Internet Connections Problem? Try this solution.

My friend, if you yourself experience that G** D***** internet speed fluctuation, try changing your DNS settings. Please do note what is your original DNS settings in case this does not work. Also, if you have a bit of a problem following my instructions you may visit the OpenDNS site. OpenDNS is a company that provides free DNS service. Set your Primary DNS to 208.67.222.222 ; secondary DNS to 208.67.220.220. The problem that you encounter is actually the slow DNS that your ISP provides. Anyway if you have a problem understanding that steps check out the OpenDNS site.

Microsoft’s Office Open XML(OOXML) gets ISO Approval

I read at the Information Technology of a newspaper that OOXML got an ISO Standard. What the F***!!

The ‘open’ format was developed ONLY by Microsoft themselves, huh? According to the article that
Microsoft submitted the source-code to ECMA (European Computer Manufacturer’s Association) under the Open Specification Promise (OSP).Hmmm… Sounds like Microsoft is planning to ’open’ up their formats. 
Open Source advocates are somewhat divided over the ISO Standard accreditation.

Some say that it is just a way Microsoft uses to expand it’s ’control’ over the market. Microsoft said
they are just offering a ’choice’ for people to use. I agree with Microsoft’s argument. :)

Imagine having ODF ONLY as the format that you could save your files. And your application (let’s
just say MS Word with a plugin installed to save in .odt) has a problem reading and/or writing on the format. That would be a GREAT problem for others, right? Other Open Source
advocates welcomed Microsoft’s decision. For me Microsoft must ALSO support ODF. This would help boost the format alongside with OOXML. For other Open Source advocates who disagree with Microsoft, I must say you must first try before you complain. In that way you could know if Microsoft is really sincere or planning something to kill the competition.

IMAP or POP?

IMAP. POP. These are email access protocols. POP (Post Office Protocol) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol, to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)supports both connected (online) and disconnected (offline) modes of operation. E-mail clients using IMAP generally leave messages on the server until the user explicitly deletes them. This and other facets of IMAP operation allow multiple clients to access the same mailbox. The design of POP3 and its procedures supports end-users with intermittent connections (such as dial-up connections), allowing these users to retrieve e-mail when connected and then to view and manipulate the retrieved messages without needing to stay connected.Recently, GMail supported IMAP. Even in the first days of GMail, it supported POP already.
Yahoo! Mail supports POP only, BUT you need to pay a premium in order to be able to access their POP service.  Yahoo! Mail (Philippines) allows you to access POP. I configured (or should I say enabled) my GMail account’s POP access. After 2 or 3 years, Google enabled IMAP access for ALL their users. I recommend that you use both IMAP and POP. IMAP is cool that you manage your GMail inbox without using your browser. 

Web Standards

Web Standards. If  you are a geek it might appeal to you. Web Standards is important to everyone of us because we all use different platforms and/or browsers. Web Standards is the reference encoding(or I would rather say encoding). Sadly, only a few software and/or website developers understands it’s importance. Worse, they might not know about it! Check out most of the local (in the Philippines) banking websites/services, majority of them don’t comply to the standards! They recommend people to use Internet Explorer in order for them to fully maximize their online services, however some people use a different OS or web browser (I use Opera in my notebook I recommend using Opera). Also, some web browsers don’t comply to the standards either. Sheesh. I thought Firefox
users would have no problems reading my articles here on my blog. :) But, I was wrong. A friend told me that my article seemed to be corrupt when he is visiting my blog, I asked him, “What is your browser”, and he replied, “Mozilla Firefox”. Well, it is true that Firefox has an error rendering it. Check out the screenshot I am providing.

Vista Transformation Pack icon set problems?

I want to share with you a couple of blunders I experienced just yesterday. I updated my Windows XP notebook to the latest patch that came from Microsoft. After Installing the updates, Windows Update asked me to restart my PC, I chose to Restart my PC later because I was chatting via YM that time. After chatting, I restarted the PC. After logging on, I was surprised, why was my Vista-like icons (I installed Vista Transformation Pack to be able to change the look. Before installing it, you need to patch UXTheme.dll to be able to install these skins, icons set etc. Running the UXTheme.dll patcher after patching, would unpatch it)  changed back to the Luna icon set? Hmmm…. I tried repairing the installation of the Vista Transformation pack but to no avail. I also tried repairing the icon cache but still there are no changes. What I did was uninstall the Vista Transformation Pack and restart. I also unpatched UXTheme.dll and restart. After restarting, I patched again
UXTheme.dll and restarted. I installed again Vista Transformation Pack and restarted.
After that I loaded again my theme, and my Vista-like icons were backed again! Coolness!!

Slow PC? I could help you

If you have a slow PC, first thing that must in your mind is: too much applications running in the background. Do this: Restart your PC. If the problem still persists, try running CheckDisk and select all of the options available. How do you to that? This is the steps:

-Go to My Computer

-Right-click your HardDisk, then select properties.

-Select the Tools tab

-Select Check Now

-Select all check boxes available

-Select Start

The computer will ask you to restart. Restart your PC. After restarting, you will notice a blue screen, which tells you that CheckDisk will start. DO NOT press any key during this process; this will abort and continue to your login.

The CheckDisk process might take a few minutes. If your computer is still running slow after CheckDisk, try Defragmenting your Hard Drive. To do it:

-Go to Control Panel

-Select Administrative Tools

- Select Computer Management

-Select Disk Defragmenter

-Select your Hard Drive

-Click Defragment

The Process may take make minutes or so. If your computer is still running slow, maybe startup programs/services are numerous. Startup programs are programs that are configured to run at login. To disable some of the startup programs, I recommend visiting ehow.com or Googling it.

If all of the above processes could not help, try scanning your PC for Viruses or Spyware. I recommend McAfee VirusScan Enterprise for scanning. :)