TITAM - Technical issues that affected me

When specifying my latest workstation, I lost a lot of sleep over the video card. First, I wanted a multi-monitor setup - 3 monitors, to be exact.  I had a dual-monitor setup and wanted to upgrade. Second, I wanted a Solidworks-capable video card.  That means a "workstation" class card.  SW does not screw around, and although it is not the most graphics-intensive program in the world, it's up there. Third, I needed (not wanted) something that would run Altium 2006 and Altium Summer '09 flawlessly. And therein lay the problem.  Altium, in their infinite wisdom, recommends a list of obsolete gaming-class video cards, last updated 2010.  They have never tested a workstation-class card like a Firepro or Quadro - or, at least, never said they did.  Most of the cards on their 'good' list don't even exist any more. Altium even goes so far as to recommend gaming cards over pro cards, as well as saying bad things about OpenGL-based cards. This contrast...

Today I decided I'd like to watch a bit of film on my brand-spankin' new workstation.  I haven't even so much as popped a DVD in the drive yet. I try it and Windows Media Player has no sound.  Probably doesn't understand AC3.  I could have tried to hack in the codec, but I'm rather partial to WinDVD anyway. After buying (gasp!) and installing WinDVD Pro 2010, I fire it up.  Looks good!  Lots of nice logos. Until I get about three seconds into my movie, only to see "Your display environment does not support protected content playback."  WTF!?! So it turns out that the "new" players simply do not like multimonitor setups.  Apparently, without HDMI to "properly" protect the digital signal, it can't "guarantee" that my triple monitor setup isn't some kind of surrogate for a devious copy-protection bypass mechanism. So I've gone and sprung for a beautiful triple monitor setup, with requisite massive (and expen...

For whatever reason, Adobe Acrobat will not properly repaint the screen when resizing internal windows.  It 'sticks' the image at the previous window size. The only fix I've found so far is to show or hide a secondary pane, such as the bookmarks.  This forces Acrobat to repaint the screen to the new scaling. This problem may be unique to my FirePro 8800 triple monitor setup, or it might be a W7 thing, I'm not sure.  Acrobat is not the only program having this problem, but it is by far the worst. [Addition]:  You can quickly force a refresh with F4.

I've been reading a lot of conflicting information about what the "status bar" in Windows 7 does and does not show. For those that don't know, the "status bar" is the banner that shows at the bottom of your Windows Explorer windows.  (If you have it enabled, that is.)  It's intended to give you quick details about the file or folder that is currently in focus. (Note I said Windows Explorer, not Internet Explorer.) Anyway, in XP, the status bar typically gave you fixed information.  One of these was the file size. For whatever reason, Windows 7 does and doesn't give you the same information. It doesn't in the sense that the attributes shown in the status bar change according to file type.  All files show an icon for the creating/assigned program, and the file name, which is redundant. After that, you get different tags.  The current folder gives "offline status" and "offline availability".  A text file gives "...

 My new PC came with Bluetooth on the mainboard, which is cool.  But pairing my headphones with the PC didn't work, which is not. Here's what worked for me.  Note my system has the Realtek audio installed. Go to the system tray, and double-click on the Bluetooth icon.  The Bluetooth Devices panel from the Control Panel should show up. Click "Add a device". Put the headphones into pairing mode; let Windows find it. Note:  If Windows can't find it, stop here and fix the problem.  I didn't have that problem. After pairing, you will see the "Stereo Headset" in your devices, but probably won't get any sound. In Bluetooth Devices, right click the new headset and select Properties.  Go to the Services tab and make sure "Headset" is checked. Go back to the system tray, and right-click on the speaker icon.  Note: my system shows two, which is confusing.  The one you want is shown in the tray by default - that is, you do not h...

A nice little bit of Excel macro magic allows you to delete rows if a particular column is blank. I deal with data sets that are always scrambled, but usually in different ways.  This precludes the use of macro-scripting programs (like my personal favorite, trusty old Automate 4) because the patterns just different enough for pre-programmed key macros to fail. Thanks to this little macro by Chip Pearson gets around the problem nicely.  Thanks, Chip!

I had to drill some mounting holes in a stainless steel tray I bought.  It was harder than I thought. Here's what worked, in the end: Use cobalt bits.  Home Depot sold some cobalt bits my Milwaukee called "Thunderbolt" that were expressly stated to work well on stainless and iron.  They did the trick for me where gold titanium bits just dulled and broke. Use a slow drill speed.  The second-slowest speed on my 18V cordless did well.  I tried high speeds, and they just made the drill bit tip cherry-red, melted and useless. Use moderate pressure. Drill straight down.  Drilling on an angle makes it more likely you'll bust the bit off. The above notwithstanding, I found a little bit of wiggle on the drill helped the bit gain some bite.  YMMV.  I wouldn't do this on thicker metals. Use a nail or something to dent the metal where you want to start.  The "Thunderbolt" bits did a good job of staying put to start, as long as you went really sl...