Internet Download Manager and Google Chrome: Getting it right

I'm loving both IDM and Google Chrome, but they just don't seem to go well together. There are frequent crashes and the lack of a context menu in Chrome is putting people off a bit. IDM integrates far better with Firefox.

But you can get pretty close anyway.

Crash-B-Gone

UPDATE: IDM 6.xx is no longer in beta. You can grab the final version now.

First off, grab a copy IDM 6.xx beta. This resolves most (if not all) the crashes regarding IDM integration with Chrome. I've been using it and never had any crashes since.

If you choose to use the stable version instead, then disable advanced browser integration inside IDM options. However this will force you to manually insert the URL into IDM.

Right-click to download

Next install DM-Bridge extension into Chrome. This is pretty much like FlashGot for Firefox, or oGet for Opera. You need to configure it first before using it. Don't worry, it's pretty simple.

UPDATE: Alternatively, you can use Download Helper by Google. It's simpler than DM-Bridge, but only supports the most popular downloaders. For now you can't even use a custom downloader, unlike DM-Bridge.

And that's pretty much it.

Belkin F5D8053 v3xxx Driver CD

I own the Belkin F5D8053 Wireless N USB adapter, and it does the job. However, I find out that the drivers provided online doesn't really work well.

Driver version 2.0.0.4 & 2.0.0.8
Driver version 2.0.0.12

So I uploaded a copy of the driver CD image, which works well with me. Keep in mind that there are several versions of the F5D8053, and this one is for v3xxxx.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xtfej1c6nvk1q7q

Well if all the drivers you find doesn't work (including from the ISO provided here), the F5D8053 is based on Ralink RT2870 chipset. This means you can find the driver for RT2870 instead.

ISO files can be burned into CD, mounted on a virtual drive, or extracted using softwares like WinRAR or 7-Zip.

Comparison: Gaming Mice Under RM150

UPDATE: I ended up buying the first Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse for RM140. Plenty of cool features for such a price, such as changeable feet (plastic/half-teflon/teflon) and weight tuning.

After the death of my old CRT monitor a few months ago, another problem came in: my 3 years old A4Tech X6-60D Glaser mouse refused to work properly anymore. The cables were frayed (I suspect aging and hyperactive kittens biting them) and the left-click button doesn't work. While the double-click button still works, living without a proper left-click button is definitely not cool.

So I'm doing a little research on the options for a gaming mice under RM150, since I'm pretty much a gamer myself, and I have limited funds. So here goes the list:

• Logitech MX518 (RM83, Jayacom)
• Microsoft Sidewinder X3 (RM89, CZone)
• SteelSeries Kinzu (RM79, PC Zone)
• Razer Salmosa (RM69, Cycom)
• Razer Abyssus (RM119, Cycom)

All of them got positive reviews everywhere, but the thing is a good mouse is rather subjective. I tend to prefer weighty, medium-to-large sized mouse that suits my dual palm/finger grip style. I've got the excellent Razer Goliathus Speed Standard Edition, so the surface is no longer a concern.

Logitech MX518

Dimensions (L x W x H): 130 x 70 x 36 mm

This is by far the most recommended mouse, and I can see why. It's priced at RM80-90, while it offers 8-buttons, 1800 DPI sensitivity, on-the-fly DPI switching and some really wide feet. Build quality is said to be very good too. The only thing that puts me off is the ugly holographic dents. Some said its going to be a selling point (as if they were bullet dents, so its cool) but to me it's just plain ugly. It should look better with glossy plastic or soft rubber instead. The huge logo was also kinda cheesy. A smaller logo should give an exclusive look.

Microsoft Sidewinder X3

Dimensions (L x W x H): 120 x 70 x 40 mm

I tried this mouse before, and I kinda liked it. While the price is similar to Logitech's MX518, it gives you 5-buttons, 2000 DPI sensitivity, on-the-fly DPI switching and wide Teflon feet. The three buttons behind the scroll wheel is the DPI switch, each can be assigned to a preferable DPI setting. The design might be too plain for some, but to me this is superb. No cheesiness here. The 5-buttons should be enough for me, but for those who want 7 or more, then get the MX518. The Sidewinder X3 lacks the BlueTrack technology of their brothers though.

SteelSeries Kinzu

Dimensions (L x W x H): 117 x 64 x 36 mm

SteelSeries is a new player in the gaming market, compared to Razer and Logitech. Being the least known brand here, there aren't many reviews about it. The Kinzu is a very basic mouse; it only has 3 buttons. But it offers 3200 CPI (for Counts Per Inch, basically its just DPI), slip-resistant coating, braided cables, and a comfortable grip (they say).

Razer Salmosa

Dimensions (L x W x H): 115 x 63 x 37 mm

Like the Kinzu, the Salmosa is a basic mouse with only 3 buttons. It offers 1800 DPI sensitivity, the excellent 3G sensor, and DPI switches underneath the mouse. It is designed for the finger grip so its kinda light and small. Design-wise, it looks really plain although the coating does a little justice to it. I heard there was two versions, the regular and the mini. I guess what I saw in Low Yat is the mini, because it looks kinda small. Like 70mm long I guess.

Razer Abyssus

Dimensions (L x W x H): 115 x 63 x 40 mm

The looks is certainly a winner among all the mice here, especially the Mirror Edition. Otherwise, it's just a beefed up Salmosa. It offers 3500 DPI on the 3.5G sensor, and like the Salmosa, DPI switches are underneath the mouse. The size is just about the same as the Salmosa. The pricing is a bit steep for what is offers though.

That said, please don't take this as a review. These are merely my early impressions, and is subject to change. As I said earlier, a good mouse is rather subjective. I'm going to test all these mice for comfort, but it's likely I'm going to pick up either the Logitech MX518 or the Microsoft Sidewinder X3.

Anti reCAPTCHA for JDownloader

UPDATE: I've noticed that this article gets quite a lot of hits, but for now it seems that this Anti reCAPTCHA isn't working for the current version, 0.2f, ever since reCAPTCHA updated. Still, just check if the author has an update that works, or a workaround, and let me know in the comments. Lord Inglip sure is powerful enough against this system.

UPDATE 2: There is an alternative method called CaptchaTrader (thanks for the comment James). Head to my new post for more information.

UPDATE 3: Apparently the original author didn't seem to be updating this anymore. However this project has been taken over by SONY-TEAM, and does seem to work. Here is the real link: http://antirecaptcha.com/. Other links such as "http://www.anti-recaptcha.com/" is most likely fake and tries to rip off unsuspecting users.

If you're a download maniac, you should have at least heard about JDownloader. If not, then you're not downloading enough. It automates your downloads from various file sharing services, so you don't have to babysit your downloads, such as waiting times, typing in CAPTCHAs, etc. As the name hints, you'll need Java (JRE or JDK) to run it.

Download JDownloader

The annoying thing about downloading a lot of stuff from these file sharing services is that they imply A LOT OF LIMITATIONS unless you buy a premium account. That includes typing in reCAPTCHAs, an anti-bot system. While JDownloader automates most of the stuff, it can't really decipher these reCAPTCHAs. You still have to do this manually.

But hey, some German programmer built an anti reCAPTCHA system, just for JDownloader. And while it doesn't work all the time, it will retry until it gets it right. So you can really leave JDownloader to do it's dirt.

Download anti reCAPTCHA

This thing runs on PHP, so you'll need Visual C++ Redistributable 2008 (vcredist2008) installed.

But still, I got CLI (which is php.exe) error. After realizing that php.exe caused the error, I tried replacing it (as well as other related PHP files) with a newer version from 5.3.1 to 5.3.3 (VC9 Thread Safe). And it works! Now I can walk away with my downloads running happily.

Note that I didn't really install PHP, I simply copied the file with same names in the antirecaptcha folder from the downloaded zip file.

Download PHP 5.3.3

Well I've already informed to the author about this, and he said he'll update it by the end of the week. So you don't have to go through all the trouble I had just now.

Should work best with FileServe, but I heard there were problems with other file sharing sites that use reCAPTCHA. I only tried it with FileServe though.

foobar2000 + Plugins = Awesomeness

foobar2000 is a lightweight audio player known for its extensive SDK. That means it has loads of plugins that pretty much makes it a popular choice among pedophiles audiophiles. The default interface might not be as pretty as MediaMonkey, Winamp, or even Windows Media Player, but it is no short of features.

Trust me, this is the best audio player for Windows. And it's free.

First off, you can grab a copy here: http://www.foobar2000.org/download

So it plays music. Nothing much special eh? Time to grab the plugins.

• Noise Sharpening -  Improves the clarity of the sound. The main reason why foobar2000 rocks. Hard.
• ALAC Decoder - Support for M4A files, which is usually downloaded from iTunes.
• ASIO Output - Allows foobar2000 to directly use the sound card, allowing bit-exact output. The sound card must support ASIO though.
• WASAPI Output - Allows bit-exact output and mutes other sounds. Only works on Vista SP1 and above.
• Audioscrobbler - Tells Last.fm the song you're playing in foobar2000. This will allow Last.fm to generate a web radio designed specifically for you.
• Last.fm Radio - Allows you to play your generated Last.fm radio in foobar2000.
• Soft Playlists - Also allows you to play Last.fm playlists.
• Win 7 Shell Integration - Adds Windows 7 taskbar features, such as progress indicators, player controls, jumplists, etc.
• CUE Playlist Filter - Prevents duplicate songs from showing up, caused by playlists. Also removes lost references.

These are my recommended plugins. If you want more, you can check out these websites:

http://www.foobar2000.org/components

http://foosion.foobar2000.org/components/

Oh, and if you're a bit clueless on how to install:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Foobar2000:How_to_install_a_component

These plugins generally must be configured before use, so check the preference page first. For example, Noise Sharpening must be activated in the DSP preference.

If you can't live with that interface, well there is an alternate interface called Columns UI. Much more customizable, although it can be quite tricky. Some of them might even require older versions of foobar2000, since some components are outdated. You can take a stroll here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=63984

http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/?q=foobar2000

So that's about it. Have fun customizing.

Unboxing the Samsung SyncMaster BX2231 LED Monitor

My ol' CRT monitor blew up some time ago (like a month already?) prompting me to to get a replacement. Well, it's kinda sad since I loved that monitor despite being huge, have a standard aspect ratio (4:3), and needs some kind of workaround every time I shut it down. On the bright side, color reproduction is excellent, doesn't struggle in bright light, minimal reflections, no dead pixels, no ghosting, looks great even on low resolutions, and a far better viewing angle. But all of that would be useless if you can't really turn it on anymore.

So after a week or so of surveying, I put my prime target on Samsung SyncMaster EX2220X LED Monitor. However, as I arrived at Plaza Low Yat, I can't find it anymore (except for one last shop). Taking a look at the current pricelists, I found a model with almost similar yet better specifications, but pricier: the Samsung SyncMaster BX2231 LED Monitor.

I've set a few criteria for the new monitor:

• It must have good color reproduction (since I do graphics and photo editing)
• Should be at least as high as my old 17" monitor
• Have a resolution of at least 1920 x 1080 (higher than 1024 pixels high)
• Have DVI or HDMI inputs (D-Sub is muddy for LCDs)
• No speakers (that would add up costs and I already have a good pair)
• A response time of at least 5ms (to prevent ghosting)
• LED display (so that the contrast would be higher)

Having said that, the BX2231 meets and even exceeds these criteria. It's a 21.5" LED monitor, have a resolution of 1920 x 1080, have two HDMI inputs, no speakers, and a response time of 2ms. I've seen the demo model in the store and color reproduction seems good, just like most Samsung monitors I found.

Now the unboxing.

The box

Contents inside the box. You can see cables and the monitor itself in their wrappings.

D-Sub cable

DVI to HDMI cable

Manual, warranty, microfiber cloth, driver CD, power cable

DC adapter

The monitor outside the white wrappings

Monitor inputs. Note the two HDMI slots and an audio out jack.

Monitor stand

Monitor base with installation manual

Monitor base with stand

The assembled monitor

Uh, something missing? Yep, a HDMI cable. If you're planning on using that, ask your dealer whether it includes it or not before you go home. The manual indicates the optional parts are: a HDMI cable, a DVI cable, a HDMI to DVI cable, and a microfiber cleaning cloth.

So how does it work? Colors seem well done, contrast was superb, viewing angles are good enough and there is no ghosting whatsoever. The monitor can also adjust the aspect ratio automatically, so you won't get stretched displays. 

But I do have some gripes about it. The stand is not adjustable. But even worse is the touch sensitive panels. I'm not a fan of it for being too sensitive or not sensitive enough, and this monitor is no exception. Even the power button is touch sensitive. It doesn't work well enough for me, even though the menu is easy to use. Thankfully the bundled software allows you to adjust the monitor settings from within Windows, using your mouse and keyboard. Dynamic Contrast is pretty good, but you'll notice that whenever the monitor displays a lot of blacks, the brightness will go down automatically. I just use custom settings instead.

Overall, its a good monitor (until I find any more issues about it) and I'd be happy to recommend it. Just watch out for that touch sensitive panels.

Firefox 4 - Slim(mer) UI

UPDATE: Firefox 4 Beta 9 now has the "slim" title bar by default, making this post redundant. It also works seamlessly as well.

I liked Firefox 4 Beta 1... The simplified interface is kinda clean. But many noticed that there were just too many redundant pixels lying around, taking up your browser space. Thankfully, there was a hack that trims down all that unused space, thanks to the guys at DownloadSquad, who took the hack from another guy, who also took it from another guy. We'll go step by step, with my own modified code.

1. Locate your Profile directory -- click Help > Troubleshooting Information then Open Containing Folder
2. Now navigate to the Chrome directory
3. Copy userChrome-example.css into the same folder
4. Rename your copy to userChrome.css
5. Open userChrome.css with Notepad (or your text editor of choice) and dump the following code in it:

#appmenu-button-container {

position: fixed !important;

}

#appmenu-button {

padding: 3px 5px 3px 5px !important;

margin-left:5px !important;

}

#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {

padding-left: 83px !important;

padding-right:112px !important;

}

#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] menubar{

padding-left: 85px !important;

}

#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="false"] #TabsToolbar {

padding-left: 5px !important;

padding-right:5px !important;

}

#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="false"] {

padding-top: 24px !important;

}

Save it and restart Firefox. It should look like the screenshot posted above. Note that the hack isn't complete; it might break under certain conditions, but for the most of it, I think there won't be many problems.

Should you want to revert back to the original interface, simply delete userChrome.css.

Free Games for Cheap Bastards

I know, a lot of you guys were waiting for newer games to be released, and might just end up buying pirated copies. But there are a few games which are totally free, and doesn't play too bad either. Either way, they can serve as time killers before you get the next game to play. So here goes the listing:

Alien Swarm

This is a new game developed by Valve using the Source engine. It features a top-down view to navigate around the levels, blasting away hostile aliens with 4 player co-op. Valve may haven't mentioned this but it might have something to do with Team 17's Alien Breed series, which is very, very similar.

Oh, being a Valve game, it requires Steam to be installed. And no, it has no relation to Ben 10.

Half Life 2: Deathmatch

This is the missing multiplayer component of Half Life 2. It plays almost exactly like the original Half Life multiplayer game, but with Half Life 2 weapons and maps. The game is multiplayer only, but you can install bots if you like. Oh, you can play as Combine as well.

This is a limited time offer, although I think I've seen this on since last year. ATI users click here and NVIDIA users click here to get it. Again, you'll need Steam to download it.

Frets on Fire X

Basically its an open source Guitar Hero/Rock Band clone, which is also a modification of the original Frets on Fire. Available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Don't be alarmed with the very bare theme when you start it up; the game is highly customizable with themes support, some mimicking Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

And the game doesn't actually come with songs. You will need to download the songs in order to play it. While it might sound like bummer, this way you don't actually have to download the songs that you don't want to play, saving bandwidth. A large collection can be found in the wiki for various songs and Geetar Freaks for songs from Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

The coolest part of this game is probably that it is played by holding the keyboard like a guitar, or maybe just the awesome Jurgen from the tutorial ;)

-------------------------------

So that caps off my post today, I might be posting more shortly. Stay tuned.

Firefox 4 Beta 1 - Interfaces...

Seems like Mozilla is feeling the heat from its competitors, especially the rapidly growing Google Chrome. As a result, we get to have an early (albeit long-awaited) preview of Firefox 4. Almost two weeks out, I still stick to Google Chrome.

Mostly, it's because the new UI seems to mess up with my copy of Windows 7 x64, terribly. There is no Aero interface, the buttons become very weird when I hide the bookmarks toolbar, and the close, minimize, and maximize buttons were all missing. Well, understandably its a beta release, so Mozilla should be squashing out these bugs for the next release.

Just look how ugly it is.

If you tried it, you might notice there is a Feedback add-on installed with Firefox 4 beta. I think its a good addition, it will be easier for users to provide feedback. However, for now, slightly more than half of feedbacks are Sad (Feedbacks are divided into Happy or Sad). Hopefully Mozilla will take notice of this and build a better browser in the future :D

Oh, and you can view the current feedbacks here: https://input.mozilla.com/

Earlier I mentioned my UI messed up badly. So just being curious, I downloaded the nightly build of Firefox, codenamed Minefield. Minefield is currently version 4 Pre Beta 2. It appears to run fine on my PC, showing the correct UI. And surprisingly, it even fixed my Firefox 4 Beta 1! So yeah, maybe I'll go back and try Firefox 4 again, properly.

Now that looks right.

UPDATE: I finally know the cause of the UI mess; Strata40 theme. While both Firefox 3.6.6 and Firefox 4 Beta 1 (and Minefield 4 Pre Beta 2) are independent installations, they share the same settings. Strata40 is designed for Firefox 3.5+ to mimic the look of Firefox 4 (based on early mockups) and should be used with StrataBuddy. The similarities between Strata40 and the default theme for Firefox 4 caused the confusion. Currently Strata40 is not compatible with Firefox 4. The only way to fix it is to use the default theme, both in Firefox 3.5+ and Firefox 4.

Gforum, Reborn

In case you didn't notice, Gforum has been nuked by Gempakstarz's site admins. In other words, no more Gforum. The reason behind this is probably because Facebook has took over most of the regular contributors in Gforum, leaving it deserted most of the time.

And so the remains of the forum, seeking refuge in the form of a Facebook group and also an IRC channel.

Fret no more, as a user called Volvagia356 decides to host a proper forum for us, marking the birth of Gforum Mark 2. Many thanks to him. Currently the forum isn't really organized yet, and we are in the process of rebuilding the community as well as setting up the rules.

Note: Volvagia356 never did join the original Gforum; we get to know him mainly through the IRC channel.

And as of the birth of Gforum Mark 2 (I'll refer this as /mkii/ from here), we are no longer associated with Gempakstarz. And currently Techrangers do not exist in /mkii/. We'll see about that in the future.

The Firefox 4.0 Experience: Strata40 For Firefox 3.6+

UPDATE: Firefox 4 Beta is out. Check it out here.

I am a Chrome user, since Chrome 3. It's minimalistic design and simplicity sets the new standard of how a browser should be. And lately other browsers seem to follow the trend, minimizing the toolbars and maximizing space for the web page itself, as they realized that people just want to surf the Internet, not marveling at what the browser can do with buttons and widgets filling up the top.

So we've seen mockup themes for Firefox 4.0, looking cleaner and less intrusive with the Aero interface for a sense of elegance. Firefox 4.0 seems to be quite a long way ahead (scheduled for November 2010), but we can get approximately the same look now with Strata40, for Firefox 3.6+.

Strata40 screenshot on Windows 7

The theme must be at least coupled with StrataBuddy, which gives you some extra features planned for Firefox 4.0, such as the App Button and the Aero interface (XP users can use the Default/Luna/Royale/Silver interface). Either way, the theme looks very much at home with Firefox, that people can mistake it as the new official theme.

For a fuller experience, install Fission, Tab Progress Bar, and App Tabs as well. Fission gives you the streamlined progress bar under the URL bar, and Tab Progress Bar gives you the progress bar on top of the tabs, both with the help of StrataBuddy. Should it not look like the one in the screenshot above, go to Theme Options (its inside the orange App Button), look under Misc, and check the Progress lines. You may need to disable and re-enable Tab Progress bar in order to get the right look. App Tabs allows you to pin favicon sized tabs, which saves tab space and quite handy for frequently opened websites. It is also a proposed function in Firefox 4.0.

I put on a few more configurations to make it look better (and less intrusive). I've removed the Menu Bar (the App Button replaces it), Bookmarks Toolbar (I don't use it), and the Home button (replaced by the Home tab). Other than that, most configurations are available inside the Theme Options. Go and experiment.

So far I've been using this theme, it doesn't slow down Firefox. Even if they do, its not really noticeable. My verdict? Recommended.

Also: Strata40 Lite to retain compatibility with some other extensions, as Strata40 is known to break compatibility with some extensions. Should be coupled with AeroBuddy for the Aero interface.

Goodbye Jaunty, Hello Lucid

A couple of days ago, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, codenamed Lucid Lynx, finally hits final release. Seeing it as an LTS (Long Term Support) release, I decided to give it a try. Besides, Lucid looks kinda slick compared to the previous versions, thanks to the new default theme, Ambiance. So I waved my old Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) goodbye, and welcomed Lucid. Installation was pretty smooth and quick, things were up and running in less than 30 minutes.

Among the first things I've noticed is the new theme, which has a dark color scheme. It's a welcome change over the old Human theme, which is mundane brown. Another change is the buttons for maximize, minimize, and close are now placed on the left side, similar to Mac OS X. It might be the most controversial change ever in Lucid, but I have no problems with it. I'm pretty much used to both Mac and Windows, so either way it doesn't feel too awkward. Give it some time and pretty much anyone can get used to it.

The old Human theme (Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope)

The new Ambiance theme (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx)

Add that with Compiz Fusion and it cool enough to put Windows to shame.

Another change is Empathy now replaces Pidgin as it's IM client. I thought I'm going to complain on this at first, but after trying it out, I think it kinda rocks. Its very similar to Pidgin, setting up the accounts were easy, and the buddy list is just as identical to Pidgin. The interface too was simplified yet feels more polished. It even supports Facebook Chat, one up over Pidgin (although Pidgin can connect to Facebook Chat through a plugin or the XMPP protocol).

A not so new addition is the Ubuntu Software Center, introduced in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. It basically helps users, especially those who were new to Linux OS, to manage and install software for Ubuntu. The Synaptic Package Manager is still there, but is sure to cause headaches to beginners.

Even with all the oh-so-cool improvements, I still find some downsides. First is a bug in Gwibber which doesn't allow me to add my Facebook account. How sad. Otherwise I can just look at my notifications through the desktop. It appears that I'm the only one who is having this problem though. Second is that Lucid still can't play proprietary audio formats out of the box, requiring us to download the necessary plugins. But come to think about that again, even Windows doesn't have all the codecs for common formats out of the box. So in goes VLC media player. Saves a lot of trouble.

And finally, the last complaint is about Linux distros being too reliant to an Internet connection. Without a good Internet connection, it's painful to work on Ubuntu, such as installing softwares. In fact I can hardly imagine having Ubuntu working without the Internet. So yeah, please do make it offline-friendly as well, as the Internet doesn't actually reach every computer in the world.

But alas, Lucid Lynx is a great OS. I've installed a few extra stuffs of my own, such as Flash Player, Adobe Reader, and Google Chrome, and it's working pretty well so far. A few downsides still won't hinder me, and who knows if Ubuntu will really get its place among beginners finally. The Terminal isn't something a beginner would be brave enough to fiddle around, so they would need something more graphical to aid them. I'll be looking forward to see what else will Ubuntu offer in the future :D

Celebrating Birthday with BSODs and Risking a Deep Fired GPU

March 8th, 2010 marks my 20th birthday. No cakes or whatsoever, since I don't actually find celebrating my own birthday to be something significant. The day just passed on normally, although I do get the occasional wishes as I meet people. And my Facebook page got stormed that day with all those wishes, rapidly filling up my wall. I'd appreciate all those wishes even if I don't give a damn.

Instead here, right on that day the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) makes an appearance on my PC for the first time since I've upgraded to Windows 7. Given the clue, 0x0000007f, I found out that the culprit was the new ZoneAlarm firewall I just installed on 7th. The previous COMODO Firewall appears to be too paranoid even at relatively low security settings that it often interrupts whatever I'm doing. Windows Firewall seems to be the main target for hackers, so I need an alternative. But as I found out that ZoneAlarm has issues with Windows 7 x64, I'll have to revert to Windows Firewall.

At first I thought it was the NVIDIA driver 196.75, which is reported to cause malfunctioning within the cooling fans, ultimately leading to some deep fried GPUs. I installed it right on the day it was released, and the next day my classmate came to deliver the news about the driver. Way more horrifying than all those horror movies I've seen (they failed to give me a real scare), I immediately downgraded to 196.21. I was pretty lucky as my roommate played Dark Sector on my PC with 196.75, and nothing bad happens. Still, can't risk frying my own 9600GT. Guess I've learnt here not to try new stuff on day one. Try it on day ten instead.

Two days later comes those BSODs which horrifies me, given the scary news. But a sigh of relief since I don't have to crack any more money for a new graphic card, and all is well now. Revo wasn't so lucky though, his 8800GT fried, but for a different reason. Probably going for GF100 this time.

Why can't I copy files larger than 4GB into my thumbdrive?

In today's era of broadband, high quality multimedia content and huge storage capacities, single files reaching gigabytes wasn't uncommon. So it comes to the occasional need to transfer these large files via thumbdrives, flashdrives, pendrives– whateveryacallit.

And Windows simply gives you an error similar to this: "Not enough space in drive G:\". Oddly enough, you obviously have more than enough space, sometimes even double the available space. What the–

For the impatient, here's how you fix it:

1. Backup all the files inside the thumbdrive.
2. Right-click at the drive, and select Format...
3. Select file system as NTFS
   
4. Click start.

After formatting, you should be able to copy the large file into the thumbdrive. And remember to copy back the backup files, if you need it.

Now here comes the explanation. The default file system for thumbdrives are FAT32, which has a 4GB file size limit. NTFS, on the other hand, has a 16TB file size limit. For more detailed information, please visit your nearest wiki.

Another option is to select exFAT, however it will be unusable to Windows Vista before SP1, Windows XP before SP2 and update KB955704, Windows prior to XP, as well as devices other than PCs.