SpikeNeedle Enterprises

Windows Vista

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:55:11 GMT

First off, I would like to say that I am in no way being sarcastic in saying this, but Windows Vista is great. I am tired of hearing all this bull about Vista being horrible and all the like. Typically, this comes from the people that have never owned a copy of Vista, or have no clue how Vista works.

Now, Windows Vista is under-rated and under-appreciated. It is getting all this negative feedback due to high system specifications, when really if you cannot match them, you have a computer from 2004 and shouldn't even be thinking about upgrading your OS. You should instead be thinking of buying a computer for 300 dollars that will likely be 5 times as powerful.

I understand Windows Vista has its downsides, such as... well, I cannot really think of any now, even though I have been using Vista for a few months now. I suppose how a very small amount of programs don't support Vista, even though you can run in compatibility mode. That is about it.

Really, once you tweak Vista around a bit, it can be as user friendly as XP. You can turn off UAC (user account control, the annoying allow or disallow function that people seem to make fun of) by simply searching Google on how to turn it off. It's not that hard to tweak the processes so you can have unneeded functions turned off. A clean copy of Vista, without all the bloat ware that comes with regular PCs, usually has only a tad more processes than XP.

When XP came around, it had the negative reputation of Vista. After experiencing the atrociousness of ME, people were weary of upgrading to the newest OS. In fact, people were referring to Windows 2000 as they do XP right now. 'Why should we switch to XP for the extra eye candy? 2000 is way more stable, uses up fewer resources, and has better driver support!' However, people learned to tolerate and even like XP, to the point that they are refusing to upgrade.

I'm just trying to open your eyes here. Vista is not as bad as you guys think it is. It has already obtained its very first service pack, and is quite tolerable. If you are still reluctant to switch, nobody is forcing you to, but you will switch sooner or later, because Vista is the new XP.

It's settled then.

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:01:11 GMT

Well, it appears my parents have had a bit of trouble with the Foxwoods people. Foxwoods is a casino, and they have this thing called the Wampum Rewards Card. Basically, it rewards you for going to Foxwoods, playing the casino and what not. We've amassed about 1600 points, and since our 15 year old TV was going on the fritz, they decided to buy a new one.

Instead of asking me, the technological wizard in the house, they decided to go to their own devices and buy a 32" Sharp TV from the Foxwoods store, for a whopping total of 1600 points. Now, their excuse was that it's points they're wasting, not money. However, if you can find a buyer, you can usually get a 70% or 80% credit on the points, so they basically wasted 1120 dollars on a 32" TV.

So, about a month and a half later the TV still hasn't shipped, so my dad canceled the order hoping to find a new model. Turns out it was on backorder for a while, and they still haven't shipped it yet! Me, being the bright one here, decided to show them some better TV models for 700 dollars. They decided to not use up the refunded points they got, and told me to order one of these better TV models instead. Genius!

Anyway, my dad told me to use the 400 dollars while ordering the TV, and I made up my mind about grabbing the Archos 605 Wifi, 80GB. The Archos 80GB is 245 dollars, the battery dock is 50 dollars, the web browser is 30 dollars. Looking good here. [Note that I have 75 dollars left over after buying the Archos. Any suggestions except memberships?]

Link to TV

- Click

Link to Archos 605 Wifi 80GB review and gallery

- Click

I have money.

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:32:11 GMT

So, my dad is letting me buy something for 400 dollars. What should I grab?

1. Nintendo Wii

I actually have 160 dollars in an Edge card I could use in the nearest Gamestop/EBGames. So, if I do buy the Nintedo Wii, that leaves me approximately 310 dollars to buy games/accessories.

I'm thinking extra remote, 40 dollars. Charge station, 30 dollars. That's 240 dollars left. Maybe SSBB, Mario Kart Wii, Guitar Hero 3. That's about 70 dollars left that I can use for other games.

2. Archos 605 Wifi Portable Media Player

I can grab this. The 80GB version is 250 dollars, which leaves me a nice 150 dollars for accessories. I'm thinking the web browser for 30 dollars, and the battery dock for 40 dollars. That leaves me 80 dollars I can spend on games of my choice. However, the 160GB version is 300 dollars.

The Archos 605 Wifi has a touchscreen, 4.3" inches, and a 800x480 resolution[Wow]. I can browse the internet, watch youtube and stuff on it, and it'll store all my movies and music.

I already have a Creative Zen Vision, which has a 3.5" screen. However, it's battery life is dying, it freezes and locks up every now and then, and when watching movies the screen gets all these purple flickering bars on it unless you hold it tightly and in an exact position without moving.

I fixed my CSS.

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:12:59 GMT

I fixed my CSS so it would look nice and pretty. The BYOND site update screwed it up, so I spent a few minutes fixing the text and stuff. Buy me a membership so you can keep looking at this CSS. I only have a few [24] days left. To do absolutely nothing with it. Please, support me doing nothing with my membership for another year. You won't regret it.

Laptop Tweaks/List of Programs

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:02:25 GMT

Well, as many of you who frequent Chatters may now, I am getting a laptop which will come on Monday. It cost me 700 dollars, and has the following specifications.

AMD Athlon X2 [1.6 GHZ]
8600M GS
2.1 speaker system. [Subwoofer].
17" screen.
Windows Vista Home Premium.
120 GB HDD
1 GB RAM.

Since it's new, I'll need to move all my desktop programs over to my laptop. Here's a list of steps I'm going to use to optimize my laptop. Do you see any missing programs on here that I should get?

Laptop comes.
Ask dad to buy cooler, 1 GB ram, etc.
-Install RAM.
-Install Exhaust FAN.
-Open laptop, take off thermal pads. Apply arctic silver 5, put a dime between retention bracket, etc.

Download Firefox.
Download Winrar.

Download Shockwave.
Download Flash.
Download Java.

Tweak Vista.
-Download SP1.
-Turn off UAC.
-Get less processes.
-Uninstall useless junk.

Download latest Everex XT5300T drivers from their website.
-Update BIOS.
-Update wireless card.

Download printer drivers.
Download Logitech drivers.

Download Everest.
Download RMClock.
Undervolt Processor.
-4x - .75 V
-8x - .925 V

Download 3DMark.

Download v169.04 nvidia drivers from laptopvideo2go.com
Download Rivatuner.
-Overclock graphics card.

Download NHC control for fans.

Download Firefox add-ons.
-Mac OSX skin.
-Download Bar.
-Accuweather.
-Tab Mix Plus.

Download Daemon Tools.
Download utorrent.
-Download Microsoft Office 2007.
-Download Adobe Photoshop CS3.
-Download Black and White 2.
-Download Supreme Commander.
-Download Command and Conquer 3.
-Download Company of Heroes.
-Download World in Conflict.
-Download Universe at War.

Download Pidgin.
-Aim - SpikeNeedleX
-MSN - needlespikeneedle@hotmail.com
Download BYOND.
-[list of keys that I edited out]

Transfer BYOND things to laptop.
-Hub, files, etc.
Download Skype.

Download video codecs. [Xvid, community codec pack.]
Download Windows Media Player 10.
Download Quicktime.
Download MP3Tag.

Download PNGOptimizer.
Download Fraps.

Download Superantispyware.
Install Creative software.

Download Steam.
Download Hamachi.
Download Teamspeak.

My first cell phone.

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:19:10 GMT

Well, I'm a happy 15 year old. I just got my first cell phone yesterday. It was pretty cool. I wanted a blackberry or one of those sidekicks, but they were 200 dollars. I just settled for one of the cheaper models, 100 dollars. It's still pretty good, it's one of those slider models. It's a Samsung T-629. I wanted the 729 model, which was black and red, but that was 125 dollars. Honestly they were the same anyway, except for the color scheme and the keypad.

Bought a microSD card and a card reader from newegg. I plan to just put all my ringtones/wallpaper/games on the microSD card, pirate some mobile games or something. I don't plan to spend 7 dollars on a mobile game I won't play that much. I've been trying to find a suitable phone SNES emulator, but none have come out yet. There's one for the Pocket PC cellphone thing, but unfortunately I don't have that. I guess cellphones aren't powerful enough for the SNES emulators yet. I'll have to settle for the NES emulator for the phone.

[EDIT]
Alright, I found a nice gameboy/gameboy color emulator for my J2ME phone! Here's the link for anyone else that wants gameboy games on their phone. http://arktos.se/meboy/

The job.

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:58:22 GMT

It turns out the name is actually Comp-Net, my bad. Also, just because I'm 15 doesn't mean my resume blows. I listed all the programming languages I knew, and he was highly impressed that I've known how to program since I was in the 6th grade. Also, there's the fact that I have a vast knowledge of computers in general. Anyway..

I called the guy today, since he said he was going to call me yesterday. Apparently they're still accepting applications, so he's going to try to get a few more people to try to get a job there before he hires people. [It only opened a month ago, October 1st]. I think I'm probably a shoe-in for the job, doubt any adult that has equal to/better than my skills hasn't gotten a job already. [People on BYOND don't count, you have to look for a job!]

On a side note, I bought a neat optical mouse at the store. It's 800 DPI, not bad, and way better than my old ball mouse. Later ball mouse! It was only 5 dollars, too.

A job at CompuNet.

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:38:20 GMT

I think I got a job at the local CompuNet today! I went in after school and asked for the manager, and the guy was looking at me all strange, so he called for the manager. The manager was on the phone, so I was just waiting there for a couple of minutes while the guy is looking at me. So the manager comes, and I ask to apply for a job. He jokes and asks me if I'm one of those super-computer whizzes or something(*cough*). He asks me my age, and I tell him I'm 15, so then he says he doesn't know if he can do that. As a last resort, I whip out my resume and give it to him. He's all impressed and stuff, says he'll seriously consider it, and told me to expect a call today about it. Woo.

[Yeah, well, I /*probably*/ got a job making computers, Digitalmouse, I'm only 15, too. ] >.>

New CSS.

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:15:34 GMT

To stop the controversy on who made my CSS and to placate the people that have been bothering me, I've made a new one. I could have easily just banned the people that were annoying me, but I'll let them have their way. No need to have people angry when something could easily be fixed. Since I never recorded when I made my past CSS, I'm doing it now. This CSS was made on Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Any tips on what would make it better?

[You can't steal it now, I've copyrighted this CSS!]

My birthday.

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:48:16 GMT

Today is my birthday. I'm officially 15 now! Didn't think I was so young, did you...? Yeah, don't comment on that one.