I like to help

July 27, 2010

I’m not sure why, but ever since I was a little kid I have put the weight of the world on my shoulders.  If I have a friend or family member who needs help I will drop everything and do all I can to help them out.  Heck, I even do the same for strangers in certain situations.  It just makes me feel good about myself that I made a difference in someone’s life.  Does that in turn make me selfish?  Because the only reason I help others is because it makes me feel good?  Or does that make me a Humanitarian?

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LCII Re-power

July 22, 2010

When I was a Freshman at UMaine Orono, I decided that the old Apple LCII was pretty much the coolest computer ever made and that I had to have one.  Remember folks, this was the year 2003 and the LCII was ANCIENT.  I found one on MacRumors.com that a member was selling and got it cheap.  It worked well enough for a while, but it was slow and horribly out-dated.  Then the motherboard started acting up.  Now sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t.  About that time I realized I could re-power it with an old laptop as a parts doner (so that things would fit, this thing is only 2″ tall – they didn’t call it the “Pizza Box” for nothin’).  I never got around to it and I still have the little guy hanging out in my upstairs closet.

Enter the year 2010:

Now I have options.  The new Intel Atom/Nvidia Ion motherboards are really tiny, low power consumption and very small.  So now I have a dream of an overclocked 2ghz Ion setup with 4gb of RAM, 40gb of SSD hd and a slimline DVD burner in that little LCII.  By the time I actually do anything with it I’ll probably have motherboard options for 5x that speed.  Or it’ll never happen at all.  But it is an Idea for sure.

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Hide your important files

July 20, 2010

Need to hide your files?

Here’s how:

  1. Make a new folder
  2. Make your folder “hidden” (right click, properties, hide)
  3. Encrypt all files inside folder using Axcrypt or a similar tool

Now when you want to view you files, go to the folder that contains the hidden folder, in the address bar add “/hidden” where “hidden” is the name of your new hidden folder.  Now you are in the folder with your encrypted files.  Double click the file you want to gain access to, enter your password and you are in.

This provides excellent security because most users won’t think (or know how) to show hidden files, so they won’t even know your hidden folder exists.  Then if they do find it, they would need to break your password on the encrypted files.

Obviously if someone wants your data badly enough, they will get it one way or another.  But this is a good start at deterring theft anyway.

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What Have I Done?

July 16, 2010

Jump first,
Technologically that is how I live.
Machine down,
Now I gotta fix it.

Why now?
Did I decide it would be a good idea?
Here we go…
Full system restore again.

New developer
I make plenty of mistakes.
Fearless Technician,
Sometimes I get in over my head.

JR 2010

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