“The Lost Symbol” very entertaining so far: Audiobook-Thriller-In Progress
Unless you've been hiding behind a news black curtain, you've probably heard or read that Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol, was released last week. This is the third novel based around the Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon character (Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code).
I'm listening to the 17 hour 51 minute long Audible audiobook version and am around the 10 mark right now. If you enjoyed the previous two books with Langon in it, you'll probably find this one entertaining. I know I am so far. Special credit should go to the audiobook reader, Paul Michael, who does an excellent job voicing the various characters in the book.
The book hits the ground running and doesn't really pause much in the 10 hours I've listened to so far. It has a 3 star average rating on Amazon and a 3.45 star rating on Audible (only 20 ratings there right now). I'll give it a provisional 4 star rating based on what I've read/heard so far. It has been a great change of pace from the slow development in the Lucifer's Hammer audiobook I have invested 7 hours of listening to so far (and then paused to switch to The Lost Symbol).
Testing Windows Live Writer with WordPress
Quick test of using Microsoft Windows Live Writer to post a blog item to this WordPress powered blog.
You can find Live Writer here: http://download.live.com/
Upgraded Desktop from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate: Much Happier Now!
I finally got around to upgrading my desktop (quad-core, 4GB RAM) from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate Edition (RTM) - both 32-bit Editions. Wow! What a difference. Under Vista, the PC's drives constantly thrashed for reasons I never understood (4GB RAM not enough)? The PC's hard drive is now virtually silent. No thrashing. It runs and feels like a completely different (better so far) PC.
The only thing I've noticed lost so far is support for the Bluetooth USB I have on a hub. I rarel use it. And, it was always flaky under Vista anyway. I should probably invest in another USB Bluetooth stick.
Microsoft Store Missed Marketing Opportunity: Bada-Bing Bar
I've been reading various blog items about Microsoft's planned Microsoft Store (physical variety) and how their clone of Apple's Genius Bar will be called either the Answers Bar (boring) or Guru Bar (copy cat). Personally, I think Microsoft is missing the marketing boat on this one. The Answers/Guru bar should co-market with HBO and be called:
The Bada Bing Bar 
AMD Dual Core Better Deal Than Intel for Windows Virtual PC Testing
The still-in-beta Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 needs hardware virtualization assist. However, many (most) Intel's low-end processors (even quad core models) do not support Intel VT-x. I recall spending a lot of time checking various comparison tables before buying my Dell quad-core PC last year to make sure its CPU supported VT-x.
When I thought my old PC running Windows XP died (or so I thought - see previous blog for its revival) a few weeks ago, I went to Costco and bought the cheapest PC they had - an eMachines (yes, I know I swore off them a while back, but $340 is a good price) PC with an Athlon X2 4050e processor. Generally speaking, none of the sub-$400 PCs with Intel Core Duo or Core 2 Duo processors I looked at a year ago supported Intel VT-x. So, I didn't expect this ultra-cheap AMD based one to provide AMD-V hardware virtualization. But, a quick check of its BIOS configuration shows that it does have that feature and that it is turned on by default.
I still haven't gotten around to installing Microsoft's in-beta virtualization products under Windows 7 RC yet. But, it is nice to know that I can since I didn't expect to do be able to test it for a long while.
Regained 52.6GB Disk Space After Windows Vista SP2 Update: Also 45005 Registry Changes
After seeing this in PC World...
Windows Vista SP2: Readers Report Big Increases in Free Disk Space
...I decided to take some notes when updating the only PC I have running Windows Vista to Service Pack 2 (SP2). Here's what I found.
1. I had 74.4GB free hard disk space before beginning the SP2 update. I had 137GB free after the process and before rebooting the system. So, I recovered 52.6GB of disk space.
2. The SP2 update includes two reboots. The second reboot comes after the second phase of the three phase update process.
3. My screen went text-only during the second phase of the update and 45,005 registry changes were made during this phase based on the messages on the screen. You can see a frame grab above from a video I recorded during this process.
4. There was still 137GB of free space remaining after the second reboot from the third update phase.
Windows 7 RC Pushing Us to Go Green?
I mentioned a few days ago that migrating an old desktop PC from Windows 7 Beta to Windows 7 Release Candidate seemed to result in a noticeably slower system. I think I know why now.
Taking a look at Win7RC's power options on the desktop showed just the "Power Saving" and "Balanced" settings visible. I had to dig into the Advanced Options to find the "High Performance" power setting. Selecting this seemed to restore the desktop's performance to what it "felt like" with Win7Beta (I haven't performed any actual performance tests).
I wonder if Microsoft is trying to force users to go green (or buy faster PCs) by thinking that Balanced is the faster processor performance option available after a quick glance?
If your PC seems slower after migrating from Win7Beta to Win7RC, check your power options and hunt for the High Performance power setting.
Windows 7 RC Installations: 1 Fast, 1 Slow – No Idea Why
I installed Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) on two computers so far.
The first was an Asus Eee PC 1000HA netbook that had Windows 7 Beta installed on it. I performed a clean non-formatting installation where the Win7Beta and associated directories were moved to another folder that RC does not look at. This installation took, perhaps 30 minutes including moving the old Beta related files to an archive folder.
The second was an old desktop PC with an AMD Athlon processor. It too had Win7Beta installed. The Beta installation took about 30 minutes. The move to RC, however, took hours. It took so long that after about 90 minutes I had to leave to run some errands and simply left the PC on to continue the installation process. The update had finally completed while I was out running my errands.
Here's another oddity. Win7RC seems to be running as fast as Win7Beta on my netbook (Eee PC 1000HA with an Intel Atom N270 processor). However, Win7RC seems much slower on the AMD Athlon based desktop PC. I haven't run any benchmarks to compare the two yet. However, tasks like starting the Firefox browser seems much slower on the desktop running Win7RC compared to the same PC when it ran Win7Beta.
Patch Tuesday: Windows Update Brought my Quad-Core PC to its Knees
This is not news. But, I'm amazed every Patch Tuesday that Windows Update can bring a quad-core PC with 4GB of RAM running Windows Vista to its knees. You can see a typical Windows Task Manager performance chart snapshot above.
Will There be a Windows 7 Release Candidate 2?
I recall reading statements from Microsoft that there would be one Windows 7 Beta and one Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC). So, why does this Microsoft On10.net blog item...
Top 7 Things to Check Out in Windows 7 RC1
...mention "RC1". Is it a simple typo? Or will there be an RC2 that pushes Windows 7's release date a bit further out. I sure hope not. I ran Windows 7 Beta from January through the end of April. And, I downloaded and installed Windows 7 RC last week Friday (May 1). These installs were on the netbook I take nearly everywhere with me including two trips to Seattle and New York in March. It is a "production" machine and, quite frankly, has been running a lot better than the "production" version of Windows Vista on my quad-core desktop.