[tcolvinMI]

I know.  I was giving everyone (mostly the three of us) the benefit of the doubt.  Wondering

what to really do with this forum now.  No one seems to have any time to even post to it seems like, and

we've become a small community of about three or four.  Ive been thinking of doing some redesigns of the

entire site anyway, which would involve taking the forum down.  Looks to me like it wouldnt really affect

anything.  I havent heard from Greg in FOREVER, which Im sure is because he's busy, which I totally

understand.  I definitely dont plan on giving up the site or the forum, but its just become stagnant over the

last several months.  Good thing the hosting is cheap.

[tcolvinMI]

Did I miss the You're Pitiful CD?  Again, referencing Weird Al's myspace.

[tcolvinMI]

Seems to me that if it happens in multiple browsers, then the chances of it being a browser problem are

pretty slim.  Do you see this any place else, in a standalone application?  What about in IE?  How

long has this been occurring and did you install any updates (since we all know that Microsoft Security updates

usually break multiple things). 

Greg's suggestions are a good place to start.  It seems

to me like its definitely a windows issue and not a browser issue.  I just did some reading and Ive noticed

you've been using Flash for some of your projects.  What I found was that there are some of these fancy

flash games, like the one where you shoot the penguin across the screen or whatever.  Well, when they call the

command Mouse.hide(), which hides the mouse from the user, chances are, you'll loose your cursor as well. 

I have not yet confirmed to see if this is true, but it may very well be the case.  Just out of curiousity,

what version of Flash are you running?  And have you upgraded your flash player to v9?  Also, just for

grins, what version of Firefox are you running?  I know they've released a few updates recently.  And

dump AOL.  They suck  😉

That should give you enough to play with for now.  If you dont

find a solution, let me know, and we'll keep looking until we find one. 

[tcolvinMI]

I agree with what you both are saying in regards to WMP.  I havent used it

actively in quite a long time, as I just gave up on the software.  The problem with this is that I have no

basis for comparision.  1) I strictly use Winamp almost 99% of the time.  I use it to play DivX movies,

MP3s, CDs, and any other media.  The only time I really use WMP is when Im streaming something.  And I

dont stream too often, so it hasnt been a big deal, and also usually works. 2) My usage of media players is actually

pretty limited.  Im sure because of some of the things you guys are doing, that you may use it more than I

would.  However, I can list a couple of things that Ive had issues with and also have some ideas that I think

need to be verified.

Issues:
Poor DVD support.  Plain and simple, Ive never gotten this to

work.
Complicated Interface – I think the entire interface sucks and makes no logical sense.  But I guess

it depends on what you're trying to do with it.  I dont use it to manage a library of media because Im not

that picky. 

Confirm:
Does Windows Media Player need DirectX in order to function

properly?  After reading through some forums, it wasnt clear whether it needed DirectX or not. 

Here's what Im thinking and maybe if anyone wishes to contribute, feel free to send an email to

mightortech@gmail.com.  There are tons of media players out there that people are using.  What might be

useful is an article comparing the major players, what some of the most common problems are and which one might be

best to use.  I know how everyone feels about Microsoft and I know that their track record with software really

isnt that good, but I'd certainly like to write something comparing other players.  Could be a WMP vs

Quicktime kind of thing.  Although, I really think one has to incorporate open source media players as

well.  What are people looking for in a media player? What are the most common problems?  What are the

requirements for each player?  Things of that nature. 

The article could be quite detailed if

we wanted it to be and perhaps even divide it into parts.

Ok, now Im just ranting.

[tcolvinMI]

I think the longest Ive gotten from an install is about a year or two, before I had to reload.  I

usually go every six to 8 months.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this.

[tcolvinMI]

Keep in mind that IE is still in beta.  The one thing that absolutely drives me

nuts are sites that havent developed IE proof CSS.  They tend to not display correctly and thats really a

tribute to Microsoft trying to set the standard.

Thats definitely an interesting topic, and is probably

going to require some research.  If you have some evidence of this, I'd certainly like to see it, and

maybe see if we can find a way to fix it.  Let me know.

[tcolvinMI]

The rebuild is essentially complete, minus some minor tweaks here and there.  Check it out at

http://mt.mightorindustries.net

[tcolvinMI]

Here's the wikipedia article on Windows Vista, which has along with it some reviews and screenshots of

the OS, although I dont know how current they are.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W…..dows_Vista

[tcolvinMI]

Always glad to QA someone else's work.  Gets me away from having my work QA'd so

much.  Just one simple note here, I know this isnt complete, but please dont take my evaluation

personally.  I was just evaluating the product as objectively as possible.  Some people take QA very

seriously, perhaps too seriously, because they really think they're better than they really are.  I have

to tell you, its quite humbling to know that someone can find faults in your work.  But, its part of the

process, and over time, we do get better at catching stupid mistakes.

Anyway, good luck with this, and if

you ever need anything else evaluated, please do not hestiate to ask.  See the file attachment for the

evaluation (PDF format).

[tcolvinMI]

Ok, so I finally got motivated to do some website stuff, and made a few additions to the Mightor Technologies page.  First off, I tried going with a more XHTML kind of look, just from memory.  The main page appears to load with no problems.  Also, after some experimenting, I finally got CSS implemented in the main page.  I also redesigned the logo (all I did was add the URL to the logo.  Personally, I think it looks a lot better.  I was able to cut the amount of HTML way down by using CSS.  Took some playing around with, but I finally got something Im happy with.  Now I just have to adjust the rest of the site for the CSS layout.  Got a ways to go, but it looks pretty cool so far.

[tcolvinMI]

Ahh, being busy.  Dont I know that one.  You'll notice by the amount of info on the site that Greg and I both have been quite busy.  Between work and the gf, time is incredibly limited.  But any available time when my brain isnt fried from all of the other coding Ive been doing, I dedicate to the site.  Got some new technologies in the works for the site that should be pretty sweet.  Also currently learning XHTML and CSS, so thats keeping me busy as well.  Want to bring a certain organization and better coding to the web pages Im writing.

Parused your site, looks good.  Glad to see you're back in the vids again.  Yeah, hosting has gotten incredibly cheap over the years.  A hell of a lot better than what we had a few years ago.  Im not complaining, thats for sure.

[tcolvinMI]

If you're planning on doing site designs, there are a few things that Ive been thinking about.

1) If you're going to be using Mightor Industries as an example, we've got a lot of work to do on the site.  Lets discuss ways to get this thing up and running soon.

2) In order to do business sites, you need to keep in mind what types of sites they may be asking for.  Retailers may want e-commerce type sites, or you may want to stick to informational sites only.  Thats up to you.  E-commerce solutions can get quite involved and complex.  Feel free to ask about any of this.  I'd be glad to help.

3) You're going to probably need a better skillset, which we've been talking about anyway, IE, learning CSS and XHTML.  Ive got the specs from W3C on CSS and XHTML.  Planning on reading through them over the next few days.

Let me know what you have in mind and I'll see how I can contribute.  May give us a reason to tag team the site, which would be nice.

Lets also discuss what exactly you're planning on posting to the site.  Not that I care what you post, but more for organizational purposes.  As well as solidity of the tools we're using.  We may want to consider evaluating what we have and figuring out how to move forward.

[tcolvinMI]

well, in my opinion, better Dell than Gateway or HP.  At least Dell is somewhat respectable in the

retail field.  Im just really concerned about the quality of the systems.  Dell does make some hellasweet

gaming systems, so hopefully their gaming systems will improve with the acquisition of Alienware. 

[tcolvinMI]

This is exactly why I reload about every six months.  Just to avoid issues like this.  Im very

familiar with some of the IT networking junkies who think software is the answer to all of their problems.  I

have found after much experimentation that in order to prevent a system from getting bombarded with crap, you need

to do the following.

Install Firefox – I know there are a lot of people out there who are hooked on IE

and dont want to switch.  However, in this case, its absolutely incredible how much better your computer will

run by using Firefox.  There is a handy extension that you can get called Adblock, which works in addition to

the popup blocker written into Firefox.  Whatever the popup blocker doesnt catch, adblock will.  The only

disadvantage to running firefox in my opinion is the fact that you have to install several plugins in order to get

some things working, such as the Flash plugin and the java plugin.  However, this also has to be done with IE,

so its really not a disadvantage.  The tabbed web browsing experience is so much better in my opinion because

you only have to have one browser open instead of three or four.  This reduces memory usage by half, if not

more by having a tabbed browser. 

A good firewall – and by good firewall, Im not talking about the

Windows Firewall that comes with SP2.  Im talking about a third party firewall such as Zone Alarm. 

I've been running Zone Alarm for about 4 years and it can be a bit tricky to learn to use, but the advantages

outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion.  Plus, Zone Alarm comes with an anti-spyware featureset that is a

good addition to any spyware solution.  It updates automatically, and can be configured to scan on up to a

daily basis, if thats what you're looking for.  Having a firewall that has been properly configured will

definitely prevent unwanted services and programs, such as viruses, from getting into your computer, unless you

allow it to do so.

Spyware Blocker – This is incredibly important.  It doesnt really matter which

spyware blocker you have.  I have noticed that no spyware blocker removes 100% of spyware.  Ive seen

Spybot get rid of spyware that Ad-aware could not remove, and vice-versa.  However, not that Im against spybot,

because I think its a good program, but in my configuration, I always run Ad-Aware Professional, which comes with

Ad-Watch.  Leave Ad-watch running in conjunction to running your other spyware tools.  It will pick up any

activity to the system and ask the user if they wish to allow a change to the system. 

Diligent

maintenance and monitoring – This is the most important.  It is a poor assumption to think that just because

you have all of these wonderful tools installed on your system that you are 100% safe.  This is not the

case.  Some of these tools allow for user intervention that may cause a problem because the user bypassed their

security.  Make it a point to watch where you go on the internet, and especially what you download to your

computer. 

Warning:  This is just a configuration that has worked for me.  I have

configured this on other systems with some success, but you really need to find what works for you.  There are

a lot of people who run different configurations with as much success as Ive had with mine.  This is not to say

they're wrong, just different.  Thats ok, as long as you find a configuration that prevents any of that

garbage from getting into your computer and totally screwing it up.

One other point, before installing

anything on your system, unless you're familiar with the software, talk to someone you feel comfortable with

and is knowledgeable about such types of software.  Do not take one person's opinion about software

either.  Make sure you get an unbiased review on your software prior to installation.  The only exception

to this would be if you're experimenting with software on a regular basis and can rebuild your own system, or

know someone willing to do it for you.  Just be careful.

[tcolvinMI]

This is one of the most awesome songs ever.  And yet, it sounds so familiar in some instances…

[Author]

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