TITAM - Technical issues that affected me

So the mother-in-law somehow deletes a bunch of MP4 files off her tablet.  It's a Samsung Galaxy something-or-other.  I don't care about it so I don't know. I tried three recovery programs: -  Recuva -  Undelete360 -  Wise Data Recovery All of them pulled about the same reports and same files.   I only attempted JPG recovery with Recuva, though both of the others offered.  I also tried Pandora , but it did not appear to support MP4 files. Of the three, Undelete360 appeared to pull 1 or 2 more workable MP4 files.  The rest were identified MP4s, but were corrupt, and not playable on VLC or Media Player. I then tried the File Repair utility, which claimed there was nothing to repair.  Low marks here since it did not repair a single MP4 out of 20 attempts. After some research I tried the Grau GmbH Video Repair Utility .  It worked and repaired all of the MP4 files.  Unfortunately the demo only repairs half the file and 99 ...

Problem:  PC becomes virtually unresponsive at about the same time each week.  You can move the mouse fine, and possibly Alt-Tab around a bit.  Doing anything else results in a hang that lasts 5-15 minutes, at which point the PC will "unfreeze" for 10-15 seconds, then go back to being unresponsive. Debugging is almost impossible since the computer only works for a few seconds every 5-10 minutes.  Meaning you cannot realistically look at Task Manager or any other program to identify the offending process.  This particular bug can take hours or days to sort out, 15 seconds at a time. What you can do: 1.  Set the following programs running while the computer is still responsive: -  Windows Task Manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc) -  Resource Monitor (run "resmon.exe") -  Process Explorer Also:  -  Set Task Manager to "Processes" and "Show processes for all users". -  Set all programs to order processes by CPU time If you c...

I've had to pore through a lot of gobbledygook as to what the "Maximum Frequency" number really means in the Windows 7 Resource Monitor. What is means is:  How fast your CPU is physically clocking, compared to how fast it could be clocking. What it does not mean is: -  How much load your CPU is actually experiencing.  This is shown by "CPU Usage". -  How much load your CPU has been experiencing, i.e. a historical or "peak hold" value.  This is not displayed in Resource Monitor. This figure might be less than 100% if the system is dynamically changing CPU frequency to save power.  So Maximum frequency might be more or less than 100%, depending on how your system behaves and how much power it is trying to save.  This is expected behavior. Examples: -  For a desktop, maximum frequency might stay at 100% permanently.  This is because the system has no need to reduce CPU frequency to save power.   -  For an overclocked" p...

@#$%# Firefox just ate my post.  Here we go again: Like most motorcycles, my (used) bike came with a toolkit.  However, experience showed it was not that useful.  I did not find a lot of help out there with respect to tool kits specific to motorcycles, so here's what I've ended up with. The most common problem I had with the bike was a dead battery.  This has only happened a few times in ten years, but does require the seat to be removed for a jump.  Oddly, the factory toolkit does not include the right tools for this. Here is the stock tool kit.  Obviously some of these might prove useful if you were doing certain types of work.  I would say that if you're in such a situation, you're probably screwed, since you ain't going to be going anywhere soon, but you never know. I have a tough time seeing how many of these are even vaguely useful for my motorcycle.  The big wrenches, OK - though if you're needing to remove a major bolt, you are (...

It seems the general deterioration of everything into general junk has eroded even the paper industry beyond all hope.  As Chris Norstrom aptly puts it here , there is, in fact, a conspiracy - one is intended to prevent righteous and right-minded people from buying good, old-fashioned 3x5 index cards that don't suck. Basically, nobody seems to product index cards made of card stock any more.  Which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Index cards are supposed to be made of 110 lb. card stock.  That's why it's called CARD STOCK, y'know? But even index cards are no longer made with card stock any more; it seems that, at best, you might be able to find 70-80 lb. weight cards nowadays.  (Some seem as thin as 40 lb, or about twice the thickness of regular printer paper.) Nothing available anywhere is 110 lb anymore, it seems - read the Amazon reviews for proof. Solutions: -  You can buy them from Chris above - I'm not a relation or anything, and d...

So I purchased a wall-mount kit for a Caseta remote control, to see how it works.  It was almost what I expected. The wall mount itself is just a little clear bracket.  The Pico snaps in. It did not come with the Claro plate adapter (I thought it would).  It turns out the plate adapter comes with the Claro wall plate itself.  Which makes sense once you realize all the Claro devices would use the same adapter plate. Of course, you don't see this in the store.  All you see is this.  So you won't realize the adapter plate is in there. So together they make a complete mounting solution for either surface-mounting or box-mounting a Pico remote. Lutron wants you to screw the mount into the wall.  I prefer to use Command strips.  Fortunately there are two handy areas to put Command strips that won't push the mount off of the wall: Cover up with the adapter plate and you won't even see them. It does take quite a bit of doin...

LED bulbs have finally got to the point where it is worth replacing 60W candelabra bulbs in our "main" entryway fixture with LEDs.  The issue was always brightness and - with CFLs - the turn-on time.  Home Depot has a decent price on Philips 60W equivalent candelabra bulbs , which do provide equivalent brightness. Of course, on install, I found our Leviton "Anywhere Switch" kit (model 6696) did not work with these bulbs.  The switch refused to turn fully off, allowing enough current for 3 of the 15 bulbs to remain dimly lit.  This is a common issue but it didn't exactly make me happy, because it is time for a switch replacement.  As I keep bitching to my wife, it's never easy, and there is ALWAYS SOMETHING. This does make me wonder if this switch has been leaking electricity 24/7 in my home for the past ten years.  Hope not. Finding a replacement is not easy.  Home automation "solutions" have utterly exploded and everyone wants to sell you a ...

AVI files are pretty passe by now, but I'm certain there are people out there (like me) who have gotten used to Virtualdub. Sadly, Virtualdub will load most anything (with the appropriate plugin) but cannot save much of anything.  So, unless you really like everything in AVI format, you'll need a new editor. The question is: which one? If you like Virtualdub for it's good keyboard support, easy clipping against keyframes, processing speed, ability to clip without transcoding, or anything else, you are probably going to want an editor that works like that for .mp4 files. Fortunately, I only had to look around for a bit.  -  I looked for Windows Live Movie Maker, but it only comes bundled with a bunch of other stuff, and I did not like that.  I didn't even bother trying to install it. -  I tried Filmora Video Editor.  Looks like a good editor for "real" video editing, where you merge multiple video streams and so forth.  But the interface an...

Problem:  CS510 series won't pull paper from any available tray automatically.  Instead, it says something like "Load Tray 1 Plain A4", even though Tray 2 has paper in it.  Or, maybe, vice versa. Related:  You've loaded the all trays / the only tray with paper, but the printer says you need to load it again, saying something like "Load Tray 1 Plain A4" or similar. Solution:  The CS510 doesn't auto-detect the loaded paper size(s) from the trays directly.  Instead, you have to go to Settings/Paper Menu in the printer web server to set the paper sizes.  It will then "know" that one or more trays are holding the correct paper size for your print job.  It will then stop complaining that you need to load a particular tray with a particular size. This will also fix cases where you've loaded letter and print to letter, but the printer "thinks" the tray holds A4, or similar mix-ups. This will obviously not work if a multi-tray pr...

This information would be good to know for anyone considering this system, but does not seem to be available. I measured two sensor samples as follows: -  Standby (active):  25 uA max -  Detect:  16.2 mA max for about 2 seconds It's not actually 16 mA for the full 2 seconds, but that's close enough.  Especially since the 2 seconds might be anywhere from 1 to 3 seconds - I did not bother to measure more accurately than that. The sensors run on AAA cells, which I personally hate because of their relatively low capacity.  But, running the numbers, the effective capacity of AAAs should run these sensors for a very long time. Assumptions: -  Due to self-discharge and temperature effects, cells will only deliver 75% of their rated capacity. -  I estimated alarm consumption at 16 mA for 4 seconds.  This is twice as conservative as the ~2 seconds I estimated from observing the unit current. These work out as follows: Using 1000 mAh ...

Just wanted to relate a recent experience between DealExtreme and Banggood, in case it is useful to anyone. I have ordered several products from both vendors.  As a rule, the products are as described and well made.  Or, at least, a quality equal to or higher than what you would expect from the selling price.  There have been exceptions but that's been the general experience. (Yes, shipping takes a long time.  That's a given.  I've had 1 or maybe 2 orders lost or show up extremely late.  It's just what happens.) Most of the items have been USB cables, battery packs and such.  As I've gotten more comfortable with BG, I've been ordering more and more expensive items. Most of the time these items work fine.  Sometimes they don't.  But - to make a long story short - BG has always refunded or replaced the defective items.  That's a new replacement item or a 100% refund, after I've shown them a video (or photos) of the problematic it...

This article concerns how to keep little ones from stumbling into inappropriate content on the net via an Android device.  If this isn't what you need, you can stop reading now. Unfortunately, Android has no "master switch" that enables filtering.  But there are some things you can do. I will also say that no filtering is ever perfect. 1.  Youtube:  Enable "Restricted mode". How:  On the individual device, go to Youtube.com.  Go to the bottom where it says "Restricted mode: Off".  Click and enable Restricted Mode. Limits:  Only filters Youtube content. Notes:  This seems to work by browser, so you have to do this on the device of interest.  Going to Youtube on a PC when you want to restrict a tablet doesn't work. 2.  Google Play:  In the Play app, go to Settings/Parental controls.  You can set a PIN to prevent kiddies from setting it back. Limits:  Only filters Play app content.  Play access via...

Problem: Car suddenly and inexplicably won't shift into reverse. The usual tricks do not work, including: Shifting to first gear, then reverse Shifting to fourth gear, then reverse Rolling a bit forward Letting car idle, stationary, with clutch out, before trying for reverse Letting the clutch out a bit with the brakes on (to try and align transmission gears without moving forward) Pumping clutch Removing the floor mat to get an extra bit of clutch travel Forcing the gear Shifting into reverse with the engine is not running If you have a reverse lockout solenoid, it may feel very much like the solenoid is preventing you from shifting.   This will seem to be "confirmed" on those few occasions when you can shift into reverse when the car is not running by overcoming the spring pressure of the solenoid/shifter mechanism, but this trick will (probably) not work consistently. Unfortunately, this can be caused by a myriad of problems, ranging from trivial to exp...

So install was a pain.  Drilling concrete is never easy. Besides a pencil/Sharpie, earplugs, a level (if wall mounted), pliers, gloves, glasses, etc, you will probably need to acquire: -  A decent 1/2" hammer drill.  A rotary hammer is better, but expensive.  Consider renting one, it may make life easier. -  Masonry bits in various sizes from 1/8" through 3/4".  Why so many bits?  Several reasons: -  You need the smaller sizes because nobody in their right mind will try to drill a 3/4" hole in concrete straight off.  Start with a very small pilot hole and work up slowly. -  Masonry bits can wear out quickly.  You may need two or three of the smaller sizes to get four holes. -  The bracket fasteners are 16mm.  They will not quite fit into a 5/8" hole, and DO NOT try and tap them in or they will deform and/or come apart.  They will fit and tighten in a 3/4" hole if you cannot find the requisite 16m...

You know, it is no wonder people have such an ambivalent perspective of AV companies.  On the one hand, they all provide free services to the benefit of everyone.  Every AV-protected PC is one fewer target. On the other hand, they seem like pricks when they: (a) accidentally bork thousands of PCs - which, to be fair - are highly-publicized but extremely rare occurrances, or (b)  Seem to intentionally make it damn-near-impossible for the average Jane to remove their unwanted AV product - which often comes pre-installed - from their own PC that they paid good money for.  Now, we all know they need to make money like everyone else, and AV is not an easy business. But try and lose more gracefully, people! This is so pervasive that McAfee and others have resorted to creating "removal tools" specifically designed to uninstall their software.  Which makes them just about the ONLY companies in the world who cannot figure out how to accomplish this, without ...

At the beer store today, I see this: Hey, why not? OK, so this is a pretty lousy "cooler", I admit.  But it has two great redeeming features: 1.  It's free. 2.  It's just about the same interior size as a "proper" 24-pack soft cooler.  Such as, the Polar Bear 24-pack soft cooler I've been eying as a means to take lunch to the park. I was uncertain if the 24-pack was too small, too large, or just right for this.  This cheapie surrogate lets me try it out without spending $75 for the privilege. Here's a sort-of pack for a hot dog / hamburger lunch for 4.  It's rough but it's just stuff I had lying about that I would probably take.  I would put the hot dogs or patties in a separate "hot box" cooler so they don't go in here. Not-so-full house (yet) The usual suspects Obviously this is missing two major items: buns and ice.  However: -  Taking out the granola bars leaves room for buns in a Tupperware con...

One of the more difficult items to figure out from measurements alone is just how much chain a lock or anchor can accommodate.  As some examples might shed some light, here are some pictures of the Oxford Anchor 14 and the Abus 92/80. Our guests for the show Note that this is not a review, as such.  I have absolutely no interest in debating the merits of these devices, and I don't even want to mention the word "p*ck*ig" for fear of getting this blog mixed up with all of those videos of yahoos people who want to show off their mad skillz hard-earned skills.  I just want to show what these devices physically can and cannot do. Oxford Anchor 14 As previously mentioned, the Oxford Anchor 14 is - well, enormous.  Really.  From the photos and measurements available on the 'net, I figured it was likely to accommodate a single loop of 7/16" security chain.  It turns out this was vastly underestimated. In my defense, my primary reference was thi...

I recently purchased 2 of these to secure items outdoors.  I was rather surprised at some things when they showed up, so I thought this info might be useful to somebody. I purchased the Anchor 14, and not the Anchor 10, because I was worried that the 10 might not fit my security chain.  My chain is 7/16" and I intend to put a sleeve over it, if I can.  I also wanted the 4-point mounting of the Anchor 14. (I read someplace that some consider the 10 to be superior because the baseplate resists prying attacks better.  I can't fathom how this might work, so I didn't care.) What I didn't appreciate from the product descriptions and photos was just how BIG this thing is!  It's HUGE!  In fact, it is so big I can stick my fist right through it!  I am admittedly a small guy, but still, that is impressive. One of the reasons is that the bracket proper is fixed to two 10mm metal standoffs, which raise the bar further off of the mounting surface.  I'm...