While on the road, I have had many amazing experiences at small, family-owned restaurants. Places out in farm country, where you know the food is fresh and grown locally. Since these places are super cheap, my expectations are always extremely low. Because of that, it doesn't take much to go above and beyond my expectations.

On the contrary, my wife and I have gone to some very fancy restaurants where our total bill was as high as $600. We have absolutely had some really great experiences at places like that, but we've also had a few bad ones. Looking back on those bad experiences, everything was still above and beyond a visit to the Olive Garden, but it did not meet our very high expectations. And failing to meet those expectations meant that we were not happy, regardless how the service compared to ordinary restaurants.

When a company over-advertises and over-hypes their product, they run the risk of artificially creating too high of expectations. On very few occasions, a company can over-hype and still deliver a truly amazing product. I Am Legend is a good example of a highly marketed, over-hyped product that was able to deliver because it met and exceeded all of our expectations.

Below, I will be outlining the most hyped PC games of 2010 that did and did not meet gamers' expectations. Regardless what is said below, know that all of these games are worth purchasing eventually.

Worst of the Most Anticipated

Runner up goes to Call of Duty: Black Ops - Easily the most advertised game of 2010 which helped it break multiple game sale records upon its release. However, the game play and graphics are very different than what most of us were anticipating. Some reviews have even gone as far as to say that the Black Ops engine is a downgrade when compared with Modern Warfare 2. This was mostly due to the fact that Black Ops was made by a different developer than Modern Warfare 2, which managed to screw up all of the key elements of the game. For instance, when you are partied with friends, you are often put on opposing servers. Due to graphic issues, heavily changed game play, and devolution of online multiplayer, I am overall very disappointed with this release. After the high water mark of Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops just can't compete. Update: I have posted a video demonstrating many of the problems in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The Worst of the Most Anticipated 2010 goes to Fallout: New Vegas - Stale and glitchy. The developers of the game have still not corrected the constant frame rate issues. However, a hobbyist released his own patch to correct the problem. Without this patch, I would not have been able to play the game. I shouldn't have to depend on a hobbyist for fixes, this should fall on the game developer. Despite this patch being available online for weeks, the developer hasn't bothered to incorporate the patch into an update. I truly cannot understand that. I also experienced a glitch where a Deathclaw would spawn in Goodsprings.

Glitches aside, the game itself wasn't anything special; at times I felt like I just had downloaded a very large DLC for Fallout 3. The best description I have seen was from PC Gamer, who only gave the game a score of 84%, "More wasteland to wander. New Vegas is good, but the failure to move the series on makes it feel a tiny bit stale." Consider waiting until this game gets bundled with DLC before wasting your caps.

Best of the Most Anticipated

Third place is Medal of Honor - Despite a couple early glitches (since fixed), this game has the best graphics and most realistic military combat of any military game to date. Throughout the campaign, you will use real tactics and hear life like chatter that blows away anything you have ever played before. This game would have taken first place, but the campaign takes less than five hours to complete. I made up for this shortcoming by playing through three times on the hardest setting, but not everyone is willing to do that. Another thing holding it back is that multiplayer is not as fun or polished as Modern Warfare 2. But then again, neither is Black Ops.

Runner up goes to Mass Effect 2 - Noticeably better graphics and game play than the original, while still maintaining a decent story line. The game also has an excellent soundtrack, much like the original. And for those who are mostly focused on the RPG aspects of the game, Mass Effect 2 provides even more speech options and choices for romantic partners than the original. Of course, sequels will always have a tough time because the concept is no longer fresh, but Mass Effect 2 manages to pull through with success.

And the Best of the Most Anticipated 2010 goes to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Anticipated for twelve years and hyped over the last four, StarCraft II met some very high expectations and conquered! Easily one of my favorites, despite the fact that I quit playing RTS years ago. Like all Blizzard games, StarCraft II is extremely polished and isn't plagued with the countless problems other game manufactures put us through. The campaign mode offers an exciting and epic storyline combined with fun, challenging game play. Multiplayer has changed dramatically since the old StarCraft, allowing players to compete with people in the same class as them. This game doesn't just meet the expectations of the original, it outdoes it.

Other Noteworthy Games of 2010

Bioshock 2 - Received good reviews. Did not strike me as overly anticipated or hyped, so it did not find it's way into my Most Anticipated Games of 2010.

Sid Meyer's Civilization V -  Also received good reviews. With all of the Civilization games, there is much anticipation within the Civ community for each release. Unfortunately, I am not part of the TBS community. What I do know: if I was going to play TBS, this would be the next game I would purchase.

Hard drive platters

That being said, hard drives do not store information on memory. Instead, the information is stored inside the drive mechanically on a few circular plates, known as "platters." In most common drives, these platters spin at speeds anywhere from 4,200 to 7,200 rotations per minute. In between each platter is a mechanical arm that slides back and forth to catch information as it passes. As you can imagine, if you open a file located on the other side of the platter, the arm has to physically move to get to the file. That is why your computer slows down right before opening a program; it has to actually find where the data is located before it can start to read it. This wasted time is called "seek time."

The technology to accomplish mechanical storage is so impressive that sometimes I wonder how it even works at all. There is so much movement and activity happening inside this device that has to be executed perfectly for everything to work. But, as you know, it doesn't always function as planned. This is due to the fact that the hard drive is still a mechanical device, and all machines are subject to wear and tear - eventually resulting in a hard drive crash.

The term "hard drive crash" is not just an expression; it is literally the description of what happens when one of the drive arms make contact with a platter. To say the least, scraping a drive head along a platter at the speed of 7,200 RPMs results in some pretty serious damage to your data. This most often happens for one of two reasons: either the drive dies prematurely due to excessive vibrations or it slowly wears out over time. An example of a premature death would be a laptop that is thrown, dropped, or otherwise moved too quickly. This vibration can cause the platters to smack against the drive head, resulting in a hard drive crash. But even if it doesn't die early, it will eventually die as the platters' lubrication breaks down over time. The lubrication keeps the platters spinning evenly and smoothly, but after the compound breaks down, the platters will wobble themselves right into a drive head.

Solid state storage "chips"

Non-volatile, solid state storage technology is not subject to any of the drawbacks of mechanical storage. It cannot ever crash, because it is simply a cluster of electronic chips. It doesn't really have "seek times", because information is directly called from whichever chip it is located. And, it is incredibly fast; current solid state drives are much faster than the fastest mechanical hard drives. So, why aren't we using it yet?

"Too expensive right now," is what my father told me when I asked him. No matter how great an invention, it is only feasible if it is economical. Fifteen years ago, you would be spending over $100,000 for a small amount of solid state storage. Ask the airline industry, they required that type of technology on planes since the vibrations would destroy a normal hard drive. While I couldn't afford the technology, I could still watch it evolve through the years. As time went on, the technology increased in storage capacity as well as speed, while slowly becoming more affordable. I even tested out some of the earlier solid state drives two years ago in custom built ITX systems and, while it worked great, decided that it wasn't yet ready for mainstream desktop or server applications.

Fortunately, times have changed. In the last few months, I have watched multiple products become available that are both affordable and realistic. Many computer hobbyists have already taken the plunge with this new technology, who can rationalize spending up to $300 for a drive with at least 128GB of storage capacity. (To put that in perspective, you can purchase a 2,000GB mechanical hard drive for around $150.) So, this morning, when I found out my mechanical hard disk drive was starting to go bad, I wasn't exactly upset. I immediately headed over to my favorite online electronic retailer and purchased the solid state drive that I had been ogling for months, the Crucial RealSSD C300. Not only am I fifteen years over due for this technology upgrade, but I never want to deal with another dead hard drive.

I have lived through many changes to the personal computer throughout my lifetime. Some of the more notable advancements have been the replacement of command line with a graphical interface, floppy drives with optical drives, 14.4K dialup modems with highspeed broadband, single-core processors with multi-core processors, and CRTs with LCD monitors.

Fifteen years ago, I could not have told you when we would have solid state drives. But looking at how far the technology has progressed, I can safely predict that most computer enthusiasts will have a solid state boot drive by 2012; all mainstream computer manufacturers, such as Dell, HP, and Apple, will offer solid state drives as the default boot drive in all models by 2015; and by 2020, solid state drives will almost completely eliminate mechanical disk drives as they will have surpassed them in storage capacity and beat them in price. At least in the field of computer science, solid state drives will be this decade's greatest achievement.

Dedicated to John Joseph Watt, Jr.
September 28, 1960 - March 5, 2007

While most laptops will never melt like the one pictured above, it seems almost all laptops overheat eventually. This could be due to a number of things, such as the dissipation of thermal compound, shoddy heat syncs, fans that go bad, degraded airflow conditions, and other anomalies. Proof of this phenomenon can be found by browsing any electronic retail store as they all sell "laptop cooling pads". If this wasn't a wide spread problem, these coolers wouldn't exist.

Is this problem fixable? In most cases, I believe it should be. However, where do you start? Should you take the entire laptop apart to replace the fans and thermal compound? Or could the problem be isolated to just a faulty power supply? While there are many unknown variables, they can all be eliminated and resolved if the technician is patient and knowledgeable.

This is good news for experts, who can fix this problem on their own, but bad for consumers. The cost of labor to pay someone to spend hours attempting to fix your laptop would well exceed just purchasing a new computer. Additionally, what if it isn't really fixed and starts overheating again? The whole situation would become a nightmare.

With a little research, you can prevent purchasing laptops prone to overheating. First, research the processors that can be installed in your laptop. All laptop manufacturers offer multiple processor options. Without sacrificing too much power, try to purchase the processor that runs coolest. Furthermore, you can search the web to see what others are saying about a particular laptop model using the make, model and keyword "overheating".

Obviously, there is nothing realistic that can be done to save the above laptop. But, this laptop could still turn on and function without feeling very hot. The evidence did not support overheating. After talking with the owner, it turns out this laptop was left on a bed, inches from a radiator heater, for an extended period of time. This laptop had overheated from the outside.

There are a few types of keyboard shortcuts. There are global keyboard shortcuts built directly into Windows, such as copy and paste. These are cross-application functional and the most important shortcuts to remember. Then there are accepted standard shortcuts, such as opening new tabs in a web browser. These shortcuts, while compatible across related software, may have totally different functions in other applications. Last, there are proprietary shortcuts, which only apply to one program or software vendor (i.e. Adobe Photoshop). Because there are thousands of programs with hundreds of proprietary shortcuts, they are very difficult to remember. I will be going over very little, if any, proprietary shortcuts in this article.

Throughout these categories, the shortcuts will be listed by importance.

Global Shortcuts:

• Ctrl+C
  • Select text or files and use this command to copy. Replaces mouse movement: Right click > Copy.
• Ctrl+V
  • Pastes what was just copied or cut. Replaces mouse movement: Right click > Paste.
• Ctrl+X
  • Select text or files and use this command to cut. Replaces mouse movement: Right click > Cut.
• Alt+Tab
  • While holding alt, repeat pressing the tab key. Each time you press tab, Windows will rotate currently open applications. This easily switches between programs in seconds. Replaces mouse movement: clicking each program individually from the task bar.
• Alt+F4
  • F4 being a function key at the top of the keyboard, this shortcut will close any application. Replaces mouse movement: pressing the red X at the top right of the window.
• Ctrl+P
  • Open a print dialog box. Replaces mouse movement: finding the printer icon and clicking it.
• Ctrl+Z
  • Undoes the last preformed action. Replaces mouse movement: Edit > Undo.
• Ctrl+Y
  • Redoes an undone action.Replaces mouse movement: Edit > Redo.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del
  • On home computers, this function will open your task manager, which can be used to close a frozen program. On business computers, a menu will provide the ability to lock the computer, change your password, open the task manager, or other miscellaneous actions. Replaces mouse movement: whole bunch of stuff.

Start Button:

Your keyboard Start button, located between your Alt and Ctrl keys, can be used to launch many Windows functions. Because you can use these any time, they are technically considered global shortcuts. However, they deserve a category of their own.

• Start Button
  • Opens your start menu. Replaces mouse movement: clicking the on screen Start button.
• Start+L
  •  Locks your computer. Replaces mouse movement: Start > Shutdown > Lock Computer.
• Start+D
  • Show the desktop. Press again to restore all application windows. Replaces mouse movement: minimizing all of your open windows.
• Start+Tab
  • 3-D version of Alt+Tab. Requirements: Vista/W7. Replaces mouse movement: clicking each program individually from the task bar.
• Start+F
  • Search your entire computer for something. Replaces mouse movement: Start > Search.
• Start+E
  • Opens "My Computer". Replaces mouse movement: Start > My Computer.
• Start+P
  • New! Opens a projector menu to allow for screen sharing. Requirements: Windows 7. Replaces mouse movement: a whole bunch of stuff.
• Start+R
  • In this case, I saved the most useful for last. Start+R opens a Run dialog which can launch things that do not have a keyboard shortcut of their own. For instance, any time I want to visit a website, I use the Run dialog. To do this, open the dialog and just type "www.whatever.com" and press enter.  In seconds, you have just opened your web browser directly to a website without ever using your mouse! A few other run commands you may find useful:
    • calc - opens the calculator.
    • notepad - opens a little notepad to scribble notes.
    • C: - opens your main hard drive.

Internet Shortcuts:

These shortcuts are accepted as a standard, regardless of web browser. However, these are not built into Windows and therefore not global shortcuts. Some tabbed chat programs, such as pidgin, also take advantage of the first two shortcuts.

• Alt+T
  • Opens a new tab.
• Ctrl+W
  • Close a current tab.
• F5
  • Refresh the screen. Useful when a website does not load correctly.
• F11
  • Kiosk/full screen mode. Useful when playing a web game. Hides taskbar from screen.

While these are the most common, there are hundreds (not all cross-compatible). Please visit one of the following pages for more shortcuts for your browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome.

DDR2 240-pin Memory Module

One of the most common mistakes when building or upgrading a computer is the memory. What type? How many pins? What speed? Registered or unregistered? Single or dual channel? Any skilled computer expert can tell you the answers to these. I'm going to show you how to do this yourself and how to save money at the same time.

Identify your current memory - One way to upgrade your computer's memory is to identify what is currently installed. I use a program called CPU-Z to do this. When you first open the program, be patient while it collects information about your computer. Once it has finished, view the Memory tab for a general overview about your RAM. Take note if your Memory is Single or Dual Channel (top right field).

The next tab to the right, SPD, will give you a breakdown of each individual module. The first thing to notice is the very top line, mine says DDR2. That's the type of memory. Next is module size. If you are replacing your memory, this is not important. Max Bandwidth is the speed of your memory, mine says PC2-6400. The program will also identify if your memory is registered/buffered. My values for registered/buffered are blank, which means I have unregistered/unbuffered memory. Otherwise, I would have to purchase registered/buffered memory.

The last thing to identify is the pin count or physical size of the RAM. Basically, you have two sizes for each type. Normal desktop size and laptop size. For my upgrade, DDR2, there is a 200-pin laptop module and a 240-pin desktop memory module. While laptops always use the 200-pin, you may want to double check your desktop. Certain desktop motherboards, especially those in smaller form factor systems, actually use the 200-pin style.

There are still two pieces of information missing, maximum memory and fastest speed supported by my computer. If I order more memory than my computer supports, the memory is not going to be compatible with my computer. Furthermore, while I could order memory the same speed as the current memory, there may be faster memory available. This faster memory would directly increase the speed of my system. But before we can solve these problems, we need to identify our motherboard.

DDR2 200-pin Memory Module

Identify your motherboard - To find your motherboard model number, open CPU-Z again. Navigate to the Mainboard tab and write down the Manufacturer and Model. Mine is a Dell 0GM819. A quick google search will reveal the motherboard specifications. Most motherboard specifications will flat out tell you everything, completely eliminating the need for using CPU-Z. Unfortunately, OEM motherboards can be vague. For instance, the only specification published about my motherboard regarding RAM is "4 Dual Channel DIMM Support for up to 8 GB of DDR2 memory".  Fortunately, this has revealed the overall maximum amount of memory my computer supports. However, I still have not identified the fastest speed supported by my motherboard. While I could very easily order less than or equal to 8GB DDR2 240-pin PC2-6400 Unregistered/Unbuffered Dual Channel RAM at this point, I may be missing out on faster memory modules which would improved the speed of my computer.

If all else fails (or how you should really be doing this) - If you still have missing information, such as the fastest speed supported by your system, there is one last method. Go to Crucial.com and use the drop down boxes to select your system. It will bring up a page much like this one. Find the section titled `Manufacturer Specifications`. The speeds supported by your motherboard will be listed in the box on the left. Apparently, my motherboard supports PC2-8500, PC2-6400, and PC2-5300. Had I not checked, I would not have ordered the fastest memory available for my computer.

To be completely honest, I always use Crucial.com to identify memory, and suggest you do as well. However, don't purchase memory directly from Crucial.com. Usually NewEgg and other online electronic stores sell it for much cheaper. While the CPU-Z method explains each aspect of the memory module, it takes more time and requires additional research. But now that you understand all of the factors involved with memory, use Crucial.com confidently, instead of fooling around with google searches and motherboard manuals.

How to purchase - After identifying your memory, head over to your favorite online electronic store and search. Based on our research, my search query would be `DDR2 PC2-8500 240-pin`. You can refine the search by including the size, such as 2GB. Before purchasing, make sure the memory module meets your computer's Single/Dual channel and Registered/Unregistered requirements. Good luck!

A warning regarding 32-bit memory limits - If you are running a 32-bit operating system, the maximum memory your computer will support is 4GB. You can install more without a problem, but your computer will not utilize it. In order to support more than 4GB of memory, please switch to a 64-bit operating system. ]]> http://gtwy.net/fix/2009/12/memory-upgrades/feed/ 2 http://gtwy.net/fix/2009/12/preventing-brown-outs/ http://gtwy.net/fix/2009/12/preventing-brown-outs/#comments Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:30:32 +0000 James Watt http://gtwy.net/fix/?p=101 Everybody has heard of a power surge, but most people will give you a funny look if you say brown-out. While a surge is a sudden jolt of extra electricity, a brown-out is actually a loss in electricity. And surprisingly, I have seen more damage to electronic equipment from brown-outs than from power surges. This may be due to the fact that surge protector power strips are cheap, while the hardware necessary to prevent a brown-out is not.

When a brown-out occurs, partial power is lost. This causes lights to dim and eventually "brown out" before power is completely lost. These few seconds of partial power can do serious damage to your computers, televisions, and other electronic equipment. Every component in your computer requires a specific amount of electricity to function. When full power is lost, the device shuts down fairly safely. But when partial power is lost, the device struggles to operate on limited power. Because it was designed for normal power, this scenario has a high chance of destroying the device. Imagine putting rubbing alcohol in a car engine. The device, in this case an engine, would be operating on a power source outside normal specifications. Result? Blown head gasket.

In order to prevent against brown-outs, use of various Battery Backup Systems is recommended. These systems, created mostly by APC and CyberPower, can protect your electronic equipment at a fraction of the cost to purchase a new computer. My personal preference is APC, but CyberPower is a little cheaper. To make things simple, both companies' sales teams will assist you by explaining their systems and which best suits you. The general rule of thumb is to pick up a ~400Watt system for a single desktop computer and monitor. If you are including extra equipment, such as a router and modem, allow for an extra ~50Watts. Make sure to purchase a model that comes with a USB cable and software, which will put your computer in Hibernation mode in the event of an extended power outage (these battery backups can run out of power if your main electricity goes down for too long.)

The product I use most often is the APC BE650G. At $89.99, you are not going to find a better buy for protecting your desktop computer and monitor. If you are running Windows XP, Vista, or 7, just plug in the USB wire and you are done; no need to even install the software. My second choice would be the CyberPower CP1000AVR. It only runs $79.99 for slightly more Wattage, but it uses a serial connection instead of USB.

Quick Tip: If you are using a laptop computer, you only need a simple surge protector power strip, not a battery backup.

During the last switch to daylight savings, my BlackBerry's time was not correctly syncing with Verizon and I unknowingly adjusted my car and wrist watch to it. While I was five minutes early for everything, I kept thinking that the world must be experiencing serious time problems - my GPS and television show times were wrong! I couldn't understand what was happening. I googled in hopes others were experiencing the same problem, thinking this was some widespread issue. It sounds laughable, but when you adjust every clock in your house, car, etc. - you live by that time. Fortunately, I figured the problem out before publishing some asinine article about how the world was experiencing a time delay.

With my recent time drama in mind, I considered this domain-wide time problem and decided it was worth resolving. My first instinct was that the battery in the domain controller needed replaced. Since it was after hours, I simply powered down the machine and changed the battery. These come in handy, so I usually have a few in my work bag. After booting the machine, I adjusted the clock and assumed all was well. Unfortunately, when I returned two weeks later for maintenance, the clock had again drifted by a few minutes. Subsequently, all of the computers in the domain had incorrect times. Time to start pulling hair out? Maybe not yet.

Something else to consider is the Microsoft NTP settings which come default on Microsoft Windows computers. What is the address? Ntp.Microsoft.com? Whatever it is, I am fed up. Obviously something changed my correct time and synchronized it with the wrong time, or maybe it isn't synchronizing at all. Regardless, I was able to enter the following commands into the command prompt to solve the problem.

net time /setsntp:pool.ntp.org
net stop w32time
net start w32time

The first command tells Windows which NTP server you want to use. The second two commands restart your time service. All of the computers on the domain now abide by the correct time.

Update: On Server 2008 R2 you have to use these commands instead:

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:pool.ntp.org
w32tm /config /reliable:yes
w32tm /config /update
w32tm /resync
net stop w32time
net start w32time

The problems are cross-carrier and global, according to PC World, in an article published during one of the outages last week. While that problem has since been resolved, a new issue brought the entire network down today.

Because today's outage is not making headlines, I assumed this was something on my end. After exhausting all common troubleshooting, I contacted Verizon technical support. The Verizon tech explained that RIM had been issuing bulletins to Verizon throughout the day, with the most recent at 4:30PM EDT. This bulletin stated that over 50% of Blackberry users were still experiencing an outage.

Verizon warned that this problem will continue indefinitely as RIM works to correct the issue.

This means if you have purchased electronic software from Microsoft or a Microsoft Reseller, you will be unable to claim your software. This is not being told to customers before they purchase, nor is there a warning on the eOpen website that new agreements are not accepted at this time. Instead, Microsoft lets you wander around the new eOpen site until you become aggravated enough to call. If you can suffer through long hold times, you will be instructed by a Microsoft rep that it is a known issue and the problem will be resolved eventually.

So please be advised, as of December 22, new software purchases are still unable to be activated. Consider waiting on projects or purchase hard media until this problem has been resolved.