Was just informed about the GodMode folder option in Windows 7 so I thought I would pass along the goodness. I read about the feature on Tom’s Hardware Guide and implemented it. Worked like a charm. Here are the short instructions:

1. Highlight and copy the following text (CTRL-C):
   GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
2. Right-click on your Windows 7 desktop (any version) and highlight New then Folder.
3. A folder will appear on the desktop called New folder but notice the folder name is highlighted.
4. Now simply CTRL-V to paste the GodMode text into the new folder name. The new name looks long and funky but fear not, the next step fixes it.
5. Hit the Enter key and watch the folder icon be replaced with the control panel icon. You’re done.

Enjoy the goodness that is the GodMode folder in Windows 7. Interesting little Easter egg and something to remember. Want to thank Crapgame for giving me the heads up. Great widget.

It has been a long term. With many classes that have pushed my time to the limits, I found a moment of peace in the maelstrom of life. With Christmas break  extending about three weeks, I’m looking forward to Christmas, New Year’s and spending time with family. I’m going to breath deep, stretch some muscles, and spend a little time enjoying some leisure activities. There’s also the enjoyment of catching up on those ’round the house moments and generally getting things back to center. Finally.

They say, “When you know, you NewEgg.” Well, recently, I had an interesting event with a pending Newegg purchase.

I have an HP Media Server which is running out of space. As a network server, the system has four e-SATA drive bays and only one is full. I’m close to filling up that 750GB drive with backups and other goodies and realized I needed another drive for the new year. I check around Newegg, found a very nice drive, added it to my cart but waffled on the purchase…

Now, before adding it to my cart, I logged in to Newegg and then nosed around. When the drive was added, the shopping cart was associated with my account. The drive was $75 (for a Western Digital 750GB, 32MB cache monster) but I decided now is not the time. That was last night.

Today, I receive an email from Newegg saying there is an incomplete order in my cart and to “take advantage of this super saver deal!” No sure what was going on, I checked my cart and found the hard drive, previous listed at $75 was dropped to $60 with an “Instant Savings” coupon. Huh? Their software automatically created a savings, sent an email and, sure enough, I bought the drive.

The message? If you want to buy something from Newegg and want a better deal, get some stuff in your shopping cart (after logging in) and wait a day or two — see if you get a super saver deal as well.

Having an iPhone is both a blessing and a curse. The phone has fabulous functionality, is robust, provides a vector for many applications which add additional features. In my opinion, the curse comes with the sometimes dreadful reception that the AT&T 3G network provides. I’ve been paying for a plan to ensure I didn’t go over my monthly minutes. The additional charges can be draconian. Push over by just a few minutes and you’ll end up with a $400 cell phone bill. However, AT&T followed Sprint’s plan and offers roll-over minutes. They don’t advertise it but, on my last bill, I noticed I had one or two additional minutes. Well, let’s be specific, I had about 10,000 minutes in the roll-over account. You read that right, 10,000 minutes.

Clearly I’ve been paying too much for my account and not using the minutes so I called AT&T and wanted to reduce my plan. Initially, the AT&T rep said when they lowered my plan, I would lose the entire roll-over balance. I had barely raised a fuss when the rep anticipated my concern and said she would take care of it. Sure enough, they changed my plan, and sent me verifiable information regarding their assurance I could keep my roll-over minutes. Conclusion: lower monthly plan and a pool of minutes to draw upon. AT&T has one moderately happy customer. Now if they could fix that 3G network.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I purchased my first Mac. Since that time, I swore I would always own a Mac. They operate on a UNIX operating system, they are clean, fast, and do many things much better than your average PC. I’ve never regretted that purchase and it certainly held it’s value for a long, long time.

I’ve been rockin’ a Apple Power Mac for about five years but that system is showing its age. I’ve already replaced the hard drive once, the CD tray doesn’t work, and, truth be told, it isn’t even an Intel CPU … it is the old G5. Yeah, it’s that old.

I’ve considered saving my pennies to buy an iMac (I don’t need a second tower, they are dreadfully expensive) but I want a large screen. The older iMac’s have either a 20″ or 24″ screen but I always drooled over the 30″ which is the holy grail of monitors; however, it is just too large. But Apple just released a stunning new product.

The new Apple iMac system comes with better than a 3 GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM, a 1 TB hard drive (are you kidding??) and this all-in-one system comes wrapped around a gorgeous 27″ screen! Apple has always produced innovative products but this one has landed at a perfect time. My G5 is on its last legs, the iMac is incredible and has won me over. First thing I did was print out an image of the system and pinned it to my bulletin board. Can’t remember the last time I did that.

So, if you are looking for a new system and don’t want to mess with a PC, check out the Apple iMac with their revolutionary new screen size. I recommended an Apple iMac to a family member on the East Coast, and she loves it. Hard to deny just how good Apple products are.

So I’ve been running Windows 7 since late beta and am using the 7100 build Release Candidate on my production (main) computer. The system has been flawless, has working quickly, with little to no issues save one: power management.

For some reason, when I switched to Windows 7, my power management options didn’t seem to work; specifically the sleep option. Since installing Windows 7, the computer would sleep but when I tried to bring it out of sleep (by tapping the space bar), the monitor power button color would shift from orange (sleeping) to green (active video signal) but nothing would appear on screen. No prompt, no image, nothing. Frustrated, I looked around, searching the Internet for a fix but besides updating the BIOS, and a host of third party applications, nothing worked. When waking from sleep, I would be forced to reboot the system. At least that was until earlier today.

I was delving into the advanced functions for Windows 7 Power Management and found an obscure setting which resolved the wake-up-but-not-really problem.

Go to Control Panel, then Power Options and Change plan settings on whatever energy plan you’re using (balanced, power, etc.). That will bring up another window.

Now click on Change advanced power settings which will bring up the following window:

First, click on the Change settings that are currently unavailable and then change Require a password on wakeup setting from the default setting Yes to No. Click OK and your problems should be fixed. Let me know if it helps.

Well, fall term has arrived and I’m deep in the first week of classes. Strange thing about the first week, it is always about reading your instructors, the class schedule and determining interest, format and also sizing up large projects due at the end of the course. A presentation or term paper are always heavy time commitments so it pays to start them quite early.

So far things have been pretty good. One of my instructors teaches part time but also has a family, a full-time job, and is a student in law school, heading towards a law degree. Although he has a stacked schedule, he still remains focused and committed to teaching the class in the best method possible. Should be fun.

I’m guessing, based on my course selection, this is going to be a heavy term exacting quite a price measured in the currency of time. After the first week, I’ve gotten a feel for what classes will require what level of energy and thus far, I haven’t found a pancake in the lot. Well, enough rambling, even though it’s late, back to the books.

A long time ago I signed up with Lunarpages to host this blog. This was a while back, around early 2004, and honestly, I didn’t really know much about hosting. I did my due diligence, researched the top-10 hosts, the whole bit. At the time, I think I fell victim to an excellent media campaign (or I was just stupid) and selected Lunarpages.

Lunarpages has been hit and miss for about five years, up and down seemingly at random, typically at annoying and highly inconvenient times but recently has been very slow and more down than up. I honestly didn’t know enough about SQL databases to move the site to a new host but a friend of mine recently started a work related website and chose Hostmonster (from another recommendation). I assisted him in installing Wordpress on his new website and noticed the excellence of the cPanel interface design. He also lauded the tech support for small issues he’d worked through by himself.

I finally decided to pull the trigger on moving my blog to a more stable and reputable host. And here’s the clincher, when I called Hostmonster tech support, someone picked up inside 30 seconds. The rep was friendly, and informative; however, she could not help me with one particular issue and recommended I contact Lunarpages. I dutifully called Lunarpages and waited precisely 28 minutes on hold for tech support. Finally, a dreary sounding gentlemen picked up and grunted responses to my questions. In truth, he did manage to help me with my issue but the wait on hold and attitude were instant validation of my decision. The transfer went moderately painlessly and I look forward to working through Hostmonster.

Just finished the second Locke Lamora book (in unabridged audio form) and I must say, what an exceptional series. Once more, Michael Page presents excellent voice variation, depth, emotion, and the sheer ability to tell a story. Fabulous book, even better narration, and I’m lost while waiting for the next title. Worth checking out.

Caught District 9 last Sunday and was blown away by the film. The viewing experience was so different, so completely off the radar that is made watching the film quite entertaining on many levels. Filmed in a documentary style, spliced with classic action footage, the film has rock solid acting, fabulous special effects, and a story which demands attention and further contemplation. Without giving away any spoilers and nothing that isn’t explained in the first five minutes, a massive, alien space craft comes to Earth and sits above Johannesburg, South Africa. After month of no-contact, the government force their way into the ship and find a reptilian life-form, sick, malnourished, and in desperate need of help. The extend a hand of good will and transport the “Prawns” (derogatory term) to the surface but keep them isolated in a place called District 9. The Prawns flourish and after 20 years of uneasy co-existence, District 9 turns from an Ellis Island to something resembling Stalag 13. The Prawns inside become the dregs of society, reviled and shunned as their numbers increase exponentially. The South African government decide to move the Prawns to a new camp and that is where the movie, essentially, begins. The viewing experience transports the audience to a very believable world and adds intrigue, action, and an uneasy reflection of humanity at its worst. I think this is must-see theater viewing. A very well done viewing experience. I rate it a Strong 8 out of 10.