20th January 2008, 03:13 pm
For ages now I’ve been struggling with Adobe Reader (or Adobe Acrobat Reader as it used to be known) with each successive release the product became slower to run. The current Adobe Reader v8 (at least for Windows) is possibly the slowest and most bloated PDF reader I’ve come across! Initially I thought my PC was slow, but looking at the specs you’d realise that my PC ain’t no slouch!
Well, although I’d read about other PDF readers and a lot of people recommended Foxit Reader it took me a long time to actually start investigating. What a shock I had! Foxit Reader for Windows was lightening fast! I now longer dreaded opening PDF documents. Well, Adobe, I’m sorry but you can put your piece of software somewhere where the sun don’t shine, as Foxit Reader bathes in luxurious sunshine!
What I’m saying is this. If you’re using Adobe Reader then I strongly suggest that you move over to Foxit Reader. And it’s free!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
20th January 2008, 02:14 pm
I built a PC way back in April 2007 for gaming and photo editing (I know!). These are the base specs:
32-bit Windows Vista Ultimate - 680i SLI machine at 3GHz overclock (stable)
- Case - Antec P180B
- PSU - Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850: RS-850-EMBA
- Motherboard - Asus Striker Extreme
- CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo - E6700
- Graphics Card - Asus GeForce 8800 GTX (768MB)
- Display - Dual display 2 x 24″ BenQ FP241W LCD
- Hard Discs - 2 x 500GB - Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ, and 2 x 250GB
- CPU- Heatsink Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B
- Memory - 4GB of Corsair TWIN2XP2048-6400C4 (SLI Cert)
- DVD Writer- Samsung SH-S183L/BEBN, SATA, Black, OEM, LS + Nero
- Floppy Drive - 1.44Mb Sony Black Floppy Disk Drive OEM
- Keyboard - Logitech diNovo Edge
- Mouse - Logitech M Revolution
- Tablet - Wacom Intuos2 A4
- UPS - APC ES 700
The fans are ultra quite 120mm and the systems runs very quite. It’s a really great setup especially with the two 24 inch dual displays for my photographic work and is linked up to the home network for streaming, remote control, remote backup, etc. One of the reasons that I went for the Antec P180B case (apart from it being quiet) is that I had the physical (space) option of adding another graphics card for dual-SLI support but I never got around to it!
Anyway, the time is fast approaching where I’m thinking of going over to quad-core from the current dual-core setup. I’ve just started doing some research and need to see what motherboard firmware upgrades are available for quad-core support. I know that the RAM isn’t the fastest available but if I do upgrade the RAM then I’d likely want to change the motherboard as well. Not sure if I want to go down that route.
The other consideration is that I want to concentrate now more on the photo editing side using Photoshop CS3 Extended and I’m not sure if a quad-core configuration will provide much of a performance increase for Photoshop. I’ve already maxed out the memory to 4GB in 32-bit Vista mode and I suppose that I may need to go to 64-bit Vista if additional memory is going to provide me with the best performance boost. I need some assistance here so am looking at pointers. I’ll likely post to Usenet as well but I’m always willing to hear directly from individuals so please Contact Me!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
20th January 2008, 01:01 pm
Further to the first skull post, I’ve noticed that my skull painting has become quite popular and that a lot of sites are now directly linking to the image. You can guess that a lot of these sites are teen sites, social sites and those with a Gothic theme!
I thought I’d explain a little bit more where that skull came from. I didn’t try and set out to draw a skull. I was just letting my hand migrate around the canvas. Patterns stated to emerge. The swirls. The light. The darkness. And in the middle, I saw an outline emerging. I stated thinking “skull”. From that point on my hand had something definite to go on and the skull began to take on a stronger form. What was I feeling at the time? What was I trying to say? That’s something I’m still trying to analyse.
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
18th January 2008, 09:42 pm
18th January 2008, 09:35 pm
Thanks to ERV’s post, I was pointed to Edge which is a good place to get your mind stimulated. In particular, Life: What a Concept! appears to be one of those major events. Being a layman, I’m still trying to get my head around it all. And as with all things when a group of diverse people are interviewed, not everyone will be agree on everything being said.
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
17th January 2008, 08:12 pm
The Inquirer has an interesting article on how firm Abunga.com has allowed certain books to be banned from their bookstore. The firm allows its customers to to vote against books and if enough votes are cast then the books are banned. Well, just recently, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials children books have got banned and it seems that a bunch of religious zealots were behind this. Abunga stated that they would abide by these votes even though the books are extremely popular. Well, I suppose that’s their business, but certainly my business isn’t going there for sure! Abunga obviously is aiming for a certain demography and I don’t care much for what they’re aiming at. Where does this stop? Segregated bookshops? Segregated shops? Polarisation of views? Safe havens for extremists? Just found that Pharyngula has his views on this too.
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
15th January 2008, 09:44 pm
I’ve been reading the JayPinkerton.com site for several months. It’s funny. It’s brilliant! That site is actually quite big and trying to find particular articles requires a bit of effort. The Back of the Bible articles are funny, but may offend some people. So be warned. Check it out!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
15th January 2008, 08:10 pm
Skeptico has a great article on something that I’ve felt strongly about for some time. I’ve tried to introduce critical thinking processes to some people and have tried using various arguments for showing the perilous foundations that homeopathy, astrology, chiropractice, etc are built on. But most people are set in their ways and although I will continue to be quite vocal in my arguments I no longer expect people to change their minds. It’s hard for people to admit that they’re wrong and to let go of ideas they’re fond of. Of course some people do see the light and start the processes of questioning, to use critical thinking. But such people are rare. I haven’t given up. Gentle persuasion is the way to go with most people, especially with friends. However, when it comes to organisations…well, they’re fair game. Give them all you’ve got! You be the judge of the situation and act accordingly.
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
15th January 2008, 07:34 pm
It recently came to my attention that the Feedback Form on my website was broken. It’s probably been broken for weeks! Anyway, there have now been some server changes and the Feedback Form should now be working, Which means that you can now contact me! Yippee!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
13th January 2008, 02:02 pm
