Stuck in a loop

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My little Samsung Q1 PC has not been a well machine for a while. Fresh from its Java update over the weekend it has taken to sulking shortly after being powered up. Investigations revealed that a certain svchost process was taking the computer away without being asked. Being the subtle soul I am, I discovered that if I just kill the process the machine comes back, but this is hardly an elegant long term solution. So today I did some digging.

Turns out that Windows Update has a dark side which can cause it to lock your machine up. I took a while to find out what to do to get back into the driving seat, but if you have an XP system which has mysteriously slowed right down you might find it useful to take a look here.

360 Magazine and Rob

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How much fame can a man take? Some time back Jon Gordon from 360 magazine came up to Hull to take a look at what we are doing with XNA. Jon recorded a chat with me, spoke to some students and then went back to headquarters to prepare the article. Today I received an advance copy of the magazine, issue 23, it should be in the shops at the end of this week.

And there I am, with the whole interview laid out along with quotes from students and everything. Great stuff.

What with this, and my picture in Vista magazine, I think I might see about getting an agent.....

Bring on Happy Hour

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Imagine you are going on a journey. You get the car out, and then nip back into the house to fetch your luggage. When you get back outside you find that your car has driven itself off to the garage to sort out a problem with one of the wheel trims and it will be there for the next couple of hours.

I don't think that many drivers would put up with this. But computer users get it all the time.

This morning I needed to use a computer that I hadn't turned on for a while. For some reason I thought this was not going to cause me problems. How wrong I was. When the machine woke up it decided to upgrade its Java installation.

Now, I don't use Java very much, I only added the runtimes so that I could run some programs that I needed to take a look at. Java is a nice enough language, it is just not one that I use any more. I certainly don't need an update. Particularly one which takes the thick end of half an hour, and which seems to lock up the machine while the update completes.

Nothing strikes fear into my heart more than the phrase "New updates are ready to install". This usually means that I have to fire up my other computer so I can get some work done whilst checking on the updating machine for buttons that I need to press. You can't just go off and have a coffee, oh no, because as soon as you turn away from the machine it pops up a spurious dialogue box which you have to click on to start the download of the download downloader or somesuch rubbish.

We really need to get a handle on this kind of thing, the tail has started wagging the dog I reckon. I know you can get the machine to do updates at midnight, but this means leaving the machine on overnight, which I'm not always keen to do and is probably not a very efficient thing to do from an environmental point of view.I get really cross when I fire up my machine and all kinds of dross gets to run before I can see my email.

I think there should be a kind of "happy hour" on a machine when it first wakes up. Rather than starting up all the updates, sidebars, screen savers, sync centers, search indexers, de-fragmenters, bluetooth managers and god knows what else, for the first hour of use a machine should just concentrate on running the programs that I start. Once things have settled down, and I'm sitting there wondering what key to press, then the operating system can start gradually introducing the things that can be left to catch up later. Should be easy enough to add and it would make lots of people happier. Including me.

Increase your word power

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I upgraded the memory in my Media Centre today. It has been running well, but I'd managed to convince myself that it was short of memory. And I was anxious to make the most of the "ten pounds off every purchase over thirty quid" offer still running at ebuyer.com. The memory arrived today, so it was off with the lid to begin the "two minute job" which was actually plugging in the chips. And I saw what Sony had done. And I said a naughty word.

The memory sockets were right where I could see them, really easy to get at, which was good. However the catches at one side of the sockets were completely fouled up against the graphics card. There was no way to add the memory without taking part of the machine to bits. I'm a great fan of good design. Unfortunately this means that I hate badly designed stuff.  Hence the naughty word.

Anyhoo, I took all the cables and bits and pieces out and got hold of the card. It moved up a quarter of an inch and then stuck. I gave another gentle tug and noticed that other parts of the system board were bending in a generally non-good way. Turns out that, not content with making a mess of the positioning of the memory and graphics card, the designers had also placed some components together which have meshed together in some stupid way, so the card would not come out.  So I said another naughty word and had tea.

Incidentally, have you ever noticed how it us usually time to eat just at the point where a tricky job becomes critical? You're just about to fire up the program for the first time/start the engine/wire up the lightning conductor and throw the circuit breaker etc when the oven timer goes ping and you have to walk away and eat. There was a time when this used to infuriate me, but now I take it in good grace, walk away from the job and then go back with a fresh mind and a full stomach. In this case it was probably a good thing, because on return I managed to slide the card sideways and "twang" the memory in without any further ado.

Then it was time to test the system, put the lid on, and see what happens next. Shaun the sheep looks just the same, of course, but on the whole I'm happier.

Slide 7 Conference Registration Open

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Two years ago I helped set up a student conference down at Microsoft Reading. Everyone turned up, had a great time, learned stuff, drank some beer and went home. It was called Slide 5.

It was good.

Microsoft are doing it all again. Compelling (and very useful) content. Microsoft experts to talk to. A sesson from me. Free food (a BBQ even). And beer. Slide 7 is on the 18th of June and registration is free. You can find out more, and sign up, here.

If you are lucky enough to be a student at Hull who is still in Hull on the 17th - 18th I'm taking a mini-bus down to the event. We are going to stay in a Travelodge on the Sunday night and then go to the conference on Monday. You can sign up for a place on the magic bus here.

Noise Canceled

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When I was in the 'states I got myself a pair of cheap noise canceling headphones. I wasn't expecting them to be up to much, but it turns out that they are quite effective. You turn them on and they do nothing for a few seconds and then there is a kind of un-thump and the sounds outside you vanish. It is a bit like having a wet flannel suddenly wrapped around your head.

I've been wondering what would happen if I played the same music into some speakers and the headphones, sat next to the speaker, and then turned the noise canceling on.......

Posh Tipping

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Is it just this area, or is the local council tip now the "place to be seen". Last time I went down there I was relieved that I had a slightly newer car, as previously I'd felt a bit out of place in Ye Olde Scenic, surrounded as I was by shiny 4x4s and Mercedes. I had to go again today, and it was just the same, maybe worse. One pair even rolled up in a brand new BMW open top sports car. And the girl sweeping up the leaves was wearing bright green eyeshadow. Very strange.

I kept waiting for the music to start up, at which point everyone would rip off their overalls to reveal spangled costumes and then go into some appalling song and dance routine like that garage bit in "Grease". Fortunately this didn't happen. (or perhaps it did just minutes after I left)

There are two theories that I can advance that fit my observations:

  1. People now enjoy themselves on bank holidays by making up a big bag of rubbish, getting in their bestest car and then heading down to the dumps.
  2. There is a lot more money in gardening than I had previously suspected.

Collectormania Again

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We were up bright and early this morning to head off to Milton Keynes for Collectormania again. Not quite so early this time, as I wasn't chasing autographs, but early-ish, and still fairly bright. We were really just going for the atmosphere, although I did manage to pick up a couple of import blu-ray disks which was nice. I also took the camera.

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This picture is crying out for a caption

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Bargain hunting Daleks

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Pick a card...

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...and a badge

Shaun the Sheep Rocks

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My Media Centre PC is now settling down nicely. I've stopped using the cable that crashes it and, guess what, it doesn't crash any more. I've just ordered another gig of RAM for it which should give it a bit more room to move around in.

A tip, you can get 10 quid off any order more than 30 quid at Ebuyer at the moment if you sign up to the Google ordering thingy. I've used it twice now, I'll take money from anyone...

Anyhoo, I told the Media PC to get all the showings of Shaun the Sheep 'cos I think it is ace. It is aimed at kids, so it goes down a treat with me. Just simple farmyard antics with the character from the Wallace and Gromit "Close Shave". My present fave is the one with the bees. Catch it if you can.