has stopped showing up in my systray.

Checking the properties for “Local Area Connection” I can see that “Show icon in notification area when connected” is still selected. But I did de-select it, click OK and then come back and re-select that option to ensure that it wasn’t simply a matter of “resetting” it.

Rebooting the machine hasn’t helped either.

With all the talk about “root kit exploits” I’m a little paranoid and I like to be able to see if my computer is talking to the outside world when it’s not running anything that is *supposed* to be doing so.

Window’s XP firewall is enabled, Symantec anti-virus is installed and up-to-date and Windows defender is installed and up-to-date. But, of course, none of these can yet detect root kit exploits so I view the symptom of the disappearing network icon with some concern.

Still looking for a solution…

*Update* Over the Christmas Holidays (December 2006) I replaced the unit that my mother purchased with a WRT54G as well. Her D-Link started exhibiting the same symptoms as did mine and was eventually too much of a nuisance to ignore. These things are junk. I highly recommend against buying them.

I’m back using my WRT54G router. The D-Link DI-524 started locking up on me more and more often. I couldn’t even get it to reset using the reset button (hold for 30 seconds and all that).

I’m pretty disappointed with the wireless routers I’ve seen in general. The technology is here to do WEP and MAC Filtering and not broadcasting SSID, but don’t try to do all that at once!

To be fair I think the D-Link was probably just a crap unit. It’s seizures were directly related to whenever I would bittorrent something for a long period of time (maybe overheated?). Anyway, in getting more and more creative in ways to “unseize” it, I eventually just physically broke the unit (the antenna isn’t as strong as I thought it was…).

A friend was asking recently about broadband alternatives as well as wireless. I thought I’d post our exchange so that other folks can see and compare with their own experiences. Or better yet maybe this can help clarify the alternatives for somebody.

Can you tell me what you know about the best DSL and wireless internet companies? I am thinking about making the leap to DSL and wireless and I know you have probably done tons of research.

My neighbor went with EarthLink for both and they seem pretty happy. Right now they are running a special for 19.99 per month for 6 months and then it changes to 39.99 per month. This includes start up fees (what ever that is) and equipment.

Which company did you go with and are you happy?

It really depends what you want to do with your Internet connection whether you go for DSL or cable for your broadband.

If you think you’ll enter the VOIP realm, then give the DSL a miss and go for Cable. You cannot unbundled your phone service from DSL so you are stuck with “ma bell” phone service. VOIP is VERY inexpensive. I’ve been using it for a little over a year now and have been impressed.

$39.99/mo. sounds like a VERY good deal. You’ll want to ensure that’s not one of their “Lite” products. If you can get 3 MBPS download at that price you’re doing well. I personally would not settle for any less than that. My current cable offering is 6 MBPS download and 384 KBPS upload which is ample for my current needs.

I have other friends who are using Earthlink and they’re quite happy with it too.

I originally started with Bell South directly and was pretty satisfied with them. I believe they actually run the DSL on behalf of Earthlink.

I’m never totally happy with any of these companies. They always do something that I find bothersome. But it’s a matter of getting as many positive features and as few negatives as you want. I found uptime with Bellsouth and Comcast to be roughly the same. There are always hiccoughs with both systems – it seems my comcast modem needs to be reset more often than my DSL needed. But it’s twice as fast. The DSL folks occasionally reinitialize their modem which would cause my home network to fail until I set it back to what I wanted. I think they’ve stopped that foolishness now however.

To help you gauge, I’m currently paying $63 / month for Comcast’s Internet which is more expensive than the DSL, but when you factor in the savings on Telephone and Long Distance charges, the Comcast service with Vonage VOIP comes out something like $15 – $25 less per month. It’s ironic that I get my TV from Satellite and my phone via my cable company. Oh, and my company pays for the broadband connection so it’s a theoretical cost for me now..

Feel free to shoot me an email or give me a call if you have other questions. Nothing about any of this is black or white. No matter what you do, make sure you put a router between your computer and your modem. If you invest in a wireless router now (about $80 realistically) you’ll be primed for wireless access inside your house. But the router provides an important safeguard between you and the Internet cloud.

Thanks for your response. You are always on top of the newest technology. It is all too confusing to me…

I looked over EarthLink’s home page and they are saying the $19.95/mo for 6 months ($40/mo afterwards) service is for download speeds “up to” 3.0 Mbps. I currently have dial up and it is painfully slow. Not sure what my modem speed is though… Does the “up to” 3.0 Mbps download speed sound like it would seldom be at 3.0 Mbps?

What makes the internet wireless? Is it the router and/or special software or other hardware?

I still like the Satellite for my TV. I don’t want to go back to cable. Would you recommend DirectTV over DishNetwork if I went with EarthLink or does it matter? I didn’t know if they were affiliated.

I currently have phone service with BellSouth so would that service continue unchanged if I went with EarthLink?

You mentioned that your $62/mo for Comcast’s Internet is a savings when factoring in telephone and long distance. Are you saying your Comcast Internet provides you your wireless internet service and phone (local and long distance)? And, do you have some unlimited long distance plan as well?

Thanks again for your input..

Yes “Up To” is what they usually promise. For DSL I found that to be pretty optimistic. I typically would get 2.3-2.5 Mbps whereas with the cable I’m much closer to the “Up To” 6 at about 5.8 – 6.0 Mbps. Moving from dial-up to DSL I doubt you’ll be disappointed with 2.x Mbps. at $20 / month I’d say “go for it”.

Unless you opt to get your home network set up by Earthlink too (I believe you’ll find that’s an option on some other part of the website. Probably will run you about $10/month more) you’ll just get a DSL modem. Make sure you get the one that has an Ethernet output, not the USB output. If your computer is at all recent you’ll already have an ethernet card in it. And if not you can pick one up for under $20. This will give you the most flexibility going forward.

To have either wireless and/or more than one computer share your internet connection, you need a router. Even if you only have one computer hard-wired to the internet I still highly recommend you get a router anyway since all routers now come with a built-in firewall which provides excellent protection from the Internet.
I picked up a d-link 524 wireless router recently from Amazon.com for less than $50 and I’m very happy with it.

Of course you want to have a current antivirus too to round out your suite of protection. If you don’t want to drop the $40 or so that Norton’s Anti-Virus will run you, there is an excellent free antivirus package available out there (probably it’s appended a tag to the bottom of this email) called AVG. I use it on my backup server and have just switched to it from Symantec (even though I’ve paid for the Norton AV license) because Symantec is such a resource hog it was slowing down my laptop.

Yes, even though your DSL service will actually be physically provided by Bell South, your existing phone bill will remain unchanged and you will receive a separate bill from Earthlink for your DSL service.

I use Vonage for my VOIP phone service. I can see where Comcast is offering their own (more expensive) option now too. For $27 a month Vonage includes unlimited calls to anywhere in the US and Canada as well as amazingly low overseas rates (which I never need to use). Also it includes voicemail, conference calling, call waiting, caller ID and “simulring” (you can give it up to 5 phone numbers to ring i.e. your cell phones, and the first one to pick up “wins” and receives the call). You can configure it to send you an email when you receive a voicemail (you can even tell it to send you the voicemail as a WAV file if you want). It’s an excellent value. And get this, if you take your Vonage router with you, you can phone people from anyplace that has a high speed internet connection (i.e. many hotels nowadays). If you were in London, England you could phone folks using that system as if you were local the the US.

For the same services above for my Bell South phone (not including voicemail and the long distance) I was being charged over $40. It was really a no-brainer for me to move to Comcast & Vonage.

Good luck figuring out how you’re going to go. Earthlink sounds like a great deal unless you want to do VOIP, in which case you need to do the math. You may find it’s still worthwhile to get Earthlink and then eat the cost of basic phone service from Bell South and port your existing phone number over to Vonage. But YMMV.

Has anybody else out there noticed that Vonage’s voicemail notification (stuttered dial tone, LED indicator on your phone – if you have such) has been a little erratic as of late?

For the past few weeks I’ve found that, as often as not, the indicators are not clearing properly after I’ve retrieved and deleted my voicemails. I would have to go into my voicemail box again, go to the deleted messages and re-delete them before the indicators would clear.

And, beginning about a week ago the notifications have been not activating for new messages. I received one yesterday morning and another message this morning and for neither one did the indicators activate.

I’m wondering if there is something awry with my setup or if this is something that other Vonage users are experiencing as well.

This is more a note to myself as it’s well documented here on the web.

It seems I SNAFUed myself by replacing the default “404 – page not found” with a customized version that prompted folks to search my site specifically for whatever it was they looking for.

After doing this, the tool I use to upload pictures “en masse” to my website – Gallery Remote – didn’t work properly.

To correct this, two changes needed to be implemented:

1) I needed to create a “fake” gallery_remote2.php file in my gallery directory containing the following code –

< ?php header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found"); exit; ?>

2) I needed to add the following line to the GalleryRemote.properties file (located in the “program files/gallery remote” subfolder) –

forceGalleryVersion.n=2