19 May 2006

Problems playing video clips?

Having problems playing files like AVI? Here are some things you can try out:
  • Download the codecs from Cucusoft
  • Reinstall the P2P program (e.g. BitComet) then try redownloading the files
  • Try other torrent websites like TorrentSpy and read the comments for any codec details
  • Try a media player such as VLC Media Player
  • Try running a Hash Check on the downloaded torrents when complete
  • Try a different media player except VLC, WMP, Real and QuickTime
  • Or... the files are corrupted. Some files that people upload are 'blank' or 'dead', as in they contain nothing. Bad luck.

    13 May 2006

    Bad week for Technology

    The past few weeks have shown me that technology doesn't always work like it should.
  • Firstly, I tried writing some ruddy DVDs using an external hard drive I borrowed from a good friend. But the discs wouldn't write properly. So now I've gotta figure out if it was the DVDs themselves, the software writing them or the files. For the meantime, I need to but some more blank DVDs!
  • The smartcard system in the Kid's Club wasn't working for 2 days last week.
  • A copy of The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King, which I tried watching with my family, went all jittery only half an hour through the film! Will be watching a proper rented copy this weekend instead.
  • My ICT teacher left a USB flash disc drive inside one of his laptops, put the laptop in the case, and it's now broken his USB drive so all the coursework marks are gone!
  • Instructions I gave to a friend a couple of days ago about how to tell Internet Explorer not to diconnect after a few idle minutes weren't the same procedure he could get to on his computer - so I will have to go round there today and fix it for him.
  • Now my urge to hit a computer is rising!!! or I might just throw it out the window instead! GRR!

    REVISION!

    People, start being serious, please! These are your f***ing exams here! This is your ruddy future!
    Please stop thinking about getting drunk, going on holiday or thinking about the future - 'cause you won't have one if you don't do some bluddy revision!
    Now it's time for me to go and do some too :) I will also take advantage of staying after school in the LRC to revise.

    starletwrote:
    good policy but you could say it in a nice rway couldnt you . good on you that you take youre gcse's seriously. good luck!
    June 3 | Delete

    Paper Round

    I'm possibly thinking of quitting my paper round cause:
    Nature is killing me! The summer has brought along a hoard of snails, slugs any other slimy bugs ; flies and wasps flying all over the ruddy place and I keep walking into spider's webs!!! GGRRRR!!!
    Plus, I have my exams coming up. Don't really want it to interrupt my revision or important sleep.
    I have to wait til next weekend though cause my boss isn't back for another week because he's on holiday. Ha!
    But the things I would miss would be, of course, the money, which I haven't spent any of it yet!; and also everyone I see on my round who make it just that bit more worth it :D Okay, so I see loads of cats too but I don't care about them much!

    College

    I have finally managed to go to a Harlow College Open Evening that wasn't on my birthday.
    From what I could work out, the people were really helpful and the whole evening was really good. They seem like a really good college to study at. Just one problem though: what courses should I do?
    I got a copy of their prospectus and ticked the AS levels I was interested in. I sorta came up with Applied I.T., Art, then maybe English and Maths as I enjoy those subjects well. I also found out they they do a BTEC National Diploma in I.T., so I thought this could get interesting.
    Really what I want to do is IT (or "ICT"). I am just completely sure I want to do this subject, but I'm not really sure about giving up some of my other subjects. So I talked to one of the Open Evening staff and she suggested, that if I like Art, English Lang/Lit and I.T. then I could be heading for a career in Journalism. Personally, this doesn't sound too bad, but not exactly eveything I hoped for anyway.
    When I found my way to the I.T. department (btw they have LOADS of computers at this college, I mean LOADS, and they have a good bunch of Macs as well :), the lady said that I might be interested in doing the BTEC I.T. course, which counts as 3 A Levels. She said to read the info book (which I will at some point during my revision), which says the BTEC is much more design and development of different projects, while the A Level is basically everything I already know (Office Applications, HTML etc.). So now I'm stuck.
    My mum was talking to my uncle (big computer software company guy, really big company he owns), who said that I would be better doing the A Levels... but I suppose we'll find out. He also said to do Business Studies - he started his own business and is now a millionaire - but I think I should still stick with my own choices and opinions.
    He also said, when it may come to the time, that I may be working for his company (I worked there in Surrey for Work Experience to get away from home) or he might be able to get some work for me
    My ICT teacher has also offered me some website development that could get me some money after the exams... and so has my art teacher! What a lucky guy I am!

    9 May 2006

    Experience, Risk, Life

    Have tried... disecting a heart - very funny lol
    Have not tried... smashing up a computer!!!
    But I can still practice here!

    7 May 2006

    CHAIN MAIL - isn't it just a pain in the neck?!

    A bit of advice to everyone out there: PLEASE DO NOT PASS ON CHAIN MAILS!!!
    How to identify a chain mail:
  • The message will have a lot of people in the "To" line of the header, meaning that it has been forwarded.
  • The message will be about MSN closing down, asking you to pass it on to keep it alive. MSN IS NOT CLOSING DOWN - THE CHAIN MAIL IS A LIE!!! There are also messages about MSN charging for using its services. Rubbish.
  • The message will start off with a story about someone you don't know. If you skip to the bottom of the email, there will usually be a threat that will either be an eternal curse on you or it says it will stop something good from happening to you. THIS IS NOT TRUE. The examples of people talked about in the messages are FICTICIOUS (not real).
  • The message might say that if you send it on then something will appear on your screen. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN!!! If it does then either something really weird is wrong with your computer or someone has just hacked your computer and is taking control of it.
  • What happens if you just delete chain mail as soon as you get it:
  • You can save loads of time reading or doing something else better with your life than reading stupid messages.
  • It saves memory in your inbox.
  • You won't ever find out what the threat is so there's no need to feel worried about it.
  • Everyone is happy and so are all your contacts because you chose not to send it on to them.
  • SO PLEASE - JUST DELETE THOSE CHAIN MAILS!!!

    6 May 2006

    If you haven't seen it by now...

    Deal or No Deal is the best game show ever!
    The risks that people have to take are just so emotional - it is brilliant watching this show!
    Morris on today's show was just so close to getting the £250,000 - I would have dealt at £101,000 'cause its better than going away with £20,000 but not as bad as losing the big 250k. But he went away with no regrets anyway - 20k is still much better than many others have done on this game before! Phew!
    IMDb also have a good section on here. You can also check out the messageboards or play the game online.

    4 May 2006

    IE7

    The Internet Explorer Beta 2 is out for download!
    Visit the homepage and download it now! http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
    There are loads of differences with it, except from what I have tried out myself
  • It loads pages as fast as Firefox does
  • It has more security for anti-phishing
  • The tabbed browsing works quite well
  • The Zoom function (a la Opera) works good as well
  • The rearranged toolbars are ruddy annoying!!!
  • I haven't used the Search Toolbar yet
  • A free RSS reader!
  • The HTML engine works pretty much the same as was in Internet Explorer 6 (when I checked it was still working on my website). The only differences I have found are that hidden [a] anchors with a hover colour CSS do actually change the hover colour now. This includes [a name="#"]; and the underline:dotted attribute is now more dotted than dashed.
  • Internet Explorer 7 is protected against some new recent threats that only affect IE6 like "CreateTextRange()"