Virtual memory -- off.

Today I got tired of sometimes having to wait tens of seconds for software to get swapped in on my work PC, so I turned off virtual memory on Windows completely. Apparently others have had success with this.

This is a Windows XP machine. (My employer plans to upgrade to Windows 7 early next year.) I have 4 GB of physical RAM, and Windows is making available a total of 3.16 GB of RAM.

I stressed my system by opening Lotus Notes, Visual Studio, Simulink, Stateflow, and Rhapsody Developer with a sample project, plus the usual web browser, music player, etc. The memory usage is hovering at 65%, and switching between windows has never been faster!

This just might work out.

Voicemail

I'd love it if cell phone companies allowed me to turn off the voicemail service on my line. I don't want voicemail. I don't even want visual voicemail.

Today there are more ways than ever to get ahold of me, and voicemail is on the bottom of my list of preferences.

Plus, I don't recall the last time I got a voicemail with any more value than "Call me back." The most amazing thing to me is that there are people who believe that it's rude to call without leaving a voicemail. In 2012, I feel it's rude to leave a voicemail.

A plea to the Dells and HPs

Dear PC laptop manufacturers, it must suck becoming obsolete. Dell, your two-year stock chart is atrocious. HP, yours isn't much better. (Laptop manufacturers like Toshiba and Fujitsu are sufficiently diversified that I don't care about their stock for this post.)

However, Apple, which makes a laptop or two, is doing mighty swell.

What a conundrum. How could this possibly be explained? I am no CEO, but I can take a crack at it.

These days tablets are the growth market. A huge chunk of computer usage is content consumption. Watching a movie. Reading a book. Playing a game. Listening to some tunes. For these scenarios, tablets are marvelous.
 
But laptops retain their edge for content producers. Editing photo, video, or audio. Typing a document. Creating a presentation. Developing software. These scenarios require a decent keyboard, a precise mouse, plenty of USB ports, and decent heat dissipation. But there's something else. And it's something that no one but Apple seems to realize.

Michael and Meg, as CEOs of Dell and HP, I want you to listen and to try to understand. The examples I just listed of producing content require a large screen resolution. The larger the better. At work I use two monitors side by side in portrait mode -- and even with that, I am often desperately moving and resizing windows to make more room. The craptops that you peddle, with their standard resolution of 1366x768, are an embarrassment.

Google's 7" tablet, which I threw money at, has a resolution of 1280x800, at one-fourth the physical size of your screen. The new 10" tablet is 2560x1600 pixels, which is significantly larger than your screen, at half the size and weight. I could see myself doing real work on it.

Apple understands that laptops are for producers. A 13" screen on a MacBook Pro is 2560x1600, and a 15" screen goes all the way up to 2880x1800! I can be happy with that.

But say I have plenty of money and want a PC instead of a Mac. No one is prepared to meet the demand! Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, and probably all others max out at 1920x1080. Without any hyperbole, what choice do I have but to buy an Apple?

Whether this is due to a failure to adapt to the market, or due to a fear of investment, it's a sign of a dying industry.

I can only hope that Microsoft's Surface (running Windows 8 Pro) will have a good resolution. If it does, I plan to buy it.


If you're a PC laptop manufacturer: For the love of all that is holy, build a portable computer with a 2012-worthy resolution. Despite your fervent wishes, watching an HD movie in full-screen is not the epitome of my computing experience. Meet the demands of content producers, or die.

Book review: "Windows 8 Administration Pocket Consultant" by William Stanek

The best way to think of Stanek's Windows 8 Administration Pocket Consultant (O'Reilly Media) is to ignore the "pocket" part. At 672 pages, it's much closer to the ______ Bible end of the scale.

And true to the Bible end of the scale, this book truly covers a huge landscape in surprising detail. As I was reading through the material, I got the feeling that this is basically an offline version of Microsoft's TechNet, a vast knowledge base (among other resources) for IT professionals. In the several weeks of using Windows 8, I've perused several TechNet articles about this-or-that. I've found a similar level of thoroughness in this book, for topics ranging from generic to highly exotic.

The difference between TechNet and this book: the latter is portable, better organized, features screenshots, and provides step-by-step instructions where possible.

This leads into my only annoyance with this book. Presumably the audience is an IT professional, or at least a power user. I often feel that the author is too thorough for this audience. He leaves absolutely no room for ambiguity. For example, in Chapter 5 there's a 13-step procedure for enforcing a certain behavior for Group Policy scripts. For 11 of those steps, the author makes sure to tell you, "Tap or click OK." As another example, almost anywhere there's a possibility to save a password (such as in a wireless network security dialog), the author adds a SECURITY ALERT informing the reader that this is a poor security practice. No wonder the book is 672 pages long.

On the other hand, I marvel at the wide variety of topics that William Stanek managed to cover in only 672 pages. I found information on how to create a master image of Windows 8. I found a detailed, 19-step breakdown of the Windows 8 startup process, along with a troubleshooting guide to it. I found a good intro to Group Policy and Offline Files, in large part covering Moskowitz' authoritative Group Policy book. I found plentiful information on BitLocker. And so much more.

All in all, while I won't be carrying this book in any pocket, I appreciate it greatly. Its 16 chapters allow the reader to become truly familiar with Windows 8 administration.

(Thanks to O'Reilly Media for providing me with a free copy for review.)

Chickpeas, Indian-style

I discovered Penzey's Spices by finding one of their catalogs on some family friends' coffee table. I immediately ordered my own. Besides bearing a multitude of spices, the catalogs also include recipes. These recipes are particularly valuable to me because they, naturally, take advantage of spices.

The latest catalog has a recipe for Chickpea Curry (Chole). Of course, I had to make it.

The appealing result:

It turned out very tasty, but very mild. In any case, it's a delicious side, appropriate with any main course. This Chickpea Curry is guest-worthy, yet simple and vegan!

If you're a fan of cooking with spices, I recommend subscribing to Penzey's Spices catalog by mail. You can also download the latest catalog from their web site.

A great smoothie

Tonight I made a great smoothie! It's even vegan. Here's the ingredient list:

• 5 parts frozen strawberries
• 3 parts baby bellpeppers, leaving the seeds in.
• 3 parts rice milk, or as desired for consistency
• 2 parts raw carrot
• 1 part celery
• 1 part pitted dates (I don't think this made a difference, but I have a package of them and wanted to put them to good use.)

(All parts are measured by volume and are very approximate. All ingredients are from Costco.)

The bellpeppers are key to this smoothie! They imparted an amazing fragrance and flavor! Costco sells these in 3-lb bags, and I use them everywhere with great results.

Please share with me any vegetarian or vegan recipe that you enjoy. I am always on the lookout.

Navigating around Windows 8 with a keyboard

Windows 8 is out in five days, both in stores and as an online upgrade to your PC. To save you some time when you're in Windows 8 and want to navigate around using the trusty ol' keyboard, I wrote up this handy summary. Even Windows tablets will permit the use of a keyboard, so this is widely applicable.

First let's talk about what you'll see. There are three important screens. The first screen that appears once you log in is the Start Screen. The Start Screen has your live tiles, and it lists your installed programs—both Metro-style apps and desktop applications.

 

From the Start Screen, you can launch full-screen Metro-style Apps. This is the new style of app. You can run either one app full-screen, or two apps side-by-side. When you start a Metro-style app from the Start Screen, the app starts directly without you ever seeing the normal desktop.

Alternately, from the Start Screen you can also view the Desktop and any desktop applications you've launched atop it. Desktop applications include any program that runs on Windows 7. When you start a regular application from the Start Screen, the desktop appears and the application launches there.

Now the stage is set. How do we navigate around? For getting around in Windows, the most important key on your keyboard is the Win key, between Ctrl and Alt. In lieu of the Windows logo in any Unicode font, I'll just use "[Win]" to refer to that key.

If you want to start a new program, then from any screen...

• [Win]: Show Start Screen.
• [Win]+D: Show Desktop and any desktop applications running atop it. If you already have a desktop application open on your screen, this hides all open windows and displays the desktop. (Similar to the Show Desktop button in the Quick Launch bar of Windows XP and earlier.)
• [Win]+R: Show Run window. (This also displays the Desktop.)
• [Win]+W: Search and list apps, settings, and files.

While you're on the Start Menu or in any Metro-style app...

•  [Win]+Z: Show App Bar. This is a bar along the bottom of the screen that displays a list of app-specific actions. This is specific to Metro-style apps and the Start Menu.

If you want to change app or PC settings, then from any screen...

• [Win]+I: Show Settings specific to the application, as well as general to the operating system. Here access the Control Panel, Personalization, and PC Info (System Properties from previous versions of Windows).
• [Win]+K: Show Devices.
• [Win]+X: The God menu -- the main menu for a power user. If you get tired of the modern synergistic Metro 2.0 paradigm, this is your blanket and cup of cocoa.

From the Start Screen:

• Esc: Return to the previous screen. This may be a Metro-style app, or it may be your desktop with any number of desktop applications.

Here are some less-useful shortcuts. Don't bother memorizing these. From any screen:

• [Win]+Tab: Switch between applications. This is very much like the Alt+Tab that you're used to, except it has a different appearance and treats everything atop of the Desktop as one item. If you have three Windows applications running atop your Desktop, [Win]+Tab will either switch to the whole set or switch to another full-screen Metro-style app.
• [Win]+C: Show Charms Menu and the clock. For a keyboard user, the Charms Menu just introduces a middleman between you and Start Screen ([Win]), search ([Win]+R), settings ([Win]+I), devices ([Win]+K), and Share ([Win]+S). I think it's intended for touch operation, where you would open the Charms Menu by swiping the right edge of the screen.

Now you're set!