acksaw [dot] com

So, I’ve decided to use this blog for something other than random posts of rubbish. Hopefully this wil be beneficial to not only myself, but to the public that may find something here helpful.

I plan on posting a few bits and pieces about general IT issues that I have had difficulty solving or had issues finding a fix for, on the net.

My first post is a very simple issue and one I was shocked I spent more than 5 minutes solving.

I had an issue with a PC that would boot to the welcome screen and then show a dialog box with the following error message:

Insufficient System Resources Exist to Complete the API

I was able to click OK and the PC would then restart.

Looking on the net I found a lot of fixes relating to hibernation problems. This was not the case for this laptop.

The problem was that the hard drive was full and there was no space for  the PC to load the API. I simply removed the drive from the system, installed it in a second machine and removed enough temporary files to get the PC to boot. Once I had got to that stage I ran CCleaner on the PC and managed to remove around 500MB of space.

Then PC then ran fine with no issues at all.

You can download CCleaner from the following link:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

If you have any further issues with this, feel free to post a comment.

I’ve recently been suffering with a problem using the latest version of Windows Live Messenger (WLM/MSN) which was when I was signing in I was prompted with an error code of 8100030D, I tried the usual stuff like reinstalling WLM and reverting back to an older version of WLM with no luck. I was confident I could fix it today and managed to do it. I will try my best to explain what I did and hopefully help others. If you try these please bear in mind that I am using Vista 64bit with Service Pack 1.

Here’s what I tried and what eventually worked:

What worked for me:

• Deleting the contents of C:\Users\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Contacts

What I tried and could possibly work for others:

• Checking the time and date of my PC to make sure it was correct.
• Disabling any Firewall
• • Running these commands in “Run”
  • regsvr32 softpub.dll
  • regsvr32 wintrust.dll
  • regsvr32 initpki.dll
  • regsvr32 MSXML3.dll
• Telling WLM to forget your current user’s saved password

Hopefully can assist at least one person

I’m sick of coming here and seeing a crappy picture of something so dull as a keyboard foot, so here is an update.

I recently bought a Dell 2408WFP 24″ monitor. I got it cheaply, brand new, with a 5 year warranty and its lovely. This is literally THE best monitor I have used. The colours are fantastic, the viewing are amazing and the size is fantastic.

Generally I watch TV on my monitor as I don’t have enough room for a nice big 1080P TV in my room as well as a monitor, so a big monitor was the next best thing (and considering I use my PC more than a TV, probably the best thing.) also taking into account the fact that viewing angles are a big factor in my choice becuase I watch TV from my bed and with my old monitor dark scenes were hard to view, with this monitor I get perfect angles from wherever. After using the 2408WFP I know my decision was perfect.

For the apprehensive gamers who want a similar size monitor, go for it. Input lag was something I was worried about from online reviews and people who have the monitor, I can honestly say that I haven’t noticed anything in the way of lag. Resolution with gaming is also a big worry but my PC isn’t THE fastest out there but it’s pretty nippy and uses a 8800GT at standard clock and I get 60+FPS on CoD4 which is more than enough for a smooth game with everything wacked up. CoD4 is the most demanding game I regularly play anyway so anything else is just eye candy and can be watered down.

One downside to having the monitor is that because it is quite large and my desk isn’t particuarly big I can’t fit my old 19″ monitor on there aswell. Well, I can but it doesn’t feel right, everything is a bit cramped.

One thing that people don’t tend to talk about with the monitor is the USB card reader and ports, these are fantastic for people who back up to memory cards or use a digital camera and want to quickly get to some pictures. Inputs are endless. There are so many. 2 DVI, 1 VGA, DisplayPort (nice), HDMI, Composite, S-Video, Component and probably some more. Some of these inputs also support PIP and PBP (Picture in picture and picture by picture) which are useful if you want to watch IRC while playing on your PS3.

Overall I can say I am VERY pleased and advise people looking for a 24″ monitor to look no further, they are expensive but it is worth it for the quality.

Thats right! Flickr’s much rumored addition of video has come to fruition, rules apply, and rightly so. Flickr Pro members (me!) can now post a 90 second video in a wide range of formats to the site. The rules are pretty strict, again, they should be. Lots of cameras (Including my new one) can do time-lapse videos which are rarely above 90 seconds anyway.

I know there have been people saying that Flickr will just try to be another YouTube clone, as far as I am concerned, this is in a complete different league than the likes of YouTube, for a start, the rules that only Pro members can upload videos should stay forever, this will keep videos strictly for the intended purpose, time-lapse, long “photos” and also people testing video from new cameras and making small reviews on how the camera performs with video, also a fact that it is Pro only will keep quality control pretty strict.

Even though it is not intended to be a YouTube rival, Flickr Video could still fold under the pressure from these sites, we’ll soon see as this all pans out and spreads around the internet, afterall, Google owns YouTube and their biggest rival is Yahoo who incidentally, own Flickr.

TechCrunch got the news early and got a post on their site shortly after Flickr announced the news. TechCrunch have also uploaded a video to Flickr which I have embedded in this post via a new button that Flickr has provided for members to generate a piece of HTML, like YouTube, for your own site. The quality, as you can see is a good few rungs above YouTube.

We shall see.

3 things, big prices, little money, not much need.

Thats how I stand at the moment. I want a new camera (Post below), a Macbook and a new monitor. All three I have no need for yet I desire them anyway. I don’t earn much but I have actually started to save money and will be going down to the Britannia to upgrade my savings account and start putting money into it.

I want at least one of them but need none. I want a Macbook but would probably never use it as I have a rather fast PC (see systems) that is down at the monent but should be working again soon that is always on and faster than a Macbook, I work and couldn’t really use it there, I work 11 miles from home and travel by bus which means it takes me a while to get home so I have to catch  up with emails etc. on the weekend. I usually go out as well so I can’t use it then. A camera would be nice but again, I don’t have that much of a use for one. A monitor would be nice, a 24″ would be perfect as I watch a lot of HD on my PC and 24″ monitors use the right resolution to play 1080P. 24″ would be nice without going over the top in monitor size, this is also a problem as I game and don’t have the graphics card to play at the native resolution with high graphics and lowering it makes everything blurry. A 22″ would be perfect for gaming but is the wrong resolution for 1080P HD!

So, I ask, what would you do!?

PS: First post on WordPress 2.5!