Automated software installation utility

I’ve solved my problem with having to install all my favorite applications twice on my Dell 11z netbook (once under the existing Vista OS and a 2nd time under Windows 7 when I do a clean install in about 10 days from now). It’s a wonderful automatic installer application called Ninite, which completely automates the installation process of several different applications. I describe this utility on my main tech blog site, so you can get more details from there.

Microsoft SkyDrive Online File Storage Has Limitations

In a previous posting, I mentioned the use of the Microsoft Live SkyDrive service for uploading and storing files (25 GB free space), however, I’ve run into some limitations. Here’s two biggies:

1. You can’t upload folder or sub folder, just individual files.
2. Each file you upload must be under 50 MB in size.

This puts a damper on my plans to offload some big project files to the online file server (which have been organized in separate folders) and to offload some video files (200+ MB). I understand that this service is free so I have no room to complain, but it’s a bummer that it has these limitations. I’m sure other online free services have similar limitations, so I guess the online file storage will only work on small, individual files. In the meantime, I’ll have to get a big 2nd drive for my Desktop PC to backup my files.

Lessons Learned…

So what have I learned from my brief experience with the Dell Mini 9 Netbook?

I’ve learned that keyboard size and key placement should be a big consideration for touch typists who are looking for a Netbook system. A 10″ system might be the threshold for such users, but you’ll need to test out the Netbook to see first hand.

Also, the screen resolution is a factor for effectively viewing web pages. The current standard of 600 pixels for vertical screen height is too small for viewing modern day web pages. A pixel size of 800 would probably be the minimum (however, most Netbooks don’t go above the 600 pixel threshold).

The Intel Atom CPU seems to do a good job for running applications in Windows XP and Windows 7 Beta OSes. Having 1 GB of RAM seemed sufficient, but 2 GB would be better when running multiple applications simultaneously.

The use of a Solid State Disk (SSD) Drive was a rather pleasant experience, since it allowed for a silent running system. The access speed of a SSD was perfectly acceptable, and having only 16 GB for the OS and files wasn’t a big issue since files could be stored on a SDHC card.

Having the Dell Mini 9 also allowed me to investigate using Windows 7 Beta as a future Operating System. I was pleasantly surprised to find Win7 runs quite well on a Netbook computer, with no issues regarding hardware drivers, etc. It worked out so well, I just might install Win7 on my Latitude D610 laptop just for grins. So, it seems that Win7 can run effectively on low-powered processor with just 1 GB of memory and slower storage drives.

Aside from the Netbook aspects, I also learned a lot about the world of online file syncing and storage which was quite valuable. Microsoft Live Mesh is a wonderful file syncing application with remote desktop connection capability. Other online services such as SkyDrive and Zoho are also useful for online file storage and document management. With these utilities, files can be synced and accessed from multiple PCs and hopefully smartphone devices in the near future.

So I can’t say that the time I’ve invested in learning about Netbooks and waiting for my Dell Mini 9 to arrive was wasted, as I’ve gained knowledge that I can use for my everyday activities.

It might be that later this year or next year that the 10″ or 11″ Netbook models will have everything I need to jump back into the Netbook scene again… but until then good luck to those enjoying their Dell Mini 9s!

Windows XP and Vista Tweaks

I stumbled upon this web site (www.blackviper.com) which describes numerous tweaks for a fresh Windows XP Installation. In addition to WinXP tweaks, this site also has Vista and Windows 7 tweaks that you can try out. For all of my current machines, I’ve initiated the XP and Vista tweaks with no ill effects.

Another site for good Vista tweaks is here. And then there’s always the How-To-Geek site that offers lots of good suggestions and tips.

Live Mesh and SkyDrive – More Cloud Computing Services

In my evaluation of the various “Cloud Computing” Services (where files and data are stored or shared on Internet file servers) I’ve come across several different viable options. In a previous posting, I mentioned the Zoho Online service (for online document management) as well as DropBox (syncing files between PCs and Internet file server). Although I’m testing both of these services currently, I did come across two offerings from Microsoft called Live Mesh and SkyDrive that appear promising.

Live Mesh is Microsoft’s answer to syncing files between different PCs and to the “Cloud” (Internet file servers), and thus competes with the DropBox service. The image below shows the Live Mesh “ring”, where you add different machines and devices for syncing of files. In this example, there are three computers in the “mesh ring”, (One Desktop PC and two Laptops), as well as “Live Desktop” which is the Cloud Computer (Internet file storage):

You can then specify on each machine in mesh ring, specific folders which you want the file contents to be synced with the other machines. What’s nice, is that you don’t need to sync your folders with the Live Desktop, as you can just sync between PCs you have in your mesh ring. Thus, you don’t need to sync sensitive files to the Cloud.

When you install Live Mesh, a small service utility runs in the background on your PC and a icon appears in the task bar. Folders can be made part of the live mesh by right-clicking on them and selecting “Add folder to live mesh…” from the popup context menu. That’s it! So on every machine that you want to add to the mesh ring, you simply visit the www.mesh.com web site, click the “Install Software” icon (big orange “plus” symbol), and install the Live Mesh software on your PC. Very easy to install and configure.

Sync Files Between Computers Using DropBox

In my last posting I mentioned a online service called Dropbox, which is a way to sync files between your different PCs and store them on a online server. I just installed their software and tested it for a bit, and I have to say I really like it. It’s very simple to setup and use, and the syncing process is automatic. You basically have one folder called “My Dropbox” that is setup on your PC system, and all files in that folder are uploaded and synced to Dropbox’s online server. Now, if you install the DropBox software on a 2nd computer system, you can sync all the files in your “My Dropbox” folder to it, and vice versa. The syncing is done automatically by a service running in background on your PCs via the Internet. Aside from syncing, your files are also stored (and thus backed up) online, so they are safe in case your hard drive crashes, house burns down, etc. In addition, you can access these files from any PC using a standard web browser connected to the Internet.

This auto-syncing feature is very similar to the online backup services offered by Carbonite and Mozy. The only difference, is that those services are strictly for backing up files, not syncing across multiple PCs.

So far as security, the Dropbox web site states the following:

“We take utmost care to ensure Dropbox is secure. All transport of file data and file metadata occurs over SSL. All files are encrypted with AES-256 before being stored on our backend.”

So from this, it appears that files stored on Dropbox’s online servers are encrypted.

The Dropbox service is free  for up to 2 GB, and if you need more space you can pay a monthly fee. For myself, I think I can get by with the 2 GB limit. What I plan to do, is carefully think what files I really need to share across my computer systems, and just sync those files. Of course, this may add a level of confusion for me, as I may forget what files I have synced and not, but I guess I can stretch my brain a bit for progress.

Disk Thrashing Just Sucks!

Last night my desktop PC (Intel core 2 duo, 2 GB RAM) was thrashing the main disk drive like crazy, slowing down my system to a crawl. I checked Task Manager, but couldn’t find any reason why there was so much disk activity. All that disk writing just drives me insane! What’s up with it?

This morning I did a Google search for “vista disk thrashing” and got several hits from others with the same issue. This web site as well as this one were ones that I found that had several tweaks for increasing the performance of my Vista system (I implemented most of the tips). Before yesterday, I already had the Indexing Service, Volume Shadow Copy, and System Restore turned off. I believe my problem last night was the Superfetch Service (which tries to preload frequently used applications into spare memory).

So, I make several tweaks to my system, rebooted, ran CCleaner and AusLogics Registry Defrag, then rebooted again for good measure. So far, the disk thrashing hasn’t been too bad (crossing my fingers).