Comments for Optimality! http://drjunker.org On a quest to find optimality in an imperfect world. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:11:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 Comment on Turn-off Beep When Changing Volume in Windows by tahwos http://drjunker.org/2008/05/20/turn-off-beep-when-changing-volume-in-windows/comment-page-1/#comment-2714 tahwos Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:11:02 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=111#comment-2714 Tobi, In reference to the post by naaman, some PC's just do not have the PC speaker listed in the Volume Control Properties, especially newer systems that utilize the High-Definition Audio Bus (re: KB888111). The existence of the PC speaker in the property section is a carry over from PCI sound cards and motherboards (with on-board sound ala AC '97) that have the speaker as part of their architecture. That being said, the only way to access the system beep directly, is through the registry and device manager. While the "fix" that naaman mentions might not be as elegant, most PC users want the simple solution, and creating a blank WAV file fits that description. Most users already know how to access the sounds and themes to customize their computer, as well as using their machine to edit audio and video. Pointing them towards C:\Windows\Media or using the Browse button to find their creation is the most suitable solution. It is also portable, as their personalized sound scheme will most likely get carried over with any upgrades and not get wiped out by new installations of hardware or operating systems. In reference to the "trick" posted by Jardy, I believe this only works if you have the Messenger Service turned on in Administrative Tools, which provides a huge security hole and is normally turned off in XP SP2 and later. The command has changed to MSG in Vista and Windows 7, as well as the perspective service involved; Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ). I do not know if these changes to Windows are compatible with the older Messenger Service used in XP and its predecessors. As a word of caution though, the NET SEND and MSG commands are mainly used in business environments that have their computers behind massive amounts security (Firewalls) or are totally isolated from the outside world; sometimes even on different networks from the office computers. The Services that need to be activated in order for these commands to work, pose a security risk that the average user should not take lightly; the same goes for messing around with the system registry. The command line is provided as a tool for hands-on troubleshooting and problem solving; any use for vanity should be done with the utmost amount of care and understanding. The first step towards achievement is not knowing where to tread, but where not to. Tobi, In reference to the post by naaman, some PC’s just do not have the PC speaker listed in the Volume Control Properties, especially newer systems that utilize the High-Definition Audio Bus (re: KB888111). The existence of the PC speaker in the property section is a carry over from PCI sound cards and motherboards (with on-board sound ala AC ‘97) that have the speaker as part of their architecture. That being said, the only way to access the system beep directly, is through the registry and device manager. While the “fix” that naaman mentions might not be as elegant, most PC users want the simple solution, and creating a blank WAV file fits that description. Most users already know how to access the sounds and themes to customize their computer, as well as using their machine to edit audio and video. Pointing them towards C:\Windows\Media or using the Browse button to find their creation is the most suitable solution. It is also portable, as their personalized sound scheme will most likely get carried over with any upgrades and not get wiped out by new installations of hardware or operating systems.

In reference to the “trick” posted by Jardy, I believe this only works if you have the Messenger Service turned on in Administrative Tools, which provides a huge security hole and is normally turned off in XP SP2 and later. The command has changed to MSG in Vista and Windows 7, as well as the perspective service involved; Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ). I do not know if these changes to Windows are compatible with the older Messenger Service used in XP and its predecessors. As a word of caution though, the NET SEND and MSG commands are mainly used in business environments that have their computers behind massive amounts security (Firewalls) or are totally isolated from the outside world; sometimes even on different networks from the office computers. The Services that need to be activated in order for these commands to work, pose a security risk that the average user should not take lightly; the same goes for messing around with the system registry. The command line is provided as a tool for hands-on troubleshooting and problem solving; any use for vanity should be done with the utmost amount of care and understanding.

The first step towards achievement is not knowing where to tread, but where not to.

]]> Comment on Activate Google Street View on iPhone by Tobi http://drjunker.org/2009/01/02/activate-google-street-view-on-iphone/comment-page-1/#comment-2711 Tobi Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:59:35 +0000 http://drjunker.org/2009/01/02/activate-google-street-view-on-iphone/#comment-2711 Good point! Sometimes the obvious does need to be pointed out... Good point! Sometimes the obvious does need to be pointed out…

]]> Comment on Turn-off Beep When Changing Volume in Windows by Tobi http://drjunker.org/2008/05/20/turn-off-beep-when-changing-volume-in-windows/comment-page-1/#comment-2710 Tobi Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:40:35 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=111#comment-2710 Interesting. I hadn't heard about this before. I also have not tried it. Note that the commands mentioned in the previous post need to be entered at the command line. More information can, e.g., be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/kb00838671.aspx Interesting. I hadn’t heard about this before. I also have not tried it. Note that the commands mentioned in the previous post need to be entered at the command line. More information can, e.g., be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/kb00838671.aspx

]]> Comment on Turn-off Beep When Changing Volume in Windows by Jardy http://drjunker.org/2008/05/20/turn-off-beep-when-changing-volume-in-windows/comment-page-1/#comment-2709 Jardy Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:37:05 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=111#comment-2709 i found this somewhere. worked for me. .................. These commands assume administrative rights on the PC. To temporarily disable the PC Speaker beep: net stop beep To disable the PC Speaker beep for good (until you undo this setting): sc config beep start= disabled So, if you are bothered right now by PC Speaker beeps and want them to go away even after a reboot, run net stop beep and then run sc config beep start= disabled. i found this somewhere. worked for me.
………………
These commands assume administrative rights on the PC.

To temporarily disable the PC Speaker beep:
net stop beep

To disable the PC Speaker beep for good (until you undo this setting):
sc config beep start= disabled

So, if you are bothered right now by PC Speaker beeps and want them to go away even after a reboot, run net stop beep and then run sc config beep start= disabled.

]]> Comment on PDF OCR Batch-processing with ScanSnap by Tobi http://drjunker.org/2009/12/27/pdf-ocr-batch-processing-with-scansnap/comment-page-1/#comment-2702 Tobi Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:22:37 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=244#comment-2702 Update: The same approach does not work well for color scans. When I scan color at 300 dpi and then do the OCR with the high quality color option (for documents), the file size grows approximately 2-3 fold. For color OCR, there are two options: (1) documents, and (2) photo. Interestingly, picking the high quality photo option for OCR creates high quality OCR even of text at only a fraction of the file size. Medium and low quality text setting results in small files sizes and very poor quality. The medium quality text setting is really quite useless. Medium quality photo setting is similar to medium quality text. <i>==> My choice is the "high quality photo" setting for Color Text OCR.</i> Update:
The same approach does not work well for color scans. When I scan color at 300 dpi and then do the OCR with the high quality color option (for documents), the file size grows approximately 2-3 fold. For color OCR, there are two options: (1) documents, and (2) photo. Interestingly, picking the high quality photo option for OCR creates high quality OCR even of text at only a fraction of the file size. Medium and low quality text setting results in small files sizes and very poor quality. The medium quality text setting is really quite useless. Medium quality photo setting is similar to medium quality text. ==> My choice is the “high quality photo” setting for Color Text OCR.

]]> Comment on Putting MobileMe in Perspective by Tobi http://drjunker.org/2008/06/10/putting-mobileme-in-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-2701 Tobi Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:17:16 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=122#comment-2701 I don't have MobileMe, but as far as I know, one advantage is that you can sync your contacts and calendar wirelessly between your MacBook and your iPhone. I don’t have MobileMe, but as far as I know, one advantage is that you can sync your contacts and calendar wirelessly between your MacBook and your iPhone.

]]> Comment on Putting MobileMe in Perspective by ET http://drjunker.org/2008/06/10/putting-mobileme-in-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-2696 ET Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:14:34 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=122#comment-2696 further clarification, is there any advantage to mobileme if you have one macbook computer, one iPhone and one e-mail account? further clarification, is there any advantage to mobileme if you have one macbook computer, one iPhone and one e-mail account?

]]> Comment on Putting MobileMe in Perspective by ET http://drjunker.org/2008/06/10/putting-mobileme-in-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-2695 ET Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:09:17 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=122#comment-2695 is there any advantage to having mobileme if you have one macbook computer & one iPhone? is there any advantage to having mobileme if you have one macbook computer & one iPhone?

]]> Comment on PDF OCR Batch-processing with ScanSnap by Brooks @ DocumentSnap http://drjunker.org/2009/12/27/pdf-ocr-batch-processing-with-scansnap/comment-page-1/#comment-2690 Brooks @ DocumentSnap Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:02:46 +0000 http://drjunker.org/?p=244#comment-2690 Hey thanks for this post. I've done batch ScanSnap posts using Acrobat but hadn't seen one using FineReader so this is great. Blogged about it! Hey thanks for this post. I’ve done batch ScanSnap posts using Acrobat but hadn’t seen one using FineReader so this is great. Blogged about it!

]]> Comment on Activate Google Street View on iPhone by llama http://drjunker.org/2009/01/02/activate-google-street-view-on-iphone/comment-page-1/#comment-2685 llama Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:55:31 +0000 http://drjunker.org/2009/01/02/activate-google-street-view-on-iphone/#comment-2685 Thanks John. Although from your current location you might want to take a look at the real world. It might even be faster than your 3G connexion, who knows? :) Thanks John. Although from your current location you might want to take a look at the real world. It might even be faster than your 3G connexion, who knows? :)

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