Category Archives: Hardware/Software

Hardware/Software

Roll up your windows

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I’ve found another nice little app only 89kb in size, written in assembly language, that will roll up your window until only the title bar is visible. This goes along nicely with Nubs, which I discovered back in May.

Drag a window to one of the monitor sides and Nubs will reduce it to a tabbed sidebar item, keeping the tab, or ‘nub’, visible while working with a fully expanded window. Click on the nub, and the window reappears as you had it.

WinRoll, as stated, rolls the window up and out of the way, leaving the title bar where you’ve placed it. Right-click on the title bar — and voila! — the title bar of the window is the only visible item remaining. Do it again, and it reappears. It’s magic.

Freeware and Open Source.

Get it here: WinRoll

Blog tribulations, Hardware/Software

Throwing stones

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Oh look – someone is slagging WordPress because of security problems. He goes so far as to recommend a competitor, in this case, Moveable Type, which he promotes on his web site.

Should one take the time to read down to the last paragraph, one will discover that in order to have a secure Moveable Type (MT) installation, one must disable comments. His link to Moveable Type security notes mentions several additional security precautions one should take with Moveable Type to remain secure:

If you can turn off comments and search then you can effectively hide all traces of your Movable Type installation from the public eye and just use it as a convenient tool for generating static but easily-updateable pages. Most people won’t even know you’re running Movable Type. By putting your install in an out-of-the-way location, you can use security through obscurity (not always a bad thing) to protect you from any flaws that might be in the product. I use this technique on my personal weblog…

So then, in order to have a more secure blogging product, we do the following:

  • convert to another platform, specifically MT;
  • turn off MT comments;
  • and while you’re at it, turn off your MT search function;
  • don’t advertise the location of your MT install;
  • move your MT install location to a more unintelligible URL.

I really don’t have any problem with it all, I just thought it was amusing that in order to recommend overcoming the security lapses of one product, one must use another product with its own security problems.

Yawn.

(Thanks to Photo Matt for the post. He’s the founding developer of WordPress.)

Blog tribulations, Hardware/Software

Post2Blog 3.0 is now free

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It never ends. Just when I think I’ve found all the blog software and more that I’ll ever need, I learn of another useful little ditty that I can’t resist downloading and trying. That goes for this, too: Post2Blog 3.00 from ByteScout, which is now free for all.

Probably the sweetest surprise is that the software can be put on a USB stick and used in its portable version. Converting it over isn’t too difficult either. Simply go to the Start / Programs menu and select “Create Portable Version”. Yes, it’s that simple.

It interfaces with FireFox and IE as well as MS Word. It handles image uploading. For a complete list of what it does, scroll down to the bottom of the Post2Blog page and read up.

Oh, yes, and one more thing I must mention: the spellchecker is live! – which, of course, can be turned off.

Hardware/Software

Nubs for the memories

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I discovered a sweet little Windows app that makes arranging open windows a breeze. Previously I was using Madotate to spead out the mess, but over at CyberNet they’ve done a brief review of some freeware called Nubs:

It essentially puts tabs (which the program calls Nubs) around the border of your screen so that you can quickly access all of your applications.

You can read the details over at Cybernet, so I won’t go into them here. It does require Net2.0.

Hardware/Software

MADDOG MegaVault 3.5″ hard drive enclosure

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Update September 2009: My MadDog enclosure has died. I’ve replaced it with this.

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Update March 2009: It looks like MADDOG itself has expired. Warranty service appears to be non-existent. Calls to their hotline go unanswered and emails get no response.

Link here, and here to Rip-off Report (this takes a while to load).

My MADDOG hard drive enclosure is still working fine, but I can no longer recommend any of their products.

In my opinion, stay away from MADDOG and AcomData.

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Since last week’s AcomData fiasco, I’ve had an eye on obtaining another 3.5-inch hard drive enclosure. For ten bucks more than the AcomData, I discovered the MADDOG MegaVault version – Model MD-AEN350COM. It’s a nice little package with a black anodized case. The huge power-on indicator is up front, and the switch and connectors are located on the back.

It comes with USB2.0 and Firewire 1394 support. Power and both interface cables are included. For those of you still using Win98, a CD with drivers is included for USB1.1. The manual even shows how to format and partition the drive if you’ve not already done that.

After the simple task of installing my hard drive (don’t forget to set the jumpers to “master”) into the MADDOG, I plugged into the desktop, powered up the MegaVault, and voila! The drive appeared. If I want to use the drive with Firewire on my laptop, I’ll need to get a 6-pin to 4-pin FW adapter. That’s not a major problem since it also supports USB2.0.

The drive can be stored flat, or on edge with the supplied clear plastic stand. The stand isn’t the greatest, but it works. I’ve noticed that the hard drive appears to run substantially warmer when on its edge, so I set the drive flat on my table for the coolest running. I’ve had the drive running for a couple of hours now, and there’s no excess heat buildup since laying it flat.

I’m happy with it.

Hardware/Software

AcomData 509 3.5-inch USB2.0 hard drive enclosure – junk

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Updated: Go here to read about my MadDog replacement enclosure. It finally failed also, but two years later.

And here’s what I used to replace the MadDog hard drive enclosure. I’m currently using a LanDisk GXT-MS348S.

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Go here to read the reports of others with AcomData problems at ripoffreport.com.

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I have an 80-gig hard drive that I would like to use as a backup medium for my XP operating systems. I figured I could cut the drive in half and use it for both my laptop and desktop O/S backups. I spied an AcomData 509 aluminum hard drive enclosure with USB2.0 support, and since the price was right, I picked it up. According to the tiny manual that comes with it, it’s supposed to work out of the box with XP – which is obvious, considering XP supports USB2.0. After installing my backup drive in the AcomData, plugging the USB cable into my desktop and powering up – nothing, other than a spinning drive and a blue LED indicating power-on.

I removed the drive from the AcomData, installed it in my desktop, powered up, and the drive was good. Shut down again, remove it from my desktop, reinstall it in the AcomData case, plug in to the USB port and power it up. Nothing other than a blue power LED and a spinning drive.

I must have gotten a case with a bad motherboard in it.

After doing a couple of online searches, I discovered that the AcomData 509 drive case appears to be unusable. Not only that, but there is absolutely no support from the company, according to some online comments. Email requests for assistance and phone calls go unanswered, and calls are not returned.

AcomData hardware is manufactured by Dura Micro, Inc., in Pomona, California, although I suspect China may be closer to the mark. Apparently, and I quote, “Dura Micro is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of external, desktop hard drives.” Their “Vision and Mission” statement has a lot of nice whoop-dee-doo verbiage, but nowhere does it mention quality.

I clicked on their “Quality Management System” page, hoping to see something about striving to manufacture the most reliable equipment for the end-user, but I didn’t really see anything along those lines there, either.

Oops, wait just a minute! On their 509 Series HDD Enclosures page, they say “…the 509 projects solid quality and reliability.” It may project, boys and girls, but it doesn’t work out of the box. You might want to go back and reconsider some of those homilies you so eloquently “project” on your web site.

Tomorrow, the AcomData 509 3.5-inch USB2.0 hard drive enclosure will be returned from whence it came.

Thanks for nothing, Dura Micro and AcomData.