Home » Computers

Using Google as a quick spell checker

January 22nd, 2006 by Jim

I consider myself a good speller, but from time to time I need to quickly find out if my spelling of a particular word is correct. This happens very frequently while working on a customer’s website, hacking out a new web app for my company, and even while writing for this blog.

Google steps in…

You might be wondering why I would waste Google’s bandwidth to look up words, or even why I would waste my own time with the hassle of opening a web browser. The truth is Google can offer me the fastest word lookup for my (possibly specific) situation. All of my use cases listed above involve a web browser, which is already open and ready for my input. And Google is so fast it does not seem to matter how you use it, or how frequently. Besides, I would be very surprised if any of you even try this trick. 😀

Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft KB: How to Remove Linux and Install Windows XP

December 22nd, 2005 by Jim

I just ran across a Microsoft KB article that I thought was interesting.

Microsoft KB Article ID 314458, Revision 2.0, December 14, 2005

This article explains how to remove the Linux operating system from your computer and install Windows XP. This article assumes that Linux is already installed on your computer’s hard disk, that Linux native and Linux swap partitions are in use (which are incompatible with Windows XP)…

Hmmm… Is Microsoft having trouble with those new cheap computers that are shipping with Linux? 😉

Microsoft is probably not hurting much from Linux computer sales, but considering that a user educated enough to install Linux would also be able to remove it, the KB article must be targeting those who bought a computer with Linux preinstalled.

I bet those users feel pretty bad when they learn their $200 computer needs a $130 copy of Windows XP Home to make it work for them. 😀

My homemade computer case

October 15th, 2005 by Jim
jimp-lex-1.jpg
(more)

If you are reading my blog, then there is probably a good chance you have built your own computer before. But have you ever built your own computer case? I did. Was it worth it? Oh yeah… 😀

Note: I built this computer mid-2002, so the specs are very low by today’s standards.

Read the rest of this entry »