Firefox backup tool

clipped from addons.mozilla.org Reviews for FEBE At first try it only saved the installations for the extensions. after figuring out that I need to select the backup "full profile" in FEBE's options I managed to get FEBE to generate a single file that contained all my addons and all my preferences. so maybe this is where FEBE wasn't user friendly enough for some reviewers that gave it a low rating. it'd be nice if the developer address them: 1) after installing FEBE 5.1.1 here in the mozilla website, i found that FEBE's website had a version a bit more advanced. 2) FEBE saved the firefox addons and preferences in a single .fbu file so i had to start>run firefox -p to get the profiles menu, create a 'temporary' profile and install febe there just so i could use febe to restore the saved .fbu file into the 'default' firefox profile. maybe it can be possible in future versions to make this process shorter or more automatic?

E8400 Overclock setting

On my OCZ-800 DDR2.

Try Memory Freq = 400
FSB: DRAM = 1:2
FSB = 1600
Bus Speed = 1600/4 = 400
Multiplier of E8400=9

CPU frequency = 3600

(Default FSB=1333, Multiplier = 9, CPU Freq = 9*1333/4=3000)

Install Apple Leopard on X86 PC

clipped from www.tomsguide.com The vast majority of us who use both PCs and Macs probably saw this coming, but I don't think anyone, me included, saw it coming anywhere near this soon: Mac OSX Leopard, released on Friday, October 26th, has already been cracked to run on x86 PCs. The crack was engineered by the developers at OSx86 Scene, with a tutorial quickly posted by Daily Apps. The installation process involves a patched Leopard DVD, and some additional files that are downloaded via a zip file and usually installed using a flash drive. Leopard can then be installed on a clean MBR (Master Boot Record) partition. This crack is in its infancy, so should you decide to try it, keep in mind that the risk to your system is unknown, and that some of your hardware, such as sound cards and network cards, may not work under Leopard. The dangers and the bugs will certainly be reduced with time. Apple, of course, does not condone this process.

Intel 45nm

clipped from www.hkepc.com Intel 45nm DT CPU Pricing ( 1Ku ) Q1, 2008 Model Speed L2 Cache FSB 11-Nov Jan 2008 Quad Core QX9650 3GHz 12MB 1333MHz $999 - Q9550 2.83GHz 12MB 1333MHz - $530 Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB 1333MHz - $316 Q9300 2.50GHz 6MB 1333MHz - $266 Dual Core E8500 3.16GHz 6MB 1333MHz - $266 E8400 3.00GHz 6MB 1333MHz   $183 E8300 2.83GHz 6MB 1333MHz - - E8200 2.66GHz 6MB 1333MHz   $163 Source : MB Manufacturers , Complied by HKEPC Hardware ,Sept2007

Airlink AP431W setup

To setup as AP client mode, you must configure the AP from the machine it intends to use. If you use from the other machine, it won't work (somehow it must tie the MAC address together).

don't use purevideo on Vista

clipped from www.avsforum.com One other thing that I've learned recently after playing around with a variety of video decoders on vista is that the default MS decoder allows hardware acceleration. Under Vista, the decoder basically passes the video information off to the display driver which is responsible for things like deinterlacing, denoising, et cetera. In my personal experience, I've had the best results with the MS decoder. In fact, according to MS, when you use the PureVideo decoder on Vista, it's actually doing a software-only decode. Here's a couple of links to posts by an MS employee about this topic on thegreenbutton.com: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/pe...ead.aspx#199375 http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/pe...ead.aspx#174165

MSI 8500GT with HDMI

clipped from www.msicomputer.com NX8500GT-MTD256EH

Noise reduction between Nvidia and ATI

clipped from www.anandtech.com During the test, although noise is reduced using AMD hardware, it is not reduced to the level of expectation set by the visual explanation of the test. Based on this assessment, we feel that AMD noise reduction deserves a score of 15 out of 25. Silicon Optix explains a score of 15 as: "The level of noise is reduced somewhat and detail is preserved." In order to achieve a higher score, we expect the noise to be reduced to the point where we do not notice any "sparkling" effect in the background of the image at all. By contrast, with NVIDIA, setting the noise reduction slider anywhere between 51% and 75% gave us a higher degree of noise reduction than AMD with zero quality loss. At 75% and higher we noticed zero noise in the image with no detail loss until noise reduction was set very high. Tests done with the noise reduction slider at 100% show some detail loss, but there is no reason to crank it up that high unless your HD source is incredibly noisy (which will not likely be the case)

DVI HDMI cable

clipped from thegreenbutton.com There are 6 types of DVI.  DVI-A, DVI-D and DVI-I.  They come in single (up to 1080p) and Dual Link (over 1080p).  You need a dual link capable video card to use a larger than 1080p screen (common in the movie/broadcast industry as well as medical imaging systems).  Some of hte larger gaming screens are also over 1080p resolutions.  DVI-A is analog, pretty much identical to vga or component.  DVI-D is digital.   DVI-I can be either.  This is why video dvi-i is used on video cards.  It doesn't matter what the dvi type is on the other side of hte wire, it'll do all 3.   Now they do have different cables.  DVI-D cables have different pins then DVI-A.  DVI-I has both sets of pins but DVI-I Dual Link has even more pins.   I order dvi-i duallink cables to avoid the concern of what type of wire I need to have and prolong its life.

HD decoding

clipped from www.anandtech.com We are using PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 with patch 3104a applied. This patch fixed a lot of our issues with playback and brought PowerDVD up to the level we wanted and expected. We did, however, have difficulty disabling GPU acceleration with this version of PowerDVD, so we will be unable to present CPU only decoding numbers. From our previous experience though, only CPUs faster than an E6600 can guarantee smooth decoding in the absence of GPU acceleration. clipped from www.anandtech.com Remember that these are average CPU utilization figures. Neither the AMD nor the NVIDIA high end parts are able to handle decoding in conjunction with the old P4 part. Our NetBurst architecture hardware just does not have what it takes even with heavy assistance from the graphics subsystem and we often hit 100% CPU utilization without one of the GPUs that support bitstream decoding.

Processor Power Consumption

Prescott 560 3600MHz = 115W
C2D E6600 = 65W (up to E6800)
C2D Q6600 = 105W
AM2 3000MHz = 90 - 125W

Also, Athlon processor does not have SSE2 and SSE3, therefore, some hardware acceleration of h.264 may not work.

Wired and Wireless together

clipped from www.ezlan.net It is very common in today computers (especially Laptops) to have Wired Network Card (NIC) as well as Wireless.  Often users end up in a conflict and they do not know how to control the system. Windows Network configures each card has it own TCP/IP  and the two can live together in peace and harmony provided they are configuring to work with Set Priority. 1. In Control Panel, double-click Network Connections. 2. Right-click a network interfaces, and then click Properties. 3. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties. 4. On the General tab, click Advanced. 5. To specify a metric, on the IP Settings tab click to clear the Automatic metric check box, and then enter the metric that you want in the Interface Metric field. Looks like this. http://www.ezlan.net/network/metrics.jpg

Gigabyte P35C-DS3R

clipped from techgage.com One of the most important features of any motherboard is overclocking ability, and this is where the P35C-DS3R falls a little short. After a long overclocking session, I found 450FSB to be the highest the board would possibly go before becoming unstable. Compare this to the P5K boards that hit 475FSB, and even that is not high by todays standards. This board currently retails for ~$175, which to me is a reasonable price, if you plan on using the boards features to their full potential. This would include the E-SATA port, which will be appreciated by those who require it. It's a little different than most E-SATA ports, since they include a cable for power. If you have an E-SATA enclosure, you won't need the power cable, but if you have a spare S-ATA drive lying around, you will be able to hook it up to your PC without opening your tower.

HDCP Support 8500GT and 8600GT

clipped from forumz.tomshardware.com So far I have found two non-8600GTS cards which are positively identified by their manufacturer as having HDCP support (not the lame 'HDCP-capable' pasted verbatim from the Nvidia site by some makers and many resellers): - Gigabyte 8500GT (their 8600GT isn't HDCP-enabled): http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2516 - BFG 8600GT: http://www2.bfgtech.com/CMDocs/BFGTech/pro=112-8600GTOC_256_PCIe_SellPiece.pdf The Gigabyte card looks ideal for a HTPC, being passively cooled. I would have liked to see an inexpensive passive HDCP 8600GT, since the 8600GT is rated at 43W max, and the 8500GT only at 'a few watts less' (I'm assuming 35-40W). The other option is to wait for the Radeon HD 2400XT (35W, can handle 1080p unlike the 25W HD 2400Pro's 720p), which although saddled with a 64-bit memory bus, apparently sports built-in HDCP). Hopefully the Radeon HD's can also offload 100% of VC-1 off the CPU, not only H.264 like Purevideo HD.

Firefox Extensions

clipped from www.lockergnome.com 13 Awesome Extensions for Firefox 2.0.0.4 *Configuration Mania: This extension is accessible through your Tools menu, and has an incredible array of advanced settings. If you aren’t hip to tweaking your Firefox manually, this is the extension for you! *Sage: A handy RSS reader…simple, basic, and easy to use. *Tab Mix Plus: This is a feature I can’t imagine any Firefox user going without. Completely control how your tabbed browsing functions; one never could imagine so many possibilities! My family can’t stand how my tabs are set up…good thing they have their own computers! *UI Tweaker: This little gem allows me to configure my Firefox UI to my personal taste…which I will admit is quite complex! If you are picky, make sure you get this extension!

Another CPU Cooler comparison

clipped from overclockercafe.com LGA 775 CPU Cooler "Mega Test" 25 Coolers compared at Hexus.

Top Air Cooling HS

clipped from www.anandtech.com Top air-cooler performance solidly belongs to the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme at 3.94GHz, with the Tuniq Tower 120, the regular Thermalright Ultra-120, the Scythe Ninja B Plus with SilenX fan, the OCZ Vindicator with SilenX, and the Scythe Infinity with dual push-pull Scythe fans all right behind and tied at 3.90GHz. This is a remarkable group of performers that definitely deliver value for your money. So far we have tested three down-facing designs - the Cooler Master GeminII, Scythe Andy Samurai Master, and Thermaltake MaxOrb. That's quite an illustrious group, but none of these three could really compete with our top tier of coolers.

TriCor

clipped from bl101fd.blu101.hotmail.msn.com There are also potential concerns over its #4-selling TriCor fat-reducing drug: A March study by Dr. Steven Nissen showed that 19 patients (38%) in a control group that took fenofibrate (its generic name) saw their creatinine levels rise above the upper limits of normal, which could reduce kidney function and increase cardiac events. Nissen, who previously raised concerns over Glaxo's (GSK) Avandia Merck's (MRK) painkiller Vioxx, says he will not prescribe the drug.

Windows Utilities

Autoplay Repair: www.snapfiles.com/get/autoplayrepair.html
Startup Cop Pro 2
FEBE for firebox backup
Myaboo: sharing web links.
TweakUI: tweak windows interface.
TweakVI: tweak Vista Interface

FEBE Firefox utility

Other utilities: Myaboo: sharing web links urls

clipped from www.pcmag.com Ever since I started using Firefox and adding extensions to it, I've been waiting for this tool. FEBE (Firefox Extension Backup Extension) backs up your extensions (plus profile info, themes, bookmarks, saved passwords, even cookies if you want) for easy restoration and transfer to other PCs. The files aren't tiny: My 50 or so extensions and themes, plus bookmarks and user preferences, added up to nearly 7MB. But even if I'd had to use floppies to propagate the extensions to my other Firefox PCs, I'd still have saved a tremendous amount of time.