Supanut's Blog

2 more interesting events

2011-12-14T02:14:00-08:00

Hello everyone,

Well, just yesterday and today there are 2 9important events, both of them are not fun.

First, is the fire at school yesterday. Yes, it’s real, no joke! I’m not lying! It’s the real fire! But it’s not too serious, but yeah it did caused damages. Lucky the blaze did not get to the high-school building; otherwise things could have gone worse and that would virtually made it the worst day in my life and the worst event in my life. But good that it’s not too serious.

Now just today…it’s the ‘fun run’. I’m very tired, since I have to run 5km, like previous years. Great that this is the last year I have to do this!

Like stated above, the ‘5 best events of 2011’ will probably not change anymore, but the ‘5 worst events of 2011’ still require some changes as there were many events that is bad, the ASDAN trip to Lumpini Park, the 2011 Thailand Flood, the yesterday’s fire, and today’s ‘fun run’ are some examples. There are more, like the ASDAN trip to the temple and the mosque, the year 9 Thai newspaper project, the year 9 Thai radio show project, and all bad things that my friends had made on me throughout the year, like the event on the 21st January, which continues on for sometimes. But around the last week of the year you’ll probably see the post with all the listings.

Oh one more thing…Windows 8 beta will be out by February, so if you want, you can grab the beta when it’s available. Of course I will grab it to play around in my virtual machine.

Some updates

2011-11-18T04:35:00-08:00

Hi all, sorry for not updating this blog for ages.
There's so many stuff going on lately, both computer-related and non-computer-related.
Let's start with computer-related news...if you don't know, Firefox 8 is now out, as well as 9 beta, 10 aurora, and 11 nightly. The sad news is that the new 'Australis' is not present yet in any of the builds.
Also VMware Workstation 8 is out, with new features and a new user interface.
If you've been checking on my website...there's not much updates lately, as I don't have much time.
Now on to non-computer-related things...yeah, there's so much news going on, but I will announce that Loy Katong will not be listed as one of the 5 best events. The reason behind this is that 1 it has been canceled due to the Flood and 2 there's more fun and exciting events like Songkran and 2011 sports day to consider. On to the 5 worst events...well there will probably be some position changes. New events listed for nomination are the 2011 Thailand Flood, the year 9 Thai radio show project, and the year 9 Thai newspaper project. This is the first time that I have to rate classworks as an event on the blog, the first time ever. The reason for that is that both projects are tedious, and requires a lot of work. Thai radio show project seems to be the worst amongst the 2 because not only does it tedious like the newspaper project, but I have to find all sound effects, which is very difficult. Great that I don't have to remember long scripts! But what happened in the end? Well another group forgot to put the recorded audio on CD, which meant that the show have to be played from the recorder itself, which produces bad quality show. I guest that group don't have anyone that has a good burning software like Nero or Imgburn to burn the recorded show on to CDROM.
And there will be one event that will always remain and that is whad had happened on the 21st January and what my friends had done with me throughout the year. Yes, I still remember. On that day, when they know that Ii gave something bought from Chiang Mai to my other friend, they act as if the whole world will blow up...I don't know why, but I think people are just over-reacting.
Well, the summary of the events will come in December, so you will see a brief descriptions of the 10 listed events.

The second best event of the year!

2011-10-14T01:19:00-07:00

It is the second friday of October.

Well, today it’s ‘International Day’ of my school, and like last year, there’s an array of activities. It’s very fun, and will be rated as the ‘second best event of 2011’!

Like previous years, there’s food from various parts of the world, all which tasted good. The fun part of this year is the quiz after lunch. It’s very fun!

Some stories of software

2011-08-04T03:45:00-07:00

Sorry for not updating for sometime.

Today I will share you some stories about software. Note it is based on my opinions and experiences, and may or may not be reliable.

Did you know that most free software now includes adware bundles like Ask Toolbar and Opencandy? Well this is more of a warning than a story. Yep it is true. KMPlayer, Utorrent, and many more software now has Ask Toolbar. IZark and PZip now has Opencandy. So just be careful on installation, read every screens, not be too rush.

And the number of free software+bundles is increasing, while the number of truly free software without any bundle is on a decreasing trend. Things like KMPlayer or Utorrent may have a free version without bundles, but they’re very old and outdated.

The factor is, programmers used some kind of web host and needs to pay, let’s say, $6 a month. Since these programmers don’t really have a lot of money, and they can’t survive without making money, so they have to join up with adware companies and bundle the adware in order to earn some money. They know that donations didn’t work, because not many people click on the donation button. The truth is, these programmers are just a normal computer users. Their ISP probably did not allow web hosting, that’s why they have to rely on third-party web hosts.

Open source is also a great alternative to freeware, but most are outdated and development on these projects has stopped. CamStudio is one such example. The last full version dates back to 2003. But at least CamStudio has a new beta versions as of 2007 and 2010, thus making it some kind of in the border of inactive development and stalled development. 7Zip is also in the border of active development and inactive development. There are in fact, very few actively developing projects. Firefox, Openoffice.org, and KeePass are the ones I know of that are in active development.

Commercial/shareware seems to be the best option, but the prices are mostly too high, especially for poor people or people in developing countries. Even a $19 software will costs like a lot for them, me included.

I think these factors are ultimately a development issues. As you might know, development didn’t spread evenly throughout the world. Some parts are very poor and some are very rich. There is a huge gap between the 2 worlds. Since people in developing or poor countries did not have money to buy such commercial software like me, they have to resort to torrents. It can take up to days, but it is worth waiting.

This is also true for operating systems, especially Windows. Windows 7 is now extremely expensive and is out of reached. Most people can buy only Home Premium. Some can’t buy Windows 7 at all, they have to stick to Windows XP or whatever version they had; this could be as old as Windows 95. Even if they want Windows 7 they have to wait for a 2GB torrent to finish downloading, and they have to find a good activator and avoid the stupid KB971033 update.

Luckily in the world of antivirus this is more calm. Most free antivirus has enough features and protection for average users in developing or poor countries. Extra features, like intigrated firewall, spam protection, and identity protection is often not needed for these users.

To summarize, free software that is truly free is now dying, and being replaced with packages bundled with adware. So, if necessary, you may donate to your favorite free/open source project to keep its development. Commercial software will of course be the last thing you could depend on, but they’re often too expensive. These factors are the result of unequal distrobution of development throughout the world, and should of course be fix.

Some stories of software

2011-08-04T03:44:00-07:00

Sorry for not updating for sometime.

Today I will share you some stories about software. Note it is based on my opinions and experiences, and may or may not be reliable.

Some interesting comparison

2011-07-23T20:15:00-07:00

Since I had been playing around with many versions of Windows, I can now say which one has the most prompt during installation, which one is the most anoying to setup, which one has the least prompt, and which one is the least anoying to setup.

Note these lists only include 32bit versions of Windows, since earlier 16bit is no dout the most anoying and has the most prompt.

Most prompts: Windows 95 OSR 2.5.

Yep, Windows isn’t smart enough back then. You almost have to set in front of your PC, watching it do some stuff, waiting for something to pop up, even it will take up to an hour. But thanks God that you could install Windows 95 through CD!

Most anoying: Original Windows 95 and Windows 95 OSR1.

Yep, it’s extremely anoying, especially when installing through floppy(there are 14 disks in the box)! Plus you have to sit there, predicting which is the next disk Windows will ask. This is especially true during the second phase of the installation. In this phase, you can’t predict what is the next disk Windows will ask, it’s just completely random. It may ask for Disk 7, or 10, or 5, or etc. Even if you have a CD version, you still have to copy the entire ‘win95’ folder to the hard drive and direct the setup to that path! Oh, the original Windows 95 doesn’t even detect the hardware correctly!

The least prompt: Windows 7.

Yep, Windows is now smart enough to do stuff on its own, and so there are very few prompts other than errors. This means that after you configure the hard drive and partitions, you can take a shower, or even go somewhere else for 30 minutes. When you return, you’ll find that Windows has almost finished installing, you just now have to put in your user details, adjust some settings, and put in your product key if you have one. Windows 7 is also smart enough to detect your hardware, and install the right driver for your hardware right out-of-the-box. Updating drivers is easy through Windows update.

The least anoying: Windows XP and 7.

These 2 version is the least anoying, partly due to very few prompts. But the main reason that these 2 are the least anoying is because they can detect the hardware correctly. But for XP you still need to install the drivers yourself, and for 7 it’s automatically installed.

What do you think will happen to the setup routines in Windows 8? Is it going to be more anoying? Have more prompts? Have lesser prompts? Or less anoying? Tell me what you think in the comments below!

Some interesting comparison

2011-07-23T20:13:00-07:00

Note these lists only include 32bit versions of Windows, since earlier 16bit is no dout the most anoying and has the most prompt.

Most prompts: Windows 95 OSR 2.5.

Most anoying: Original Windows 95 and Windows 95 OSR1.

The least prompt: Windows 7.

The least anoying: Windows XP and 7.

The best web host provider

2011-07-18T03:24:00-07:00

Hey guys,

Since it’s about half year now into my web hosting adventure with various hosts, I would like to made the top-pick for the best host.

I had tried many hosts, but they are too limited in features.

The 3 host that I will review is Just Host, X10hosting, and Webs. They’re the best 3.

The top-pick goes to Just Host. They have a very good support, fast servers, anytime-money back, CPanel, scripts installer, site builder, and more. Starting as low as $6.95/month. Just host offers 3 plans – basic, premium, and reseller. Their terms of service is also quite easy to understand as long as you know English.

Second choice – X10hosting. They offer both free and paid. They have a support community, a extensive wiki, and best of all – you could sign up for a free account and then later upgrade to a paid account. They offer CPanel, scripts installer, and some other basic features like mail, FTP, and PHPMyadmin. The paid hosting has more features like unlimited databases, faster servers, and more features in CPanel like backups. They also offer VPS hosting. Their terms of service is also quite easy to understand, again only if you know English.

Note: If you’re going to try the free X10hosting, I recommend that you install only light scripts like MyBB and FluxBB. I’d had many issues with WordPress, specifically updating plugins, themes and the core application itself.

Third place and the most uncomfortable environment was Webs. They didn’t offer much, apart from MySQL and PHP. Their control panel is quite difficult to understand and use. I think their main goal was their easy website creation service which did not include PHP and MySQL. Their very long terms of service can be confusing and difficult to understand, especially if you don’t know English very much.

One thing that these 3 hosts have in common is that they all forbids warez, phishing, copyright infringement and nulled scripts. These 3 hosts all offers PHP and MySQL hosting.

The best web host provider

2011-07-18T03:20:00-07:00

Hey guys,

Since it’s about half year now into my web hosting adventure with various hosts, I would like to made the top-pick for the best host.

I had tried many hosts, but they are too limited in features.

The 3 host that I will review is Just Host, X10hosting, and Webs. They’re the best 3.

One thing that these 3 hosts have in common is that they all forbids warez, phishing, copyright infringement and nulled scripts. These 3 hosts all offers PHP and MySQL hosting.

First half of 2011 summary

2011-07-08T22:18:00-07:00

Well, it’s halfway through 2011, so I thought to make a quick summary of what’s happening during the first half of 2011.

Note the 5 best/worst events will be in by the end of the year when I make the ‘2011 summery’.

January: Nothing really, apart from the amazing year 9 residential to Chiang Mai, and the horrible 21st January event.

February: Quite interesting, especially the New Zealand Earthquake, the Egypt and Libyan protests and WordPress 3.1 release. Other than that it’s quite boring, apart from the year 9 computer shop presentation, sports day, ASDAN temple trip, and my birthday.

March: Shockingly interesting – threatening Japan Earthquake of March 11th, IE9 release, Pokemon Black/White released in US and UK, and Firefox 4 release. Other than that it’s quite boring once again – ASDAN mosque trip, year 9 humanity project and Thai newspaper project.

April: Nutral – Songkran Day, holiday trip to Japan, and royal wedding.

May: Nutral – the death of Bin Laden, other than that it’s extremely boring – stupid ASDAN trip to Lumpini park that is very boring plus it even rains, and end-of-year exam preparation. Also on the 19th may was exactly 1 year after the deadly protest in Bangkok, which resulted in 91 people dead. Most of you may still remember being told not to go outside and to stock up on food and water supplies. Until now the signs of the violence is still there. Burnt buildings are still being reconstructed.

June: Holy crap, but cool – WordPress 3.2 release, Firefox 5 release, Windows Thin PC release, SMF 2.0 release, and Office 2010 SP1 release. Other than that it’s crap - exams, and boring Thai radio show that is virtually nothing but just a piece of drama from the 1950s/1960s that is very, very boring and not fun – I’m in a group that non of the members have editing skills to make the output perfect! Plus, another group don’t even know how to burn the whole show on to CD, which is very stupid have to play from the recorder! Other than that, it’s quite fun – house dance competition, house basketball competition, and house music competition. Oh yes at the end of the year I got a year book and about 8-9 people signed my book which is cool!

Hope the second half will be more fun, because there’s enough pieces of crap in the first half.

Convert Office 2010 Professional Plus to Professional easily!

2011-07-06T04:34:00-07:00

Today I will show you how you can convert Office 2010 Professional Plus to just Professional! Pretty easy!

Note in the about page will still says Professional Plus as this tutorial will use the Professional Plus installation DVD.

What Professional edition contains;

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Onenote, Access and Publisher.

Steps:

1. Go to add/remove programs(Windows XP) or programs and features(Windows Vista/7).

2. Find Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010.

3. Right-click and select change.

4. Select the first option which will starts with ‘A’.

5. Remove Infopath and Sharepoint by right-clik the item and select the thing with a red mark.

6. Insert your Office Professional Plus DVD, then click next or Continue(I can’t remember).

7. Wait for it to complete.

8. Click close and say yes to reboot.

9. When you were back on the desktop, go to the Microsoft Office folder in the start menu. You should see that the number of components is exactly the same as in Professional Edition of Office.

By doing it in this way, you don’t have to re-activate anything. Your product key will still work!

Some news

2011-07-03T04:18:00-07:00

Sorry for not updating the blog for a while, I was a bit busy.

It’s holiday at last! Year 9 has officially ended! 7 weeks off! Also comes along with the end of year 9 was the releases of some software. Most importantly Firefox 5 and Office 2010 SP1. So if you haven’t done so, please update your system.

How to free up disk space

2011-06-20T08:13:00-07:00

Most of you probably know, that as you download more stuffs you will use up more disk space on your computer. Eventually you’ll reach a point that your hard drive is full. In this case you need to free up some space. Here is some tips I found to be useful. A little notes about these tips. General tips is tips that applies to other operating systems, and Windows only tips will only apply to Windows, or there are different tips available for other operating systems. General tips Delete old files – Yes, we got a lot of files, some are over a year old. Delete them if you don’t want to keep them. Common types of files to delete are games, iso files, movies and songs. Don’t watch that Plannet Earth movie anymore? Or don’t play Super Mario 64 anymore? Or don’t want to listen to some songs? Or don’t plan to re-burn that new Windows 7 with SP1 you’ve got? Delete them all; especially movies! They’re disk space hog! Game files can also consume lots of disk space. Especially if you play a game on an emulators like Nintendo 64 emulators and DS emulators. Deleting old savefiles, savestates and cheat files can also help, but most likely these are just a few hundred kilobytes. For instance, your old Super Mario 64 savefiles that you played up to like 70-80 stars may be just 500-600KB, and your Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum savefiles/savestates may be just 400-500KB. Alternatively, uninstall the emulator if you can. Nintendo 64 emulators aren’t stable and crash often. If you plan to play Super Mario 64 again, use a DS version instead. Remove old documents will also help, but it’s worthless. For example your school work from year 7 that had tens of pages may only eat up 30-100KB, or your old art homeworks, done nicely with Photoshop may only eat up 100-200KB. Remove programs – Yes, we’ve got many media players to play certain media files. But we don’t need all of them. For instance you may have Potplayer, KMPlayer, VLC and Quicktime installed, but you may need only Potplayer and KMPlayer, or another combination. Remove them will free up some disk space. Adobe products like Photoshop and Adobe Reader also eats up disk space, so it’s safe to remove them. Old cracked programs that you have that are useless are good choices to remove. Windows only tips Use Disk Cleanup – No, it won’t kill your PC. It won’t make you have to restart doing stuffs over, it’s just removing temp files. Go to start then go to All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and find Disk Cleanup. Select your drive and click OK or press Enter. Select the item you want to clean. Be careful here, because if you installed a service pack you don’t want to remove old backup files in case you have to uninstall the service pack. Once you got your choices, hit delete files button. That’s pretty much it of what I know.

Some facts about internet forums

2011-06-13T06:17:00-07:00

Here is some facts about internet forums. Note these are just my guest and knowledge, and they may be inaccurate.

During the early days of the internet(early 1990s), there were few or no internet forums. People at that time used bulletin board systems. Internet forum started to appear during the late 1990s, when most computers at that time has colored display with a better connection speed. But at that time still there were few. Internet forum really started to boom when VBulletin, a commercial forum software and PHPBB, an open-source forum software appeared in 2000. By that time computers had improved graphics and connection speed. Since then, new forum software started to appear starting with XMB, later DevBB, and now MyBB. Then SMF came on to the scene with it’s first appearance in 2003, and so-on.

Later, when mobile phones begun to boom, forum software developers had begun to made their software work on mobile devices. And mobile phones continued to boom until today, and more forum software developers are making their software work with mobile users.

Today, internet forums had changed a lot since it’s first appearance, because computers today have good graphics, good connection speed and a good web browser. There are now over 10 different forum package to choose from, much greater than last 10 years. Also most forum software now has a much better theming system than before. Most forum software now has a modification/plugin system, which is a great way to enhance the forum software.

The internet forum will probably change a lot within the next 10 years, since the internet is changing fast. And yet, as mobile devices continues to boom, more and more forum software will work with mobile users, and maybe one day, the industry will have made a complete transition from computers to mobile devices. Also as technology continues to improve, I guest later on forum software may be able to interact with the computers/mobile devices, mostly through the use of flash since they’re more interactive than normal HTML, but this may change within the next 10 years.

Hello

2011-06-10T06:43:00-07:00

Hi,

Sorry for not updating this blog for a while…I was busy with other stuffs…

But anyway what’s going lately…not really much was going lately…

But I did update my new site…