Vista with smaller shortcut arrows.....

....and a more Windows-7-like taskbar, with larger icons for us golden oldies with dirty glasses and a burning desire to squint less often. - (works for me!)

Ah, Das Wet Coast, jawohl !

The Weather Channel - in Germany! Thanks to Monsieur Beep for providing the link for us.

The Windows 7 Look - for Vista or XP

And here's where you can find the several changes you can make to get that Windows 7 look. It had to happen, right? I now have the Windows 7 taskbar features in my Vista Home Premium.
But there's still no substitute for the real thing, Folks, and a falsie is a falsie.

And here is where to find the x64 version of the little program for changing/removing those (ugh!) arrows in Vista's shortcuts. The 32-bit version doesn't work on a 64-bit system, as I have discovered, but this one does. If you get an error message about an unhandled exception when it asks you to click on yes or no for log-off and log-on, just quietly close that little window and reboot. When it restarts, all should be well, and your changes should be made.

A handy gadget for the sidebar...

Check out this one if you'd rather have some quick help instead of growing older reading through an assortment of KBs in the Knowledge Base. You can always do the reading later, if you didn't find what you wanted in Mr. Fix it..... and I've just taken a little break here to go onto my Windows 7 PC, and download and install this little gadget on there too, and you'll be happy to know it works just fine in Windows 7, Folks. Great idea, really! You should get one.

Still at it..... just further up the hill

The Shingle-Shovellers are still shovelling shingles and banging on rooftops. It's a living...

First sunset of September

The "before and after" views... And the weatherman's thunderstorm never did show up.
I'm always amazed when they goof up on that, because with today's technology, and all those aircraft and satellites flying around, and so many people with 20/20 vision - how the hell can they not see what's happening?

Why our new PCs are bigger than our old ones...

I think most of us already know the answers to that, but for those who don't, or haven't thought much about it, you should get this freebie program shown above. It has all sorts of additional features, however, and many of them also involve downloading yet another program to be included in the main one.

But getting back to answering my own question, one reason we need so much more RAM and such larger hard-drives is to accommodate the latest trend towards making these new computers practically 'idiot-proof'. They do that by building in a recovery system which is hidden away in a special section of the drive, or in another partition of the drive, and that recovery system contains a duplicate copy of (A) itself; and (B) the computer's operating system which has been installed, and which you may need to replace if you've messed it up sufficiently to require such a drastic remedy.

This, in the case of Acer machines, usually means the hard-drive is partitioned into two separate partitions; the first (C:\ drive) having the boot sectors and operating system and your own files & folders, and the second partition, ( usually named Data, with another letter to identify it) which contains all this 'secret' or hidden recovery stuff. If and when you have to use that recovery, what happens is that it wipes out whatever was on that first or (C:\) drive section, and basically reformats that into a clean drive, and then it replaces everything from the other recovery section back onto the main (C:\) drive again. Your computer is now back to its factory condition, with its recovery and operating system just as it was when it left the factory - but minus all your own personal files and folders. You have to replace all those yourself, because the system doesn't save them for you. (That's to teach guys like me not to screw up the registry or anything else badly enough to need to re-install everything and lose hours (or days!) getting everything back that had been on there beforehand.)

All of which requires a system that's basically at least twice as big and powerful as those older ones which weren't capable of duplicating themselves to save you from yourself after you have really messed up big-time, and need serious help to get things back to normal. So today's computers need to have a lot more under the hood, because they have secrets that they aren't showing you until your computer needs resuscitation and a transfusion to revive it. And the good news is, it can do it by itself, if you know how to start that process. So make sure you know before you need to use it.

What thunderstorm ? It's going to be nice....

This was snapped just before six a.m., because the TV morning news crew were going on about possible thunderstorms today, and someone having seen lightning over our north shore mountains. So this is our north shore mountains (most of them) at just about that same time.
The news today is also talking about the smoke from our several many forest fires, and you saw some of that here already, too. Must be a 'slow news day' at the TV station.

No more August sunrises - I promise !

But we're ending the month with a dandy to remember it by, anyway. Enjoy your day....

More than one way to skin a cat, or an O/S....

I solved the problem of the corrupted registry files, and avoided buying a new slice of Vista, (not having anything but what's on the PC) by having a nice long chat with a very helpful young gentleman at the nearby London Drugs computers department. He explained what I could and couldn't do, and then what I should do instead of buying a DVD of Vista which will be obsolete in a couple of months anyway.

His advice: Use the built-in Acer eRecovery system to restore the computer to its factory settings and programs. It means re-installing all my own files, but it puts the computer back to mint condition, with no altered files, and no tweaks or twitches, hitches or glitches. He said near the end of our chat: " I'd be happy to sell you a $269.00 Vista DVD that will install over whatever you have on there now, but I wouldn't be doing you any favours, so try the other way first." I thanked him profusely, and promised to come and see him when Windows 7 hits the shelves on October 22nd, for a 64-bit slice of that to replace this Vasta Vista on here. There really is more than one way to skin a cat - or an operating system.

While we were chatting, I asked him if I'd made a mistake getting a 64-bit system instead of another 32-bit to match my other one. He said that lately, the majority of computers they've been selling have been of the 64-bit variety, and that the 32-bit which has up to now been so popular is definitely on the way out - maybe not immediately, but within a couple or three years. He said my year-old 32-bit will probably do fine for Windows 7, but most computers these days can only be expected to last for 2 to 3 years before technology passes them by, so after that, I should plan on replacing it probably. Although he also said it all depends on what a person wants to do with it - and he knows of people who are still using Windows 98!
I didn't laugh, because I know someone who has been using Millennium Edition until just lately taking the plunge into the 21st century with the rest of us. So anyway, 64-bit really is the wave of the future, just like my local computer fixer-upper told me. A second opinion never hurts, though.

Missed the Sunrise? Here's the Instant Replay -

Looks quite a lot like last evening's sunset, doesn't it? There's still smoke in the air today. All those forest fires must be having an effect on our global warming problems, with all the carbon those have pumped into the atmosphere lately, and breathing some of that smoke isn't doing anyone a whole lot of good either. But it makes for an interesting picture. Try to enjoy your day, everyone.

Sunrise, and now Sunset.....

Another smoky sunset, and it is working its way southward along the horizon as the weeks go by, and summer passes. Too bad it can't be July all year around....

And after crying tears the size of footballs this morning about the messed-up Vista on my newest PC, I found a website where Vista users can download a whole series of little patches for the registry, which will correct various problems caused by us rank amateurs adding and subtracting stuff in there. Have a look.

Note re: Vista Shortcut Arrow Remover 2.0 -

I'm not entirely sure why, but this little program for removing or resizing these humungous arrows that came as factory equipment in Vista and Windows 7 happens to work a lot better and more reliably in Windows 7 than it does in the Vista it was designed for changing.

So if you have Vista (you bear for punishment, you!) and you've tried this and been less than happy with the results, cheer up! There's hope for you yet - Use it on Windows 7, and see what it was really meant to do. Still wondering why those ace coders at Microsoft reworked Vista into Windows 7? Not me.... I know exactly why they did it. It was that or watch a modern incarnation of "The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire" as applied to the biggest software conglomerate the world has ever seen. Because us peasants who shell out hundreds of dollars per slice for that programming have become exceedingly disillusioned with the quality of the recent product, as compared to previous issues which actually worked like they were supposed to work. So they had to do something, and Windows 7 was the something they did.

Sometimes, I wonder if those guys are purposely creating a less-than-glorious product every few issues, just so we will express our gratitude and relief by buying piles of the next one that comes along, carefully engineered to correct all those glaring faults in the preceding clunker. Is this the name of the game? Does it explain 'Vasta Vista' the Edsel of operating systems? All I know for sure is that I can hardly wait for October 22nd, when Windows 7 hits the shelves at the local retailers, and I can grab a slice to install over the Vista Home Premium that came on my newest PC, just this month.

This little gem has a 64-bit system, and even though my spies tell me that the 64-bit is the wave of the future, I have news: the future isn't here yet, and this goddamned 64-bit isn't working worth a damn with the 32-bit programs I've known and loved for years on my older (but not by much) 32-bit computer, now running the 32-bit version of Windows 7. And you can't HomeGroup a Vista PC with a Windows 7 PC, because they simply aren't on good speaking terms with each other. That puzzles me, because the one is derived from the other. But getting back to this 64-bit stuff, this will teach me not to trust someone else to pick out my type of operating system for me, when I should have been making sure that each of my two PCs could share programming and operating systems of the same bit-count.

This 64-bit rig, running Vista Home Premium, includes what's called WOW64, which will theoretically adapt your old 32-bit programs into a compatibility-mode sort of semi-64-bit format so that the 64-bit system can digest them and run them alright. But one of the things this results in is two different folders for Programs; The regular folder for the native 64-bit programs, and another auxiliary folder named "x86 Programs" into which all those not-really compatible 32-bit or x86 programs go. So right off, you've got double folders for Programs. (How do you spell 'problems'?) And even though there may be no connection to that, the latest use of "sfc /scannow" reports that the system files are corrupt, and System File Protection is unable to repair them. I'm directed to a log file for details. Wonderful! I've only had this rig for two and a half weeks, and already, it's needing a re-install, and I don't have the disk for it - and I'm not buying one, because October 22nd is coming, and then it's going to be "Goodbye, Vista! May you rest in pieces!"

A promising day begins...

With sunrises, as with sex, a lot can change in just a few seconds. We have proof...
Enjoy your day, everyone!

Some rather inconclusive research....

....but first, another of my 'sunsets over Vancouver Island in the distance' shots from yesterday just because it's a nice picture and I like the variations and contrasts in it. (click to enlarge)

Now, for the inconclusive research: I was looking up various references on prostate cancer and especially the variations of PSA levels related thereto - and not even the experts seem able to agree on some of the results of trials and tests done with or for evaluation of PSA. It's difficult for an average confused schmuck like me to make sense of that whole picture when it's clouded with so many variations on a theme and so many contradictory or simply inconclusive results of various kinds of tests done by several different groups of experts. They babble on and on about causes and treatments, all the while not seemingly knowing for sure what actually starts the process in the first place. They go to some pains to point out that the PSA level tests are not exactly reliable, but yet they use those to decide whether or not to punch holes in your prostate to collect tissue samples for examination. It all seems like a bit of a 'by guess and by God' approach to the problem. I think I now have a better understanding of something I once was told by one of those 'experts' - 'medicine is not like mechanics; it's an inexact science.' (You can say that again, Doc!)

Here's a relevant quote from the famous Voltaire (1694-1778):- "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."

This isn't a new house - it's a make-work project!

I snapped this just as the dust was blowing away from the rocks that tumbled out of that big truck this afternoon. This new house has been under construction now for over a year, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll live long enough to see it finished and sold and occupied.

And I'm wondering where they will put those huge rocks, which are too large to be moved by manpower alone, and why they'd import such rocks, when most home owners would rather get rid of things like that. Obviously, these will end up as some kind of decorative landscaping but where and how remain to be seen. A couple of them are half the size of my first Volkswagen beetle - a 1957 Deluxe. Great little car! It could do everything but keep you warm in winter. But when the going got tough, it was better than a jeep. The modern-day copy of it is a hollow imitation. You simply don't get a second chance to make a first impression!

What am I doing up at this hour?

That's a damned-good question! And I have a good answer: I'm 76, going on 110, and my system just won't let me avoid bathrooms for more than two or three hours at a stretch, these days. Call that 'the joys of old age'. So here I am, having once again escaped from the bathroom alive, and sitting here drinking coffee, and reflecting on my past sins and yesterday's events of note.

One of those was another visit to the urologist, which happens to be another routine of our old age that we're not warned about in advance when we're younger. Obviously, that's so we won't get too discouraged about life and its future before we've enjoyed a goodly slice of it.

My urologist is a younger man, naturally, and a rather cheerful chap, considering the kinds of things he has to routinely do to practice his trade. I certainly wouldn't trade jobs with him! As visits to urologists go, this one went very well. I didn't require a physical exam, and the results of the latest test of my PSA Level came back a couple of points lower than the previous one of a few months ago. The good doctor and I had a rather pleasant visit, talking mostly about our computers, and the programs on them, and the soon-to-be-available new Windows 7, which I've been testing since January.

The doctor, like most people in business, is still using XP Professional, and he was quite surprised when I told him that even yet, if we want a fresh copy of that full program from an office supplier like Staples, it will cost us over $400.00. Personally, I think that's outrageous for an operating system that's what? - eight years old? Would you pay full new-car price for one that was eight years old? Of course not! So now you know why Bill Gates became one of the richest guys in the world. And also why some of us would like to fry his ass for sticking us with the kinds of crap found in Windows Vista Home Premium! We will, however, at least partially forgive him and his Mighty Microsoft if they make sure Windows 7 doesn't ever get as bloated and awkward to use as that damned Vista did. So far, Windows 7 is a smooth-running program that contains a lot of crafty improvising around Vista's most notorious faults, and it's a lot more user-friendly - as I've said repeatedly in this blog.

But getting back to the doctor's office, he hasn't any urgent plans to change over his system yet to anything newer - which may explain why they can still ask $400.00 a slice for that old XP Pro disk. The doc says I don't need to return until half-past January for my next check-up, and by then, we may all be using Windows 7 on our computers. I will, for sure.

Everything Old Is New Again

It's only taken 103 years to do it, but finally, the world's speed record for steam-powered cars has been broken - but only by 12.183 mph. If a steamer went 127.66 mph in 1906, one wonders why they weren't more popular with the hot rod set. Even if you didn't win a race, you could always make tea with it, to console yourself....

This is a panoramic view of the village of Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut Territory, which is at the top end of Hudson's Bay, near the mouth of the Inlet of the same name. The significance of all this being that away back in the summer of 1968, when I was working for a federal government subsidiary called Northern Canada Power Commission, I was sent up there to the arctic, along with a pile of supplies unceremoniously dumped in a big heap above the high tide line of the inlet there, and the object of that exercise was to renovate a small 3-unit diesel powerhouse belonging to the Department of Transport, and convert it with larger units, which would then be connected into the main grid of the small village there. Until then, the main village got its electricity from an improvised setup in a big shed, operated by the Catholic Mission, and its substantial crew, while the separate Department of Transport and its weather and radio installation had their own isolated system - and never the two had met. I was there to perform that rather dubious task.

That was one of the most unusual summers of my life, and living up there so far above the tree line, with only grass and moss, and low outcrops of rock here and there, and very few people, that was a very different kind of experience. In summer, the sun was above the horizon for about 22 of the 24 hours, and it was a rather bright twilight for those other two. The native kids, and there were lots of them at a big boarding school there, also operated by the Catholic Mission, played outside sometimes until one or two in the morning, and all our houses had 'blackout' type drapery, rubber-lined, so we could make it dark enough inside to get to sleep. The Mission had a small bulldozer and a small farm-type tractor, and I had the only real (and really useless!) pickup truck in town. I'd been assured it would be a 4x4 with big tires to run on the unimproved trails and open tundra there. Typically of government, though, there had been a last-minute mix-up, and what I got was a two-wheel-drive city-type pickup with ordinary summer tires - and it wouldn't go anywhere I needed to go with it without getting stuck in the soft sand near the beach, or digging holes and spinning its wheels where the ground was a little harder. Four or five inches below the surface was permafrost, and the surfaces above that in summer were often wet and mushy, and rather slippery for a vehicle with rubber tired wheels. So my pickup was useless. I parked it in front of the big school, and let the kids there amuse themselves by pretending to drive it. Most of them had never seen one of these things before, and they had fun with it. I rented a tractor from the Mission instead. About once a week, I'd fire up the new truck, load it with as many kids as could get in or onto it, and take everyone for a short ride around the few hundred meters of roads they had there. And calling those roads was being overly generous for sure.

I had four young native lads working with me, constructing about a half-mile of power line to connect that isolated powerhouse to the rest of 'downtown', and in between helping them and a lineman sent from another arctic site to do that part of it, I worked on the powerhouse getting that ready. But as the summer progressed, and we didn't receive any of the promised pay-cheques, and the annual re-supply ship got delayed for repairs, after hitting rocks further down south, the situation got rather uncomfortable. My solution was to arrange for meals at another government operation's cookery, and finally one day I went to the weather station's radio message center, and called my boss in Ottawa on the radio-phone, to request that he send me another tech-type from there to lend a hand. He agreed, and that's when I started packing. When the plane landed with that requested helper on it, I was all ready to throw my gear onto it, and take off for Ottawa to collect my summer's wages. I congratulated my helper for becoming my replacement as superintendent of the project, said a fond farewell to my four faithful native assistants, and hitched a ride down the coast to the nearest airport with scheduled service. Then, back to Ottawa, for a tersely-worded exchange with my employers, collected my pay, and headed for the west coast out here, where I've remained ever since.

A lot has changed in those intervening 41 years, and those natives up north are now voting and deciding their own fates, instead of being under the government's paternalistic thumb, and I'm a lot older now of course - but one thing's still the same - the arctic is a very different kind of environment if you've been raised in the south, and it's a lot like landing on a large foreign planet in the midst of nowhere. One that is only now catching up to the rest of us with its communications, and connections to the rest of the world. And what about the power network in Chesterfield Inlet today? It's modern, works well, and makes life better - but only if you can afford it. Check this map, and click on the place names for details of the rates of electricity up there. It will take your breath away I bet.... See what I mean? Told ya....

Some days start wrong but improve...

After I stumbled out of bed this morning, I decided to rinse off my glasses so I could see better for the next part of my wake-up routine, which is making a hot cup of coffee. I turned on the tap, held the glasses under the stream, and the left lens promptly fell out and landed near the drain. We can blame that on a short length of monofilament fishing line which is used in a groove along the underside of each lens, to hold it snugly into the upper metal portion of the frame. It broke where it goes into the metal frame.

All the way over to the optometry office where Doctor Deb and her crew keep us all seeing well or looking better or however you want to put it, I was worrying about possibly having to use my older previous prescription for several days while the latest was sent to the lab again for repairs. I worried for nothing. The lady on the adjustments desk ( the 'Fixer-Upper Lady') said, "Have a seat, and I'll fix these right now." Within about five minutes, I was on my way again, glasses repaired, and the old ones packed away in the case. While she was fixing the frame, we were talking, and she mentioned that Doctor Deb had just said that this year is her 25th in business. It's also my 25th of getting my glasses from her company. She does good work and I hope she continues to enjoy it for as long as she likes.