About laptop chargers

My laptop charger (of an HP ProBook 4410s) recently stopped working and I had to use a temporary one till my replacement part got delivered. The one I got was working perfectly (of another HP laptop, of which the polarity is correct), but had .5V higher rating and higher Amp and Watt ratings. I did some research on whether it is safe to use this. Here is a discussion thread that I came across - from which I concluded that it IS safe.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=128020

Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API

The error "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API" had been occurring consistently for my laptop since I upgraded it to 2GB of RAM (512MB originally when this problem was not there). Once this occurs, the Hibernate option disappears from the shutdown options list as well.
Did a google on it and got this... You need to download and install a hotfix from Microsoft. This problem apparently is on Windows XP SP2 machines with 1GB+ RAM
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909095

Launch your application from Windows Start | Run command

I was trying to figure out, what does it take to make your application launched from the Start Run, on windows. Most of the standard applications (winword, iexplore, notepad,...) works this way.

For your application to be launched this way, here is what you need to do:
* Your application need to have a registry key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths, with (default) value as the full path to the executable that you want to launch.
* You may also define a new binary value named "Path" and set the folder path to the executable. But this doesn't seem necessary.

Having the path to your executable in the System or User Path (Environment Variable) also will make the Start Run work.

Standalone Flash Video (.flv) players

UPDATE:
I had written this post a few months ago. Real Media has launched the Beta Version of the RealPlayer 11. This is the most beautiful standalone FLV player that I have seen till now. The floating toolbar that appears on any webpage that plays FlashVideo, which lets you download the .flv movies is very cool. Downloading videos from YouTube and other tubes (;-)) had never been easier.

------------
I had been looking for some standalone .flv players to preview .flv files and to watch downloaded videos on PC.
I came across this article by Joseph Balderson which was very helpful to me http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=8087E which had download links to few good FLV players and a very useful comparison chart as well.

I downloaded "FLV Player" from http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/article/flv-player-updated and it's neat.

Life without Mouse - Tips & Tricks

I came accross this interesting blog, while searching for some tips on browsing web using only keyboard. I'm sure many will find this interesting. Though most of it would be known to many advanced users, you sure will find something new here.

http://chronotron.wordpress.com/2006/03/26/life-without-mouse-tips-tricks/

Unable to access USB harddrive/pendrive through windows explorer?

I faced this problem once, found out a way and faced it few months later again on another machine. Had to re-discover it this time. Hence this entry, so that I (or whoever can read this) need not re-discover the solution.

Problem:
* USB Harddrive or Pendrive is plugged in.
* Windows recognizes the USB mass-storage device.
* But, unable to access it using a drive-letter from Windows Explorer or Command Prompt.

Solution:
* Open "Disk Management MMC" - Start Run diskmgmt.msc.

* Right-Click the USB drive (disk other than the permanent drives) & select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths...'

* Add a drive letter.

That is it. You now see the drive letter in Windows Explorer.

What's new in .NET Framework 2.0?

Links to relevant MSDN articles

What's new in .NET Framework 2.0

- What's new in C# 2.0 Language and Compiler

- What's new in C++ Compiler, Language and Tools