http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/category-148-mar. en 2007 NickR unknown_webmaster@acme.heaven 53.8481 -1.829 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:55:12 GMT Yet Another Community System http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 59 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-149-sumo.-software-update-monitor-for-windows. http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-149-sumo.-software-update-monitor-for-windows. I have just been looking at update monitors for windows. I am not interested in auto-update features (that is tools that can download and automatically install), just in the functionality to notify. Appget installed fine, but when I ran the first scan, I found it listed lots of pre-release software which I was not prepared to download/install. There was also a few false positives and missed a few apps. The gui was not easy to use and lots of missing download links for updates. UpdateStar did not install correctly, it installed in my profile/appdata folder, which is ... more NickR Blog Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:17:00 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-149-sumo.-software-update-monitor-for-windows.#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/149 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/149 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A149 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-147-the-guardian-ditches-phorm http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-147-the-guardian-ditches-phorm " UK liberal's newspaper of choice has now decided it does not want to be associated with Phorm. " From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/26/guardian_phorm_uturn/ " The withdrawl of the UK's most popular newspaper website* from its publisher network is a massive blow for Phorm and its investors, already bloodied by ferocious public opposition to involvement by BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse. " Well that is good news. Just need Virgin (my ISP) and the others to follow NickR Blog Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:36:00 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-147-the-guardian-ditches-phorm#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/147 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/147 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A147 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-146-linux-gnome-clearlooks-xp-theme-how-to http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-146-linux-gnome-clearlooks-xp-theme-how-to As much as I enjoy using both Windows XP and Linux desktops, I have always preferred Clearlooks, the default Gnome theme on Linux. After a quick Google, I found an outdated article (Linux-looking Themes on Windows XP). So here is my quick updated guide, using the latest tools and I managed to find an even better Clearlooks port. Clearlooks XP Theme. 1. Theme PatchingThe first thing that needs to be done is patch the themes service to allow unsigned themes. I used Uxtheme Multi-patcher 5.5. Simply download and install. You may need to reboot ... more NickR Blog Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:06:35 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-146-linux-gnome-clearlooks-xp-theme-how-to#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/146 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/146 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A146 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-145-phorm-is-illegal http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-145-phorm-is-illegal It has come to my attention that my ISP Virgin media will be participating in the phorm spying (IMHO) service. Not only has BT admitted to illegally trialling phorm, but government advisers has announced "Phorm is illegal", which in my expert opinion (as a Web Developer) I whole heartedly agree with. Badphorm is a good little site with info about the issue. There is some good commentary on slashdot: Some notes from the Phorm sales pitch and also a huge thread on the cable forum (best to skip to last page as over 90 pages long): Virgin ... more NickR Blog Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:28:32 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-145-phorm-is-illegal#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/145 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/145 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A145 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-144-windows-defragmentation-tools-review-in-progress http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-144-windows-defragmentation-tools-review-in-progress I have been working on a complex set of tests for a review I am putting together of 4 defragmentation tools. The aim of my tests are to benchmark defragmentation performance, refragmentation (both in terms of number of fragments AND performance). The tests are complex enough (and repeatable) to show how significant the differences between defragmentation tools AND I have also included a test without defragmentation as a baseline to highlight the significance of defragmentation in general. The results are rather clear, with the results clearly split down the middle. I am just finishing off a few ... more NickR Blog Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:09:13 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-144-windows-defragmentation-tools-review-in-progress#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/144 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/144 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A144 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-143-yacs-todo-list http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-143-yacs-todo-list Below is a list of tasks I am working on. Which I will convert into something more permanent when I have more spare time.I just thought I would share with you the kinda work I do in my spare time when I'm not with my friends and family, watching movies or on my motorbike. Image Gallery. I am working on this tonight and hope to have it finished tomorrow, I just have the templating to do. Defrag tool test. I have been testing a few defragmentation tools and have a few loose ends to finish off and write up my findings, which are very interesting indeed. www.ngr78.co.uk. I need to look at a new domain name and add a lot of images (which is one reason for me working on item 1 first), and start putting together some articles and better structuring my site (no content will be deleted). www.room42hairsalon.co.uk. A change in direction of Jen's hairdressing business requires a complete new site (but will be based on the cool YACS template I had 95% finished). www.angelofsin.co.uk. This is a big project, which requires their site converting to YACS and various cool features like video and music player integration (as well the gallery code I am writting) and I need to brush up on my graphic design skills, to produce a design for their website (and other media). Should make great use of YACS's configuration and flexibility in recreating the upcoming gigs pages and mini guide. ... more NickR Blog Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:32:13 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-143-yacs-todo-list#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/143 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/143 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A143 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-142-blog-money-traffic-moneytrafficblog http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-142-blog-money-traffic-moneytrafficblog As I previously mentioned, I wanted to take my blogging more seriously. So I am here to annouce the start of the www.moneytrafficblog.net project. I was pondering over a couple of issues. This site is not focused and I just use it for random content and thoughts. Also, when looking for information on google about how to improve my blog, I realised how many of the search results are junk, either people wanting to sell you their secrets, also lots of sites just ripping off other peoples content. I came up with an idea ... more NickR Blog Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:40:40 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-142-blog-money-traffic-moneytrafficblog#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/142 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/142 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A142 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-141-experimenting-with-advert-positioning http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-141-experimenting-with-advert-positioning I have currently tweaked the position of my Top and menu adverts. The top advert is now closer to the supposed hotspot (according to the google heatmap) The menu advert is now small and positioned to the center of the menu. I have also added a link bar across the top of the page. What I would like to know is what people think to the colouring and positioning of these adverts, if they are obtrusive or OK. Feel free to leave comments NickR Blog Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:17:34 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-141-experimenting-with-advert-positioning#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/141 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/141 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A141