Workaround for XP losing WiFi 802.11b connections

Wired News: Windows XP Bedevils Wi-Fi Users

• Go to Control Panel.
• Choose Administrative Tools.
• Select Services. A two-pane window comes up.
• In the right-hand pane, scroll down and click Wireless Zero Configuration.
• Click Stop the Service. A progress bar may come up briefly.
• Click Start the Service. Again, a progress bar may come up.
• Close the Services window. At this point, Fleishman said, the connection should come back.

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I suspect it's a problem with certain machine/PC card combinations.

Lookout: search Outlook email

Lookout email search for Microsoft Outlook - Lookout Software

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I may REALLY come to like this. It's early to tell and I'm using a beta 1.10 release version. It's only $30, free until release.

Things I like:

1. Very simple, but if you read the manual there's a nice search syntax available.
2. Very, very, fast indexing.
3. Complete control of what gets indexed across multiple PST files. Since I keep very little on the exchange server (makes Palm sync actually work instead of causing endless pain) this was critical to me.

Wow.

Tips on using firewire and USB drives

Panther FireWire Bug (Part 4)

Consider adding a hub, patch-panel, or additional Firewire or USB ports with a PCI card or PC Card, to provide a sacrificial connection. If a port on the hub, patch-panel, or PCI card goes bad, it is relatively simple and low-cost to replace it.

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A very good tip.

ConceptDraw for OS X and Windows: but what's the file format?

ConceptDraw is cross-platform software for creating professional-looking diagrams, flowcharts, orgcharts, schemes, and other technical and business drawing for Macintosh and Windows platforms

Macintouch: ConceptDraw 5.2 is a cross-platform flowchart and diagramming application that includes ConceptDraw Basic (a built-in scripting language). The new version features improved performance and enhanced XML for Visio import, with full support of well-formed Visio XML documents. ConceptDraw Standard is $149 (Professional $249) for Mac OS X 10.1.5 and up and Windows.

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Good import/export, but what the HECK is the native file format? It kills me that vendors don't tell us on page one if they have YAFF (yet another file format) or if they use something interesting (PDF, SVG, etc).

At last - a review of USB "thumb" drives

Ars Technica: USB 2.0 Hi-Speed drive review - Page 1 - (6/2003)

Reading this review, and thinking about how it's written, it's easy to understand why PC Magazine has a "wasting disease".

Of course, as always, nothing's designed for my needs. I'd like:

1. A place to write my name on the drive case so when people pass it around it gets back to me.
2. When one removes the cap, a way to quickly clip it to the base with a slender line so it doesn't get lost, but doesn't block things. The biggest pain with these devices is losing the cap.

SplashPhoto - Mobile Image Viewer for the Palm OS

SplashPhoto - Mobile Image Viewer for the Palm OS

The desktop client runs on OS X and Windows. I'm going to try this with my CLIE, I wasn't impressed with what came with the TJ-27.

Update: Looks very good. It also looks a heck of a lot like the Tungsten E photo app. I suspect PalmOne licensed a simplified version of SplashPhoto. I'll probably buy this one.

Deleting Acrobat's annoying toolbars

PDFMaker unavailable in a Microsoft Office application (Acrobat 5.x on Windows XP or 2000) - Support Knowledgebase

The ghost of Acrobat 4 haunts my toolbars. I hope this document, on how to RESTORE the Acrobat 5 toolbar will give me hints on how to exorcise the A4 version.