Category Archives: tips

HP Pavillion Laptop Fan Cycles On & Off & On & Off & On…

I recently bought a HP Pavillion dv6t laptop, only to return it after a few days — I’d press the power button to turn it on & it would cycle off & on 10-15 times before eventually deciding to stay … Continue reading

Posted in bugs, hewlett-packard, laptop, tips | 6 Comments

Apache httpd.conf changes ignored in Windows 7

Imagine this: You are a web developer. You buy a brand new computer running Windows 7. You install Apache using all the default installation options. You fire up your browser to see Apache’s “It works!” test page …so it does, … Continue reading

Posted in bugs, tips, Windows 7 | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Scanning legal-size documents with the Canon MX860 ADF is needlessly complicated

You’d think in this day & age of all-in-one printers, you could put a legal-size document in the document feeder (ADF) & scan away. Not so with the Canon MX860. Out of the box, the MX860′s ADF will scan legal-size … Continue reading

Posted in bugs, tips | 2 Comments

Continuous Beeping from a Trojan UV Max C4

Our Trojan UVMax C4 water purifier started beeping continuously. The install date was April 2009, so it’s been a year — according to the manual, time to replace the UV bulb! I dutifully ordered a new UV lamp ($90) & … Continue reading

Posted in awful customer service, bugs, tips | 22 Comments

Thunderbird ignores Windows’ default printer setting

I bought a new printer, a Canon MX860. As all-in-one printers go, it’s fantastic. Soon it was knighted as my new Windows’ default printer. Everything was happy in Printerland until I tried to print an email from Thunderbird. Thunderbird kept … Continue reading

Posted in bugs, tips | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Resize script in Paint Shop Pro X2

I batch-process-resized some photos in PSP X2, & realized too late (after I had emailed 90 photos off to various relatives) that everyone appeared a little taller & thinner than they normally are. Not so bad right? Except that headshots … Continue reading

Posted in graphics, paint shop pro, tips | Leave a comment

IE6/IE7 PNG gAMA bug makes PNGs appear darker

The link PNGs appear darker, except for Email A Friend, which has the gAMA chunk removed. In setting up the new vehicle details page for DDC, I noticed that the background color for the 24-bit PNGs did not match the … Continue reading

Posted in bugs, graphics, internet explorer, tips | 4 Comments