Damien Oh

Damien Oh is the owner and chief editor of Make Tech Easier

Recent Posts

Faster XP vs Slower Vista: Which One Will You Choose?

By | November 30, 2007 |

Wellington, Fla.-based Devil Mountain Software ran several versions of XP and Vista through a test simulating common desktop computing tasks. It found the original Vista performed 50 percent to 100 percent slower than the prevalent XP Service Pack 2, or SP2.

In the coming 1st quarter 2008, Microsoft is releasing Vista service pack 1 and service pack 3 for Win XP. The fact is, Vista SP1 barely improved the operating system’s performance while Win XP SP3 increase the XP performance by 10 percents.

What this means is that Vista is getting slower while XP is becoming faster.

Which one will you choose? Source

How To Install Windows Vista In Ubuntu Gutsy Using VMware

By | November 29, 2007 |

For Ubuntu Gutsy users who find that they can’t live without Windows, or just want to give Vista a try, here’s your savior: VMware Server.

Vmware Server is a free to download virtual machine tool that allows you to install the various type of operating systems under a virtual environment.

Before you attempt to install Windows Vista, please make sure that your computer has at least 1GB of RAM (preferably 2GB), 16GB of hard disk space and a genuine Vista CD.

Here are the steps to install Windows Vista in Ubuntu using Vmware Server.

[Read more...]

Sale Of New Sony PSP Reaches One Million In Two Months

By | November 28, 2007 |

Sony PSP model 2000Since the launch of new Sony’s PSP in September 20, 2007, the sale has now reaches one million in only a span of two months.

I think this is a remarkable achievement, as compared to PS3 that took eight months to reach a million.

With the launch, it once again created storms and waves of gaming frenzy. Other than being sleeker and lighter than the original, it also has more RAM, better graphics handling capabilities, stunning widescreen display and rich on multimedia functions. Not only does it capture the hearts of gaming enthusiasts, Non-gamers are not spared as well. In fact, it has already become a must-buy for gamers who currently do not own a PSP system.

In Singapore, the PSP-2000 was launched on Oct 20, 2007 and priced at S$280

I have already placed it in my Christmas wish-list, what about you?

Beware Of PayPal Phising

By | November 27, 2007 |

I received an email from Paypal today, stating that they have upgraded their security system and wanted me to login and verify my credit card information.

paypal screenshot

As this is not the first time Paypal emailed me for security issue, not to mention that I was nearly banned by Paypal for a suspected security breach of my account, and countless heated discussion with their customer support over the phone, this email doesn’t come as a surprise to me.

However, a close investigation of the email sends horror to my spine.

[Read more...]

How To Have Your Own Mac OS X Dock On Your Vista?

By | November 25, 2007 |

Many people will agree that the one thing that distinguishes Mac OS X desktop and Vista desktop interface is the Dock. For those who don’t know what the dock is, it is basically a row of icons at the bottom of the desktop and when you place your mouse over it, the icon will animate, giving a great eye-candy effect.

Now you can also have your own Mac OS dock on your Vista desktop with the help of the freeware RocketDock. Download the installer from Rocket Dock and run the installer in your desktop. BSince the Taskbar is located at the bottom of the screen, Rocket Dock defaults to the top. You need to configure it to become Mac OS-style.

Here are the steps:

  1. Right click on the taskbar and uncheck the “Lock The Taskbar”
  2. Drag the taskbar to the top of the desktop.
  3. Right-click on the taskbar and click “Properties”. Under the Taskbar tab, check “Auto-hide the taskbar”.
  4. On the Rocket Dock, click on the “Dock Settings…” icon (the one with a hammer and a yellow bar).
  5. On the “General” menu, check “Run at Startup”, “Minimize Windows to the Dock” and “Running Application Indicators” (this will show a small black triangle below any active program).
  6. Select the “Position” tab on the left. At the Screen Position, scroll down to select “Bottom”
  7. Select the “Behavior” tab on the left. check “Autohide” and change the AutoHide Duration to 100ms.
  8. Press Ok.

You have now a beautiful Mac-Style dock on your Vista desktop.

To add icon, simply open Explorer, navigate to the program folder and drag the file(s) to the Dock.

The Rocket Dock is fully customizable. You can change the background theme, change the icon set and also change the zoom effects. Depending on your screen resolution, you may want to change the icon size to fit your desktop.

Here are some of the screenshots:

RocketDock installationRocketDock installationrocketdock-screenshot.jpgrocketdock-screenshot2.jpg

rocketdock-screenshot3.jpgrocketdock-screenshot4.jpgrocketdock-screenshot5.jpg

Funny Tech: What Would A Computer Tech Support Do?

By | November 23, 2007 |

Just what would you do if you are a computer tech support and faced with a bunch of computer idiot?

Customer: “How much do Windows cost?”
Tech support: “Windows costs about $100.”
Customer: “Oh, that’s kind of expensive. Can I buy just one window?”
———————————————————————————————————————–

Tech support: “Ok, we’re going to check your modem settings. First thing we need to do is make sure all programs are closed.”
Customer: “How do I know if everything is closed?”
Tech support: “Make sure all windows are closed.”
Customer: “But…I’m in the basement. I don’t have any windows here.”
————————————————————————————————————————

Tech support: “Do you have any windows open right now?”
Customer: “Are you crazy, it’s twenty below outside…”
————————————————————————————————————————

Customer: “My computer won’t work. You guys must have broken it when you installed the modem.”
Tech support: “What happens when you turn it on?”
Customer: “It won’t turn on anymore!!!!!”
Tech support: “So you don’t see any lights or hear any noise?”
Customer: “I’m telling you it WON’T TURN ON.”
Tech support: “Is it plugged in?
Customer: “OF COURSE it’s plugged in, you MORON!”
Tech support: “When you push the power button it–”
Customer: “Power button? This computer doesn’t have a power button.”
Tech support: “Sir, all computers have power buttons. Look at the front of the case, find the word ‘power,’ and push the button.”
Customer: “YOU FIXED IT!! Thanks!!!!”
————————————————————————————————————————–

[Read more...]

How To Output Display To Projector/External Monitor In Ubuntu?

By | November 22, 2007 |

In my Windows Vista setup, I can just press fn-F5 on my laptop to toggle screen display and output to a projector or external monitor.

After I switched to Ubuntu, the hot key is no longer working.

With a little research, I found that the problem lies with my xorg.conf file. It is configured to have only one output device.

I decided to test out a bit and “clone” the laptop screen to the VGA port and it works!

Here is what I did:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Look for the section
Section “Device”
Identifier “Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller”
Driver “i810″
BusID “PCI:0:2:0″
EndSection

Insert the code:

Option “MonitorLayout” “CRT,LFP”
Option “Clone” “true”
Option “DevicePresence” “true

before the EndSection

Save the file and exit.

Press “Ctrl + Alt + Backspace” to restart Xorg.conf

That’s it! You can now see your screen on the projector or external monitor.

Top 10 Ubuntu Applications

By | November 20, 2007 |

For people who are new to Linux and Ubuntu, you might be overwhelmed by the huge library of applications available to you. Below is my 10 favorite applications. Hope it is useful to you.

[Read more...]

How To Create .iso Files In Linux

By | November 19, 2007 |

It is surprisingly easy to create .iso file in Linux. I have tested the method on Ubuntu Feisty and I am sure it works on other distro as well.

Open up terminal:

Assume that /dev/cdrom is the location of CD/DVD-ROM

sudo umount /dev/cdrom
readcd dev=/dev/cdrom f=file.iso

That’s it.

If you want to mount your .iso file,

sudo mkdir /media/iso
sudo modprobe loop
sudo mount -t iso9660 -o loop file.iso /media/iso/

Sources: How to create Image (ISO) files from CD/DVD [Ubuntu Guide]

Quad-Core CPU For Gaming? Forget About It…

By | November 19, 2007 |

It is very tempting to get the quad-core CPU for your computer, since it is the latest technology and you get the chance to boost to your friend about how powerful quad-core is.

If for gaming purpose, I would strongly advise not to get the quad-core. The reason being:

  1. You can get to enjoy higher clock speed at a much cheaper price. A 3.0 GHz dual core CPU priced at $279.99 can only get you a 2.4 GHz quad-core CPU whereas a 3.0 GHz quad-core can buy you 4 dual-core CPUs. Do your math and you will know which one is better.
  2. The current games in the market are better optimized for dual core. Though some of the latest games are optimized to quad-core, you don’t really see much improvement in performance.

It just doesn’t make sense to me to spend a great deal of money to get the latest technology and not utilize it fully. Until the time when quad-core CPU becomes more affordable with most games optimized to utilize it, there is really no compelling reason for me to upgrade.

What do you think?