dell mini 9 rebuild

Install windows and the drivers...

1. use USB_MultiBoot_10.cmd to prepare a usb thumb drive ( works with drives over 2GB in size ) download here. During this process the windows XP setup will be copied from the CD to the thumb drive
2. create a directory on the thumb drive called other-dell-drivers and copy the contents of the dell drivers CD into it.
3. create a directory on the thumb drive called other-dell-webcam and copy the contents of the dell webcam CD into it.
   
4. reboot mini 9 from thumb drive and start windows XP setup in text mode, partition disk and let it copy files over.
   
5. reboot mini 9 from thumb drive and then load windows in gui mode.
6. reboot mini 9 from thumb drive to finish.
7. navigate to the other-dell-drivers directory and run the AUTORCD.EXE, install drivers as required.
8. don't install the webcam software.
   

Tidy up the install by doing the following...

1. edit the boot.ini file to remove the "restore usb" startup option.
2. uninstall the bluetooth software, reboot, when the unknown hardware message appears point it to the DELL\drivers\R197396\Win32 directory
   
3. stop the loading of the RealTek utilities by using regedit to delete the relevent entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key space.
4. disable zip file viewing regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll
5. disable cab file viewing regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\cabview.dll
6. disable notification area balloon tips
7. install tweakUI and clear the desktop of icons
8. in the file manager set it to show file extensions
9. change view in the file manager and set as default for all folders
   

online video

TV listings guardian.com

Watch online : youtube.com, dailymotion.com, alloftv.net, peekvid.com and gupta.com

Save flash videos with this video downloader.

U.K. house prices

Find a house to buy at rightmove.co.uk, fish4.co.uk, propertyfinder.com, ononemap.com or home.co.uk.

Land registry data on the actual prices paid can be found at houseprices.co.uk or mouseprice.com.

To see price reductions checkout propertysnake.co.uk and to read speculation on the state of the market go to housepricecrash.co.uk.

a reversal in the dependency rate

Interesting piece in the new scientist podcast:

The dependent parts of the population are those under 16 and over, say, 65. Both parts are dependent on the working population. Children for food, schooling, clothing etc. The retired for pensions.

40 years ago there was a baby boom resulting in a high dependency rate. When the baby boomers started work we had a low dependency rate and now with them retiring we are returning to a high dependency rate. There has been a reversal in the dependency rate.

So why the big fuss about an ageing population when we managed alright 40 years ago with the same sort of dependency costs?

The podcast can be found here. A Office of National Statistics animated population estimates graph can be found here.

gps

Lots of reviews, advice and information at gpsinformation.net. UK speed camera data can be downloaded from pocketgpsworld.com for a small fee ( £2 for a one month subscription). Garmin 60CSx reviewed here and here.

junk mail and cold calls

Addressed junk mail
Opt out by going to www.mpsonline.org.uk or calling 0845 703 4599.

Unaddressed junk mail delivered by the post office
The Post Office distributes a quarter of the unaddressed junk mail. To opt out you need to phone 08457 950 950 and request a form or write to Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Outs, Royal Mail, Kingsmead House, Oxpens Road, Oxford, OX1 1RX

Cold calling
"Under Government legislation introduced on 1st May 1999 and replaced on 11th December 2003 by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, it is unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not want to receive such calls. You can either do this by contacting companies directly and asking them not to call you or you can register with a central register - the TPS." www.tpsonline.org.uk

Silent calls
There is also a "Silent Callgard Service" www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/news2.html

dcZip

dcZip is my freeware archiving program for zip/tar/gzip/bzip2/war/tgz files. To run it you need Java installed on your computer. Get Java for free here.



Download and installation instructions for dcZip.

1. Download dczip.jar to your computer. ( Use right click, save as... )
   
2. Start the application by double clicking on the 'dczip.jar'

Need a Windows icon for dcZip? Here it is dczip.ico . (Use right click, save as...)