For the past week or so, my hard drive had suddenly started to work overtime i.e. it was constantly active as if scanning for something. My CPU utilization was getting maxed out (close to 100%) and my whole operating system became extremely slow/ sluggish.
At first I thought that it was my Anti virus software scanning my computer but it wasn’t the case as the unexpected activity went on for days. Shutting down any open applications, Outlook and my Firefox browser didn’t do the trick. Rebooting didn’t do it either.
Evidently (according to a number of articles in the MSDN forum), the problem points to a bug within Microsoft Vista. The hard drive activity and high utilization is related to the Windows Search and Indexing service.
Here is the temporary unofficial fix:
1) Disable Windows Search services (within the Services area i.e. by going to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services).
or/and
2) Disable the .XML file extension from being indexed in the Indexing Options control panel (this was a reply from a Microsoft Support person within the forum)
I did disable the search but didn’t try fix #2. My computer is currently back to normal CPU utilization and everything seems fine.
I do have some questions though:
- does this bug occur on specific Vista versions only?
- what triggers the search service to overload the computer?
- when does the Windows Search service start? Randomly or periodically?
- what extra Vista functionality am I losing by disabling Windows Search and Indexing service?
My computer is brand new (less than a month old), running an unpatched Vista Ultimate operating system and is a Dell XPS (if it makes any difference). I am also wondering why this problem suddenly occurred within the past two weeks.
Hope this problem is fixed within Vista’s Service Pack 1. For now, this article may help those suddenly encountering a (Vista) CPU overload.
I was going to research/compile a list of URL shortening services but Mashable beat me to it today. Worked out for the best as it saved me a lot of time.
If you don’t know what a URL shortening service is …
It’s a service that minimizes a long address, creating a shorter URL address that gets forwarded to the original link.
So from a long URL like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1425103804/ref=s9_asin_image_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s
=center-1&pf_rd_r=1G29T17YTB01SHPCZ7EG&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=265623401&pf_rd_i=507846
turns into this:
http://snurl.com/1×13h
and both links are equivalent and go to the same location.
When is it useful?
- Email messages
Sometimes long URL links in email messages get cut off. Using this allows you to preserve the original long link location.
- When using micro blogging services like Twitter or Jaiku where you are limited to 140 characters.
- SMS text messaging or Instant Messaging a link to someone… you won’t need to type in (or remember) the whole link.
As you can see Mashable has an exhaustive list of 90+ free services. I use snurl.com because it has the ability to track how many people has clicked on the shortened link, to see a history of links you’ve made, the ability to manage/modify the link you’ve made and to customize the shortened URL with private keys/ nicknames. The handy java bookmarklet that you can drag to your browser toolbar lets you to quickly shorten the long URL and copy it with one click. It also has interchangeable aliases of snipr.com and snipurl.com to choose from if you don’t like the snurl.com shortened domain name.
As of date, many of the new services that have sprung up on the web offer the same functionality too (I’ve stuck to this one because it has served me well). It was also one of the first ones I encountered and came highly recommended by some of my friends.
Other well known shortening services include
TinyURL (official service of choice used by Twitter)
Firefox users can download an addon here.
URLtea
Lets you add a tag in the shortened URL.
Metamark*
URLSplit
Split a single URL among multiple websites so it goes to each one randomly. (Not sure why you would want to do that unless you are advertising something)
Shorturl
Lets you create a short url as a subdomain i.e. http://yourname.shorturl.com. Choice of 20+ subdomains. Provides traffic reports and stats.
Notlong
This one has the ability to password protect your short URL. Provides traffic stats and subdomain URLs.
*NOTE: Besides Metamark (where the links expire after 5 years), all the URL services above promise to hold your shortened links indefinitely.
It is also easy enough to host/start a URL service on your own domain with the scripts:
Phurl (Free)
Bring2.us (Free)
Brokenscript (Free)
XYZ Short URL (Script cost $29)
GentleURL (Script cost $29)
Negatives with using these services
If you are hosting your own URL service is the problem of spam and the potential for it to be abused. I’ve yet to see the scripts provided that tackle that problem. An extreme scenario will see your domain being banned by ISPs if it is associated with spammers. My advice is that if you are installing the scripts, that you use it for your personal use only. This is unless you want to further customize the scripts to catch those pesky spammers/ spam bots and not allow splogs.
Will it be gone tomorrow? The other problem with using the free services on the web is that you never know how long the service provider going to last. Therefore, it’ll be pretty risky if you are ultra dependent on all your shortened links or if you use it for monetary purposes. With how I use it, I really won’t care if I lose the shortened URL links I’ve accumulated. I normally use it as a temporary reference link in Twitter or in an email i.e. one that probably be clicked on once or twice and then discarded.
One has to be wary with clicking on these shortened URLs too, especially if the link originates from a source you aren’t familiar with. I have two general rules when using shortened URLs
- I refrain from clicking on shortened links that come from people I don’t know.
- When I use shortened links in an email message or an IM, I always leave a little description on what the URL links to.
Tip Update: Use linknark to find out what the shortened URL is before you click it (thanks MC)
On a lighter note, if you ever want to make your URL (insanely) long … use HugeURL.
Overall, for personal usage, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. URL shortening services are very useful web tools and something you shouldn’t do without. For business users, you may want to download a script, install it on your domain and further customize it to prevent spam or unwanted abuse.
If you are looking for old versions of web software because the new upgrades aren’t compatible with your computer for some reason (like Vista), here is site for you to bookmark. It’s called OldVersion.com.
They currently have about 2388 versions of 179 of the most popular software applications used on the PC.
Some popular apps include Eudora, ICQ, Firefox, Winzip, Norton Antivirus 2002, DivX, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari.
Those liking the Sims will like this one — 3D Mailbox. It’s a software that brings your email system to life by converting it into an interactive environment. You can interact and explore the surroundings while reading and writing emails. It even has an integrated IM chat system that lets you talk with your friends while reading/ writing emails.
There are two different environments to choose from, the initial Miami Beach environment and LAX Airport. The free software version includes the Miami Beach environment but it’ll cost you a one time fee of $29.95 to access LAX Airport.
Everything in the environment has a function related to either the email or chat system. For example, within the Miami Beach environment, your emails are represented by people on a beach, every email (person) that comes into your inbox (represented by a pool) will be checked by a spam filter (represented by a bouncer). When you are ready to check your inbox, just dive into the pool and interact with the people in there (i.e. your emails). When you swim in the pool, you’re basically browsing the emails (or people) you have available. They’ll remain in the pool until you move them into folders (represented by Cabanas) or delete them (by sending them to the alley). To get rid of the unwanted spam that might have come into your pool (or inbox), just feed them to the sharks (spam killers).
3D Mailbox is a pretty innovative and creative concept that’s the first of its kind. However, this is probably one of those apps that you’ll use once and then not use it anymore. It’s meant to be more game like and cool than functional and convenient. When I was testing it to see what it was all about, it started getting annoying real fast when I wanted to access a feature quickly. It was also pretty repetitive and the novelty of the Sims like interaction started wearing off the more I used it. They do promise to keep you interested by introducing new environments in the future.
Seeing the scantily clad women also makes this an R-rated software that’s definitely not suitable for young kids. I’m not surprise if Second Life introduces something like that within their virtual environment soon.
Here are two trailers for the different environments. A little cheezy but it gets the point across.
3D Mailbox is created by Robert Savage. He is the founder and President of World Market Watch, Inc., best known for VisitorVille®, the popular 3-dimensional website tracking software.
Twitter + Del.icio.us + Ma.gnolia = Twitterlicious
Innovation is the key in Myk O’Leary’s latest mashup, Twitterlicious (Alpha).
For those of you who don’t know what a mashup is, it is “mashed data from multiple sites to create a new site with integrated data”. What he has done is combine the Yahoo bookmarking system, Twitter.com, Del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia.com to allow users to see their Twitters on their mobile phones and bookmark them to be used later on their PCs. Until now, Twitter URLs are useless on mobile phones/ devices, Twitterlicious makes it possible.
Here is Cnet’s interview with Myk O’Leary, developer of Twitterlicious at Mashup Camp 4.
Some of Myk’s other project: lilill, ChunkLove.com and BookmarkCleaner.com.
For the eco friendly computer folks, GreenPrint software may be something to look at.
GreenPrint eliminates the unwanted pages when you try to print something from the internet. It’s patent-pending technology analyzes each page before it is sent to the printer for the most common of wasted characteristics e.g. pages with just the URL, banner ad, logo or unwanted legal statements. With that, less paper is used and importantly saving trees and reducing wastage.
The software also incorporates a one click PDF writer, a print preview (called GreenView) and a great reporting feature which keeps track of the number of pages and estimated money you have saved. Buying the enterprise version tracks the number of trees and Carbon Dioxide reduction too.
Currently, they will plant a tree for every copy of GreenPrint sold before March 31 2008. If they reach 500,000 trees before March 31 2008, they´ll match every tree planted with an additional tree, making March 2008 a Million Tree March.
The downside is that it is not free but it may save you money in the long run with less wastage of paper and ink.
I’ve got a bunch of free closed beta invites. These sites are by invite only so you can’t even sign up for it yet.
If you want it, let me know in the comments. Invites are on a first come, first served basis.
Note: Put your email address (where you want the invite to be sent to) in the email form field and not the comments so you don’t broadcast your email to potential spammers.
Grandcentral
- 7 Invites
This is newly acquired by Google. “Get all the same calls, but in a whole new way. GrandCentral doesn’t replace your phones; we just link them together and help them do more. How do we do that? We give people One Number…for Life - a number that’s not tied to a phone or a location - but tied to you. With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.”
Joost
- 5 Invites
“The new way of watching TV. All the things you love about TV, fused with all the fun and interactive power of the internet.”
Wallop
- 8 Invites
“Wallop is the exclusive place where you connect with your real friends and expand your relationships.”
8apps
-50 Invites
“8apps is a suite of online applications that helps you to work better. At the center there is Handshake, a fully-featured social network for you to make new contacts, strengthen existing relationships and find like-minded entrepreneurs. Add a contact in Handshake and suddenly a world of collaborative functionality opens up. Share task lists in Orchestrate, brainstorm together in Blueprint. The list goes on and is growing as we speak.”
Pownce
- 8 Invites
“Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. You’ll create a network of the people you know and then you can share stuff with all of them, just a few of them, or even just one other person really fast.”
Tractis
- 2 Invites
“Tractis is a web platform that enables you to manage the whole life-cycle of contracts. Tractis allows you to create, negotiate and execute contracts as well as to resolve disputes arising from such agreements. Everything in a secure, fast and legally binding manner.”
Yumondo
- 10 Invites
“Yumondo is an online platform where you can discover your city’s best-kept secrets, organize your free time, and exchange ideas with other urban trendsetters all over the world. We call it urban stylesharing.”
Bubbletop
- 3 invites
“Simplify your digital life with Bubbletop. Focus on a personalized view of the Web, and keep on top of what interests you. Bubbletop is a place where you can organize/access/slice/re-slice/re-discover all the content you are interested in so that you can keep up-to-date in a fast and easy fashion. You can also discover new stuff that you may actually fancy through the people that really matter to you: your friends and your like-minded peers.”
CoScripter is a firefox add-on that captures, records and automates tasks that you perform in a web browser. It is intelligent enough to watch what you do and as you perform a task, it will record the instructions/ actions to a script file.
For example, it can record the actions of printing online, changing your mailing address, updating your facebook status, paying a bill etc. The script file is then stored on the CoScripter’s server to make it easy for you to share it.
Useful scripts that have already been made include Adding your phone number to the national do not call list and checking an American Airline flight arrival time and status. CoScripter is a good way to eliminate repetitive tasks you perform everyday on a web browser.
Still considered a research project, CoScripter is currently developed by the IBM Alphaworks team to include Allen Cypher, Clemens Drews, Eben Haber, Tessa Lau, James Lin, Jeffery Nichols and Eric Wilcox.
CoScripter Homepage
CoScripter Download
CoScripter Demo Video (Flash)
If you haven’t heard, Wordpress 2.1 Ella (named after jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald) was released yesterday with updated features and over 500+ bug fixes.
You can download it from here.
It is an easy one touch upgrade. I have tested it out on my test site but I have decided not to upgrade it on my main blog at this time as some of the plugins don’t work with the new version. Since my main blog has version 2.0.7 which is pretty secure/ stable, I’ll wait on the upgrade for now.
Here is what’s new in 2.1 Ella:
* Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again.
* Our new tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post.
* The lossless XML import and export makes it easy for you to move your content between WordPress blogs.
* Our completely redone visual editor also now includes spell checking.
* New search engine privacy option allows you take you to indicate your blog shouldn’t ping or be indexed by search engines like Google.
* You can set any “page” to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a
content management system.
* Much more efficient database code, faster than previous versions. Domas Mituzas from MySQL went over all our queries with a fine-toothed comb.
* Links in your blogroll now support sub-categories and you can add categories on the fly.
* Redesigned login screen from the Shuttle project.
* More AJAX to make custom fields, moderation, deletions, and more all faster. My favorite is the comments page, which new lets you approve or unapprove things instantly.
* Pages can now be drafts, or private.
* Our admin has been refreshed to load faster and be more visually consistent.
* The dashboard now instantly and brings RSS feeds asynchronously in the background.
* Comment feeds now include all the comments, not just the last 10.
* Better internationalization and support for right-to-left languages.
* The upload manager lets you easily manage all your uploads pictures, video, and audio.
* A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled.
I must add that from testing it out, this is the best Wordpress one yet - the developers really listened to all our gripes/ complains and implemented them. Being a big AJAX fan, it’s had me sold before I even used it.
Oh and just a heads up … there are little easter eggs (hidden features) everywhere. I’ll write a post on Wordpress 2.1’s easter eggs (as I know where they are) sometime later so be sure to check back at The Foo Logs. In the mean time, look for it and see how many you can find.
Sproose is a new Web 2.0 search engine unlike any other. It works differently in the way the search results are calculated and allows a more user interactive/ collaborative way to rank sites.
Instead of using link popularity to determine a sites ranking, it determines ranking through a users 1-5 star ratings of a website. The better rating of a website given by a user, the higher the site will be in the search index. The scores given to a website are weighted as a group score for all users and inturn lets each user create a personal index of their favorite sites when they search for a keyword.
This a brilliant way to have users make the final say of how high a sites rank should be. It’s a refreshing change from the norm of SEO (search engine optimization) through link popularity, strategic word placements and more.
* This is a sponsored post brought to you by Sproose.com
