Nafcom's Personal Site

There is some confusion about the recently released Internet Explorer 7 without WGA check. The reason for this is that this way even people who use a pirated Windows can now install IE7 and keep their system secure, since IE7 is a part of the Windows system.

There has been various speculation whether it’s really an update or if you do not have to install it if you already have a previous installation of the IE7 on your computer.

Luckily Bink.nu knows the answer.

The changes are according to them only:

“Minor changes to IE7 for Windows XP based on customer feedback:
-The menu bar is now visible by default.
-The Internet Explorer 7 online tour has updated how-to’s. Also, the “first-run” experience includes a new overview.
-We’ve included a new MSI installer that simplifies deployment for IT administrators in enterprises. Learn more about it here.”

Technorati Tags: 64bit, Internet Explorer, Windows, IE7, update, X64, XP
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A few days ago, I really received a replacement for my old RTX Cordless USB DualPhone.

I had the problem that my Cordless USB Dualphone (so the old model has a display problem (the right side is cut off so I could only see… gaps) and since I have 2 years warranty and I bought it June 2006, I could it get replaced, problem was that the mail trader doesn’t have it on sale anymore and they would have had to send it directly to RTX and this would probably have taken weeks, but I had only this one DECT phone.

A few days later I received an email from RTX asking for my postal address.

And a week later, I received finally a parcel from Denmark, it was the one from RTX 🙂

Despite the fact it’s the same model, there are some differences and changes:

1) The handset echo problem I had at PSTN calls is gone.
2) The display and backlight colour is yellow, not green anymore (I prefered the green to be honest)
3) The protection of the headset jack is now better, i.e. it’s as long as the hole and not longer as in the past
4) The connector cord of the battery pack is longer allowing you to place the bettery into the holder better

I have manged to replace the handset by signing off the old one and signing on the new one. The phone book is obviously either saved on the computer or in the base station since it took over the entries I had “in the old handset”.

Then I had to reinstall the Dualphone Suite again in order to get the handset updated to the actual firmware release.

I have to thank again Carsten Helmuth for his help and support and RTX for supplying a replacement unit!

According to Amazon customer reviews, the problem with the disapearing letters on the display after a year seems to be also with other handhelds of this dualphone. Let’s hope they improved this, aswell!

Technorati Tags: RTX, DualPhone, hardware, Skype, support
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Weeks after the release of Opera Kestrel I can finally use and test it myself and it’s even so stable that I decided to keep it on my PC here for daily use.

Major differences are the ability to search inside websites you have aready visited by entering just a word in the addresss bar.

Also faster is the moving of spam emails to the trash.

However, I have noticed a few issues (which I already reported):

1) The CPU load is very high, much higher than with the old Opera 9.23 final.
And the perfomance was never good on Vista X64 anyway! (bug#287972)

2) Opera doesn’t really close when I decide to close it, it’s sill stuck in task manager as running procces, I have to kill it manually, sometimes I even have to restart Vista (bug#288010)

3) I have a ghost email in Trash (bug#288011)

I want to thank Daniel Goldman and Tim Altman for their dedication and emails. Especially thanks to the emails with Tim, the bugs could be fixed and other problems and issues I had could be solved by his very helpful hints!

Technorati Tags: Opera, Kestrel, 9.5
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This one is a pretty interesing anti-advertising mentioning the new Windows Cement, err Vista.

Actually, I do not think it’s that bad or that slow or crashing. I use it since it’s out and I am pretty much happy with it 🙂

Found it on Skype-Watch blog.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, video
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Because of a positive and descriptive post at The Pisstakers mentioning BlogRush, I thought myself to try it.

Since How Much Is Your Blog Worth isn’t a dynamic banner which automagically updates the numbers, I decided to remove it in favour of this.

(if anybody is interested: from 2800 two years ago, it climbed now to $18,065.28. for my blog!

Thanks to all that helped!

My visitor amount also gained a little, which could maybe becaue of BlogRush or because of Mr. Dew’s new blogtemplate for me!. I will have to check that in detail.

Interesting is the raising amount of Safari for Windows users to my blog, and I can gurantee you it displays there (tested it myself) and even does with IE6 (tested too) just IE5.5 and below is a problem, but nobody uses that anymore.

My Swicki Search tags do not display in Sarafi now but I received an email from them telling me thy are working on fixing this!

Thanks to all again for being involved, including my steady readers and fans 🙂

Technorati Tags: blog, BlogRush
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Just figured that a new version of RealVNC is out which is supposed to be optimized especially for 64bit and Windows Vista: version 4.3. But not the free open source version, only the commercial personal and enterprise version.

The free version is still version 4.1 and is available for download here.

Technorati Tags: 64bit, Vista, Windows, VNC, X64, network
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I am more than happy that GMail is not my primary email address. Reason for this is not only the bad customer support and the lack of interest regarding fraud reports by its users, but also the security problems.

A blogger found one and made it public. The blog post can be read here.
Think twice to use something as your primary email that is still in beta even (since 2004!) and made Blogger flushing down the toilet.

Orkut isn’t better even.

You think I complain a lot? I only want bugs fixed, that is all. And replies to my emails.

Technorati Tags: Gmail, security
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I just read on the Orkut Blog that they just opened a Orkut Help Group which is even moderated and watched by the Orkut Team according to them:

“The orkut Help Group is a forum where the knowledgeable and the curious meet to discuss orkut. You can post about your favorite features, tell us your suggestions, and find out what others are saying. From complex questions to new features to bug fixes, anyone can post a question or response on an innumerable array of topics. Think of it as one big orkut community: It’s a one-stop shop for you to visit and share your comments about orkut with everyone.

An especially nice thing about the help group is that you can get an answer in minutes or hours by anyone in the know, instead of having to wait in the huge queue of email messages our team sifts through each day. You’d be surprised at how helpful you all are to each other. In fact, we’ve got a group of volunteer helpers who have proved to be both expert orkut users and super-helpful question-answerers called”orkuteers.” These folks are on hand to take almost any question you could have. In addition to learning from and sharing with others, you’ll also see friendly orkut Guides (look for the cool Guide logo on our posts). Guides are Google employees who pop in to monitor the action, answer questions, tell you new features, and follow up on problems and bug reports.”

I already sent tons of emails, airmail letters to Orkut and even made my problem public, but aapart from yadda-yadda emails I got no help, no fix from Orkut!

Now this is my last (maybe in vain?) try to get the Orkut Team fixing my problem. I have written my problem in the How Do I? section, with hope to get a working Orkut again!

Technorati Tags: Orkut, support
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Just like the Trio, I also got a Logitech Ulta Vision also kindly contributed by AmprerorDirect

This is at the moment the top-notch webcam model from Logitech. This one is even more expensive than the QuickCam Orbit MP and features a few advantages lika 5-lens-techniuqe which offers clearer picture.

I have to admit the picture is really more clearer and the same video effects like for the Orbit MP are also there and they even work better! I could even wear a beard and it would not misdetect it as a mouth unlike other webcams with this feature! So the face recognization works much better even in bad light conditions!.

Another plus is the improvement of RightLight technology so it can be even darker around me and it still looks rather good!
However this causes a delay and I cannot switch off the white control that causes this delay. No chance!

The QuickCam controlling software allows users to use multiple webcams so I can switch between the two and use them without a hassle!
Despite the fact the webcam has no tilt, the controlling function is not disabled eventhough it should be.

Another thing I do not like is the fact that the record control LED on the Orbit MP stops working if the Ultra Vision is connected (I already sent a bug report regarding this to Logitech).

The clip holding is also great and fits perfectly to the frame of my ViewSonic VX924!

The rest is like for the Orbit MP.

Pros:

+Very clear picture
+Better RightLight2 technology
+Has 2 shortcut buttons for snapshop and quick test
+perfect and very stable holding for monitor frames
+Improved face recocnization thanks to better lenses and RightLight2
+Video Effects are supported

Cons:
-Conflicts a little with Orbit MP on the same computer (software bug which will be fixed)
-Movement delays in dark enviroment, cannot be switched off under certain circumstances.

Technorati Tags: QuickCam Ultra Vision, VX924
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UPDATE: The CD has been renamed to “Poke20” the producent Mano Scherpbier told me today in an email.

“.. We have also a new myspace site: www.myspace.com/poke20″

The C64 Orchestra sent me another email today (newsletter!) saying that the audio CD is due to be out on November, 12th. So they didn’t make it with June.

Here is what they wrote:

“From: “Mano Scherpbier_ON”
To:
Subject: C64 orchestra Release at 12 november 2007
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:20:26 +0200

After massive response we got from fans all over the world, the BIG
question is: when will the cd be released? We release the cd called RUN
10 at 12 November 2007………it’s a limited release and it’s gonna be
a great piece of art! Not only the artwork is something else, but it is
a 2 cd’s release with on the first one the c64 orchestra recordings and
on the second cd the original c64 music tunes, interviews, live footage
and more.
But most important, on RUN 10 we will be releasing zip files from the
c64 orchestra recordings of Monty ON the Run. This allows you to make
your own remix, using the separate tracks of the ensemble. Send us the
remixes you have made and this will be the start of the new cd called
RUN 20. This cd will have the 20 most outstanding remixes we got back
from you.
After RUN 10 is released we will upload more zipped recordings of the
orchestra to our website.

Our record company is: Rounder Europe www.continental.nl
and we are powered by: NCRV, Dutch public
broadcaster www.ncrv.nl

Check for more information : www.myspace.com/c64orchestra”

Technorati Tags: Old computer games, orchestra
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