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Author Archives: Ray Woodcock
SSD Overprovisioning in Linux: The Case of a Samsung 850 EVO
As detailed in another post, I was in the process of installing and configuring Linux Mint on a solid state drive (SSD) in my Acer laptop. During that process, I needed to decide how to allocate space on the SSD. … Continue reading
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Tagged 850 EVO, allocate, allow, benchmark, benchmarking, benchmarks, command, commands, Linux, M.2, M2, Mint, over, overprovisioning, partition, partitioning, partitions, perform, performance, provisioning, Samsung, size, solid state drive, space, SSD, support, test, testing, unallocated, unformatted, utilities, utility
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Defeated by Windows 10: Choosing and Setting Up an Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-563W (Kaby Lake) Laptop
This post describes the steps I took, in an attempt to get my customized Acer Aspire 5 to run Windows 10. A separate post discusses the choice and installation of hardware to upgrade this system. The steps described here were … Continue reading
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Tagged 5, 563W, A515-51, Acer, AOMEI, Aspire, backup, BIOS, clone, cloning, drive, drives, dual boot, dual booting, E 15, E5-575-33BM, hard drive, HDD, Kaby Lake, legacy, Linux, Macrium, partition, partitions, password, review, reviewed, Secure Boot, SSD, UEFI, Windows 10
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A Complete Cluster: Trying to Transfer Windows 10 from HDD to M.2 SSD on an Acer Aspire 5
As described in another post, I was attempting to customize and configure an Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-563W laptop. The task at hand was to transfer the original Windows 10 installation from the stock 1TB hard disk drive (HDD) to the newly … Continue reading
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Acer Aspire 5 A515-51 Laptop: Hardware Upgrades (Adding RAM, SSD, etc.)
As discussed in a companion post, I bought an Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-563W Core i5-7200U laptop, from among the offerings in Acer’s Aspire 5 family, and set about the process of tweaking it. This post focuses on my hardware adjustments. First, … Continue reading
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Tagged 2.0, 3mm, 563W, A515-51, A515-51-563W, Acer, alternative, Aspire 5, backlighting, backlit, backlit keyboard, CM2x3-3.3, Core i5, CPU, disk, disk drive, DIY, drive, hard, hardware, HDD, i5-7200U, keyboard, laptop, M.2, M2, maximum, memory, ram, screw, solid state, specifications, SSD, upgrade, upgrades, workaround
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Suckered Again! More Time Wasted on Windows 10
In February 2016, I tried upgrading an existing Windows 7 installation to Windows 10. As described in a previous post, that proved to be a complicated and frustrating experience — partly because, at that point, Windows 10 had not yet worked … Continue reading
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Tagged absurd, bamboozled, dumb ass, dumbass, exploitation, exploitative, f*cking idiot, fool, fooled, is a joke, joke, Microsoft, naive, nonsensical, nothing better to do with your time, ricking fiduculous, silly, suck, sucker, suckered, suckering, suckers, sucking, sucks, timewaster, timewasting, trust, waste of time, what a joke, Windows, Windows 10
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A Windows 7 User Installs and Tweaks Windows 10 (rough cut, incomplete)
Introduction As described in another post, I postponed the shift from Windows 7 to Windows 10 for a couple years, but then finally decided to give it another try. This post describes the steps I took to achieve that. This post … Continue reading
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Tagged adjust, adjusting, adjustment, adjustments, configure, configuring, custom, customize, customized, install, installation, installing, revising, tweak, tweaking, tweaks, Windows 10
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Using VMware to Run Software When Windows 10 Won’t
A previous post discusses my efforts to use VirtualBox to run software that ran fine in Windows 10 — until, one day, something (a Windows 10 update, apparently) caused that software not to run anymore. Unfortunately, the VirtualBox effort also ran … Continue reading
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Tagged adjust, alternative, alternatives, antivirus, clone, clones, cloning, compare, comparison, configuration, configure, features, import, importing, install, installation, move, moving, performance, player, snapshots, tweak, VirtualBox, VMware, Workstation
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Using VirtualBox to Run Software When Windows 10 Won’t
Note: this is the long version. The Summary has a short version. Another post may eventually provide a more detailed short version. Contents Summary Introduction VM Software Options for Choosing and Installing the Operating System Windows 7 Licensing and Activation … Continue reading
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Tagged activate, activated, activating, activation, Adobe Premiere Elements, appliance, clone, CloneVDI, cloning, configure, copy, customize, error, install, installation, KVM, Linux, Microsoft Office, move, Office 2016, offline, performance, phone, portable, programs, reactivate, reactivation, shared folders, software, telephone, tweak, UUID, virtual machine, virtual machines, VirtualBox, VM, VMs, VMware, Windows, Xen
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Choosing the Best Benchmarks: A Comparison of VirtualBox vs. VMware Virtual Machines
As described in (1 2) other posts, I was looking at VirtualBox 5.2.6 and VMware Workstation Player 14.1.1 as possible ways to run certain software in a Windows 7 guest virtual machine (VM) on a Windows 10 host computer. The … Continue reading
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Tagged benchmark, benchmarking, best, better, compare, comparison, complex, complicated, confusing, cores, CPU, CPUs, CrystalMark, Guest Additions, Novabench, PassMark, PCMark, PCMark10, performance, player, Sandra, SiSoft, SiSoftware, software, threads, tools, VirtualBox, VMware, Windows Experience Index
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Windows 7 Licensing: A Few Questions and Observations
As detailed in another post, I was in the process of developing a Windows 7 virtual machine (VM). While researching various aspects of that process, I saw a number of statements about Windows 7 licensing. Those statements provoked me to … Continue reading
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Tagged activate, activation, agreement, America, attorney, attorneys, cost, court, courts, end user, EULA, expense, fees, injustice, justice, law, laws, lawsuit, lawyer, lawyers, legal, license, licenses, litigation, Microsoft, reactivate, reactivation, software, sue, suit, system, terms, virtual machine, VM, Windows
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Understanding VirtualBox Snapshots
Contents Introduction Summary Testing Snapshots Merging Changes Back into the Original VM . Introduction VirtualBox was a widely used and appreciated free tool for creating, configuring, and using virtual machines (VMs). This post discusses snapshots in VirtualBox 5.2.6. The VirtualBox … Continue reading
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Tagged activate, activation, clone, cloned, clones, CloneVDI, cloning, combine, compress, enlarge, merge, merged, merging, reactivate, reactivation, resize, revert, reverting, snapshot, snapshots, virtual machine, virtual machines, VirtualBox, VM, VMs, Windows
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A Windows User’s Plan for Creating a Linux Mint System
(This post summarizes the situation I faced in summer 2016, as I wavered between Windows 7, Windows 10, and Linux Mint. I did not publish it at that point because some related posts were not yet finished.) As detailed in … Continue reading
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Tagged 10, 7, advantages, dependence, Linux, Microsoft, plan, reasons, system, user, virtual machine, VM, Windows
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A Linux Mint 18 Virtual Machine to Replace Windows 7
I was in the process of transitioning from Windows 7 to Linux. For reasons provided in another post, I decided to try doing most of my work in a Linux Mint virtual machine (VM) in VirtualBox, rather than in the underlying native Linux installation. … Continue reading
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Tagged 18, configuration, configure, install, installation, Linux, Mint, package, packages, PlayOnLinux, program, programs, replace, virtual machine, VM, Windows, Windows 7, Wine
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Converting an Acronis TIB Drive Image to a Virtual Machine
Contents Summary Converting an Acronis TIB to VHD Creating a VHD via Disk Management on a Windows 7 Computer Creating a VHD via Disk Management on a Windows 10 Computer Creating a VHD via ATI 2011 Conversion Option Creating a … Continue reading
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Tagged Acronis, ATI, ATIH, Auto-resize Guest Display, conversion, convert, converting, grayed, greyed, Guest Additions, image, restore, TIB, True Image, VHD, virtual machine, VM, Windows
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Microsoft Office 2016 Won’t Run in Windows 10 After Updates
Contents Introduction A Manual Uninstallation Script: FAIL A Hybrid Easy Manual Uninstallation Method: FAIL Seeking Help from Microsoft: FAIL Understanding Windows 10 Updates A Partial Solution: Reverting & Postponing Updates . Introduction I dreaded the switch from Windows 7 to … Continue reading
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Tagged 0xc0000142, 2016, clean, cleaner, defer, delay, feature, fix, Microsoft, Office, postpone, registry, reinstall, security, something went wrong, unable to start correctly, uninstall, update, updates, upgrade, upgrades, version, Windows 10
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Debug.Log: Error: Range: Fully Unreadable
I kept seeing a debug.log file open on my desktop, in Notepad, containing this text: [0120/175101.863:ERROR:process_info.cc(632)] range at 0xaabf36c600000000, size 0x155 fully unreadable [0120/175101.863:ERROR:process_info.cc(632)] range at 0xaabf372800000000, size 0x155 fully unreadable [0120/175101.863:ERROR:process_info.cc(632)] range at 0x0, size 0x155 fully unreadable My … Continue reading
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Tagged Debug.Log, error, file, Fully Unreadable, Range, size, Windows 10
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O&O RegEditor: While Importing, an Error Was Detected on Line 1
I was using Windows 10. I had a registry edit (.reg) file that I wanted to add to the registry. I was using O&O RegEditor as my default registry viewer. When I double-clicked on the .reg file, I got an … Continue reading
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Tagged edit, editor, OO, regedit, RegEditor, registry, While Importing an Error Was Detected on Line 1, Windows 10
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Windows 10: Task Scheduler: Trigger: On a Schedule: OK Grayed
This is a dumb one, but I’m going to blog it because it managed to tie me up for at least ten minutes, and a search didn’t come up with an answer. The situation is this: I was using taskschd.msc … Continue reading
Excel Ran Out of Resources While Attempting to Calculate One or More Formulas
I was using Excel 2016. I was attempting to finish adding formulas throughout all rows of a large spreadsheet. In this spreadsheet, column A contained data, and all remaining columns contained formulas that would make incremental changes, going across, to … Continue reading
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Tagged As a result these formulas cannot be evaluated, consider using a 64-bit version of Microsoft Excel., Excel ran out of resources while attempting to calculate one or more formulas, There isn't enough memory to complete this action, To increase memory availability, Try using less data or closing other applications
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Video Formats: Choosing Among Codecs and Containers: MP4, AVI, MKV, etc.
I had been using Adobe Premiere Elements 12 and other video editing software for some time. Such software allowed me to choose the output format for each video file I produced. I had a rough sense of some differences among … Continue reading
Considering Hardware Upgrades on an Old Windows XP Machine: CPU, RAM, Drive, Battery
I came into possession of a Hewlett-Packard (HP) Mini 110-1023NR. The HP Mini line was marketed from 2007 to 2012. I was thinking about upgrading the hardware on that unit. This post presents what I learned in that inquiry. Current … Continue reading
A Batch File to Do Things Silently Every Hour (e.g., Check Up on Antivirus)
Now and then, I experienced the rude shock of discovering that my antivirus software was not running, when I assumed it was. Maybe I had intended to turn it off temporarily, so as not to interfere with a program installation, … Continue reading
Zero Result Searches
Every now and then, I would run a search (almost always in Google) that would produce no results. This post was inspired by one such search. I remembered, and wanted to take a look at, a video I had heard … Continue reading
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Tagged Correct Procedure for Washing a Chicken, Document on Hygiene No. 3, fail, Google, result, search, searches, zero, Zhang Peili
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Explorer AWOL: File Does Not Have a Program Associated, etc.
I was using Windows 10, though I’m not sure the specific operating system (OS) mattered. I was also using Q-Dir, a replacement for Windows Explorer (or File Explorer, as it was known in Win10). Q-Dir gave me the option of … Continue reading
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Tagged Explorer++, file, folder, manager, registry, This file does not have a program associated, Windows
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Why Is SuperUser Designed to Be Hostile to Outsiders?
This post contains the text of a question that I originally planned to post on SuperUser, a StackExchange website. By the time I finished it, however, I realized that its style and substance would draw hostility at SuperUser. So I … Continue reading
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Tagged abuse, abusive, discourage, hostile, negative, newbies, newcomers, outsiders, rude, StackExchange, StackOverflow, SuperUser
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Choosing an M.2 SSD: Data Rot, PCIe, NVMe, and Other Issues
As detailed in another post, I wanted to add a solid state drive (SSD) to the M.2 slot in my laptop. The laptop already had a hard disk drive (HDD) in its standard 2.5″ drive bay, so there was a … Continue reading
Adding Light to a Non-Backlit Laptop Keyboard
I had an Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-563W Core i5-7200U laptop. Its keyboard was not backlit — that is, there were no lights in its letters, to help me put my fingers on the right keys in dark conditions. This post … Continue reading
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Tagged backlighting, backlit, bright, clip, external, gooseneck, headlamp, keyboard, keys, LED, letters, light, night, portable, replacement, stickers, USB, visible
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A Better Heat Index Chart
The Heat Index (HI) is a familiar concept, often encountered in the media on hot summer days. The popular understanding of this concept is simply that humidity, not just temperature, affects a person’s experience of heat. The U.S. National Weather … Continue reading
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Tagged dew point, dewpoint, Excel, heat index, lookup, national, NOAA, NWS, oceanic, relative humidity, spreadsheet, table, weather, worksheet
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Using a Car Battery to Power Laptop and Desktop Computers
In a previous post, I explored the possibility of using a car battery to recharge a laptop computer. This post summarizes several answers to the question of how to keep a desktop or laptop computer running when the lights go out. The … Continue reading
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Tagged backup, batteries, battery, car, charger, computer, desktop, DIY, do it yourself, marine, power, supply, uninterruptible, UPS
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Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM CPU & RAM Upgrade Options
I was thinking about buying an Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM laptop. I decided not to. Initially, I was attracted by its low price tag for great features and a high rating on Amazon. But as I dug into users’ comments, … Continue reading
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Tagged Acer, Aspire, battery, consumption, CPU, E 15, E5-575-33BM, laptop, memory, power, ram, speed, upgrade
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Capturing a Long Webpage as a Single Image via ImageMagick
I had a long webpage that I wanted to save as a single image (e.g., JPG or PNG). This post describes the steps I took to achieve that, using ImageMagick. Notes at the end discuss some alternate approaches. Over time, … Continue reading
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Tagged capture, complete, convert, entire, HTM, HTML, image, ImageMagick, long, screenshot, webpage, wkHTMLtoIMAGE, wkHTMLtoPDF
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Audio Editing: Changing the Sound of a Voice
In the course of my video editing on Windows 7, I had seen two sorts of instances where I might want to change something about a person’s voice. First, it seemed I might want to modify someone’s voice so that it … Continue reading
The Unwanted Transition from Windows 7 to 10: Consequences of the Microsoft Monopoly
This post continues a previous discussion, with the benefit of another year’s insights and experiences. Why We Are in This Situation: The Microsoft Monopoly In a post dated March 18, 2016, after an extensive review of relevant matters (e.g., Microsoft’s … Continue reading
Capturing a Long Webpage: Merging Hundreds of Screenshots
At times, I wanted to capture an entire discussion thread, or other long webpage, in a single image or document. This post discusses what I learned about achieving that. Contents Summary PDF Solutions Capturing a Long Webpage in Screenshots Choosing … Continue reading
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Tagged Autostitch, Hugin, Image Composite Editor, merge, panorama, Photoshop, PhotoStitcher, PTGui, stitch
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Using ImageMagick to Append One Image to Another
As described in another post, I wanted to combine two images to produce a third image. These two images were composites of multiple screenshots of a webpage. The composites were produced by Microsoft’s free Image Composite Editor (ICE). Each of … Continue reading
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Tagged append, combine, composite, concatenate, convert, file, files, image, ImageMagick, images, jpg, merge, montage, PNG
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Comparing IrfanView and FastStone to Resize JPGs
As described in another post, I was looking for ways to archive thousands of unimportant images in a space-saving way, without simply discarding them. Space was a concern because I was trying to decide whether it would work to combine … Continue reading
Finding Unplayable MP3s: Using MP3 Diags, MP3val, and Others
I had a set of old MP3s, bearing the same names as files in my current set. For instance, both sets might have a copy of “Dead Kennedys–Take This Job and Shove It.mp3.” But DoubleKiller said they were not byte-for-byte identical. Did … Continue reading
Getting Duration (Playing Length) from Many MP3s
As part of a larger effort to check the validity of many MP3 files, I arrived at the question of whether the duration of these MP3s had changed. This post summarizes a few inquiries I made along those lines. (I … Continue reading
MP3 Diags Error Codes
As described in another post, I was trying to understand and use MP3 Diags 1.2.03, for purposes of testing a number of MP3 files. To assist in that effort, I examined the diagnostic codes, or notes, that MP3 Diags used … Continue reading
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Tagged check, code, codes, diagnostic, error, errors, MP3, MP3 Diags, note, notes, test, verify, warning
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Wiping SSD Free Space Without Wiping the Whole Drive
Introduction I had installed Windows 7 on a solid state drive (SSD). I was using VeraCrypt to secure my data drives, but had decided not to use VeraCrypt on the Windows system drive (C:). I had also learned that programs … Continue reading
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Tagged DBAN, empty, erase, Eraser, files, free, Recuva, solid state drive, space, SSD, SSDs, unused, wipe
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